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.

 

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

In Nursery this week with have had Miss McKenzie, Mrs Wilson, Mrs ]Cameron and Miss McPhail our Early Years Development Officer in.

This has been a very busy week for the children. We have started our Christmas enterprise selling various Christmas themed goods made with the children who have been working very hard displaying their creative skills. These gifts are on sale for

• Reindeer food          £1.00
• Keyring                      £1.00
• Playdough Doo’s     £1.50
• Tree Decorations     £1.00
• Cushions                  £2.00

All the money raised from these gifts will help towards the Nursery funds for any new resources etc needed in your children’s learning experiences. The shop will remain open until the last day of nursery/school  Wednesday 20th December..

Some children were busy using their skills in money recognition whilst helping to count out how much money was made from that mornings sales.

“that’s 10p, that’s 20p. and  that’s 50p”

“50+50=100”

While another child counted the total coins,

“we’ve got 13 coins”.

 

Some children also helped to prepare the shop by using their skills to mark make out the prices list.

The children have continued their learning topic of money by creating a mind map that has recorded  their understanding of money. This is displayed around by the items for sale for you to see.  Some children were able to explain where money comes from, and how we need to save money too. Some children have engaged in games on the smart board that has encourage their skills to recognise values of coins and to do simple addition to total up the coins in the bank

 

 

A group of children have been exploring the junk modelling area to create a range of different style of houses. They used paints and other decorative materials to be creative, linking their knowledge to their models. This extended to the block area where groups of children have been very creative making castles and linking these to their favourite  Disney princesses. Some children experienced using  gingerbread cloud dough which is a festive sensory experience.  The children confidently shared their thoughts and feelings on this using the correct language to describe. Through the week the children have been very busy writing Christmas cards for their friends and family. Recalling to add their house number and addresses on the envelopes. A group of children on Friday enjoyed creating outfits using paper sticky tape, foil and wool to become mermaids and other imaginative characters to further deepen their play.

     

On Tuesday a group of children engaged in an activity to size order using a range of Christmas themed images.  They displayed kills to match into sets,  and then order in size from the littlest to the biggest, or bigger to smaller. They were also displaying skills to use the correct language to describe them.

 

Outside some children enjoyed playing in all weathers especially the rain. Some decided to create model super cars. Some used the mud kitchen to create a range of different foods that brought experiences seen, heard into their play. One child used skills to investigate what happens to the cardboard box if put into water. He confidently shared his findings with others…

“It’s falling apart, because the water…. it will go into pieces.”

Throughout the week the children have been revisiting the Learning wall topic of Story books, sharing what they have learnt. They are learning to contribute to the evaluation of this learning topic with our Early Years Development officer Miss McPhail. This book will be able to view once the children have finished with evaluating their learning.

     

On Friday we had our Sing-a-long session with the children singing a range of festive songs showing their excellent singing voices  Well done to you al you for showing confidence to perform in front of an audience that displayed excellent singing voices .Also a  very big Thank you to all those parents that were able to attend this afternoon and hopefully we can arrange more of these opportunities throughout the year.

 

Dates to remember.

Tuesday 19.12.23               –     Nursery party. in the afternoon.

Wednesday 20.12.23        –      Last day of term.   Return to Nursery is on the   Thursday 4th January 2024 

 

 

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.

 

We hope you all have a lovely weekend, and we will see you back at nursery on Monday.

 

from all the Nursery team.  xx  

 

 

.

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

Happy Friday everyone. What a quick week this has been, and what a busy week the  with all the learning and fun that the all the children have been involved with.

Outside the children have  been showing off their skills to participate in group games, sharing ideas and following the rules of the game. Duck, Duck, Moose seemed quite popular. While others enjoyed showing their decorating skills, acting out the roles of painters and decorators  that incorporated a range of different tools needed to do various jobs. 

 

Some children continued their interest in a bear hunt,  participated in using the Bee bot to programme a set of instructions to move to the different areas relating to the story, such as first they needed to go to the grass,….. then to the cave. The children had previously created images of these to be placed in different areas for the Bee bot to go to. They then used skills to estimate how many spaces it needed to get to the pictures. They used a range of directional  and positional language to describe its journey.

