In the art area we have been busy exploring colour mixing, creating secondary and tertiary colours. We’ve been extending this by having a go at recording our results, working on our recall skills and exploring cause and effect. Additionally we’ve been busy using the mirrors to create self-portraits, using our observation skills to explore and represent our different features. 

In the malleable area this week the children have been busy making their own nests. Finlay’s mum kindly brought in a real nest from their home and the children were so interested in what it was and whether or not the egg would hatch. This sparked lots of questions and interesting discussions. The children then used the clay to mold their own nests using different tools. We added lots of things to them, including feathers, hay, pom poms, sticks and string. They were so cosy looking!

We have also been creating some transient art using a variety of resources. The children were set the challenge of rolling the dice and then trying to create their picture using only that number of objects. Some children wanted to roll twice and so we have been working on our early addition skills also! They made some lovely pictures.

This week within the construction area the children have continued to explore cinemas. The children extended their experience by drawing out their films on the screen and then building a structure to house their creations.The children gave out tickets,assumed different roles,and invited others to come watch their film.

IM “Mine is about dancing aliens and an elephant, he’s going to see if he can find other elephants”

“I tell everyone to sit down, turn off their phones and stop talking”

OB “My film is called thunder”

           “Here’s a blue ticket for an aisle seat”

JB “the squasherman movie, it’s like the gingerbread man”

OD “here is you ticket, you can stay for two hours”

LM “It’s called three kittens, it’s a cartoon”

The children’s creations also moved into a stage show, where the children built their own stage and utilised props and costumes to tell their story. The children explored set design and even painted their own backdrop. In addition to this the children were interested to look at programmes from a show and even made their own.

MM “I’m going to be princess Fiona”

        “Im putting different people in because the show has different people”

        Ross “im going to be the pipe cleaner (pied piper)”

     Maria “we need the thing that claps to start the show”

In the small world area, there was a bit of a problem at the beach, it was covered in litter! We had to work together to clean up and put the rubbish in the correct bins to make it safe for the animals to swim in the sea again. 

“I’m going to give that shark a row and tell him to stop biting” – TR

“The animals are going to get so sick if they eat the plastic” –  MM

“What bin should this go in” ? – LM

This week we have been participating in some Spring Bookbug sessions with Mrs McIllwham. This led onto the children leading their own Bookbug sessions for their friends.

In the small world area, the children created Blair Drummond Safari Park! There were lots of opportunities for mathematical learning like sorting the animals into categories, exploring patterns and ordering of size and colour. The children had to think about the different areas of the park and which animals could live together safely. 

“We need to make the area for the dinosaurus, they have lots of eggs and they make big noises” – DM

“I saw the peacock and it was so fluffy and had blue feathers” – RL

“A baby goat is called a kid” – MM

“The giraffes and lions cant live together because they will fight each other” -JR

This week within the construction area the children have been using visual backdrops to inspire their builds and create their own microcosms using three dimensional shapes and loose parts. The children then  incorporated figures and toys to inhabit their little worlds they had created and engaged in imaginative play and reflected on their own personal experiences within these settings. 

FM “my jungle”

       “Look a big tree, that’s the leaves”

       “A monkey climbing”

GG “It’s a cinema”

            “I’ve been lots of times, i’ve seen paw patrol and wish”

            “This is an epic seat”

What are they watching GG “they are just watching the adverts before”

CG “it’s the fair”

              “Mummy, me, big sister, and my daddy goed there”

              “ I had fun there”

AM  “It’s The vets, the dog is poorly”

           “This Is how you get in and you can go up there to see the animals better”

            “Ringo has just been to the vets”-Leo

TR “I’m making a robot. He’ got two legs just like me”

In the malleable area this week the children have been making their own pizzas. They rolled out the playdough and added “cheese” and “tomato sauce.” They then selected their own toppings from a selection of resources. We looked at some menus and discussed how much we were going to charge for our pizzas, and decided how long they needed to cook in the pizza oven. There was great creativity and imagination!

“can someone please pass me the tomato sauce?” – RB

“roll the dough first” – CL

“now lettuce on” – MM

“it’s going to be £9.40” – EK

“it takes 10 minutes” – AC

“I’ve cut it in 4” – SC

“it’’s hot hot pizza” – KC

Some children have also been brilliant construction workers as they used the sand and shaving foam as cement to stick the bricks together. We explored how the consistency and texture of the sand changed when we added water, and experimented with different volumes of water. There was lots of discussion around the types of buildings we were making and also lots of descriptive language!

“that’s my house” – FM

“it feels very disgusting” – AC

“it’s called Robin building” – NT

“it feels wet and like a blob” – AC

“it can’t fall” – SC

This week in the discovery area the children have been exploring direction and movement through natural forces. Firstly, the children applied force through blowing through blowing into straws to direct their pom poms along the marked path. The children observed that changing the position of their bodies altered the trajectory of their pom pom. The children also explored cause and effect, noting that small amounts of air moved their object a little way whereas bigger puffs correlated with movement across a larger distance.

MK “I need a big puff for it to go really far”

James “I blew it off the table”

RT “I need to turn so it goes around the corner”

In addition to this, the children have also been exploring magnetic forces and experimented moving metal objects along plotted lines using a magnet. The children explored the properties of materials and through trial and error determined what  objects would be  attracted to the magnet.

AS “It picks up silver things”

MS “It’s a magnet things stick to it”

RB “it likes metal”

In the art area we have been busy making our Easter bonnets. The children have been so creative and there has been lots of chat about Easter and our experiences of it. The children have been so keen to take these home to show them off! We have been developing our scissor control when cutting out some shapes and used lots of different resources to make our lovely creations. 

“I’m going to hide Easter eggs from my sister” – QF

“I’ve drew the Easter bunny” – MM

“I want to draw a rainbow to stick on” – IM

“It’s a bunny rabbit’ – SH

The children have been busy den building today developing their problem solving skills and communication skills. We were most impressed with their designs.

The sewing table has been busy this week preparing our bunting to celebrate Easter. The children worked on their own designs, threading and cutting the materials selected.

We have had lots of creative Easter bonnets on display from home and being made within the nursery. The children had full autonomy over the materials selected and tried to cut and stick independently.

We hope you all have a lovely Easter break and look forward to welcoming all of our non termtime children back on Tuesday.

