Bells Brae Nursery

It’s great to see our ‘Borrowing Library’ being so well used. Please feel free to borrow a book or if you have any books which you no longer use that you would be happy to donate to our Borrowing Library for others to enjoy, please pass these onto a member of staff.

We were delighted to welcome Eleanor Hutcheon the Shetland UHI STEM Outreach Co-ordinator to the nursery recently.

Eleanor’s focus was Early Engineering and we spoke about what an Engineer would do and things they might design.  Eleanor built some small towers and challenged the children to see if they were secure, would they fall down if the children tried knocking them down?

It was then the children’s turn to build something and see if they could make it strong and secure then test it by trying to knock it over.

The children really enjoyed the sessions and were keen to try building new creations with different blocks later in the week.

We had to measure our constructions to see how long they were.

We have been learning about how to care for our plants and what they need to help them to grow. In the polycrub we have been planting lettuce seeds and tomato plants and then watering them. We’ll continue to care for these and watch them grow.

“Visiting the polytunnel to plant tomato plants”.

Indoors we have planted sunflower seeds, French Marigold seeds and cress seeds. The children decorated their pot with lots of colourful designs and added their cress seeds.

“The seeds need water to grow”.

The children have had the opportunity to plant their own French Marigold seeds in individual plant pots.

“The seeds need sun”     “They need water”

The children have been busy in the mud kitchen, often transporting with the wheelbarrow.

The children harvested some of the herbs we have been growing to play with in the mud kitchen. They’ve been discovering the different smells from each herb.

“They smell like perfume”. “It smells like cauliflower”.

During snack we have been focusing on encouraging the children to be independent and spread margarine on their own bagels and toast.

This term the children have been developing their scissor skills including correct scissor hold and developing their scissor action. The children have been learning how to cut straight and curvy lines and some children have challenged themselves by cutting out more tricky shapes.

Our role play area was changed to introduce a hairdressers. The children have had great fun being the hairdresser, customers and the receptionist. This has provided opportunities for lots of dialogue and linking their role play to their real experiences.

“How are you doing today”?        “This is my assistant”     “This is my boss”.

“Would you like tea or coffee”?      “Do you want to watch tv”?

Our story of the week was:

The Three Billy Goats Gruff Ladybird Story

The children have taken their knowledge of the story outdoors and used loose parts to recreate the bridge. They worked together as a team to set up the bridge and used their problem solving skills to ensure it was stable enough to walk over.

The children walked across the bridge like ‘The Billy Goats Gruff’.

Our rhyme/song of the week was:

The Goats Came Marching

The children have had a great time outdoors so far this term. With plenty cold and wet weather days at the start of term we have been very appreciative of the additional warm and waterproof outdoors suits purchased recently. We continue to encourage independence when putting on outdoor coats and suits. There was lots of puddle jumping, pouring, filling and creating water ways with pipes and buckets. Our helpful janitors have been creating a new storage area for our outdoors loose parts. This gives children access to a variety of materials to use in their play, often working together with their friends to build dens and obstacle courses. Using teamwork, their imaginations and problem solving skills they create a variety of challenging play opportunities using ladders, crates, tyres and planks of wood.

“I can go really fast”.         “You can only go when the sign is green”.     “This says stop”

We have a range of balance bikes, pedal bikes, scooters and trikes for the children to use outdoors. Children know the importance of wearing helmets to keep them safe on the wheeled vehicles and are learning to be aware of their surroundings to ensure they keep themselves and their friends safe.

Using real resources such as vegetables and fruits in the mud kitchen gives children opportunities to explore real life experiences and to find ways to use cutting tools safely. Through the children’s conversations they have been exploring early measure language as part of their role play scenarios.

“I’ve got a small carrot”.       “No, a medium one”.        “It’s a big one, we need to cut it”.

Children have been helping to plant seeds recently. They have planted strawberry plants in the school polycrub and carrot seeds outdoors. They will continue to plant more seeds this week and help care for these as they grow. We also have a variety of storybooks about growth, seeds and life cycle in the story corner at the moment.

Enjoying snack outdoors in the sunshine!

The children were very keen to help staff and use their own initiative in constructing a play table for the Duplo using real tools.

The children enjoyed having a ‘bug hunt’ and exploring the playpark on a walk around the local community.

Story of the week so far this term:

Week 1: I Did See a Mammoth! By Alex Willmore

Week 2: Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel

Week 3: Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly & James Dean

Week 4: The Enormous Turnip Ladybird Story

We have been asked to share the following training opportunity:

Being Outdoors Community Training Opportunity – Kate Hookham

Please find below a link to this years ELC Registration Week video.

Registration Week 2024

Registration Week this year is from 8th to 15th March 2024.

What a busy and exciting 2 weeks we’ve had in the nursery with the build up to the Lerwick Up Helly Aa.

We were very lucky to get a visit to the Galley Shed the week before Up Helly Aa but we couldn’t tell anyone what the galley looked like.  Here are some pictures of us looking at the torches, exploring in the galley and taking charge in the committee room.

Then on Up Helly Aa day we visited the morning procession and were very lucky to get to see the Vikings up close when then visited our nursery.  The Vikings were very good at sharing and we got to hold their axes and shields.

We had an amazing time and we’re still singing the Up Helly Aa song every day.

We hope you are all staying safe and getting the opportunity to enjoy our snowy conditions building snowmen, sledging and exploring the cold weather.

When you have some quiet warm time indoors I thought I’d share two activities for you to enjoy which are linked to our Story of the Week from last week,  ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llena.

I’ve attached the activities on the link below and hope that you’ll have some fun time exploring the character and maybe creating him both indoors and out if the weather allows.

If you would like to share any photos from this week of all the exciting snow play then we’d love to see them and add them to your child’s learning story.  Please email these to the Bells Brae School inbox bellsbrae@shetland.gov.uk.

We hope to see everyone soon.

The Colour Monster Home Activities

It was lovely to welcome all the children back to Nursery last week and now we have the snow back too!

When you come inside for a break from playing in the snow then our Nursery Rhyme this week is ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’.  Sing along, dance and jump like the cow over the moon.  If you’d like to take the Nursery Rhyme outside you could make the moon from snow and jump over it as you sing the song.

Maybe if you make lots of snow balls you could count them and tell us how many you made when you come back to nursery.

If you take any pictures that you’d like to share of playing in the snow we’d love to see them and put them in your Learning Story.

We hope to see you all tomorrow.