Katie

Springing into March with Oak Valley

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As the the days are getting longer, and the weather is getting (a little bit) warmer, Oak Valley welcomes Spring and all it has to offer!

 

Seeding Change for a Greener Future!

Pre-School welcomed March, and the slightly warmer weather, by spending some time in our new vegetable garden. The children loved talking about the seeds they were sowing, and watering them. They drew pictures of the vegetables, and loved reading stories in the garden. The Pre-School council also cast a vote to call it ‘The Secret Garden’.

 

 

 

 

 

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Celebrating Mother’s Day

Here at Oak Valley, the children enjoyed making their mums feel extra special on Mother’s Day. The children sent home a special keepsake and there was even a little gift for them too.

The science of today, is the technology of tomorrow

For British Science Week (8th-17th March) the children loved experimenting and exploring different science experiments. Toddler Room created their own potions, mixing lots of things together to see what they could create. Rising 3’s made a Skittles rainbow, using coloured sweets and water. While Pre-School created their very own lava lamps, using oil and coloured water.

Recycle Today, Save Tomorrow!

For Global Recycling Day, the children in Pre-School talked about the importance of recycling and reusing materials. They reused some cardboard, and their imaginations, to create some wonderful creations.

Celebrating Easter

Toddlers welcomed their parents in to celebrate Easter and to encourage them to ‘Ditch the Dummy’. There was lots of fun had by all and the staff talked about the importance of ‘ditching the dummy’ for promoting speech, as well as lots of Easter activities.

Springing into Spring 

With Spring finally here, the children in Rising 3’s have been creating daffodil paintings. They have enjoyed exploring the colours and smells, and using their fine motor skills to create their very own masterpiece!

Babies are on the hunt

The babies have loved having their very own Easter egg hunt. This activity encouraged the babies to explore their surroundings, develop their motor skills and be engaged.

You

You make a difference everyday

Last but not least, we want to congratulate Caitlin on winning ‘Employee of the Month’ for March. Caitlin has great creative ideas, is always happy to help and has built some great bonds with the babies in Baby Room. Keep up the hard work and well done!

 

 

Oak Valley welcomes October!

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October is best known for Halloween festivities, but it’s also a month of national and global celebrations.

Offering a helping hand!

At the start of October we received lots of  food donations for our Harvest Festival. The Pre-School children packed and delivered the food to the local church, New Hope Community Church. While there, the children talked about the importance of helping the local community, and ate some yummy toast!

Big or Small, we love them All

To celebrate World Animal Day on the 4th October, the children went on a bear hunt, explored different animals in the tuff tray and made symmetrical butterflies. They also had a visit from Leanimals, where they got to meet guinea pigs, a mouse and many more. The children loved learning about what the animals like to eat and where they live.

 

Out of this world

For National World Space Week, Toddlers have been enjoying the book Aliens Love Underpants. They have been talking about space and what they might find, along with making their very own aliens. The children used playdough with pipe cleaners and googly eyes or paint.

 

World Mental Health Day

To Celebrate World Mental Health Day, Pre-School have been  reading The Colour Monster Book, which helped them talk about their emotions and feelings. The children talked about what made them happy and sad, and also used the loose parts to make different emotions faces.

 

Trick or Treat!

No tricks only treats this Halloween! The children at Oak Valley have celebrated Halloween; Toddlers went to the supermarket and selected their own pumpkins to carve. Babies have loved singing ‘Incey Wincey Spider’ and using Makaton, they also explored the spider sensory tray. Pre-School and Rising 3’s made potions, carved pumpkins and wore fancy dress.

 

Autumn Fun

The most memorable days end with dirty clothes! Pre-School have loved making the most of the Autumn weather. They got messy with the clay making lots of creepy crawlies. They also put on their raincoats and wellies, and jumped in the puddles, making memories with their friends.

 

 

 

May Activities at Oak Valley

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At Oak Valley we started off May with the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. We enjoyed celebrating to mark this special occasion. The children did lots of themed activities including crown making, decorating biscuits and even had our very own tea party. We listened to the National Anthem and dressed in red, white and blue.

