March 12, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Week Beginning: 16th March 2026
Our story of the week is Click Clack Crocodile’s Back by Kathryn White.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is The Sneaky Crocodile. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
March 10, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Our pre-school children recently enjoyed their second STEM session with Eleanor Hutcheon from UHI Shetland. This time, the workshop focused on two important topics: recycling and renewable energy.
Using a colourful play mat designed as a miniature town, the children explored how communities can look after the environment. Through hands-on play, they sorted pictures of everyday items into the correct recycling bins, thinking about what materials they were made from. This fun activity helped the children to understand where rubbish should go and why recycling is important for protecting our planet.
‘Food goes in the compost bin.’
‘I have recycling bins at home.’
‘The scarf goes in the clothes bin.’
The children also learned about renewable energy. Eleanor showed us how solar panels capture energy from the sun and how wind turbines use the power of the wind to generate electricity. After discussing where these might work best, the children added solar panels and wind turbines to different parts of the miniature town.
‘Solar panels go on the roof.’
‘I don’t have any on my roof.’
‘The fan made a lot of wind.’
‘The windmills go on the hill.’
We also talked about how people sometimes have different opinions about wind turbines. While they create clean energy, some people feel they can affect the landscape and change the look of Shetland’s beautiful scenery. This helped the children begin to understand that communities often have to think carefully about how they use their environment.
Through play, discussion and exploration, the children were able to learn that small actions such as recycling and using renewable energy can make a positive difference to the world around them.
It was a fun and engaging session that introduced important STEM concepts in a way that the children could understand. We would like to say a big thank you to Eleanor for another fantastic workshop. 🌍 ♻️ ⚡
March 9, 2026
by Mrs Sawkins
0 comments
Children have been having lots of adventures outdoors! One group of children went for a walk to Gilbertson Park where they ran around jumping in puddles, the grown ups joined in too!
Another group of children went to Hayfield Park where they did a great job climbing up the ladders to get up onto the climbing frame, climbing independently onto the swings, balancing and helping their friends.
“You’re getting all muddy”. “It’s so muddy”.
“See me”. “I’m so good at this”. “I like climbing on this, I never done it before”.
Children regularly have the opportunity to used wheeled vehicles outdoor including trikes, balance bikes and pedal bikes.
“I can do it”!
Children have used their patience and balance skills whilst working individually and in groups to build different structures using the bricks.
“It’s a castle”.
We have had a variety of resources available in the message centre recently such as coins to cut and stick, blank purses and piggy banks so children can fill these with the coins, number formation strips and coin and bank note visuals. Children have spent time exploring the new resources and using their fine motor skills to cut and stick the coins.
Coins were also added to the playdough table where children were supported to roll the playdough flat and demonstrated how to press the coins in to make a print.
“This is a 2p”. “What’s this one”? “Is this 5p”? “This one is bigger”. “This one is smallest”.
Children helped an adult to draw a road map so the children could drive their cars on it. The children were keen to decide what needed to be on the map and add their own ideas.
“My do it”. “It’s a pond”. “I do grass”.
Children were busy using a variety of resources in the sand tray and playing in groups with their peers. They used containers to fill and empty from one container to another whilst counting.
“”How many scoops will fill the bucket”? “Five”. “I think it will be more”.
There has been a variety of mark making activities for children to explore both outdoors and in the indoor/outdoor room, including an adult initiated activity where children could use cars with pens attached to the front to mark make.
“We are drawing”. “A dinosaur with big teeth”. “I can make a circle”. “I’m drawing people”. “Choo choo”.
Throughout the week the loose parts have been used in many different scenes including Up Helly Aa, boats travelling to different places and obstacle courses.
“We’re making a galley”. “Yeah a galley boat”. “Look there’s wood. That’ll help burn the galley”.
March 6, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Week Beginning: 9th March 2026
Our story of the week is Noah’s Ark by Lucy Cousins.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is The Animals Went in Two by Two. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
February 28, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
The children had the opportunity to develop their numeracy and maths skills using the UHI Early Years Maths Tales Pack, based on the story Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek, which we recently enjoyed reading together at story time.
The STEM resources enabled the children to explore measuring and sorting activities while working collaboratively as a group. Toy animals representing the characters from the book were used for estimating, comparing and ordering by length, height and weight.
‘I think the whale is longer.’
