Elvis was in the building this week and the children had lots of fun meeting their new friend. It is very important to model good behaviour and doing the right thing. As a result, Elvis the Elf is well-behaved and he particularly likes it when the children do wonderful sharing and especially when he hears their fabulous manners. Elvis has been driven around in the big bubble car and he has enjoyed several trips around school in his favourite pushchair. The children have taken turns to play with him and the sand timer has helped to support their understanding.

Our festive activities are well underway and lots of fun was had adding a new picture each day to our traditional class advent calendar. By the end of next week, we will ensure that all the pictures create a lovely nativity scene for all to enjoy. This is also great for counting and discussing the days of the week.

We like to ensure that our weekly planning and learning opportunities support and challenge children whilst providing fundamental life skills. This provides children with hands-on experiences which perhaps you could also encourage when you go shopping together. The Robins accompanied us to the pop-up shop in the Main School foyer. I explained the various groceries and how they should be handled. This provides children with an understanding of which items need a little more care when packing in the bag.

It was lovely sharing some of the children’s stories this week. Reading is such an important part of your child’s life as it helps them to learn new words and extends their vocabulary. Plus, you can never read a story too many times as repetition allows children to become aware of the pattern and rhyme in the text.

The Busy Boxes have been such a valuable resource since they were introduced last year and it is always great to hear the feedback in either the children’s Contact Books or Home/School Journals. I check the boxes each week and replenish resources to ensure they are ready for each child. I am so pleased that they have been very well looked after, as we need to ensure they are kept their very best.

Continuing with our Christmas theme, the Robins enjoyed filling and emptying thimbles with rice. They used a special set of shiny spoons, along with some Christmas sparkles. This activity was very popular and lots of fun was had exploring colour, sorting and also… sharing.

In true Robins style, we visited the Outdoor Classroom and enjoyed a warming hot chocolate. It was wonderful to hear so many lovely manners and everyone had warm tummies afterwards.

As we’ve had a very busy week watching all the plays, we only had time to bake once this week. We listened to some Christmas music whilst kneading and poking the dough.

By the time you read this, our Christmas Concert would have been enjoyed by all and I hope you all feel extremely festive following our selection of Christmas songs. I must say, I think it’s pretty impressive that the children are able to participate in their own performance at the age of 2.

Wow, what a busy Autumn Term and it will be time to say goodbye to some of our Robins as they fledge their nest to move onto the next stage in Nursery. This will be the last bulletin so we wish you a wonderful festive break, filled with lots of fun, joy and magical memories.

Next week’s topic is Christmas and we have lots of fun activities planned. This includes lots of cooking and arts and crafts. Perhaps your child might like to bring in something from home linked to our topic.