Welcome to Raindrops Class Page

A very warm welcome from:

                                       Mrs Gajjar, Ms Piskova and Mrs Sheldrake

This is where you will be able to follow what we are doing in class, see our activities, find out about our topics and learn more about the curriculum.

wb 20.3.23

This week we read Harry and The Bucketful of Dinosaurs. We had lots of buckets of dinosaurs around the class to play with and count and to role play the story. We had dinosaurs in ice eggs which melted as we played with them! There were dinosaur skeletons in the sand and dinosaur bones to make our own skeletons with!

At Forest School we took our magnifying glasses and binoculars and looked closely at all the things we could find in the forest.

On our loose parts table, we counted items into 5 and 10 frames and we made designs on crosses for Easter.

On Friday, we drew our own dinosaurs or cut out dinosaur body parts and made our own strange dinosaurs!

Another busy week in Nursery!

wb 13.3.23 

This week we read a lovely book called The Girl and The Dinosaur. It was about a little girl who dug up some bones and made a dinosaur skeleton which came to life at night! The dinosaur took her to a dream island in the clouds. Mrs Gajjar brought in some 'dinosaur bones' and we tried to see if we could make a skeleton!

We built dinosaurs from blocks and found out hog a dinosaur's stride was! It was 3 metres and our strides were only 20cm! We put our feet inside a dinosaur's footprint to see how many of our feet fitted in it!

We made some cards and pictures for our mums for Mother's Day.

wb 6.3.23

Our book this week was called Dinosaur Roar. We learnt about opposites and listened to the rhyming language in the book. We did bark rubbings in Forest School and thought about the textures we could find.

Later in the week, we made our own volcano! It was so much fun to see it erupting!

We made dinosaur fossils in playdough and looked at the bones inside the dinosaur.

wb 27.2.23

Our book this week was called 1,2,3 Do The Dinosaur! It was a rhyming book with a Dinosaur Dance to copy. We had lots of fun doing the ROAR!

In Forest School we went hunting for dinosaurs and we ticked them off a list as we found them. Everybody found 5 dinosaurs but it took a long time to find the 6th one! It was hiding really well in the forest!

We played a 2D shape game on the interactive whiteboard and then made dinosaur pictures from 2D shapes. We used some shapes that were already cut but we could also cut out our own shapes. Some of us made our own dinosaurs and others used a printed picture to stick the shapes onto.

In Fab Science we had lots of fun! We were able to touch the bubbles made from dry ice and then we tried to hold a cloud! Finally, we went outside to watch some lemonade and mint sweets make a super explosion! Everyone was very excited!

On Friday we put on our wellies and stepped in paint to make lots of footprints like dinosaurs used to make.

It was a busy week!

wb 20.2.23

This week saw the beginning of our topic Dangerous Dinosaurs! We read a book called Tyrannosaurus Drip and afterwards we had fun cutting out the words such as teeth and tail to label a dinosaur and also found matching pairs of dinosaurs.

In Maths we read a book called Hide-O-Saurus. This was a counting book about dinosaurs playing hide and seek. We had to find 10 dinosaurs. Then we counted dinosaurs and tried to find the matching number.

We had the musical instruments out on Thursday and we sang and played along to lots of our favourite songs.

Finally on Friday, we made and printed dinosaurs out of paper plates.

We celebrated Mardi Gras on Pancake Day. You can see our craft activities for this on our RE page. We had lots of fun having Pancake Day races and eating pancakes at snack time!

It was a busy week!

wb 6.2.23

This week was Feel Good Week! We had a great time doing lots of different activities!

On Monday we went to see some farm animals who were visiting the school. There was a donkey, 3 goats, 3 rabbits, a pig, a sheep and a dog! We were allowed to pet them.

On Tuesday we went to the Food Tech room and made some Rocky Road cake. 

On Thursday we had our scooter and Trim Trail time. That was fun!

Our book this week was Elmer The Elephant. We learnt about how different Elmer is from other elephants and that it is good that we are all different. We did lots of colour sorting, collage and colouring and making patterns with colours.

