22 Street Lane Nursery - December 2024 Newsletter

Nursery Newsletter December 2024 Play • Discovery • Growth

December Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, It’s the most wonderful time of the year here at 22 Street Lane Nursery, the trees are about to go up, we are writing our letters to Santa and making our Christmas crafts. All we need to do now is wait patiently for the big man’s arrival! We have a very magical month planned for the children: we will be visiting various countries around the world to see how they celebrate Christmas and explore the real meaning of Christmas. We have lots of festive days to look forward to including our Christmas Jumper Day, our yummy Christmas Dinner and our festive Christmas Party! We also have some special visitors who will be stopping by the nursery to see the children, I wonder who they are? Please note that the nursery will close on Tuesday 24th December at midday, and we look forward to welcoming the children back on Thursday 2nd January. We hope that you all have a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year! To find out more, please read on...

December Newsletter STAFF NEWS

Welcome back Alexia! We are so pleased to welcome back Alexia, who will be working in our Goslings Room as the Deputy Room Leader. Alexia was previously working as a Deputy Room Leader in Cygnets a few months ago before she decided to pursue an opportunity at another nursery. However, she realised this was where she would like to be, so she decided to come back! Alexia has worked in the setting since 2021, so is very familiar and confident with our routines, and knows many of our families already.

Country of the Month, December 2024: Christmas Around The World

Throughout November we celebrated America as our Country of the Month! The children enjoyed a traditional ‘Thanksgiving’ lunch on Thursday 28th November, including a roast dinner and some yummy pumpkin loaf. Everyone also made some wonderful Thanksgiving turkey pictures for our display in reception, and lots of the children participated in some traditional American sports games, including baseball and American football! In December, we will be exploring how different countries explore Christmas! If your family has any specific traditions at Christmas time, please do let one of the staff in your child’s room know, or feel free to share some photos on Tapestry, so we can explore this further with the children.

Polite Notice - Glass Door We would like to remind parents to close the glass door behind them for the safety of the children. Please make sure that you do not let anyone in behind you. Thank you for your support.

December Newsletter

NEWS

Bonfire Celebrations As part of our bonfire night celebrations, the children had lots of fun creating their very own pretend ‘bonfire’. We toasted marshmallows and enjoyed stories and songs around the fire! The children also created their very own pretend sparklers, and took part in lots of bonfire-themed crafts and sensory trays!

Diwali Festivities The children had lots of fun celebrating Diwali. It was great to see some pictures from our families and share them with the children. We also learnt all about the story of Rama and Sita spoke about how light always beats the darkness. Throughout the week we learnt how to make Mendi and rangoli patterns and played in some colourful Diwali tuff trays. Everyone also enjoyed a delicious Diwali-inspired lunch!

Remembrance Sunday For Remembrance Day, the Swans children learnt why people choose to wear poppies. They learnt about how poppies grew on lots of fields where soldiers had protected us. They explored the different coloured poppies; how the red poppies remember the soldiers, the purple to remember the animal’s service, the black to remember all the people of colour during the war and how the white poppies are the hope that we will not have another war and maintain peace. The younger children created their very own poppies and explored lots of themed tuff trays too!

December Newsletter NEWS

World Kindness Day For World Kindness Day, the children enjoyed lots of outings into the local community, showing many acts of kindness, including: visiting the Postmen and giving them little gifts, visits to our local shops and cafés and baking some biscuits and giving them to our neighbours! Some of the children also enjoyed handing out flowers to the staff around the Nursery to brighten their day and make them smile!

World Nursery Rhyme Week For World Nursery Rhyme Week, the children participated in lots of rhyme-inspired activities and music classes, with special sessions from Shake, Rattle and Boogie, Number Train and Noodle the Dog! Everyone also enjoyed exploring a range of themed tuff trays including: ‘I’m A Little Teapot’, ‘Wind The Bobbin Up’, ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ etc... We also spent some time focusing on singing our core nursery rhymes for each room, using our piano as well!

Children in Need The challenge this year for Children in Need was ‘To Make Life Lighter’ and go the extra mile to raise money in order to support more children and organisations that need the help. The children were invited to wear bright colours as part of the fundraiser too. Thank you to everyone who donated to Children in Need, we raised a total of £76.50!

December Newsletter NEWS A Special Visit From Santa’s Reindeer On Tuesday 17th December, we have some very special visitors coming to 22 Street Lane, Santa’s Reindeer! If your child does not attend on this day and you would like to come along to see the reindeer, we have the following time slots available: Chicklets/Ducklings: 10.30-11.00am

Goslings: 10:00-10.30am Cygnets: 11.00-11.30am Swans: 11.30-12:00pm

Please Note: The reindeer will be in the car park, so the car park will be closed for the morning for the safety of the children. If you do come along, please find on-street parking and enter the Nursery through the single pedestrian gate.

