Nursery

Firstly I would like to wish you all a (belated) Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and that Santa was kind!

Welcome also to the new children who started in Nursery this week and their parents :-)

Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle
This week we learnt a new story, song & dance called 'Little Water Shute' which focuses on creating wavy movements and lines. At home try cutting paper circles in half. Your child can then stick them side by side and use a writing implement to draw wavy movements along them.

Maths
We have focused on counting and number this week - linking one number with one object. At home try to create lots of opportunities to count objects. The children are learning about different counting strategies, e.g. 

• scanning - running their hand over the objects or picking each one up;
• touching each object;
• organising - e.g. putting them in a line;
• partitioning - moving each object as it is being counted.

Some points to look out for:

Does your child realise that the number of objects is the same no matter how they are organised?

Does your child understand that, when counting a set of objects, the last number said represents that number of objects.

After counting, can your child remember how many objects were in the set without having to recount?

Phonics
Over the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on Rhythm & Rhyme.

Top tips for listening:

•Remember that rhyme is a difficult skill to master so playing lots of games will help your child develop these skills . When your child can tell you a list of rhyming words and non-words, after being given a start, they can be considered to be well on the way to grasping rhyme (e.g. you say cat, mat, sat…and the child continues fat, pat, mat, rat).

•  If you visit the library, ask for books that have a rhyme in them. The librarian will know where to find these easily.

 

•  Try and collect objects that rhyme and put them in a box or a basket for you and child to explore and play with.

 

•  Remind yourself of the rhymes you knew as a child and say them with your children.

 

•  Try to think of words that rhyme with your child’s name or their favourite toys or television characters.

I hope that you enjoy doing these activities with your children. Feel free to comment on any that work particularly well!