It was a busy tiring week and we're all ready for half term!!

wb 30.1.23

"He has terrible tusks and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws! He's the Gruffalo!"

We read The Gruffalo this week and learnt The Gruffalo Song with Makaton signing.

We matched the animals in the story to their homes and counted prickle on the Gruffalo's back! We also practised writing over numbers 1-5. We went to the Trim Trail a couple of times and practised climbing, swinging and balancing. On Friday we made chocolate Gruffalo cakes and ate them!!

WB 23.1.23

This week was all about the story Room on The Broom! This is a rhyming book with a repetitive chorus so we were able to join in. We made potions and wands and talked about the animals in the story. We found things to put in a pot to make a magic spell in Forest School and stirred the pot. We also made edible wands using breadsticks, jam and sprinkles! Everybody loved them and they were all soon eaten!

In Maths we measured things using cubes and made witch faces from 2D shapes!

We made up our own prayer this week, to pray for people who are sick.

WB 16.1.23

This week we learnt the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. We did lots of size ordering in the class. We measured chairs, beds and bowls! We talked about big, medium and small and tried some nice warm porridge at snacktime! (Well, some of us did!)

We made bear masks and collaged bear faces. Tearing paper for the collage was a new skill for us.

wb 9.1.23

Welcome to all our new Nursery children who started in Raindrops this week! It has been lovely getting to know you all and to see you exploring the Nursery setting.

This week we have been listening to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We have talked about what happens in the story and then sequenced pictures from the story.

We have counted cakes into a basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to Grandma and we have told the story to each other using puppets and small world characters.

On Friday we made bread rolls and flowers to take to Grandma!

WB 12.12.22

We began the week with a Snow Day! Some of our children did the online learning that we set and went outside to build a snowman! See pictures below.

We have been very busy this week making things to take home for Christmas! We have made cards, calendars, wreaths, and lots more! Look out for everything coming home next week.

12.12.22 SNOW DAY!

This week in Maths we are looking at patterns. Play these games (links below) and ask your child to identify the next shape needed. This will follow on from our work on 2D shapes last week. To extend the activity, ask your child to identify shapes around the house; circle clock, rectangle TV, triangle Christmas tree, square box etc.

Here are a couple of interactive pattern games that your child could do today:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/christmas-patterns

and a Christmas Decorate The tree activity;

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/christmas/decorate-tree

Outdoor Learning: Go outside and make a snowman! Take a picture and email it to me! 

sgajjar@sphoward.herts.sch.uk

wb 21.11.22

We based a lot of our learning on the story "Don't Hog The Hedge!" this week. It was about a hedgehog who wanted to hibernate, but kept being disturbed by his friends who wanted to share the hedge. We acted out the story using puppets.

We had great fun playing the musical instruments and singing along!

We made playdough and clay hedgehogs as well painting hedgehogs with a fork! We collected leaves to make hedgehogs and at Forest School, we made hedgehog houses.

We did more travelling moves during PE and learnt to use a 5 frame in Maths to help us count up to 5 items.

It was a busy week!

wb 14.11.22

This week was World Nursery Rhyme Week. We had lots of fun learning the rhymes and doing lots of varied activities!

Monday: The Big Ship Sails on the Alley Alley Oh. We learnt the rhyme with actions and then practised walking the plank and making telescopes. In PE we practised our travelling skills.

Tuesday: BINGO. We sang the song and learnt the Makaton signs for dog, name and Bingo.

Wednesday: 1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught A Fish Alive. Today we went fishing for magnetic numbered fish and learnt the rhyme.

Thursday: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We sang the rhyme and made beautiful silver stars for our Christmas display in the hall.

Friday: Five Little Speckled Frogs. We acted out the rhyme with our toy speckled frogs and printed speckled frogs.

It was a really busy week with lots to learn!

