This term we have had more new children start with us. What is wonderful is seeing the older, more experienced children supporting our new friends.
Role models are important to all of us: someone who knows where things belong, knows the vocabulary, is confident in the environment, has developed play skills and is happy and engaged. Role models might show us how to share and take turns, show joy and be a caring friend. Children will learn lots by being around friends who show them how to 'be'. Of course the adults are here to support children with warmth and sensitivity every day. Supporting children to show their interests and skills and then moving their learning on. As schools, we learn from our colleagues in other schools and also support them with their provision. Do you have role models in your life: how do they inspire you? Our return to school has coincided with a cold snap! Children were supported to think about keeping their bodies warm and noticing when their bodies were cold. Children observed their warm breath in the cold air, the frozen water and frost on the plants.
Children were encouraged to think about our bird visitors and how they might be feeling in this weather. We decided they needed some food for energy to help keep warm. Some children said they saw "parrots" and "pigeons". Children worked collaboratively to collect the bird feeders, counting and checking they were working. Children counted how many we had and decided there were not enough for our many trees. They decided to use old, small flower pots to make bird seed cakes. You need: vegetable suet bird seeds small yoghurt or flower pots string Children explored the soft suet using their fingers, talking about how it felt. They measured out suet and seeds and melted the suet, stirring in seeds. Next they poured it into the empty pots at attached string. Children noticed the changes as the suet solidified and went very hard. They tipped out the bird seed cake. Collaboratively they problem solved how to get them in to the trees. Some children had the good idea of using the ladder to reach the branches. This morning when children came to school they noticed one had been eaten: we are watching carefully and using our bird spotting charts to see whether we spot any bird visitors or whether it was the cheeky squirrel! Could you and your child make a bird feeder for your garden, balcony or to hang in the park? Why not use our recipe. It is so simple. Or why not just notice the birds and wildlife you spot on the way to school: foxes, birds, worms, rats (!) or maybe pets such as cats and dogs? As we prepare for the Christmas break, we have been keeping spirits high in school with singing festive songs - Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas are two the children know well! Children have been making Christmas decorations using recyclable materials. We think carefully about the environment and try to reuse things and use scraps of tinsel as treasure. Children have been sharing Christmas books and some children have listened to the story of the Nativity. They have acted out the story, using dressing up clothes and we have a small stable in Sunflower. The children were very interested in the gifts that are for Baby Jesus. There has been lots of Christmas baking, with children following instructions, working together and using wonderful spices. One parent came in the make Weinachtsplatzchen (German Christmas Cookies). The recipe is below for you to try at home! Children in the garden made hot chocolate to help keep warm and develop our real life understanding of measuring and number. Today we have Christmas singing around the campfire - but it seems the rain has arrived, in which case we will move indoors and have a campfire on the large screen to keep us warm and cosy. Our Christmas Party is on Tuesday 19 December and children finish school at 12pm. We wish you, your families and the whole world peace and love for the festivities and 2024. Today we were so lucky to have Nicole Gurvidi as guest speaker for our Brilliant Books and Phonics Fun Workshop. Nicole is the English Primary Curriculum Lead in Tower Hamlets. Nicole is passionate about reading! The turnout from our fantastic families was incredible and the room was packed. Nicole reminded us about the importance of: Having fun with words. Reading books, books, more books and when you think that's enough, read another. Read on the train, read on the bus, read in the cafe, read in the bath, read before bed - simply enjoy sharing books. Follow your child's interest and let them choose the books. The more books you share with your child the more vocabulary they will understand. Use pictures in newspapers to create stories using your imagination and tell the stories together, adding exciting words to describe what is happening or where the characters are. Play with sounds: make sound effects to accompany stories you share. Loud sounds, soft sounds, rattles, scratching, tapping. If your child can begin to distinguish between sounds, they will find it easier when they come to using blend and segmenting sounds when they read and write. Sing songs together and make musical instruments (see Nicole's pots of pasta and rice and her 50p wooden spoons). Go on a sound walk - listen out for trains, birds, aircrafts, sirens, drills and talk about the sounds. Be a sound collector! When your child is ready, make a Sound Scrapbook: start with a sound and together you can cut out pictures from newspapers and magazines of objects that start with that sound and stick them on the page. Have fun together. Links to websites: click below Booktrust Love My Books Remember to borrow books from school to share at home. Join the Idea Store - click here. Pick up free newspapers and magazines from the underground station, Tesco or Asda. Speak to your key person if you need any advice about sharing books at home. See the handout Nicole shared - if you would like a paper copy, please see Becky. Even our youngest friends at Rachel Keeling Nursery School are able to show real concentration and determination in their learning.
