Author: Mrs Cameron

Last week of term 2023

Well here we are at the end of the term (and the year)! What a busy term it’s been too.

This week our learning has been …….

Evaluating (our learning), practicing enterprise/life skills, experimenting, welcoming new friends and celebrating!

We started the week with some requested yoga, we had a “We’re going on a bear hunt “ themed yoga session. This was very well received and lots of fun. Most of the children joined in. We learned to move our bodies in different ways and practiced holding our balance.

 

Enterprise:

We’ve been taking turns to go round the different classes advertising and selling lol the items we have made for Christmas. Lots of the older children have bought from us and we have even been able to sell to the school grown ups at either end of the day.

We welcomed Odil to our nursery this week. The children have been introducing themselves and encouraging Odil to join their play. It’s lovely to watch new friendships blossom.

Christmas Party:

We had a fabulous time at our party! We played all the games we have been practicing over the past couple of weeks. Lots of Christmas music, prizes, and party food! We took turns, were statues and showed off our dance moves on the dance floor.
We also had a very special visitor too! 🎅🎅🎅

A short week but packed full!

All that’s left to say to we hope you have a lovely Christmas break . Merry Christmas from all the nursery team and we will see you all in January x

1st December 2023

Wow here we are in December!

 

Happy Friday Everyone 🙂

Well what another busy week we’ve had in nursery.

Lots of puzzles and jigsaws this week. Learning to work together and cooperate. Checking that all the puzzles and games are complete, following instructions and using our knowledge of shapes and positional language.

Some of the children have been practicing their numeracy skills with Miss McKenzie and demonstrating their knowledge of time, seasons and months. Lots of quality observations for our PLJs.

Art Area:

We have been doing some collaborative painting this week, with some of the boys experimenting with colour mixing and working together to create works of art.
Oran discovered how to make secondary colours and Christian & Alex identified how to change the colour shades. Great Job 🙂

Learning Wall:

Lots of the children have been using the wooden characters to create their own stories at the learning wall area. Showing their understanding of the different ways to create and tell stories. The children are still getting so much from the learning wall topic and it is fantastic to see them use there knowledge to further their own learning.

Christmas/Winter Activities:

This week marks the start of our Christmas/winter activities in nursery. With “Festive Friday “ creating a winter scene in our art area, lots of melted snowman pictures. Mrs Wilson and the children creating snowflakes for everyone to use as a winter snowy scenes, Mrs Cameron made us a postbox for our writing area, where the children have been using different Christmas themed stationery to make lists, letters and pictures to post, and the start of our Christmas Enterprise projects with Miss McKenzie ! The children have been learning some new skills such as sewing, and practicing problem solving, creative ideas and following complex instructions. The children have excelled 🎄

St Andrews Day

We had porridge and berries for snack, lots of Scottish music, and Scottish Country dancing outdoors, researched Loch Ness & Nessie and explored our lovely St Andrews display.

Reminders:

Festive Fridays 8th and 15th December -children can wear Christmas T-shirts/jumpers

Nursery Christmas Singalong – Friday 15th December

Parent Chats start Monday 4th December

Christmas Enterprise- the items the children have been busy making will be available to sell in the coming days, funds raised from this goes towards resources for the nursery children. More on this soon

Winter clothes – Now that the weather has turned even colder, we are asking that children come dressed for the weather, particularly for forest kindergarten. We are out for a good portion of the day and the children can get quite cold, quite quickly.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and we will see you all next week for more festive fun.

The nursery team 🌟🙂

 

Week beginning 6th November

This week learning has been …….. discovering, researching, creating, imagining, experimenting, being responsible and helping.

We are learning to be responsible, safe and respectful. Lots of us are volunteering to help make snack, clean up our spills and practicing our tidying up skills. If we use it, we know we need to put it back. (Although we are still finding it tricky in the art area when we are busy creating masterpieces).

Winter Tidy up:

Outside this week we have been washing down the outside resources and making the garden area nice and tidy after the recent storms. We gathered buckets of warm soapy water and had fun working together as a team using our water play skills to make everything sparkly and clean.

“We’re Going On A Bear Hunt”

Carrying on from last week we have been “Going on a Bear Hunt “. Using the story to help us retell the story through role play. Showing that we are continuing to engage with our learning wall. Exploring different ways to listen to, and tell stories. Lots of rhyming, sequencing and discovering how we can act out different characters.

Outside, Mrs Wilson and some of the children created an activity where they had to “go on a bear hunt” around the garden to find all the hidden bears. SSH! Don’t tell the next person where they’re hiding! 🐻

Diwali

We are talking about and exploring Diwali this week. Looking at and researching what Diwali is and how people celebrate it.
Some of us have been drawing around our hands and designing patterns on them with different colourful beads. Lots of bright Diwali colours in the art area to inspire our pictures, paintings and creations.

We participated in discussions around what foods people enjoy during Diwali feasts and how they might celebrate.

 

Forest School

This week there was only a few of us. Some of us built our own campfire, gathering sticks and leaves for our fire and logs to create the fire square. Some were catching leaves as they fell from the trees, before they reached the ground. We had French toast on the fire for snack and listened to see if we recognised the birds.

Telescopes have been a big interest this week, with the children exploring different ways to make them. Sharing resources and practicing our turn taking skills, lots of negotiating and discussions. Some of us used the telescopes in our role play as pirates and some of us used them to investigate the playroom more closely.

Now that the weather has most definitely turned, we are asking that all children who attend forest on Wednesdays to come with weather appropriate layers.

