SHINE and Morning Routine

Our school Charter for learning and teaching uses the acronym SHINE, which stands for successful, happy, independent, nurtured and engaged.  We have examples of how the bairns’ experiences fit into each of these.  During the first term, we have updated the wall to include quotes and photos.  “I do sharing with my new friends, sharing is always caring.”  “I’m helping my friend on da mushroom.”  “I put things at my peg.”  “Mam no come a nursery, just me.”  “Bairns get cuddles if dey are greetin.”  “I did all da bits.”

As part of the Zones of Regulation, we use the 3R’s of Regulate, Relate and Reason.  The bairns use their peg people to let us know how they are feeling when they arrive in the morning and can change zones at any time, depending on how their day is going.  We support them through co-regulation and find ways to discuss what happened when they are regulated again.

Learning through Landscapes (Thursday)

There were plenty of muddy puddles to explore down at the burn this week.  We set up our ticks and crosses for our Risk Assessment to show where was safe and unsafe.  We gathered mud to make paint and then used an old roll of wallpaper to create a natural masterpiece!  We used paintbrushes to draw shapes, characters and crosses.  Then we splattered with the watery mud across the paper.  We tried printing with leaves dipped in the muddy paint and watched the drips travel down the paper.  During free play, we went on a spider hunt, threw rocks into the burn and watch sticks travel with the current.

Light Box (Wednesday-Thursday)

We added some sea glass to the light box and the bairns created fantastic designs, including families, shapes and landscapes.

Outdoor Play (Monday-Friday)

Our outdoor play focused on using natural resources to make star wands, sand pit digging and muddy puddle fun.

Block Play (Monday-Friday)

The bairns use the large hollow blocks and smaller blocks inside for so many creative ideas.  This week they have used the large hollow blocks to create a stage, perform a concert and travelled to lots of different planets on a spaceship.  The bairns discussed how their planet had no water and they would have to find some on another planet.  They watched a video about how astronauts have dried food packets and how they have to use water to make it edible.  They were interested to find out that food floats inside the rocket in space.