A great Privett Montessori welcome back- 40
Wednesday, September 6th, 2023
A great Privett Montessori welcome back
A great Privett Montessori welcome back as on Monday 4 September we started our new 2023 / 2024 school year in our nursery for 1 to 5 year olds.
We are glad to see many familiar as well as new faces and are enjoying the really nice warm weather. The children are taken the opportunity to play in the garden and enjoy the new wooden Seasaw.
A helpful article with tips for parents / carers: “Optimal Child development: 20 Tips for Parents”. Please note that some of the tips are for an older age group of +10 years onwards. This may still feel far a way, but this comes around the corner sooner then you think….time flies! In terms of context, the article was written in early 2022, when we all went back to school after the Covid pandemic.
As a setting we are very pleased to see that we as a whole have moved on from the pandemic !
Summer 23 – Newsletter 39 – Healthy Eating
Monday, July 24th, 2023
Summer 23 – Newsletter 39- Healthy Eating
Healthy Eating- We returned to the nursery after a delightful two-week Easter break, during which the children excitedly shared their stories of Easter egg hunts and indulging in chocolate eggs.
To align with EYFS requirements, we embarked on our topic of Healthy Eating. We engaged the children in discussions about the significance of consuming a diverse range of healthy fruits and vegetables and in the craft area, created a colourful healthy eating plate.
The book area came alive with tales about fruit and vegetables, and we all enjoyed a hilarious story called “Oliver’s Vegetables”. Curious about the book? Please press the button to “read it aloud”. Oliver’s Vegetables
During snack and lunch times, we reinforced the importance of healthy eating by encouraging the children to choose nutritious snacks, like fruit and vegetables, and bring a wholesome lunch box. We also emphasized the value of staying hydrated and had a friendly chat about dental health and visiting the dentist.
As the next phase of our journey, we delved into our Royal topic. In anticipation of the Coronation, we crafted beautiful crowns and celebrated with a delightful Coronation Tea, where strawberries and popcorn were relished. We explored photographs of the Royal Family and the Coronation, sparking engaging discussions about King Charles and Camilla.
Our half term concluded with a fascinating exploration type of mini beast. Armed with magnifying glasses, we embarked on a bug hunt in the garden and, in the craft area, created cut ladybugs. To add to the fun, we learned a catchy song about a spider.
Upon returning from break, we divided into our topic about “People-who-help-us”. Trough captivating photographs, we explored the roles of Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Firefighters, Police Officers and Paramedics.
A highlight was the unexpected visit from the First Ambulance Aid Responders, who generously spoke to the children about their heroic jobs and even gave each child a plaster and dressing. The children were ecstatic and asked questions as well!
Outdoors, we transformed a large box into a fantastic fire engine with a ladder and hose, fostering imaginative play and creativity. Additionally, we dedicated time to celebrate Father’s Day, where the children made special cards and learned a heartwarming song about Daddy.
Next up was our enthralling topic on Dinosaurs. /we immersed ourselves in pictures of these ancient creatures, learning their names and understanding their diets some being meat eaters, while others preferred vegetation. With a dance called “The Dinosaur Stop” and a sensory tray filled with toy dinosaurs, the children’s excitement soared.
In preparation for a sport day, we enjoyed an array of activities, from running the-egg-and spoon race and even wheelbarrow racing, all under the glorious sunshine! However, on sports day, the rain tried to dampen our spirits, but we swiftly adapted by moving the races indoors.
Each child proudly received a well-deserved medal, and we celebrated with indoor picnic, cherishing the moments with friends and family.
Over the last two weeks we ventured into the vastness of space, exploring planets and the wonders of the cosmos. Through captivating information books, we deepened our knowledge of space. Furthermore, the children had a blast creating moon and planet pictures. We even pretended to walk on the moon, adding a fun of role-playing to our learning.
We also took a walk through the meadow next door and used our wonderful swing, which created big healthy smiles!
Lastly, as our leavers bird farewell, they brought in their school bags and uniforms to show us what they will wear to school. It’s been an action-packed summer term, filled with joy and earning.
