Milngavie Early Years Centre

This week we are gearing up for Christmas.  Today, Tuesday – is forest school day, so if your wee one is going, please make sure they have plenty of layers.

On Wednesday we have our Christmas Concert – if your child doesn’t normally attend on a Wednesday morning, but is coming to sing, please could you bring them to nursery for 10.40 am so we can take everyone over together.  If your wee one has a Christmas jumper, please could they wear it – to add to the festive feel of the occasion!

The concert is being held in the Infant School Gym – the lower of the 2 buildings – and the entrance being used is the one at the front of the building (the side furthest away from nursery). Doors open at 11.05 for parents.  Can we ask that you don’t come before 11am as the school children are using the playground until then.  The show starts at 11.15 am.  Everyone is welcome to come along – we have been practising hard and our singing is sounding good.  We are very lucky to have Mrs Caroline Inglis – Mrs Jingles- to play piano for us.  Caroline used to work at the school and has played for every Nursery concert since we opened.  She retired last year but is very kind and offered to play for us again this year.

Looking forward to a really festive week in nursery – I wonder what the elves might be up to?

Today we had a very special treat- Theo brought his mum, Hazel, and his little sister, Sally, to nursery.  Theo and his mum both brought interesting boxes with them.  We all sat in a circle and we all sang “Knock, knock, knock -What’s in the Box?”  Hazel was first to open her box – Sally was Hazel’s special helper and helped get 3 very interesting looking pieces of a musical instrument out and put them together.

Hazel told us the instrument was an oboe, and asked us how we thought she might play it.  We thought you would have to blow into it.  Hazel gave it a go, but it didn’t really make a sound.  Hazel then brought out a little box – again we sang, “What’s in the Box?”  Hazel took out something that she said was a reed.  She blew it and it made a funny noise, a bit like a chicken.  When she put the reed into the oboe, though, something magical happened.  She played the most beautiful music.  Hazel also played us the Sonya the Duck’s theme from Peter and the Wolf, which we had watched on Youtube last Friday.  It was wonderful – we pretended to paddle along like ducks in the water, and when the music changed we had to flap like Sonya when she was trying to get away from the Wolf.

T heo then opened his instrument case- he had a teeny, tiny, Theo-sized violin.  He played Frere Jaques beautifully, plucking the strings. He was amazing!! We all gave him a big round of applause!  After Theo’s solo, Hazel taught us a great action song about a penguin and then we all sang “Jingle Bells” with Hazel accompanying us on the oboe.

Thank you Hazel and Theo for a really lovely musical session and for coming back to share it again with our afternoon children, who loved it just as much as the morning group! It was a wonderful experience- Hazel has an amazing way of involving all the children with lots of participation and actions and we all learned lots while having great fun!!

On a bright and icy day last Friday we wrapped up warmly and went out to enjoy the signs of winter in the garden.  The pond and the bird bath had iced over and we had great fun trying to find ways to crack the ice.  The ice on the pond was like a sheet of glass.  Here are some photos:

You will never guess who else turned up!

We have rather a cheeky wee video of 3 elves, dancing in our playroom – one of them appears to have eaten a few sprouts too many!  Unsurprisingly, this one seems to be the children’s favourite to date!

Thurday is the day for our Pre-Schoolers’ visit from Visual Screening.  You will have had a consent letter for your child, which needs to be returned to nursery for your child have their eyes tested.  If we don’t have consent for your child, they will not be screened and you will be sent an appointment letter to take them for a test in hospital.

If you have misplaced your letter it may be possible to fill in a written permission slip, so your child can have their eye test.  Speak to staff if you need to do this and we can give you one to fill in.

Thanks for your co-operation with this.

Eddie asked us to keep a special eye on Mr Hungry – our nursery bin!  He just had a feeling that the elves might be hiding somewhere near.  We were not disappointed – look who popped out while no one was looking.  These cheeky elves even had the nerve to fight with each other in nursery.  The children were appalled – our nursery charter is very clear on no fighting in nursery!!

Ailsa and Max were in action this weekend – both of them were involved in running a Santa Dash.

Max ran 1k at Mugdock and got an amazing medal with Santa on it.  Ailsa ran 100m and won her third medal of the year!

We are very proud of both of them- they both brought their medals in to show their friends and told us about their races.  Congratulations Max and Ailsa – you are SUPERSTARS!

Good morning – it’s the start of another exciting week in our Early Learning Centre.  The children are getting more and more excited as we countdown to Christmas and there have been more sightings of our elfie friends in the garden, and peeking in the nursery windows.

Thank you so much for all the support at the Christmas Fayre.  The children sang beautifully and the Fayre was an amazing success raising an incredible £3,000.

This week we are planning our party – voting for what we would like on the menu and planning the games we want to play.

On Wednesday our tickets for our fabulous Christmas Disco Party will be ready – if you haven’t bought one, they will be on sale in the nursery hall.  If you have already paid – your ticket will be ready to pick up.

On Thursday we are having a special musical treat – Hazel,  Theo’s mum- is coming in to play us some Christmas music on the Oboe.  Hazel plays in an orchestra and we are really looking forward to listening and being an audience.

On Thursday our pre-school children have their visual screening tests in Nursery.

On Friday Susan is coming in with Mr Snappy for another happy session of Snappy Sounds.

This week I’m going on an inservice course – Story Stars – at Bearsden Academy on Tuesday after Nursery. Can’t wait!

Sorry – there has been a wee bit of confusion about the Nursery choir singing at the Christmas Fayre, in the nursery building.  This is purely a voluntary activity – an informal sing-a-long of the Christmas songs we will be performing on Wednesday 13th December at our Christmas concert.

It would be lovely if you could bring your wee one along – we will be singing between 6.30pm and 7pm.  You will need to stay with them in the building as we are outwith nursery hours.  We are hoping you might sing along too- it’s great for getting in the mood for Christmas!  The Nursery will be also be the venue for the Christmas Hot Chocolate Café and the ever popular Bottle Stall, which is looking as if it will be well worth a visit, due to all your kind contributions.  Santa and Mrs Claus are  coming along too.  It is going to be a great night!  We hope you can make it, but feel absolutely no pressure!

The Elf door keeps moving around the nursery- today it was half way up a wall! Just look who peeped out when no one was watching!!!