The last day before our long Easter week-end brought a surprise visit to Primary 5 who had invited us to hear their fairy tales. It’s a long walk up the stairs to Primary 5 but it was well worth it as their stories were brilliant. Nursery children sat beautifully and showed what very good listeners they are and Primary 5 were wonderful story tellers. Huge thanks go to Miss Dennis and Primary 5 for their kind invitation. We had a great time.
We talked about Easter celebrations this week and got excited talking about our favourite Easter eggs. We all shared ideas to work out which Easter eggs were the smallest and the biggest in the magic bag. The children holding the eggs were nearly dizzy moving about to get our Easter egg line in the right order. In the end, everyone agreed that we had managed to get them in order from the smallest to the biggest. Good teamwork Nursery children!
As we have been learning about our community and the people who work in it, we recently paid visits to our local sorting office and police station.
On Red Nose Day local fire officers visited Nursery and we had great fun trying out the hose on the fire appliance, as well as learning how to stay safe. The firefighters joined in the fun, borrowing silly hats for Red Nose Day.
The children enjoyed this taster of the world of work and several hope to be postal workers, firefighters or police officers in the future although our discussions have revealed that many also have dreams of becoming a princess or a pirate.
The children’s “special books” will be sent home next week, prior to our parental consultations. The personal learning plan is a shared document between children, parents/carers and the Nursery staff to celebrate the children’s learning and development during their time in Nursery. We encourage parents to record any achievements from home that they feel are important for their child. Lately, for example, we have been able to record someone learning to ride their bike without stabilisers, which we all know is a wonderful landmark in every childhood and deserves pride of place in this record of achievements.
We would like to remind parents/carers that these books are on display to browse at any time. The children often look at them during the Nursery session and love to show them to their families. However, we hope that everyone enjoys having their “special book” home for a few days.
This week we found out a little about the artist, Kandinsky. It was quite tricky trying to say his name and some of us just called him “Kandy” which was a bit easier. A few children thought he looked as old as Robert Burns and wondered if they knew each other because both their pictures looked old.
Once we had made our painting in the style of Kandinsky, we talked about our work and compared it to Kandinsky’s painting. Here are some of our ideas.
Valentine’s Day has come and gone earlier this week but what do our Nursery children think about love and how we can show someone that we love them?
Zak “Love feels soft.”
Eva “You can kiss people you love. I love my puppy Milly and I kiss and cuddle her.”
Mason “It feels snug as a bug.”
Dylan “Love is looking after someone. My Mummy and Daddy look after me.”
Nairn “I love my Nana. I give her kisses.”
Aedan “People who love each other, play with each other.”
Joanne “My Mummy makes lots and lots of love for me. I love my Mummy.”
Sarah “At night time my Mummy puts my little light on and gives me a big cuddle.”
Mason “My Mummy gives me drinks when I watch Ben 10. She gives me superduper, electronic, automatic robot cuddles.”
Ruby “I give my Mummy and Daddy and my little sister 53 kisses.”
Ellie “Me and my family stay at home and do nice things like play jigsaws. My brother reads me stories. Sometimes the daddy has to go on night shift.”
Maisie “My Mummy and Daddy love me so much and today my Mummy gave me Super Noodles and they were so yummy.”
Alicia “My Mummy loves me. She makes my bed and I help her too.”
With the arrival of Chinese New Year, the sounds of “Gung Hay Fat Choy” (“Happy New Year”) have been heard round Nursery as we learn about the traditions, celebrations and story of this special time for Chinese people. Our Chinese feast consisted of noodles, rice, prawn crackers and various sauces for dipping. Great fun was had by all, trying to use chopsticks – who would have thought that snack could be such fun?
Our own Chinese restaurant in the role play area has been very popular and dancing to Chinese music has provided a wonderful calm among the excitement. Some of the children’s ideas about life in China have been delightful: there may not be “purple houses made from butterflies, sparkles and stars with fairies at the bottom” in China, as one child suggested, but what an imaginative picture she painted.
“Gung Hay Fat Choy” to families and friends from all the children and staff at Hecklegirth Nursery.
Our favourite little teddy, Stan the Star, loves visiting the children at home and everyone seems to be very kind to him when he comes to stay. He has had some busy times lately, including a holiday to Blackpool with Dylan.
To celebrate Burn’s Day, the children had fun at home with their families designing a Scottish outfit for Stan the Star. As you can see from the photos, there were some great ideas. The children are very proud of their efforts and demonstrated great talking skills when describing their designs to the rest of the children.
Click on the photos to get a closer view.
Sarah: I like them because they look so funny.
Ellie: I like their sparkles.
Poppy: The scarves are nice.
Jack: I like the red ones ‘cause I’m in the red group and they’re the best.
Kady: They’re fantastic!