Enjoy,

Love Mrs Denholm x

This week, within the discovery area, the children have been exploring mazes using the coding robot. They have plotted their points throughout the maze and have used problem solving skills and knowledge of number to programme the robot to direct it out of the maze. The children were keen to create their own maze and achieved this through mark making and loose parts.

RA: “sometimes there are dead ends. I accidentally took a wrong turn”.

NM “You follow a maze and it takes you to different places”.

EG: “There is a statue to get to in the middle”.

MM: “That’s all the different paths leading to the house”.

We have been looking at creating stories in different ways. The children have been using story cards to select the character, setting and objects of the story then producing a story line to create their own story book. Some children were able to scribe some of the writing including the title and author. All children were the illustrators of their own book. Some children chose to select their favourite story from the library to copy parts onto their own books.

The children have been using the different blocks in an imaginative and creative way to make environments for their superheroes. They have been encouraged to work collaboratively and take turns with the figures in their play.

NT: “I’m putting Thanos in jail, he’s a bad guy”.

JB: “Spiderman’s in his base”.

SC: “This is a batcave, Batman stays here”.

We have been building with 3D blocks learning the names for a cube, cuboid, sphere, pyramid, cone and triangular prism, to help us sort and match.

The art area has had a focus on ladybirds with the children expressing an interest in creating their own as we learn more about the season of Spring. Using photographs as inspiration, the children selected the materials they wanted to use in their designs. Whilst making them Miss Shannon discussed the symmetry in their designs when adding their spots and they children were encouraged to count how many spots in total they had used. Lots of colourful designs are on display to brighten up our nursery. Have a look for them next time you pop in!

The sewing area has been busy with little hands creating characters from stories and designs to celebrate Ramadan. Mrs McIlwham was most impressed with the concentration and creativity of the children as they worked on their designs.

Our garden was home to another show this week where the children took the opportunity to add costumes into their shows. Lots of drama, singing and acting were on display and filling the air with fun and laughter.

The children took to the fields to demonstrate some of the football skills they have been learning. Miss Carroll and Miss Goldie were delighted to see everyone having a go and showing how well they could move with the ball and communicate with their team mates.

I think it’s safe to say the learning opportunities have been plentiful this week and full of adventure, creativity and fun! We look forward to seeing everyone next week. I wonder what the children will want to learn about…

This week we have been reading The Three Little Pigs as our story of the week. We have been trying to retell the story in our own words and have thought of some interesting vocabulary to describe the wolf. Our sparkle words (trickier words) have been gathered, squeaked and load. We will try to use these new words we have learnt again to show our understanding.

This week within the discovery area the children have been exploring technology through the coding robot.The children were able to use the directional buttons to programme the robot to direct its movements and marks. The children were keen to see what their coding had drawn and were able to come up with their own interpretations of the abstract line and shapes.The children also followed sequences of colour coded directions to make more purposeful designs providing opportunities for directional language and colour and shape recognition.

QF “It’s making me dizzy, it’s going round and round” 

MW “i pressed the green one three times, its like a lightning strike!”

NM  “ it’like a buzz helmet”

JS “It looks like handcuffs”

FM “Eeeeeeeva”

Ms “ it looks like a snail”

The children have shown an interest in dinosaurs, particularly dinosaur fossils – comparing the size of their footprints and using different sensory experiences to explore making marks/patterns (gloop, shaving foam, playdough). We also made our own salt dough fossils, using our fingers and dinosaurs to make patterns. We then explored hiding and burying the dinosaurs using slime. 

There has also been lots of conversations about different textures and smells, using descriptive language. 

“My brother found a fossil at the beach. It’s like their skeletons” GA

“The gloop is so gooey, smells like chocolate” MV

“It’s a chocolate lava volcano” “it’s stretchy like spiders webs” JL

“It’s a slippery slimy situation” SR

“It’s so stretchy” MW

“I’m burying them in it. It’s smashed up broccoli and peas” AC

At together time this week the children have been reading a variety of stories, playing games to identify the initial sound of words and practising writing their first names. The adults have taken this time to talk to the children about Ramadan. The children have learnt it is a time to reflect, to be thankful and to help others.

The children have been working on writing their own first names, carefully focusing on where the letter begins. We have also been working on the initial sound of words. This week the pictures were hidden and had to be uncovered before we could work out what they started with.

We have been exploring the 3D shapes and using them to create some building designs and towers. The children were interested in the names of these shapes and did well to match the correct shape to its picture card. We have tried to spot some of these shapes in our nursery environment.

Football has went well this week with the children developing their listening skills, team work and gross motor skills. Stephen was very impressed at how well they all followed instructions and how many goals they managed to score.

In the sewing area we’ve been busy learning about mythical creatures, including mermaids, griffins, unicorns, sphinx and dragons. We have also been trying different combinations to make our own crazy animals!

“It’s the Loch Ness Monkey – he goes underwater at darkness, that’s when he’s awake” – EK

“An ice bear” – EL

“Sphinx, that’s in Egypt” – NG

This week in baking, we have been making blueberry muffins! The children used various baking techniques including measuring/weighing, mixing and folding in the blueberries. They had to concentrate really hard when scooping the mixture into the muffin trays not to spill any. 

We are so lucky to have had a cooking lesson from Mrs Shah on how to make vegetable pakora. The children were amazing at peeling, chopping and slicing the vegetables needed for our pakora, using the knives and peelers safely.  Everyone thought they were delicious!

The children have loved our new sit down scooters in the garden which have encouraged them to think carefully about balancing their bodies as they go down the hill. Some were a little apprehensive at first but built up the confidence to have a go after watching their friends have a go. At the end of each go they had to record a tally mark to count up how many turns they had, linking our numeracy into their outdoor play.

We have had full participation at Crookfur’s Got Talent this week with the children putting on shows as superheros, princesses and magicians alongside some beautiful singing and interesting dance moves. Our audience has been most impressed!

Have a lovely weekend! See you all next week for some more fun with our Crookfur friends.

Mrs Denholm x

This week in baking, we have been making hot cross buns! This is a tricky process and we are still experimenting with the best way to make our buns. Although they tasted super yummy, they looked a little more like hot cross biscuits, so it is back to the drawing board next week to perfect the proving of the bread. This is a great lesson for the children (and Miss Burns) that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. The children enjoyed measuring the different ingredients and reading big numbers on the scales, as well as mixing and kneading the dough. It was lovely to see some new friendships starting and listening to the conversations going on when we were baking.

