Author: Ania Brown

In celebration of the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, we are having our own Royal Wedding Garden Party – and you are all invited!

It’s going to take place on Friday the 18th of May. We are going to have lots of party games, party food and dancing. You can even dress up if you wish! We can’t wait to have so much fun!

School transition for boys and girls as well as parents is well under way! The children who are going to Williamsburgh Primary School have been visiting the school’s library, lunch hall, gym hall and P1 classes. We have been very excited to go over to the ‘Big school’ and see what’s waiting for us in August! Some boys and girls were invited to the P1’s P.E. lesson – oh what a great experience it was to join in in the circle games and run around with our new friends! The boys and girls who are going to different schools have a chance to visit their new teachers with their parents too!

G: “I can’t wait to go to school!”
C: “This library is so big, there are so many books!”
M: “We need to be quiet because there are children learning!”
S: “I’d like to learn about letters and space.”

The ‘PlayTalkRead’ bus is a great way to listen to stories, sing songs and rhymes and get involved in messy play with your children! ‘PlayTalkRead’ has lots of easy, fun ways to make your wee ones happy and learn more with you by their side.

These are the upcoming dates for the bus visits in Renfrewshire:

Monday 7th May
Bishopton Community Centre, Gledstane Road, Bishopton, Renfrewshire, PA7 5AU (1pm – 4:30pm)

Tuesday 8th May
Kirklandneuk Community Centre, 34 Ness Road, Renfrew, Renfrewshire, PA4 9DE (9:30am – 1pm & 2pm – 4:30pm)

Wednesday 9th May
Foxbar Library, Ivanhoe Road, Paisley, PA2 0JZ (9:30am – 1pm & 2pm – 4:30pm)

Thursday 10th May
Johnstone Town Hall, 25 Church Street, Johnstone, Renfrewshire, PA5 8EG (9:30am – 1pm & 2pm – 4:30pm)

Friday 11th May
Lagoon Leisure Centre, 11 Christie Street, Paisley, Renfrewshire, PA1 1NB (9:30am – 1pm)

 

Please click on the picture below to find more information about ‘PlayTalkRead’:

 

 

 

 

Nutrition in the early years of life has a major influence on the growth and development of an individual child and also of that person’s adult health. We, as our children’s role models, need to remember to show a good example of healthy eating habits and regular exercise.

There is a new model of the “EatWell plate”, which enlarges the intake of two food groups: vegetables and fruit & starchy carbohydrates and reduces fatty oils and spreads. It is important that we keep up to date with current guidance of healthy eating and suggested daily portions for our children to ensure their healthy development.

Please click on the links below to learn more about the “Eatwell plate” and healthy eating/portion control:

EatWell plate: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/528193/Eatwell_guide_colour.pdf

Nutrition for toddlers:
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/toddlers.html

Healthy Start is a programme, where parents and families on certain benefits, can receive free vouchers every week to spend on milk, fruit and vegetables and vitamins, including very important Vitamin D drops. If you would like more information, please click on the picture below:

We all know how vital daily exercise is for our children to ensure healthy development. 
Active Communities is a registered charity, whose aim is to create happy and healthy communities through activities and exercises. The age groups range from babies to seniors. Active Communities organise a variety of work shops and “get togethers” for children and families to encourage healthy lifestyle through having fun and playing games. Please click on the picture below to read more about the work of this charity and check the work shops in your area:

You can also find leaflets about healthy choices and Active Communities in our cloakroom.

The boys and girls have been very busy baking sponges, banana breads and soda breads! The children went out to the shops to buy the ingredients which included milk, sugar, flower and eggs. We then got baking! Lesley, our Early Years Teacher, very kindly brought in special measuring scales, which we used to measure the weight of our ingredients. The boys and girls were working very hard to estimate how much of each ingredient we need to put on each side of the scale to balance it. The staff have observed a lot of fabulous mathematical and positional language, which children were using while working together. After the batter was ready, we popped it into the oven and… we then had the bread for our snack! Yummy!

J: “It’s moving!”
L: “The butter is so slippery, it’s very tricky to mix it.”
O: “It goes in the oven now. Children don’t do that, they might burn their hands.”
L: “We knew it was enough because the scale moved.”
G: “The eggs are heavier!”
L: “It’s balancing!”

We also welcomed Koby’s gran, who came to the nursery to talk about chickens. Koby’s gran used to work with over 100 chickens – WOW, that’s a big number! She very kindly told us very interesting facts about eggs, chicks and grown chickens! The boys and girls listened to Koby’s gran very carefully and were excited to ask more questions about our chicks. We found out that now our chicks are growing and we need to let them out to stretch – so we built a big pen with our building blocks to give them their ‘exercise area’!

We would like to thank Koby’s gran for making the time to come and speak to the boys and girls and teaching them all about taking care of the little animals!

What an exciting day we had at nursery yesterday! We had a very special visitor – Animal Man’s Mini Zoo! ‘Crazy Tommy’, as he introduced himself, came over to our nursery and brought lots of different animals. The boys and girls were very excited to meet different animals like snakes, bunny rabbits, geckos, a duck, bearded dragon and a tarantula! Crazy Tommy was superb with the children, explaining the golden rules of meeting the animals and making time for each child to have a cuddle with his furry friends!  Tommy reminded boys and girls how important it is to be nice and gentle with the animals as they are living things and might be scared or shy. He also reminded everybody how vital it is to wash our hands after touching the animals to clean off any germs.

We would like to thank Animal Man’s Mini Zoo for coming out to our nursery and making his visit such a fantastic and unforgetable experience!

If you would like more information about the Animal Man’s Mini Zoo, please click on the picutre below:

We have started introducing our tinkering table to the boys and girls. At the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions, Annemarie explained to the children what the tinkering table is used for and we discussed the safety rules when playing in this area.

M: “We need to wear the yellow jackets and only two children at the time!”
J: “Safety goggles are for protecting our eyes.”
L: “You need to put the tools in its place!”

Our tinkering table is full of real tools and real equipment! We are learning how to safely use hammers, pliers, screwdrivers and spanners. The boys and girls have been very excited to take apart old telephones, scanners and clocks.

The children have been working very well together, taking turns and remembering how to safely play at the tinkering table. The staff have observed a lot of problem solving, team working and imagination – how fantastic!

We would like to thank all of the parents and families who have kindly donated old equipment for the children to take apart and explore. If you have any spare accessories/appliances that you could bring in to the nursery, it would be really appreciated.

L: “I just need to screw this in.”
E: “I’m building a clock.”
F: “You use a hammer to hammer things.”
E: “I have safety goggles so I don’t get hurt!”
E: “I’m trying to get the nail out using the screwdriver.”
R: “I like taking things apart.”

 

It looks like the spring is on its way! It is very important that your child is wearing a hat and sun screen, especially since we play and learn outside for a good portion of our day. Please click on the picture below to read our Sun Protection Policy.