All posts by Miss Keith

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Special Event

Firework and Diwali Designs at the tinker table..

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This week at the tinker table we have been creating some firework and Diwali designs using nails, golf tees and coloured elastic bands.

This experience will help the children with their fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination whilst building self esteem and confidence while they are using the tinker table ⚒️.

Some of the children preferred to use the log which already has the nails in place. They were able to create some lovely designs and also recognise some of the shapes they had created.  “Mine is a triangle”.

”We choose the colours of the fireworks that we seen in the sky” . “They were very loud”. “I choose red because I seen red ones and that’s my favourite colour”.

At Cartmill Family Centre we wish all our friends a very Happy Diwali this weekend.

Article 13 – We have the right to find out things and share what we know.

Expressive Arts, Literacy, music

The three little pigs 🐷 ….

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In the story corner this week our focus has been the story book The three little pigs 🐷

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We all listened to the story . We huffed and puffed with the wolf !!

Earlier  in the week we had collected loose parts and resources that we thought might help us recreate the straw house, stick house and brick house.  Today after reading the story  we used our problem solving and building skills and were able to make some great houses for our pigs.

After re creating our story some of the children remembered that we had a jigsaw of the  3 little pigs they wanted to try.  The boys and girls worked well together to complete the jigsaw and were very happy when they finished . Well done .

After so much building and problem solving we decided to use our story spoons to create stories and sing some songs and rhymes. The children took turns choosing and helped each other learn some new words and actions.
A very busy morning in the story corner ……

Article 12 – You have the right to give your option and for people to listen.

Expressive Arts, Literacy

The Joy of Story Telling

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In our story corner we have been enjoying listening to and creating our own stories. In this area we can relax and look at books either alone or with our friends.

We enjoy sharing information,  we point out familiar places, animals and everyday items and ask questions .

We have story bags in this area which are very popular with the children .This enables the girls and boys to help tell the story and interact with the characters.

The children enjoy self selecting their own story and are able to use the characters within the context of the story. This will also help them recognise the stories have a beginning, middle and end.

This week we have been using our hand puppets to tell stories, the children have added in other items to enhance their story telling which will help develop their imagination and language skills.

Our own stories  : “ My puppets are going to the swimming and we have to go in the car on the motorway we have to be careful because it’s fast driving”.  “ When we were out we found a sick teddy bear and he couldn’t swallow his medicine so we gave him a drink to help”.
“ When we take my baby out she needs a drink and we use a bottle because she is too wee for a cup”.

We have a variety of books and some of the younger  children enjoy  books that they can help turn the pages, lift up the flaps to reveal a surprise this also helps their fine motor skills and adds to the excitement of story telling.

Article 13 – You have a right to find out things and share with others.

Expressive Arts

Creating movement in the science area

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Today in the science area we tried out a new experiment. How do we make our caterpillars 🐛 move. Firstly we had some small pieces of paper roll and drew on our caterpillar 🐛.

The best way to make a caterpillar shape was to roll the paper round a pencil this was quite tricky to manage !  ( we had a little help). And then with a squish and a squeeze we pushed our caterpillar off the pencil.

We were now ready to create the magic movement. We used our pipettes to drop a few drops of water onto them and they grew bigger, wiggled around and it just “growed so fast”.

The boys and girls noticed they were different sizes and wanted to make their own caterpillar families. They discovered using different sizes of paper towel made mummy,daddy,baby caterpillars. “This looks like the big one”.

Some of the children enjoyed putting colours on the paper towels , then adding water then watched as the shapes and patterns appeared. “ Mine is like the sunset in the sky “.

Who new a piece of kitchen roll could be so much fun . We used our fine motor skills also  named shapes and colours and even did some measuring . Well Done.

Article 13 – You have the right to share and explore through learning experiences.

Digital Technology, Technologies

Science- Abstract Liquids and Patterns

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In the nursery we sometimes like to have relaxing background music on , which we noticed today had moving abstract pictures to go with it. We decided to see if we could recreate the patterns in our science area.

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First we gathered up some clear jars so we would be able to see the patterns. We then carefully filled the jars with some water, practising our balancing and pouring skills.

We then put shaving foam on top of the water. This was quite tricky the button was quite hard to press and some of our friends had to help us

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The next part of our experiment was to use food colouring and pipettes to drop the colours into the foam and watch as it seeped through the foam and made patterns when it reached the water it swirled round and made the abstract patterns we were looking for.

We had fun discussing what our patterns looked like “ mine is like a rainbow”  “ I am mixing mine to look like a storm” . We mixed some colours too and discovered if we added more shaving foam the colours became lighter “ I have made a strawberry smoothie “

Some of our two year olds  enjoyed the sensory feeling when using the foam and spent time mixing and pouring it from jar to jar this will help develop their hand and eye co ordination skills and fine motor skills.

The children enjoy recording and taking photos of their own work to keep a record of the great science experiments we have tried out. I think you will agree that this one was a great success.

Article 13 – You have the right to find out things and share what you think with others by talking and experimenting.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Making our own wasps and their nests….

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After exploring our real wasps nest last week we have now created our own nests. We made our very own paper mache nests.

We blew up our ballon’s and used glue and old newspapers to stick all around the balloon. We got quite sticky !


We had to let them dry overnight and then did it all again to make them really hard. The boys and girls then gave them a coat of yellow or black paint. “ Mine looks like a wasp”.

The children were able to self select their own resources to  add to their nest after painting them. My nest is going to be very yellow. We also found some textured paper which looks like the little holes that the wasps climb in and out of. The nests are looking really great now. Well done.