 

Some more children expressed a wish to revisit the Gummy bear experiment,  with lots of discussions arose to describe, compare and predict. We discussed thoughts on what they water might do, and about the time needed to see if any changes would occur. This lead to making jelly for their snack on Tuesday with the children engaged in a voting method to decide on the flavours.

“I think it will change colour”

“i think it will disappear”

       

All these activities are expanded from the children’s  learning interest in stories and books. These will be added to the current learning wall which is still a major interest with the children. Some children have been showing an interest in non fiction books such as the Above and below, while others revisited a previous experience of the birds outside using an app to monitor which birds are lose by. They gathered images to create a tally chart to record which birds were close by.

 

In the forest this week the children enjoyed a hot cheese and tomato pizza along with hot chocolate drink or water to keep their bodies warm especially with the weather we had that day. Lots of imaginative play occurred with the children engaging well with each other sharing ideas. Some children decided to worked together to tidy up the wooded area piling up all the fallen leaves and sticks. A group created their own fire area discussing and recalling how to be safe around the fire.

We had a lovely visited from a couple of P6 students who came to visit the nursery to give a talk and a power point  all about being safe on the roads. This links well into the Road Safety campaign in the school and the nursery demonstrated a good understanding from their walks back from the forest on being safe around the roads.

On Friday the children have been very busy starting their journey of their Christmas enterprise project, showing their creative and developing skills using their hand and eye co-ordination. Over the coming weeks more information on this project will be passed onto you.

 

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.

💭Forest happens every Wednesday (unless advised through Group call/Seesaw) and tarpaulin and a fire is provided throughout the session.

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.

Quick reminder that Nursery funds are due. Please refer back to the email to see what amount you need to pay.

 

We hope that you all have lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday.

 

From all the nursery team.   xx  

 

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

What a busy week we have had in Nursery, lots of laughter, scares and discussions on what they will be doing and who they were going to be.

We celebrated Halloween this week we the children engaging in lots of different Halloween fun. In the art area to children engaged in creating models and pictures using a range of materials and in the block area to make a haunted house. Children engaged using the lightboard to be creative in making designs using a range of natural loose parts and coloured paper shapes. While  other children explored the clay area taking the story of Room on the broom has their inspiration to make a range of models such as a witches hat, a frog or a broom.

 

            

 

         

On Monday night the children enjoyed the Halloween disco and we had lots of the children discussing and showing the adults their dance moves. Well what did the children not do on Tuesday.   In the snack area some children helped to make the monster shaped sandwiches. They choose jam or cheese and enjoyed cutting out the shapes using their counting skills to count out up to 18 on both plates. They discuss that they could make 2 sandwiches out of the slices. They helped to cut out the witches fingers from the cucumber and names the tomatoes has eyeballs. The children also enjoyed craving out the pumpkin with the adult, showing skills to discuss using tools safely  and listen to  the advice from the adult to take turns.

 

Over the week some children have been extending their creative skills and working with an adult to make fairy wings that link to characters from stories or films and extending this interest to their imaginative play. This has evolved over the whole of the week with more creative minds to use a range of resources such has wooden blocks being made into mobile phones.

Due to forest being cancelled the children enjoyed making pizza for snack and on Thursday they made milkshake using a range of berries and honey and milk. They used a blender which led to a discussion on how it worked. What it needed to work recognising the need for electricity which started a topic on other appliances that needed this source from around the setting to their homes.

        

The Learning wall area is still on going with lots of children engaging in writing their own storybooks either using the writing area or the more cosy area by the learning wall. One child recalled the activity at the forest linking it to the story of Going on a bear hunt. They worked with the adult to  search for an activity on this topic, finding a bear hunt to do outside. This lead to doing some research on polar bears and create their own image.

