Thank You
With the vaccine role out now in full swing, we are hopeful that Summer 2021 will be a much more positive and enjoyable season than Summer 2020. Having all the children back at Nursery is lovely. The place feels busy again and the children have shown remarkable resilience to be able to come back and act like they have never been away.
Thank you for continuing to follow our COVID procedures. This continues to ensure we are all kept as safe as possible.
Whilst you may no longer require as many activities for home learning, all our COVID resources will remain on the website. If you are struggling for an activity on a wet and windy day, or just need a bit of focussed time, you can come here and access some resources to keep your little ones busy for a little while.
Learning from home during the pandemic
We understand the pressure of parenting whilst working from home, and understand just how difficult that can be. There are lots of things you can do to encourage learning and development at home; many of which you will do already. Spending time with your child, talking to them, explaining how things work and answering their questions. Playing with them, showing an interest in their interests and providing them with new and exciting experiences all contribute to a happy, healthy child.
Below are some websites and resources that may help you keep your child entertained and educated throughout this period.
Mr Thorne Does Phonics is a fantastic phonics resource. Mr Thorne is an English Primary School Teacher and he is helped in his videos by his trusty sidekick, Geraldine the Giraffe. We would advise you start with Mr Thorne's 'Alphabet Series', specifically focusing on the letters S, A, T, P, I and N. Watch the videos with your child and see if you can find objects in your home that start with these letters. The great thing about Mr Thorne is that he uses the correct vocabulary when describing the sounds. Words such as phoneme, grapheme and digraph - all words the children will be expected to learn when they start school in September.
NRICH have some fantastic mathematics games and ideas to get children doing mathematics, without even realising it. It is a great resource as it tells you the sort of questions you should be asking your child during specific activities, as well as providing you with a list of resources you may need. Sometimes we can get a bit preoccupied with children 'knowing their numbers', but there is so much more to explore with mathematics. From weight, time, shape, measure - maths is not just number. If your child finds an activity difficult, try it again the next day. Quite often children need a new idea repeating to them several times before they fully understand it. If they are still not sure, try and simplify it for them, or move onto something different and come back to it another day.
Reading and the EYFS
Reading to children is one of the key ways we can ensure areas of the EYFS are being taught in settings. Children love books. They love listening to stories. Stories help them understand how the world works. It can make big concepts easy to understand. Twinkl's Book List is an extensive, categorised list of books that can help children to understand all kinds of topics. From books on Dinosaurs to Emotions. You may even have some of these books at home already. If your child has a specific interest, choose a book from the same topic and try to plan activities around it.