I am a Peripatetic Nursery Teacher in Inverclyde, based in Kelly Street Children's Centre and also working in Bluebird Family Centre. I am passionate about early years education in particular play, attachment and learning out loud.
I'm just new at this blogging but always up for a blether - pop in and say hi!
We have been raising the attainment in literacy with the help of our neighbouring P6s!
Role modelling Reading
Every Thursday morning a small group of very capable P6 pupils from St Joseph’s Primary, visit our Rainbow Room and read to our boys and girls. While this is great fun and enjoyed by all, it is more than just a laugh.
Sharing books in a very small group (just with one or two others) not only helps our children experience the pleasure of reading (setting them up to be life long readers and successful learners); but helps them really see how you can read a book. Our role models discuss the pictures, talk about the plot of the story – making predictions and developing their partner’s understanding. They use different voices for the characters and help their reading partners explore the roles played by the people in the story. They pace the story according to their partner’s needs and level of understanding – stopping at any unfamiliar words to help grow vocabularies (the key to success in later life!)
The best bit is it isn’t just our Rainbow Room children that benefit from this! Our role models do too! The final stage of learning is being able to teach another! So our P6 friends are learning how to read even better, more fluently and with an awareness of their audience.
Sometimes we take the story even further and explore it fully with role play or imaginative small world play. It’s so cool to learn with the big ones!
Reading the story first.
Recreating the story – making a house for the Bears.
You can continue to develop this kind of learning quite easily at home! Just reading bedtime stories together makes a world of difference in developing a love for reading and giving your child’s learning a wee boost! So get stuck into some brilliant books!
It’s been a wee while but we are ready to get back in the blogging saddle again!
We have successfully settled back into our newly refurbished building and are raring to go in sharing our learning with you at home!
And what a busy start to the year we have had!
Painting to express ourselves.
Saying goodbue to Tia – Good luck!
Recording our learning in Big Books.
Reading with our P6 Reading Role Models.
Exploring size by building for the 3 Bears.
Role playing McDonalds drive through!
Persevering and working together to complete big jigsaws!
Taking turns and using maths skills to play games.
Exploring textures and balance with our bare feet!
Not giving up when finding things hard.
Using our imaginations and problem solving to create wonderful models.
Pushing ourselves to great heights – literally!
You can find more detailed accounts of all this learning and much much more in our Big Books. This is where we plan together and record our own learning journeys. At the end of each month we evaluate what we have done and start to think about our ideas for the next month.
Why not pop in and have a wee look at some of the books – we love to show off!
Alternately keep a wee eye on here – this will be where we record our outdoor learning especially.
And remember our Twitter account (@Bluebird F Centre) is a valuable way of keeping up to date with nursery goings on!
The boys and girls in the Rainbow Room have started a new programme aimed at helping them learn how to be good friends and cope with lots of different feelings. The programme is called P.A.TH.S. (yup the capital TH in the title was deliberate!)
We use puppets as children find them safe to talk to and interact with.
During the sessions children will be introduced to key characters through which they can safely explore situations and reactions with stories and role play puppets.
Twiggle hides in his shell when he is scared.
Jack read Space Walkies to Duke the dog!
We learn about our golden rules at Paths group time.
This is Twiggle, our main character.
This is Henrietta.
This is Duke.
This is Daphne.
The main character Twiggle is a turtle although sometimes we get mixed up and all him a tortoise because that is more familiar to us and makes more sense that he walks about on land.
Arlene let us meet her tortoise Indy and we talked about how he hides in his shell when he doesn’t feel safe and happy. He ‘does the turtle’!
Regardless of whether he is a turtle or a tortoise he has a shell and that is key to the programme as he can retreat from difficult situations into his shell. This symbolises taking a pause to think before acting out. It is a mindfulness technique that engages the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the bit that talks us down. You can find out more about the prefrontal cortex and the brain and emotions if you are interested.
Helping children to identify and name different emotions makes it much easier for them to talk about them. When you are upset, the emotional part of the brain is in control. Talking uses a different part of the brain altogether so talking about feelings calms you down! Just thinking about the name of the emotion will ease the strength of emotion! So for us to be able to deal with difficult emotions, we need to be able to name them. That’s what our PATHS programme does.
We will also be introducing the concept of compliments and exploring the power of acceptance and responsibility. We will do this through our PATHS Kid of the Day. Every child will have the opportunity to be the Paths Kid, and receive compliments from every member of staff that day. They will be the special helper for the day and get to wear a cape and put on the tidy up music. We will have a sign up on the door to share who is that day’s special child. Please join in with the strategy by paying them a compliment if you see them and watch their self esteem blossom!