As part of our HEY Award (Healthy Early Years), Pre-School have been promoting the importance of oral hygiene even more than normal. Alongside their daily toothbrushing club, they have been talking about the value of brushing your teeth twice a day, and joining in with different toothbrushing activities.

In Rising 3’s we have been doing some recycling using our recycling bins in the entrance hall, and categorising the items into the correct bin. We talked about the importance of recycling and looking after our planet, as well as talking about the different materials. We then used these materials to take part in junk modelling – we made dinosaurs, princess castles and rockets!

Toddlers have been exploring different sensory play and textures this month. We made some marks with various tools in the clay, and talked about the wonderful efforts we had made. We also used some soapy water and paint brushes to make patterns on the nursery wall.

With the weather getting warmer, and the sun starting to shine, Babies took part in ‘Sun Awareness’ activities. They talked about the importance of putting on our hats and wearing sunscreen. They did various activities to get these messages across – putting sunscreen and hats on dolls, and making a sensory sun out of coloured rice and paper to name a couple! We had so much fun exploring this!

December at Oak Valley!

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We started off December cheering on England in the World Cup! We used the children’s interest in this to learn about the countries taking part in the tournament & the different cultures. The children enjoyed designing their own football shirts, making flags & even made their own role play football pitch where they predicted the score!

The Baby & Toddler rooms have been particularly exploring the sensory trays this month. They have enjoyed using shaving foam, cereals, flour & ice to investigate.

We then began our festive activities, stating with our Christmas Jumper Day! We enjoyed wearing our favourite Christmas outfits & taking part of lots of themed activities! We also had a yummy Christmas dinner & pulled crackers with our friends!

Every year, Hallam FM run the ‘Mission: Christmas’ campaign as part of their Cash for Kids charity. Mission: Christmas accepts donations of cash & toys from members of the public so that they can support hundreds of organisations & the children they help. This year we decided to get involved. Instead of doing ‘secret Santa’, the staff decided to buy gifts for the cause instead. With parent donations & bake sales, we really managed to make a difference this Christmas! Well done & thank you to all involved!

Sparkles the Elf returned to Oak Valley this year to see the children! He got into quite a bit of mischief & the children had to remind him of our golden rules! Sparkles then copied the children’s good behaviour & earnt himself lots of stickers. Well done for learning Sparkles!!

Pre-School enjoyed inviting their parents & grandparents into nursery to watch them in their Christmas concert! After enjoying mince pies & the children’s singing, we then took part in a Christmas-themed workshop! We made melted snowman biscuits, wrote letters to Father Christmas & made snowflake decorations. Thank you to everyone who came to support us!

We finished off our Christmas celebrations with our annual party! We danced, played games & had a party lunch with our friends! We enjoyed lots of craft activities & even recieved a special present from Father Christmas! What a fun year we have had. We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!

July at Oak Valley

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What an amazing month we have had! July saw us reach the hottest temperatures on record, but we embraced the heat & managed to keep cool by taking part in lots of water play; we even brought our swimming costumes to splash around in the paddling pool!

We loved welcoming visitors back into the nursery & started this off with Sarah & Albert the hearing dog! The children asked lots of questions & enjoyed finding out how Albert & his friends help the community 😊 Thank you so much for coming in to talk to us!

This month saw an amazing series of treats & events to celebrate the 5yr anniversary of our Company. The staff celebrated with Golden Envelope bonuses, raffles & dress down days as well as finishing the week with a party! Thank you to The Sitwell Arms for hosting us, Tasha’s Little Bakery for the wonderful cakes, Elegance Castle Hire Bouncy Castle for the fab disco dome, Cream Castles – Bouncy Castle Hire for the garden games, Laura’s Little Crafts for the personalised champagne flutes, B360Hire for the photo booth & last, but by no means least, Moonlight Entertainments disco & karaoke for the grand selection of tunes that kept us singing & dancing all night! Thank you to our lovely families for their kind & complimentary words also.

We also said goodbye to our Pre-School children this month as they head off to big school! But not before giving them a big send off. We started by holding ‘Oakfest’ our annual school leavers festival. The children played games such as Hook a Duck & Tin Can Alley. We had facepaints, glitter tattoos & a picnic lunch, followed by a visit from the ice-cream van!

