Successful Learners – Page 13 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Word Of The Week

With Burns Day approaching, the Rainbow Room has ‘tartan’ as their “Word of the Week” while the Raindrop Room has chosen ‘Scotland’.

The Raindrop Room has chosen ‘rules’ as their “Word of the Week” as they help our new children to settle in and understand our expectations and routines. The Rainbow Room will be focussing on the word ‘winter’ as they talk about the changing season.

Confident Bakers

Here are more of our bakers busy making gingerbread just before Christmas. The children are becoming increasingly confident to be involved in food technology as their knowledge and understanding of the processes and health and hygiene rules develop.

Learning At Annan Academy

Having visited the Music Department at Annan Academy several times and had exciting visits in Nursery from a Science teacher and STEM Ambassadors, we were delighted to be able to arrange a visit by some of the Raindrop Room to the Technical Department at Annan Academy towards the end of last term. This was a fantastic opportunity for our children to experience model making at a whole new level and to learn how to safely use tools that we do not normally provide in Nursery.
Mr. Paul Johnston, Principal Teacher of Technical Education, and several of his senior pupils modelled how to use a range of tools then showed great patience to help our children make spinning tops. Each child used a ruler to mark the centre of their wood and donned safety goggles as the senior pupils made a hole in it for them. Mr. Johnston and his pupils showed great patience to teach our children how to hold the wood safely and supported them to use the electric sander. We were so proud of our children who showed super listening skills and concentration to be able to use the sander safely.
Once the spinning tops were complete, the children enjoyed using the coloured pencils to decorate their tops and some were even supported to sharpen the pencils with Mr. Johnston’s tools.
This was a fantastic opportunity for our children, experiencing learning in Numeracy and Mathematics, Technologies and Health and Wellbeing and we greatly appreciate the kindness and patience of Mr. Johnston and his pupils on this visit. Thank you also for the off cuts of wood which are being put to good use in Nursery. We have loved our visits to Annan Academy and hope that we can continue to learn from you in the future.

Volcanoes

With a small group of Rainbow Room children showing an interest in volcanoes, they decided to investigate a little more to see what they could find out. We looked at videos and photos of volcanoes on the internet and visited the school library to see what we could find out. The children who did the initial investigation were then able to share their findings with the rest of the children and soon lots of them were interested, even playing imaginatively in the construction area to depict an erupting volcano.
The next stage of learning was to move outdoors to create volcanoes using papier mache and then, once dry, they were painted to make them look more realistic. By this time nearly all the children were involved and excited about their volcanoes so we decided it was time to create our own volcanoes based on two different sets of materials (Coke and mints/vinegar and bicarbonate of soda). The children showed themselves to be super scientists, observing and comparing closely the difference between each eruption. The experiment was carried out several times and everyone was very excited to discuss their observations.
Once the experiment was completed, the children used pooters to empty their volcanoes and they turned their papier mache creation into a snowy village for their animals and Duplo figures so the children’s hard work was put to good use. It can be surprising what develops from a few children asking about a volcano but we think that these children led a super learning activity.

Learning With Apple Cake

Baking is always a very popular activity and these children did a great job of practising their chopping, measuring, counting and mixing skills to make an apple cake. The smell was wonderful and everyone who tried it said that it tasted delicious too. As you can see, some of the children further developed their skills in Technologies by taking photos of their work. Great effort everyone!

Marshmallows And Sculpture

Outdoor play is always very popular with our children, regardless of weather, and most are enthusiastic to experience any outdoor activities on offer. Here you can get a taste of a typical winter’s day when the children in the Raindrop Room enjoyed marshmallows by the fire and created sculptures from stones. We think that they produced some super artwork and everyone looks to be enjoying the campfire as always.

Click then click again on photos for a clearer look.

Hecklegirth Post Office

With families busy posting cards and parcels towards the end of term, the children in the Rainbow Room thought it would be a good idea to have a post office in their role play area. As you can see, this was a popular choice and there were lots of opportunities to develop learning in Numeracy and Mathematics as we talked about the size and weight of parcels with the use of scales, the different shapes of stamps on our letters, the use of money and counting of everything that was going in the post. What a busy post office we had!

Developing Skills

As we had the opportunity to use the school hall for a weekly session last term, we used the time to access some of the gymnastics equipment which provided a super challenge to the children. As well as building their confidence in the wider school environment, they learned how to safely use a range of equipment that they would not normally have access to. Most children grew in confidence during these sessions and were able to demonstrate learning over the weeks. This is an example of a group working on balance skills.