Writing Table

Lots of interest in writing and practicing our new words. Sounding out each and working out which letter is needed.

Design & Build

The block area has been popular this week too, with children getting creative and designing very intricate buildings and cities! We can talk about the shapes we used and why we positioned them in certain places. Showing our understanding of shape, design and positional language.

Mrs Foulis

This week sees Mrs Foulis leaving us for pastures new. We have all enjoyed the fun and games, and we will miss you. We wish you luck in your new role ☺️

 

In-service Day

Friday 10th November the nursery will be closed to the children. Back to normal on Monday 13th November.

Absences

We are grateful for absences noted on Seesaw but can we ask that you also contact the school office to log them. This just ensures all absences are logged correctly.

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.

Phew what a busy week!

Enjoy your weekend everyone and we’ll see you on Monday 😃

The Nursery Team

 

 

 

 

 

Last week of Term!

Well here we are at the October holidays!

We’ve had another busy week.

Some of the children have been exploring the various games on the Ipads, particularly the drawing games with them accessing the different mark making functions. This encouraged us to practice the art of negotiations and turn taking. 🙂

“Molly’s Circus”

As part of the children’s learning wall activities we were delighted to read a particularly special story book brought in by one of the children. Sophie brought in a book called “Molly’s Circus” which was written and illustrated by her Aunt Esther. The children thoroughly enjoyed engaging with it and talking about the beautiful illustrations. Thank you for sharing this with your nursery friends.

Woodwork creations

The children have been exploring the workbench area more this past week, with lots of independent learning and emerging resilience.We’ve had some excellent examples of items crafted from their imaginations, from statues, pillars, wands and even an Xbox controller!

Recycling

The children have learned about what it means to recycle. Some of us knew about recycling and could explain to their peers during discussions. We talked about the different kinds of recycling items and practiced with some new recycling games. The children followed the rules of the games well and some chose to continue independently.
We will be continuing with this after the holidays as the children wish to find out more.

 

Cycling to School

This week, like the rest of the school, some of us have been cycling and scooting to school. We used our excellent listening skills to listen to the JRSO (Junior Road Safety Officers) who handed out some prizes and talked to us about using reflective stickers to keep safe.

Well Done Everyone 🙂

Learning Wall:

We’ve had lots of interaction and quality learning through our learning wall about stories. All the children have added to our wall and been an active part of the discussions about our favourite stories, characters and books. Some of us have made our own story books and some have collaborated with friends to create books. What a great range of interesting stories!

At the forest

This week we were creating our own games/stories, swinging on the tree swing, drawing pictures with charcoal, weaving with branches and string, collecting pine cones and sticks for the fire, eating quesadillas and singing songs. What a busy day, we almost didn’t notice the rain!

Harvest Together Time

Today we joined the rest of the school in the hall for the Harvest Together Time. We all practiced active listening and the nursery ladies said we sat very well. We listened to all the classes telling stories and singing songs and joined in where we could.

Reminders:

* As of today (6th October) we are on holiday for two weeks, we will see you  all on Monday 23rd October.

* Just a reminder that if your little one has been sick or has had diarrhoea, then it is 48 hrs  after the LAST bout before they can return to nursery. Thanks for your cooperation.

* Tuesday 24th October is photograph day

Shout out:

* We are looking for any of the following items for the nursery:

* old cups       *old cutlery       * old tables   * cable drums

* picture frames (with & without glass)        * trellis

* conkers        * pine cones

or anything else you think we might be able to use as loose parts.

If you are about to get rid of anything above please can you speak to  member of the team, we’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance

Happy Holidays 🤗

The Nursery Team

 

 

15th September 2023

Well it’s Friday again!

Here’s what we’ve been up to this week in nursery …. Lots of exploring, counting, discovering, experimenting, predicting, practicing, imagining, creating and sharing.

This week began with sharing what we know about money/coins. Following on from our outdoor shop last week, where we were role playing buying and selling, we have been playing maths games on the smart board where we have been sorting coins and discussing the value of each. We surprised the nursery ladies with what we already know& 🙂
We’ve been making the most of the warm weather, with lots of outdoor play.
The past couple of weeks we have had lots of interest in maps and pirates, this week we have made our own maps and been using them to go on exciting adventures!

Also outdoors, we’ve talked about shapes. In particular, looking for natural shapes within our immediate environment. Mrs Wilson set up an activity using natural loose parts to encourage shape making. Lots of us enjoyed creating and discovering 2D shapes.
For snack this week Mrs Cameron brought in her blender and we made fruit smoothies. We really liked these, some of us enjoyed the process more than the smoothies 😂

We discussed what kind of smoothies we wanted to make and we settled on two: Mixed Berry and Banana & Orange.
We washed, prepared and sliced all the fruit carefully, listening to the instructions. We then used our predicting skills to see what colour the smoothies would be.
Lots of discussion about fruit and vegetables we enjoy (and the ones we don’t!).

“I don’t like smoothies but I like the colour!” -Isla

”It tastes like summer”-Timothy

”I like the berry one best”- Oran

”It’s yummy!”- Elyn

Nursery Charter:

Since we have practicing our social goals for a few weeks now, this week we have been talking about what makes us happy at nursery and what we can do to help our nursery friends be happy.
We have decided on goals we are going to use to help us be happy and safe. Feel free to chat about these at home.

Learning Wall: “Stories”

We have started our first learning wall of the year in nursery.

We have been talking about our favourite stories, as well as discussing what we know about characters and what a plot is.

We have sent home our learning wall forms and ask that if you and your child do anything to do with stories, that you complete the form together. Read more