Ballyclare Nursery School News
May 2014
Class Photographs
The class photos have been taken and the sample
photographs will be put up in the hall areas as soon as
they arrive.
Sponsored trike ride
We are hoping to hold our annual Sponsored Trike Rides
on Tuesday 27 May (Classroom 1), Wednesday 28 May
(Classroom 2) and Thursday 29 May (Classroom 3). This
is our main fundraising event of the year and the
children will receive a sponsorship form shortly. Please
come and cheer your child on. Morning parents should
come at 11.00 a.m. and afternoon parents at 2.30 p.m..
Please do your best to support us.
Holidays
Nursery will be closed on Monday 5 May and on
Monday 26 May for both Bank Holidays. The children
are also off on Friday 2 May and Friday 23 May for
School Development Days.
MAY FAIR DAY
This year’s May Fair Day will be on Tuesday 20 May and
there will be no afternoon session on that day.
Big Bad Bass
Big Bad Bass, an Ulster Orchestra Trio, will play for us
in nursery on 8 May. This has become a regular event in
our calendar and is one which staff very much look
forward too. Please keep an eye out for photo displays
of Ricky, Michelle and Helen working with the children.
PARENT STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
Liz Weir has kindly agreed to run a storytelling
workshop for parents on Monday 12 and Monday 19
May in the evening (time to be confirmed). Places will
be allocated on a first come first served basis and will be
limited to fifteen. Please let Mrs Castles know as soon
as possible if you are interested. Liz will also be working
with the children this month.
School fund
As I am sure you appreciate, Nursery relies so much on your
school fund contribution to provide so many extra things for
the children that a funded place does not cover. I would ask
that, as we enter the final school term of the year, parents
ensure that they keep their child’s school fund payments up
to date. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
PARENT TEACHER
ASSOCIATION
The staff and children would like to thank the PTA for
donating the children’s Easter eggs . I want to take this
opportunity to thank P.T.A. for all their hard work and
dedication and everyone who has supported their fundraising
in any way. The Next PTA meeting will be on Thursday 1 May
at 7.30p.m..
FIREMEN VISIT
We are really looking forward to Friday 9 May when firemen
will be visiting the nursery. I am sure that the children will
thoroughly enjoy the experience and out thanks go to Paul
Morrow and to the Fire Service for taking the time to enrich
the children’s learning experiences.
TYRES
We would also like to thank Ainsley Steele for helping us find
some wonderful tyres for our outdoor play area. The children
are using them for both physical play and creative play
experiences.
Ballyclare Nursery School News
May 2014
PLEASE TURN OVER
Topics
During May our theme will be Animals, we will also be working on the colour pink
and our shape will be the semi-circle. Please feel free to send anything from home
that you feel might add a further dimension to our work with the children.
Open Plan
The children’s play is moving well between all three classrooms. There is no doubt
that their confidence is continuing to grow and this is very evident as we watch
them wait patiently for the doors to open into the other classrooms at 9.30a.m..
INDEPENDENCE
We are still working on some children taking responsibility for sand spills and
brushing them up. This is not usually as problem at this time in the year but the
children concerned are responding well.
SAND
At the wet sand trays the children will be concentrating on developing their
cooperative play skills as they work with the animal moulds. They will also
have the opportunity later in the month to design and build animal cages
with small wooden bricks. Staff will work alongside the children at the sand
ice cream shop to support them as they project into various imaginative roles
and consolidate their counting skills while working with scoops, cones and
tubs.
At the dry sand trays staff will encourage the children to problem solve as
they work with bridges and cars. Using plastic boxes, tubs and scoops the
children will expand their prediction skills. Staff will build on the children’s
knowledge of The World Around Us as they use sorting animals and bugs to
sort for shape, type and size. We have also added six extension trays to the
dry sand area which will allow the children access to additional materials to
extend and deepen their involvement.
