Unfortunately, due to flooding, there will be no Nursery on Monday 25th January. However, we expect to be open again on Tuesday and will be able to enjoy our Burns celebration then so it would be great if the children could wear a ‘touch o’ tartan’ to add to the occasion. Both rooms will come together for a little “Burns supper” and we will end our celebration by performing our songs to family and friends. We would be delighted if you could join us at 11.45 or 2.50, depending on your session, to hear the children sing their Scottish songs. We look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday.
Category: 2015-16
Farmer Jim
We simply had to share this fantastic photo of Jim that he brought in to Nursery to add to his special book. He really looks quite the young farmer as he shows his Simmental calf in the Young Handlers Class. Jim took part in Dumfries Show, Carlisle Show and the Highland Show last year so he is well experienced in what to do in these situations. We loved all the photos but this is our favourite. What a fantastic achievement. Well done Jim! He’s certainly looking like the confident individual we aim for in Nursery. It would be lovely if we had more photos of the children’s wider achievements to add to their special books so please bring them in to Nursery if you have them.
Enjoying Our Blog
It’s great to know that our families are still enjoying looking at the blog. Noah’s family was pleased with the photo of him busy in the digging area:
“Great photograph of a potential Gardener!”
Noah certainly looks like he loves the great outdoors.
Olivia’s Mum has been looking at the children’s ideas of what healthy means:
“Fab answers! How did I know this would be Olivia’s response?! She just loves a bit of hand washing!!”
Well done Olivia for knowing why we need to wash our hands. We agree that the children did show a good understanding of how to be healthy.
Healthy Hecklegirth
Further to our recent work on SHANARRI, the children talked to us about being healthy and showed a good understanding of what this means. Here are some of their ideas.
Ben W.: drink lots of water
Kacey: you brush your teeth.
Caidy: you do exercise to keep fit.
James P.: wash your hands before eating.
Ben W.: you wash your hands to get away the germs from the toilet.
Cormac: we do “Sticky Kids” to stay healthy.
Finbarr: we eat carrots and other vegetables to stay healthy.
Peter: go to bed.
Orla: have a bath.
Keegan: wash your hands after the toilet.
Olivia: wash your hands before you eat to get rid of germs.
Mollie: if you brush your teeth, you keep your teeth healthy.
Jay: go to sleep.
Henley: wash your body in the bath.
Finn: you have to put soap on and rub your hands.
Lucy: you wash your hands after you’ve been outside to play.
If you want to read more about SHANARRI, click on “Girfec leaflet” on the right under “Useful Reading“.
Award Winners
Here are the first award winners of the term. Well done all of you – what a great start to 2016!
Weather, Weather Everywhere
It always seems amazing that our country can provide such a range of weather even within one day. One of our frosty mornings last week turned into a very rainy afternoon but the children still had great fun in different ways. There was lots of digging to be done as the ground melted and one group made a fantastic tower of cones to transport around the garden. Thinking caps were on as the children tried to work out the best way to balance the cones to get the biggest tower and they also worked out to ride the bike slowly to help balance their special load. What super problem solving!
Click then click again to make the photos bigger.
Ice Investigators
There is no better way to learn about the signs of winter than to be outdoors on a frosty day which is exactly what the weather brought us this week. The effects of a frosty night brought excitement and great opportunities for the children to learn about winter weather. Hard, frozen ground and puddles of ice became exciting resources to experiment with and the children had lots of discussion about how it felt and what would happen if they took it inside. Cayne said, “If you stamp it, it crunches but it goes to water inside”.
We had a super team of investigators trying to work out why the digging area had become so hard and various tools were used to try to break it up. Ben said, “If you drag ice, it breaks a bit” and there was a lot of discussion about whether the digging area would stay like this forever because the sun was out but the ice was not melting.
Instead of our mud kitchen, the children decided that they would have an ice kitchen and they set about making soup and ‘hot stuff’ because they thought it would warm us up. There was certainly a lot of cooking going on and we had helpers in all corners of the garden searching for pieces of ice to break up for ingredients. James said, “You can saw ice off a puddle to make it better”.
We counted how many pieces of ice we had in a pan and discussed the different sizes and shapes of them – some children noticed that we couldn’t find a circular piece of ice which caused some great discussion. We even found a few frozen numbers and tried to find others. Well done all you super thinkers who were outdoors this week – you helped each other to learn about the effects of winter.
Parents as Early Education Partners (PEEP)
PEEP is for parents and children (age 5 and under). Meetings are once a week for about 40 minutes. At these meetings we will be learning through playing, singing, telling stories and generally having fun. Your child will join you for part of the session.
If you are interested in PEEP and would like more information, please pop in to the Family Learning room tomorrow, 15th January, anytime between 11.00 and 3.00 or on Tuesday, 19th January, between 9.00 and 1.30. Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, will be ready with a tea or coffee to explain what you would be doing in these sessions. Children will not join you for these initial sessions. We hope that lots of parents/carers pop in for a coffee to these drop-in sessions to find out a little more as they sound like good fun and will help your child’s learning.
If you cannot come tomorrow or Tuesday but would like more information, please contact Eileen or leave a message with Nursery staff.
Computers and Writing Kisses
Another family has been looking at the photos of the children who have just started Nursery and has left us a comment:
“Aww, a lovely happy picture! Olivia tells me she likes playing on the computer and writing kisses on the drawing table!”
I love the sound of Olivia’s favourite activities. Keep smiling Olivia!
Happy Start
Some of the children have been on the blog for the first time, having started last week, and their families have left us comments to say that they have settled well:
“Isaac is loving nursery so far and looks forward to it every day.”
“Noah is really enjoying his nursery sessions, thank you!”
It’s good to hear that Isaac and Noah are happy. We hope that they continue to enjoy Nursery life. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
