Continuing with Health & Wellbeing Week, the Pink and Yellow groups have been exploring feelings through various props in the Story Box, inspired by the lovely book “We are Together”by Britta Teckentrup. It is a story about self belief, resilience, and the power of friendship. “Look at this… Sun up in the sky with rain. The rain becomes a rainbow!”“I don’t mind rain.” “I hate rain.” “This one is a shooting star.”
As they played with the props the children also began telling their own stories:
“Evil seagulls come out when there’s a storm. The butterfly will wait” (till the storm has passed)
“We need to add more people.”
“This sounds like birds singing.”
“This one makes it heavier.” Aw… all cooried up with a soft blanket and heart pillow…
”If storm clouds gather and we’re caught in the rain, Let’s splash through the puddles until the sun shines again.”
(from “We are Together”)
It is Health and Wellbeing Week! In Pink and Yellow groups we are thinking about our differences & similarities, our feelings, and how to keep ourselves feeling good, relaxed and strong.
Monday is Dare to be Different Day. So we have had cool purple hair, some odd socks and some unusual yet fabulous style choices!
We’ve been talking about the ways we are different and the same. “I don’t like spiders.”“I like sprouts!” “I have blond hair.”“We all have brains…”“And skeletons.”
Our“DifferentTogether”paper chain:
At Signing- In time each child chose a different patterned strip to write their name on. We all have different favourite colours and patterns, and we joined them together to make a big paper chain.
We have been talking about different types of people and creating our own tiny people with lollipop sticks, pipe cleaners, buttons, felt, lace, wool and other materials. “I want her to have red hair at the back and the front. She has a lovely smile.” “I’m going to add this for a hat.”
“Let’s play with them…”
Noo-Noo (left) was feeling lonely because of being a bit different, but look how many friends the children have made for Noo-Noo now!
Tuesday is Bounce Back day, all about resilience. At Together Time, the children all thought of things that make them feel happy and put them in a Thank You Jarwith a coloured feather.
Here are some of the things we are grateful for: “Star Wars and ice cream,” “Pink, and birdies in my garden”,“Daddy, Mummy” , “My sisters” ,”Squirrels in my gardens, and cats… and jewels”, “Tigers and Pokémon.” “The colour red” ,”Jingle bells” “Tickly feathers” , “My puppy and my two guinea pigs”, “Music in your heart.”
Afterwards we made some Sunshine sticks: Keep smiling!
The Yellow and Pink groups have been having a variety of outdoor adventures. Today we went on a local walk for a Nature Scavenger Hunt, looking out for different coloured leaves, spider webs and birds. We ticked off all of them! We stopped to collect pine cones in the lane. We are going to wash, dry and paint them later. “We’ve found tons!” We enjoyed feeling the beautiful tree bark.
“It feels scratchy” “Look, I found more moss.” “Here’s some yellow leaves!” “Look! Spider webs!” We also came across some blackberries and interesting fungi. “The birds will eat them” (berries)
“Some of them are poisonous, so you don’t touch them” (fungus) We then walked round to the back of the new nursery building for a sneak peek at how it is coming along.
Back at nursery, various outdoor investigations and physical challenges have been taking place: Balancing, transporting, and building core strength Ingenious minds construct their own see-saw After all that… a well deserved Snack.
In Katrine Room (Yellows and Pinks), the children’s talk and excitement about Hallowe’en has inspired lots of learning – they’ve been building (with bones), designing, learning about spiders and bats, enjoying songs, dancing, story-telling and science experiments.
We’ve been talking about our bones and where they are in our bodies, as well as reading Funny Bonesand practising the Skeleton Dance. If you want to try the dance at home, here is the link: https://youtu.be/Pbl4BNkAq_U
Experiments and imaginative role play have been going on at the water table and all around the room: “We’re filling the spider bowl up to make a bath for the snake…” “We’re making a triple berry pie…” “It’s a disgusting pie!”
Spider & Bat Studies The children have shown a keen interest in bats and spiders from wildlife magazines. So we’ve been studying them with books and videos and later made some models of them. Good fine motor and threading skills were on display as the children poked pipe cleaners and string through holes to construct spiders. “That’s a tarantula.” “I’m going to the make the one with orange legs.” We also tried different ways to make giant webs… Fine motor skills were further tested whilst picking spiders out of webs using tweezers and other tools.
With great concentration, children selected shapes to make bats, tried their hand at pumpkin printing, and created individual lantern designs – the best bit was when we put out the lights and lit them up!
In Science experiments they studied the life cycle of a pumpkin, dissected them, and then planted pumpkin seeds. We look forward to watching them grow…
This week the Yellow and Pink groups have been taking part in a range of different Literacyexperiences.
They loved their Bookbug session with Mrs McInnes, where they were reading Shark in the Park on a Windy Dayand practising rhyme together through song and puppets.
Later they gathered around the Story Boxto take part in reading the seasonal classic “Room on the Broom” with plenty of props. “We need to add some red fire for the dragon!”
“WHOOSH! They were gone!” The children have been focusing on the initial letters of their name, identifying them and tracing them using Transient Art objects like green pasta, play dough, beads. “That’s my letter. It’s a D.” “We both start with A!” They also experimented with different forms of mark-making, using a range of utensils. The children are using Name Stones to identify their names when they arrive each morning.
After reading The Gruffalo’s Childtogether, the Red group children were excited to create their own puppets and put on shows using characters from the story, and characters of their own. They experimented with torches to create lighting effects in their cardboard box theatre.