We wish you all a wonderful summer and eagerly look forwards to hearing about the children’s adventure during their summer holidays when they return.
Please click the Time Table 23/24 button to see our Time table for the 23/24 term.
Spring ’23 Newsletter number 38 – world book day
Thursday, April 6th, 2023
Spring ’23 Newsletter – world book day
Spring & World book day: We returned to our nursery after a lovely Christmas break, where the children told us all about their Christmas holidays and the adventures that they had.
Our first topic was The Artic. The children thought this topic was great fun and we learnt lots of information about the animals that live on the Artic Tundra. During Welcome Time we watched a short educational video called ‘A walk in the Artic’. In the craft area, we made lots of creations. Some of them were painting snowy pictures using foil, making igloo’s using boxes, recreating our own artic scene with various animals in the builder trays and finally, practicing our cutting skills by making snowflakes.
In the Book area we read a wide range of information books about the artic. Fortunately, we were lucky enough for the weather (which was cold and icy) to match our topic so before we went out, we warmed up with some porridge at snack time and then put on our waterproofs to play outside. Out in the garden we rescued cars and plastic animals that had been frozen in some ice.
37. Pumpkin delight- Dec’22 Newsletter
Saturday, December 24th, 2022
Pumpkin
After a lovely autumn half term break, we returned to the nursery where the children were excited to dress up for Pumpkin Day! We continued our pumpkin theme by printing some pumpkin pictures and Miss Veronica showed us how to make Mexican Tortilla’s. We enjoyed playing outside, collecting leaves in the autumn sun, and when the rain came the children practiced putting on their own waterproofs and wellie boots to wear outside to splash in the puddles.
36. All about me – Authum’22 Newsletter
Tuesday, October 25th, 2022
All about me
All About me- Privett Montessori welcomed all of the children back to nursery after a lovely long and hot summer holidays. The children were delighted to be back and made sure to tell everyone stories about their summer holidays.
Our topic for the first few weeks was ‘All about Me’. We learnt all about families, sisters, brothers and any pets that we may have at home. We also learnt a song about families and made our very own family picture by making a family chain. The children enjoyed mostly enjoyed telling their “all about me” stories. However, one of our favourite activities was when we made blackberry and apple crumble. We used the apples that Miss Paula bought from the apple tree in her garden and fresh blackberries that we picked from our nursery garden ourselves.
Want to try the blackberry and apple crumble recipe? Please press the below button to fill your tummy!
Blackberry and apple crumble Recipe
Vocabulary
Over the next few weeks in order to try and increase vocabulary, we introduced our letter of the week, word of the week and show and tell, which has been a great success.
The following week, our word of the week was breakfast so the children told us what they ate for breakfast and we made some porridge to enjoy at snack time.
As summer turned into autumn over the next few weeks, we spoke about leaves changing colour and falling to the ground. We learnt a song called ‘Leaves are Falling’ and we did some leaf printing and read lots of books about Autumn.
The children also enjoyed Miss Paula opening a pumpkin so the children could explore what was inside. They had fun washing the seeds and used them for crafts.
In our last week before half term, we painted some pumpkins and made some salt dough ones which we painted finally we enjoyed a nursery trip to Durleighmarsh to pick pumpkins and of course visit the lovely coffee shop.
Dates for your diary:
- 1 November: Pumpkin Day – dress up in your favourite Halloween outfit.
- 8 December: Christmas Jumper day – wear your favourite Xmas jumper to school!
- 15 December: Christmas Party – Xmas party with timing tbc
Enjoy and have a lovely half term everyone, we are back on Monday 31st October!!!
35. Summer 22 Newsletter – healthy
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022
Healthy
Healthy- At Privett Montessori, all of the staff and children returned to the nursery after the Easter Break. When we returned, the children told us what fun they had during their time off. We then started the term talking about healthy eating and we discussed why it’s important to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. Something that we did was read lots of entertaining books in the book area about fruits and vegetables.
