Welcome to Dragonflies Nursery Noticeboard

We hope you find the following information and photographs useful for keeping up to date with what is happening in your child's class. Remember to look at this page weekly for up to date information. 

Our topic for the Summer Term in morning Nursery is Nature Detectives. Please see the grid below for more information. We also ask for your support to carry out some activities at home. Please be reassured that you will have plenty of notice for home work activities. 

Important Dates

Sports Day-Thursday 16th May-This will take place on the school field (depending on the weather). AM Nursery-10:00am start. PM Nursery-1:30pm start.

PE-Every Tuesday for AM Nursery-Please can you send your child to school wearing their school polo shirt and jumper, trainers and either leggings, joggers or shorts. 

Please visit the news tab on the home page for other dates in our school calendar, including holidays and inset days.

Home Learning

Below are some tips for helping your child to learn to become a reader and to develop a love for literature and reading:

• Share and read a book with your child daily. It doesn't always have to be a story book. It could be a non-fiction book, a comic, a rhyme book or even a children's cookery book. 
• Whilst sharing a book with your child, allow time to talk about the pictures before reading the text. Before turning a page, ask your child to predict what they will see on the next page. This develops their imagination, as well as providing clues as to what the text says. 
• Read the text from top bottom, left to right. Encourage your child to point at and follow the text as you read. Their pointing may not be 100% accurate as you read, but it will train their eyes to start at the beginning.
• Point out punctuation as you read. For example, when you come to a full stop, ask your child what it is and then remind them that you have just read a sentence. Point out question marks and remind your child that you have just read a question. Then re-read the question, so your child develops their understanding of the concept of a question. Point out exclamation marks and then re-read the sentence/word again with a louder, more expressive voice.
• Some chidren's stories can be very repetitive and so the children quickly learn what to say when they see a picture. Praise your child for joining in with you as you read and this will help to boost their confidence. 
• When reading books with repetitive text, cover up some words. Ask your child to figure out what the words could be. This would involve them looking at the pictures, or you supporting them to read the rest of the sentence.
• Help your child to learn the sounds that have been sent home, in prepartion for decoding words. Remember, it is the sound your child is learning and not the letter name. As your child has been given many sound posters to use at home, may be you could stick the posters into a book, and then look through the book before story time each day, pointing at and saying the sounds.

Encourage your child to mark make as much as possible. It does not matter at this stage what the marks look like, it is the practise that counts and helps them to refine their hand-eye coordination. If your child is reluctant to use the usual mark making materials at home, try the following:

• Egg chalks (Can be purchased in Tiger or through Amazon)-Use outside or on giant rolls of paper to create roads and parking spaces for cars, draw plans for their construction.
• Paint brushes with pots of water-A good activity at bath/shower time. Have a go at writing secreting messages. Children often like to do this type of marking on a patio, fence or wall.

If your child is struggling with achieveing the correct grip whilst using a pen or pencil, short and chunky writing materials are better. For example, egg chalks and stubby crayons.

Developing Maths and Numeracy:

The key is to remember that Maths is a language, and for your child to have a good understanding of mathematical concepts, they need to be taught them in context. Below are some tips to help you "talk Maths" at home:

• Laying the table for dinner. How many people are eating dinner? So, how many plates etc do we need? Allow your child to lay the table, as this is also a mathematical concept.
• Cooking provides a wealth of opportunities for talking Maths-Swap your weighing skills for cups to measure, which will allow you to count how many. Discuss one more/less. Allow your child to set a timer.
• When you are out and about, look for numbers to develop number recognition. For example, on houses, number plates, price tags. At this stage, your child is only expected to recognise single digit numbers, but they can still identify single digits in 3 digit numbers. 
• Remember, numbers go backwards as well as forwards, so introduce a count down to signal an every day activity.
• Sorting every day items-This is can be practised when tidying away toys into boxes, making sure the toys are put away into the correct box. 
• Pairing socks before they are put away. 
• Discussing size in relation to toys, members of their family, feet. Also, when building with construction toys, think about building homes for toys.

Developing Welsh Oracy:

PLEASE CLICK HERE to listen to the Ffa la la songs that the children are singing in class.

On Monday 22nd April we celebrated Earth Day as a school by wearing something green and taking part in an "unplugged" activity during the session. The children enjoyed listening to the story, Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny, and then had a go at yoga themselves. The children enjoyed the session so much that they requested yoga as part of our provision. So, throughout the week, Mrs O'Leary has been taking groups of children for yoga under the canopy. We have also discussed how yoga, along with being out in nature, can help keep your body and mind healthy.

What challenges have we had in Nursery this week?

Rising 3 Nursery have a taste of the activities above. 

The children have been using nature in their play as part of our topic, Nature Detectives. They have enjoyed returning to mud kitchen and making treats for the creatures that live outdoors. 