“They smell delicious” – AA 

“Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns” – SS 

“Wow, it smells fantastic” – GG

In the sewing area we have been investigating and creating flags, using our observation skills to copy the colours, textures and layout. We have also been designing our own and carefully referring to our plans throughout. After realising that the Welsh flag has a dragon some children chose to create mythical creatures including unicorns, dragons and mermaids!

The block area was inspired after reading the book Race to the moon and back and discussed the idea of creating a space rocket with the blocks. The children discussed if they thought they needed the wooden or soft bricks and how tall it would be. JF said it had to fit each person so she would build a rocket follwed by R. JL spoke of the planets she would see on her journey.

Leading on from last week have been continuing to discuss the change of season in the art area. Some children decided to make their own Spring pictures using a variety of materials, and we spoke about the changes in the weather, plants growing and the different animals we might see. There was lots of interest in bees so we decided to do some research using the laptop to learn more about them. We learnt how they make honey and what a honeycomb looks like. The children then created their own artwork and could recall some key information from our research. We found it very interesting that the honeycombs are a hexagon shape! The children used their problem solving skills to replicate this and discussed their artwork with each other. There was lots of discussion of likes and dislikes, and personal experiences.

FC – “I like honey on my toast”

EC – “Do the bees eat the honey?”

RA – “6 sides and 6 corners”, “they collect nectar and bring it back to the hive to make honey”

NM – “I have honey in my overnight oats, it’s yummy”

MW – “honey isn’t healthy, it has sugar in it, but it’s healthy for the bees”

To celebrate world book day the children have enjoyed listening to and reading a variety of different texts by different authors. The children have enjoyed retelling familiar tales and creating their own stories using visuals to prompt their ideas and develop their imagination. Waterstones at the Avenue invited us up to exchange our book tokens for a free book which we will hopefully get out to everyone over the course of the next few days. Some of the children had the chance to explore the books in the store and share their favourites before helping to carry them back for their friends. We couldn’t resist a little visit to the library on the way back to read a wee story together.

Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the …

To celebrate world book day we have been reading one of our favourite stories. “I like it when the dog catches him” GA “it’s funny when he turns into a pooh  stick” AMS.

The children have been designing and making their own stick characters using lots of creativity and imagination. We’ve had pom poms for eyes, straw for hair and lots of colourful material to bring our stick characters to life. “This is mine, it’s a stick child because it’s only a small stick” AC

The sand pit was also inspired by one of our favourite stories ‘Ten Little Pirates’. The children combined role play with fancy dress to reinact walking the plank and reinforcing numbers to ten in the process.

The sun broke through this week and the children embraced the good weather and headed outside to the garden. They couldn’t believe their eyes when a frog appeared out from the tyres. It sparked lots of discussion and a walk to the forest was soon planned to return it to the water.

We were fortunate to have another football taster session from Active Schools to allow all of the children the opportunity to have a go at developing the skills involved in football from kicking, to changing direction to using the space and having fun in sport. The children had a ball and we will welcome Stephen back next week for others to have their go.

We were so impressed with the stories children were recreating in the literacy area this week, linking reading to writing. The children were encouraged to select a story from the library and choose their favourite parts to recreate through drawings in their own mini books.

Have a lovely weekend! See you all next week!

The children have been practising using the sewing machine, helping to create a number line. We have also been working on our basic sewing skills, learning to thread a needle and make a basic stitch.

We have had a little spring in our step this week at the creative table. The children have enjoyed painting some still life art and talking about the parts of a flower. 

“The bees will go to hundreds and hundreds of flowers” – LH

“The bees will get nectar from the flowers and take it to their hive to make yummy honey” -EG

“This is the stem and the petals” – LB

Following on from our interest in atlases we have been busy exploring the globe, with lots of discussion around wildlife and climate! We have also been using the ipad to explore the local environment and nursery on Google Maps. Some of us have even used our recall and observation skills to create maps of our houses and bedrooms!

The children have been interested in the role of a vet this week. This was sparked by some children making vet surgeries in the block area and led to lots of questions and discussion around what a vet does. The children explored this in more depth through their role play as they acted out caring for the animals. We put on plasters and bandages, and explored the use of various medical equipment.

We went on to discuss x-rays and shared our knowledge of these. The children took a particular interest in the x-ray pictures and could identify which animals most of them were. They then had a go at making their own x-ray pictures using cotton buds and straws.

IY – “we need to clean them first”

AY – “it’s red, he’s too hot” (thermometer)

EC – “my Daddy is an animal doctor, we need to give him an x-ray, it takes a picture of the bones to see if there’s something wrong with them”

AS – “it’s the spine, we have a spine to hold our body up”

MM – “it’s the bones”

The children have been busy exploring using their senses this week in the malleable area using books as a stimulus for their play. The tiger came to us for tea which evoked some great discussion and developed new vocabulary. The Disgusting sandwich was a hit in the story corner and the boys and girls expressed an interest in making their own stinky sandwiches. They took great delight adding in unusual ingredients and making sandwiches for the team.

We welcomed Active Schools in for a first taster session of football this week and this will continue over the next three weeks to ensure all children have the opportunity to participate.

This week the children have been exploring the initial sounds of words. They went on a letter hunt around the nursery finding objects that began with the sound of the letter on their bag.

“I’ve got a: brick, a ball,a bag, and a baked potato”-MM

“We found paper, a pen, and a pencil”- meave

“I’ve got a rose and a red pen”- elina

They also played sound bingo where  they had to see if their image began with that sound

“I’ve got them all, Bingo!”- emmeline

“I’ve only got two left to get”-Elina

“I’ve got a “t” for tap”- niamh

The children also were keen to select a letter and come up with as many words as they could beginning with that letter. We were all very impressed with what they came up with.

It’s been another busy week here in the family centre with lots of opportunities to learn through play. Here is a wee snapshot of this learning in action…

Have a lovely weekend!

See you all next week.

This week in the art area, inspired by our story of the week ‘The tiger who came to tea’ we painted beautiful tiger pictures! The children used various brushstrokes and their fingertips to create the tiger’s stripes. We looked at the initial sound of Tiger and discussed other words that begin with ‘T’. There has also been a big focus on writing our name on our picture before we start painting and creating, so the children can easily identify their picture at the end of the day.  