‘Let’s check to see.’
‘I guessed right.’
‘The parrot is the tallest one.’
The children particularly enjoyed using a two-pan balance alongside non-standard units (multilink cubes) to investigate and compare the weight of each toy animal.
‘It’s like a seesaw.’
‘The whale is heavy.’
‘Can you help me count?’
They also used magnifying glasses to closely observe each animal’s features and were excited to be blindfolded while guessing the animal using only their sense of touch.
‘I can see bumps on the whale.’
‘Is it the parrot?’
‘It feels like the puffin.’
The final activity involved using sorting rings to group the animals according to specific characteristics such as wings, webbed feet, beaks and tails.
‘The whale can’t fly.’
‘The puffin has a beak so it goes inside the circle.’
‘Let’s do tails now.’
The Maths Tales Pack is a fantastic resource that supports children in developing and applying a wide range of maths skills through engaging, hands-on learning experiences.
February 28, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Week Beginning: 2nd March 2026
Our story of the week is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story being read by the author.
Our song of the week is The Bear Went Over the Mountain. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
February 27, 2026
by Mrs Sawkins
0 comments
Coin Recognition
The children have been learning all about the different values, colours, shapes and sizes of coins. They have been doing various activities to help develop their knowledge of coins.
Staff introduced children to a coin recognition/sorting game on the interactive whiteboard. The children showed great interest in the game. There were discussions about the colours and shapes of each coin and what we need and use money for.
“Tiny ones is a circle”. “That one is number 1 not 2”. “10 is bigger than 1”! “To buy some stuff”. “My Mammy and Daddy have money”.
The children have been using the coins and crayons to make rubbings of the coins. The children have been developing their fine motor skills. They then moved over to the craft table and discovered they could make rubbing patterns of other items.
Some children were cutting and sticking paper coins and putting them into purses, identifying which value each coin had.
“This one’s 20, no 50”.
Play Dough
The children were keen to help make playdough. They got their aprons on, requesting help when needed using their kind manners. We read out the recipe, the children recognised the numbers and quantities of each ingredient. They took turns to put each ingredient in the bowl whilst staff encouraged independence.
Winter Mind Map
The children drew some pictures on a season mind map. They shared their knowledge of winter and what they liked about winter. A lot of their knowledge was about the weather. We also spoke about other seasons and what they knew and liked about those seasons.
“Rain, winter”. “My hat” (When going outside). “My window, looking outside at the snow. It warm in the window”.
February 20, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Week Beginning: 23rd February 2026
Our story of the week is The Wobblysaurus by Rachel Bright.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is Once There Was a Dinosaur (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).
Once there was a dinosaur,
And all he did was roar and roar.
He roared high and he roared low,
He roared fast and he roared slow.
Once there was a dinosaur,
And all he did was roar and roar.
February 13, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
Week Beginning: 16th February 2026
Our story of the week is Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek.
.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story being read by the author.
Our song of the week is Ten Puffins.
One puffin, two puffins, three puffins swimming
Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins swimming
Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins swimming
Ten puffins swimming in the sea
One puffin, two puffins, three puffins flying
Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins flying
Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins flying
Ten puffins flying in the sky
February 6, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
0 comments
We were delighted to welcome Eleanor Hutcheon, UHI STEM Outreach Co-ordinator, to the nursery recently. She delivered a series of engaging workshops for the pre-school children in the GP Room. The children developed important skills such as walking in a line with a partner and taking turns to hold doors open while walking through the school on the way to the GP Room.
‘I like going to the school.’
‘My turn to hold the door.’
‘I saw my sister.’
During the workshops, Eleanor introduced the children to Botley, a programmable toy robot. She explained that the children’s challenge was to help Botley move along a route by entering instructions using the arrow keys on a remote control. The children enjoyed working together while taking turns as they explored early computer coding skills.
‘Press the green arrow.’
‘Forwards two, then turn.’
‘Can I press the buttons now?’
‘Playing with Botley is fun.’
The children were eager to create their own routes for Botley to follow, which became more complex as their confidence grew. They also had fun programming Botley to perform different dance moves and sounds while representing certain objects.
‘I want Botley to be a police car.’
‘Let’s make him move like a dinosaur.’
‘A scary ghost.’
It was great to see the children so engaged while developing a range of skills such as positional language, spatial awareness and problem-solving while having fun.
