The nursery pre school children joined Primary 1 during their Soft Start on Tuesday morning. The nursery children were shown around the classroom by a Primary 1 buddy. Harry from Primary 1 explained.

“A buddy is someone who could be your friend.”

Freya asked questions about Primary 1 and wanted to see the library and asked her buddy to read a story to her.

The children engaged in different areas of learning with their buddy.

The nursery children reflected on their experience.

Saul said.

” I liked Primary 1 because I’m going there soon. I was having a great time. I liked the painting.”

Harry added.

” I liked the home corner.”

Jaisleen made friends.

“I liked in the home corner with Lewis.”

Toby described Primary 1.

“Fun because you go on little computers and do science.”

The children are following their interest in growing on the current Learning Wall ( displayed in the nursery room). During our walks around the village we noticed lots of plants growing. We planted potatoes in the garden and this stimulated lots of discussion about growing – what we already know and what we would like to learn about.

Emily shared her knowledge.

“Babies grow when they drink mummy’s milk.”

Toby shared.

“My feet grew and I need new shoes.”

Brodie asked. “What makes us grow?”

The children tried to measure how much they have grown leading our learning into measuring and comparing on a height chart.

Thinking about other things that grow Kyle shared he knows.

“Caterpillars grow into butterflies.”

He wondered.

“What happens inside a cocoon?”

We will begin investigating with our growing net containing tiny caterpillars the children are fascinated.

Ben described what is happening on the farm.

“My daddy is planting potatoes…they go in the ground and grow.”

Freya asked.

“How do beans grow?”

Archie, Saul and Freya planted bedding plants at the entrance.

Jaisleen suggested.

“I would like to grow beans. You need seeds. You could get some at Tesco.”

Watch this space!

The nursery children had the opportunity to visit Primary 1 and work together on STEAM projects.  As a stimulus we read “The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch.”  The children then worked together on designing a pulley system for transporting using a variety of materials.

At the forest the nursery children implemented their ideas. Using a trial and error strategy they realised the string had to be anchored higher at one end to create a slope. They tried cardboard tubes and wooden blocks to help the container glide down the string.

In the nursery the children created their own sandwiches as suggested in the story.

All families in the community are welcome to attend Balmullo Nursery Bookbug Sessions.  A fun way to promote early learning  developing confidence, self esteem, numeracy and literacy.

Monday 8th May (am only)

Monday 15th May

Monday 22nd May

9.15am till 9.45am

And

12.45pm till 1.15pm

We will restart our visits to the Beach Kindergarten giving the children the opportunity to explore the beach environment, look at the rock pools and investigate the shore line.

AM Sessions ( 9.15 am til 11.30 am)

Tuesday 16th May

Tuesday 23rd May

Tuesday 3oth May

Tuesday 6th June

PM Sessions (1.00 pm til 3.15 pm)

Thursday 18th May

Thursday 25th May

Thursday 1st June

Friday 23rd June

Thank you for the expression of interest in the next PEEP sessions. After consultation with families a block of 4 sessions have been arranged. The themes we cover are flexible and are planned around what you are interested in and where each session develops. We have linked the sessions with the nursery to Primary 1 transition.

Below are the dates and themes we have arranged. Each session begins promptly at 10 am and lasts for approximately an hour.

We look forward to seeing you.

Friday 5th May 2017 -Thinking and Talking

Friday 12th May 2017 – Maths Adventures

Friday 19th May 2017 – Making the Most of Books

Friday 26th May 2017 – Becoming a Reader

As part of Balmullo Primary and Nursery transition arrangements each pre-school child is matched to a Primary 6 pupil who will be their buddy. The older children take great pride in this responsibility helping to guide the younger children in the transition process developing their own leadership skills. They explored the nursery and this week they met their nursery buddies. Information with dates of events is included in the Transition to Nursery booklet which all families have been given. The pre-school nursery children will also visit the playground later in the term accompanied by their Primary 6 buddy and nursery staff. Dates will follow. Nursery children can bring their own small snack to enjoy in the playground.

The children have been helping to develop the garden. They thought that the play shed  needed a spring clean and got stuck in with enthusiastically. Starting with a blank canvas they made thoughtful suggestions for how they would like to develop it.

Brodie suggested.

“I think I’d like books in the playhouse. It’s all dirty and there’s nothing in it!”

Max had an idea about things he could use for learning.

“We could put some measuring tapes  in so we can measure.”

May would like it to be more attractive.

“Glitter and paint to make it sparkly.”

Any help from families to paint the shed to brighten up the inside would be really appreciated by the children.

Responding to the children we have added new resources. Logan suggested we keep the books in a set of shelves to stop them from getting dirty. The shed already looks more inviting with the addition of bunting and pictures. We created a garden library books and renewed the stationery.

The afternoon nursery children were excited to join a whole school event launching The Big Pedal. The nationwide campaign encourages children to travel to nursery and school on bike or scooter for 2 weeks from Monday 20th March to Friday 31st March. The rider demonstrated how he always wore a helmet to keep safe and shared his growth mindset of how he improved his skills through practise and worked towards achieving his goal of enjoying a career in an activity he loved- very inspirational!

Lennon shared his favourite part.

“I liked the big jump – he jumped on the van.”

Logan had an interesting question.

“I wanted to ask why did you need two wheels and gears”.

Maiya noticed. ” He had a helmet so he didn’t hurt himself.”

Malcom developed his experience in the nursery balancing on a scooter.

“Look at my skills!”

We visited the local shop with Guide Dog trainee, Flynn helping him with his training out in the community. While we were on the walk we recognised environmental print and practised our road safety. In the shop we bought a newspaper to learn about events in our community.