Dear Parents/Carers

Feel free to contact me, using the email address below, with any photos of work or craft that your child has created at home. You can also contact me if you have any queries regarding the activities I have set on our class page.

Thank you

Mrs Halligan

nicola.halligan@st-pauls.stockport.sch.uk

Home Learning Monday 29th June

Hello again!   How did you get on with your Superhero costumes?  I will put some pictures up this week of the ones the children in school have made.

We continue our Superhero theme this week.  We are going to make Superhero Gadgets from junk materials!  Could you make a rocket booster backpack from pop bottles, a supersonic shield from a pizza base, a camera with laser vision from a box?  Have a go and send me your photos.

Focus on letter sound 'a'  and 't' this week.  Play I Spy and make a collage of pictures of objects or animals that begin with 'a' or 't'.  

Finally, have you played the learning games for Early Years on Topmarks?  There are lots to choose from.  The link is shown below.  

Home Learning Monday 22nd June

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and happy.  How did you get on with the recycling activity?  Do let me know.

This week in school we are learning about how to become an action Superhero!

We will be making masks, wristbands and capes.  Do you think you could make your own costume at home?  Capes can be made from a Bin Bag.  Paint the initial of your first name on the back in a bright colour, perhaps in a shape that you know, such as circle, square or triangle.  Take a look at the pictures below for some ideas and do send me photographs of your completed costumes.

This week could you have a look at Alphablocks on YouTube (link at the bottom of page).  Look up the 's' sound program.  Can you play I spy, looking for objects that begin with the sound 's'?   Perhaps you could draw or cut up pictures of objects that begin with 's' to make a collage. 

I have attached a Powerpoint about Superheroes for you to read with your grown ups.  How many Superhero characters can you name?  

Join in the number sons Zero Superhero on YouTube (link at the bottom of the page) count up and down to 10. 

And finally, read or listen to some Superhero stories.

Home Learning Friday 5th June

I hope you have all had a good couple of weeks.  Sadly the sun has gone for a while now, but we have been lucky to be able to enjoy such lovely weather during these difficult weeks.  

Please do keep looking at the Lilac Band books  on the Oxford Owl website (scroll down for links), don't forget to keep singing Nursery Rhymes, play I spy with words beginning with different letter sounds and do lots of counting - up to 10 and back, counting objects accurately and ordering numbers too.  

It would be really good to practise writing your names, and perhaps some simple words like Mum, Dad, cat, dog.  Grown ups can help you to sound these words out, m - u-m,  d-a-d, c-a-t, d-o-g.  They can show you how to form the letters.   If you can hear some sounds in words by the time you come back to school it will really help you to get going in Reception.  Please email me if you have any questions about this.

I have a new activity for you this week.  In school the keyworker children and I looked at a story called, 'George saves the world by lunchtime'. Grandpa helps George to become a Superhero , teaching him how to save the world by saving energy reducing the amount of electricity he uses, recycling, resuing old items and repairing broken toys.   Below you will find the link to the story on Youtube.  You will find out lots of things about how we can protect our precious planet.

Over the next week try and help your grown ups sort out things for the recycling bins, can you identify paper and plastic objects?  Perhaps when the Charity Shops reopen you could make a visit, taking old clothes that don't fit anymore or toys that would now be better for younger children.  In school we made some Posters.  I have attached mine for you to look at.  Could you draw a poster showing things you could do to save the world?

I would love to find out how you get on.  Don't forget to get in touch with me by email.  

Lots of love from Mrs Halligan 

Home Learning Monday 18th May 2020

It was lovely to speak to some parents on the phone last week. It's a tough time I know, but you are all doing a great job, we are getting through this and it won't be long until we are all back together.

I hope you have managed to take a look at the Gallery pages.The teachers have made you a video to make you 'Happy'. We had lots of fun making it, maybe you could sing and dance along with us?  You can also see what the children currently in school have been doing on the Gallery pages. Take a look, you might see some of your friends!   No new activites this week, keep going with the ones already on the website.  I would love to see pictures of your work on Africa and Handa's Surprise. 

