We have been continuing to keep busy in the nursery with lots of things happening inside and out.  The weather has been in our favour and the children have been outside taking part in a variety of activities.  Listening walks have proved very successful.  The children have been out in groups using their senses to describe what has been going on.  They had to close their eyes and listen, then tell the ladies what they heard.  We heard lots of different noises from lorries to birds.  Some children have been busy gardening, making sure it is all ready for planting the new seeds and things.

In the nursery we learned about Shrove Tuesday (pancake day) and tried some lovely pancakes.  We also learned about how Shrove Tuesday is celebrated in different countries.  Did you know that in Poland they make special sweet cakes with jam in the middle on this day?  In Sweden they decorate the house with Pussy Willow which they attach colourful feathers to.  In Lithuania they also use Pussy Willow to decorate their house…but without the feathers!  We are looking forward to finding out more about these countries celebrations for Easter.  In the nursery we have a giant world map and you can see where in the world our children come from or have visited.

Fairyland is still coming together with the children enjoying yet more fairytales.  This week we have been reading Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  The children really enjoyed this story and have made some fabulous collage apples to decorate the nursery…some even have a little bite out of them.  Next week we are going to read Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.  The girls really love dressing up as the Princesses and marrying their handsome Prince.

The afternoon preschool children have been enjoying their time in Primary 1 on a Monday afternoon playing listening games and taking part in Fairyland activities.  After the Easter holidays the morning preschool children will get an opportunity to pop over to the school, which they are really looking forward to.

We hope you can join us for the open evening on 25th March to see all that work and activites that the children have been creating.

The year is just going so quickly, nearly March already!  We have been very busy in the nursery, helping to save Fairyland and also celebrating Chinese New Year.

Whilst celebrating Chinese New Year, the children have been taking part in a variety of activities and tasting a variety of food.  We have danced with the Chinese Dragon and had a parade round the nursery, listened to Chinese music and tasted noodles and fortune cookies.  The children enjoyed finding out their fortunes with their cookies and had a great time making their own Chinese Dragons.  They were very colourful and were used in our parade.  We have rice in the water tray for the children to play with, it is a sensory activity and is proving very popular.

Our Nursery has really turned into Fairyland and we have been doing at great job helping the Friendly Dragon.  This week we have been reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the children have really enjoyed taking part in activities linked with this.  We have been working on sizes and singing songs all about Goldilocks.  The house corner has been transformed into the Three Bears house and the children have been dressing up as the bears and Goldilocks.  You often hear someone shouting for another child to come and play Goldilocks.  In the dough, porridge oats have been added and the children have been making bears, cakes and gingerbread with it.

The children have been building a castle for all the Fairyland characters to live in, it is really looking great!

We hope everyone is able to attend the Open Evening in March.

Since coming back from the Christmas holidays we have been very busy in the nursery.  A special delivery arrived from a very sad dragon, he was needing our help.  The children have been thinking very hard about how we could help the dragon and they decided we needed to turn our nursery into Fairyland.  So far they have built a magic beanstalk, created a huge giant, made their own castle and started writing letters back to the dragon.  The dragon keeps sending us special letters to see how we are getting on trying to save Fairyland.  The children have been enjoying role play based on Jack and the Beanstalk and some have been dressed up as the Giant.  We managed to borrow a pair of the Giant’s shoes to use in the role play area…they are a size 14!  In the water tray we have created Jack’s cow.  The children have been able to milk the cow and fill up the milk cartons.

The dragon asked if we could spread the word about reading Fairytales, if people start believing again there is a chance Fairyland could come back to life.  We have read Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Gingerbread Man so far.  The firm favourite has been Jack and the Beanstalk.  The children have been measuring the size of the beanstalk, the Giant and Jack.  They compared the sizes to see who/what was the biggest and smallest.  They have also created patterns using Giant shoes and tiny shoes.  We have special magic bean counters who have been sorting out the beans to try and find the magic ones.  They found 5 golden beans hidden in the tray!  We wonder if the dragon put them there!?

If any of the children want to write letters to the dragon at home, they are more than welcome and there is a special dragon mail letter box in the nursery so the letters go straight to him.

The groups are again taking it in turns to attend the coffee morning at the Church Hall.  It is a great experience for the children and they really enjoying walking up, having juice and a cake and getting to play in the park on the way back down.  Helpers for walking are always appreciated.  Thank you to Edith and Karen who help us out regularly.

We look forward to welcoming you into the nursery to see what the children have been doing during the open evening in March.

Over the past few weeks, the children have been practising their Christmas songs ready for some performances.  The favourite of both the morning and afternoon children is S-A-N-T-A, perhaps they will treat you to a rendition at home!  Please join us this week for our sing-a-long, 10.45 for the morning children and 1.15 for the afternoon.  We look forward to seeing you all there.