In the water tray, the children have really enjoyed exploring gelli bath and slime. “Wow this is so sticky” AS. “It smells like sweeties” – SC. “I cant get it off my hands its so sticky and slippery” – LJ 

This week in discovery we have been exploring the atlas and learning about keys and symbols. We have been developing our decoding and observation skills as we explore different ways of representing features and landscapes to create our own maps.

The children have been displaying both fine and gross motor skills as they created models in the outdoor classroom woodwork area. Some children tried designing their models before hand.

The children have also been exploring law enforcement as they have became police officers making sure everyone including Mr McIntosh followed the rules outside.

We have begun our planting in the garden, beginning with sweetcorn. We have also taken the seeds out of the peppers to reuse and have started to use our new composter. ES helped set up the composter by collecting sticks, cardboard, leaves and leftover fruit from snack, stating “it will be smelly”.

SC, RM, CC, ES and VY helped plant the sweetcorn. They filled the plant pots up half way with soil and placed the seed in, putting more soil in then water.

RM “we get soil and it gets big big big”

SC “ you put seeds and they grow up”

CC “the seeds go in the mud”

ES “ we need water and sun”

SC and ES helped take out the seeds in the pepper cores that were going in the composter. They both knew that they would grow peppers SC” plants will grow from these”.

Inspired by the story “Dear Zoo” the children have been writing their own letters to the zoo to ask them to send us some of our favourite animals.We have been looking at the structure  of letters (to and from) and where we put the address and stamp. The children were keen to write the animals name and draw their pictures. We used technology to find out more about our chosen animals to make sure we can care from them properly when they arrive!

AC “i’ve just been to the zoo in London, i saw monkeys and lions”

RB “ Pandas eat bamboo”

In addition to this , inspired by our book of the week, the children have been creating their own shopping    lists. We talked about the purpose of lists and healthy and unhealthy choice.

RB “I’m putting on tomato soup because its my favourite”

RB “My mum used to do it on paper and i did cross when we put it in the trolly but now she does it on her phone”

MM “mummy goes shopping and puts it in the basket”

NG”i had chocolate brioche in Italy”

The children used the story of “The Disgusting Sandwich” as a stimulus for their play this week recreating some very disgusting sandwiches of their very own.

The children have been exploring length using non standard units and have been able to recognise items in the room that are longer than and shorter than a specific length. They had great fun measuring each other using the blocks and thought carefully about the length of the blocks to make a prediction.

We were very lucky to welcome the P7 digital leaders up to the family centre this week to help us explore some digital technology. Today they taught us how to use the sphero cars and helped to encourage positional language and direction through our play.

We have been working hard to develop our numbers specifically counting backwards from a given number. It has been a little tricky but the number line has helped to keep us right.

Have a lovely weekend! See you all next week!

We have been feeling the love at the art table this week! The children enjoyed making valentine creations for the people they love. 

Who do you love?

“I love me” – AMS

“I love my dog” – AD

“I love my mummy, daddy” -WS

The water tray was transformed into a bubbly delight which attracted lots of little people over to play. The children enjoyed filling and pouring and were able to use their senses to talk about the feeling and smell of the bubbly mixture.

Much to our surprise the children seemed perplexed when a calculator was placed in the playroom. Most of the children had a guess as to what they thought it was…

“a phone” LS

“It’s used for shops” MM

Curpulator, my daddy has one” MJ

“phone protector” JL

“used for telling stuff, it’s got buttons” DC

“telescope” AA

“to spell things out, my grandpa has one to get numbers”

The children have been exploring climate change with the help of the ECO committee . The children created their own green hearts to show they care about the climate and are beginning to learn about how they can contribute to change in society.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you all next week to continue our learning journey.

This week at the sewing area, the children have been exploring a new sewing tool called a punch embroidery pen. The children have been investigating how it works and following the process from start to finish. The children have had a go at feeding the wool through the pen and then experimenting with the mechanism of the pen to create a pattern or shape. The children were all amazing and had great perseverance with this new device. The children told me it was easy and enjoyed using it.

This week in the literacy area the children have continued to explore different countries and have used their mark making skills to replicate the countries name and their associated flag.The children used their observation skills to guess what the images on the flag could represent.

EC “ it has branches because there is lots of trees in Cyprus and the the bit at the top is what it looks like on a map”

QF “the Tenerife flag looks like the Scotland flag because its blue and white”

In addition to this the children have shown an interest in environmental print and have been keen to replicate car logos and their names.

As the children continue to develop their story writing skills some are beginning to illustrate pictures that have relevance to their stories.

This week at the malleable area, we have been exploring moon dough, which creates dough that is stretchy and squidgy. The children made donuts for our wee “Avenue” in the outdoor classroom. “I think it feels like a cloud or a rainbow” “It’s so fluffy” – BH

We also made moon sand, “Did you actually get this from the moon”? And the children have enjoyed moulding the sand into ice cream that is loaded with “One thousand unicorn sprinkles” – JK. I think we may be opening an ice cream shop next week as many of the children have been role shouting “Ice cream, Ice cream, who wants some ice cream” “Wow, this is just fantastic” – ZB

Miss Burns turned round and saw the children putting the shaving foam on the window and nearly asked them to stop, when she thought what a wonderful idea for mark making! The children loved experimenting with the foam to mark make on an unusual surface.

The children have been busy developing their number skills by counting on from a given number. They have also been careful when counting to ensure they are accurate and don’t miss any items out. Here are the children playing a matching game together developing their counting skills through play.

The malleable area also saw some printing with animals this week which was very messy but lots of fun.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming you all back next week where we will be learning more about Lunar New Year and the celebrations that may be taking place.

The children have been learning about Robert Burns and why it is celebrated in Scotland. We discussed the types of celebrations people may have, listened to some Scottish music and read some poetry written by Burns.

The learning has been extended into the malleable area and home corner where we have made playdough haggis, neeps and tatties while listening to ‘Address to a Haggis’. The children really enjoyed hosting their own Burns supper in the home corner. 

“You need to prepare the tatties for the supper” -ER

“Where does a haggis come from, does it come from Scotland” AC

“Oooh Irn Bru, now that is yummy” EK

The children have been looking at a map of Scotland and were keen to find some landmarks and try to write the names of these cities through mark making. They shared their own experiences of their trips and journeys to these places with their peers and enjoyed spotting the transport symbols of planes and boats on the map.