Everyone had so much fun making their own flying wasps. We had to measure , fold , colour and cut the paper then add a paper clip to help it fly . The children worked out that if you stood a bit higher up the wasps would fly better , but we had to be careful so we didn’t wobble and fall off !.

After all that hard work we had a try at directing our bee bot 🐝 wasp. We went forwards, backwards we had a practice with right and left . Some of our 🐝 wasps even manage to go down a ramp. Who knew that wasps could be so much fun .

Article 13-  You have the right to find out things and share what you think with others.

Digital Technology, Outdoor Learning

Wasps came into our garden !

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The children have noticed that there has been wasps around our lovely sun flowers that they have grown in the nursery garden.  We thought that it would be good to learn a bit about them. Where do they live ?

We we’re lucky enough to have a real wasps nest to look at. There are lots of little holes were the babies wasps lives until they are big enough to be worker wasps. These wasps only live between 12 -22 days but the queen wasp can live up to one year.

The wasps nest is made from the wasps chewing bark in their mouths mixing this with their saliva  and when it becomes dry it forms a paper type material.  We learnt that wasps like sugary sweet foods and this is why they can fly around our food !

We watched a short film on how wasps make their nests. Wasps nest are usually found in sheltered warm places. “ I have a wasps nest in my garden on the tree . We should never touch the nests or the wasps .

If a wasp 🐝 comes near you we must stay still as a wasp will sting you if they think they are in danger. Only female wasps will sting you.  If a wasp should land on you you can flick it off gently with a piece of paper. We all had a practise but fortunately there were no wasps actually on us.

We have enjoyed finding out all our wasp information. We might even build our own wasp nest using paper mache.

Article 33 -I can be protected from danger.

Literacy

Safety checks with the children.

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Within our Cart Mill Hospital, we have been talking about how to keep ourselves safe.  The boys and girls are able to identify and describe people who can help us in an emergency. We decide to have a look round the nursery to identify things that keep us safe as well as simple ways of avoiding accidents.

When we arrive at nursery our parents and carers ring the buzzer, Janet will let us in and mark on the register that we are in the building.

We sometimes have a fire alarm practice where we have to leave the building. We spotted the exit signs, the fire extinguishers, which can only be used by adults or fire agents and a special trolley to put small children in or children who need help with mobility to safely move them out the nursery.

When the alarm goes off we follow the adults who are wearing safety vests so we can see them clearly. We go through the gate and away from the nursery to keep safe.

There are other ways to stay safe in Cart Mill. At lunch time we wash our hands, front and back, to clean away the germs. In the kitchen we have a safety gate which we cannot go through as the hot ovens are on the other side. We have a fire blanket which our catering staff can use if there is a very small fire 🔥. If we put out our yellow wet floor sign it means we need to be very careful as the floor maybe slippy.

At the front entrance we have sun cream for everyone to use on our sunny days to stop our skin being damaged by the sun. We also have helpful leaflets about how to keep safe. In each of our playrooms we have a first aid box which we sometimes need when we fall or have a bump. We use sterile wipes and plasters and sometimes need a cool pack from the fridge to put on any bumps.

The children also spotted “Santa’s camera” in a lot of the rooms 🤤 or maybe they could be the alarm sensors!
At the end of our nursery day when we leave the nursery we must let the staff or parents press the exit button as we would not like any of our lovely children to get out by accident.

Keep safe and remember to let us know if you see any safety signs when you are out and about.

Article 11 -You have the right to be protected.

Literacy

Caring for others at the Cartmill Hospital

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In the home room we have been talking about people who help us . “A nurse and a doctor work in a hospital”. We chatted about making our own hospital and what we would need.  “It’s a emergency number it’s 999”

 

We then had a look at some instruments that the doctors and nurses might use. We learnt some new words “stethoscope “ that’s for listening to my heart. This instrument has a light on it then the doctor can see in my ears . We also have bandages in case I hurt my leg.

”You need a x ray to check if you have a broken bone “ . We will get a screen because you get privacy at the hospital”

On arriving at our hospital we would like you to check in and let the nurse know how you are feeling and tell her what is sore. Our doctors and nurses will decide the best treatment for you.

Some of our patients who came to the hospital had bad accidents. “ I went to the zoo and a tiger scratched my leg”. We worked well together, turn taking,co-operating and responding to each other. We discussed how you can only take medicine if the doctor has given it to you. “Mummy gives me the medicine at home”

We have had a  busy hospital today and the doctors and nurses have decided  that some of our patients will need to stay overnight.  Let’s see who comes to our hospital tomorrow “we might need more medicine and bandages”.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Busy May time in the Garden

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This month we have been super busy in the garden. We have been watching our seeds grow and decided we would need to replant them to help them grow bigger. We discovered some of our plants have lots of roots “it’s like spaghetti “. Our plants and vegetables need to have lots of water to help them grow big.

When we have been digging in the garden we have found lots of insects and bugs. We became explorers using books to identify them and having a closer look with our magnifying pots.

This month was also World  Bee day on the 20th of May. We watched a short film about how bees 🐝 grow and why we need them. We made our own bee hive and added it into our bug hotel. We planted bee friendly flowers for the garden. Then made our own bees to hang on the tree using pine cones.

Bees make honey I like honey . After all our hard work we had a taste of the honey. We worked well together slicing the bread and sharing the “sticky honey”.

There have been so many jobs to do in the garden and the girls and boys have thoroughly embraced each task. They have worked well together, sharing tools taking turns, spotting insects ,looking after the plants in the green house we look forward to June as they begin to flower and we can harvest some of our vegetables 🥕.

Article 31 – I have the right to have fun in the ways I want to.