Last week the morning children celebrated the beginning of Polish Christmas by receiving a little chocolate in their shoe.  In Poland on 6th December, the children receive gifts of chocolates and small toys in their shoes.  We carried this tradition on with Laura this year.  The afternoon children will this week be celebrating Swedish Christmas, thanks to Honor and her family.  This celebration is known as St Lucia and is celebrated on December 13th.  St Lucia is the Patron Saint of Light and she guides the people on the darkest day.  To celebrate this we will sing carols and have a procession around the school.

On the last week of term we will be having our Christmas parties and we also have arranged a special visit from Scott Lovatt, the magician.

Well December is fast approaching and we have been very busy in the nursery.  We have been getting prepared by making arts and crafts for the Christmas Coffee Morning in the Town Hall on Saturday 30th November.

The children have been enjoying taking part in science activities during group time.  This morning they discovered magic messages from Mrs Galloway!  Each child had a blank piece of paper and had to paint it to see what they could find.  They were amazed with the results.  Before their eyes, messages appeared on the paper.  One message told them to go to the water tray to take part in another experiment. They have also been finding out magnets and how they work.

Next week we are hoping for a special visit from the Fire Brigade.  Fingers crossed they don’t get called out!

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks in the nursery.  The Polar Bears came to visit us and we had a spooky Halloween party.

The Polars Bears visited us from the MacRobert Centre in Stirling. They brought a fantastic show to the nursery which the children really enjoyed.  The children got to dance and play with the Polar Bears as they took a journey up a mountain, across a river and over a wobbly bridge.  A big thank to the Polar Bears for coming to see us.

Our Halloween party was a great success with some fantastic costumes.  There were lots of different games and activities for the children to take part in all around the nursery.  Some children were very brave and put their hands into the witches cauldron to see what they could find.  The cauldron was filled with slimey jelly and lots of creepy critters!  The children made their own magic poitions, dooked for apples and sung their hearts out.

Next week is Children in Need, so remember to wear your pyjamas next Friday (15th)!

What a busy time we have had in nursery this term.  Lots of fun and exciting things have been happening and there is more to come.  After the break we will be finding out all about wheels.  There are lots of questions that need to be answered.

The Orange Group went to the coffee morning this week, this was the first time they had been.  All the children had a great time and were very well behaved.  On the way back to school we made a stop off to collect some apples.  The children got to pick them from the tree and we have been enjoying them for snack this week.

A wee reminder that we are on holiday next week and we welcome you back on Monday 21st October.  Have a lovely October break.

The nursery has all been moved around and the children are enjoying the different areas which have been added to the main room.  The house corner has been a firm favourite with all and it is nice to see the children playing together to tell a story.

A garage has been opened in the nursery since the children had taken an interest in blowing up tyres and fixing the bikes outside.   They now have spanners, nuts, bolts and lots of other instruments to help them take apart and mend the bikes with some supervison.

The children have really enjoyed going to the Community Wing in the school to take part in ring games and songs.  They have been playing games with the parachute which requires a great deal of team work and super listening from everyone.  The games have allowed the children to practice listening carefully for colours and numbers, which they have all been doing very well.

A little reminder that the October break begins on Friday 11th October and we return to school on Monday 21st October.

 We have had such a busy week in nursery, with lots of special visitors with exciting things to share with us.

 Both the morning and afternoon classes were treated to singing and dancing from the Pallywags and Johnny and his Magic Guitar.  A big thank you to Nicolls and Dimes Stage School in Alloa for providing some great entertainment.  The children had a lovely time singing some new songs, playing lots of instruments and dancing with their new friends, the Pallywags.  There are lots of pictures of the fun in the nursery foyer for everyone to look at.

First blog of the new term and we’d like to welcome everyone back.  This is going to be a very busy term and we have lots of exciting things planned.

After chatting to the children, they decided that our topic for this term would be Dinosaurs.  They have come up with some super ideas of what they would like to know and find out.  In the sand tray this week we have been excavating dinosaur fossils using expert equipment.  The children have enjoyed trying to find the dinosaurs and work out what type they are.  In the coming weeks we will be taking part in lots of other exciting activities.

With the lovely weather we have been having the children have spent a lot of time outside.  They have been practising riding bikes, balancing, sharing and taking turns.  Our fruit and vegetable patch has also been a great success, the children have been harvesting strawberries, potatoes, green beans and carrots.  I think they definitely enjoyed eating the strawberries!

This week the Blue Group walked beautifully to the coffee morning in the church hall.  They all had a super morning and enjoyed their juice and cake.  Thank you to the ladies that helped us walk up.  Next week another group will be going and any help is greatly appreciated.

We have some visitors to the nursery next week from Nicolls and Dimes Stage school.  We will keep you posted on how much fun we have.