AM “The football is in Aberdeen”.

JL “ We live in Glasgow”.

AM “There is a castle in Edinburgh, it’s where the kings live”.

They extended their  learning by looking at different countries in the atlas and then created their flags.

“I’ve been to Lanzarote, it’s warm but windy on the beach”. MM

“It took a  long time on a plane to get to Tenerife”. QF

At the sewing table this week the children have been busy creating their own tartan designs. We discussed how there are different types of tartan with lots of colours and patterns, and where we have seen these before.

Using the pencils we chose our own colours and drew our designs, sharing our creative choices with others. The children then brought their drawings to life when sewing their patterns using the ribbons. Some children even decided to add additional materials, such as buttons and lace. There was lots of learning within literacy and numeracy as we practised mark making for a purpose, discussed shapes and patterns, and worked out what length we needed to cut the ribbons. 

“this one goes this way” – IM

“I want to use pink” – AD

“I’m going to give mine to my dad” – ZB

“Miss Shannon, I’ve got pyjamas like that” – ES

“that’s like a Scotland sign” – NM

“at school sometimes the tie is tartan, my sister has one” – RA

The children have continued to develop their awareness of money by exploring the many different ways in which money can be used. During a range of experiences the children have been sorting a range of different coins whilst exploring the different shapes and colours. They have then used these coins in their play to take on different roles including the shopkeeper and customer.

There have been many opportunities to develop mark making throughout the course of the week in all areas and we have been delighted to see so many children recording their ideas in a functional way in their play.

To develop responsibility, the children have been out on a litter pick around the nursery to look after our environment.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming back all of our children next week.

In the sandpit this week we have been continuing to explore weight. The children chose a selection of toys from around the playroom and made predictions about whether they would be heavy or light. We then laid them out in order of weight, using the letter boards to help us organise them. We discussed why these letters had been chosen and some children were able to identify the ‘h’ and ‘l’ as the first letters of ‘heavy’ and ‘light’.

The children then used the scales to find out if they had guessed correctly and amended their answers. Some children were able to talk about the reasons why things were heavy or light. We also used our problem solving skills to figure out which objects we had to weigh again to decide on the correct order.

LM – “the lighter one goes up”

MM – “the candle feels a bit heavier”

NM – “i think the car is the heaviest, then this one…no this one”

GG – “it’s a draw”

AC – “I thought it would be the other one because it is smoother”

AC – “I was right”

AE – “the block is heavier now”

The weather has naturally led to the children talking about the temperature outdoors so we decided to make our own temperature chart. We had lots of discussion about what kinds of clothes we would wear in different temperatures. 

Elliot – “temperature means how hot or cold it is. If its really hot i can wear shorts.”

Martha “if its cold i would need a jacket and a hat and scarf”

The children have been interested in turning the mud kitchen into a cafe, writing down orders and even having a drive thru. 

Jojo “Its Jojo’s drive thru its like Starbucks you can get a drink”

We have also been working on our ball skills, practising throwing and catching and dribbling the ball around obstacles. 

The children have continued to create their own stories using their imagination and familiar stories such as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella to help spark their thoughts. It has been lovely to see the boys and girls steadily developing this across the week, returning to the story station to add a little more detail. 

In addition to this the children have also been making their own labels for their shop. They have used their observation skills and descriptive language to help to sell their toys.

Using the natural light the children realised they could make shadow puppets through the den.  Here we have a spider, a dinosaur and a mouse with pointy ears.

We took a little trip to the library as we had some books due back and were very excited to choose some new books to share with our friends.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and stay safe in the wintry weather.

‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the block area children were filled with glee as we opened a toy shop to wrap presents for under the tree. They made prices for all the toys, some of them for £500!! With lots of mathematical language and play around money. Then out on the lawn of the Christmas themed farm there aroused a twinkle from the ice sugar that was sprinkled. In the small world the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the little villages that were made in the hope that St Nicholas would be there. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear, children wrapped up in paper right up to their ears. A fantastic Christmas themed week in the block area and small world. Merry Christmas everyone!

The children have been taking part in woodland walks and exploring the changes that Winter has brought. They showed particular interest in the holly bush and why the leaves the spiky. The children were able to use  comparative language when discussing the natural treasures they had found and the depth of the puddles.

ER “I’m going to find a bird, I’ve got a connection with birds”.

SC “I’ve got the biggest leave”.

AM “Mine is smaller”.

JF “This one is a big pond, the other is a little puddle”.

The children have been looking at pictures of Christmas objects and ordering them according to size, developing their mathematical language through their play.

The dance moves have been in full swing this week as we have enjoyed some festive dancing and games.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone and a well deserved break! We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the blocks and small world area. The children have been building and decorating Christmas trees, using their problem solving skills to hang baubles on the bricks and add tinsel without the tree falling over. The children made wooden Christmas trees and hung little baubles on them which encouraged practice of counting, creating patterns and discussion of 2D/3D shape. In the small world, we have loved listening to the Christmas story and reenacting this using our nativity characters. Lastly, the children have been keen to wrap toys we have in the nursery and give them to their friends to open. What a magical time of year!

To develop fine motor control and creativity, the children have been working on decorating some paper trees, stockings and baubles using gems, buttons and pom poms to create our own designs. Some children created their own 2 and 3 colour/ shape patterns, whilst others were able to continue some simple patterns.

In the garden we have been investigating light using the torches and everyday objects. We tried to predict whether the light would pass through or stop and used a table to record our findings. We then experimented with other items!

“I’m going to test it” – BH

“It change, it big” – SR

“It shines through a wee bit” – MJ

“It’s because that’s clear and that’s not” – RA

“It go!” – NH

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you all next week for our final week of fun before we break for the holidays.

Love Mrs Denholm x

It has been another busy week in Crookfur Family Centre!In the garden we have been exploring the change of weather. We had lots of fun playing in the snow and investigating the ice. We decided to watch the process of water turning to ice by leaving some of our toys in a bucket of water and watching them freeze. We had to get tools to break them free! It was lots of fun 🙂

IC- ” It feels so hard. I can’t break it.”

Miss Queenan suggested that we could add some water to the ice which would make them melt.

