Monthly Archives: September 2015

Afternoon

Action for Children Read and Play sessions (afternoon children)

It is soon to be the turn of the afternoon children for a read and play session. You will see with your child’s library book on Friday 11th that you got a card to fill out with regards to how much you look at books with your children and if you do any follow up activities relating to the books. Please fill these out and return to nursery as these are to do with the Read and Play pilot project being carried out in partnership with Action for Children.

On Tuesday 22nd September Lydia Simpson will be coming to nursery to read a story and do some fun craft activities directly relating to the story with the afternoon children. These have been really enjoyed by the children in the past. We are then inviting the afternoon parents to come along to take part in a session with their children to show how much fun and how easy it is to do activities relating to story books with items you can find around your home which really help the children to gain more learning and understanding from the story without realising they are doing so! This will be on Tuesday 29th September  1pm – 2pm, and 2pm – 3pm. Please let staff know which of these sessions you would prefer to attend.

Nursery News

14/9 – 18/9

This week and next in nursery we are celebrating Fairies! On Friday 18th it is the “International Fairy Tea Party” where countries all over the world have a fairy tea party and celebrate everything to do with fairies, so we thought it would be nice to join in! We have been planning with the children to find out what they would like to make and do over the next two weeks and what they know about fairies. Their ideas have been really inspring and our continuous provision reflects this. Ask your child to show you around the nursery next time you are in! We have fairy doors where we hope a fairy will pop through to visit, sparkles and glitter, flowers and nature, potions and wands . . . .. what more could we ask for!! it is going to be a magical 2 weeks!

This week we are making Fairy wands, creating a story about fairies in small groups and we have our tea party on Friday.

 

Morning

Read and Play parent and child activity with Action for Children

On the morning of  Friday 4th September we were offered the chance for a parent and child “Play and Read” session with Lydia Simpson from Action for Children. The sessions were well received by the parents that attended and really positive feedback was given which was great. Lydia demonstrated story telling followed by a simple but engaging craft activity based on an aspect of the story and how easy it is to do this. More ideas can be found in the “Play@Home” book that was distributed to parents last year. The children listened to the story “Ten Little Pirates” from the pirate Bookbug bag and made paper plate pirates and jellyfish.

 

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Nursery News

7/9 – 11/9

This week we are continuing the learning context “All about Me!”. We are looking at emotions, what these look like and what makes us feel this way. We are looking forward to the children’s interpretations and descriptions of feelings.

We are also continuing measuring the children’s heights. There is a height chart at the front door of the nursery which is going to be developed over the course of this week to show the heights of different animals to see which we are as tall as. Come and measure yourself and see which animal you are as tall as . . .

Please continue to complete the WOW cards as the children and staff are really enjoying sharing this news with the other children.

Please return any outstanding placemats so we can laminate them and  the children can start to use them at snacktime. The ones we have received so far are fantastic and we have enjoyed discussing the pictures and information on them with the children.

Nursery News

Week 31/8 – 4/9

This week in nursery we are continuing “All about Me” as our learning context. The children are painting  large self portraits and over this week and next we will be taking heights to compare with their heights at the end of the year to see just how much they grow over the session! On Friday morning there is a parent/ carer Read and Play session (at 9.30am and 10.30am) with Lydia Simpson from Action for Children who we are working with on some Literacy Projects which was thoroughly enjoyable and well received last year. (The afternoon children will get the same opportunity later in the term).

Please continue to complete Wow cards/ notes for the board as we are really enjoying hearing what the children are getting up to outside of nursery, and the children have enjoyed so far sharing their exciting news at gather times.

Any outstanding personalised snack placemats can still be returned to be laminated. The placemats we have received so far are fantastic and we thank parents for putting so much time and effort into making these with their children – we have certainly enjoyed looking at them and discussing them with the children!

Morning

Read and Play session on Friday 28th August

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Here are the morning children enjoying a Read and Play session with Lydia Simpson. They listened to the story “None the Number” by Oliver Jeffers which is a counting story and a discussion about whether or not “none” is actually a number. They had a treasure hunt to find numbers and their corresponding pictures and then they made hats – which is a direct link to one of the parts of the story – using a variety of craft materials which was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children taking part.

A parent/ carer and child session is taking place on Friday 4th September at 9.30am and 10.30 am – please let staff know which session you would like to be a part of.

Morning

Action for children

Here is a letter from Lydia Simpson from Action for Children who has been working on Literacy projects with early years children and has asked Millbank Nursery to be involved.

 

Dear Parent

As you may remember from last year, my project, based at Millbank Nursery, involved some reading and play activities. Parents, or another family member, were invited to attend the second session and encouraged to join in with the activities with their child.

We are doing these sessions again this year. Your child took part in a read and play activity last Friday at Nursery. The book we read was called “None the Number” by Oliver Jeffers. On Friday this week, the 4th September, family members will again be encouraged to come and take part in a read and play session. Just one family member should come along as we will be restricted on space. Please let the Nursery staff know if you are able to attend the 9.30am session or the 10.30am session.

As part of the project we are asking parents to fill in the feedback cards enclosed about a book you use at home, this could be the child’s Library Book or another book they like. Please just use one book to fill in the card. If you don’t look at any books this week just complete the card anyway. All the information collected will help us understand how we can make reading and playing more fun for families.

 

Thanks for your help with this project.

Lydia Simpson

Co-ordinator Family Support in Moray PSP

Action for Children

Winchester House

1 King Street

Elgin

This letter is going out to parents today – Tuesday 1st September. Please let staff know if you can attend our session with your child on Friday 4th at either 9.30am or 10.30 am.  It was a very well received and enjoyable experience last session.