Hecklegirth Nursery

Active Lifestyle

As part of our ongoing work on SHANARRI, we looked recently at how the children feel that they are active as part of a healthy lifestyle. It seems like there are lots of different ways for Nursery children to be active. Here are some of their thoughts.

Isobella: take my dollies for a walk.
Eli: do Highland dancing.
Priya: go on my balance bike.
Kenzie: do push-ups in my bedroom or the living room.
Tom: go on my black bike.
Neve: running, jumping and going on the scooter.
James: I like digging.
Enid: skipping.
Peter: I do swimming. I ride my horse and feed him and muck him out.
Meris: swimming with Dad.
Halle: I go to gymnastics. I do cartwheels.
Joshua W.: Tiger Cubs – Taekwando
Callum: I go to swimming. Mummy takes me. I listen to my teacher.
Reuben: I go to rugby. It’s outside at Violetbank.
Olivia: I go in my pretend car. You need to push your feet along.
Theo: I go swimming with my Dad.
Isaac: I run with my big brother Dylan.
Summer: I go running with Mummy, Daddy and Cara.
Joshua M.: I go to football. It’s at the swimming pool hall.
Maxwell: I go swimming with Mummy.
Danielle: I go to football.
It seems that most boys and girls in Nursery are very active with their families. This is just a selection of activities that they told us about so they must be keeping very fit and active.

Block Play and Construction

Block play and construction provides many learning opportunities such as problem solving, increasing spatial awareness, developing an understanding of 3D shapes, developing fine and gross motor skills, playing co-operatively, decision making, learning to play safely while managing risk … and so much more. Lately lots of children have shown super skills in this area of Nursery and have demonstrated great teamwork showing themselves to be successful learners, confident individuals and effective contributors.
Here is a taster of the children at work in the construction area. These constructions were a complicated multi storey car park with different entrances for different types of vehicles and a tunnel to let people get into the castle from the princess palace without the “baddies” seeing them. Great work boys and girls!
Click then click again for a clearer view.

Thank You

Enid’s Mum has been looking at the photos of Eileen’s recent Family Learning craft activities:

“Lovely as always to come in and do crafts, taken away some good ideas to do at home. Thank you Eileen.”

Thanks to Eileen from us too for providing more opportunities for the children to work with their families.

Get Your Red Nose Here

On Friday 24th March Primary 4 will be performing at assembly on the theme of Red Nose Day and they have suggested that children in school and Nursery could wear something red that day. They have also organised for red noses to be on sale for £1, if the children would like to contribute, and a box of red noses is now available in Nursery. Thank you to Primary 4 for your help. We hope that you raise lots of money for this worthwhile cause.

Top Tips for Buddies

Primary 6 pupils have been visiting Nursery for some time now and good relationships are being built which will help to support those children moving to Primary 1 at Hecklegirth in August. You may have noticed some of the photos of the P6 buddies and Nursery children playing together on our transition board. We thought we would share some of the thoughtful comments of P6 as they were asked to write about top tips in their role as buddies.

First you need to get to know them. You can get to know them by playing a game or two.
Be kind. If you use unkind words they might copy.
Be patient. Little ones take longer to make a decision.
Be loyal. Don’t abandon them, they wouldn’t like that.
Don’t just play, help them play.
You need to be friendly. Have you tried making them laugh? You should as it helps with bonding.
Be responsible and sensible. You have to have a good attitude and good behaviour.
Don’t let them get away with everything. If you do so they might misbehave.
Nursery kids are a lot more sensitive than you or me so always pay attention to what they’re up to.
Always listen to their opinions and decide together what to do.
If you see your buddy by themselves or upset, go over and cheer them up.
Have fun but make sure to still help and teach them a thing or two about going to Primary 1.
“Sugar coat” – sometimes you have to tell a little white lie to protect their feelings.
Be kind. If they make something like a drawing, say something nice.
Every Nursery kid loves a good story but one problem, they can’t read so read it to them.
You must help your buddy to learn or, when they get older, they’ll struggle.
Tell them a bit about you. Tell them your name, age and many more things.
Be kind to them because if you’re bad or mean, they’ll grow up to be bad or mean.

As you can see, the older children have thought carefully about their buddy role and take it seriously. We look forward to more fun times ahead with the buddies.

Easter Crafts

A few more families joined Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, on Friday to make Easter crafts and they seemed to have good fun, just like those earlier in the week. Here you can see them busy making Easter bowls and pop-up bunnies. Thank you, as always, to Eileen for a great family activity session and to all those parents and grandparents who took part.

Parents Early Education Partnership (PEEP)

PEEP learning together family sessions are fun and include talk time for parents/carers then the children will join you for stories, songs, and activities. The activities are designed to support your child’s early learning and development and will be run by Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator.

Unlike the ‘one-off’ sessions Eileen offers, e.g. Easter, Christmas make and take, PEEP is a weekly course.

PEEP will start after the Easter holiday on a Tuesday morning from 9 – 10* and Tuesday afternoon from 12.15 – 1.15*. Dates are as follows:

Tuesday 25th April
Tuesday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th May.

The number Eileen can take on the course is limited so, if you would like to join, please let her know as soon as possible so that she can add your name to her list. Nursery staff can pass on a message or give you Eileen’s contact number.

*If you are interested, but the day/times do not suit please let Eileen know.

Proud as Punch

Olivia’s family is delighted with her recent award:

“Olivia was as proud as punch with her certificate! Mummy, Daddy and Tilly are so pleased with all her efforts! She is definitely a mini me with wanting to write and draw all the time!! 😍”

Well done Olivia – everyone is proud of you. Keep up the good work!

Super Award Winners

Well done to last week’s award winners for some super work.

Family Easter Crafts

Tuesday saw the first Family Learning sessions to make Easter bowls and pop-up bunnies. It was lovely to see Mums, Dads, aunties and grandparents all joining the children, as well as little brothers and sisters, for the ‘make and take’ activities.
Thank you to Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, for providing a super activity for families to enjoy together and thank you also to everyone who came along. The next sessions are on Friday 17th March at 9.00-9.45 or 2.15 – 3.00. We hope that you have fun.
Click then click again to make the photos bigger.