Christmas Party Week: Monday 16th - Friday 20th December On the week commencing 16th December, we will be holding our annual 22SLN Christmas parties! The children are welcome to come to nursery in their party clothes throughout the week, and will be taking part in lots of exciting, themed activities!

Christmas Nursery Closure The nursery will close for Christmas on Tuesday 24th December at 12pm. We will be welcoming all our families back to the nursery on Thursday 2nd January 2024.

December Newsletter

This festive season we are spreading the Christmas cheer with our annual Christmas Jumper Day. The children are invited to wear their best festive frocks, joyful jumpers and other seasonal styles on Thursday 12th December, the more festive the better! Christmas Jumper Day: Thursday 12th December

December Newsletter Swans Christmas Nativity: Thursday 12th December

The Swans are going to be performing a very exciting rendition of the Nativity this year on Thursday 12th December at 10am at St Andrew’s Church, Roundhay, LS8 1DS. If your child DOES NOT attend nursery on a Thursday, then we kindly ask you to meet us at St Andrew’s Church at 9.45am for a 10am start. Children who DO attend nursery on a Thursday will be accompanied to and from the church by staff members. Please could we ask that you drop your child off at nursery by 9.00am at the latest on this day? Also, please let us know if your child is unable to attend on this date so we can plan alternative parts for our Nativity show.

December Newsletter

Dish of the Month

See our past selections on: 22streetlanenursery.co.uk/dish-of-the-month/ Butter Chicken (Non-Dairy)

Ingredients • 5x chicken breasts, diced • Vegetables of your choice • 1x large onion, finely diced • 50g ginger, finely diced • 2x garlic cloves • 4x tins of chopped tomatoes • 1x tomato purée

• 25g garam masala • 25g turmeric spice • 2x star anise • 1x lemon, juiced • 5g chilli flakes • 500ml of Koko dairy-free coconut yoghurt • 2x Oatly dairy-free cream • A pinch of sea salt flakes and a twist of black pepper • 1x bunch of fresh coriander, finely diced • 1x chicken stock cube

Method 1. Marinate the chicken overnight for best results using half of the spices and the coconut yoghurt. 2. Using a deep pan, add the finely diced onions, ginger and all of the spices on a low heat. Slowly caramelise until soft, adding your washed and prepared vegetables (We found vegetables such as courgettes and sweet potatoes work great with this dish.) 3. Once the vegetables are starting to soften, add your pre-marinated chicken breast. (This dish also works well with tofu, salmon, and even chickpeas.) 4. Seal all around the chicken, then add your final ingredients: the chopped tomatoes, paste stock and fresh coriander. Cook on low heat until the chicken reaches above 75oc and is nice and tender. 5. Serve with a nice basmati rice and warm naan.

December Newsletter

Chicklets Room News

This month we have had a very exciting November so far in Chicklets Room. We have enjoyed celebrating Remembrance Day with lots of messy play tuff trays, such as gloop, shaving foam, paint and rice. The Chicklets have enjoyed exploring the different textures through smell and touch and have also created their very own poppies which are displayed beautifully in our room. We have also celebrated World Nursery Rhyme Week. We created various tuff trays such as ‘I’m a Little Teapot’, ‘Old MacDonald’, ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, ‘The Wheels on the Bus and ‘5 Little Ducks’. To support this, we also sang lots of nursery rhymes and read simple stories. We enjoyed exploring various messy play trays as well as coloured and scented water play and playdough. To celebrate ‘National Kindness Day’ the Chicklets handed out roses to our staff around the nursery to show their appreciation. We also had a little tea party with our friends. As December approaches we are already planning lots of Christmas crafts and activities and we are super excited to meet real reindeer at nursery on 17th December!