Wb 7.11.22

We began the week by reading Leaf Man - a story about a man made out of leaves, who blows across the land and sees lot of different sights. We used leaves to make a Leaf Man in the tuff spot and collected lots of lovely coloured leaves when we went to Forest School. 

Mr Syme came to do PE with us and we practised following each other on different obstacles.

We worked on recognising numbers to 5 this week and tried to peg numbered leaves onto a washing line in order!

On Friday it was Remembrance Day. We watched a lovely story on Cbeebies about a rabbit living in a field where the poppies grew. We made our own poppies and also did some printing to create poppy fields.

WB 31.10.22

This week we began to look at the changes that happen in Autumn. We read a book about a hedgehog who was disturbed from his hibernation by fireworks! It was called Remember, Remember the Fifth of November.

We did some dance to music with scarves, pretending to be fireworks and making the noises that fireworks make. We used salad spinners to make firework pictures. We used coloured chalk on black paper to make more fireworks pictures and covered ourselves in coloured powder paint when we mixed it with our fingers!

We used conkers and acorns to count and to try to match the quantity we had to a number.

                         Mental Health Week

On Monday we all came to school wearing something YELLOW, but why? We chatted with the children about how important it is to be nice and to be kind to each other and to look after our friends if they are sad or hurt. We all agreed that we would make sure that we all stayed happy by looking after each other.

At the end of the chat we gave our fiends a big hug.

                 Physical Development in Nursery

This is such an important area within the Early Years curriculum and we encourage the children to be active whenever possible, especially when they are outside. Being able to swing, balance, crawl, climb and travel up and down equipment is necessary for both gross and fine motor development.

This week the children were introduced to the Trim Trail, where they were able to use the equipment, being shown how to stay safe and stay within the area. They really enjoyed showing us their skills, how they could climb, balance or swing. This is a great way to build confidence too and each achievement no matter how small is praised. 

Well done Raindrops.

3rd October

  'Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread Man.'

The children had great fun this week joining in with our story about the Gingerbread Man, they quickly learnt which animals were met along the way and how the Fox was very naughty because he tricked the Gingerbread Man. They were also very sad that in the end he was eaten by the Fox.

We made playdough Gingerbread Men and collaged some outlines. For snack time the children each made their own decorated biscuit faces.

26th September

It was a bit of a spooky week in Raindrops as the children were welcomed into class by a very large skeleton, but it wasn't for Hallowe'en.

We were looking at our bones and why we need them. The children enjoyed looking at x-ray pictures and helping to make their own bony body pictures using cotton buds. They also did some work outside, drawing around their bodies with chalk.

We watched Funny Bones and read skeleton stories together. Afterwards we could colour in some skeleton pictures or make bones out of playdough.

19th September

This week we opened the door to two new friends in the class: Hinaya and Ire. We would like to welcome them and their families.

The children enjoyed looking at their baby photos this week and we chatted about how much they had grown. We looked at the colour of their eyes, hair and skin and we talked about who had brothers and sisters.

We watched Number blocks and joined in with lots of number games and rhymes using our fingers to count to 10. They were introduced to number 1.

We also had lots of fun doing some dancing in the classroom and learnt how to listen to the music to know when to FREEZE as it stopped.

12th September

It was our first full week together as a class and we are enjoying building new friendships. Each morning we take part in our circle time activities where we answer our names when the register is taken and then sing 'Who came to school today' which helps us to learn the names of our friends and teachers.

We have been able to use the inside and outside area this week and lots of us have already chosen our favourite activities.

We have helped to make some artwork to put up in the hall for a display which will focus on the artist Kandinsky, using lots of Autumnal colours and different sized circles. We would also like to thank Mrs Markowicz for helping us to put up our class display of all the photographs of ourselves.

5th September 2022

Over the past few days the children have been settling into the routines of the classroom and outside area. It has been lovely to be able to welcome our new families to Raindrops as well as seeing some of the older children return with smiles on their faces.

We have played, talked, sung songs, sat for carpet time, shared stories and learnt the actions and words of our class prayer.