Recently we enjoyed a book called “When I Grow Up” and we talked about what jobs we might like to do when we are grown up. To help practise all important talking skills some children recorded their ideas using the microphone. We hope that you enjoy the small selection below. To see more of the children’s ideas, look in our “Thinking Books” in the book area of Nursery.
Turn up the volume and click on the + sign to hear their ideas.
World Book Day was great fun as we dressed up as our favourite characters and brought our favourite books to Nursery. To top off a special day we visited Annan Library where we were read some super stories. Thanks to the library staff and to all the parents who came with us on our visit – we really appreciate your help.
As you can see from the photos, everyone had fun taking part. Click on photos to make them bigger.
As well as learning about Chinese New Year, this week we have begun
an exciting project to design a mural for our garden wall as the current one is looking a little faded. As a local artist, Rory’s Mum has very kindly agreed to help the children plan a design reflecting their ideas. After an initial discussion with the children this week, she and Rory’s Dad will work with staff and the children to make a scrapbook of their ideas. She will then create a design for the garden wall based on the children’s ideas.
It was so exciting for the children to meet a real artist and talk about where her ideas come from and what tools she uses to paint.
We loved all the pictures that she collects to help her – a row of pandas, a flowery dress, a child playing in the sea, a laughing dog, one huge eye and a road full of bikes. We hope that the children will be able to bring in pictures of things they like, to contribute to our scrapbook. It might be drawings, cuttings from newspapers or magazines, photos, pieces of ribbon or material, even a photos of a pattern on their Mum’s skirt – simply anything that they like.
This is a very exciting project for us and we are delighted that Jana is willing to help us with it. We greatly appreciate the time and effort that she will be putting in to help us with this plan and look forward to lots of ideas from our children and their families. This design will be in the Nursery garden for a long time so it is important that everyone has a say in how it looks.
Rory’s Daddy came in to tell us the stories he had written using Scottish dialect. We heard about a little girl called Rosa who wanted to be a barber and enjoyed the story of a ‘moose’ who went to the moon. Rory’s Mummy was also able to explain the story in Polish to some of the children.
As a thank you we sang them the Scottish songs we have been learning which they seemed to enjoy. We would like to thank Rory’s family for a wonderful storytelling visit.
We would like to remind you that, as part of building an awareness of Scottish language and culture, we will celebrate Burn’s Day on Tuesday 24th January. This will take the form of some fun games and a small “Burn’s Supper”.
It would add to the occasion if the children were able to wear something tartan but please don’t worry if your child does not have anything as this is a fun, informal event. We are looking forward to Primary 1 joining us in the morning and Primary 2/1 in our afternoon celebration.
Next Friday will provide the opportunity for families to come in to hear us sing our Scottish songs and see some of the work that all the Early Years classes have been doing as part of our Scottish celebrations. Details are in Miss Wilson’s recent newsletter. We look forward to a busy and fun week.
During our discussions about the changing seasons, lots of the children talked about Jack Frost. We talked about what he looks like and where he lives. As always, they had some wonderful ideas which we thought you’d like us to share with you.
Evan: my Dad says Jack Frost makes ice. He’s white and he makes people cold. He eats carrots and lives in the dark.
Ryan: he’s like a scary gruffalo but he’s all white like a snowman and a gruffalo’s brown. He lives on an island in his house.
Jack V: when it’s white snow, he wears white things and that’s why he’s camouflaged. If he’s the same colour as the snow no-one sees him. He lives in a white cave far away.
Rohan: he’s a green boy and looks like fog. He lives in a dark place like underground. When it’s summer he goes to the North Pole.
Layton: Jack Frost is blue and he’s a boy with spikes on his back. He’s got spiky hair and he’s got a bad smile. He lives in an ice globe and eats ice-cream. The ice-cream’s orange. When it’s summer he goes somewhere far away in a snow globe.
Mischa: he looks like a snowman with a tree on his head. He lives in an ice cave.
Finlay: he’s white and no-one can see him ‘cause he lives in the clouds. The sun makes him turn into red hot and when it’s winter again he turns very cold.
Amy: Jack Frost’s a boy. He’s got a scary face and scary eyes. He lives in the North Pole and he builds an icy thing that brings him to Annan.
Everyone can make magic pictures inside their heads. In Nursery we catch the magic from our magic stick and put it in our heads to make our pictures and there was lots of magic in the air when we read the poem, “The Magic Tree”. We hope you enjoy some of the children’s thoughts on what they think is behind the magic door in the magic tree.
Murray: spiders’ webs and dustbin lids.
Mya: a cat called Tilly. It would be magic and would lick its paws.
Sam L.: an alien from outer space.
Reece: a duckie eating tomatoes.
Miley: a magic fish swimming underwater.
Caleb: a wasp that had been to the fireworks.
Suzie: a dolphin sleeping.
Corey: a princess who waves a magic wand to get a lovely dress.
Layton: lots of grass with flying dust on and a mouse carving people.
Iona: a wizard playing with a ball.
Rohan: frogs – lots of them hopping everywhere.
Lee: the moon – it might even live there.
Jaylin: Cinderella sitting on a chair.
Conner: some red and yellow space rockets flying about.
Neve: a shark eating up everything in the sea.
Ryan: toys like Buzz Lightyear with pop-up wings.
Family Learning is a very important aspect of life at Hecklegirth Nursery and we are delighted that Eileen Johnstone, Family Learning Co-ordinator, continues to provide fun activities which support learning. Each week Eileen organises story, rhyme and number sacks for children to share with their families at home. We also have some dual language books to share with those who have English as an additional language so everyone interested in activity sacks can take part. If you missed out on this opportunity, Eileen will be happy to add you to her list – simply look for her at the cloakroom entrance at the start or end of Thursday Nursery sessions.
Aware of our emphasis on the importance of rhyme, Eileen organised craft sessions this week where the children joined members of their families for fun activities based on nursery rhymes. Mums, dads and grannies all seemed to enjoy themselves and the children were certainly proud of the nursery rhyme bags they made.
Eileen hopes to run a Christmas craft session next month so look out for dates and times on our Family Learning notice board. Remember that younger brothers and sisters are welcome to come along too. This week’s feedback has been very positive so we look forward to lots of families taking part.
We feel so lucky to have Eileen as part of our Nursery team and would like to thank her for her invaluable input. Thanks also to everyone who took part this week – it’s wonderful to see so many families joining in activities in our Nursery.
As we continue to enjoy our learning based on castles and royalty, we would like to say a huge thank you to all those families who have helped their children produce wonderful crowns at home. As you can see from the selection below, the variety of styles and materials used is wide but the end result is the same – happy, motivated children who are proud to show everyone their fantastic crowns.
As well as their creativity, the children have developed their talking and listening skills as they told the other children about the process. While adding their faces to the crowns in Nursery, they have talked about what they would like to do if they were a king or queen. We hope that our families have enjoyed this joint school/home activity as much as we have.
If you click on each photo you can read what the children said.
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