Trotts Hill Primary School and Nursery
Welcome to Nursery
This is your child's first experience of school life and we aim to fill each day with fun and engaging activities. We learn best by playing with our friends and using a range of different resources across our indoor and outdoor classrooms. The areas we have on offer include creative, shape and numbers, the natural world, construction, role play, literacy and sensory play e.g. sand and water. We also have lots of opportunities to develop our communication skills, for example through singing, reading stories, rhymes, playing instruments and dancing. Some of these activities take place outside or in the hall and the forest school in our outdoor area.
During the year we look at different topics every half term. As the seasons change, we look at our local environment and celebrate the different festivals and cultural activities that our classmates enjoy. Curriculum overviews with additional details for each topic will be uploaded half termly.
During the summer term we will be supporting children with their transition to full time school. We will work closely with the reception teacher and the children will have opportunities of visiting the reception class.
Please make use of your Tapestry account to view your child's learning regularly or see below for weekly updates.
Autumn Term 2023
Week Beginning Monday 25th September
This week Nursery worked on their gross motor skills. They had a lovely time using the bikes on the KS1 playground.
Week beginning 18th September 2023
This week in forest school we investigated apples! We sung a song about apples falling off an apple tree, and explored the insides of apples using tweezers and magnifying glasses. During CIL we printed with the apples to make paintings.
Week beginning 11th September 2023
This week Nursery have been settling into their classroom. We have been busy making friends and exploring our indoor and outdoor resources!
This week in nursery we played a matching game about what you find at the seaside. We looked at many pictures of things you do when you are at the beach. We also spoke about the importance of water safety. We found the differences between 2 beach pictures and looked at pictures of a beach from yesteryear.
This week in nursery we learnt about road safety and using our scooters safely on the pavements. We learnt how to cross the road, waiting patiently for the cars to stop, how to manoeuvre our scooters safely around obstacles and the importance of wearing helmets. We had lots of fun!
This week in nursery we had a visit from Wild Science. They bought animals for us the look at, stroke and hold. These animals included a gecko, a breaded dragon, a guinea pig, a millipede and a snake. We had a wonderful morning.
This week in nursery, we have been looking at the story Pirates Love Underpants. We looked at all the different designs and then made our own.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about jellyfish. One of our activities was to practise our cutting skills and cut out jelly fish. We all tried really hard and what a wonderful display we made.
We had great fun in nursery this week. We explored the rollers and made very big pictures to develop our large gross motor skills.
This week in nursery we have been ordering by height. We used beanstalks to do this as we were reading the story Jaspers Beanstalk.
We went on a shape hunt this week for one of our maths lessons. We found many 2D shapes both inside and outside in the nursery garden. We made a tally chart when we found a shape. If we saw a shape that wasn't on the piece of paper we drew it on ourselves. We had so much fun and found lots of shapes.
We have had a fun week learning about frogs. We have watched a video about the life cycle of the frog, watching the frog lay her eggs and how the frog is formed. We made life cycles of frogs using our cutting and sequencing skills. We also painted pictures of the life cycle, thinking about the different stages, thinking about the colours and size to make the different representations of the life cycle.
This week in nursery we have been getting ready for the coronation. We have made bookmarks of King Charles and Queen Camilla, the Grenadier Guards and the union jack flag. We also made crowns, bunting and flags to fly and take home.
Continuing our growth topic, we have been looking at baby animals. We looked at many different animal babies and paired them with their mum, learning some new vocabulary. We focused on chicks and ducklings, looking at the differences between their beaks and feet. We cut out the different pieces of the chick and then used our fingers to push the split pins through the paper to attach the different parts. We were very pleased with the results.
We are thinking about growing this half term and to introduce the topic we bought in photographs of when we were babies. We discussed the differences of what we looked like and all the things we couldn't do then but we can now.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about Easter. We have read the Easter story, designed Easter eggs and made stain glass windows in the shape of a cross. We were all given the opportunity of tasting a Hot Cross Bun and finally we made Easter nests using chocolate, rice krispies and mini eggs.
We have continued our topic of nursery rhymes, this week it is Incy Wincy Spider. We made spiders on paper plates using black handprints and 8 fingers. Once they had dried we made holes around the plate and weaved the white wool to represent the web. We now have spiders in their webs.
in Forest School this week, we looked for signs of spring. We then painted or drew flowers that we found on our spring walk.
This week in nursery we have been learning about Humpty Dumpty. We made a large Humpty Dumpty looking at the shape of the wall, his body and his arms and legs. We sang a counting song about Humpty Dumpty and then did some maths work. We had to find the matching numerals to put Humpty back together again.
