This week in literacy we have been exploring story books, sharing our likes and dislikes, retelling familiar stories and making predictions with new ones.  A love of books in early childhood develops the ability to make connections and ask questions, giving them a strong foundation in early literacy and critical thinking skills. 

“I like it when he shouts Quaaack when he takes the letter ‘a’” MS

“I like the story, it’s got a rainbow crayon at the end” QCI

“The wolf burns his bottom” LF

“His bottom comes off” AC

“It was funny when she emptied the bucket of water on her” RM

“The wasp was angry because the other animals were laughing at him” FMc

“Why was he sad?” RM

Mr Mcintosh has begun an exciting new project in literacy this week so look out for next weeks blog.

In the art area this week we have been busy making our own crowns. The children have been working on their scissor skills as they cut the paper in to a spiky design. They then decorated their crowns using a variety of craft materials, including paint, crayons, pencils, sequins, pom poms, feathers and glitter. We then measured them against our heads and wore them at nursery!

This week in the baking area we have been baking biscuits. The children have been learning new skills like rolling, cutting and continuing to use the scales to measure ingredients. The children have also been learning about splitting portions into equal parts with the dough. They have been learning about different consistencies and changing properties of ingredients as they come together.

We were invited to visit Crookfur Cottages as they have an afternoon with some robotic displays.The children watched the robot display and were able to control the dog called Martin.There was also a robot in the form of a human head.  It was called a humanoid robot.   It responded to questions from the children and could change the colour of its face, change its expressions and add a beard and mustache and vision.   The robot was able to appear happy and sad.   The robot was created in the Robotarium in the University of Edinburgh. The children had lots of questions for the robot!

Can the robot do a handstand? (MMcL)

Can the robot dance? (AK)

What is the robot’s name? (ML)   

How are you today? (MMcL)

How old are you? (ML)

Why does it turn white? (BH)

Afterwards they visited Fairweather Park!

The children had been looking at digital technology this week, they visited robots, to extend upon this interest we brought the shero cars onto the play room. The children had had different experiences of these cars some never using them before, some more experienced.The children positioned the mat so they could control/ program the car to travel in different directions depending on the chosen coloured mat. The children either worked as individual or as teams to solve this programming problem until they were able to get the car to travel in the direction they wanted.