pictures – Page 11 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Polish Christmas

We have been learning about Christmas in Poland this week. Hannah’s Mum (a.m.) and Sara’s Mum (p.m.) have talked to us about the traditions in their country at Christmas time. We learned about putting some hay under the tablecloth, about the twelve dishes at their meal, the empty place at their table and that Santa visits Poland too. We were even able to taste the nativity wafers that they have on Christmas Eve.

Christmas wafer — Tasting a nativity wafer.

It was interesting to find out that much about Christmas in Poland is similar to Scotland but that there are also several important differences. Thank you so much to both Hannah and Sara’s Mum for helping us to learn about their culture.

Polish Christmas — Lots of us tried the nativity wafer.

Family Christmas Crafts

Yet again, Eileen Johnstone, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, has proved popular with her Christmas craft activities. Lots of children and their families had great fun last week making cards and decorations for their homes.

We look forward to Eileen’s return in the new term when she will resume the weekly activity sacks on Thursdays.

Crowns Fit for Kings… and Queens

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.

Autumn Apples

As some children brought apples to add to our Autumn display, we decided to make apple crumble. A simple apple crumble can provide so much learning: the importance of hygiene and safety in the kitchen, fine motor control, counting and chopping skills and the effect of heat on the apples. Most of all, it’s great fun and the children have certainly been excited to take something home that they could eat.

Spoon the biscuit crumbs on the cooked apples.

Welcome to Miss Young

Miss Young, our student teacher, has been enjoying getting to know our children this week and the children have had good fun learning about shape and colour with her. So far, they have been making pictures using shapes in different colours and have had great fun with a jumping and colour matching game in the garden. We hope Miss Young enjoys her placement with us and look forward to her activities in the next few weeks.

Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Ruby Rabbit

This week Ruby Rabbit has been meeting all our new children. It was such a surprise when she popped out of her basket to say hello. Some people guessed it would be a football, someone thought a pig and some people thought it might be a fairy in the white basket but everyone was very surprised to meet a shy little rabbit. So far, Ruby Rabbit’s ears have only started to hurt and go red once, when we forgot to use little voices, so she is very happy with all the Nursery children. Well done, everyone!

First Days

What a delightful start we have had to our year, getting to know our new children and their families, as well as welcoming back the familiar, smiling faces. The children are beginning to settle in to the Nursery routine and, as the coming weeks unfold, they should grow in confidence in their new environment. If your child takes a little while to feel comfortable, please give them time to take things at their pace: we, as adults, cope with change in different ways and at different rates and children are exactly the same. If you have any concerns about your child, please speak to staff who can offer you advice based on their experiences.

Most children have had fun and been adventurous in trying out a variety of activities. Once we have blog permission slips returned, we will be able to put photos here to encourage children to show their families and friends at home. In the meantime, we thought you might like to see a few of the first drawings the children have produced this week.

Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Singing, smiles and certificates

We are off to Australia and to Edinburgh to live but we will still be friends.

Singing, smiles and certificates filled our graduation day at Hecklegirth Nursery. The children were so excited to perform for their family and friends and they certainly did us all proud. Happiness seemed to beam from almost every face as they showed what wonderful little stars they are. A slightly nervous practice for some at our school assembly the day previously seemed to build their confidence and both the morning and afternoon children “saved the best for last” to impress their families. The singing and dancing was fantastic! Miss Wilson was also very impressed with the grown-up and confident manner in which each individual child walked onto the stage to shake hands and receive their certificate.

All the staff were touched when we were presented with surprise gifts which were most generous, particularly after the recent secret fundraising event. We would like to thank all the children and their parents for making this year a most enjoyable one. The children have been an absolute delight and their parents so supportive of us. We could not have asked for more.

Click on the photos above for a closer look.

P6 buddies give a helping hand

P6 were kind and helpful buddies this week when they helped us make cards for our families. Eileen, our Family Learning Co-ordinator, arranged for P6 to help children who are moving to P1 make lovely cards for their families. P6 were fantastic buddies, explaining what the task was and just giving the right amount of guidance and support to those who found it a little tricky cutting out stars to decorate their cards. We hope parents are happy with the finished product as a fond memento of their child’s move to Primary 1. The sentiments of the little poem seem to sum up how they are all feeling about the next stage in their lives.

P1 here I come.

I know I’ll have lots of fun,

Lots of things to make and do,

Reading, writing, counting too.

P1 here I come!

I know I’ll have lots of fun.