Highwood News – June, July & August

I can’t believe that we are 6 months in to 2014 – where does the time go!?! Hope you and your family had a fun and relaxing half term break. We have decided to change the format and time scale of our newsletter to make them more ‘room relevant’ and also to give you, as parents/carers, the opportunity to work in partnership with us to develop your child’s skills. Three newsletters will, therefore, be published per year – one at the beginning of every term. The newsletter will be divided in to 2 sections – 1) General news and dates and 2) Room news. Room news will highlight the areas of the curriculum the staff intend to cover that term, activities that will promote these areas/skills along with any ‘special room events’ taking place that term.

 General News

· We welcome Natalie back to our Highwood team. She will be working with the children in the Butterfly Room.

· Stacey left the setting at the end of May to take up a new post – we wish her all the very best.

· As the weather is improving can all parents/carers please ensure that children have sunhats and named suncream in their bags so they can access the outdoors in the warmer weather. If possible can we please ask that parents apply 12hr sun cream to their child before coming to nursery as this will allow the eager, excited children to get outside more quickly.

· Thank you to all of the parents who attended our Parents’ Forum/evening in April. Our next forum/evening will be held in September – a date will be confirmed nearer the time. The format for the next forum will change slightly in that you will be able to book a time slot with your child’s key worker. Hopefully, this will reduce your ‘waiting time’.

· Please can ALL parents/carers ensure that they sign their child in and out of nursery so that we have accurate attendance records – thank you for your support with this matter.

· A reminder that holiday club will run throughout the summer holidays. Please see Vicki or Debbie for further information or to book a space.

We would love to see some of our Ladybirds at these holiday clubs.

· We do offer a before and after school club for children that attend Violet Way Academy. If your child is starting this Academy in September and you may be interested in this service please speak to Vicki or Debbie.

· Nursery grant finishes on Friday 18^th July and will resume in September.

· 15hours of FREE nursery education is now available for some 2year olds. If you think yourself, a friend or a family member may be eligible for this funding please look on the following website: www.staffordshire.gov.uk/think2 or phone 0300 111 8007. If you are entitled give us a call and we will arrange your child care for you.

Dates For Your Diary

1. Bank Holidays. Please note that nursery will be closed on:

· Monday 25^th August

2. Sunday 15^th June – Father’s Day

3. Wednesday 9^th July – Lady Bug Prom/Graduation party, 6.30 – 7.30pm, for the Ladybirds that are going to school in September. Please come dressed as a lady bug!

4. Wednesday 16^th July – 6.30pm - Lady Bird Transition Evening.

5. August 2014 – Sports Day.

Yan and I wish all the Ladybirds going to school in September all the best – but we will miss you VERY much.

Caterpillar Room

Firstly we would like to welcome Ellie to our Caterpillar Room – we are happy to see her settling in well and having lots of fun with her new friends.

The Caterpillars have had lots of fun getting messy to create their ‘Row your boat’ display down the stairs. The rhyme is one of the children’s favourite so they loved creating the Lion, Crocodile and Polar Bear along with rowing their card board boats!! Try it with them at home – I’m sure they’ll show you the actions!?!

Continuing with the creative and messy theme our next task is to create a ‘Caterpillar display’ which will give you all a snapshot of what the Caterpillars get up to throughout their very busy day. Watch out for this display.

Our Caterpillars really love talking about their mummies and daddies and special people in their lives. In order for us to extend and develop this area of the EYFS – ‘People & Communities’ – we would be really grateful if you could send in or email – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – any family photos. Thank you.

Over the summer months, weather permitting, we plan to spend as much time outside on our decking looking at ‘holidays’ and ‘sea side activities’. We will be doing lots of fun, messy, and creative activities using sand, water and paints. Look out for our bright and colourful pictures on our new holiday display. Can we please ask that if you go on holiday or away for the weekend you send us a postcard and also bring in a holiday snap so that we can include these on our holiday display board – thank you. You can always email us a picture if you prefer?

In June we will be creative making surprises for our special daddies/special people in our lives........... but that’s all we can say at the moment!

On the 23rd June we will be having our very own ‘World Cup Day’ and ask that the Caterpillars come dressed in red, white and blue please. We will be creating flags from around the world using tissue paper and paint as well as practising our own gross motor skills!! You never know we may even have the next Beckham or ‘Rooney’ amongst us!?!

Butterfly Room

Firstly a very big welcome to our new Butterflies – Max, Nicky, Macy, William and Niamh who are settling well into ‘Butterfly life’ and making lots of new friends.

The Butterflies have been very busy and creative painting pictures that we have used for our ‘Goldilocks & The 3 Bears’ and ‘Walking Through The Jungle’ displays. Have you seen them yet? We also have our Butterfly family tree – the children love pointing to their family and friend photos. If you haven’t yet sent in a family photo could we please have one. Thank you.

One area that we have been focusing on is ‘matching’ the same shapes, pictures and colours. In order to develop this area the Butterflies have created their own little game, using card board tubes and eggs, to match the same coloured tubes and eggs. If you get the chance can you help reinforce the terms ‘same’ and ‘different’ at home please.

In June we will be ‘making & baking’ special surprises for our daddies/special people in our lives........ but the rest is a secret!!

