Welcome back everyone!  and a very Happy New Year to you all.  We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are ready for the new term.

This week in Nursery we have had Miss McKenzie, Mrs Wilson,  Mrs Laing our Nursery teacher, Miss McPhail our Early Years Development officer along with Miss Paul  who is another EYO helping us over the coming weeks.

This week learning is… Exploring, Predicting, Being Curious, Literacy, Mathematics, Sharing, Self-Esteem, Creativity, Motor Skills, Turn Taking, Technology, Outdoor Learning and Problem Solving.

We would also like to give a very warm welcome to all our new children and families that have recently started with us, We have welcomed Odil, Robin, Jackson and Leo into the nursery room. Hello!!!! 

We have started off with a big bang with some children showing an interest in the forth coming celebration of Burn’s Night and sharing their interest in the music and dancing. They also asked to discover more asking questions such as what is Haggis? and in using their developing understanding of how and what they needed t to use to do this. W e are starting to develop a small display by the entrance working with the children. If anyone has anything that they would like to share with children that is linked to this topic we would love to see.

A new Learning wall topic has just been started with a group of children showing an interest in Toys. Here are some of the questions they have asked..

“Where do toys come from?

“What are they made from?

What are my parents and the ladies at nursery favourite toys?

The interest of a Hobbit arose when one child expressed that a Hobbit was his favourite toy. This lead to lots of little Hobbits emerging in the nursery on Thursday. Some children worked with the adult to gather information and recorded this using a mind map to which we will create with them a simple bar graph to display their findings. This came from one of the questions asked by the children. The children showed confidence to ask all the adults in the school, enjoying time visiting all the different rooms.

Outside the children have continued their interest in playing a range of team games. The popular ones at the moment are Hide and Seek, Octopus, and What’s the time Mr Wolf and Musical statues. Some children are using their initiative to create their own games, sharing ideas and working together at times using a range of loose parts to deepen the game. We have also seen lots of obstacle courses being constructed where children have been challenging themselves using a range of skills and in taking risks. Some children have asked if we can use the gum hall so we will be creating a small obstacle course to continue supporting their interest.

Although we did not visit the forest this week we still manage to create a similar experience down in the bottom garden area. The children experience having a fire that included  a delicious hot snack and drink, some children stating that..

“They’re the best hot dogs and hot chocolate ever”

The children enjoyed climbing the different trees, using the loose parts to move around and roll each other in the big barrel. Some children were helping to redesign areas moving heavy soil that encouraged the children to problem solve on how they could move this. One child designated himself has the truck driver driving the tricycle bike with a bucket of soil to the bath planter. While others helped to fill up the buckets. Whilst down there the children were continuing their developing skills to  risk assessing by checking areas they were they might slip. This lead to some using skills to explore the ice puddles, recalling previous learning experiences, and shows skills to predict outcomes on how long the ice would last.

         

           

Miss McPhail our EYDO has been very busy working with the children to redevelop the wood work area in the nursery . We have listened to the children’s thoughts which they are continuing their skills to record and  display information through a mind map. They and have added new tools and included a special box of tools which the children need to ask an adult to support them in using these when they are creating their model. They have also created a set of safety rules to be followed by the children when they are using these. The children are developing their own learning to assess and manage risk to protect themselves and reduce the potential  of harm when possible.

 

 

Dates to remember.

Tuesday   16.01.24               –     Forest Kindergarten.  Meet at 9.00 am outside the front of Waterstone Crook.

 Thursday 18.01.23              –    Peep session with Miss McKenzie from 9.00-10.00 am. Please ask Miss McKenzie for a sign up                                                        sheet.

Next week we will also be celebrating Isla and Eli’s  Birthdays too.  

 

With the change of season and varied weather  ☔️❄️🥶, please remember to provide your child with welly boots, waterproof clothing, hat, gloves 🧤, scarf🧣 and at least 2 full changes of clothes in your child’s bag (remember the…🧦 🧦🩲🩲 )

💭Please feel free to explore our ‘Quick Question Time’ Floor Book in the ‘Welcome Entrance’ space. Any further comments? Please feel free to write further comments in the speech bubbles in the Floor Book.

💭If you need to discuss the Seesaw app, particularly with setting up all functions/privacy, please speak with a member of staff.

💭Any changes to your child’s Diet or Medication? Please speak with one of the Team who can support you.

Loose Parts

We are always in need of replenishing our loose parts in nursery. If you are out and about on walks, or are planning to recycle items, can we ask that you think of us first please 😃

Here is some of the items we are looking for:

Conkers, stones, shells, tea cups, sticks, picture frames, plates, anything you think might be of used in nursery.
We are also on the lookout for two of kitchen chairs, if anyone is getting rid of them. We are looking to develop a new area in the playroom.

 

Our Cosy Time Library 📚

 

We hope that you all have a lovely weekend, and will see you all next week.

From all the Nursery Team.