There were some spooky goings on in Nursery on Friday 30th October and things were slightly out of the ordinary . . . . .

The costumes were fantastic and good fun was had by all playing with and investigating all the Halloween themed activities in the hall, carving a couple of pumpkins, dooking for apples and eating Halloween snack.

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.

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.

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 4^th 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.

The morning children enjoying being outside in our new garden.

More photos of the morning children enjoying themselves in the new nursery layout at Lady Cathcart. Some  of the children’s activities this week are to find out what they think of this nursery and if there is anything they would like to do, or if there are any toys that they would like to see out. It is very important to us that the children feel happy and settled in their new environment!

The morning children enjoying themselves at Lady Cathcart, finding all their old favourites . . . . .and some new activities! All in all, a successful move. The children are getting used to the building and some new routines.

As part of our “Healthy Me!” And Grow Well Choices Learning Context, the children made soup for snack. They prepared the vegetables and then enjoyed a delicious bowl of vegetable soup!

On Friday 20th March we were able to witness a special event – the Solar eclipse. The children had great fun watching it get darker and feeling the temperature drop, watching live eclipse action on the computer screen and because we were not able to directly view the sun due to cloud coverage, we were able to play outside during the eclipse aswell. A unique  and exciting experience for our children.