CHICKLETS ROOM

December Newsletter

Ducklings Room News

In the Ducklings Room, we have had such a fun and busy November. We started off the month by celebrating Diwali, our Ducklings used their fine motor skills to grasp the different coloured grains of rice in our Diwali-themed tuff tray. We decorated our table for the ducklings to learn about the different colours and also incorporated powder paint to explore further. November 13th was World Kindness Day. Our lovely Ducklings thought it would be nice to spread kindness throughout the community by handing out homemade biscuits with a positive message attached. The Ducklings handed them out to the postmen and workers in the charity shops, and they even left some around the street lane for people to pick up along their way. Monday 11th November was World Nursery Rhyme Week, and it was a huge success in the Ducklings Room. We had a ‘Wind The Bobbin Up’ themed tray for the Ducklings to sing as they made their own bobbins and they all did so well when taking turns and sharing the pieces of string. The children also explored an ‘Old MacDonald’ tray filled with all kinds of farm animals, they loved to use the animals to stomp around in the ‘mud’ and made lots of animal noises. This month our ducklings have turned into mini chefs. The Ducklings went to our local shop to get some ingredients to make some healthy pitta pizzas in the room. Everyone did an excellent job at waiting their turn to sprinkle on the ingredients. We used peppers, sweetcorn and cheese. We then had the pitta pizzas for tea that night and they were so yummy!

DUCKLINGS ROOM

December Newsletter

Goslings Room News

We have had a fantastic month this November! We started off the month by continuing our interest in pumpkins and spooky spiders, we hunted for spiders using magnifying glasses and played a fun ‘ghost hunt’ game in the garden. The Goslings children have had a huge interest in books over the past few weeks, we read with the children every day and have started to introduce short stories to our mini-group times. We have been using books to support our activities and to guide emotions through some transitions at home that the children are experiencing. We also celebrated World Nursery Rhyme Week where we had lots of fun singing and dancing, we had visits from Mel and Noodle who sang lots of songs with us and helped us practice our Makaton skills, we also celebrated with Kimberly who came to lead our shake rattle and boogie sessions and helped us sing our favourite nursery rhymes. We also celebrated Thanksgiving, as our country of the month is America, we used foam pieces that represented different foods and stuck them onto our paper plates to create our own Thanksgiving dinner. We are excited to welcome the month of December as we start to look at Christmas! We have already started to read some Christmas books as our children have been on days out with their families to visit Santa’s Grotto. We also have lots of birthdays throughout the month of December so we are super excited to be having lots of birthday discos and looking at the number 2.

GOSLINGS ROOM

December Newsletter

Cygnets Room News

Throughout November the Cygnets had been busy celebrating ‘Thanksgiving’. They enjoyed making turkey headbands with a range of materials like feathers, selected colour paper, and paint. They also learnt to be thankful by making thank you cards for their parents. To support Children in Need, the Cygnets enjoyed making Pudsey bears with fingerprints, play dough and pom poms. We also talked about what we can do to help the children. We celebrated Bonfire night by making firework pictures using bright coloured paints and exploring the firework tuff tray. In December, we will focus on celebrating Christmas with plenty of activities like Christmas baking, decorating our own Cygnets Christmas tree and different related activities. We can’t wait to make Cygnets Room festive and are looking forward to learning all about Christmas around the world too!

CYGNETS ROOM

December Newsletter

Swans Room News

We’ve had so much fun in Swans throughout November. To start the month off we celebrated Bonfire Night! The children got creative and made some beautiful fireworks pictures as well as making bonfires with natural materials. We also loved making a pretend fire in the big garden and enjoyed toasting marshmallows. We also loved celebrating Diwali. In the messy tray, the Swans created marks using all different coloured paints as well as painting the Indian flag. In the finger gym area, we had lots of fun drawing some Rangoli patterns and in the role-play area some of the children dressed up in traditional clothing. To celebrate World Kindness Day some of the children went on a walk around the local community handing out flowers to make people smile. We also made some lovely pictures for the people we love. Finally, the Swans children have been really busy practising and preparing for our Christmas Nativity. The children are so excited to show off their beautiful singing and dancing to all their families in December. We are also so excited to start celebrating the festive season of Christmas, as we have lots of exciting activities for the children to take part in!

SWANS ROOM

December Newsletter

2024/25 Events Calendar *Dates subject to change - Please check the website for the latest calendar

Thursday 12th

Christmas Jumper Day

Thursday 12th

Swans Christmas Play / Concert

Monday 16th - Friday 20th

Christmas Party Week Celebrations!

December

Tuesday 17th

Visit from Santa’s Reindeers

Thursday 19th

22SLN Christmas Dinner / Party

Tuesday 24th

Nursery Closing for Christmas at 12pm

Nursery RE-OPENS for the New Year!