Article 29 "Education should help you learn to look after and respect the environment."

The children have been exploring the concept of pattern and shape through looking at a variety of Henna patterns and then creating their own. They have also learnt about Eid and have written cards to give to those that celebrate. 

Article 29-Education should help you learn to respect other people.

The children have been finding out about the importance of recycling and reusing every day materials, as part of World Recycling Day. They have been sorting food packaging into the correct colour bin, and making funny characters by reusing containers that have been brought in form home.

Article 29-Education should help you learn to protect the environment.

Following on from World Book Day, the children have enjoyed taking part in "Drawing Club", using the story, Tuesday by David Wiesner, as a stimulus. They have been asked to imagine that they are a frog from the story, and then to think of and draw an  adventure they would like to have in the night when the humans are asleep. Below are some examples..........

Celebrating World Book Day by dressing up as a favourite book character.

Helping Hands-Helping you to find out about the culture of Wales.

Article 30-Children have the right to practice their own culture.

Throughout Welsh fortnight the children have taken part in a number of activities to find out about Wales and to develop their spoken Welsh.

Helping Hands-Helping to care for animals.

Throughout the fortnight the children have watched chicks hatch and grow! They have been fascinated by the process and have enjoyed sharing their obervations with their peers and adults. The chicks will be with us for another week, allowing us to watch them develop and to care for them. 

Helping Hands-Helping you to be healthy.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, the children have been learning the importance of eating healthily, in order to have a healthy brain. They have been following instructions to make their own fruit kebabs, and learning the skills of slicing, peeling and how to use a skewer safely.

Article 24-Children have the right to information to help them stay well.

Helping Hands-Helping you to be healthy.

The children have enjoyed taking part in a Dewi Dragon Challenge-Can you find out what is the most popular snack brought into Nursery? To carry out the challenge the children have learnt about sorting to gather information/data and have practised their counting skills. They have also found out that there are different ways to collect information/data and some ways are better than others.

Helping Hands-Helping you to be healthy.

The children have enjoyed being Scientists and investigating how germs spread. We used glitter to represent germs and sprinkled some glitter on a few children's hands. We then passed a ball around the circle and observed how the glitter quickly transferred onto the ball and everyones hands. We then discussed the importance of washing hands before eating and to prevent the spread of germs. We also learnt a song to help us remember how to wash our hands effectively:

Wash, wash, wash your hands,

Make them nice and clean,

Rub the bottoms and rub the tops,

And fingers in between. 

(To the tune of Row, row, row your boat.)

On Thursday 25th January the children celebrated Saint Dwynwen's Day. They enjoyed listening to the story of St Dwynwen and then creating their own heart, to remember that St Dwynwen wished everyone in Wales to have love and happiness.

The children have been enjoying their introduction to Squiggle. Squiggle is a writing program that we use to develop early writing skills. It focuses on developing gross motor skills, coordination and understanding the language associated with handwriting. The children work in small groups and begin each session by dancing a movement using scarves. After dancing, the children then move to the tables and create the movement on large sheets of paper. The children have be working on up, down, side to side and cross over.

Over the past weeks the children have been working in small groups and finding out about our new topic, Helping Hands. They have been identifying people who help us in the community and in an emergency. The children have also be practising being the teacher and asking questions-Who is this? How do they help us?

On Tuesday 19th December the children took part in a ballet session delivered by Miss Holly. They had a wonderful time learning to move to a variety of music, whilst developing their listening skills and ability to work as part of a group. Miss Holly runs classes in Swansea. If you are interested, her contact details are:

swansea@babyballet.co.uk

www.babyballet.co.uk

07868950401

As part of our topic, Myself & My Family, the children have been creating simple timelines to develop understanding of the terms "before" and "after". They have enjoyed looking at photos of themselves as babies and talking about how much they have grown.

 Week beginning 27.11.23-The children have been taking part in a whole school project using the story, Once Upon A Snowstorm by Richard Johnson, as a stimulus. The story has no words, so the children have had to use their imagination to retell the story using the illustrations. We are in the process of creating a dance to music to retell the story, which we will be performing at the end of next week. As part of developing their understanding of the story, the children have also enjoyed exploring white/snow mixtures, as well as using small world to role play the main events.

As part of our topic, Myself and My Family, the children have enjoyed working in small groups to talk about their favourite celebrations and to think about why they enjoy celebrating these events. In doing so, we are discussing that people can enjoy different things and that is okay. 

Article 30-Children have the right to practice their own culture.

Our focus for Anti-bullying Week in Nursery has been to celebrate diversity. On Monday the children were invited to wear odd socks to school for Odd Sock Day. Throughout the week the children have been working in small groups to compare their physical features-eye/hair/skin colour, height, size of hands/feet etc. The key message has been that we are all different and that is okay. 

"No outsiders! All different! All Welcome!"