So watch out for your child talking about Twiggle or the Paths Kid, and even getting to wear the Paths Kid Cape!
There are times when you pick up your child and think “Look at the state of you!” You might even despair at the stains on the new clothes that are on for the first time.
But worry not!!
Messy children are active learners!!
I am just learning to control my body so I may spill or smear glue or paint but it shows I am being creative!
I am learning to feed myself tricky runny stuff like cereal and milk – I may spill it down my clothes but I am learning to hold my spoon better each time I do!
I may have gotten more butter on myself than on my toast but I am learning about hand eye coordination and pressure – both things I need to do before I can start to learn to write!
I may get covered in sand and bring home half a beach but I am learning to investigate, about textures and cause and affect in the sand.
I might get soaked even with an apron but I am learning why hygeine is important, social skills and caring for others ads well as lots about waves, bubbles and splashes.
I might fall and get covered in mud but I am learning to keep trying hard things, developing my muscles and getting more confident.
I might get a rather dirty bottom sitting on the ground outside but I can take the time to investigate shaddows, explore different textures and temperatures of different grounds and might even discover some mark making while I’m down here.
ILetting me spread jam can be bery sticky and messy but I am learning about cohesion (stickiness) as well as developing all my movement skills to scoop and spread the jam.
I get into quite a mess when I explore things but I am using all of my senses to learn about different materials and substances – I am also learning which ones are safe to eat and which ones I cannot.
I am using all of my senses to explore materals – I am a real detective forming ideas and concepts about different things.
Getting my hands covered lets me explore textures and sensations as well as developing my wee hand muscles which will help me when I come to draw and write.
Stains are just a little record of some of the fabulous learning we have been doing!
I may take a tumble off a log or wall but risky play helps me to make sound judgements and decisions, I grow in confidence as I do this as well as developing those important balance skills that help my brain prepare to read and write!
Stretching over messy tables may get me dirty but I am developing my coordination, building my core strength and learning about distance and volume. Squeezing in beside my friends helps me learn about making friends, turn taking and social skills such as respecting personal space.
I may dribble while brushing my teeth but I need to do this as I learn to not only care for my teeth but also to control my mouth and tongue which will help me to speak more clearly.
Splashing in muddy puddles isn’t just fun – we can learn about suction, volume, pressure and waves – early physics!
Stretching over messy tables may get me dirty but I am developing my coordination, building my core strength and learning about distance and volume. Squeezing in beside my friends helps me learn about making friends, turn taking and social skills such as respecting personal space.
The most interesting sea life doesn’t just come over to you – we have to go to it. Reaching across with the rod helps me develop my balance, strengthen my core muscles (which both will help me to write!) as well as getting the catch of the day!
Getting hands stuck into messy stuff allows me to experiment, learn about textures and sensations such as temperatures and liquidity. It’s early science!
We need to get right down amongst the sand and rocks in order to be able to properly investigate what lives there. We might get wet and sandy but we are mini marine biologists!
Pouring our own water/ drink and dribbling it all over the place is part of learning to control my movements and care for myself.
Stains that come from nursery can return to nursery!
That’s why we have nursery jumpers and shirts – so that you don’t need to worry about ruining the clothes a grannie just gave. And old trousers and shoes or wellies are the best for nursery too. You see we value mess, we know how much learning can take place in mess! (which is just as well as most of us go home covered too!)
So next time you see your child’s jumper like this:
Stains from learning!
…..then we know you’ll say, “Wow you have been busy learning today – what were you doing when you played outside?”
…. And remember that anything that doesn’t wash out can be worn as a badge of honour as a good learning experience!
Well the big move is fast approaching! On Friday 14th October the movers will shift us from the current building into St Joseph’s Primary. Children will start in the temporary accommodation in the school on the Tuesday after the October Break (25th Oct).
We are exited about this big move and am sure that you and your children will love the school facilities as much as us!
You can find out more about the decant at the parents information afternoon on Wed 5th Oct at 4:30, or just ask Gillian, Claire or Kerry!
The decant will allow the builders to start on the long awaited refurbishment to our current building. The plans are soon to be presented to the council to be approved and we are hoping for the building work to start some time next year.
Have you seen the plans?
They are currently on display in the hall above the coat pegs.
The offices, drop in and staff room will be upstairs. We will be getting a meeting room also!All the playrooms will be on the ground floor. There will be a door straight to the outdoor area in each room!