It was lovely to invite parents & carers back into nursery as the children then had their graduation ceremony. This was followed by a leavers workshop to make keepsakes of their time at Oak Valley.

A big thank you to Saul Isaac photography who came in to nursery to do a professional photoshoot of the children graduating to capture the special moments for the children & parents.

We will miss you all as you all go off to school, but we know you will all be amazing on your next adventure!

February at Oak Valley

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At Oak Valley, during February, we have been incorporating our loose theme of ‘Around the World’. We have been making flags from different cultures, making restaurants in our role-play area & food tasting from different cultures. The children have tried various recipes from Poland, France, Greece, India & Italy!

During National Storytelling Week our children in Rising 3’s & Pre-school enjoyed designing their own story books. The children worked really hard on them & enjoyed showing them to their friends at group time. The children also made a library in their role play area where they could check out books & take turns being the librarian! We had a vote for our favourite story & the winner was The Gruffalo – a classic! The children also spent time making some new story sacks for group time.

Baby Room enjoyed exploring the fabric baskets; looking & feeling the different textures & patterns. The children then used the fabrics & musical instruments at group time to sing their favourite nursery rhymes! The babies have enjoyed practicing their fine motor skills using plastic knives & crazy soap; they used lots of different vocabulary during the activity.

Rising 3’s loved making their very own ‘potion station’! The children chose different materials, scents & flavours to add to the playdough & experiment with their different senses. The children looked at the science books & we took part in lots of fun experiments!

Toddlers have taken a keen interest in animals recently. They have enjoyed reading the farmyard books, so we put together their own farm in the sensory area for the children to explore. Now that spring is here we are hoping to extend our interests by visiting the farm & hatching our own baby chicks using the nursery incubator!

We finished February off by celebrating Megan’s bi-annual keyworker award, & the safe arrival of both Stef & Nat’s baby boys – Ollie George & Teddy. Congratulations to them both; we can’t wait to meet them!

September 2021 @ Oak Valley

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September has been a great month for us all at Oak Valley. We welcomed back our term-time children & had many new starters joining us to begin their nursery journey! We have loved welcoming our parents back into the building to see our newly decorated rooms & the exciting activities that have been taking place!

Baby Room has been exploring words & sounds this month. We have been singing nursery rhymes in English & French, creating sensory music bottles to use at group time, & using our ‘Words of the Week’ to explore. The children particularly enjoyed fruit tasting & baking with lots of different textures & flavours.

Toddler Room has been making the most of the warm weather & spending as much time as possible outdoors. We have enjoyed an outing to the park to play games, & taken part in our monthly Super Star Sport session! This month we focussed on football; the children practiced their gross motor skills & hand -eye coordination, while running around getting lots of exercise & fresh air.

Rising 3’s have been especially interested in role-play this month. The children have created a post office area where they have been busy writing & sorting letters, serving customers & answering the phone. After working really hard, the children decided they need a break, & went on holiday on their aeroplane to lots of exotic destinations!

Rising 3’s have also enjoyed making sensory playdough, drawing shadow pictures of their favorite toys & exploring different countries, to name but a few activities sparked by the children’s interests (which never fail to interest us!)

To finish off the month, Pre-School have been for an adventure into the woods to collect leaves, conkers & sticks! We then made some lovely Autumn pictures to show what we had found.

Some of you may have seen our Early Years Care & Education bear on the Sheffield Bear Trail in aid of Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Keep your eyes peeled, as he’ll be on his way to spend some time with us at Oak Valley :)

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April @ Oak Valley

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April saw the start of some lovely sunny weather for us, so here at Oak Valley we decided to make the most of our outdoor learning opportunities. Rising 3’s and Pre-School took a trip to the park where they played on the swings, climbed on the high frames and took part in a treasure hunt. Back at nursery the Baby and Toddler rooms enjoyed splashing in the paddling pool and playing with the bubble machines.

