We had a lovely walk in Rivelin Valley with nursery children this week.
The children spotted signs of Spring using pictures on their lanyards. They spotted daffodils, leaf buds, catkins and blossom, among other things.
We walked to the duck pond and fed the ducks. While we were at the duck pond, the children used their lanyards to identify the different types of duck they saw. We found mallard ducks, moorhens, mandarin ducks and even a geese.
On the way back, we were lucky enough to spot a heron.
The children have been learning to peel carrots in nursery. This is an activity we offer regularly, it is one of our Forest School activities. Not only is it a fantastic life skill for the children to have, but it is also a great way to support the development of the children's fine motor skills. They wear special cut-proof gloves to protect their hands when taking part.
In nursery, we have been learning about the celebration Eid al-Fitr. We have read stories about Ramadan and Eid, including My Most Exciting Eid. The children then made prayer beads and crescent moon and star sun catchers. These activities were fantastic for their fine motor development.
As part of their learning about Lunar New Year, the children created paper lanterns. We read a story about Lunar New Year and watched an episode of JoJo and Gran Gran all about Lunar New Year celebrations. The children then decided they wanted to create a lion like the one they had seen in a parade on the video. With the help of Mrs Pehl, they created a fantastic lion and enjoyed having their own Lunar New Year parade around the classroom.
As part of the children's learning around the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, everyone made and tried some porridge. They chose if they wanted to have honey or jam in their porridge.
Much like Goldilocks trying the three bears' porridge, the reviews were mixed!
The children completed Christmas themed activities, which supported the consolidation of what they have been learning in maths, as well as further developing their physical skills. They matched numerals and quantities by moving 'snowballs' into pots to match the numerals on the stones. Then they took turns with a partner to roll dice and create snowmen the same number of buttons as their were spots on the dice.
We were thrilled that so many parents were able to attend our Story Blankets open classroom. The children had a lovely time listening to the adults reading stories.
Reading books to children is incredibly important for supporting the development of their communication and language skills.
In addition, reading stories to children is the first step towards supporting your child to love reading themselves. Reading for pleasure has been shown to be the single greatest indicator of future academic success.
In early years, we strongly believe that children should have the opportunity to experience all weathers to support their learning about Seasons, weather and understanding their own physical needs, for example, such as what clothing they need for their body temperature.
On Friday, we had a very rainy day in nursery. Some of the children chose to play outside and had a fantastic time splashing in puddles and playing with the water.
We went on a walk in Rivelin Valley to look for signs of Autumn and learn about our local area.
We wore lanyards with pictures on to help us identify the things we found.
Highlights of our walk included spotting a squirrel, jumping in muddy puddles, seeing sleeping ducks and watching a sycamore seed pod twirl to the ground.
In nursery, the children learnt about Diwali - The Hindu Festival of Lights. As part of their learning, the children created and decorated pinch pot diya lamps using air dry clay. This was a fantastic opportunity for the children to further develop their fine motor skills.
‘Hapa Zome’ is a Japanese term which means leaf dye. Hapa Zome or ‘leaf bashing’ involves putting a piece of material on top of leaves and flowers then hitting it with hammers or mallets. The colour from the leaves and flowers transfers onto the material. In nursery, we then used the material to make flags.
The children made hobby horses out of odd socks, sawdust, string and big sticks. They had a great time riding their horses round the yard, then taking them back to the stable!
This week in nursery, we have been experimenting with colour mixing to see what new colours we can make. We have tried lots of different ways of mixing colours - paints, tissue paper, dyed water, dyed ice cubes and powder paints with big brooms outside.
Foundation Stage 1's Summer Rivelin Valley Walk 2025
We were lucky with the weather for our Rivelin Valley walk - it was sunny but not too hot. The children spotted some signs of Summer - trees in full leaf, a few butterflies and some birds - including a heron and some magpies.
We went a little further this time and followed a slightly different route. The children did really well with the slightly longer walk. They were also able to cross the river using the stepping stones. We then had a little picnic snack and a drink before heading back to school, while we had our picnic, a mallard duck came to say, "Hello!"
In Y4 today, the children were investigating and evaluating breads. After discussing bread products from around the world and bread production, they sampled 5 different types of bread and made comments on the appearance, aroma, texture and taste. They all showed their core value of curiosity, well done Y4!
In nursery, the children have been learning about Eid and Ramadan. As part of their learning, the children have made Islamic prayer beads and Eid decorations – moon and star suncatchers.
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For professionals only: If you need to contact the school regarding a Child Protection Conference, Core Group, Strategy Meeting, Child Death Notification or another urgent safeguarding matter, please email: dsl@rivelin.sheffield.sch.uk
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