What do you think? There is space for you to comment on these in the hall display, alternatively you could comment here or talk to a member of staff who will pass on your response. Don’t forget to have your say – it could make a difference to your child’s nursery experience!
Needless to say that there will be plenty of learning taking place throughout the whole process and our current service provision will not change (other than to continue to improve).
If you have any questions, concerns or just fancy a blether about the move then please do not hesitate to say!
We are finally back online after a summer break and concentrating on getting back into the swing of things. And boy do we have lots to share!
We have a few new faces in the nursery – Amy our new bus escort, Claire our new family support worker, Sofia who is covering Carol’s maternity leave (good luck Carol!!), Andrewina our new clerical assistant and Michelle and Leeanne who are here to help us pack because………..
We are on the move in the next couple of weeks!! – See next post for details.
We are also hoping to get a handle on this blog and get some regular updates on your child’s learning – you can subscribe to the blog to get emails for new posts, or watch our twitter account for news.
So…. watch this space for updates on your child’s learning!
On Tuesday we were lucky enough to take all the boys and girls that would be moving on to school after the summer, to the science centre. This trip was suggested and even organised by Jack (one of our enthusiastic junior scientists) and would mark the end of a really successful focus on learning about space, planet earth and human life.
We all travelled up together on the bus.
We waited while Claire let the scientists know we had arrived.
Everyone getting ready to explore the science centre.
We went straight up the stairs to get ready for the planetarium.
The walls had giant pictures of the planets in our solar system.
We applied our previous learning to name the planets on the wall. Some of them looked really different as they were in colours we didn’t expect.
“We learned about planets – like Venus” – Christiana
We learned about how planets orbit and actually spiral inwards slightly towards the sun by experimenting with wee balls and a big bowl.
We had to roll the ball gently to the side to make it orbit around the hole. Claire was a bit rough and the ball flew off!
Soon it was time to go in to the planetarium to learn about space.
It’s exciting waiting for the planetarium show to start!
The seats leaned back so we could look up.
We were all excited for it to start.
Our children were the real stars of the show however! Among lots of other schools and nurseries our children stood out as the most engaged, best listeners and those with the greatest depth of understanding. (I know I am a little biased but it’s true!!)
Such smart cookies!
The audience was quizzed on their knowledge of the sun.
“It’s a giant ball of fire” -Libby
“It’s very hot” – Zach
“The planets go round it!” – Riley
“It has a happy face” “It has jaggy bits coming out of it” – other school pupils
We were also asked what we knew about stars.
“They make constellations!” – Gabriel
“They are suns” – Noah
(The presenter was actually looking for someone to say “they twinkle” and was surprised at our answers!)
We pretended to travel to different planets and had a closer view of them, and at how the Sun and Earth look from them. The Sun just looks like any other star from Pluto!
We were asked if we knew who had been the first person to walk on the moon?
Noah applied his previous knowledge to try and answer despite being unsure, he took an educated guess : “Tim Peake?”
When we were asked to find the Pole Star Riley found a possible candidate,
“It’s not twinkling. It must be a planet!” He had found Jupiter!
We were shown lots of constellations and the pictures of the animals.
“There was a lion and bears” – Jack
After the Planetarium, we went and had a little play around the science mall. There were a lot of things to do and learn!
There was a moving floor that went round and around
It had a ball on it to pass to one another.
“I was twisting that thing”
Jack and Zara followed the path of atoms!
There was a big mirror to do optical illusions with – as Laura demonstrated!
“Gabriel doesn’t have 3 feet – does he?” – Zara
We could make musical sounds in different ways – by jumping on shapes……
…slapping the ends of giant pipes….
…and even play an invisible laser harp in a sharks mouth!!!
There was a fabulous big construction site to help children explore weight and physics of force and gravity. We had great fun working together and using those big gross motor skills to move the giant crane and bricks.
We loaded up the crane with bricks.
We had to turn wheels to move the crane.
We had to think what way would be best to stack them so they wouldn’t fall off.
We had to be careful where we moved the crane arm to.
We could see the pulleys and levers working.
Another big hit was the water station which had water pumped through various pipes that you could release with a range of different kinds of taps and valves.
There were different taps and valves.
Water moved along a bridge and dripped through different gaps.
There was even an archimedes screw that moves the water up a slope .
You had to push, pull and twist in different ways to let water out.
We explored air movement using scarves.
We put light scarves into a big tube.
The air caught the scarf.
“The scarf went up!”- Abi
You could make them race up the tube.
You had to wait and try to catch them as they fell back down.