The children have done a lot of exploring this month; the babies have enjoyed joining in with Rhythm Time waving the coloured scarves and playing the musical instruments, while Pre-School and Rising 3’s had lots of fun dancing using different ribbons and fabrics, moving in different ways and expressing themselves.

Also this month we have been learning about life cycles and have been lucky enough to have experienced hatching our own chicks in nursery. We watched the eggs turn into chicks and named them ‘Scoop’ and ‘Digger’, as voted by the children. The children took great pleasure in caring for the chicks, taking it in turns to feed, clean and hold them for several weeks before it was time for them to start their next chapter on the farm.

Following on from this, we also learnt about the life cycle of a butterfly, starting with caterpillars. The children drew pictures of them and enjoyed digging in the messy trays searching for minibeasts! Once the caterpillars had transitioned into butterflies, the children took them out into the garden to feed them oranges before releasing them.

To finish off the month, we have taken part in lots of sensory activities! We particularly enjoyed the ‘dinosaur escape’ where the children had to free the dinosaurs from blocks of ice! We have practiced our mark-making skills with flour and paintbrushes, and have explored the dinosaur world with erupting volcanoes! What a busy month we’ve had, what will May and beyond bring?!

November at Oak Valley

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We started a busy month off at Oak Valley celebrating Bonfire night. The children were excited to make firework pictures, explore different colours and design their own rockets! The children then made their rockets using junk modelling equipment and flew them outside. Using the children’s interests Pre-school investigated colour further by enjoying lots of messy play in the cornflour and chalk while Baby room made hand and footprint pictures in the paint.

Messy play
Messy play
Poppy pictures

We raised a fantastic £90 for Children in Need by coming into nursery in fancy dress/pjs! The children took part in lots of fun activities such as making Pudsey bear hats and baking buns. We also had a bear hunt in the garden where we managed to find 10 different bears that were hiding from us! We also paid our respects on Remembrance day by making poppy pictures and having a 2 minutes silence.

Bear hunt

Road safety awareness week also took place this month. We made road signs and practiced how to cross the roads safely. Pre-school & Rising 3’s particularly enjoyed role playing scenarios with the cars and bikes outside taking it in turns to drive the cars and hold the signs. Toddler room read road safety stories and were excited to explore the ‘Ready, Steady, go’ tray while Baby unit got messy painting in traffic light colours.

Road safety Awareness week
Road Safety

As November drew to a close, the children wrote their letters to Father Christmas and made him lots of lovely pictures. We went on a walk to post the letters and make sure they safely arrive at the North pole.We are looking forward to lots of Christmas themed activities such as craft workshops, party days & festive baking. We also welcomed a little visitor to nursery,.I wonder what mischief he will cause in December…………………?

Buddy the Elf
Posting letters to the North Pole
Excel studio visit

February 2019 at Oak Valley

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We have had a lovely month at Oak Valley. The mini heatwave has enabled us to make the most of the great outdoors starting with the ‘Big Garden Bird Watch!’ The children made their own bird feeders and binoculars and watched as the birds played on our garden! We spotted so many different types of wildlife!

  • bird feeder pics
    Bird Watching
  • bird watching
    Making Bird Feeders
  • Bird Feeders Ready

Pre-School invited their parents to our maths-themed workshop this month. The children and their special guests took part in activities such as finding shapes hidden in shaving foam, mark making in the sand and weighing and measuring. The fabulous feedback we received tells us the parents had fun and found it really useful to see examples in practice of how their children can learn through play and how they can implement these things at home.

  • Making Different Shapes And Numbers
  • Shape Hunt

We enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year this month. Our School Council decided we should mark the occasion by making lanterns and having a food tasting session. We then voted on our favourite Chinese dish.

  • Chinese food tasting
    Chinese Food Tasting
  • We Enjoyed The Food Tasting
  • Food Tasting

We finished the month off with a visit to Excel Martial Arts and Dance Studio. The children enjoyed having a taster session; they played games, learnt many new moves and took part in lots of exercise while doing the obstacle courses. Thank you Excel for letting us visit – we had a lovely time!

https://www.excel-in-life.com/

  • Toddlers At Excel
  • Excel studio visit
    Preschool At Excel