Friday 9th November
Today we talked about Remembrance Day and talked about the brave soldiers that left their homes to go and fight in the war. We watched Remembrance Day Parades and talked about why we wear poppies. We then made poppy biscuits and took them home to show our families.
Thursday 8th November
In our curiosity cube today was a figure of Sita. We talked about the story of Diwali and how she must have felt when she returned home. We did observational drawings of Sita, remembering to use our pinchy parrot pencil grip and carefully selecting colours for a purpose. Our drawings are being displayed in the writing area if you would like to come and take a look.
Wednesday 7th November
Today we have been learning all about Rama and Sita and how they were guided back home with diva lamps. We decided to make our own diva lamps in the play dough area! We carefully moulded the play dough around our candles and decorated our lamps with sequins, glitter and beads.
Tuesday 6th November
Thank you to all of the family members who came to the Diwali Stay and Read today! We hope that you all enjoyed taking part in the fun activities and seeing what we have been learning in nursery.
Week Beginning 22/10/18
We have been very busy doing lots of fun Halloween themed activities this week.
Pumpkin Carving
We have been investigating pumpkins, talking about where they come from and exploring what is inside them. Before each group carved their pumpkin we made predictions about what we thought would be inside. Bella said “I think there is slime in there”. Favour said “nuts are inside”. Lucie said “there are juices in there”. We then designed our own jack-o-lanterns and voted for the design we liked the most.
Magic Potions
We became witches and wizards and created our own potions using bats, pumpkins, rats, worms, finger nails and magic dust. Darla said “It’s a magic potion, it’s going to make a wish happen”. Jewru said ” I want the potion to make a cat”. Phaedra said ” I think that it will go poof and then it will give me a broomstick to fly”.
Measuring Pumpkins
We have had lots of fun measuring pumpkins in our outside maths area. We have been using cubes to measure the length and height of pumpkins. Bella said ” It’s two cubes tall, it’s so tiny”.
Week beginning 15/10/18
Phonics
We have really enjoyed exploring rhyme in our phonics sessions this week! We played rhyme bingo and odd one out. We had to listen carefully to identify the objects that rhyme!
To support our work on rhyme, we have also been exploring rhyme in stories. We have been reading ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ with our teachers, listening out for the rhyming words as we read the story. We have then used images from the book to match the words that rhyme. It has been lots of fun!
Maths
We have continued to explore the different ways to represent number this week. We are very good at using our bodies to represent numbers, for example holding up a high 5 to represent the number 5, stomping 4 times to represent the number 4, etc.
We are now focusing on recognising the numerals. We have learnt some number songs to go with them! See the link below so you can practise writing numerals with your child at home.
http://www.communication4all.co.uk/Numeracy/Number%20Formation%20Rhyme%20Cards.pdf
Floating and Sinking
We have been using the autumn treasure that we collected on our walk last week to carry out an experiment. We have been investigating which of our autumn treasures float and which of them sink in our water tray. We have had lots of fun making predictions and seeing if they were true or false.
Week beginning 08/10/18
Autumn Walk
This week we went on an autumn walk around the school grounds to explore the changing season. We collected autumn treasures such as conkers, conker husks, pine cones, acorns and different types of leaves and we brought the treasures back to nursery to explore in further detail.
Maths
This week in maths we have been exploring the numbers 0-5 and the different ways we can represent number. We have been using cubes, numicon, loose parts such as conkers, pom poms, leaves, blocks, and numerals to represent number.
Name Writing
This week we have been practising how to write our names. We have been focusing on holding our pencil correctly using the tripod grip and trying to form the letters in our names correctly. Come and look at our name writing display in the writing area to see how your child is progressing.
Week begining 01/10/18
Scissors
We have enjoyed practising using scissors correctly this week! We been developing our scissor grip using our thumb and forefingers with our arm tucked underneath. We have been making snips in paper and trying to cut in a straight line.
Playdough Challenge
We have been exploring autumnal animals in the playdough area. We have been using brown playdough to create the creatures that we often see in the season of autumn such as squirrels and birds. We have looked closely at the features of the animals and have been enhancing our creations with googly eyes, feathers for wings and fluffy pomp oms for ears and fuzzy tails.
