Sophie’s mum came into the nursery to teach us all about Chinese New Year. She told us it is the year of the dog and she brought special costumes for us to try on, they were beautiful. We also received a special envelope each, with a lucky coin. We wish Sophie’s family A Happy New Year when it comes.

The nursery boys and girls are trying out a new way to tidy up. We are still having our tidy up song – “Supercalifragilistic” but the children are now being given the responsibility of an area or section to tidy. Prior to the song being played the children are issued with lanyards containing a picture of the area they are to tidy. They then have to keep a listen for the music and when played go to there designated area. The pictures help them to know what the area should look like and to check that they are doing there job properly. We have been trialling the process for a few days and the children are truly loving the responsibility. They are developing good listening skills and working well together to create a warm, friendly, tidy nursery environment. Good job everyone.

We have been learning all about Robert or “Rabbie” Burns. As part of our Burns celebrations we have been reading Scottish books – “Thi Dundee Gruffalo” and “There was a wee lassie who swallowed a midgie”, we had some Scottish snack of scones and shortie and Mrs Hutcheson brought in her very special Burns book from home – it is 200 years old!!!. The children enjoyed all aspects of the day and found some of the Scottish words really funny. They were astonished at how old Mrs Hutcheson’s book was and could tell it was really old as it was as the children said –  “all scuffed”, “looks dirty”, “has gold pages”, “is really big and heavy!!”.

Every Tuesday we visit Menziehill Nursery. We take it in turns morning and afternoon to listen to stories and rhymes, and we choose some special books for the ladies to read to us in the nursery. We “like walking there, even though its cold”, “its good to see different things” and “I like the green books” were some of the comments from the children. Next week we may even visit the Spar to choose some delicious fruit for our snack.😀

After a lovely 2 week break the children have enjoyed getting back to nursery and catching up with there friends. We have had a good settling in week and have made good use of all the learning opportunities on offer. The children have enjoyed as always getting out in our very muddy nursery garden. We have also been building and creating indoors using the bricks and playdough and experimenting with “gloopy, slimy” soap. We are all looking forward to a very busy term 3.

In nursery we have been learning about Christmas traditions and celebrations from around the world. Joree’s dad told us all about their life back in Oman. They live in a village where they have camels for pets as well as dogs. Sofija’s mum showed us how to make beautiful Christmas decorations. She makes her own decorations when back home in Latvia. Natan’s mum made us a lovely Polish cake made from poppy and sesame seeds. It was delicious. Thank you to everyone. The children (and staff) have discovered lots of new information about different traditions. 🌲

We have been enjoying the winter weather. The children were excited to see the nursery garden covered in frost and sparkling in the winter sunshine. We have struggled to move the tyres and crates as they have been frozen solid to the ground. In the sinks and the water tray we have discovered large blocks of ice which we have had great fun trying to make smaller. We have used our magnifying glass to look closely at the frost on the grass and leaves. We have used sticks to write our names in the frost.Our obstacle course has been more of a challenge as it has been very slippy!!! We are loving the cold, frosty outdoors but we secretly would all love some snow so we could build a snowman.

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Yesterday afternoon we decided to follow our older peers in the school by participating in the daily mile. It was freezing but we wrapped up cosy and off we went. We are learning about the importance of exercise and being healthy, and this was a great way of keeping fit and having fun with our friends.⛄️

In nursery we have been talking about our feelings and emotions, and what makes us feel happy or sad? We are also learning how to be a kind friend, and sharing the resources and taking turns indoors and out😀

It was a busy Stay and Play in Nursery today, and it was the last one of 2017. The children were excited, and knowledgable when showing their adults what they have been learning in the nursery. We hope everyone had a fantastic time. We value parental participation, and we would like to thank you for your lovely comments left in our book😀