The children have been finding out about Diwali by taking part in dancing, making their own diva lamps, creating mehndi patterns, making traditional sweets with dough and watching video clips. Here are some photos of the children learning a Diwali dance and making a diva lamp.....

The children have been celebrating everything orange........

Painting and drawing pumpkins, making pumpkins with play dough and decorating pumpins in the Creation Station. On Thursday 26th October we celebrated Action for Elders, by wearing something orange and collecting a voluntary contribution for the charity.

The children have been learning to put on their waterproof/outdoor clothing and wellies and exploring the mud kitchen.

Mental Health Awareness Day

The children explored the "I have" aspect of resilience. They worked in small groups to discuss who helps them at home as part of our topic, Myself and My Family. Below is an example of the posters each group created to display in the classroom......

The children have been putting on their wellies and waterproof clothing and exploring our school grounds, looking for signs of Autumn. They have enjoyed using the artefacts to set up an Autumn kitchen in our loose parts area.

The children celebrated Pupil Voice Week by voting for their favourite activity in Nursery. 

"Every child has the right to express their views in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously."

(Article 12-UNCRC)

The children enjoyed taking part in Roald Dahl Day, as part of learning about our "Cynefin". They enjoyed finding out about Roald Dahl and dressing up as their favourite character from a book/film.

The children enjoy taking part in PE sessions in the hall every Tuesday. This half term they are learning to travel around an assault course by moving in a variety of ways-running, jumping, climbing, crawling, sliding, balancing. They are also learning to move in different directions, not just forwards, and to move at different levels.

We enjoyed celebrating World Music Day by learning a new song for our class assembly, and using percussion instruments to accompany the song. The song is about the animals in Woodfield Animal Sanctuary and the children are looking forward to performing it on the 6th July.

World Environment Day

We read the story, The Green Giant, by a local author and illustrator, Katie Cottle, and we discussed why it is important to grow plants, flowers and trees. We then planted our own sunflowers and made a class promise......

"We promise to grow and care for the plants and trees in our environment."

Class Project-Raising money for Woodfield Animal Sanctuary on Gower

We enjoyed taking part in a variety of games and activities to gain sponsorship.

"We are learning to be ethical, creative and healthy citizens!"

Mental Health Awareness Week

We talked about the importance of having a family that love you. We used stories as a starting point and reminded the children that all families are different and that is okay. This is also part of our No Outsiders! program that we follow as a school. After reading the stories, the children discussed what they enjoyed doing with their family and who loves them in their family.

"You have the right to good mental health and so it is the grown-ups responsibility to help you achieve this."

Celebrating the King's Coronation!

We made our crowns or tiaras and learnt how to create a pattern using 2/3 different materials. We dressed up in red, white and blue and had a coronation party. We enjoyed playing a variety of party games to celebrate. We were also asked to perform our coronation song in our school assembly. Our singing was fabulous!!!

Earth Week at Dragonflies Nursery

"We have the right to enjoy nature, so it is our responsibility to look after it."

This week we have been taking part in a rockpool clean in the water play and discussing the importance of not leaving our litter on the beach. We have also enjoyed playing in mud kitchen and making food for the creatures that live in the outdoors, as well as having a go at mud painting. Mrs O'Leary has introduced the children to outdoor yoga and we have also had a go at creating pictures using natural materials. Fun, fun, fun!!!

We have been hatching chicks as part of our topic, Nature Detectives. The children have been practising making and communicating observations, learning how to ask questions to find out more information, as well as learning to care for the chicks.

We have been finding out about Eid and how it is celebrated. We watched videos on CBeebies and enjoyed asking Mrs Begum some questions to find out how she celebrated. We also had fun learning and performing a dance for Eid to traditional music.

Eid Mubarak to all that are celebrating!

Celebrating World Book Day by dressing up as a favourite book character.

On March 29th we came to school dressed in onesies, pyjamas or dressing gowns to celebrate World Autism Day. We celebrated diversity and talked about the importance of trying to include everyone. 

We enjoyed the visit from one of our dads, who came to talk to us about being a fire fighter, as part of our topic "Helping Hands".

As part of our theme, "Cynefin" (where we belong), we have been finding out what are our favourite beaches in Swansea/on Gower/in Wales to visit. The children have been using their beach photos to create their own beach scenes using loose parts. 

On March 21st we celebrated World Down Syndrome Day. We wore odd socks to school and afternoon Nursery made their own odd socks to celebrate diversity.

We enjoyed Welsh Fortnight and celebrating living in Wales.

"You have the right to find out about where you live and it is the grown-ups responsibility to help you learn."

Mr Stockton came in to tell us a Welsh tale about a red and a white dragon. We enjoyed taking it in turns to act and to be the audience.

We also celebrated World Wildlife Day by making posters to show some of the wildlife that can be found in Wales and how it can be protected.