Week beginning 24/09/18
Phonics, Maths and Reading Workshop
Thank you to all of the parents that attended our workshops this week. We hope that you found them useful and they gave you some insight into what your child will be learning this year in Nursery. If you were unable to attend please read the handouts in the links below and if you have any questions pop into Nursery and speak to a member of our team.
Self Portraits
We have also been enjoying painting our self portraits. We have been looking closely at our facial features in the mirror and talking about our similarities and differences and what makes us unique. We then carefully chose paints that matched our skin, hair and eye colour.
Library
We enjoyed visiting our school library in our family groups this week. We talked about the rules we need to follow in our library such as, using our quiet voices, respecting the books and putting the books back where we found them once we have finished reading them. We will be visiting the school library on a weekly basis to have a story session and choose our own books to read.
Phonics
We have begun phonics based group times this week to develop our speaking and listening skills. We have been focusing on nursery rhymes to encourage the children to listen out for rhyme and alliteration. We are proud of how well the children are progressing.
Dojo
We have really enjoyed earning Dojo points for our efforts in class this week! We have been earning Dojo points for trying our best, listening to our friends, tidying our tidy stations and making the right choices. Thank you to the parents who have signed up to the Dojo app so you can see what your child is earning Dojo points for in school. If your child has earned a Dojo at home send us a message through Class Dojo and tell us what they have done to earn a Dojo. We will put them on in class and celebrate their hard work at home!
Welcome to nursery!
We are extremely proud of how quickly our nursery children have begun to settle into the nursery routine. When the children arrive, they confidently say goodbye to their families and join group time. We have been practising good group time sitting and listening through stories and singing.
We have enjoyed exploring our new nursery classroom and our outdoor area. We have been very excited to try new activities with our friends.
Some of us have now started to stay at school for our dinner. We have been practising lining up and walking to the dinner hall. We have enjoyed choosing our food and eating with our friends.
This week we have been exploring numbers in our outside maths area. We have been on a number hunt in our garden to see what numbers we can see. We have also been using our number stones and tiles to practise counting from 1-10.
Phonics at home
Below are useful links you can use to develop your child’s phonic knowledge at home.
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/Phase1Menu
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/Phase2Menu.htm.htm
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/stories-and-rhymes
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds
Maths at home
Below are useful links to websites that can support you child with maths at home.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/shape-position-and-movement
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/ordering-and-sequencing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/topics/numeracy
Class Staff
My name is Chloe and I am a class teacher in nursery. I have worked at E-ACT Blackley Academy for three years both in reception and in nursery and I love seeing the beginning of a child’s school journey and getting to know their families. I specialised in Early Years education in my postgraduate teaching degree and I have an undergraduate degree in geography.
Mrs Leanne Cornes
Teaching Assistant
I gained my national diploma in early years in 2002 and have worked in schools ever since. I have worked at E-ACT Blackley Academy since it opened in 2012 and also worked at the school when it was Victoria Avenue primary school since 2006. In my ten years working in Blackley I have got to know children and families very well which is a real privilege. I particularly enjoy working in early years as I feel it’s so important to give very young children great experiences to help to create a positive attitude towards learning and school life.
Miss Cara O'Brien
Teaching Assistant
I have been a Nursery practitioner for 6 years and I joined E-ACT Blackley Academy in 2015. I have previously worked with children under the age of 3 and I have experience working with DSEN children.
I am part of the walking bus team and you may see me around Blackley bright and early in a bright orange coat.
Miss Alexandra Kennedy
Teaching Assistant
I’m a nursery level 3 teaching assistant.
I have been working at E-ACT for 4 years, I started as a 1:1 for DSEN children. I’ve been a Nursery teaching assistant for just over a year and have enjoyed getting to know the children and their families.
I am also part of the breakfast club team and help run an after school art club.
Mrs Vicki Hughes
Teaching Assistant
My name is Vicki Hughes. I am currently a teaching assistant in Nursery. I live in Higher Blackley with my family, my husband Kieron and my son Elliott. I know the area well and I attended this school when I was younger. I have a BTEC National Diploma in Childcare, Learning and Development and soon after finishing my course I started working here at E-ACT in 2009. During my time here I have worked in both Nursery and Reception.