If I didn't manage to phone you last week I will try again next time I am in school, but do remember to email me if you have any questions, concerns or if you simply want to share what you are doing with your children at home. I look at my emails regularly and will get back to you as soon as I can.

Take care

Love Mrs Halligan

A message from Mrs Babcock

Hello Nursery 

I just wanted to let you know how much I miss you and am hoping that we get to see each other really soon. Whilst I have been at home with my family I have been doing lots of baking, did you see me on the staff video with my mixing bowl & rolling pin? I was making gingerbread men just like we did at school, but the real favourite in my house is carrot cake, yum.

I hope you are enjoying spending time with your families and doing lots of exciting things, maybe even learning something new that you can tell us about next time we see you. I have loved seeing all the photos that you have sent to Mrs Halligan, it looks like you have been having fun. I have been going for lots of walks in the countryside near my house, through the farms & along the canal. This week I spotted something really exciting & I have sent you some photos to look at, can you spot the goslings too? 

Remember, work hard, have fun & be good for your grown-ups but most importantly keep safe & be happy! 

Take care and much love to you all.

Mrs Babcock

(PS to all the grown-ups, I am missing our daily chats too!)

Home Learning Monday 11th May 2020

Another week has soon gone by and I hope you are all taking things easy at home with a bit of learning along the way!  This week our Africa theme continues.  We are looking at the story Handa's Surprise in school and you can access the animated version of the story on line at home via the link below.  All our activities are based around this story set in Kenya in Africa.  Please send  photographs of the learning you have completed. I would love to put the pictures onto the class webpage. 

Activity One

Watch and listen to the story on YouTube.  Questions to ask : Can you remember the names of the fruits?  Which animals took which fruits? Why was the title of the story Handa's Surprise?  What was the surprise in the end?   Can Handa tell what is happening to the fruits in her basket as she goes on her journey to meet Akeyo?  What animals and insects can the children spot hiding in the pictures?  Can the children remember the special words used to describe each fruit, e.g. ripe, red mango, creamy, green avocado. 

Activity Two

Make an African styled Paper Plate Necklace (see image below)  See if you and your child can make one each with a lovely bright pattern

Activity Three

Make a Handa's Surprise Wooden Spoon Puppet (see image below).  Retell the story with your own puppets.  All you need is a wooden spoon or two and some felt tip pens to draw on the faces and features of your character.  You might want to get crafty and use materials to create the bodies...it's up to you! 

Activity Four

Paint a picture of one of the animals from the story, or of Handa and Akeyo

Activity Five

Count the fruit you have at home.  How many apples/oranges are in your fruit bow

Home Learning Monday 4th May 2020

Hello children, parents and carers!

Another week has gone by, we are all keeping safe and the sun is shining again!  I look forward to the day we can all be together again.

Over the next three weeks we are going to be learning about Africa.  We are starting by finding out about the different animals you might see on an African Safari.  The next two weeks will be focusing on the story Handa's Surprise about a little girl from Kenya who has quite a surprise when she finishes her journey to see Akeyo, but more about that next Monday!

Our Keyworker children are going to follow the same learning as you, so do, do have a go, send me the pictures so we can share our learning with each other.  Here are the suggested activities to do at home.

Activity One: Research the animal ‘Giraffe’, can you find out any facts about it? Use YouTube videos or any non-fiction books that you have at home. Can you draw or paint a picture of a giraffe? Remember the very tall neck! Can Mum or Dad help you to write a fact about a Giraffe?

See what other animals live in Africa, find out as many facts as you can!

Activity Two: Can you move like a giraffe?  Stretch your arm up high for the neck and bend your fingers to make the head.  Walk tall and proud pretending to eat the leaves off the trees!  Create your own Giraffe Dance!

Activity Three: Make some safari binoculars, you will need these when you go on your safari hunt! Watch the clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgh8xvs5jDg, you can look through your binoculars and see lots of animals, maybe you could draw your favourite animal!  

Activity Four:  Can you make a safari jeep.  Use your chairs, cushions, boxes, find something circular for your steering wheel and pack your dolls and teddies at the back to take them on the safarai.  Look out for lions through your binoculars on the way!

Activity Five:  Practise writing your name

Activity Six: Play I spy with my little eye a safari animal beginning with....L lion, s, snake, m, monkey and so on.  Help your children to hear the first sound in each word.

