Welcome to Nursery 2

At Timberley, we offer part time places for 3 to 4 year olds. We aim to provide high quality care and education for children. If you would like your child to attend our setting, please complete an application form and return it to the school office.

Attendance

At Timberley Nursery, we expect children to attend every session. We know that regular attendance is directly linked to raising achievement, helps build skills for life, developing children's confidence and helping them make and keep lasting friendships.

Attending Nursery gives your child a valuable introduction to school. It gives them the opportunity to develop their skills and mix with others of their own age. Establishing regular routines  at an early age is extremely important. It will benefit both you and your children as they progress through their school life and limit the chances of poor attendance, which may have a negative effect on their enjoyment and achievement.

Evidence has shown that children who have a smooth and positive start at school remain high achievers throughout their primary education and beyond.

Remember:

• If your child does not attend regularly they may lose their nursery place. If they cannot attend for any reason, always let staff know.
• You can help your child to have a positive time at school by making sure they attend regularly and on time.

Tuesday 14th July

Hello again Nursery . It is hard to believe we are now in the last week of the school year and it is so very long since we saw you all in Nursery. As it is almost the summer holidays, hopefully you can now get out and about a little more - maybe even visit the beach! Let's hope it doesn't rain too much! 

Remember, if you are a bit stuck for ideas of things to do, just have a scroll down our class page and maybe revisit some of the activities and websites you have visited before or maybe some that you have missed. All of the websites such as BBC bitesize still have tons of activities you can do at home and will do all through the holidays. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

A new website to have a look at is Tiny Happy People, which has lots of ideas of things you can do with your families and songs you can sing together too. Why not give it a try?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

We have missed seeing you all so much and all the fun we had each day as we played and learnt together. We really hope you have enjoyed spending time with your families and have been able to have some fun together. It was lovely to see some of you when you came to collect your reports - how you have all grown!!

Some of you will be leaving Timberley to start Reception in new schools - we are so sorry to see you go but are sure we will see you again soon with your younger brothers and sisters!

The children starting Reception at Timberley will still be seeing us around school and we will make sure to come and say hello in September! 

We know you will ALL be superstars 

Some of you will see us back in Nursery in September too - we can't wait! 

We have loved having you all in Nursery this year and will miss you all. Stay safe and be happy.

Love from Mrs Clarke, Mrs Howcroft and Miss Pritchard  

Monday 6th July

Hello Nursery! We hope you are all well and enjoying spending this time with your families.

Hopefully you will be able to get out and about a bit more now which will be lovely, let's hope the sun comes out again soon too!

Don't forget, if you need some ideas of activities you can do at home, have a look at Twinkl.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/home-learning-hub

Now we are into Summer and soon the summer holidays, why not do things with a summer theme? They have lots of activities you can do such as under the sea yoga, a gardening activity pack, butterfly craft and how to make banana ice cream! Sounds delicious! 

Some great summer stories you can watch and listen to are:

Kipper at the seaside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dCdT6tN3WY

Commotion in the ocean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pRhgZ8Jffs

Why not see what summer stories you can find and let us know your favourites?

We are missing you all very much and hope you are keeping safe and happy.  

Monday 29th June

 Hello again Nursery!  We hope you are all safe and well and were able to enjoy the sun safely last week, though it was VERY hot!! This week should be a little bit cooler which will be better. We are nearly into July, this time we have not been in school together has gone by so quickly and we have really missed seeing you all every day. In September, most of you will be in Reception and so grown up! We know you will all continue to be Superstars and do brilliantly in your new classes. 

While you are still at home, you could have a look at the Oak Academy website. They have lots of ideas and activities for children in Reception so why not have a look and see what you think.

https://classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-year/reception

Now that more places are able to open, we hope you will be able to get out and about more with your families. Why not try a visit to one of the zoos we looked at online a while ago when they were closed? It would be great if you could maybe draw a picture of your favourite animal and send it to us.

Children's Art Week

The next 3 weeks are art weeks for children to make pictures by drawing, painting, collaging - any way you want! The first week is the natural world, so have a look around and see what you would like to make a picture of!

https://engage.org/happenings/childrens-art-week/

We hope you are all keeping happy and well and are enjoying time with your families. We hope to see you all soon 

Monday 22nd June

Hello Nursery!  We hope you are keeping well and have been able to get outside in between all the rain we had last week! Fingers crossed the weather will be better this week.

