Nursery 2023 - 2024
Miss Clark
Meet the Team
Miss Clark, Mrs Waugh and Mrs Marsh
If you have any questions, please speak to one of our Nursery staff or email:
nursery@almapark.manchester.sch.uk
If you have any questions about Nursery admissions please email:
admin@almapark.manchester.sch.uk
Welcome
Welcome to Nursery! We recognise that Nursery is an important milestone for children and their families. We look forward to working in partnership with you throughout the year, supporting your child on the first step of their academic journey. Our Nursery is a nurturing and caring environment, with rich opportunities for children to play, explore, and develop their independence.
Click the link below to find out what is happening in Nursery each half term. You can use this information to discuss with your child what they have learned and continue to support their learning at home.
What's happening this half term and how you can help your child.
Maths:
- Practise sorting items by colour, size or shape
- Help your children to understand in, on, under, behind, in front
- Talk about things that are the same and different
- Sing songs and rhymes that include numbers up to 5, then 10 e.g. '5 Little Speckled Frogs' or '10 in the Bed'
- Saying number names in order to 5 and then beyond
- Count up to 4 items by touching and saying one number for each item
- Help your child to understand the words 'more' and 'less'
- Practise naming 2D shapes and explore the vocabulary that goes with them e.g. side, face, corner flat, straight
- Look at different 2 and 3 step repeating patterns and patterns around your home e.g. wall paper, fabirc, wrapping paper, etc
- Recite numbers in the correct order backward from 10 e.g. counting down for rocket launch
English:
Talk for Writing units:
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
The Train Ride by June Crebbin
- Encourage your child to hold a mark making tool in a tripod grip
- Ask your child to make vertical lines, circles, diagonal lines and crosses
- Talk about the marks your child makes and what they stand for e.g. pretending to write shopping lists, label pictures and write names
- Practice hearing and identifying the inital sound in a word and then other sounds e.g. a - in ant, s and t - in sit
- Practise blending letter sounds together to hear words e.g. say to your child 'Can you t - a - p your head?'
We work with the Little Wandle Phase 1 Rhymes in our nursery setting click here for more information.
The children begin to learn their letter sounds in Reception. If you would like to know how to make the letter sounds correctly click here.
Topic: Changes
This half term we will also begin to think about moving up to Reception. We will get to visit our new classrooms and teachers and spend some time together there. We will talk about some things that will stay the same and some things that will change. We will still eat lunch in the dining hall but we will not use the nursery playground anymore, instead we will use the Reception playground.
Our stories this half term are Mad We're Going on a Bear Hunt and The Train Ride. We will act out the stories and see how they are similar to events that happen in our own lives. The nursery children will continue to look at changes in our local environment as Summer gets into full swing. We will explore outside and find plants that are flowering and starting to grow fruit. Inside Nursery we will plant radishes, watch them grow and then get to eat them. We will encourage the children to explore and talk about what they are experiencing in order to develop their understanding of the world around them. We will also talk about if anyone has ever been on a train and the different places and people that we like to visit.
Reading books:
The children are given a reading book to take home in a pack. This book will be changed once a week. We ask that you bring it into school on Tuesday so that it can be changed and given back out on Wednesday.
Homework:
Our yellow Brainbuilder books are given out each Wednesday. They can be returned to school when the work is complete but we do ask that they are back in school the following Tuesday.
Spare clothes:
Each child in Nursery has their own tray. They are learning to keep their belongings in it. Please make sure you send in a spare set of clothes in a bag that we can hang on your child's peg. Please make sure all items have your child's name on them.
Independence:
Learning to become independent is central to children’s development in Early Years. To help your child become independent, please encourage them to put their own coat on, wash their hands, and begin to tidy away their toys.
Wellcomm
In nursery we follow the Wellcomm program that helps children to develop their language skills. The children have specific targets to work on and we share these with you so that we can work together to aid your child's development. We understand and value that many families may speak a language other than English at home. This is something to be celebrated and is important for your child's laguage development and understanding.
For tips on how to help your child to develop their langaueg, understanding and speaking skills please see the links below.
- BBC Tiny Happy People - Tips and Advice - This is for parents to get ideas and tips on working with their children at home. There are different catagories for you to choose from explaining how you can work with your child if you are looking for information on; language development, routines, being bilingual, getting outdoors and many more. Click Here
- Rhyme Book - to share with children at home. In this booklet traditional rhymes are shared but then also changed to make them more relevant to your child and where they live. They are a great way to explore langauge and have fun together. Click Here