Balmullo Primary School and Nursery are an official collection point site supporting the Toy Drive. The children have been discussing that it is kind to share if you are able to – not every family is fortunate to have gifts at Christmas.

The Christmas gifts will be collected at the end of November and distributed to Children and Families in need across North East Fife.

The nursery children were delighted to operate their own pop-up shop. After harvesting our potato and apple crop in the nursery garden and with additional apples kindly donated from Mrs Wills to sell we had quite a stall. The children developed their technology skills by looking up recipes to suggest to their customers. Samuel said he likes potato and leek soup at his grans. Freya suggested apple and blackberry crumble.

There were lots of learning opportunities across the curriculum. The children developed literacy skills as they wrote signs and engaged in conversation in their shop keeper role. Connor asked – “What would you like at the shop?”

As the children counted out the items and handled cash they developed their numeracy skills using the appropriate vocabulary of change, pence and pounds.

The children shared all the roles within the shop and worked as a team, taking orders, counting produce, holding the bags open and handling the cash. They related the experience to shops they visit with their families. They noticed that the local shop has one person doing all the jobs but big shops have lots of staff.

We have  been learning about using money in the nursery. We had regular visits to the local shop and role-played being a shop keeper and customer . We wrote shopping lists and used real coins in transactions whilst counting and matching. A few children looked on the Smartboard to access illustrations of notes and made their own £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes.

 “Yogido -Fun yoga that everyone can do.”

The children had fun developing their skills – strength, coordination, flexibility and balance alongside an increasing feeling of self confidence as they challenged themselves.

Today they practised a few basic postures -Big Star, Shooting Star, Tree, Lion, Ant, Cat and Cow. We will be having regular sessions in the nursery encorporating the yoga into games and rhymes.

Malcom shared his favourite. “Big Star.”

Freya enthusiastically demonstrated her favourite postures.

” I liked Big Star and Tree – like this!”

The whole family can join in at home as children can demonstrate their learning.

The children independently select and prepare their own snack in the nursery. They are developing skills across the curriculum –  remembering the sequence of tasks to be performed – washing hands, posting snack name, selecting a plate and cup. They are developing number recognition and counting skills as they check the signage to see the quantity of each item to choose.

The children have the opportunity to use knives to spread butter or to chop soft fruit increasing their fine motor skills. They also have the chance to think about basic maths concepts as we discuss cutting the banana introducing vocabulary half, quarter, equal and whole.

Today we had a lovely visit from Mandy and Alex who helped us learn about looking after our teeth.  We learned what makes our teeth feel sad and all the things we can do to keep our teeth healthy.

The children discussed their knowledge and understanding about sugar inside our food and drink making our teeth feel sad.

Archie shared.

“Sweets and juice are bad cause they have sugar. The sugar fights on your teeth.”

 We should limit the number of times our teeth are under acid attack by having food and drink containing sugar at meal times.

Joshua and Amelliah told us you need to brush your teeth two times – in the morning and at night.

Samuel explained.

“You get germs on your teeth that make them sore.”

Connor added.

“Brush your teeth or you get cavities.”

We were reminded about the best tooth brushing routine.

Use a dry brush and apply toothpaste.

We joined in  the rhyme.

” Not a lot – just a spot of toothpaste.”

Remember to spit out the toothpaste when you finish brushing. “Toothpaste is for teeth not for tummies.”

Don’t rinse your mouth with water as you want to keep the toothpaste on your teeth. The fluoride continues to protect your teeth after you brush.

Amelliah remembered. “Toothpaste has magic powers.”

“Then clean your brush -tap,shake,rack!”

Mandy from Childsmile advised -visit your dentist twice a year.  Fluoride varnish can be applied to children’s teeth at the dentist from 2 years to 5 years 11 months. If you don’t have a dentist call 01592 226555 who will be glad to help.

The nursery children have been learning about their brains. Melissa brought in a model of the human brain so we could take a closer look!

There is a display in the corridor sharing our learning.

At nursery we promote a growth mindset. The children are learning that as we practise, make mistakes and listen to feedback we make connections in our brains . The more connections we make the greater the opportunity to make our brains grow and we increase the ability to improve and learn new skills.

Jack talked about his brain.

“It helps you to learn to write your name.”

William has been developing his numeracy skills.

” I was practising putting numbers in a row.”

Archie uses his growth mindset to encourage himself to learn new skills.

“I can put my coat on but I can’t do my zip yet.

I am practising doing my zip.”

The children have been talking about the fruit and vegetables they have been growing at home and in the nursery garden. Other children have shared that they have seen combine harvesters in the fields around the village or on their farms. The children have begun developing this interest on our current Learning Wall. We would love to hear how the children are continuing this interest at home.

We tasted some of our produce and bought some broccoli at the local shop after seeing it was being cut in the field at the village. The children helped to prepare it for snack. They were developing their fine motor skills, numeracy skills and health and well being as they discussed  eating the healthy snack.

Our new starts are enjoying learning new routines and independently selecting and serving their own snack.  They are developing their decision making skills and are encouraged to try different foods with their peers. Afterwards they enjoyed washing their own dishes and brushing their teeth. The children are thrilled at the opportunity to develop their independence.

 We welcome  families who would like to come and share experiences and skills with the children in the nursery. Please let nursery staff know if you would like to do this.

Welcome back! We are resuming Bookbug activities from Monday 4th September 2017. We would love to see parents, grandparents and carers .  Please encourage members of the community to come along – all are welcome to attend and share the free story, song and rhyme sessions with their babies , toddlers and pre-school children.

Monday 4th September

Monday 11th September

Monday 18th September

Monday 25th September

Monday 2nd October

9.15 am till 9:45am

And

12.45 pm till 1.15pm

The P6 buddies have been visiting the nursery getting to know the children, developing positive relationships and building confidence which will help them settle in Primary.

The children worked together using loose parts in the garden to build dens. This gave all the children the chance to share ideas and problem solve.

The den building led onto developing a shop where the nursery children wrote prices and sold items to their buddies, developing their understanding of money.

The buddies and nursery children enjoyed sharing their ideas of how the sand could be transported.

Design problems – connecting the parts to get a square.