AA- ” It is working, look.”

The children have also been busy this week making lots of Christmas decorations for the trees. They handled the knives safely when cutting the orange slices and then chose to decorate these with different colours of glitter after they dried in the oven. We were interested in how the smell of the oranges changed after they had dried!
We also made some homemade snow using a variety of ingredients. We loved exploring the different textures as we mixed them all together with our hands. Some children then rolled and manipulated the snow to make snowmen and some chose to make snow filled Christmas baubles for the tree. It was so much fun!

This week the children have been using the large duplo to build. They started off building a large tower with the square shaped blocks. The children then asked how many blocks were in the tower, so the concept of  estimation was introduced. The group all took a chance to estimate. JH estimated “10” AMcK estimated “5” JR estimated “140” and JL estimated “100 million”. We counted them to check who was closest in their answer. This also led to a chat about different shapes that could be used in their towers.

The nursery has had some lovely sweet smells coming from the kitchen as the children have been busy baking some delicious treats. The children have made the decisions of what to bake and on the menu this week was flatbreads, chocolate muffins and orange biscuits. The children have been developing a variety of skills including measuring, using digital scales for number recognition, estimating quantities, cracking and separating eggs and grating. 

“I know to crack eggs gently so it doesnt go everywhere” LM

“Orange zest smells so yummy, like orange juice” OM

“I think the orange might be sour like lemons or limes” AM

In our home corner the children have been busy looking after our babies, giving them bubble baths and special picnics. It has been lovely to see the boys and girls playing so gently and showing kindness to others.

The creativity has been flowing between the art table and sewing corner to design and make our own clothes. It was lovely to watch the whole process unfold from choosing the fabric and style of dress to the finished product. They loved wearing the clothes and showing them off to their teachers and friends.

The creativity continued in the block area where the children had some great ideas for what they would like to build, from pirate ships to ninja castles. The boys and girls used a superb variety of language as they talked to each other during the design process.

GG “The ship needs to be longer”. JR “let’s make it even bigger”. We will continue to build upon this vocabulary in the coming weeks.

We were very lucky to have our friends from St Ninian’s High School visit us today to tell us all about the bees that they look after at Rouken Glen Park. The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed learning all about what the bees do, how the honey is made and investigate what the different pieces of equipment are used for.

We hope everybody has a lovely weekend and a well deserved rest before another busy week in nursery.

Take care

Mrs Denholm x

After consulting with the children, this week we have made chapati and 2 ingredient banana pancakes. We have been working on following instructions, following hygiene and safety rules and learning different techniques such as mashing, chopping and rolling. 

“Chapati is like making pizza dough. I make pizzas at home” EG

“I don’t like bananas but i like pancakes” LJ

“They have banana and flour. They’re good I want to make them again” LW

“I want to take them home and let mummy try them” AC

“Yummy!” QCI

The children have been busy out litter picking in our local area.

QF “I found a bag. The bird would get stuck in the bag”.

JH “It’s an Autumn day”.

ZS “We are saving the universe”.

To celebrate Book Week Scotland we have been exploring lots of different texts and listening to stories online. The children were keen to build a den to read their stories in and worked hard to ensure their structure was strong enough to have a roof cover and big enough to fit lots of children in. It was great to see so many problem solvers on the case!

The children have been exploring diversity within the nursery and have been able to share the similarities and differences between us all. At the playdough table the boys and girls had a good look in the mirror and added ingredients to their playdough to recreate themselves. There was great discussion at the table between the children how we all look a little bit different and have different colours of skin.

Outdoors, the girls collected leaves and sticks to start building a bug hotel. Using the old dolls house the children have been adding sticks to one room of the house, leaves to another room and under the house for the hedgehogs.

RA -“I’ve got bark that can be the bugs’ food”.

LJ “The top bit is the bug’s bed that has sticks and leaves”.

The construction area has been updated with some new visuals that have helped to inspire the children before they begin their models. It has been good to see the boys and girls thinking about what blocks they may need for their designs.

SC “I’m making a small bridge”

JF “I’m making a castle” “a king,a queen, and a knight live in the castle”

GG “I need to make a platform,then pillars,then another platform”

In our outdoor area the boys and girls have been busy developing their gross motor skills through a series of fun games and obstacle courses.

This week there has been lots of questions about Diwali at the writing table. The children have been interested in listening to stories about Diwali and we have discussed lots of new sparkle words such as “rangoli”, “diya lamp”, and “light”. We then made our own cards to take home. Some children decided to cut and glue pictures or words into their cards, and some wrote messages or drew pictures, opening up an opportunity to show the difference between words, letters and pictures.

Some children then shared their own experiences of celebrating Diwali at home and we discussed the importance of valuing different celebrations.

“We put decorations up for Diwali”

“We seen fireworks on Bonfire Night and they were different colours”

“I dressed up on Halloween”

This week at the sewing table we have been continuing our learning on Diwali and Bandi Shorr Divas. The children have been interested in creating transient art using bright colours to make fireworks and rangoli pictures, inspired by watching festival videos and looking at examples of rangoli art. There has been a big interest in peacocks and their beautiful colours as a result of these visual examples. The children have learned that they are India’s national bird and they believe they are a sign of good luck. Many of the children were excited to make peacocks and lucky cushions with sparkly and bright fabric to celebrate the festival.

Within the small world area, the celebrations continued and the children exercised their fine motor skills, as they manipulated pipe cleaners to replicate the shapes and lines in rangoli pattern. The children then used loose parts to create their own patterns and were keen to participate in this sensory experience.

 The block area was busy with budding architects as we explored silhouettes and cityscapes. We explored famous landmarks and used our problem-solving skills to tessellate the blocks on to the black paper. We have also been creating our own cities using a range of blocks to explore height, shape and different levels. The adults helped to develop comparative language within the children such as tall, taller, tallest as the children worked.

In the garden, the children were keen to use loose parts to build a car. They were very adventurous with where they would like their car to take them.

Some of the children went on a woodland walk to collect items to build their very own bug hotel. They had great fun looking for bugs to have a sleepover in the hotel and matching them to the photos in their books.

The boys and girls have been able to listen to stories and identify some of the rhyming words they can hear as the story is told  and identify pictures that rhyme. We have even tried to think of another word that rhymes with what we have found.

