Learn Together Grow Together
We had lots of fun in our sunny garden today, pretending to be the Code-a-pillar! We have signs of the Code-a-pillar directions which we can wear, and each take turns to call out the directions in order! There is a lot of thinking to do and a lot of listening too!
Here’s a wee video!
In our 3 – 5 room, we have moved to a new ABC & Beyond text for this planning session you may be familiar with. We are reading “Where’s My Teddy?” by Jez Alborough.
Each book we look at, we choose some “sparkle words”, words which may be new to the children’s vocabulary.
We have been discussing what the children think these words might mean, in relation to the story. You can see from the photos below, some children have been acting out their own interpretations of the words. Can you guess which photo relates to which word? 
You may be aware of our weekly visits to our local care home, where our children take part in activities, such as playdough, animal handling and games with our older friends. One friend has recently celebrated her 100th birthday. We made a card for her, and took it when we visited, with a bunch of flowers. We sang “Happy Birthday” to her of course! She was absolutely delighted! Unfortunately, we are not allowed to share any photos of our visits to the care home, but you can see below, how busy our children were, making the special card.
Outdoors, the children have been really enjoying the large loose parts, creating some magnificent buildings, obstacle courses and vehicles. Loose parts really let children use their imaginations to the greatest extend, without having any pre-conceived ideas from items specific to a purpose. For example, bread crates can be walls, a car, steps, a tower, or anything! There is always an element of risk involved, but as research has found, controlled risk can increase children’s confidence and resilience.
Although there has been lots of other learning happening this week, that’s all on the blog for now. have a great long weekend everyone! If you have any exciting plans, don’t forget to Tweet us! @menzieshill_ns
Here are our Family Learning Groups for this week!
Our ABC & Beyond book just now is “There’s A Bear On My Chair” by Ross Collins. The whole book is a fantastic rhyming opportunity, with the main rhyme being words which rhyme with ‘bear’.
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Children are learning about sharing, and being friends with others, how to solve a problem amicably, and not getting upset when you don’t get what you want! There are opportunities for prediction, for example, “Do you think the mouse will actually get to sit on the chair?”, and “what would YOU do if someone sat in your special seat?” “would you be like the mouse?”
With the very cold weather we’ve had this week, the children have had lots of science opportunities exploring the frost and having fun drawing and pattern making in it. There has been lots of scope for discussion about where it comes from, why has it gone away on some parts of the garden, and how cold it is.
The RSPB Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend and Mrs T has been helping the children outside, to spot some garden birds who are starting to visit the nursery garden. We would love to erect our Birdbox Camera we had in the former Menzieshill Nursery garden, but we are struggling to find a suitable site.
After the firepit on Wednesday, (macaroni in the morning and hot dogs in the afternoon!) we used the last of the heat on the pit to melt some fat to make bird cakes. The children were confident in their preparation – tearing up the bread, breaking up the apple slices, and stirring those and the sunflower hearts and raisins into the fat in the pan. We used the bird cakes to entice our feathered friends to visit the garden so we could record the different types of birds in our RSPB Birdwatch.
Our Play Along Maths sessions for Mrs Hunter’s group is going well. Children and parents are both enjoying the opportunity to work together.
Some of our Bookbug sessions will run in partnership with Virginie (French tutor) to help support and promote French language. Virginie will be joining our sessions over this term, sharing stories and songs in French.
Speaking of Bookbug, the Scottish Book Trust have launched a fab new Bookbug app, available for Android and IOS systems. Download from your app store for lots of new and familiar songs, rhymes and stories! It’s great!
As always, hope you have a great weekend and follow us on Twitter! @menzieshill_ns
Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had an enjoyable festive break! This first week back we have been welcoming our new children and families, getting to know each other and supporting the children in building new friendships.
Expressive arts:
In the art area, we have been using hula-hoops with string attached as the inspiration for creative designs. The children were very interested in this and were keen to find ways to attach lots of different resources.
Outdoor Learning: (Please ensure your child has a warm coat with them at nursery, as they will have the opportunity to spend time outside each day.)
We have been trying our weaving on a hoop, outside as well, as the activities we offer inside are also available outdoors. The children have been learning the “up and down”, “over and under” sequence to create the weaving pattern.
We have also re-started out fire-pit snack for the new session, beginning with some cosy tomato soup and toast. Just what we need on a cold winter’s day outside.
We reminded everyone about the very important rules needed for the fire-pit.
Family Learning:
Our family learning groups are continuing in the new year, with our first Rhyme-time session taking place this week. We welcome all new children and families to join us on:
Wednesdays at 11.30am
Thursdays at 10.45am
Fridays at 2.30pm
The current Play on Pedals sessions have only 2 weeks left, finishing on Friday 18 January, however we are planning to start more in the future. If you are interested, please let Carol, Wendy, Susan, Jenny or Vicky know.
Our new Play Along Maths group begins on Monday 21st January at 2.15pm (pm) and Friday 25 January at 10.30am (am) – this session is for Mrs Hunter’s group, who have had letters with further details.
Look our in your emails for a short PEEP group survey coming shortly. We really appreciate a high response.
As always, keep an eye out for our tweets on our Twitter page, @menzieshill_ns
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