Home Learning Monday 27th April

Hello children.  What wonderful weather we have been having. I do hope you have all had chance to go on a daily walk over the last week to enjoy the sunshine. I have just finished a week in school with our Keyworker children.  We drew pastel spring flowers and did lots of gardening.  We planted pumpkins, so hopefully when you are all in Reception next year we will have our very own to make pumpkin soup in the Autumn!  Did any of you start to grow a plant at home?  Do let me know.

Also, take a look at the links above.  Tiny Happy People is a great site produced by the BBC to support teaching and learning of communication and language skills so crucial to the development of children from birth to 5.  And, Think U Know provides activities, support and advice for keeping safe on line. 

Activity One

This week I would like you to try; a junk modelling challenge!  What could you make from a toilet roll?  In school this week our Nursery and Reception children are going to make rockets...why not have a go at home?  Below is a picture for you to use as a guide, but you can find your own creative ways.  Send me a picture of the finished model.  Parents, focus on language of shape...can the children name the shapes you have used, e.g. cylinder, cone, square, rectangle, triangle.  How many sides or faces, corners, edges do the shapes have?

Activity Two

Count to 10 and back..blast off your rocket into space!

Activity Three

Write the numbers 1 - 10 in chalk on the pavement.  Jump up and down, counting forward and back.  Parents ask the children, can you jump to the number that is one more than (6), one less than (5) and so on.

Activity Four

Make some number cards to 10 with paper, get the children to cut them out and put them in order, count up and down.

Activity Five

Watch clips on 'youtube' of rockets going into space, talk about the names of the planets.

Activity Six

Draw a picture of you as a space astronaut in your rocket going to the moon.

As always, do send me any pictures of work you have done.  I would love to put them onto the webpage. 

Home Learning Monday 6th April

Hello children!  I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.  Today would normally be the beginning of our Easter Holidays, so for the next couple of weeks the activities I am going to give you are mainly for fun and to help you to celebrate Easter with your families. 

Do send me photographs if you can of any learning you are doing at home, I miss you all and it would be lovely to see your happy smiling faces. Also for fun I have added some videos of our daily Nursery songs and the story of 'Mrs Wiggle and Mrs Waggle' for you to join in with. These can be found on the YNAM page. 

Activity One

Below you will see a photograph of a jigsaw I have completed at home.  It had 1000 pieces and took me several days to complete!  The picture is of Peter Rabbit and his friends from the books by the wonderful author Beatrix Potter.  Your challenge is to name all of Peter Rabbit's friends shown in the picture.  Email me your answers, and after the holidays I will put the correct names on the webpage. 

Activity Three

Spring Walk

On your daily walk, why not look out for some signs of Spring:  

1. Blossom trees
2. Daffodils
3. Tulips
4. Crocuses
5. Buds on trees and plants
6. Green leaves on trees
7. Listen out for birds singing and gathering items to build nests
8. Feel the cool spring breeze on your face
9. Look out for sunshine and rain, and maybe a 'rainbow', daffodils, buds on plants, listen out for the birds singing as they get ready preparing their nests, grass growing, 

Draw or paint pictures of what you see and perhaps send me a photograph of your work

Activity Four

Chocolate Easter Nest Cakes

Activity Five

Decorate an Egg Competition

Use an egg or anything else you have, to make one on the theme of a bible character or story. When you have finished send a photograph to my email address and I will choose a winner for our class.  All photo's to be received by Tuesday 14th April.

Home Learning  Monday 30th March 

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well and taking care to keep safe. I am missing you all, but hope now that you have access to my email we can all keep in touch. Do let me know what you have been learning at home and parents I am here for you to ask any questions about how to support learning at home.  I've been busy helping out at school with the keyworker children and at home spending time tidying up the house!  My cats Cooper and Pixie have been getting lots of extra attention from me!  

This week I would like to tell you about the Twinkl website.  They are offering free access to their resources. Simply sign up and enter the passcode   UKTWINKLHELPS.  I suggest you look at the Phase One Phonics activities on Twinkl.  They have a nice selection of morning starters focusing on tuning into sounds. 