There was a big train set that you could stand in the middle of too.
There was a huge magnifying glass that made us look ginormous!!
These fabulous exhibits were in the middle of a great big play ship which had real ship features…
A ships wheel, bell, compass and telegraph switch for morse code…..
..lobster pots and fishing nets to catch some….
..deep sea creatures…they look familiar!
…and you could dress up with life jackets and run away from Laura Shark!!
Zach, Cobi and Carson put on a puppet show.
We were able to increase our understanding of our bodies and how they work after lunch.
We learned which part of our bodies were most sensitive.
We learned what was inside our bodies with a giant game of operation.
We played with a DNA model.
We used our sense of touch to create shapes.
We listened to information about our bodies.
“They were talking about beards” – Christiana
We learned how to coordinate our bodies to move a hamster wheel.
“It went around the way. You had to use your hands and feet.” – Jack
We also explored energy.
Wave energy
Nuclear chain reaction. Ping pong balls on mouse traps.
“Ive seen them on Tom and Jerry” – Gabriel
We used our gross motor and strength to pull a bowling ball up to transfer our energy to force a tennis ball up into the air.
And sound…
Taylor made sound waves by rubbing her wet hands on the handles to make a squeaky sound. It made the water fly everywhere!
But all too soon it was time to head home on the bus, tired but happy.
Learning so much can be tiring!
We had a great time on our outing, learned lots and shared a lot of our knowledge with others. We hope you have heard all about it, or that this has triggered some good learning discussions.
Please share your child’s memories of the trip and any learning they shared with you in our comments. Or if you’d like to let us know anything – any suggestions or things you liked about the trip or this blog please leave a comment!
If you’d like to build on your child’s learning about space and stars then why not check out the CBeebies star gazing information?
Outdoor learning is a big part of our nursery here at Bluebird. In fact it is an integral part of the curriculum for all children. We are lucky to have the bus that ensures we all get out and about Inverclyde every week.
There is a huge amount of learning to be found in even the most simple trip to the park, the woods or even as we did today, the cemetery!
Firstly there is a lot of opportunity for fine motor development and independence skills (both very helpful for getting ready to write and learn at school), just with getting coats and shoes on to go out.
Ollie manages to get on his own coat and fastens it all by himself!
Heather can get her own jacket on.
Riley can put on his jacket all by himself and is nearly able to do the zip as well!
Caelan used both sides of his brain to coordinate both sides of his body to do up his own zip.
Carson made a good attempt at fastening his zip.
Lewis tried hard to do up his zip himself.
Zara can put on on her own jacket by herself!
Gabriel is fully independent in changing his shoes, putting his own coat on and zipping up all by himself!
Layton can take off his shoes and put his own boots on.
Noah put his own jacket on by himself.
The park gives us plenty of chances to move our bodies and learn how the work best, but that isn’t all. We have to use social skills to take turns and work together…
We took turns and took our time to use our hands and feet to cross the rope bridge.
Carson used his muscles and gross motor skills to push his friends on the equipment.
Skye and Ruby had to work collaboratively to make the see saw bounce.
Alan, Carson and Lewis all learned to negotiate a small space while all attempting to share the tube.
Everyone sat on the roundabout and made it move slowly round so that we could all enjoy it together. Moving around and getting a little dizzy helps us learn about motion and sight – physics and biology!
Sharing the mini roundabout requires us to move together!
Climbing up to the top of the frame not only helps our muscles and coordination but gives us a great sense of achievement!
Zeviah had been growing in confidence as she visits the park more often. At first she couldn’t cross the rope bridge, now she can do it by herself!
Heather had to coordinate her body and movement to move around, over and under the climbing frame.
And we also can explore aspects of science when we are out and about! Biology when seeing animals in their natural environment and Physics when playing in the park!
Carson used his imagination to pretend he was trapped in Spiderman’s web swing.
Aimee was a speed queen and loved going faster and faster on the zip line.
Riley was exploring direction and spinning motion on the mini round about – physics!
Kayleigh had to coordinate her body, shifting her weight to make the rocker bounce back and forth – physics and motion!
The web swing allows us experience a different sensation in moving back and forth while reclining. This helps us get used to our body’s core balance and sensory input.
We learned about balance, weight and addition when we joined up to all go on the see saw on one side and Ailie on the other (she’s heavy!!)
Carson learned about balance and weight language when playing on the bigger see saw.
Libby and Macey worked together to make the roundabout spin faster. They worked out that leaning in tight would make it work better. Early physics!
