outdoors – Page 35 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Thank You To Our Gardeners

Planting is now complete in the garden and there are promising signs that everything is starting to grow which is exciting for the children. Eileen would like to say a big thank-you to all the adults who came to help and to the families who grew courgettes and beans at home – these have now been planted in the beds. We would like to say special thanks to Shay’s Grandad for the hints and tips and the lovely book on vegetable and herbs that he has donated to the Nursery. All we need to do now is wait for harvest time. We hope that everyone can keep an eye on the plants to see how they are doing.

Up the Muddy Hill on Ollie’s Adventure

Everyone is learning so much about growing this term and the latest venture for the morning children was to visit Ollie’s allotment. We donned our wellies and went on an adventure up the muddy hill and through the secret path to the little corner of Annan where Ollie’s family grows their vegetables.
Ollie’s Mum, his auntie and his cousins were there to meet us but really Ollie was the main guide of our tour. He showed us how to dig the soil (good teamwork there with Reilly to use that tricky tool) and where he likes to climb trees. We saw lots of different vegetables that they have planted and Ollie showed that he knew what he was doing when he pulled out two leeks which his Mum was going to use to make soup.
Ollie’s Mum had very kindly brought several different types of potatoes so that everyone could plant their own and we all put them in their own little hole and covered them up. Let’s hope we did a good job and that Ollie and his family have a big crop this year. We all had such a lovely time on our Ollie adventure that we didn’t think it could get any better. However, when we got back to Nursery, he even had a tasty little cake waiting for us all which he’d made at home. Thank you so much to Ollie and his family for your kind invitation. We had a brilliant time and I think some of us might pop back to your sunny little corner in a week or two to see if our potatoes have started to grow.

Wellies at the Ready

Can we please remind all morning children that we would like them to bring their wellies to Nursery tomorrow, Thursday 30th May? We have been invited to visit Ollie’s allotment and his Mum tells us that wellies would be best for our visit. We’re looking forward to seeing how Ollie’s vegetables are coming on as ours are now starting to grow.

Running, Jumping and Balancing

Running, jumping and balancing are some of the skills we have been practising for our Fun Activity session on Friday. The children have enjoyed working together in teams to take part in a range of activities on the school field. We hope that lots of families will be able to encourage the children on Friday when they show you what they can do. Let’s just all hope that the weather is kind to us.

From Tiny Seeds …

Some of the peas that you grew at home have now been added to our raised beds as well as more onions. The recent sunshine and rain must have helped our seeds to germinate because today I noticed that the beetroot is starting to peek through the compost. Hopefully everything will start to show soon and we will begin to see more of our plants growing. Remember to keep an eye on their progress, boys and girls.

Who Lives In Our Garden?

As we continue to learn about growth and life cycles, we have been extending our learning to the outdoors where the children have been searching for minibeasts. Gardening tools, magnifying boards and clipboards have been at the ready as the children search for evidence of minibeasts in our garden. Here is some of the detective team in action.

Planting and Growing

Tomorrow is Thursday so it must be planting and growing day with Eileen and our parent volunteers. Last week two of the groups planted onions and peas to add to the carrots and beetroot. The children are watching those raised beds closely so hopefully some of our vegetables will start to show soon.

Ollie’s Allotment

Further to a recent comment about Ollie’s allotment, his family have sent us a reply telling us what he grows there:

“We grow lots of things at our allotment, potatoes, onions, leeks, onions and lots more. Just let us know when you would like to visit. A Thursday and Friday are good for us.
On another note- it was very exciting to come home from work yesterday and hear all about safety with electric. Ollie totally understood all the reasons for being safe when around electric. Well done nursery staff- great work with little children as usual.”

Ollie’s allotment sounds like a brilliant place to visit especially with us having our own growing project in the Nursery garden. Hopefully we will be able to arrange a visit soon – our diary is at the ready and we will speak to Ollie’s Mum or Dad about it soon.
We’re glad that our learning about safety around electricity has also been successful. The children were very interested in this topic and we hope that this should show in their everyday lives.

Well Done Ollie!

Ollie’s family has left a comment on his photo:

“Ollie was super excited with his certificate this week. He has also been enjoying looking after his courgette whilst growing at home. He would love to show some of the children our allotment when the weather gets a bit better.”

Well done Ollie. You really deserved that certificate with your super knowledge of the body. We like the sound of a visit to your allotment. I wonder what you grow there?