     

A group of children went on a walk after showing an interest in birds outside. We used an app that can record bird song and immediately identify exactly which bird is making the sound. The children were able to listen to instructions and help one another identify and listen out for birds. Once the picture popped onto the app when the birds were singing, the children could see what bird it was and shared with one another what its name was and things the6 knew about the bird including what colours it was and how big it might be. Children then shared their learning and interests with family and peers on return. Children have again showed interest today in birds where we will start to collect data on how many of each bird we see/hear 🐦 The children found a robin, common chaffinch and a magpie yesterday and expressed their excitement for finding these!

 

Some children recalled the yoga sessions that they had experience so they cleared an area to do this safely while the adult put some calming Reiki music for these to move , balance and stretch to relax. Afterwards they discussed confidently that they felt better and calm.

Our Cosy Time Library 📚

Reminders:

Please remember that on Friday 10th November there is no Nursery due to an In-service day.

• Please remember to send a spare change of clothing with your child to nursery as well as a jacket as it is now getting colder and our children love playing in all weathers!
•  anyone has any junk they are wishing to get rid of we will take! Any old boxes/cardboard boxes or baskets, kitchenware, table cloths, piping/guttering or any other household items please let the staff know! Thank you

 

We hope you all have a lovely Bonfire weekend and enjoy the lovely fireworks, but please stay safe. See you all on Monday.

 

Have fun.

from all the Nursery team. xxx

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

This week in Nursery we have had Miss McKenzie, Mrs Wilson, Mrs Cameron and we have welcome Mrs Foulis to our team who will be working from 11.30-3.30  every day.

Some children this week have been very creative in the  making of hand fans. They used their imitative to ask for support from the adult to complete these when they faced some difficulty. They used a range of materials to decorate these, and showed kindness by asking others if they would like one.  They also discuss the role that these help us by saying….

“They help you keep cool, you do this”

” You move it and it makes it cold”.

     

The boys and girls have created their own shop and café using the house outside. They have been showing an interest in shops and restaurants recently and they put their ideas together to come up with all that they would need to get their ideas up and running. We have a shop keeper and a café maker, children have helped to write menus and have come up with prices for things as well as choosing items they want to sell in the shop or use to make in the café. Oran, Archie and Charlotte helped to write a menu. Children experienced using coins and notes to hand over for goods and discussed coin amounts. The children worked with the adult to create a mind map that  captures their voice on how and what they would like to see in the shop.

Following on from his interest in shops, one child has been discussing different currencies. They spoke about dollars and pence, and could confidently identify the amount on each note and coin with no support! “That’s 50 pence, 10 pence, that’s 5 dollars and 20 dollars”.

The puppet and story interest is still going strong with lots of children eager to create a short show for the other children to see. The interest is extending to some children creating their stick puppets. One child created images of Snow White, the Prince and a wolf. In the afternoon the adult enjoyed a short play involving superhero’s such as Spiderman….

“Spiderman is going to save the world” one child quoted.

 

 

The interest continues through into the art area where children have been using a range of material and tools to create their own puppets and masks.

Some children have been involved in creating their own story books using their thoughts to express short texts linked to the drawings created. One child created a short story called…..

“Peppa Pig goes to a party” they then used skills to write the book title by copying the words written by the adult.

            

Over the past weeks the children have been very interested in Time, starting from when they first started at nursery to find out when their Mummy was coming. We have extended this interest to look at what tools helps us to tell the time, events in their daily life, routines of the day, the day date etc.  The adults have set up interest areas for the children to explore and some children are enjoying changing the day date board, using letter sounds to find the right tiles.

   

A group of children have been very busy work with numbers this morning. They completed ordering numbers 0-10 and asked to do more…..so they were then able to, with a little support, match the number to the quantity .Then they independently identified the missing number when an adult took one away each time.

 

At Snack the children decided that they wanted to do some baking. After helping to unpack the fruit and vegetable order they settled on making pancakes, Lemon and Blueberry. A group discussed a range of topics from healthy foods to what they had for breakfast. They were able to say what tools and ingredients were needed along with recognising why we needed the scales  ….