We also watched a short video called How to be Healthy and to reinforce this we then created some healthy eating plates in the craft area and made some healthy wraps filled with hummus and lots of yummy vegetables, which we hope your child enjoyed eating at home! 
London
For the last few weeks before the half term, we learnt about London and we looked at some photographs of famous London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, The Tower Bridge and Big Ben. To tie in with the Queen’s Jubilee we looked at some photographs of the Queen and the Royal Family. Finally, we decorated some crowns and had a celebration snack which consisted of healthy fruit kebabs and delicately salted popcorn, freshly made from Miss Paula’s popcorn maker.
After half term, we started talking about ‘People Who Help Us’, and we all worked together to make a fire engine, firefighter helmets, an ambulance and police hats, which the children greatly enjoyed playing with in the garden.
Strawberry
This term, we had a nursery trip to Durleigh Marsh Farm, where we enjoyed a morning of strawberry picking followed by a visit to the coffee shop and play area. The children loved picking the strawberries and of course had great fun sampling a few of them.
Want to see more on the strawberry adventure with more pictures, please click the following “Strawberry Adventure” Facebook link
Dinosaurs
Our next topic was Dinosaurs, which the children were very excited to learn about! Some of the things that we looked at were lots of different dinosaur names, such as a T-Rex which is also known as a Tyrannosaurus-Rex, and about how some dinosaurs ate meat and some ate plants. We also did lots of fun activities. Some of the activities that we did were sorting out dinosaurs, learning a dinosaur stomp song and reading a variety of dinosaur books.
Something that we cannot forget to mention is the Privett Montessori Sports Day! The children had an absolute blast and loved every minute of it! Something extra special that the children liked doing in the lead up for Sports Day was making some amazing salt dough medal which they then received at the end of our brilliant day, finalising with our traditional picknick!
Finally, to bring a close to out newsletter we wish the very best of luck to all of the older children going on to a new school and new adventures. We are sad to say goodbye to them but we know that they have bright futures ahead of them!
From all of the staff members at Privett Montessori, we hope you all enjoy the summer holidays and to those returning in September we start back on Monday 5th September! Happy Holidays!
34. The great Arctic and Zodiac – Spring 22 Newsletter
Wednesday, May 4th, 2022
Arctic
Arctic – During the Spring term at Privett Montessori, the children covered a variety of different subjects and greatly enjoyed learning the names of many Arctic animals at circle time. For our subject ‘The Artic’, one of the children’s favourite activities was looking at photographs of Arctic animals and sharing which one was their favourite.
Two of the animals which were popular among children were the polar bears and the walruses. In the book area we read lots of books about the Arctic, with some of them being information books and others fictional stories. We also learned a song called “The Frost is in the air” which the children loved singing.
In the craft area, the children painted some snow pictures, and then created some polar bear collages. The children also practiced their cutting skills by snipping and crafting what turned out to be very some very beautiful snowflakes. Outside, we were extremely lucky as the weather matched our theme so we left bowls of water outside overnight.
The next day, the children were very delighted to go out into the garden and find that the water they had left out had turned into ice! They then had even more fun breaking the ice into pieces. In the classroom we made our own Arctic play area with snow, ice water and Arctic animals and even found some lost cars in the ice. We also as it was so cold, fed the birds outside and gave them bird seed.
For our cooking activity, the children learned how to make fresh orange juice, which they enjoyed squeezing to extract the juice. We then drank the orange juice with our fruit at snack time.
33. Happy Craft – December 2021 Newsletter
Friday, December 31st, 2021
Craft
What a year it has been! December has flown by in haze of crafts, books, glitter and Christmas songs. In the last month of the term, we had the children design their own Christmas cards (the theme being baubles) with buttons and string. What a crafty bunch!
We also had a small post box to send letters and cards to Santa and each other which proved to be a very popular and fun activity!
Another project was with Miss Paula who helped the children fold a square piece of paper, cut it and then open it and watch as it magically transformed into a star! The children had a great time decorating them and were in awe of the finished result.
