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Our SMUHA preparations began a few weeks ago with making the templates for our shields.  The bairns used a plate to draw a circle onto cardboard and then cut it out.  “This is tricky.”  The bairns could decorate their shield using loose parts from the craft area and there were many varied designs.  Then it was onto making our torches.  We use strong cardboard tubes and added tissue paper fire in orange, red and yellow.  Our Viking helmets were made using black paper to contrast the colourful stickers.  Some of the bairns added feathers by drawing around the hand and cutting them out and practiced pattern making.

There were many options for the colour of the galley so we took a vote with pink and blue being the winning combo.  The bairns set about painting their galley, making the head and tail and adding their own signs.  Once the galley was finished, the bairns were asked what roles they would like to take on for the procession and burning.  The meant another vote was needed to decide who would be the Guizer Jarl with six in the running.  In the end three of the bairns tied for Jarl so we had three on the day.  The bairns were in good singing voices for the procession and then lined up to throw their torches into the galley once it was set on fire.

We were delighted to welcome Leigh Smith and his Squad for SMUHA.  The bairns were seated in the hall and gave an enthusiastic rendition of the Up Helly Aa song along with the Vikings, their school peers and visitors.  Afterwards, we had a visit from a few members of the Jarl Squad and the bairns were keen to look at their axes, helmets and shields.  They noticed the patterns on the axes and commented on the wolf.  When trying out the shields and helmets, the bairns agreed “that was heavy”.

We celebrated World Book Day all week, starting with a trip to the library van to find some Viking books.  We took our selection back to nursery and the bairns took no time in added them to our bookcase.  We used story stones to create Viking stories and here is one as told by one of the nursery bairns – “Once upon a time der was a Viking n he was gettin his Viking ship n he found treasure n he bringed it back to his island.”  We listened to a story on the smart board about Hiccup and what it takes to be a Viking.  The bairns also had stories at snack.  For our transition P.E. lesson, Mrs Ritchie read The Burpee Bears by Joe Wicks.  The bairns had to copy the actions of the bears, from running, jumping, hopping and crawling.  Then we took out the hoops and had a shot at making them move in different ways.

We set up a provocation for Mother’s Day using a vase of flowers and provided pots of paint.  The bairns chose how to paint their pictures using the flowers for inspiration.

The preschoolers had their first transition activity to the playground this week.  They were paired up with a buddy from Primary 6 and headed out into the playground.  There were lots of chasing games and the nursery bairns gave their buddies some job trying to catch them.  “I was so fast.”  “All of it was my favourite!”