“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known” Oscar Wilde.
February at Learning Ladder Nurseries JLT was the busiest month so far this year, it went by so fast that we could not send our newsletter on time. What kept the nursery so electrified with activity was not just the busy calendar of events – teddy bear picnic, Chinese new year, hearts day, artists day, sports day practice and half term – but also slightly higher rates of illness amongst children, leaving us little time after illness policy implementation work. We are relieved to mention that in the second week of March, we at Learning Ladder Nurseries JLT were all back on track. Children were all symptom free and attending nursery again. Thank you parents for your cooperation to help us maintain the highest safety for all at the nursery.
Walking around the nursery in JLT, I have noticed wonderful changes in the children who started just a few weeks ago. I see smiling faces walking in, great independent work in the class rooms, much greater self-expression through speech development and art. Children’s art displayed on the walls made me wonder, as always, at children’s lack of approval seeking expression. If there is any art that is for art’s sake, to use the very famous expression, it is children’s art. Children in their freedom and innocence produce the most original art. Their art is a depiction purely of their individual self, uncontaminated as yet by societal norms. I hope you enjoy looking at your child’s art at home as much as I enjoy looking at it in the nursery.
That is all from me. Please find a list of upcoming key events under. We always post the month’s calendar on our notice board outside the main entrance, we mention events in the newsletter, we send notice via Seesaw closer to date about these and of course we remind you in person as well when we see you. I hope you find all communication about important dates sufficient. I hope you enjoy the following sections from your children’s teachers.
Miss Sajida – Learning Ladder Nurseries JLT
Important Dates:
Sports morning Toddlers – March 10
Sports morning Foundation – March 11
Animal Dress up day – March 15
Deadline to settle term 3 tuition – March 21
Mother’s Day – March 21
Spring Break/camp – March 28 – April 8 – enrollment open now
Term 3 starts – April 11
Ramadan expected – April 12
Earth day – April 22
Construction dress up day – April 28
Dolphins News
February – the month that is filled with sweetness, brightness and cartloads of love and laughter. Keeping with the theme, the month has been awash with activities that blended enjoyment and learning. The wonderful weather saw the children move outdoors on a number of occasions. It was initiated by the Teddy Bear picnic on the 4th of February followed by walking trails and scavenger hunts.
Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival coincided with the sub-theme of the month. Dolphins explored four major seasons through videos, songs and hands-on activities. They made Chinese lanterns and fans; assembled a Chinese dragon using 2D shapes and rolled oranges inside the class to usher in good luck.
Hearts Day is an excellent way to model and teach the children about the true meaning of friendship, love and compassion. Story narration during that week included themes of kindness and acceptance. Dolphins were excited to bake a strawberry cupcake for their parents and also crafted a special goody bag for their mum.
Dolphins performed the fireworks in a jar science experiment. Amid squeals of delight and various rounds of different food colours, Dolphins observed that while oil and water do not mix, food colour and water mix readily. The concept of density was explained in simple terms. The experiment was extended by adding different colours and making secondary and tertiary colours. The children filled an observation sheet and learnt to read colour names by the end of the experiment.
The month ended with the children showing their appreciation for artists.
Miss Vibha
Rainbowfish A News
A very warm welcome to all parents of the Rainbowfish class. We started the month of February with the theme ‘seasons’ and children learned about the four seasons. They have learned about different clothes for different seasons and different colours associated with the seasons. They made their own four seasons finger painting tree and were encouraged to talk about all that they learnt about the seasons.
Children enjoyed their outdoor walks to experience winter season in UAE. Related to the winter season, activities like digging the penguin and pinning the snowman’s nose were completed. Teddy Bear Picnic’ in the nursery was a great success. Children enjoyed their picnic outdoor and were able to use new vocabulary to describe the weather.
As part of our heart day celebration, children made their heart hats and enjoyed wearing them. They were thrilled to bake cupcakes for their parents.
Learning Ladder Nurseries JLT started our third week of February with the theme ‘sea animals’ and introduced sea animals according to ocean zones. Children were encouraged to sort the animals as per the zones. We also focused on saving marine life and cleaning the ocean. Children shared their current knowledge of sea animals.
Phonic sounds of ‘k’ ‘ck’ and ‘e’ are introduced this month. Children were encouraged to match all the capital and small letters they have learned so far. Various activities are practiced to improve letter formation and writing skills.
In the coming weeks, we will focus on the topics ‘life cycles’
Miss Rechel and Miss Shema
Rainbowfish B News
Dear Parents, February has been another fun learning month in the Rainbowfish B class. We have been learning about farm animals, their babies, habitats and the various products they provide to us.
We at the nurseries have been building on our vocabulary with new words from farm life – piglet, duckling, famer, barn etc. In addition, we have been identifying sounds and letters in these new words to build on our phonics.
In Math, we have been having fun learning about shapes and numbers through various activities. Children can identify different shapes and relate them to objects around them. Children can now understand the order of numbers upto 10.
I see good progress in development of positive relationships between different members of the class. The budding friendships and the greater trust between children and adult carers has been most noticeable. I look forward to sharing the attainments of the children in the upcoming parent teacher meetings with all of you.
In the coming weeks, Rainbow fish will be learning about sea and wild animals.
Miss Beatrice
Starfish news
February has been busy and fun-filled! A huge thank you to all the parents who have supported throughout the month. Children really enjoyed outdoor play times, their singing and dancing, but most of all they had fun with messy play this month. Sensory bins were filled for use by each child with sticky, gooey, wet, cold and all manner of safe materials for children to play with. Many were able to sustain long periods of messy play and express what they sensed with their hands and fingers and occasionally with their tongues too! We loved hand print painting and we have made beautiful pieces of art mixing different colours of the rainbow.
I am pleased to see the progress children are making with cutting, colouring and beading exercises. We are building amazing pre-writing skills already. I look forward to seeing you in the upcoming parent teacher meetings to share the progress of the children.
March will also be super busy. We will be learning about animals next. This new project will be child led and based on the interests of the group. We have planned various activities to help us explore “in the Jungle”. Children will learn about animals and their natural habitat through arts and crafts, story reading, and singing activities. They will be encouraged to make their own favorite animals. Role play/ small world play, sensory play, messy play will all be included in the planned activities. We will be encouraging the children to participate in group discussions to build their confidence, language and vocabulary.
Miss Annie
