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!
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!
A huge thank you to our parents for coming along to St. Joseph’s Primary School and sharing the learning with your child as they get ready for school. It was a great success and lovely to see our children learning all about numbers together with their family within the school environment.
Jack and his mum counting out the correct number of pegs together.
Noah counting out the pegs with his Mum and Dad
Libby sharing her learning with her Mum and Dad
Lucy and her mum counting out the pegs
Abi was able to count out 9 pegs and place them on the centipede.
Learning all about numbers. We were all able to count and explore numbers together.
Zara looking at number 10 and counting out 10 pegs.
Lucy was able to spin the wheel and tell us she got number 6!
Spin the wheel to see what number we get.
These sessions are for all of our children who are going to school to come along with their family and share the learning within St. Joseph’s Primary School.
Noah and his Dad counting out 4 objects together to match the number
Lucy and her Mum having a look to see what number they have.
“What number could this be?”
A drink and a biscuit after all that hard work!
We are all leaning togther in the school environment
“Whats the time Mr Wolf?”
“Dinner Time”
Using the clock to play “Whats the time Mr Wolf”.
Jack was able to put 4 objects in the number 4 bag.
Emily and her Gran counting together
The focus we had for the first three sessions was numeracy and maths and we had lots of fun learning all about number recognition, counting and exploring different shapes together.
Abi rolling the dice to see how many jumps she should do
Carol and Jack exploring shapes together
Mrs Connick from St. Josephs helping us to learn our shapes
Learning our shapes together
Exploring shapes through a fun creative activity
Reilly and his Mum learning all about different shapes. Reilly drew a picture of a train and was able to name the shapes of the wheels, the funnel and the door.
Zara using her scissors to cut out her shapes
Zara was able to draw us some of the shapes she knows.
Miss Taylor from St.Josephs helping us explore our shapes
As your child is getting ready for school, we are aware that there may be feelings of uncertainty and worry about how your child will cope with this big change. As you enrol your child for primary school you may have heard the phrase ‘transition to school’ and wonder what this means for your child.
Transitions are a time or process of change and already your child will have experienced many transitions in their life, the most significant transition being from home to nursery.
In order for your child to have settled well at nursery and be at a stage where they are happy and content to leave you, this transition would have had to have been tailored to suit your child’s individual needs. Carefully planned transitions and close working relationships with the parent and keyworker would have ensured a positive transition for your child at this time.
Developing Skills for a Positive Transition
It has been recognised that the skills the children will learn by having opportunities to visit a primary school environment are valuable. Every school environment has similarities such as the school bell, canteen, playground the layout of the classroom with desk and chairs, whiteboard and most importantly a teacher.
By having regular visits to a school environment, this will enable all children to become familiar with the routine of a school day. The children will become more confident and gain skills at these visits which they will transfer when they begin primary school in August.
We are fortunate enough to have St. Joseph’s Primary School on our doorstep and we have a positive working relationship with our colleagues at this school. In using this opportunity we have planned a transition programme where all pre school children will visit this school to develop skills that will support them in Primary 1.
Our Transition Plans
In August 2015 we began sessions for pre-school children and Primary 1 to learn together. This was done through Vygotsky Story Grammar sessions telling the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. This was hugely successful and the pre-school children developed many skills learning alongside positive role models from St. Joseph’s Primary School.
We will continue with the pre-school and Primary 1 children learning together Vygotsky Story Grammar sessions by moving onto ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’.
Visit to the Primary 1 Classroom
Each Wednesday groups of pre-school children will have the opportunity to visit the Primary 1 classroom. The focus for these visits will be Health & Wellbeing and how we manage our emotions when faced with change. The children will become familiar with the character emotions from the movie ‘Inside Out’ and through exploring these emotions we hope that the children will become equipped with the skills to ensure a positive transition.
The children will also have the opportunity to explore ‘playtime’ in the playground. This will encourage independence skills by putting on own jackets, collecting own play piece, responding to the school bell and most importantly developing our social skills with our friends.
Parental Involvement
Not only is it important for the children to feel safe, secure and confident in their new environment we also want parents, carers and family members to feel the same. We have worked alongside St. Joseph’s Primary School to organise learning sessions for pre-school children and their families. The focus for these learning sessions will be Numeracy & Maths and Literacy & English. We hope you can come along to be involved in these learning sessions with your child. These sessions will be hosted in St. Joseph’s Primary school at 1.30pm
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!
Thank you again to all the parents and carers who supported our Starcatcher’s Creativity Event. We continued to explore our topic of Space through stories, dance, drama and using our imagination. It was great to see the parents and carers getting involved in their child’s learning.
These opportunities to become involved in your child’s learning are always well supported but special thanks this time to the Dad’s that got involved!
2016 is the Year of the Dad – this is a celebration of the difference a great dad or father figure can make to a child’s wellbeing, confidence and educational attainment.
Families are diverse and are not all the same. Some dads don’t live in the house and some dads work really long hours! Remember its not about the amount of time spent with your child but making the times special. Quality over Quantity!
Zach and his Dad Craig enjoying their space snack.Jack and his Dad Gary in their spaceship with their space lunch and their telescope flying off to Saturn.Gabriel and his family having a picnic on the moon.The brave astronauts return back to earth from space. What a great adventure!!
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