This week in Nursery, we are enjoying the delightful story Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham. It is a gentle and humorous tale about Mr Gumpy, who sets off in his motor car. Along the way, a variety of animals ask to join him, including a goat, a pig, a chicken, and more. Mr Gumpy agrees, as long as everyone behaves sensibly. However, the car soon gets stuck in the mud, and everyone has to work together to push it out. The story is full of repetition, teamwork, and a touch of humour that the children are really enjoying. It also gives us a lovely opportunity to talk about cooperation and helping one another.
Alongside our story, we are exploring rhymes. A rhyme is when words sound the same or very similar at the end, such as “cat” and “hat” or “dog” and “frog.” Learning to hear and recognise rhymes is an important early reading skill. It helps children to notice patterns in language, which supports them later when they begin to read and write. Rhyming also builds listening skills and helps children become more confident with words and sounds.
We’ve been having lots of fun spotting rhymes in songs, stories, and everyday speech, and the children have been especially creative when making up their own silly rhymes!
You might like to try a simple rhyming game on your way to nursery. Start with a word, for example “tree,” and take turns thinking of words that rhyme with it, such as “bee,” “see,” or even silly made-up words like “gree”! You can make it into a game by choosing a new word each day or by seeing how many rhymes you can think of before you arrive.
We are also excited to share that our caterpillars are growing bigger every day, and some are even beginning to form their cocoons. The children have been fascinated watching this transformation and talking about what might happen next. At the same time, our potatoes are growing well, with green leaves starting to appear above the soil.
These real-life experiences are helping us explore life cycles. We are learning that living things grow and change over time. The caterpillars will go through a life cycle, changing from caterpillar to cocoon and eventually into butterflies. Our potatoes are also following their own life cycle, growing from a seed potato into a plant with leaves, and later producing new potatoes underground. By observing these changes closely, the children are beginning to understand how living things develop and what they need to grow, such as water, light, and care.
In maths, we have started learning about 3D shapes while continuing to revisit 2D shapes. The children are exploring shapes in a hands-on way, talking about their properties and spotting them in the world around them.
As the weather becomes warmer, we kindly ask that all children bring a named sunhat and a named bottle of suncream to keep at school. Please ensure that the ingredients are clearly visible on the packaging nd it does not contain almond oil.
We look forward to hearing all the wonderful rhymes the children come up with!