Adderley Nursery

💡Spotlight on clay “Clay is open-ended and natural, making it an ideal material for young children to explore. It’s open-ended nature means it can be anything the child wants it to be.”
Dr Lucy Parker, Exploring Clay (2019) We have seen children respond to clay in an amazing range of ways over the past few weeks. They have opportunity to explore it both inside the classroom, and in the outdoor environment. Children enjoy being able to squish, mold and listen to the sounds it makes as they really tune in to the range of possibilities this material has. Our children have been exploring concepts such as size, shape, texture and change as they begin to construct a range of models. These have varied from family members, familiar characters and even structures of spaces. “It’s not sticking” “Why is it hard? Is it wood now?” “Can you hear it squishing? It sounds funny” How do you use clay? Let’s share ideas #clay #openendedmaterial #imagination #creativitychasers

This week in nursery... Parents joined their children in a workshop to find out how we play, learn and have fun together. We want to help parents and carers understand our approach (Ordinarily Available Guidance - Local Offer Birmingham). We focussed on filling and emptying, giving lots of ideas of what to use, when and how. Huge thanks to those who came; we hope you enjoyed your goody bag of resources. Here are some of the things parents said: ‘I had an amazing time with A. at nursery. I really enjoyed playing with the things she enjoys at nursery and seeing the friendships she has formed whilst here. I thought it was a great idea for parents to come and play to experience with their child the things they enjoy and also gave me ideas on things to do with A. outside nursery.’ ‘Best hour spending time with my daughter. We were learning sticking, gluing and colours. The staff are always lovely, always good feedback.’ ‘I really enjoyed the workshop today. I’d like to have more like these. The staff are very good and helpful. I’m very happy. I learnt some good ideas – I don’t need to spend money on toys, I can use bottles, flowers, leaves.’ #parentandchildtogether #learningtogeyher #ordinarilyavailableguidance #maintainednurseryschools

What is a provocation? Think of them as an open-ended invitation to explore, wonder and be creative. Provocations are extremely flexible – you can base them on your child’s current interest, or something totally new! Provocations inspire a children to wonder and think. To talk about their previous experiences, to share their ideas and thoughts It’s also an opportunity to experiment with creativity, test ideas and explore concepts. This week’s provocation of patterned material went a totally different direction to what we anticipated. Who knew we would be talking tattoos, Mehndi and Makeup! #provocations #creativity #childledlearning #nursery #birmingham

In nursery garden this week children have been busy devising their own games. Arranging resources Creating rules Organising the turn taking Showing others how to play Lots of language demonstrated here; clear instructions on how to move, when to find a partner and how to score! Another fantastic opportunity to Move More, Sit Less and get those Belly Buttons on the move! #ActiveAsra @startwell_birmingham Children at Adderley definitely work towards their 180 minutes of physical activity. If you haven’t seen our beautiful spaces, come and visit, we’re sure you’ll stay 😊

Inside nursery this week…… Painting in both the outdoor and indoor studio have seen children really focus on the detail in their work. 🎨 Children experiment with powder paints and water all the time, but this week have been showing interest in how the powder reacts with the water. Watching the movement, and being very intentional about how much water they add to vary the consistency of the paint 🎨Our younger children notice the detail of each droplet of paint and interact accordingly; watching them drop onto their hands and listen to the sounds as paint falls into various containers 🎨Some children use the natural environment to scaffold their ideas and make ‘moving paint’. “It’s the rain in the garden, see it’s moving down fast” 🎨Inside, we discover how we can use our paintbrush at different angles to create different shapes It has been wonderful to join children on their journey of becoming more observant of the world around them, whilst they refine their motor skills and be in a deep state of flow as they work. #motivated #competentlearners #exploratory #birmingham #nurseryschools

Inside nursery this week… Children have returned to explore how patterns are formed in paint. They closely observe how different resources can create a range of marks. We can push and pull the paint and be excited about what we can see. We can make large marks and smaller marks with our fingers. “It’s like writing!” #markmaking #emergentwriting #patterns