In nursery this week, we celebrated World Book Day. We all dressed up as characters from nursery rhymes or our favourite book. All children dressed up and we had a variety of different costumes. We made a display on our classroom door of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The children had to colour in a star and then cut it out and place it on our display. We had lots of fun!
This week in nursery we have been thinking about Lent. We have made pancakes and had pancake races. We tried pancakes with lemon and sugar and we made pancake faces using different textures.
We have been exploring our new construction area. We have lots of different natural materials and the children are being very imaginative. They have made cakes, with sprinkles and icing, An ice cream shop, selling lots of different flavours and Roblox.
We have been thinking about cold colours in nursery this week. We thought about which colours made us feel cold and the first one we thought of was white - because of snow! We also discussed the colours blue and green and then made our own pictures using the different shades of blue, green and white.
This week in nursery we have been celebrating the Lunar New Year. We read the story about the great race and ran our own races in the playground. We made lanterns and celebrated the Year of the Rabbit, by making some rabbits. We finished off the week by playing the drums and cymbals to Chinese music and performing the Dragon dance.
We have been looking at the story Brown Bear Brown Bear this week. We talked about the different colours of the animals. One of the activities we did was to use the words 'big' and 'small' to describe size. We each had to collect a big bear and a small bear, we then had to find a middle sized bear and order them. We were all really good at this!
This term we are thinking about colours. We have started by reading the story Elmer. For our activities about Elmer we acted out the story, sequenced the story, went on a colour hunt and played a matching game, dressing the teddy in a coloured outfit.
This week in nursery we made Christingles. We learnt what all the different elements represent.
Red ribbon - blood of Jesus, Candle - light, Four cocktail sticks - the four seasons and the Orange represent the world.
We have added a video to Tapestry for home learning - please log in to your account to view it.
Once you have been out in the snow, you could also spend some time looking at photos on Tapestry with your child and talking about what they have been learning this term.
This week in nursery we celebrated Hanukkah and watched a video and read a story about a little girl Hettie that celebrates Hanukkah. We looked at the different artefacts and discussed what they are used for.
This week in nursery we have been making repeating patterns. We looked at candy canes and how the colour changes and repeats using red and white.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about Being Kind. We wore odd socks and looked at activities about a good friend and not being a good friend.
This week in nursery, we have been thinking about Children in Need. We had a visit from Sporting Futures and we took part in a PE session. We were placed in 4 groups and we had to collect as many pieces of treasure as we could and put it into a small hoop. We then had to balance a beanbag on different parts of our body. These included our head, back, shoulder and tummy. We had lots of fun...
This week we have been thinking about Remembrance. We all had the opportunity of making a poppy wreath and we watched a beautiful video about being thankful for the armed forces. We took part in a minutes silence too.
This week in nursery we have been celebrating Diwali. At first we read the story about Rama and Sita. During the week we have taken part in many activities such as, making Diva lamps using clay and decorated with sequins. We made Rangoli patterns using chalk and a drawing programme on the interactive whiteboard. We learnt a Diwali song and watched a video about a little girl celebrating Diwali.
We have been thinking about Black History Month and looked at the story Handa's Surprise! We discussed all the different African animals and fruit that were in the story and talked about Handa and her friend and where she lives and how different it is to where we live. We also had a try at signing the song The Little Birds. We had to concentrate very hard and copy the actions. We then had the opportunity of playing a selection of African instruments, including djembe drums.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about autumn. We did some conker rolling, using autumn colours. Learnt lots of autumn songs, made spider webs, made handprint autumn trees and painted leaves to print with them.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about the houses we live in. We then completed activities about houses and homes. One of these activities was to construct a house. The children could either work with a friend or complete it alone.
This week in nursery we have been reading the story Owl Babies. We looked at the different size owls. sequenced the story and then drew some pictures of the owls.
In nursery this week, we have been counting the candles on the birthday cakes. We had to name the numeral on the cake and then add the correct number of candles to the cake.
This week in nursery we made glitter bottles. We used water, sprinkles and lots of glittery objects. These bottles will help us if we are
feeling sad or angry or we just want to watch the glitter float in the water. We have displayed them and whenever we want to we can use them to help us feel calm.
This is our first full week in nursery. The children have been exploring many different areas both inside and outside in the nursery garden. The children have settled in well and are beginning to make friends and taking part in fun activities getting to know the names of their peers.
