This week is one of our favourite times in Nursery as we get to read so many of our favourite stories! Don’t worry though, we’ll continue with our World Book Day celebrations in Nursery next week when we all return. There’ll be lots of fun activities to look forward to, all linked to some of the most popular stories in Nursery. There are often lots of live story telling sessions during the week, so have a look at the World Book Day website for more details and ideas.
Look out for a video tour of Nursery on the Class News Page at the weekend. On Friday, we’ll be busy preparing Nursery for everyone to return and we’ll post the video as soon as we can. We hope that you enjoy watching the virtual tour to familiarise yourself with Nursery again, before we welcome you back next week. We can’t wait!
In Nursery, we usually choose lots of stories to read, however for our home learning this week, we’ve probably chosen one of the MOST popular children’s books of all time… The Gruffalo. If you don’t have a copy of the story at home, click on the link to watch and listen to the story.
Here is a PDF with links to all of this week’s activities.
Reading
- Before you read the book, talk about what the children can remember if they’ve heard the story before. Who does the mouse meet? Where does the story take place? Can you remember what happens when the mouse meets the Gruffalo?
- If you have a copy of the book, look at the illustrations on each page and talk about what is happening in the story. Some children may be able to re-tell the story in their own words if they are familiar with it.
- As you read the story together, pause at some parts and see if your child can finish the sentence, especially when there’s a word that rhymes with the previous one. E.g. Where are you meeting him? Here by this lake and his favourite food is scrambled _____?
Phonics
Aspect 4 of our Phase One phonics learning is all about ‘Rhythm and Rhyme’. This week, you’ll need a drum or a pan and spoon to join in with Mrs Gosper as she plays some rhythm patterns on her drum. Use your listening ears to listen carefully to Mrs Gosper and then wait for your turn to copy her patterns.
Rhythm patterns with drums video
When you’ve finished, have a go at tapping some of your own patterns and take turns to copy each other. Remember to LISTEN first, and then LISTEN again, and then have a try to copy it yourself.
Mark-Making
- What’s your favourite book? Draw a picture and talk about your favourite story. We’d love to hear about it – send us an email of your picture and write down a few of the comments that your child made.
- Can you remember how Mouse describes the Gruffalo? What does he have on his nose? What about his back? In our group times in Nursery, we always enjoy drawing on an outline of a Gruffalo and then using different colours and lines to add in his features. Have a go at home – you might need to help your child by drawing a rough Gruffalo outline first but without any details. Here’s one to copy or print at home.
Can you add the following things to your Gruffalo outline?
Orange eyes, purple prickles, a black tongue, terrible tusks and claws, terrible teeth, a poisonous wart and some horns?
- For those of you with a printer, here’s a Gruffalo colouring sheet available to download.
Mathematics
Playing ‘track games’ is a great way for children to practise lots of different maths skills such as recognising dice patterns and counting with one to one correspondence (as they move spaces).
This week, have a go at creating your own game together. Your child will need help with the general outline of the track, but they can then add in their own drawings for the houses and trees etc.
1) Draw some circle stepping stones across the paper to create a ‘track’ through the woods.
2) Next, draw on the animal homes that the mouse found including an underground house, a log pile and a tree top house. You could add a river and some of your own ideas too.
3) Make or find 2 counters and borrow a dice from another game.
4) Roll the dice and move your counter forward the correct number of spaces.
5) The first mouse to make it through the forest to the end of the path wins!
Extension ideas
- Make up some of your own rules. Perhaps you could draw some purple prickles in a few spaces and if you land on a prickle, you have to go back one space. You could also draw a nut in some other spaces and if you land on a nut, move forward a space.
- If you don’t fancy making your own game, find a board game that involves a similar concept, such as snakes and ladders. They’re a really great way for children to practise counting skills whilst having fun.
Creative
- Make some puppets or find some props to help you re-tell your favourite story. We’d love to see a video of your show!
- Can you make a cave/den home for the Gruffalo? He might enjoy having a tea party in his cave…
- We’ve explored printing with lots of items during lockdown such as cans, boxes and forks. This week, if you have some plastic animal/dinosaur toys, have a go at printing with them and talk about the prints that they make. Once you’ve finished dipping their feet in water, make sure you help to wash it off before the paint dries.