Thursday 2nd

January

Friday 24th

Burns Night Celebrations

W/C Monday 27th

Chinese New Year Celebrations

Friday 14th

Valentine’s Day Celebrations

Monday 17th

Random Acts of Kindness Day

February

Friday 28th / 1st March

St David’s Day

Friday 28th - Sunday 30th March

Ramadan Celebrations

December Newsletter

2025 Events Calendar *Dates subject to change - Please check the website for the latest calendar

Monday 3rd

World Wildlife Day

Tuesday 4th

Shrove Tuesday

Thursday 6th

World Book Day

Friday 7th

International Women’s Day

Friday 14th

Holi Colour Festival

March

Monday 17th

St. Patrick’s Day

Tuesday 18th

Global Recycling Day

Friday 21st

Red Nose Day

Friday 21st

World Down Syndrome Day

W/C Monday 24th

Mother’s Day Stay and Play

Monday 31st

Eid Al Fitr

Monday 14th

Vaisakhi Festival Celebrations

W/C Monday 14th

Passover

Thursday 17th

Easter Bonnet and Egg Hunt

April

Good Friday, Nursery Closed

Friday 18th

Easter Monday, Nursery Closed

Monday 21st

Tuesday 22nd

Earth Day

Wednesday 23rd

St. George's Day

December Newsletter

2025 Events Calendar *Dates subject to change - Please check the website for the latest calendar

Monday 5th

Early May Bank Holiday, Nursery Closed

W/C Monday 12th

Mental Health Awareness Week

W/C Monday 19th

Grandparents Stay & Play

May

Tuesday 20th

World Bee Day

Spring Bank Holiday, Nursery Closed

Monday 26th

W/C Monday 26th

National Childrens’ Gardening Week

Tuesday 3rd

Bicycle Day - Bring your bike to Nursery day!

Wednesday 4th

Team Training Day, Nursery Closed

W/C Monday 9th

Father’s Day Stay & Play

Healthy Eating Week & Great Big Green Week

W/C Monday 9th

Friday 6th

Eid Al Adha

June

Monday 16th

Chicklets, Goslings, Swans Parents Evening

Wednesday 18th

National Picnic Week

W/C Monday 30th - TBC

Beach Party Week

Wednesday 25th

Ducklings & Cygnets Parents Evening

Thursday 28th

Thanksgiving

December Newsletter

2025 Events Calendar *Dates subject to change - Please check the website for the latest calendar

July

Thursday 17th

Swans Graduation

Friday 1st

Yorkshire Day

August

Summer Bank Holiday, Nursery Closed

Monday 25th

W/C Monday 25th

Carnival Week

TBC

Macmillan Bake sale

September

W/C Monday 22nd

Rosh Hashanah

Wednesday 1st

Black History Month

W/C Monday 20th

Diwali

W/C Monday 20th & W/C Monday 27th

October

Halloween Stay & Play

Team Training Day, Nursery Closed

Thursday 30th

Friday 31st

Halloween Fancy Dress Day

December Newsletter

2025 Events Calendar *Dates subject to change - Please check the website for the latest calendar

Wednesday 5th

Bonfire Celebrations

Monday 10th

Chicklets, Goslings, Swans Parents Evening

Tuesday 11th

Remembrance Sunday

Thursday 13th

World Kindness Day

November

TBC

World Nursery Rhymes Week

Friday 21st

Children in Need

Wednesday 19th

Cygnets and Ducklings Parents Evening

Thursday 27th

Thanksgiving

TBC

Christmas Jumper Day

TBC

Swans Christmas Nativity

W/C Monday 15th

Chanukah Celebrations

December

W/C Monday 15th

Christmas Party Week

Wednesday 17th

22SLN Christmas Dinner Day

Christmas Eve, Nursery Closes at 12pm

Wednesday 24th

December Newsletter

*ATTENTION* Important Information - Please Read Notice - Glass Door We would like to remind parents to close the glass door behind them for the safety of the children. Please make sure you don’t let anyone in behind you. Absence Please note that we are unable to swap days or offer an alternative day if your child is absent from nursery. We are now extremely busy, and it is impossible for us to do this for all children. This is stated in our terms and conditions. Thank you for your co-operation. Labels in Clothing To avoid items being lost, please can you ensure that your child’s uniform is clearly labelled including their coats, hats, scarves and wellies. If your child brings gloves to nursery, we strongly advise for these to be attached and threaded through their coat to avoid any gloves going missing. Weather Appropriate Clothing With the cooler months upon us, please can you ensure that your child has appropriate clothing for colder and wetter weather, including coats, hats, scarves, gloves and wellies when appropriate. Drop Off and Collection Can we kindly remind you that we open at 7.30 am and close at 6.00 pm and any parents who pick up after this time will be charged a late fee.

CONTACT US 0333 043 22 22

www.22streetlanenursery.co.uk info@22streetlanenursery.co.uk