Category: Latest News

Since we got our own stage in one of the playrooms, we have been super busy performing, singing and dancing for others to watch. So today, we decided to go on a little adventure and visit a place with a real stage! We are so lucky to have Paisley Art Centre in our local community where we can experience a real stage and performances.

Emma, the technician, very kindly told us all about different lighting used for shows and performances – we even got a chance to change them all by ourselves! We have learned that there are some blue lights, green lights and even red lights, too! It all depends on the kind of show that is on.

B: “There was a blue light for when you’re under the water!”
P: “The green light was for the forest.”
M: “Was the red light for a house?”
R: “Look, I’ve made your face look blue!”

We were super excited to have a go on a real stage. We decided to get together and sing “Row your boat”. WOW, what an experience that was! We hope for a bigger audience next time ;).

We have also noticed that there were lots and lots of seats…

R: “That’s for where the people sit.”
P: “For them to watch the show.”

We noticed the pattern of the sitting – the chairs went up the way so everyone could see the stage.

We had lots of fun exploring Paisley Art Centre and having such a great opportunity to perform on a real stage! Emma even let us have a peek in the dressing room. There were lots of mirrors and lights because that’s where the actors get ready! But shh.. Don’t tell anybody, it’s our secret ;).

L: “I’ve been on that stage, you know. At Christmas when it was Pantomime time.”
R: “I was on a real stage!”
R: “I’ve been to a show before. People on the stage were all dressed up.”

We would like to say a very big thank you to the Paisley Art Centre team and to Emma to letting us explore the stage and teaching us all about lights. Thank you!

PS. We are sorry that the pictures are a little blurry but we just had too much fun and couldn’t stay still for long 😉

Today we decided to get messy and explore shaving foam! We discussed its texture, smell and colour. We had a lot of great discussions going around…

P: “It smells like my daddy.”
L: “It’s so soft like a cloud!”
A: “It’s turning watery when you play with it.”
A: “It’s white!”

WOW – lots of great descriptive words! We decided to make our messy play even better and added our Orbeez (water beads) into the shaving foam! We put the Orbeez in the water a few days ago and they grew huge! Just in time for us to hide them in the shaving foam!

P: “They’re so slippery, it’s hard to pick them up!”
G: “I’m going to pick them off of the floor!”
R: “Look, I’ve squished one!”
B: “Are they hiding in the shaving foam?”

During our sensory play, we used our senses: touch, sight, smell… some of the children were brave enough to use their taste sense, too! We did discuss the fact that shaving foam is not safe for our tummies and we definitely shouldn’t be eating it! We were just being adventurous 😉

 

The boys and girls have been getting their groove on and performing fantastic shows! We have got a new exciting area for ours shows… a new stage! We have been exploring our instruments and different sounds they make. We have been using our amazing imagination to sing songs, act out stories and perform. We have been loving our own wee orchestra and all of the music the boys and girls have been making. There has even been talk about establishing a band… Keep your eyes (and ears!) peeled!

E: “I want to be the lead singer.”
L: “I am rock n’ rolling!”
L: “WOW I love the stage!”
A: “Look at me playing the piano”
A: “Do you want to see our show?”

Fantastic! We have been learning about the different sounds instruments make, different roles in a band and great sharing and turn taking skills when having a go on our stage. We love it!

A very big thank you to Ruby’s mum who helped us run the library today! We really appreciate your help and can’t wait to have you back next week!

If you would like to help us with the weekly library, please speak to Ania or Vicky for all of the information.

See you soon!

Last week, we had lots of conversations about Valentine’s Day and what it means to love somebody…

L: “It’s when you get married, it means you love the other person.”
P: “I love my friend, so I’m going to hug her.”
K: “It’s when you give kisses.”
A: “I love you!”

Some of the boys and girls have shared that love means giving each other love hearts. We talked about the shape, colour and different sizes of heart. We wanted to make our own love hearts for our mummies and daddies to show them how much we loved them! We decided to make them a little bit differently… So we used paint and a salad spinner!

E: “Do you need to spin it very fast?”
A: “Faster, faster!”
L: “I think the colours will mix together.”
L: “I wonder what will happen if we add glitter to the paint.”

The children have been taking lots of interest in chopping the real vegetables and bread. They are learning to chop and slice. This aids the development of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

They are using some of the knives which are specially designed for children to use in food preparation.

Look at us – we are all very busy in these photographs!

The children have all been very busy using their imagination and learning how to use the new equipment and resources. We have purchased new resources for the children to experience and use in their play. Here is Leah talking us through the steps to making a cup of tea;

“First you need a kettle, it has hot water in it so be careful. Then you need a tea pot and you put the tea bag in the tea pot. Do you want milk or sugar? – cause i like that in my tea mummy makes. Then you pour it into a cup like this, remember it’s hot.”

If anyone has an old kettle they would be happy to donate to us, this would be another good resource for the children to use in their play.

 

 

Dear parents, carers and families!

We need you!

We are looking for helpers to run our weekly library! All we would ask of you would be your lovely presence and supervision of home link bags.

If you would be able to help, please let Vicky or Ania know the suitable slots:

Wednesday morning:

8.40-9.10 and/or 11.35-11.55

Wednesday afternoon:

12.30-12.50 and/or 2.45-3.05

 

As you might have seen on our display in the cloakroom, we have been busy exploring portraits. We have been talking about the features of our faces noticing that we all look different!

P: “A has got brown eyes and I’ve got blue eyes.”
L: “A has got longer hair than mine. C has shorter hair, but that’s because he’s a boy.”
L: “My top is a different colour!”

Some of the boys and girls had a great idea – why don’t we take some photos of our faces and make them into puppets?! So we did! With the use of a camera, we carefully took portrait photos and printed them off to make them into puppets. Before we knew it, the boys and girls were making puppets using lots of different materials – photographs, lolly sticks, paper, material, wool, googly eyes, feathers… The ideas had no end!

While hard at work, one of the children said:

“Can we make the Three Little Pigs puppets?” – now, that is a brilliant idea! So we did! We worked very hard and showed super teamwork in exchanging ideas and sharing materials. One thing led to another and… We now have our own puppet theatre! We had already performed lots of different shows, we even wrote our own story to act out! We still have lots more ideas to come, so you are more than welcome to join us!

C: “I’ll be a pig!”
A: “Big Bag Wolf!”
A: “Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!”
P: “This is a show about a princess who lived in a castle.”
J: “But you need to buy a ticket!”
A: “That’s the end. Come back tomorrow for another show!”

You might have noticed a few new faces in our Early Learning and Childcare class…

We would like to say a very warm welcome to our three new members of staff:

– Clare McGarry, our new Support Worker                 – Stacey Gaughan, our new Support Worker and     – Laura Carmichael, our modern apprentice.
Welcome!

We are also very happy to announce that Vicky Armour, our Early Learning and Childcare Officer who worked at the beginning of the week, will now be with us full time! 

How exciting to have lots of new members of staff! We are so happy to have you in our team!