The Reds have also been very creative at building houses with peas and cocktail sticks. At the Junk Modelling table the Yellow and Pink group children came up with all sorts of innovative ideas, creating “a flag”, “a drum”, “a butterfly”, “a robot”, “a Dino Detector”, “R2D2”, “a bubble palace for tiny wee invisible people” and “a hamster run“. It’s amazing how many ideas emerge from a bit of rubbish, some tape and string…
A flag created at the junk table was tested out and flown in the wind outside.
Creative ideas with Rice:
“We made a cake with candles. Shh, it’s a surprise!”
Creative Cookery: making banana smoothies. They were “yum!”
As Summer turns to Autumn the children have been learning about what is growing and changing with the seasons. The Yellow and Pink groups have been exploring Autumn through song and role play, making leaf prints, counting conkers and acorns, and chopping apples and plums from the trees to find their seeds. We have been talking about harvesting and where different foods come from: ”Carrots and potatoes grow in the ground.” “Apples and pears on trees.” “That’s wheat… it gets made into Weetabix!”
Autumn role play corner in the Katrine Room.
The children painted an autumn frieze after looking at art by David Hockney, Gustav Klimt and Andy Goldsworthy. They wanted to make bats and fairies to add to the forest and glued on real leaves.
David Hockney’s autumn woods
They later designed Autumn fairies using wooden pegs and leaves.
Chopping apples and plums, using hammer & nails to create squash hedgehogs, and designing leaf people.
Using leaves to copy a repeating pattern and create designs.
This week the children wanted to make a Safari Parkfor wild animals. They were fascinated to read the brochure from Blair Drummond Safari Park and tried drawing their own maps of it.
They also modelled a cave for the bears using Mod Roc with balloons, powder paint and water.
In Numeracywe have been learning about pattern. At Together Time the children identified, described and matched different animal patterns. They practised their aim and number identification with this Beanbag number game. Watch them in action!
If you would like to sing our Autumn Song with your child, here are the words (the tune is The Farmer’s in his Den). Have fun!
Autumn time is here, autumn time is here, It’s getting very chilly now, ‘cos autumn time is here.
The leaves are falling down, the leaves are falling down, Yellow, red and gold and brown, the leaves are falling down.
The animals gather food, the animals gather food, Nuts and seeds and juicy fruits, the animals gather food.
The farmers gather crops, the farmers gather crops,
Peas and beans and broccoli, and we can eat them up.
The Red Grouphave been having plenty of Outdoor Action recently, experimenting with herbs in their Mud Kitchen, and practicing their throwing, catching, balancing and other physical skills.
Using a rope and recycled bottles of water, the Reds investigated forces, weights and volume. They tested their problem-solving skills as they used a pulley to hoist up the water.
“This is the Machine Maker.” Watch the children creating a conveyer belt process with the tubes and bark pieces, using teamwork and imagination.
Indoors the children have been exploring Numeracy using autumnal natural objects, and in Literacy they have been really enjoying the story of The Disgusting Sandwich, using Hanen techniques and exploring the meaning of descriptive words.
Technology We have been exploring technology using the Beebots, sending them in different directions.
We have also used the App pictured below on our iPads to work out how to say words and phrases in different languages.
Nature is fascinating!In Arran Building, the Pink and Yellow group children have been showing great curiosity about sea creatures, so we’ve been learning more about Ocean Worlds in various ways : “Can we read this big book about shells?” “What is this fish called?” We’ve been reading fishy stories & books of facts to discover about different types of fish, like lion fish & deep sea angler.
We made our own Sea World, then designed fish and fishing rods using magnets and paper clips. Watch us trying to catch them!
“We need to make some seaweed for it.” “That’s a whale shark. It’s the biggest fish.” “Look, I’ve caught two anchovies.”
”I caught a number 3.”
The children explored with their senses as they felt the scales of a real mackerel and described what they observed: “It’s cold and slippery…” “…green and blue, shiny, feels soft…” ”Tail helps it swim. That’s the bit that the eggs come out… that’s the fin.”
Rock Pool role play and nature investigations with bladderwrack seaweeds and shells. “It feels slimy” (seaweed) “I’m being a whale shark… This is a baby stingray.” “I can hear something in the shell….I found a limpet!”
Expressive Arts:
The children have also been expanding their creative skills by trying out different art techniques including collage, printing, and paper marbling with inks and oil. They used mashers to print turtles and clay to model starfish and other creatures.
We practiced numeracy skills through some fishy games. “I counted 8 shrimps!” Sink or Float:In Science experiments, we made jellyfish with balloons and string. When filled with air alone they floated too high. One of the children suggested it would sink more if we added water inside, so we did… We also tried adding a little oil and sand.
“I saw jellyfish floating in the water on my holiday.“ ”They’re soft, yellow and red” “They have tentacles“ ”This one’s a baby” “Look what it’s doing. It’s making a current….a whirlpool.”
More Science experiments: trying out salt to melt the frozen icebergs, and making ocean slime.
The Red Groupare currently based in the Lomond Room in Arran building. They have been eagerly exploring the characters in the exciting story of Supertato and have been role playing his adventures and daring rescues.
In Early Science experiments, the children tried different ways to free the peas from inside the frozen ice, adding salt, hot water and using various tools.
The Red Group have also been studying different vegetables and talking about how and where they grow. Then they made their own vegetable characters using different resources and re-enacted some of the key story scenes from Supertato. “My favourite bit is when Supertato runs!” “They put him in the jelly…” “He wanted to kill the vegetable market…”
At group times the Red Group have been enjoying songs with actions, story-telling and talking about their feelings.
Outdoors they have been busy catching rain, puddle splashing and investigating forces with ropes (after reading the story of the Invisible String.)
Mixing powder paint with rain and experimenting with colour.
Using gloop to play and experiment with colour and shape.
Keep up to date with what we're getting up to in nursery!
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