Lots of you in Nursery will be starting in Reception in September, which will be very exciting! We will be very sad to see you go but realise you will soon be too grown up for Nursery! There are lots of things you and your grown up can do to get ready for Reception, like practicing putting on your own coat and shoes and doing them up, using a knife and fork to eat your meals, as well as counting and listening to stories. Twinkl have some good ideas for things you can practice at home so have a look and see what you think.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-tp-1297-starting-school-skills-parent-and-carer-information-sheet

Sadly, as we are not all at school, we won't be able to have our super Sports Day this year But you could have one at home with your family! . We usually have a running race, which is easy to do; an egg and spoon race - you will need to ask a grown up to hard boil it first!; a bean bag in a bucket race - you could collect teddies and put them in a bowl! Have a Sports Day with your family and let us know who wins and any other races you can think of (We think all of you will beat the grown ups! )

Don't forget BBC bitesize is still available for you to have a look at. Lots of it is for bigger children but there are some games that you can play. We really liked Bud's Number Garden which helps you to recognise numbers and put them in the right order.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

We really hope to see you all soon and hope you have a great week with your families. Stay safe, well and happy .

Monday 15th June

Hello again to all you fabulous Nursery children!! We hope you are all well and happy and have been able to get outside to play and have fun despite the very loud thunderstorms last night!

We have been able to speak to most of you on the telephone again this week - remind your grownups to keep their phones on and to answer it when it rings, as we love to hear your voices and hear what you have been up to at home!

As the weather is - hopefully - going to be warmer again, it might be a good idea to look at the Wildlife Trusts website as they are running 30 Days Wild during June. It doesn't matter that June has already started, as there are tons of ideas for activities you can do at home, such as making a nature table, hedgehog cupcakes and a poster to colour in! Take a look and see what you think!

https://action.wildlifetrusts.org/page/57739/petition/1

Somewhere else you can look for lots of ideas of activities is The Imagination Tree. There are lots of maths, literacy, physical, creative and science activities you and your family might like to do together. Take a look and decide if you want to do some - or all! - of them!

https://theimaginationtree.com

Remember everyone, take care, stay safe and look after each other. We hope to see you all very soon 

Monday 1st June

Hello again to everyone in Nursery!

What lovely, sunny weather we have had the last few days! We hope you have been able to get out into your gardens and the park to play some games and have fun! From today, we can meet more of our family and friends outdoors, which is lovely as we have missed seeing them so much. Remember to stay 2 metres apart though, to make sure everyone stays safe.

The Big Lunch: the Big Lunch is organised every year by The Eden Project in Cornwall, which is a fantastic place to visit when we are allowed to go on holiday! This year it is over next weekend the 6-7 June, though it will have to be a little different due to social distancing. If you have a look at the website, it gives you lots of ideas on how you can take part, like hanging up bunting or joining your neighbours for a biscuit in your gardens! Sounds great fun and we will all certainly be taking part!

https://www.edenprojectcommunities.com/sites/default/files/ways_you_can_join_in.pdf

Phonics: We have mentioned the videos that Read, Write Inc show on their YouTube channel before but this is to let you all know that the lessons start again from today! In Nursery, we were learning the Set 1 sounds, so take a look and join in! They start at 9.30 each day and each lesson is available for 24 hours.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCo7fbLgY2oA_cFCIg9GdxtQ

We hope you are and your families are all staying safe, well and happy. We look forward to seeing you all soon and how much you have grown!! 

Tuesday 26th May

Hello again everyone!  How are you all? We hope you are safe, well and happy and have been able to enjoy the sunshine! The weather forecasters say it's going to be lovely and warm all week so here is just a reminder of how to stay safe in the sun but still have fun!

https://soltansunready.com/for-families/summer-life-hacks-keeping-the-kids-entertained

This site has loads of ideas for activities you and your family can all do together, like building a den in the garden (we talked about this before but now it's warm outside it would be fun to do in the garden!) and having a competition to see who can find the biggest or smallest area of shade. Also to make sure you stay safe in the sun remember to:

SLIP on a t-shirt, SLOP on some sunscreen, SLAP on a hat.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/home-learning-hub

As we've mentioned before, Twinkl has TONS of activities and ideas of things you can do at home, the above shows you lots of different things you can do such as investigate shadows, phonics, numberblocks as well as much more so take a look!

We are telephoning you all again at the moment, so listen for that phone! Stay safe and well and we hope to see you all soon 

Thursday 21st May

Hello! We hope you are all well. What a gorgeous couple of days we have had this week with some lovely sunshine! Everything feels that little bit better when the sun is shining doesn't it? We really hope that you have been able to get out in your gardens or to the park to have a picnic, run around and have some fun! Paddling pools, water balloon fights, water pistols - how fantastic!