In the craft area the children made some decorations from clay and painted them. We cut lots of snow flakes and these also turned out to be beautiful decorations.
The children in Privett Montessori thoroughly enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree together
During the last week of term, we baked some Gingerbread men and enjoyed our Christmas party, where we played musical chairs, musical statues and pin the red nose on Rudolf. And as a special little treat the older children sit down and watch a lovely Christmas film with delicious popcorn!
To find our Gingerbread man recipe, hit the Gingerbread men recipe button. Fun to try at home!
The younger children enjoyed a special Christmas snack consisting of banana and strawberries in the shape of a Christmas stocking. Then Miss Veronica prepared a delicious lunch of small sandwiches, sausage and cucumber kebabs in the shape of a Christmas tree and of course no party is complete without jelly!
Just a reminder that we start back on January 4th 2022.
32. Great Fireworks – November 2021 Newsletter
Sunday, December 5th, 2021
Fireworks
Fireworks: November was a fun filled month. We started off by talking about what we did during the half term holiday in circle time. The children energetically described Bonfire Night and all the wonderful fireworks that they had seen. We used the opportunity to also explain the importance of fire safety and separately created multiple firework pictures in the craft area.
The next week we discussed hibernation and we learnt how some animals sleep during the winter. We read a story about a hedgehog called Hodge and how he sleeps through the cold winter and we learnt a song called ‘I’m a little hedgehog’.
During the second half of November, we had a road safety week. We discussed how important it is to listen to a grown up when walking, to use the path and how to cross the road safely. In the craft area we made a big set of traffic lights which we used outside when riding the bikes and driving the cars.
At the start of the last week of November we enjoyed the snow and in the afternoon we had a very exciting visit to Petersfield Library where Hermoine, the librarian read some stories to the children and then they participated in a hedgehog craft activity. We borrowed some books, which we have been enjoying at circle time and also learnt about Diwali.
We even had a special Diwali lunch prepared by one of the parents – a big thank you! The delicious lunch that all of us enjoyed consisted of coconut rice, lentil and aubergine curry and chapatis. Even some treats for the teachers to enjoy at home. Alongside this the children made some candle holders from clay and some lanterns to take home.
The children are celebrating Diwali with some traditional food, made by one of the very kind parents
31. Delicious Apple October 2021 Newsletter
Monday, October 25th, 2021
Apple
October has been a fun packed month. We started learning about apples and we discussed some language around apples, such as sweet, sour, crunchy, peel and apple seeds. The helper of the day chopped up lots of them at snack time and discovered the seeds inside. This led to a discussion about the life cycle of the apple tree, which the children also drew. In the book area we also read lots of books about Autumn, Trees and Fruit.
At group time the children told us what fruit they like to eat best and if they had any fruit trees in their gardens. We collected a few small apples from the field and used these for some apple printing in the craft area. Miss Veronica also brought in apples from her garden, which were called “Golden Gelicious”
We have also been learning about Autumn and the children learned a special Autumn song called “Leaves are Falling”. We discussed what changes take place during the Autumn, Miss Veronica told the children about the large courgettes growing in her garden and she bought some in for the children to look at. We decided to use some of the courgette to make a courgette loaf cake and even the children who said “I don’t like courgette” agreed that the cake was delicious!
Other News:
- A great Privett Montessori welcome back- 40 September 6, 2023
- Summer 23 – Newsletter 39 – Healthy Eating July 24, 2023
- Spring ’23 Newsletter number 38 – world book day April 6, 2023
- Great – A Good Ofsted Inspection – no1 January 15, 2023
- 37. Pumpkin delight- Dec’22 Newsletter December 24, 2022
- 36. All about me – Authum’22 Newsletter October 25, 2022
- 35. Summer 22 Newsletter – healthy August 2, 2022
- 34. The great Arctic and Zodiac – Spring 22 Newsletter May 4, 2022
- 33. Happy Craft – December 2021 Newsletter December 31, 2021
- 32. Great Fireworks – November 2021 Newsletter December 5, 2021
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