It certainly has been another busy week here in Crookfur but as always the children have had the best experiences and enjoyed learning through their play. Here is an extra wee snapshot from this week…

As always have a lovely weekend. We look forward to seeing you all next week.

Mrs Denholm

x

This week we have been exploring different ways to mark make through sensory play. This led to loads of chat about letter formation and initial sounds.

The children were working on their talking and listening skills while playing a game of Halloween twister, listening to the instructions and positional language and moving their bodies in the right direction.

Lastly, the children were very excited to learn about spiders when Mrs McIlwham brought out an interesting provocation. We had lots of sparkle words this week like slimy, squelchy, sticky, disgusting, squidgy and bumpy. 

In the small world area, the children were making patterns using natural loose parts. Through this, they exercised touch counting and sequencing.

In the home corner we have been making pasta! We explored different types, textures and shapes and attempted to recreate them. Then we used the pasta maker and our gross motor skills to stretch and cut the dough.

“I want to flatten, then cut it” – AC

“It looks like spaghetti, doesn’t it?” – MM

“Oh it makes cheese!” – AS

In the malleable area the children have enjoyed exploring chemical reactions when making our exploding monsters! We took turns measuring out the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and added lots of different colours to the monster bags. We loved how they then fizzed, bubbled and burst everywhere!

In the sewing area the children have had an interest is making their own teddy bears. They have been designing their creations and selecting materials to decorate their bears. They have  also been developing their fine motor skills as they carefully threaded the material together.

CB ” I want to make a bid teddybear so that I can cuddle it.”

MJ ” I want to use a button for the nose.”

In the art area the children have been exploring the work of the artist Ya Yoi Kusama . Through this they have explored elements of pattern and sequencing to create their on patterns on the pumpkins.

In the malleable area the children decided to make ‘ pumpkin soup.’  They created their own recipe cards and shared their ideas on what they would like to add to the soup. They developed many skills as the cut the fruit, used the grater and masher to get all the ingredients to make ‘slimey pumpkin soup!’

RB- ” We need to mix it all together.”

AC- ” I need to add some bats cause thats what my recipe says!”

MW- ” The soup smells nice, like oranges.”

Following on from the interest in making pumpkin soup in the malleable area, the children participated in sensory experiences in the garden. They explored the texture of the pumpkin and coloured spaghetti, learning lots of new sparkle words and also getting a little bit messy!

QF ” It feels a bit slimey!”

LM- ” i like the coloured spaghetti.”

AP- ” It looks like real worms.”

This week we enjoyed reading The Leaf Thief as our story of the week. It provided great discussion about the changes Autumn brings around and led us over to our interest table to look at other books and items we may see around this time.

We played some rhyming games to help us become familiar with words that rhyme. The pictures helped us to say the word out loud and look for another picture that sounded the same.

We looked at subitising with dots and dice  – where you look and know right away what the number is, without having to count. The children noticed that the same number can be represented in different ways.

We were very lucky to have some special visitors along to the nursery to teach us all about water. The children learned all about how water is used in our environment and were amazed to hear that the amount of pipes in Scotland could around the world once. The children were encouraged to be mindful about not wasting water so may have some messages to share with you at home. The ladies brought along some of the safety clothing and equipment they would use whilst out carrying out their important work which the children were very excited to try on.

The children helped to create a haunted house in the small world area this week, which has led to some spooky storytelling being shared with each other.

The boys and girls popped their wellies and waterproofs on to go out to collect some Autumn leaves, which they used for leaf printing and to create some patterns.

Whilst in the garden, the children showed an interest in looking for slugs and wiggly worms. They used comparative language to describe how long the worms were and set up the tuff spot with their own mud and spaghetti.

An Autumn provocation set up in our creative area continued the still life theme from last week. The children explored autumnal colours and the changes to the trees during this time. They used a range of mixed media to create their art. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Denholm

Responding to the children’s interest in animal habitats, within the literacy area we focused on the setting within our stories. Children explored mark making through malleable materials and loose parts, helping them to develop letter formation and letter recognition. The children have also expressed an interest in identifying their name and reproducing the letters.

The children enjoyed being number detectives as we explored the environment to spot what numbers we could see.

We have been learning about different islands in the sewing area and creating our own. The children used a combination of pens and fabric to produce their own islands and treasure maps, sewing on additional details such as “X marks the spot”. There was lots of great discussion as they designed  their islands and the inhabitants, including camels, sharks, mermaids and a rainbow polar bear!

“I heared it – the water, a splash. A pirate. I heared a monkey!” – DM

“I can’t believe I did an X!” – ZS

“My dad drank coconut milk in India” – ER

We had mashing, stirring and mixing outdoors this week as the boys and girls made their very own rainbow curry. They used their imagination and mathematical language to talk about their yummy creations.

MJ “Would you like some lovely chicken curry”?

RM “We are making rainbow curry”.

MJ “The apple has a star inside”.

The children have expressed an interest in where different types of animals live. We carried out research by reading non-fiction books and using the iPad to help us extend our knowledge. The children confidently shared their ideas and discussed different habitats and what the animals might eat.

AY – “a giraffe eats leaves and a panda eats bamboo”

RB – “the cheetah lives in the grass”

AS – “the polar bears live near the ice, they live near the mountains”, “Mount Everest is in India, my brother told me”

AS – “I’m making a fire, we need to rub 2 sticks together so it gets warm because fire is hot”

The children then decided to build some dens for the animals using a variety of natural materials and the building blocks. They were very creative and used their imagination and problem solving skills. There was great balancing and team work!

PZ – “this is where the baby elephant sleeps”

AS – “i’m making a tiger home, there’s a baby tiger in there”

CL – “I’m making a nest with the pinecones”

The children have been busy exploring all of the areas within the playroom and outdoors, playing with friends and developing their fine and gross motor skills. Here are some pictures captured of some very busy bodies engrossed in their play.

The boys and girls are showing increased independence as they come into our lunch hall, pouring their own water and plating up their lunch. Macaroni cheese is a firm favourite on the menu!

We hope everyone has a lovely September weekend! See you all when we get back.

Love Mrs Denholm

This week the children have been interested in exploring different smells and textures using the playdough. The children have been turn taking and learning about recipes, as well as practising their fine motor skills using different tools, safely using knives and graters. They have used their imaginations to come up with lots of great creations such as apple pies, lollipops and pasta. Some of the children have even used their creations to have tea parties. 