Of course, even though it is still only May we need to be careful, as the sun can easily burn our sensitive skin, especially as we are only small! The Soltan suncream website has got some great information to let your grownups know how to keep you safe in the sun. It also has some great activities to do together too!

https://soltansunready.com/for-families/top-tips-soltan-macmillan

Elmer Day - Saturday 23nd May: Saturday is Elmer Day! We all know the stories about Elmer the Elephant and how great it is that everyone is different and special. If we had been in school, we would be dressed in our most colourful clothes tomorrow with some super activities. But you can still do that! If you visit the Elmer website it has lots of great ideas for things to do and the author David McKee is reading the story of Elmer too! Have a great Elmer Day, stay safe and happy and we hope to see you soon 

https://www.elmer.co.uk/elmer-day/  

Monday 18th May

Hello Nursery!! We hope you are well and still smiling! We have spoken to everyone 3 times on the telephone now and it has been so lovely to hear you all. Everyone was happy to speak to us and share their news. You can see what we have been up to by watching the toilet roll challenge video at the top of the class pages! It was great fun to do and made us smile - we hope it made you smile too.

Hopefully it is going to be another sunny few days - if you can, get outside even for a little while.

As you know, we try to give you some ideas of activities you can do at home and this is one.

https://education.rspca.org.uk/home-resources

It has some great ideas of things you can make like an egg box animal, how to create some animal art and how to go on a minibeast adventure when you are outside. Why not take a look and give some - or all -

of them a try?

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

This is another great site to visit as although you are watching a screen, you are moving around too! We have tried some of these in Nursery and they were great fun, so have a try at home! There are lots to choose from, we wonder which will be your favourite?

https://nrich.maths.org/14588

This is another website that has lots of different ideas of maths activities you can do at home with a grownup such as making footprints in dough and a mud kitchen! 

We hope you can have a try at some of the activities we have found and remember, you can let us know how you get on by asking a grownup to send pictures to school by email or Twitter, we would love to see them!

We are missing you all so very much and hope to see you all again very soon. Stay safe, well and happy, love from Nursery 

Monday 11th May

Hello again! The start of another week - we hope you were able to get out in the sunshine of the last few days. It was gorgeous wasn't it? . We know from speaking to lots of you on the telephone on Friday that there were lots of plans for street parties - social distancing of course - to celebrate and remember VE Day. It was lovely to see all the bunting outside peoples houses and we hope you had a super time. 

If you want to learn a bit more about VE Day or complete some more activities, there are still some on the super Twinkl website. This is a fantastic website to visit as it has such a wide variety of things you can do.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/

Frogs and butterflies:

If we had been in Nursery, this would have been the time for our tadpoles and caterpillars to visit so we could watch them grow. Although we can't do this at the moment, there are still lots of ways you can learn about them at home.

YouTube has lots of stories and videos you can read and watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkCx29ll95A is about the life cycle of a frog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1S8WzwLPlM is about the life cycle of a butterfly.

The Woodland Trust also has super super ideas for activities you can do at home together too!

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/03/kids-nature-activities-self-isolation/

It shows you how to make a butterfly, a ladybird using a potato and how to go on a minibeast hunt!

We hope you can try some of these activities and have some fun! We will be telephoning those of you we haven't spoken to again this week, so as always - listen for the phone ringing!

Stay safe and happy and we hope to see you soon  

Tuesday 5th May

Hello again - how is everyone today? The weather is a little bit sunnier today which always makes us feel happier. We hope you will be able to get outside and enjoy the sun too.

We have another couple of ideas of websites you can visit that have some super games and stories for you.

https://www.barefootcomputing.org/homelearning

This is a great site that has lots and lots of different activities you can do at home. A lot of them are for older children but a great one we found was Barefoot Zoo which is one of the interactive learning games. You will need a grownup to play along so they can read the questions to you but it will make you think hard! We had a great time playing it - we hope you do too!

https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/

This is fantastic as it is all about books and stories which is something we love in Nursery! At the moment, the illustrator of the week is Axel Scheffler, the man who draws the wonderful pictures for stories like the Gruffalo and lots of others! He shows you have to draw Pip and Posy, 2 other characters he has drawn along with activity sheets you can download. There are loads of activities you can do so take a look!

