The morning and afternoon nursery sessions came together for a traditional Christmas Party  enjoying games, songs and party treats. The children were delighted by a visit from Santa who heard they had been very good and dropped by the nursery with a sack full of presents. Santa enjoyed listening to ‘Jingle Bells’ and their poem ‘Gingerbread man.’ Santa is looking forward to visiting everyone again on Christmas Eve!

The nursery chidren participated in the whole school McTivity Nativity afternoon performance. This was a wonderful opportunity for the nursery children to come together with the rest of the school community. The nursery children performed their song with increasing confidence and were thrilled to be part of the audience and watch the older children perform also.

The nursery children enjoyed sharing their Christmas songs and a poem with their families in the nursery this week. The children have been developing an awareness of different festivals and celebrations throughout the year as part of the Religious and Moral Education curriculum.

The children were able to share their songs in a relaxed environment participating at their own level and stage of development. For some children this is one of their first experiences in front of an audience and it was lovely to see the children the pleasure they had in being part of an event, joining in the actions and songs, developing their confidence, self esteem and resilience.

The children shared their thoughts about the experience afterwards.

Maiya shared. “I liked ‘Away in a Manger’ all about Baby Jesus.”

Many of the children shared comments based on their experience as a family.

May enjoyed performing and shared.

“Mummy took photographs of me singing…Mum and dad liked when I was singing.”

Esmé enjoyed the performance and shared.

” I liked when my mummy was laughing!”

Malcom proudly shared.

“My mum and grandad took a picture… me being a king.”

Some highlights for Freya and Saul were the adults joining in some of the songs.

“I like when all the mum and dads do it too.” Said Freya.

“We singed to mums and dads, and granny and grandads. They sang some of them too!” Said Saul.

The nursery children had the opportunity to make some simple items to sell at the German Christmas Market. The bookmarks, reindeer candy canes, chocolate marshmallows and playdough sold well and we raised a gross total of £33.30. The children were able to develop their knowledge about selling, shops, counting and money handling.

The children sang beautifully at Servite Care Home in Leuchars. They were comfortable in this new environment and engaged well with the residents and confidently accepted the many compliments about their Christmas jumpers! This was a new experience performing in front of an unfamiliar audience for many of the children and  they coped very well singing Christmas songs and reciting our Gingerbread Man poem. Hopefully they will share their songs with family too!

Archie enthusiastically demonstrating all the actions as he shared.

“I love ‘When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney’.”

Ben’s favourite part was the refreshment break.

“I liked the man with some drinks – that was a really good part!”

Harry loved performing showing how much his confidence has grown.

“I tried my best. I liked ‘When Santa Claus is Coming to Town’.”

We had a total of  11 adults and 19 children attend our Bookbug Sessions this week. We learned songs and rhymes supporting the children’s development while sharing a fun activity as a family. Don’t forget to share the songs and rhymes at home!

We held our second PEEP session this week which looked at the importance of play. Parents shared what and where they liked to play as a child and the children drew pictures and talked about their favourite play activities. We discussed different learning styles and parents were encouraged to think about how they learn new things and relate that to how their children learn.

Parents watched as their children engaged in loose parts play and were asked to think about what their child would be developing and learning as they played.

We finished with a story. Thanks for a great session with good engagement from both parents and children. See you next week.

We were very lucky to have the “Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre” perform “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” The children sat beautifully throughout as the puppets retold the familiar story.  They interacted well with the puppeteer sharing their knowledge of the story. Thank you to all the children and their families for fundraising towards this event.

Part of the Curriculum for Excellence is to allow the children to experience the energy and excitement of being part of an audience. The children were encouraged to respond to this experience of drama by discussing their thoughts and feelings about the performance.

Kyle explained at the beginning of the show.

“I liked it when the man didn’t notice us.”

Connor liked. “The very funny man.”

Jaisleen laughed. “I liked the baby bear eating all loud Ah! Ah! Ah! “

Max shared. “The funniest bit was when the man was being so silly.”

Saul shared his favourite part.

“When daddy bear made the porridge all wrong!”

Toby enthusiastically shared. “I liked the funny parts…when Goldilocks ate all the porridge!”

This week we held the first of six PEEP sessions.

“Helping Young Children Understand and Manage their Feelings and Behaviour. Making the Most of Routines.”

We had positive feedback from those who attended.

If  you would like to attend the sessions you would be made most welcome. Please speak to a member of the nursery team.

The next session is “How Children Play.”

Thursday 8th December from 10.00 a.m. until 11.00 a.m.

This week we received an unannounced routine inspection from the Care Inspectorate. The children were confident sharing their learning and we received positive feedback about our nursery. We look forward to the publication of the Care Service Inspection report in the new year.