This week in nursery all children took part in Scootability. Scootability supports children with their understanding of how to stay safe when riding their bike or scooter. It helps them to think about crossing the road safely and ensuring that they keep themselves safe by riding sensibly and wearing helmets. The children took part in fun activities, they practised walking across the road and discussing when it is safe to cross the road.
In nursery this week we had some visitors. Wild Science bought in many different animals for us to look at and touch. We were very brave and had a lovely morning, with the guinea pig, hamster, snake, millipede, spider, frog and snail. Some of us even let the spider the walk across our hand!
This week in nursery we have been continuing with under the sea. We made Rainbow Fish using the interactive whiteboard. The children could chose any colour or pattern they wanted to make their fish.
We have been learning about pirates this week. We have made treasure maps, eye patches, played pirate games, hunted for treasure and learnt some pirate songs.
In forest school this week, we looked at shadows. We looked at shadows we were making on the playground and then went into the forest school area to see shadows in nature.
This week in nursery we have started a new topic 'Under The Sea.' We have looked at the different creatures, discussed them, coloured in pictures of them and used our fine motor skills to cut them out. Finally we had the opportunity to paint some of our favourite sea creatures.
This week in nursery we have been celebrating The Queens Jubilee. We wore red, white and blue to school. We made crowns to wear, designed and coloured in crowns and made union jack flags. We also made jubilee cards and had a picnic lunch.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about the rhyme Incy Wincy Spider. We made spiders using many different materials.
This week in nursery we have been using the IWB to work on our maths counting and numeral recognition.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about our bodies. We have sang rhymes about our bodies, looked at skeletons and x-rays and made our bodies using construction materials.
This week in nursery we have been concentrating on the number 6. We had 6 cubes and we had to make the number 6 in many different ways.
This week in nursery we became 'shape detectives' and we have been looking for shapes in the environment. We watched a power point about shapes that you can find outside and then went and searched the nursery garden for shapes. We then plotted our findings on a tally chart.
In nursery this week we have been thinking about lifecycles. We have learnt about the lifecycle of a frog. We watched how tadpole grow from frogspawn to frogs and then we chose which part of the lifecycle we wanted to paint.
In nursery this week, we have been thinking about animals and their young. We looked at a variety of animals and then found pictures of their babies. The butterfly and the frog were our trickiest ones...
In nursery this week we made bird feeders using recycled materials and filled them with lard and seeds. We then placed them around the garden on our many tress.
This week in nursery we have been finishing off our topic of colours. We looked at hot colours, discussing the colours we thought made us feel or look hot. We then mixed these colours and painted with them.
In nursery this week we celebrated Chinese New Year. We listened to the story about the Great Race and found out which animals came took part in the race and in which order they finished. We then took part in our own races. We also made lanterns, using our cutting skills and we preformed a Dragon dance and played instruments. Finally we tasted prawn crackers to finish off our week.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about 'subitising'. We played a game of rolling the dice and called out the number of dots on the dice but trying not to count them. Some children continued this game in their choosing time and managed very well knowing the number of dots.
We read the story 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?' this week. The children have enjoyed making up their own versions of the story using small world animals and they have been learning to draw some of the animals from the story.
We have started a new topic all about Colours this term. We have been reading the story 'Elmer' during our adult directed sessions and during our choosing time we have explored colours in different ways. We have been sorting, threading and painting. Some children also looked for patterns and described the patterns on their wellies.
This week in nursery we have been celebrating Christmas, We have been making decorations, Christmas cards and having a party. We were very lucky because Father Christmas came to visit us too,
In nursery this week we have looked at Hannukah. We talked about the Hannukiah and the candles that are lit every night during Hannukah. We also made Hannukiahs using our hands and finger tips.
In nursery this week Christmas has started! We have been decorating our classroom and we have been decorating Christmas trees on the Interactive Whiteboard.
In nursery this week we have been thinking about colour mixing. We used the primary colours red, blue and yellow and then we added white and black to make the colours lighter and darker.
This week in nursery we have been thinking about One Kind Word and antibullying week. We were invited to wear odd socks to show that we will try to be kind to our friends. We also played a game and had to match socks together and then we designed our own odd socks. We finished the week by thinking about being a good friend.
This week in nursery, we have been thinking about Remembrance and why we wear a poppy. We then made poppy calendars and made representation of poppies and displayed them in our classroom.
This week in nursery we have been celebrating Diwali. We made Diva lamps using clay. We had to roll the clay into a ball and then place our thumb into the clay to open it up to make the lamp big enough to hold a tealight. We then decorated them with sequins and different shiny materials.
