2-3: The Discovery Hub

Outdoor Learning

The children have shown an interest with joining in playing hide and seek in the garden. As a member of staff counted, the children worked together to find spaces where they could hide, commenting “shhh” as they hid. The children have been taking turns with the staff as they waited for staff to hide and then searched the area together. During the interaction, the children using lovely language such as

“you hiding”

“there you are”

“shhh…hide”

“me turn hide”

There has been an interest with making music in the garden as the children explored tapping the spoons against the metal rails and the pans, on the fence. As we develop our outdoor space, the children have enjoyed performing singing nursery rhymes on the ‘stage’. Following their interest, we added some musical instruments to the space and the children loved using these as they sang their favourite rhymes.

Playing and Exploring and Active Learning

This week, we have explored real food items in the home corner. The children have enjoyed exploring food items, as they begin to label items they can recognise such as “carrot”, “apple”, “orange”. Some of the children noticed that there was a “big orange” and a “small orange”.

We explored looking at fruit and vegetables, beginning to discuss where we find the items. We discussed how the fruit and vegetables come from the “shop” and we thought about where the shop will get them from, with children commenting “farm”. When looking at the potatoes and carrots, the children noticed that they were “dirty”, which led to a lovely discussion about the vegetables growing in the ground. We then moved onto looking at satsuma’s, and the children had a go with peeling the skin. The children helped to cut the “big orange”, practising being safe while using the knife. Some of the children noticed the juice dripping from the orange and we explored squeezing the juice out of the orange and into a bowl. The children explored smelling all of the fruits and commented their opinion on the food item.

On Friday, we explored cutting open the pumpkins to see what would be inside. The children explored using spoons and their fingers to scoop out the seeds. We predicted what we would find inside and the children predicted “chocolate” and “toys”. The children helped Emma to use the knife safety to cut the top off the pumpkin.

Communication and Language

This week there has been many opportunities for developing language and communication in nursery through the experiences provided. Staff have introduced new vocabulary to describe across the week and it is lovely to hear the children beginning to use some of the descriptive language. We have been exploring looking at real pumpkins this week, following the child’s interests in the pumpkins in our autumn area. The children have enjoyed the chance to have a hands-on experience exploring lifting the pumpkins. We introduced language to describe the pumpkin as “heavy”, “big” and “small”. Some of the children noticed that we could roll the small pumpkins, as they passed them to their friends.

Staffing updates

On Monday, more members of our staff team took part in ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ training session. A School of Sanctuary is a school that is committed to being a safe, welcoming, and inclusive place for everyone — especially for people seeking sanctuary. We look forward to continuing this training and to promoting a sense of inclusion and belonging for all of our families.

Next week, Deborah is on annual leave on Monday and Emma is on annual leave on Friday.

Parents as Partners

This week our song of the week has been Hickory Dickory Dock.

Please sign up with your key person or send them a message via Famly to arrange a meeting. We are offering some sessions during the half term holiday for the children who access sessions in the holidays. We will then be continuing with the consultations after the holidays with plenty of availability.

Nursery will be closed for the children who access term time only for the half term holiday, during the week Monday 27th October – Friday 31st October.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Nursery Team