“they help you measure the food”

“and you follow the recipe”

They took turns to mix up the ingredients, and gave a thumbs up to the finished pancakes.

        

Our Cosy Time Library 📚

• Can all parents label items of  your child’s clothing.
• Can all parents put in at least one full change of clothing for water play and accidents.
• Can all parents if your child has a packed lunch can we please ensure grapes and big fruits are cut to minimise the risk of choking.🍇
• Can we remind all parents\carers to park in a white space only as the yellow spaces are for staff only.
• Can all parents ensure your child has a set of waterproofs and wellies to play outside when it’s wet.
• If your child is going to be picked up by someone else, please let the ladies know or the office so we are aware.
• Can we ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
• Can we ensure when you are leaving the nursery that the gate is locked.
• There is learning at home sheets available in the nursery to share your child’s learning and experiences that you do at home.
• Please ensure that your child has had sun cream applied before attending nursery. Please do not send sun cream to nursery in their bags, we have our own sun cream at nursery to use.

The Nursery Team 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone. Welcome to our first newsletter for this new term.

In Nursery this week we have Miss McKenzie, Mrs Wilson and we are delighted to welcome Mrs Cameron to our team too.

First of all a big welcome to  all our new children and their families but also hello again to all our returning children and families. We hope that you are all enjoying your time nursery this week and if you have any concerns , questions or would like to share any learning interests your child has etc please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of staff.

This week the children have settled really well into the nursery environment, exploring and investigating all areas and resources.  We have seen lots of imaginative play, especially the role of pirates .with children showing skills to share ideas and resources well .This interest has continued with some children developing their skills to research their favourite pirate Captain Red beard. This then extended to find out who was the nastiest pirate, Captain Blackbeard. Some children were seen creating their own kites showing skills to problem solve and share ideas. This lead to further research with the adult to look at the different shapes and colours along with how they fly and how  to make a better kite fly.

Outside we have observed lots of  children developing their role play skills  that incorporate a range of situations and resources.  Some children have enjoyed sharing their ideas well with others or by themselves to create a range of models using the range of loose parts to confidently discuss what they have made.

”It’s Daddy’s car and that the horn, and it’s got an exhaust too”

At the snack area lots of discussion have occurred with the children sharing their knowledge  and their likes/dislikes of the different fruit and vegetables. They then worked with the adult to create a mind map to display their understanding.

Some children are taking ownership of their learning spending time at the writing table  to write letters and numbers some have been writing their own sums.. We have also seen lots of creative pictures using a range of materials to create.

Outside some children recalled previous learning interest in growing to see how their potatoes were doing. They all helped to dig some out to see if they were ready to eat. They  showed skills to count and recalled how and what the plant needs. This links well to what the children were involved in ,the snack area in which lots of discussions around fruit and vegetables. They shared their knowledge along with their likes and dislikes to create a mind map of what they would like for snack.

The children are enjoying selecting and listening to a range of stories, sharing their thoughts and showing skills to predict the outcome. One child has requested to create a puppet theatre and puppets to create her own play of Little Red Riding Hood.

 

W hope that you all have a great weekend and we will see you all on Monday.

 

From all the Nursery team.

 

 

• Can all parents label items of  your child’s clothing.
• Can all parents put in at least one full change of clothing for water play and accidents.
• Can all parents if your child has a packed lunch can we please ensure grapes and big fruits are cut to minimise the risk of choking.🍇
• Can we remind all parents\carers to park in a white space only as the yellow spaces are for staff only.
• Can all parents ensure your child has a set of waterproofs and wellies to play outside when it’s wet.
• Our nursery blog is sent out every week on a Friday afternoon.
• If your child is going to be picked up by someone else, please let the ladies know or the office so we are aware.
• Can we ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
• Can we ensure when you are leaving the nursery that the gate is locked.
• There is learning at home sheets available in the nursery to share your child’s learning and experiences you do at home.
• Please ensure that your child has had sun cream applied before attending nursery. Please do not send suncream to nursery in their bags, we have our own sun cream at nursery to use.

The Nursery Team 