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Early Years 2022-23 Term 4 – Week 10

June 23, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

The bairns have been exploring our sun fountain and we were lucky to have a parent visit nursery to share his expertise in solar energy. The bairns leaned that a solar bug’s motor is powered by the sun but it has to be kept in a dark box to make it stop moving. The bairns explored the plug n play electronics making a windmill that played Happy Birthday. We spoke about dynamos and how we use a torch with a push button to charge up the light. We also learned that Mrs Malcolmson takes a wind up radio to the peat hill.

We had a ton bag of sand delivered last week and the bairns have been working hard to transfer the sand into our two sand pits. Here’s some play highlights from our week.

We held a stay and play for our preschool parents and it was lovely seeing the excitement from the bairns to show off their nursery. They explored the garden, indoor/outdoor room, playdoh station and spent time looking at their folders. We sure are going to miss them.

After the stay and play, the preschool bairns took their parents through to the canteen and explained the lunch routine. It was great to see lots of chatting during lunch.

Our preschoolers had their moving up afternoon in P1/2, starting off in one half of the class. They watched The Gingerbread Man and then it was time for Drawing Club with Miss Hunter’s rule to not make anything better than her drawing! The bairns had an opportunity to explore the classroom and after a while the door was opened to join up with the P3 bairns. The preschoolers headed straight the to the sand pit and the ponies.

Early Years 2022-23 Term 4 – Week 9

June 16, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

We celebrated our pre-schoolers this week with a circus themed graduation – The Greatest Graduation Show. The bairns marched around the hall before taking their seats at the front. The crowd were treated to performances from tightrope walkers, dancers, clowns and acrobats. The bairns also took to the drums and sang Right Hand Here, Left Hand There. Then it was time to sing our goodbye song. The pre-schoolers were presented with leaving certificates, a leavers’ medal and graduation cap. It was lovely to share a little about each of the pre-schoolers time at nursery, highlighting their passions and how much they have learned. By the end there was hardly a dry eye in the house!

The bairns have been engaged in beach role play in the sand pit so we decided to take a trip to the Mail beach. We walked down from nursery, checking out the vehicles driving past on the way. We spotted an orange car, a truck with a boat on the back and a three-wheeled motorbike. Once we arrived at the beach we agreed on where was safe to explore. Many of the bairns took off their socks and shoes, paddled at the water’s edge, dug for treasure and climbed on the rocks. We made a safety circle for the fire pit and toasted marshmallows. We have been discussing sun safety including finding shade, keeping hydrated, wearing a sun hat and putting on sun cream. Before our trip to the beach, the bairns suggested taking ice-pops to help us stay hydrated.

We took our bookbug session outdoors again this week. The bairns used the stretchy fabric during a rendition of Grand Old Duke of York, listening to the words to move the fabric. The story this week was Wendy the Widemouthed Frog which used a puppet and followed Wendy’s journey through the jungle.

We made our way to the sunny multicourt for this year’s sports day. The bairns took part in many races – sprinting, egg and spoon, sack race and a relay with the Primary 1/2 class. It was great to see parents joining in for the three-legged race with some interesting techniques! We also walked to the sports field in the afternoon to watch the older bairn’s take part in their sports day. Well done to all the bairns for taking part and showing team spirit.

We love seeing nursery friendships grow and it’s also great when some of our older bairns take the younger ones under their wing, look out for them and help them with the nursery routines.

Early Years 2022-23 Term 4 – Week 8

June 9, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

We visited the canteen for transition lunch again and the bairns remembered the routines for collecting lunch and tidying away their trays. It was a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of time to chat.

The bairns are growing in confidence during their transition visits to the playground. They play independently and are relying less on their buddies. They are also building relationships with the supervisory staff.

We met the the school’s art teacher Ms Burr. The bairns went around the tables, chatting with the P1/2 bairns about their work on houses and trees. Ms Burr invited the bairns to come to the front to show them where they stand while she is teaching. Some of the bairns noticed the art work on the walls including tall ships.

We love to reuse items that are destined for the dump. Mrs Malcolmson brought in a screen used at the Quarff Hall during Covid and we set it up outside using two cable drums. The bairns were keen to test out our markers, even sliding underneath for a chance to draw upside down. Painting is always a popular activity, so we tested out mixing paint on the Perspex and creating scenes, including a plane flying through blue sky with a giant sun in the background. In addition to these fine motor skills opportunities we introduced a weaving board. The bairns selected ribbon, pipe cleaners and tiny pegs in a range of colours to add to the board.