“Putting the ginger in and it smells nice” MM

“We had a turn each i put the hot water in” AS

“Its pasta bolognese with vitamins on top” “the tea party is getting amazing” AM

In the sewing area we have been busy stitching our initials and creating necklaces from painted pasta. We have been exploring and discussing colour mixing as we created secondary and tertiary colours and practised our fine motor control as we threaded. It was a bit tricky when the string frayed but there was great problem-solving and perseverance!

The children have been interested in sorting the letters and finding the letter that starts with their name. We have chosen ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ as our story of the week and had lots of fun reading it together and trying out some of the dance moves the different animals were doing at the party. We made lots of noise tapping out the syllables in words with the musical instruments and all enjoyed taking a turn to choose a special item from the feely bag for our friends to work out how many syllables were in that word.

We practised counting forwards and backwards to ten and tried hard to show that number on our fingers. Through games we were able to practise writing the number 2 and 3, spot the numbers when all muddled up and count out a particular number of counters on a ten frame.

The art area has been a very popular choice to visit this week with Miss Carroll and Miss Goldie looking at still life paintings and the work of Van Gogh and Picasso, in particular Van Gogh’s sunflowers and fruit bowls and the abstract paintings of Picasso, exploring shapes and colour. The children have used a range of media to create their own masterpieces. Watch this space for a new art gallery space coming soon.

In our garden, the children were inspired by ‘Winnie’s Magic Wand’ by Valerie Thomas and decided they would like to make their own potions. They began by writing down the ingredients they would like to add what their potion would do if you had some.

SS “I don’t know how to make wizard potions. It’s a little bit gooey”.

EK “It’s a birthday potion for mine”.

AC “I am going to turn a bug into a dinosaur”.

They mixed colours and natural resources like mint to help make their potions sharing their thoughts as they worked.

JK ” blue and red make purple”.

The sensory play generated lots of discussion and mathematical language including full, empty, taller and less.

They used their creative and fine motor skills to make wands at the woodwork bench. KC “2 triangles make a star”

Thanks for taking the time to read through our blog. If you have any ideas to share from home about what your child is interested in learning about then please add it to our noticeboard at the nursery door.

Have a great weekend!

This week the children have been learning all about syllables and have been working hard to recognise the rhythm within words. We have used pictures and tried to clap our hands to help find the syllables in words.

We took our learning into the garden and used our bodies to jump to help us count the number of syllables in a word.

The children have shown a keen interest in creating their very own stories.  We have been exploring lots of different characters like  Leah and Cotton the Dogs, Mr. Bean and Grandpa Bum Bum who “saved Cotton from the river”. The children have showcased their wonderful imaginations and demonstrated real confidence in sharing their stories with their peers.

We have been working hard to order numbers and identify a number outwith a sequence.

This week in the garden we have been exploring and finding bugs. We found slugs, beetles, bees and lots of butterflies enjoying the sunshine. We noticed that when the butterfly’s wings were closed it was tricky to spot, which led to a discussion on camouflage.

The malleable area was busy with bodies this week who were keen to use the wild animals in their play. The children were looking at patterns on the animals and decided to create their own models, developing their fine motor skills as they played. When asked what the children were making this is what they shared:

AC – anklyotrex

AS- a frog and a seal

LJ- a penguin

MM- a hippo and lizzard

GA – a snake

In our small world area, as it was approaching lunchtime, the children started to discuss what they thought the animals and dinosaurs would eat for their lunch.  The children  gave examples of grass, meat and other animals to feed them, but to be careful as some even eat humans.

In the sand area this week we have continued with our interests in pirates and treasure. The children have now moved on to using the giant magnets to see what items of treasure they can pick up. There has been lots of discussion around forces and whether or not certain materials are magnetic.

This spark has led into the sewing area also. The children decided to make their very own pirate eye patches and showed these off to each other. They worked on creating their own designs and then cut these out using the scissors. There was lots of measuring to ensure that they would fit their heads, and they developed their fine motor skills as they carefully sewed their eye patches.

As you can see, the boys and girls have had lots of fun in their learning across all areas of the nursery. We love listening to the children as they play and are always blown away by their questions and curiosity about the world.

Have a lovely weekend. See you all next week.

Mrs Denholm

It has been another busy week in the nursery and we are delighted to see how well the children are settling to the experiences on offer. We have had lots of opportunities to explore different stories and talk about parts of the book especially during our group together time. The children have helped each other to point out the front and back cover, title and talk about what an author does.

We have been exploring numbers through loose parts, games and songs/rhyme. There were some very excited chants of ‘bingo’ throughout the playroom when that final number the boys and girls were waiting on was called.

In our garden , Mr McIntosh was very pleased to see the children interacting in our new cosy  story area, taking turns to tell their own stories. The child that was telling the story sat on the big chair while the rest sat on the stools and log, listening to and adding their own bits in to the story. There were stories about dinosaurs, superheroes and princesses. 

The children picked some of the herbs and veg that we have been growing in the garden. They picked mint, bay leaves, curry plant and spring onions. The children smelled them and shared their thoughts with their friends.

 ‘It smells of snow ‘ EL        ‘That smells like toothpaste’ Jl

 The children then made potions with them. 

The children used the blocks to make a garage for the cars with a ramp as the way in for the cars. 

This week in the sewing area the children expressed an interest in creating their own watches. Miss Shannon and Miss Queenan supported the children with their fine motor skills and helped them to develop an understanding of sequencing. During this activity the children were able to identify different parts of the clock, show number recognition, and spoke about time, relating this to their daily routines.

“1 ‘0’ clock is home time”-CL

“Only supper at night, breakfast in the morning” “ticky tocky”-ES

“You push it down and I’ll pull it up, then we do it again”-EC

Have a lovely weekend. We look forward to seeing all the boys and girls next week.

Mrs Denholm

We have been exploring transient art in the creative area, creating different patterns and designs using the loose parts.

” I’ve made planets.”

“I’ve made a gymnastic place.”

“It’s Mr Tumble!”

“It’s a flower with a diamond, whole circle and a half circle.”

We have also been developing  our co-ordination,balance and gross motor skills by playing giant Twister! We have been exploring directional language and learning about left and right.

” I am good at balancing. look!”

” The blue is my favourite colour.”

“This is the right and this is the left.”