This is afternoon Nursery dressing up and singing songs in Welsh on St David's Day.

We looked at some photos of famous Welsh castles and then made our own.

Menu of Activities for Snow Day-8.3.23

Play, laugh, learn, repeat!!!

This is our philosophy for early years education. In early years, play encompasses children's work and so our curriculum is driven by hands on, practical experiences with a multi-sensory approach. Learning in the outdoors features strongly in our planning, along with opportunities for physical development and enrichment of health and well-being. Here is snap shot of life in Nursery.......

This week the children have been making their own fruit kebabs for our Cookery/Design & Technology project. They also constructed their own recipe, so they could follow a set of instructions to know what to do. We have been practising using the terms, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and last, as well as learning the names of fruit in Welsh.

Afternoon Nursery have enjoyed Loose Parts Play this week! They have enjoyed building towers and working together to make a bus. I think they would have heard us in Mumbles singing, The Wheels on the Bus!

The children have enjoyed being the teacher and asking questions to their friends about people who help us in the community. The questions the children have been using are: Who is this? What are they wearing? How do they help you?

The children are now checking-in every day by putting their own name card on the wall. This will help them to recognise their name and the sounds in their name. 

During Mental Health Awareness Week the children have been finding out that it is their right to express what they like, and this is important to have a healthy brain. The children have enjoyed listening to the story, Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly by Sue Heap and Nick Sharratt. Afterwards the children have worked in small groups to discuss their likes, and to undesratnd that it is okay to like different things. 

Article 12-Children have the right to say what they think.

Afternoon Nursery enjoy exploring travelling, pouring, filling and emptying through water play. They especially love making ramps for cars, boats and ducks to travel down using guttering and stands. 

The children have been busy finding out about Chinese New Year. We have set up our own Chinese restaurant and the children are enjoying making traditional Chinese meals using loose parts for ingredients. The children are also enjoying painting and making Chinese numbers and making their own money packets. 

Article 8-Children have the right to a nationality.

On Monday 16th January we took part in World Religion Day. We discussed what was meant by religion and found out the different religions in our class. We then identified the symbols for these religions.

Article 14-Children can choose their own thoughts, opinions and religion.

Developing gross and fine motor skills that are essential for whole body coordination and handwriting through taking part in Squiggle, Dough Disco and PE. 

Afternoon Nursery enjoy taking part in Squiggle time. The theme has been circles. The children have been making circle movements with their dancing scarves, whilst listening to "The World is a Circle". After dancing, the children produce the circle movements on paper. 

A great big thank you to everyone who supported National Christmas Jumper Day this week for the charity, Save the Children. Here are afternoon Nursery wearing their Christmas jumpers......

Morning Nursery busy preparing for their Christmas show. They are enjoying using the stage and looking forward to having an audience! 

The children have been working in small groups to compare their physical features, as part of our work on celebrating diversity. They have loved using the mirrors! Here are some photos.......

In November we took part in our Dragonflies Walking Campaign and walked around the big yard every day for 5 minutes. We estimated how many times we thought we could walk around beforehand. We also discussed how important it is to walk whenever we can, in order to look after our environment and to keep ourselves healthy. Thank you for supporting us at home by swapping your car journey for a walk whenever possible. 

We have been celebrating diversity as part of Anti-bullying Week. Below are some photos of our Odd Sock Day. The children enjoyed comparing their odd socks and showing them off for a photo.......

Following the half term break, the children enjoyed painting fireworks and investigating the inside of pumpkins using magnifying glasses, tweezers, scissors and mirrors. We have also been reading a story by Todd Parr, called My Family Book, and talking about who is in our families. The message of the story is that all families are different and that's okay and all families are special.

At the end of October the children learnt about Diwali. They made their own Diva lamps from recycled CDs and they thoroughly enjoyed having a go at Indian dancing. A great big thank you to Mrs O'Leary for dressing up in her sari and for teaching the children a simple dance routine. 

The children have been exploring the "I have" element of resilience, as part of World Mental Health Day. The children have been working in groups discussing who helps them at home. They have also be learning to ask the question to their friends, "Who helps you?" Here is their work so far...............

Every Wednesday the children enjoy taking part in PE sessions in the hall, practising fundamental motor skills and developing a movement vocabulary. 

The children have been clearing the flowerpots ready to plant bulbs for Spring. They have been composting the dead flowers and discussing the importance of doing this and what happens to the contents of the compost bin. We are also composting our fruit waste every day, as part of our pledge to be an EcoSchool. 

 Below are some of the activities the children have been enjoying in Dragonfies Nursery since starting in September. We have also been showing the children how to get ready for mud kitchen, by putting on waterproof clothing and their wellies.

The children enjoyed taking part in Roald Dahl Day by dressing up as their favourite character from a Roald Dahl Story and talking about the stories that they know.