We’ve been making the most of our outdoor space this week. Here are a collection of our play and learning.

We have been amazed by the creative block play, from big blocks to small blocks, wooden and breeze blocks.

We had the opportunity to visit a construction site and watch a lorry unload the roof trusses. The bairns were interested to see that the crane was being operated by a man standing outside the lorry with a remote control. “Look dir putting down the stabilisers.”

Early Years 2022-23 Term 4 – Week 7

June 2, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

The bairns noticed a new vehicle in the car park, a motorbike, and were curious to learn more. The owner asked if they would like to sit on the bike and the bairns also tried to reach the handlebars from the seat. The bairns spoke about their experiences of seeing motorbikes before and commented on the bike’s colour and how to use the foot rests to climb up to the seat. As the biker left, the bairns listened to the sound of the engine.

We headed back to the airport this week with a small group who missed out on getting onto a plane during the first trip due to the fire alarm going off. After catching the service bus to the airport, we waited to get our security passes. We were taken to security where we placed our jackets, vests and hats into the trays and walked through the scanner. When the scanner turned red and beeped, we had to have our hands and feet swabbed. We watched the test strip being analysed by the special machine and then we were given the all clear to head out to the plane. While we were waiting on the tarmac we saw a helicopter land. We took our seats on the plane and fastened our seatbelts. There was lots of discussion about the safety cards and where we might want to go on holiday – “Vancouver” and “South Africa”. We took turns to sit in the cockpit and see all the buttons, knobs, gauges and levers. Then it was time to get back on the bus with a quick detour to the Salvation Army Polycrub on the way back to nursery.

We were invited to a showcase of musical instruments that pupils can learn in school. The bairns were shown a fiddle, viola, violin, cello, piano, coronet, trumpet, baritone, trombone, flute, clarinet, saxophone, accordion and drums. The instructors explained that the instruments belong to different families – string, brass and woodwind. They played a tune with each instrument ranging from traditional to classical and finishing with a lively rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody which had everyone up on their feet for a boogie!

We welcomed a parent to the setting to share their hobby – bug hunting. The bairns collected many bugs from the garden, finding out that the best places to look were under things, in the dark damp soil. There was great success finding woodlouse, slugs, larvae, beetles and spiders. We took our bug pots inside to view our findings under a microscope. We noticed the different textures, the slug’s eyes and we found out that a woodlouse carries it’s babies inside a small brood pouch under their bellies. We found out a fun fact – if you weighed all the bugs in the world they would be heavier than all the humans. We spoke about the number of legs that each bug has and that you can tell that an insect is fully grown when they have their legs. A slug doesn’t have leg but instead has one foot and lots of tiny sharp teeth making it one of the most ferocious bugs.

We were lucky to have a visit from “real life Bookbug”! The bairns got a chance to give Bookbug a hug or a handshake before they had to be on their way. We sang the welcome song, played a stretching game, sang nursery rhyme including Old Macdonald and then we listened to the story of Mr Mole who was having trouble getting home to Mrs Mole.

The preschoolers had their first transition visit to the canteen for lunch of macaroni, yoghurt and fruit. They lined up at the hatch before receiving their trays and picking up their pudding and a cup. While seated, the bairns noticed lots of empty chairs and wondered why there were so many. After the bairns had eaten their lunch, they cleared their trays away, following the instructions from the canteen staff. They also saw and heard why there were so many extra chairs when the school bairns joined them for lunch.

After experiencing a fire evacuation process at the airport, the bairns had lots of questions about fire. We talked about what makes a fire using the fire triangle of fuel, heat and oxygen and how to keep safe. Fire can also be used safely to help us for cooking and keeping warm. We also discussed how fire can be dangerous and that it has to be respected. Before practicing being safe while lighting and extinguishing fire, we agreed on some rules 1) an adult must be present who has the skills to help you, 2) use a safe space that is away from sources of fuel, open and off the grass, 3) use safe tools such as a flint fire striker, safe container for fire and a bucket of water. The bairns recognised that it was safe to use a flint fire striker with an adult but knew that fires could also be started using lighters and matches. The bairns made a safety circle with flour because this is safe for the environment. We spoke about how we need this at nursery because there are lots of bairns but if there are only one adult and one child, for example at home, this wouldn’t be needed. The bairns all listened to the instructions, watching how to use the flint fire striker and then had a turn themselves making sparks and lighting the cotton wool before using tongs to pick up the fire ball and extinguish it by dunking it into the bucket of water.