- If your child loves to role play in their kitchen, play ‘cafes’ and order some special items from the menu including roasted fox, scrambled snake, owl ice-cream and Gruffalo crumble.
- In Nursery, we sometimes enjoy trying ‘scrambled snake’ egg on toast. Ask your child to help you break the eggs and mix in some milk to make a ‘scrambled snake egg’ snack. Make sure they help you to spread butter on the toast too.
- Are you ready for a snack and some quiet time on the sofa? We love this animated version of the Gruffalo on the BBC iPlayer.
- You’ll be singing this song about the Gruffalo all week once you hear it! Listen at home and join in.
- Julia Donaldson’s website has lots of Gruffalo themed games to join in, as well activities for her other books too.
Understanding the World
- Mouse met a few different creatures in the woods. Talk about other animals that you might find in the woods near your home. Where do they live? If you enjoy spotting things whilst out and about in your local area, have a look at this ‘Twig Spotter’ activity from the Woodland Trust’s website. How many can you find?
- Can you spot any animal tracks? Look carefully to see if you can see any footprints in the mud. Here’s a few ideas of footprints to look out for on this ‘Animal footprint hunt’ – it might be very tricky to find some of them!
Physical Development
Fiddly Fingers
To get your fingers moving this week, you’re going to need a pile of very small items such as 1p/5p coins, buttons, beads, Cheerios… Draw some wavy lines, zig-zags and spiral patterns on pieces of paper and then ask your child to pick up the small objects and place them along the lines. This is a good way to develop their pincer grip and control.
Movement
We’re going to have a go at balancing, jumping and crawling in this activity. Clear a space on the floor and ask your child to gather some cushions and pillows from around the house. Place them on the floor like stepping stones and ask your child to step from one to the other. This is good way for them to practise balancing, especially as the cushions will be soft and move under their feet a little. Repeat the activity, adapting the challenge by putting the cushions further away or not in a straight line. If you have space and your floor isn’t too slippy, ask them to have a go at jumping from one to the other. Make sure you supervise your child and hold on to any cushions that may move as they jump!
Finally, create a space for your child to crawl under. You could use a blanket/sheet over two chairs, or line some dining chairs up. Ask your child to slither like a snake on their tummies under the blanket or between the chair legs. Crawling is a very important aspect of early years play, helping to provide sensory feedback and developing many different things including the vestibular system (balance).
Independence skills
As we begin to prepare to return to Nursery, we’d like you to focus on ‘toileting’ again with your child.
- Do they go to the toilet without reminders? Try and encourage them to recognise the signs that they need to go!
- When they get to the toilet, are they able to undress themselves? Practise pulling trousers/leggings/tights up and down and remember your child needs to wear clothes that allow children to do this independently.
- When they’ve finished, do they attempt to clean themselves and have a go at wiping?
- Practise handwashing skills again – this is going to be very important on our return to Nursery.
As always, we are there to help children if they need assistance, so please remind them to speak to their teachers if they need help next week.
Key Worker activity and videos
This week, we thought you’d like to be detectives! Listen carefully to each of your teacher’s clues about their favourite stories. Can you guess which book they love to read? Have a go at making some clues for one of your favourite stories and send us an email to see if we can guess!
Key Worker video – World Book Day
We’re so happy that we’re all going to be together again soon. It made us want to sing a song!
Key worker song – If you’re happy and you know it
Friday Story Time
This week’s story is one that we know you’ll be familiar with. It’s called ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen. Make sure that you join in with Miss Morris!
Story Time – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Zoom sessions (for children learning at home)
It’s World Book Day on Thursday 04 March and we thought that children might like to join in with the celebrations on our Zoom calls by getting dressed up as one of their favourite story characters. You might have a costume already at home or a t-shirt with a picture of your favourite character on the front. Please DO NOT purchase anything special for the Zoom call, we’re sure that everyone has something at home that you could use.
If you’re struggling to find something or your child doesn’t want to dress up, that’s fine as well. Again, please don’t worry or feel you need to buy something. Perhaps you have a toy linked to your favourite story that you could share with everyone instead?
Please have a copy of your favourite bedtime story ready to show your friends as well.
For Zoom sessions in week commencing 01 March, you will need:
- Fancy dress (optional) and/or a toy linked to your favourite story
- A copy of your favourite bedtime story
- Playdough