And, just like that, Summer fell into Fall!
September has been a great month for us all at Oak Valley. We have welcomed back our term-time children, and had many new children starting their nursery journey with us.
With the days getting cooler, and the nights getting longer, we have been looking at the change in the season, and learning all about ourselves, and the people who help us.
Everyday is “All About Me”
In Baby Room, with have been focusing on building strong keyworker bonds with the staff in the room. It is vital that the babies feel known, understood, cared about, & safe while in our care. So, during September, the staff have been carrying out lots of activities to strengthen these relationships. These activities vary from reading a book, to making music, and even exploring our senses. All of these activities help the children to feel seen and valued while in our care, creating strong sense of belonging & community.
Our little pumpkins, growing in the pumpkin patch
Baby Room have been exploring Autumn. They have created their own paintings using autumnal colours. They have made sticky pictures using autumnal objects, and even investigated their very own pumpkin patch!
You’ve got a friend in me…
September is all about friendship! In our Toddler Room we have been talking about relationships, and why it is important to build those early bonds. The children talked about what things help make others feel happy, and why they like to play together whilst at nursery. We also discussed our ‘golden rules’, and how these help to build our friendships within nursery. Additionally, they assist the children in understanding their own self worth, and how others should treat them.
‘In the light of the moon’ – Toddlers do some apple printing
Toddler Room have been looking at the ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. After reading the book, and talking about the caterpillar, they decided to make their own! They then extended the children’s learning by going on a scavenger hunt to see what autumnal resources they could find. The children brought these back into the setting and used them in many different areas of learning. They also used them to craft some beautiful autumn pictures to hang around the room.
All About Me with Rising 3s
Rising 3s have been focusing on the topic ‘All About Me’. They have been talking about their feelings, what makes them happy, sad and excited, and using playdough to create these different expressions. We also showed different emotions on our faces, to show what these feelings may look like. They also learned about the importance of looking after themselves, including brushing their teeth, and keeping active, and the effect activities have on our bodies. They also had a visit from Super Star Sports, where they carried out lots of gross motor activities to help keep their bodies healthy.
At Oak Valley we like to make sure we are supporting not only the children, but their families too. We have a range of information packs that can be borrowed, and taken home, to support you with things like potty training, ditching the dummy, welcoming a new baby, and safer sleep. If you need more information around these topics, a great website which provides drop in sessions and online events is: Start Well Sheffield | Sheffield
We had a visitor…
At Oak Valley, to celebrate Emergency Services Day, we had a visit from the police. The children in Pre-School had the opportunity to speak to Sergeant Ollie! They got to find out how he helps people, and even got to sit inside his police car and look at the flashing lights. Thank you Sergeant Ollie! Following his visit, we then went back to the room and discussed what jobs we would like to do when we are older, and also how all these different people help us in life. The children then enjoyed carrying out role play activities, taking on these different roles.
Autumn Potions in Pre-School
It’s just a little bit of ‘hocus pocus’! Pre-School have been playing in the tuff tray, exploring the Autumn potion activity. They spoke about their findings, the textures and smells, and created their own potions mixing leaves, pine cones, lentils and more!
Please use the link if you would like to take part in your own Autumn activities 7 Easy Autumn Activities for Early Years – Is It Time To Play?
We are GOOD!
In July we had our routine full OFSTED inspection. We had a really good day, and were given lots of positive feedback. We were so pleased to receive our ‘GOOD’ grade in every single area!
We would like to thank all of our parents who took the time to give feedback to the inspector, and to our amazing staff team for all of their hard work and commitment, we are all very proud! Please use the link to see our report 50282336