Water
This month the children will be using construction materials in the water tray
which will allow them to discover the different forces at work as they build
both under and above water. The underwater theme will be explored from
another angle by developing an underwater sea world using penguins, seals,
walrus and turtles, concentrating on how these animals can live underwater
and on land. Staff will also take the opportunity to work on taking
responsibility for looking after toys by encouraging the children to wash
construction toys at the end of the experience. The children will be
challenged to think and discuss why we need to wash things and the different
ways we can dry items that have been washed. We will also use pink
materials to consolidate colour awareness and to further develop the
children’s awareness of volume and capacity.
CREATIVE AND AESTHETIC AREAS
Progress in this area to date has been breathtaking and you only have to look
at the work on display in the classrooms to appreciate how far the children
have come. This month the children will explore how to join various sized
boxes together to create animal or zoo habitats. This activity will also support
their ability to plan and carry though a project to a successful conclusion.
Various collage activities will support and extend the children’s ability to
work together as a group, their ability to describe what they are creating and
how they intend to achieve it and will also expand their spatial awareness
skills. The children will also engage in some “sheep shearing” using balloons
and shaving foam which will allow them to further discover how materials
can change.
PLIABLE MATERIALS
Creating birthday cakes this month with pink dough, party plates and candles
will help the children work on consolidating their counting skills and also
boost their language skills as they chat about what they are creating. We will
also work on extending the children’s vocabulary as we discuss parts of the
body.
At the modelling area in Classroom 2 staff will be concentrating on
developing an awareness of the difference between two and three
dimensional models.
Role Play and House Corner
Be prepared for lots of excitement this month as the children experience our
Pet Shop and staff will work on developing the children’s consideration of
animals and how we should respect and look after them. The children will
also be able to experience how we can borrow books from the library as they
project into the roles of both library user and librarian. Staff will also use this
opportunity to work on the use of picture cues when telling a story and will
be further reinforcing how we read print from left to right. Staff also plan to
use a Flower Shop to help build the children’s experience of how we pay for
things and receive change.
FLOOR PLAY
Work in this area will focus on our animal theme and the children will be
working on developing the concept of pairs as they play with Noah’s Ark. and
staff will also be concentrating on baby animal vocabulary. Safari animals will
extend the children’s ability to play imaginatively and creatively. Working
with the Three Bears Set will further reinforce the children’s 1-1
correspondence and their ability to recall and re-tell a familiar story in their
own words. Staff will also use the long wooden train to stimulate the
children’s group cooperative skills and to reinforce their concept of length.
SMALL IMAGINATIVE PLAY
This month we will work on Early Mathematical Development as the children
use the wooden and Duplo safari animals to consolidate their sorting and
grouping skills. Staff will incorporate wooden logs into a dinosaur habitat
which they will then use to further extend the children’s comparison skills as
they work with different sized animals. Work will also continue on The World
Around Us and this month the children will be expanding their awareness of
other cultures while playing with our Native American reservation. Staff will
also extend the children’s language development as they reinforce baby
animal vocabulary.
Language and Literacy
This month we will focus on further developing pre-writing skills, particularly
reinforcing that we read and write from left to right. Staff will also work to
extend zoo and animal related vocabulary, auditory and visual discrimination
skills using a variety of games.
MATHS AREA
The children will be using Counting Camels and Compare Bears to reinforce
their awareness of pattern, their sequencing skills and their concept of size.
Staff will also be concentrating on matching and sorting skills and number
recognition.
Mark Making
The focus in this area will be on pencil grip and control and staff will also be
reinforcing working from left to right and the children’s awareness of
pattern.
CONSTRUCTION
The children will use a variety of equipment to explore how to join things
using magnetic force. Staff will also challenge the children to fully use the
space available to them as they work with three dimensional shapes.
Outdoor
The emphasis this month will be on growing things and we look forward to
planting with the children. Staff will encourage the children to engage in
Ballyclare Nursery School News
May 2014
imaginative play scenarios, concentrating particularly on improving their
communication skills. We hope to use the parachute to work on teamwork
and cooperation and if the sun shines we will be working on large scale art
projects outside. We also plan to introduce our Huff and Puff circuit outside
which will help raise the children’s (and staff’s!) heart rates.