Staff work hard to ensure the provision and experiences children have are exciting, inspiring and offer challenge. These photographs show the concentration and focus on the children's faces as they measure, sew, sort and play. Being engaged in learning, deeply involved is what we want for our children so that they can make the most of each day and the wonderful learning opportunities that arise. Often these times are when our brain and our hands are working carefully together. Do you do puzzles, cooking, ball games and construction together at home? Remember you can borrow things from nursery to use at home. We know many families are struggling financially at the moment and we are very aware of this in our tiny school community when it comes to charity events.
On Friday we joined the local community in raising money for Children In Need with a cake sale. All week, children worked collaboratively, following recipes to make cakes, buns and biscuits. We then sold these on Friday and we thank you for your donations and for buying some treats. You helped to raise over £160. Healthy school rules return this week with no cakes, buns and biscuits! Our old friends from Iroko Theatre Company made their annual visit to Rachel Keeling this week.
We were thrilled to welcome them back to share their incredible music, interesting stories, booming songs and rhythmic drumming from Nigeria. Alex, Ruky and Roger involved the children and staff in the sessions and their engagement was very high. Wellbeing was also high and it was wonderful to see our 2, 3 and 4 year olds trying something new with adults they had not met before. It reminds us that music and movement can be a truly effective way to enhance our wellbeing. Children and staff all felt the benefit of this during the visit. Do you listen to music? Do you sing? Do you dance? If you would like to share any of these in nursery, please let us know! We know that physical exercise has a positive impact on your body, mind and mood. At Rachel Keeling Nursery School we encourage all our friends to cycle or scoot to school and cycling is a big focus of our learning and provision.
Each term we hold a Bike It Breakfast session with Brick Lane Beigels (bought by Pam at the crack of dawn!) to encourage children and parents to cycle and scoot to school and come and join us for some brekkie. As well as cycling, Sam is our Bike It Champion and supports staff and children in developing the confidence and skills to cycle using the balance and pedal bikes. A big part of her work is developing positive cycling behaviours and learning about bike maintenance. Many children know to check air, brakes and chains as well as fit their own helmets. Cycling is a great way to see London. If you would like any advice or to borrow a balance bike and helmet at the weekend, please see your key person. Creativity is so important for young children
It can help children to: make sense of the world around them explore their emotions help children express themselves enhance their wellbeing. At Rachel Keeling our core provision includes painting, dancing, music, sculpture, construction and woodwork as just a few examples of ways children can explore creativity. Over recent weeks, children have been developing skills in colour mixing using powder paints. The have learned the process, practising it and returning to access with more independence. Children have worked alone, in pairs and collaboratively with an adult to develop skills and confidence. Many children now independently selecting their paper, apron, brush, palette and pot of water and then remembering the process: Water Powder Palette Paper What is wonderful to watch is children beginning to use the colour wheels independently and the primary colours to decide which secondary colours they would like to create. Some children are now creating frames from offcuts of wood, joining them, painting and embellishing them. Do you express yourself creatively? Dancing, singing, cooking, painting, drawing or writing? Some spooky goings-on have been occurring in the garden at Rachel Keeling this week.
We know how important playing with words and sounds is in a child's journey to becoming confident communicators and readers. Children explored a range of containers, pipettes from the science laboratory, food dye, natural materials and some spooky, exciting props. They explored, mixing, gathering, sharing and talking about what they discovered. Some children were able to use new vocabulary. They also shared some spooky stories about witches and cats together and repeated the stories. Some children were able to predict what was going to happen and some children were able to remember and retell the stories and characters. As children mixed their potions, some created spells and magic words. Many children made marks about their potions. Some children created their own poems and the teacher scribed them. One group even worked together and created a collaborative poem! Playing with rhyming words at home is great fun and very effective in encouraging children to hear the sounds in words and be able to eventually distinguish rhyming sounds! For younger children, nursery rhymes and singing songs (many of which rhyme) is a lovely way to share time together. |