All posts by Miss Brown

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Technologies

Water Xylophone

March 14, 2022 Miss Brown Leave a comment

This week is Science Week and we will be exploring science themed experiences throughout all the different areas in each of the playrooms.

Today in our music area we made a water xylophone using some glass jars and food colouring.

We were developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we used a pipette to pour the food colouring in to the jar after which, we added some water.

Once the children had added the water, they lined up all the jars and noticed that each jar had a different volume of water.

”that one is filled right to the top”

”the red one has just a little bit”

We used a beater on the jars to listen to the sounds it made.

”The blue one sounds really low and the red one sounds really high”

I asked if the children knew what made the sounds but they were unsure.

After searching the internet we learned that when we use the beater to tap the jar it causes sound waves which are vibrations that travel through the water to make the sound. When there is less water the pitch is higher.

We listened to the different pitches as we played our own music, we are going to collect some more jars to add lots of different sounds.

Expressive Arts

Clay exploration

February 25, 2022 Miss Brown Leave a comment

Today we have been enjoying exploring the clay table.

The children decided to use some natural resources to make different models, we used some mini lollipop sticks, sea shells, sticks, little wooden slices, etc to create them.

The children found it tough to roll the clay out. So i asked them what they think clay is and what they think they could use to roll the clay.

“It’s play dough”

” It’s not Play dough its too hard”

” We could use a rolling pin”

The children used the rolling pin to roll out the clay.

“We can use our hands to roll it in a ball like this”

Clay helps to develop fine motor skills as the children are using their hand muscles to manipulate the clay as they roll, stretch, squeeze it. They are also using their gross motor skills as they use their large muscles to press down on the clay as it is tougher than play dough.

“look at the shell it looks like it is on my clay now”

We have been making different patterns too.

“I made some pretty biscuits, have one with your tea”

The children have been using their imagination to come up with different things to make with the clay.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Social Studies

Team work makes the dream work

February 7, 2022 Miss Brown Leave a comment

Today the children have been developing their team working skills during a variety of different experiences.

We played ‘Feed the Teddy’ on the Promethean Board and worked together as a team to count up to 5 cakes to feed the teddy.

“That’s number 5 like my fingers, I have 5 fingers”

“Teddy is eating 5 cakes”

Next some of the children worked on a new painting technique, they had lots of fun mixing different colours in the shaving foam, and printing it on to the paper. The children made their own individual pieces and also worked together making larger prints.

“hold this side, I’ll get that one”

“1,2,3 down”

Finally some of the children were working together to build a garage for the cars. They built ramps for the cars to go up and down, and roads for the cars to drive on.

“Can you put that long plank up there so the cars can drive down”

“I put this one up here to stop the ramp falling”

Children develop very important life skills when working as part of a team such as problem solving, leadership and communication skills which they will need as they grow into adults.

Expressive Arts

Junk modelling robot

January 25, 2022 Miss Brown Leave a comment

We have been enjoying exploring the junk modelling area since moving in to the Studio room last week. The children discussed what they would like to make and made a plan to make a robot but what would they need, they decided to list all the things they would need.

”We need glue”
”and Cellotape”
“and of course, junk!”

The children used their imagination and problem solving skills to figure out how to make the parts stay together.

“You need to leave the glue to dry so it sticks”

The children worked together as a team making sure they followed their design so that everything was in the right places.

“paint it yellow like a bumble bee”

To finish off they decided to paint it yellow and add some cardboard tubes for arms.

The yellow paint didn’t cover the box as well as we thought, so the children improvised and used yellow tissue paper instead.

We are always looking for cardboard boxes (big and small), bottle lids, cartons, cereal boxes etc. to add to our collection so save your recycling and instead of putting it all in your blue bins, bring it in to us!

Literacy

When we met Winston the Polar bear

November 17, 2021 Miss Brown Leave a comment

Today we had a very special visitor called Winston the polar bear who came to talk about climate change.

We made a mind map about what the children already know about climate change and what is happening to our planet 🌎

We discussed the ways that we help our planet at nursery.

“We put our fruit in the little bin”

” The white bag for the paper”

We then read the story about Winston and all his polar bear friends and what is happening to the ice where the polar bears live.

“The ice is melting”

“because it’s too hot”

We will continue to meet up with Winston and learn some more about our planet and what we can do to help at home and at nursery.

Uncategorized

Remember remember the 5th of November

November 5, 2021 Miss Brown Leave a comment

Today we have been talking about fireworks night . The children told us what they already knew about fireworks.

“Fireworks are loud.”

“They make a Big Bang.”

“ I saw green and pink ones last night.”

“My dad bought Sparklers.”

Some of the children didn’t know what sparklers were so we used the computer to search for pictures.

We then searched for and found a firework safety video on YouTube where Fireman Sam shared some tips on how to stay safe on firework night.

We discussed what we had learned about being safe.

“Stay with mum.”

“We need to stay far away.”

“Fireworks could burn us.”

”We can wear torches so the cars can see us.”

We spoke about different ways of being seen in the dark. Wearing Hi Visibility clothing can help. ”Just like a policeman.”

Hope you all have a happy and safe fireworks night!

Digital Technology

Forwards and backwards with the bee bots🐝

October 14, 2021 Miss Brown Leave a comment

This morning in the discovery room the children decided to make a track for the bee bots to move around on.

They used different shaped blocks to create a track that was flat enough for the bee bots to move along .
We looked at the arrows on top and discussed what they mean.

”This button means forward”

”what is this one mean?”

“backwards backwards”

The children used the direction cards and placed them along the track.

“Let’s go forward like this card”

”The green one is go”

They used their numeracy skills as they counted how many times they pressed the forwards button and how many places the bee moved forward.

In the end they raced the bees to see who would move the furthest, it was a lot of fun cheering on the bees.

Uncategorized

Maths Week Scotland in the Discovery

September 28, 2021 Miss Brown Leave a comment

This week is Maths Week Scotland. The children in the Discovery room are showing off their number recognition skills.

“We can match the pebbles with the numbers”

They decided to use our loose parts box to match the parts with the numbers eg. “It’s number 7, we can use 7 pebbles”

”what about sea shells, 1,2…6,7”

Loose parts are not just shells and pebbles, they are open ended resources meaning they can be used for anything, counting, sorting, making patterns, transient art. The list goes on.

The children then decided to sort the numbers in order from 1-9, they worked together to swap them round until in the right order.

“Put the 5 next to 4 and 7”

”Number 3 is upside down”

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Transient Art

July 29, 2021 Miss Brown Leave a comment

This week the children in the Home Room have been creating their own fabulous pictures with transient art.

‘Transient art is simply moveable art’. The children are getting creative using loose parts such as stones, shells, buttons etc, to create pictures using their imagination.

Transient art allows children to make a picture 100 different ways, rather than having 1 end product when gluing and sticking.

The children added blue playdough to their pictures and pretended they were at the seaside and the playdough was the sea.

“Look at the waves in the sea, they are very big”

They even made 3D pictures. “Look the bird is sticking out of the picture”

This experience can be explored indoors and outdoors and can often lead from collecting sticks, stones, leaves etc. when out a local walk.

The children had lots of fun creating their own pictures, why dont you have a turn at home, when at the park or out a walk?

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