Help us sort a problem Rock or potato? 🥔 The boys have a debate to decide who is right? “It’s a rock because it’s hard” “No it’s a potato because it’s got soil on it like the shop” “No it’s a rock because it’s heavy” “It’s not heavy because I can hold it. It’s really a potato look” “I’ll show you, it’s a rock, there’s lots in the forest” “No, really its a potato, we can cut it. I’ll show you” “You can’t cut it, rocks don’t cut” After finding the right tool to cut the potato, they discover they they cannot cut it. “See…. I told you it’s a rock ages ago!” 😂 #sharingideas #learning #reflecting #thinking

We have a vacancy for a Parent Governor! Comment PARENT for more information on how to stand for election! #parentgovernor #birminghamfederationofmaintainednurseryschools #achievementforall

Inside nursery this week…… Children continue to construct buildings using blocks, collaborating ideas and working together to build giant structures. 🏠 Their initial focus was on houses, adults explore further by reading Three Little Pigs, and identify suitable resources for building. 🏠Children want to know more about how to stay safe; recalling how their house needs to have a roof to keep them dry 🏠 A door to keep the wolf out 🏠 Sticks for a fire to stay warm 🏠 A kitchen to cook food 🏠 A bed to sleep And of course a toilet! 🚾 This quickly evolves to talk of hotels, car parks and airports. The large scale constructions moves to small scale, as children create model buildings, adding all the specific rooms. There is lots of talk about where to place objects that represent those rooms. 🌍Children have later taken us across the world to Thailand; more specifically Lego City Thailand. The assembly of structures continues…. #buildingstructures #creativeandsociablelearners #enquriescomealive #discovering #Birminghamfederationofmaintainednurseryschools

In nursery this week, children have been using a range of plastic resources to support their model making. Children notice that plastic materials possess unique physical and sensory properties that differ from natural materials like wood or fabric. They discover transparency as they fill bottles and realise materials are not hidden, whilst also noticing they can layer lots of glue on the top and still see the object beneath. They listen attentively to the different sounds objects make as they drop inside the bottle. A focus in the studio this week using plastic was to create water bottles. 💧Bottles with multiple straws 💧Bottles that have a button to tell you when to drink, 💧Even a bottle that comes with its own water tank, ready to fill your bottle! I’m sure our children would happily collaborate with @shoreusable if you need any ideas! 😊 We have found that children can easily manipulate the plastic by twisting, cutting and reshaping their materials. We ask you to continue to collect your recycling ready for it to be transformed! #earlyyears #recycling #transformingmaterials #waterbottles #birminghamfederationofmaintainednurseryschools

We plan to open as normal tomorrow (Monday 12th January) Please take care as some roads are still very icy.

What an exciting first week back at nursery! The snow had transformed the garden into a winter wonderland, offering unique sensory and scientific learning opportunities. The week was filled with classic winter fun, including building snowmen and creating snow angels. Self directed experiments are set up by the children to understand melting Q: “Will snow buddy be there later?” 🕧🕦🕝 As time goes on children quickly discover the answer to their question; Child 1 “The rain came down and snow buddy went up into the sky, that’s why it’s gone” Child 2 “No, I think someone smashed it” Child 1 “No I saw the rain come down” Child 3 “No guys….. it’s just melted!” The excitement unfolds as the snow melts and children find ice. They question the differences between snow and ice. ❄️”Snow makes a sound, a crunchy sound” ❄️”You can roll the snow into a snowman” 🧊 “Ice is so cold” 🧊 “Ice is slippery, you can’t even hold it properly” 🧊 “You can crack ice if you drop it. You can even stamp on it” 🧊 “Ice makes lots of pieces when you drop it” The contagion continues as children find different shapes of ice, and talk about what they can see and feel. ❄️We hope you are enjoying this snowy day.... what have you made or found?❄️ #snowdays #investigations #birminghamfederationofmaintainednurseryschools #criticalthinking #science