I hope that you are all still happy and healthy!  I am really missing you all but I am really enjoying seeing all the wonderful photos of you on Tapestry.

Now that we have spent a bit of time thinking about the plants and flowers that are growing in our gardens and the area around us, we are going to start to look at the creatures that live on our doorsteps.  This week we are going to look at the minibeasts that we can find outside (or sometimes even inside) our homes.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

I know that some of you have already done some yoga online with our yoga teacher, Georgie.  Here is another video that Georgie has made for all the children that she teaches. It has the desert adventure yoga exercise that she has done with the children in school:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxj1XF2nD1g&t=72s

If you would like to try some more yoga, there is a lovely channel on Youtube called Cosmic Kids Yoga.  Maybe this week you and your child could try yoga based on another of the stories we love to read in Nursery, The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhWDiQRrC1Y

It’s lovely… I hope you enjoy it!

Our practical mindfulness activity this week is to make a Breathing Wand. This wand can be used to help children take deep, calming breaths when then feel anxious or angry.  It is a simple craft to make and only needs a kitchen roll tube and some ribbons or strips of paper.  Here are some instructions:

When your child has made their breathing wand, encourage them to go to a quiet part of the house – maybe put some calm music on for them to listen to.  Show your child how to take slow, deep breaths, holding the wand by their lips so that when they breathe out, the ribbons or strips of paper dance.  Continue to make the ribbons dance until your child feels calmer.

Communication and Language

This week at Nursery we would have been reading the minibeast stories by the wonderful children’s author, Eric Carle.  Here are online versions of the stories that we would have read.  Maybe you could watch one a day with your child?

The Bad-Tempered Ladybird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFMaEVfntnM

The Very Quiet Cricket:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdiGEjz5b0Q

The Very Busy Spider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhkZi28sE_E

The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6_PowxFmnY&list=PL0tJIPp9Q_nzm53n7j6L7WJ3YVpZEAMBb&index=2&t=0s

The Very Lonely Firefly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XrPyF4Mpl4&t=21s

We would also have been reading Giles Andraea’s poems in his book Mad About Minibeasts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dhxIzfYQeo

Our new vocabulary for this week would have been the names of different minibeasts so all these stories and poems will be brilliant for reinforcing or introducing the different creepy crawlies that we might find in the garden.

Physical Development

Fine Motor Skills:

This half term we would be doing lots of work on pencil skills to make sure that all children are holding pens and pencils with correct grip and using them with control.  If you have not already done so, try the downwards loop handwriting pattern sheet with your child.  If they have already completed the pattern sheet, then see if they can draw some downwards loops on a piece of paper with a pen or a pencil – to make rainbows, hills or bridges.  They will need this pattern to write letters such as ‘m’, ‘n’, ‘r’, ‘h’ and the number ‘3’.

Another fine motor activity that we would have started this term is our weekly ‘Dough Disco’ to strengthen our hand muscles and improve our hand-eye co-ordination.  If you have playdough you could try doing it with your child.  Here is a recipe for making your own playdough at home.

The creator of the Dough Disco programme, Shonette Bason, has put some videos on Youtube so that children can do it at home with their parents. Here is the first one that she posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oUU-EKjj3M&list=PLtw-7Jf06an1IfIIonfs44FpzuCv7g1ZB&index=36

Gross Motor Skills:

At Nursery the children enjoy it when we try to balance a beanbag on different parts of our body and it improves our balance and co-ordination. If you don’t have a beanbag at home, children could use a small cuddly toy.  You name a part of the body – head, shoulder, elbow, hand, knee, foot, back etc. – and you child has to try to balance their beanbag on that body part.  For extra challenge, see if they can walk slowly around the room while balancing the beanbag.

Literacy

This week for our Letters and Sounds (phonics) activity, we are going to start thinking about a new aspect of our phonics programme, alliteration.  This is when words all start with the same sound e.g. “Silly, slippery, Susy snake”. You could begin with the sound that your child’s name starts with and think of words that start with the same sound.

Here is a home learning challenge sheet with some more ideas for introducing alliteration to your child:

Please continue to work on helping your child to write their name (or even just the first few letters if their name is very long).

Try to read with your child every day and also to give them the opportunity to look at books independently.  I have loved seeing videos on Tapestry of some of the children ‘reading’ books to themselves at home!

Mathematics

This week at Nursery, we would have been comparing two groups of objects to say whether they have the same amount or ‘more’ or ‘fewer’.  Here are some ladybird cards.  They do not need to be printed off.  Have a look at the cards on your device and see if your child can compare the two leaves on each line and say which leaf has more ladybirds or fewer ladybirds or even if they have the same.

For extra challenge, your child could count how many ladybirds on each leaf and then count how many there are altogether on the two leaves.

For shape, space and measure we would be beginning to look at simple repeating patterns.  Use whatever resources you have at hand to start a repeating pattern and then see if your child can continue it e.g. ‘car, lego brick, car, lego brick’ or ‘fork, spoon, fork, spoon’. ‘Read’ the pattern out loud so that your child is hearing it as well as seeing it.

Understanding the World

This week we would have been learning more about the minibeasts that live outside.  Have a go at completing this minibeast hunt in your garden or while on your daily walk:

Cbeebies make a super programme about minibeasts called ‘Minibeast Adventure with Jess’. It is not currently available on iPlayer, but all the programmes can be watched on Youtube.  Have a look at the playlist and watch one or two programmes to find out more about your child’s favourite minibeasts.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCI_BIMJR-XHf42hIrpYkyyYfJv9W58ju

A final outdoor activity is to reinforce our repeating patterns maths work by making repeating patterns outdoors with natural and found objects.

Expressive Arts and Design

Our rhyme of the week would have been ‘There’s a Tiny Caterpillar on a leaf’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI2Wo2rRWqM

This week’s dance is ‘Bug n’ Roll’.  Can your child do the actions in time with the music?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xyXB8_BetQ

As a creative activity this week, why not try to create your very rock bugs with paints, felt tips and collage materials. I would love to see your photos!