We even use our imaginations and develop stories or scenarios to role play when we are out…
Ollie grew in confidence in using the zip slide by himself, preparing for the bounce at the end where he pretended to be a wrecking ball demolishing a building.
But the focus today at the cemetery was most definitely on developing Language skills!
We explored lots of sound words when scrunching through the leaves as well as sharing our reactions to the sensation of walking on different surfaces – mud, leaves, grass, moss, hills, sticks, gravel, concrete.
We scrunched and climbed through the leaves that were piled up. It was uneven and squishy.
We learned new names for plants that we could see such as the monkey puzzle tree and the ivy as carved on a headstone and growing on the wall.
“Look! I’ve found moss!” – Layton “There’s a monkey tree!” – Noah
We looked for letters and words that we recognised – finding Gabriel’s name on a tomb stone and a stick in the shape of the letter S.
We were able to read environmental print with the stop sign.
Layton and Caelan recognised the stop sign and read what it said!
We used our higher order thinking to remember previous visits, investigate things that had fallen from the trees and apply previous knowledge to the cause of holes we found in the ground (could they be Easter Bunny tunnels?!)
But the learning of the day, in fact the quote of the day was Noah’s incredible reading of a memorial. He used his fabulous reading skills of using picture clues to help him read the words……..
“It says eagles love vegetables”!
(Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but staff may have been shaking with laughter). The memorial featured 2 white doves with olive branches in their beaks.
“It says “Eagles love vegetables”!” – Noah
Who’d have thought there could be so much to learn out and about!
The space learning has continued and developed into thinking and learning about what an astronaut needs to stay healthy in space. This has developed into thinking about what human bodies need. In order to do that we need to understand a little about what the body does and how it works.
We have been learning about food that keeps us healthy and growing.
“Water and milk are good to drink” – Zach.
[Coke a cola]”rots your teeth you know!” – Abi
We know that we need to get exercise and fresh air to be healthy so we have been visiting local parks and exercising on the equipment as part of our space walks.
Using our muscles and strength together to move the see saw.
We need to use our muscles to coordinate and climb.
We used our muscles and pumping heart to push the roundabout.
However we have been exploring this idea in even greater detail.We have been learning about how when we exercise our hearts work hard to pump lots of blood to our muscles.
“My heart is beating fast!” – Caelan after running.
“My heart’s not beating so fast anymore” – Caelan after walking for a while.
“When you run, my heart beats faster cos I’m breathing fast!” – Noah
We found out that we get puffed out when we run about because our lungs are working hard to get enough oxygen.
We explored the idea of the heart beating further with Sharon back at the nursery. She made a heart out of a bottle and used a big long tube to be the veins. She pumped red water through the tubes to show how blood is pumped by the heart, through the veins.
The tubes were really long – but nowhere near as long as all our veins would be (an adult’s blood vessels laid out end to end would wrap around the world nearly 2 1/2 times!!!!)
We watched the ‘blood’ as it flowed through the ‘vein’ tube.
It took a long time for the ‘blood’ to flow through the ‘vein’.
We watched closely to follow the progress of the ‘blood’ through the ‘vein’.
We were really fascinated by the blood moving through the veins.
We took turns to hold and pump the bottle heart to make the blood move.
Leigh squeezed the bottle to pump the blood.
Sharon had to hold the heart bottle up so that the blood liquid flowed down the tube vein.
We had to pump and pump for a long time to get the blood all the way through the vein, but we got there!
We followed the ‘blood’ all the way until it came out of the end of the tube.
“It’s coming out!” – Aaron
Sharon helped us find veins on our arms and we noticed they look purple – not red and we wondered why. Sharon added a purple vein.
The blood looked red when it has come from the lungs, the blood looks darker and more purple when it was heading towards the lungs.
So we found out that blood that has come from our lungs is bright red because it is full of oxygen and is taking it to our muscles. Blood that has little oxygen and is heading back to the lungs is darker red and looks purple through our skin. This is called oxygenation.
We will be learning more about our human body over the next few weeks so keep asking your child to share their learning!
This week we have been very busy learning all about Chinese New Year. We have had the opportunity to explore with noodles both tasting for snack and painting in our messy area. We have changed our house corner into a Chinese restaurant where we have the opportunity to dress up in traditional Chinese clothes and explore using our chop sticks.
Yum!!
Millie said “More chicken curry”
Lilly said “More crackers”
Some children weren’t sure and preferred toast.
“Don’t like the crackers”
For snack we tried Chinese noodles and crackers. They were delicious.
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