Talking Tips
Talk to your children about what they have been doing in Nursery. Some of the words we have been talking about and learning about are:
Spring, bulb, seeds, flower, blossom, daffodil, stem, plant, leaf, tulip, grow, compost, watering can, roots and herbs.
Talk to your child about the signs of Spring which are starting to appear, bulbs and flowers showing, shoots and buds on plants and trees. You may even be lucky and spot some lambs in the fields. You could plant seeds together and watch them grow. Sunflowers are good because they grow quickly and are easy to look after. Once again we are delighted at the progress our learners are making when reciting their rhymes. Here are some others to try at home.
Plant, Plant, Plant Your Seeds.
Tune Row Your Boat.
Plant, plant plant the seeds,
Gently in the ground,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
What will soon be found?
Water, water, water the seeds,
Each and every day,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
What’s coming up play?
Peek, peek, peeking out
Sprout up big and tall
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Flowers are so beautiful
#RightsRespectingSchool 🤗🥇
As part of our assembly this morning, we came together as a whole school to discuss and share our ideas about what rights should be included in our SCHOOL CHARTER and our PLAYGROUND CHARTER. Here is what we came up with:
Induction Day 2 – Teddy Bear fun!
Induction Day 1….First school visit for our new Primary 1 boys and girls
Let’s Grow
We have started a new theme in nursery looking at how things grow. We have started by looking at the different parts of a plant. You can see some photos of what we have been doing below.
As part of our learning, we are also thinking about where our food comes from, what it tastes like and how we use it. This week we explored icing and made special flower biscuits using different coloured icing.
During the Easter holidays, our role play area changed into a magical forest where the children can pretend to be lots of different characters by dressing up in a variety of costumes. They have really enjoyed this and are keen to try lots of different props including hats and shoes.
Woodland Adventure
Sharing our Woodland Experience with Family
This week the children had an opportunity to share what they had learned during their time at the woods. Our special guests had a great time as you can see from the photos.
“My gran went to the woods with me. I liked playing on the hammock and my gran pushed me. I made a wand using a peeler. My gran kept me safe. I had to hold the handle of the peeler to keep me safe”.
“I loved my papa going to the woods with me. I played with him. We played hide and seek. Papa hid in all different places. We made a wand and I cast a spell on my papa and Mrs Mair. I turned them into a horse, a frog and a tree”.
“I liked my mum going to the woods…..I love her. I went on a tree. My mum stayed with me so that I didn’t fall off. My mum played hide and seek with me. We hid behind a tree. I had to count to 100 and my mum counted to 10.
Woodland Adventures
Group 1 – Week 6
This week we shared our woodland experience with mums, dads and grans. Since they didn’t know how to stay safe in the woods, we told them all the different things that they had to do e.g. stay within the boundaries, step over fallen branches/stumps and not to play too near the burn.
We were all very busy making super dens and we even made a house for the animals. Each of us had a turn to use a special tool called a rubber mallet. We had to tap sticks into the ground to create the walls for the animal house. It looked wonderful and the animals loved it!
It was lots of fun playing Tug-of-War………our mums, dads and grans are so strong! When we played hide and seek, they were able to find great hiding places but we were still able to find them!
Developing Literacy
Learning in Nursery and at Home
We have been sharing The Gingerbread Man book during our Three Reads sessions, here are some of us retelling the story using our new props.
We also applied our skills to create our own imaginative stories as we explored other familiar characters such as a wolf, little pig and a goat. Here are some ideas you may wish to try as you read your copy of the book together. There is a copy of the story in our lending library if you wish to borrow it.
- New Vocabulary – grazing, sighed, scampered
- Organise resources to support new vocabulary/retell story etc.
- Book Handling skills (front and back cover, spine, blurb etc.)
- Ask children to predict what the story is about from cover, point to the title, read blurb, count the words in the title (Title is made up of words, words are made up of letters)
- Author & Illustrator – discuss
- Point to words, where start reading? (Sweep finger to illustrate)
Our New Rhymes
After chatting with some of the children in the literacy area and asking what they would like to find out more about, our new rhymes for sharing are number 9 It is Spring Time 9 (Frere Jacques) and number 19 You Are My Sunshine.
It Is Spring Time
It is spring time.
It is spring time.
Winter’s gone
Winter’s gone
Soon it will be summer.
Soon it will be summer.
It won’t be long.
It won’t be long.
You Are My Sunshine
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine,
You make me happy
When skies are grey,
You’ll never know just
How much I love you,
So please don’t take
My sunshine away.
Letter Play
Some Home Link Ideas
Having letters available for your child to play with is a great idea. Children will explore the different letters, perhaps try and match them or make words with them. They will learn lots on their own about the different shapes of the letters. If you are buying letters choose the lowercase ones first. You don’t have to buy them though, you could write letters on cards or stick them onto blocks or cars or anything else you have available.
Children naturally enjoy matching and sorting letters. If your child is interested, you can talk about the different names and sounds of the letters e.g. that is the letter M it makes the sound mmmm. Children will learn much better through natural play and talk. This month we have been busy making play dough letter shapes and lacing letters.
Literacy Work in Nursery
We have continued to grow in confidence when reciting and performing rhymes here are some of us reciting Incy Wincey Spider, Pat –A-Cake, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, How Much Is That Doggie in the Window, Bah, Bah Black Sheep, Horsey Horsey and Two Little Dickie Birds. Thank you for encouraging your child to select a toy or prop from home. As you can see rhymes are recited indoors and outdoors, the tunnel is Incy’s spout, and the cakes are mud pies. We loved listening to all of you, well done.
Mother’s Day Rhyme
We spent time this week creating a Mother’s Day Rhyme to share with you. Below you can see us using craft activities and group discussion to share ideas about the rhyme.
Happy Mother’s Day Rhyme
To the tune of Frere Jaques.
Created for special mums everywhere by the staff and children of New Monkland Nursery.
Mum you’re special
Mum you’re special
I love you
I love you
Come and have a cuddle
Come and have a kiss
Just like this
Just like this
