expressive arts – Page 45 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Making Music Together

In the past week the children have been learning how to use musical instruments correctly. This has brought lots of excitement and impromptu performances as the children have decided to form bands. Some have been marching bands and some have simply gathered round a table and agreed what songs to perform under the leadership of a conductor. It has been great to see the children grow in confidence and work so well together without adult intervention.
We managed to capture some of those moments on camera to show the children on the Promethean board and thought that you might like to see them.

Click on the screens below to see two of our little bands.
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Paint, Pencils and Glue

Most children have been enjoying exploring a range of resources as they settle into Nursery routines. Our walls are now looking much brighter, thanks to the wonderful pieces of artwork produced by the children. Paint, pencils and glue are all part of the Nursery experience and, as you can see below, they have used the materials well. I wonder if any of the children can spy their work?
Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Happy Graduation

Lots of happy, smiling faces greeted our parents on Friday when we held a small graduation ceremony to celebrate the end of our year in Nursery. The children were very excited to sing for their families and they certainly showed themselves to be ‘confident individuals’ and ‘effective contributors’ as they performed their songs and then came individually on to the stage to shake hands and receive their certificates from Miss Wilson. We felt very proud of them all.

Thank you, as always, to all our families for fantastic support in everything we do. The children have been delightful to work with this year and we will miss all those who are moving on.

Eleanor’s Special Message

Eleanor has painted a wonderful picture of a beach scene for her Uncle Fernando. She used the Promethean board to paint her picture and wrote a special message for Uncle Fernando which says, “Please read this message”. Eleanor then took a photo of her work so that it could go on the blog for him to see. We hope you like it Uncle Fernando?

Beautiful Butterflies

There have been some beautiful butterflies appearing in Nursery this week as everyone has been having fun decorating them at home with their families. What a lot of fantastic ideas you all have! Some children used glue and collage materials, some painted or used crayons and one even used his feet to paint his butterfly. If you look carefully in our photos you can also see Suzie’s fantastic butterfly that she painted on the Nursery Promethean board.

The children have been keen to talk about their wonderful creations and we have spent time discussing which ones are the same on each side and which are different.

To add to our excitement of learning about butterflies, a very special parcel arrived today in Nursery. We are now the proud owners of five little caterpillars so we may produce some real butterflies of our own in a few weeks. Please ask the children to keep you posted on their progress.

What do you think of our wall?

Now that the children’s ideas have been so fantastically transformed by Rory’s Mum and Dad into a piece of art on our garden wall, we asked them what they thought of it. We hope that you all enjoy their comments. The story of this design from beginning to end is in a book in the story corner for everyone to look at.

Layton: I like the Earth. It’s where we live and it’s got a bit of jig-saw attached.

Grace: I like the princess – she’s going to her castle.

Rohan: I like all of it. That lady’s called a mermaid ‘cause she comes out of the water and looks for a dinosaur and goes back underwater to hide.

Theo: I like the Loch Ness monster.

Neve: I like the princess’ dress.

Hannah A.: I like the planet. I think everyone dances on it.

Lee: I like the puzzle ‘cause it’s got a spider’s web.

Liam: the green lizard’s good.

Emily D.: the rocket flying past the moon.

Haydn: I like the Loch Ness monster that’s in the water.

Finlay: I like the butterfly and Stan the Star and the planet – I think it’s Mars.

Caleb: I like the spider in the web. It’s stuck.

Courtney: I like the princess. I like her dress best.

Lexie: the sunflowers are the best bit.

Our New Garden Wall

After lots of hard work by Rory’s Mum and Dad, our garden wall has now completed its transformation from a faded painting to a magical and exciting creation which stemmed from the children’s thoughts and ideas. We are delighted to have an original piece of art in our garden to provoke lots of questions and discussions: the children seem to notice things that we, as adults, might not have seen and it’s fantastic to be able to share it together.

We are extremely grateful to Rory’s parents for all their input, both in working with the children on their design ideas and in the hours that they have spent transforming their ideas into reality. We will post some of the children’s comments on our blog soon but there’s little doubt that they all love it. We would love to hear what you think of our new wall.

Click on the photos to see them more clearly.

new wall whole — What do think of our new wall?

Is that a monster in our garden?

Our garden wall is changing almost daily at the moment as Rory’s Mum and Dad continue to transform the children’s ideas into an exciting design that produces lots of questions and discussions.

Jana and Paul have enjoyed the “quality control team” who have often taken time out of their play to sit, watch and comment as they work. Judging by the discussions, we think that everyone is delighted with what is emerging before their eyes and, as well as looking fantastic, this artwork is providing the interesting discussion we had hoped for. We feel very lucky to have such talented parents and are looking forward to enjoying the finished work.

Spring Flowers

The children recently enjoyed using a range of resources to produce a beautiful selection of flowers when learning about Spring. As you can see, each one is individual and unique which makes for a lovely variety in their display.

Can your child find his or her work in these photos?

Keep Fit the Fun Way

Our “Healthy and Happy Week” started on Monday morning with the children trying out cheerleading with Tina, our Active Schools Co-ordinator. As you can see from the children’s faces, they needed to concentrate hard and it was tricky knowing which pom-pom to wave at the right time but the main thing was that everyone experienced a different and fun way to enjoy exercise. Music while you work certainly seems to appeal to us all.

The afternoon children learned some basic rugby skills with Colin, the rugby coach. As well as putting the children through some introductory training, he talked to them about how important good diet is, alongside exercise, to keep fit. Unfortunately, the children seem to have been running so quickly that our camera didn’t manage to capture them clearly but they certainly enjoyed Colin’s activities.

Thanks go to Tina and Colin for a super start to our “Healthy and Happy Week”.

Click on the photos for a closer look.