Also, do log into the free online games site www.topmarks.co.uk. We use this in the Nursery, they have lots of fun counting and shape games for early years that the children will be familiar with.  In Nursery we focus mainly on becoming secure recognising, counting and ordering numbers to 10 so look for the games that focus on this aspect.

There are some fun activities using washing up bowls in the TTS Pack uploaded for you last week. Go to pages 12 -14 for these activities. 

Don't forget to keep singing Nursery Rhymes, clapping or tapping to the beat as you sing and keep reading and sharing stories.

Finally...have you drawn or painted a rainbow and put one in your window?  The rainbow is a sign of hope and a reminder that we will all be together again soon. If you have created one, do send me a photo and I will put it on our class page.

Lots of love to you all

Mrs Halligan

Mrs Halligan - Class Teacher

Mrs Babcock - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Cooper - Management Cover Teacher Thursdays

Ms Blair - Management Cover Teacher Friday PM

Miss Jones - Apprentice Teaching Assistant

Mrs Croasdale - Learning Support

Home Learning Support

Monday 23rd March 2020

Hello everyone!   I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine today.  Every week I will be providing a challenge for you to do at home with your parents and carers.  This week take a look at the TTS Early Years Activity Pack, pages 6 - 11 - Playdough Activities.   See if you can make some playdough, then find some interesting items from your house to create prints and patterns.. There are lots of other ideas you can try too!

I have also provided a link to Oxford Owls ebooks and learning activities.  This is a great site as it links to the Oxford Reading Tree scheme we use in school and there are lots of free learning resources.  Have a go at the ebooks in the 3-4 age group lilac (no words) and/or pink (beginning readers) bands.  

To keep a record of your time learning at home, perhaps you could keep a scrapbook of the things you have done, in the form of photos of activities, drawings, colourings etc. Mum or Dad could scribe a little about your learning.  It's up to you, but it would be lovely to share in Nursery when you return.

Happy learning!

Love and best wishes Mrs Halligan

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/

Information

Welcome to St Paul's Nursery! 

We hope your child  will be very happy here in this very important and exciting first step on their learning journeys.  We are looking forward to working with all Parents and Carers in supporting their children.  Our door is always open so, if you ever have any questions or concerns, do please talk to our staff , we are always happy to help. 

Afternoon Nursery starts at 12:30pm and finishes at 3:30pm

Nursery Learning Challenges

Ourselves:  Who are the people in my family?

 Transport:  How do we get around?

Winter and Polar Lands: Who lives in the North and South Poles?

Down on the farm:  What happens on a farm?

Africa:  Where in the world is Africa?

Out of this world!   What can you see beyond the clouds?

TUCK

Tuck money is payable every Monday. your £1 pays for your child to have snack and for any occasional extra bits that may be needed to enhance children's learning, e.g. arts and crafts resources, baking ingredients, party food, role play resources. Unfortunately if we do not receive enough contributions towards tuck, we may have to start providing it only to those who do pay.

LIBRARY BOOKS

Every Friday your child will receive a library book to take home and share with you. Please read this story with your child - sharing stories is important in developing your child's early reading skills. Your child needs to have their book bag in school. If they don't then unfortunately we are unable to provide your child with a book.

PEBBLES PENGUIN

Each Friday, Pebbles Penguin will be given to someone who has tried very hard to be kind, caring and helpful all week. A book will be sent home for you to record your child's weekend with Pebbles.  This can be in the form of photographs, drawings and writing. Your child will be given a special certificate to keep.  Please bring Pebbles and her book back on the Monday so we can share her news with the class. Every child will have the opportunity to take Pebbles home at some point during the year.

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers, catering for children from birth to

five, must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.  It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children's school 'readiness' and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

(EYFS Statutory Framework (2018)

There are seven areas of learning and development that shape educational programmes in the early years.  All areas are important and cross over.  The first three areas engage children's curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, they help children to make healthy relationships, build an ability to learn and achieve.   These three areas are called the Prime Areas and are:

• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development 

The Prime Areas are strengthened and applied in the next four areas which are known as the Specific Areas:

• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

More information on the EYFS curriculum can be found in our Nursery booklet.