Stay safe, well and happy, we hope to see you soon 

Friday 1st May

Hello again Nursery! We hope you are all well and have been able to get outside during this week, despite all the rain! We have been very busy on the telephone again and have managed to speak to the majority of you for the second time now which is fantastic! We are calling to make sure you are all safe and well when you are not in Nursery and because we miss you all and want to hear your voices! When we are in school next week we will call you again for a chat, so listen for that phone ringing 

We have given you lots of ideas for activities you can be doing while you are at home, but here are a couple more websites to help you practice your letter sounds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks

Alphablocks is very similar to Numberblocks that you all love but this helps you to learn the letter sounds. You will remember watching this at Nursery sometimes at snacktime, so have another look at home and help the grownups learn too!

https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/

This is another great site that is free to play while you are at home and it has lots of great games to help you learn. At the moment we are learning the Phase 1 sounds so have a look at those but you can obviously play whichever of the games you like!

Take care of yourselves and make sure you and your family stay safe and well. See you all soon - and listen out for the phone! 

Monday 27th April

Hello again all you wonderful Nursery children! How is everyone? We have been enjoying the sunshine and hope that you have too. 

As you all know, we love singing in Nursery and especially when the songs include Makaton signing too. The fantastic ladies at Singing Hands are brilliant and have taught us so much. Why not head over to their website and also YouTube to show whoever looks after you how much fun it is to learn. Then you can all sing and sign together!

https://singinghands.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/user/SingingHandsUK

There are all the songs we already know plus new ones for you to learn. There are some great stories on there too like The Very Hungry Caterpillar! Give it a try and have some fun! 

The Maths Factor is another fantastic website you can use to have fun while you learn. You would usually have to pay but it's free to use while all the schools are closed - how great is that! Count the Yeti was a game we really liked, have a look and see which is your favourite. 

https://www.themathsfactor.com/

Remember that we will all be telephoning you again, both to check that everyone is safe and well but mainly because we really miss seeing you each day. Take care of yourselves and your families and we hope to see you soon 

Friday 24th April

Hello  we hope you are all safe and well and have been able to enjoy this week of sunshine. We had such a nice time speaking to you all on the telephone over the last couple of weeks, it was lovely to hear your voices and how happy you were. We will be calling you all again when we are in school, so listen out for those phones ringing again!

We've come up with another couple of ideas for things you can do at home!

https://www.longleat.co.uk/news/longleat-launches-virtual-safari

Longleat is a fantastic Safari Park with a huge variety of animals. Have a look at their virtual tour and see if you can spot your favourite. 

How about making a den? We used to love doing this when we were younger, so give it a try!

All you need is a blanket and a couple of chairs. Drape the blanket over the backs of the chairs and there you go! You can add cushions, toys, books, whatever you like and you can make one indoors or out. You could even have a snack in there or sleep overnight if it is in your bedroom!

We hope you are having fun at home and most importantly staying safe. Take care and see you soon 

Monday 20th April

A big hello again to all you fantastic Nursery children! A super, sunny day again and hopefully for the rest of this week - we do hope you manage to get outside safely. 

We have got a couple of websites you can go onto which will give you some great games to play while you are learning!

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

If whoever looks after you clicks on the Early Years part of the site, under Popular subjects, there are some great maths games you can play such as Teddy Numbers and Underwater Counting. We have had a play today and they are really fun!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

This has lots and lots of different activities you can take part in, such as learning about the world around us by playing Pirate Bunnies and learning about minibeasts and dinosaurs!

Don't forget though that you can have fun and learn anywhere not just on a computer!

You can read a story, then maybe tell it to someone else in your family and act it out together.

Count how many people are having breakfast in your house - are they having the same or different things? Make some cakes - if you can get the ingredients! How many can you make and how many will be eaten - all of them we think!

Have a good look around you when you are outside and spot the birds busily making their nests and the trees and plants that are growing so quickly. Count how many butterflies you can spot and are they the same or different?

Most importantly, have fun and stay safe. We are all missing you and are really looking forward to when we are in Nursery again together. 

Thursday 16th April

Hello everyone! We hope you had a lovely Easter and that the Easter Bunny hopped by where you live! Did he leave any yummy Easter eggs and is there any chocolate left? We have all eaten the eggs he brought for us - they were delicious! 

We do hope that you are all keeping safe and well. We have telephoned everyone in Nursery now and spoken to lots and lots of you. It was so lovely to hear your happy voices and to hear about the things you have been getting up to at home like playing with your toys, playing football in the garden, making cakes, changing your bedrooms around and even looking for bats in your gardens!

A super place to visit even while we are at home is The Natural History Museum in London.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/virtual-museum.html

It has a special virtual tour which means you can look at everything close up without needing to leave home - how great is that?! There is lots to see like dinosaurs and a huge blue whale - have a look around and see which is your favourite!