The Butterflies love dressing up and ‘creating their own little stories/scenes. We have, therefore, decided to have a ‘Dressing up Day’ during the Summer months where the children can come to nursery dressed in their favourite costume from home. A date will be confirmed nearer the time.

Linked with the Butterflies interests we will be having a ‘Story Book Week’ during the week beginning 14^th July. Can we please ask that all Butterflies bring in their favourite story book to share and enjoy with their friends.

Over the summer months, weather permitting, we plan to spend as much time outside looking at ‘holidays’ and ‘sea side activities’. We will be doing lots of fun, messy, and creative activities using sand, water and paints. Look out for our bright and colourful pictures on our new holiday display. Can we please ask that if you go on holiday or away for the weekend you send us a postcard and also bring in a holiday snap so that we can include these on our holiday display board – thank you. You can always email us a picture if you prefer?

We like the children to be aware of different festivals/cultures and so will be looking at the following with the children in July: Ramadan where the children will make some moon and star gifts for their families.

If you think of an activity/topic that you know your child would really enjoy – pass it on to their key worker and it can be included in the following week’s planning. Similarly, if you see your child doing something new at home fill in one of our parent/carer observation forms and hand it to your child’s key worker. It can then be included in their learning journey book.

Finally, we would like to wish our Butterflies well who are going through to Ladybirds over the summer months: Jonjo, Nadyah, Eve, William, Kenzie-May and Riley. We will miss you LOTS but know you will have a lovely time making new frends in the Ladybird Room.

Ladybird Room

The Ladybird children would like to welcome some new friends to their room: Tiffany has recently joined us whilst Georgie, T.J, Hallie and Nadyah have joined us from the Butterfly Room. All the children have settled well into ‘Ladybird life’. The end of July sees a number of our older ladybirds leaving us to go to school – we wish them ALL the very best and will miss them LOTS. We hope they will pop in to see us from time to time or maybe come to our holiday club?

We would like to say a HUGE Thank you for all of your support and involvement with the ‘Polly Parrot’ home activity. Not only is the book looking fantastic with your lovely photos but the children’s description of sounds is improving dramatically which is fantastic news as this is one area of the E.Y.F.S (Communication & Literacy – recognising and responding to familiar sounds) that we have to cover.

At nursery we encourage safe and healthy practice and one of the things that we do to help achieve this is ask the children to brush their teeth after lunch. If all parents/carers, therefore could ensure that their child(ren) have a toothbrush and toothpaste at nursery that would help us greatly.

The week beginning 9^th June the Ladybirds will be very busy involved in Father’s Day activities – but that is all we can say at the moment!?! We will also use this week to focus our circle time on important people in their lives.

As part of our ‘growing topic’ the Ladybirds have been very busy planting vegetable seeds in the large pots in the outdoor area. We have been discussing the ‘growing process’ and very much look forward to seeing – and maybe even tasting!?! – the end result. The Ladybirds have also grown cress and recently planted some sunflower seeds. We are having a competition to see whose sunflower grows the tallest!?! The children will be given a tape measure to measure their own sunflower too.

Congratulations to all of our ‘Stars of the day’ – keep up the fantastic work.

In terms of displays we are in the process of creating ‘Jack & the Beanstalk’ to replace our Hungary Caterpillar display. Not only will this link to our growing theme but introduces the children to a new book. We will be converting the summer house in to Jack’s house and the decking area will be the Giant’s castle. The children will be getting creative making a beanstalk to take outside as well. Hopefully this will encourage the children to imitate different roles and use their imagination to re tell a familiar story. It would also be fantastic if you as parents/carers could reinforce this book at home too.

We like the Ladybirds to be aware of different festivals/cultures and so will be looking at the following with the children in July: Ramadan where the children will learn about Muslim ‘traditions’ at this time of the year. August sees the Japanese festival of Nebuta so the children will be creating colourful dragons and snakes.

Over the next month we will be introducing geometric 3D shapes to the Ladybirds – looking at their special names and thinking about what objects/items have this shape.

The Ladybirds have had a lovely time exploring how different equipment works. They have used the v-tech cameras to create their very own photos that are displayed on our ICT display – come and have a look. In fact some of the photos have come out better than mine usually do!!!! The children have also been working together using the constructabot. They are able to give instructions to a programmable toy to make it move in different directions – sounds too techno for me!

For those parents/carers of pre school children going to school in September we are holding a Transition Evening on Wednesday 16^th July from 6.30pm. This is an opportunity for you to go through your child(ren)’s file and complete any paper work necessary for their smooth transition to school. Please can you book a time slot with your child’s key worker.

Finally there will be a prom/graduation evening, for all of the Ladybirds starting school in September, on Wednesday 9th^th July from 6.30 – 7.30pm. The theme will be ‘Lady Bugs’’ and ask that all the children come dressed in a Lady Bug costume. The evening is a celebration of the children’s time at nursery. Further info to follow closer to the time!

Highwood Day Nursery works in partnership with Kimbles Music and Movement. Kimbles visits every Wednesday at 11am, and aims to encourage development through movement, balance, co-ordination, language, communication, team work and fun. 

You can read about Kimbles by downloading the latest newsletter.

To download and save a copy, click here.