We are all missing seeing you and hope we are back in Nursery before too long. Stay safe and take care 

Friday 10th April

Hello again to all you lovely Nursery children! We hope you are keeping well and are able to enjoy some of this lovely sunshine, either in your gardens or when out for a daily walk. 

It has been great to speak to some of you on the telephone and really nice to hear that some of you wish you were back at Nursery - we do too! We will try to call as many of you as possible when we are in school, so listen out for the phone!

It is Easter this weekend and you might like to do some Easter activities such as making an Easter basket. If whoever looks after you logs onto the Twinkl website, there are lots of different things you can do. 

Stay safe and happy and we hope the Easter Bunny visits you on Sunday! 

Monday 6th April

Hello everyone, we hope you are all happy and well.

Even though we can't go out to visit different places at the moment, as we need to stay home and stay safe, we can visit them online! Lots of places are making virtual tours so you can have a look around without leaving home! What about a visit to a zoo? You can have a good look around and see lots of different animals. We wonder which of the animals will be your favourites?

https://www.chesterzoo.org/virtual-zoo/

https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/panda-cam/

Maths Chase

https://www.mathschase.com/

This website has lots of great games for you to try at home.  Some of them are for older children so don't worry but have a try at the adding and taking away numbers. We know you are super mathematicians so have a go!! You can even change the character you are in the game - a rabbit, pirate, explorer, princess or robot!

Keep yourselves safe, well and above all happy!

Love from Nursery 

Friday 3rd April

Hello everyone! It is hard to believe it is already 2 weeks since we were last in Nursery together, we are all really missing seeing your happy, smiling faces every day!!

We hope you and your families are all managing to stay healthy and well. Some more ideas for things you can do at home!

Reading and book reviews:

All of you have really enjoyed taking your story sacks home each week to share with your families, reading the stories and playing the games. Whilst we can't send any story sacks home at the moment, you can still share a lovely book at home! Why not choose one of your favourite books, listen to a story on YouTube or the Bedtime Stories on Cbeebies? It would be great if you could do a book review too!! So many of you have got medals and trophies already so you know you just need to draw a picture of the favourite part of the story. You could even ask a grownup to email or tweet it to school so we can include it for other children in school to see! It would be great if you can keep your pictures too so we can see them when we come back to school.

Music:

In Nursery we LOVE to sing every day, both Nursery rhymes and other songs we have learnt too - we hope all  of you heard our Mother's Day song the children learnt before school closed! We really enjoyed our music lessons and Mrs Salt has sent school some ideas for activities the children can do at home - you can find them on the curriculum page on the school website.

Lastly, it's nearly the weekend! We hope you can use the opportunity to have some fun and games with your families.

Stay safe and look after yourselves, we will see you soon 

A very big hello to all of our Nursery children!!

We are all missing you very much and hope that you are all using your kind hands with your brothers and sisters and good listening to everyone looking after you! We are sure you are finding lots to do at home but we would like to give you some more ideas too. 

Phonics - all the children have been learning their letter sounds following the Read Write Inc programme (except the children that started with us in January as they will do phonics with us next year.) Each day on YouTube at 9.30 am and again at 12.30 pm there are videos teaching the Set 1 speed sounds which is what our children have been learning. They will help the children keep up to date and help them remember the sounds for when we return to school.

I-Spy - playing games of I-Spy at home will also support the children to think about the sounds that words begin with. 

Forest School - we are sure the children are missing the great fun they have when out at Forest School with Mr Herbert. However it is now Spring - a very exciting time of change that they can observe in the garden or when out for their exercise each day! Plants are growing, the birds are nesting, frog spawn is in the ponds! The children can look out for these things and maybe draw us a picture to show us back at school!

Maths - there are so many opportunities for counting each day; how many people are having breakfast, how many are children and how many are adults etc. The children love to watch Numberblocks on Cbeebies when at Nursery, which has excellent short episodes all about counting and recognising numbers.

P.E - as I'm sure most of you know, the children LOVE their P.E lessons each Friday!! There are numerous online activities to follow, with Joe Wicks doing an excellent session each morning at 9.00 on YouTube.

We would like to say to all our wonderful children - we are missing you and want you all to stay safe. Hopefully we will all be back together in our wonderful Nursery before too long!

See you soon! 

Forest School

All the children in Nursery 2 have an opportunity to go to Forest School. They go out once a week on a Wednesday for 6 weeks and have a great time! They can explore our fabulous outside area, do mud painting, make leaf kebabs and magic potions and climb muddy mountain! Best of all they can toast marshmallows on the camp fire to make a marshmallow sandwich - yummy!!  Take a look at some of the fun the children can have.