Again, Autumn is one of the main interests being supported in Nursery this week.  We have a large collection of different leaves and seeds from plants and trees.  The children have been noticing how much colder the season is getting and we have spoken about the leaves falling from some trees at this time of year.

Of course the children are looking to transfer this in to other areas of discovery, creativity and learning as they used leaves and plants to decorate and make patterns with the playdough.

Another area of interest has been the fish and chip shop this week.  Children have been really interested in all things fish related, speaking about where the fish comes from and different types of fish.  This led to a role play fish and chip shop being set up in the nursery, with cones of chips, illustrations of the different species, a till and money, and opportunity to discuss how much each supper would cost.  Turn taking and sharing experiences within the roles has also been enjoyed for extended periods of time.

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The children have been looking at their own learning stories a lot this week and commenting about the experiences they remember taking part in.  They have also been noticing how they are growing and changing too.

We celebrated a birthday this week in Nursery and have been practicing spreading with cutlery at snack times.

There are lots of different activities that the children engage in daily at nursery, games, stories, story-telling, rhyming, singing, building, dancing, learning, developing skills and having fun.  We have had a lot of fun this week again.

We hope those of you who attended our information evening on Wednesday found it helpful, we were certainly glad to be able to see parents back into nursery.  Please remember the October holidays begin at the end of the day on Friday.  Have a lovely weekend!

 

Learning in Nursery is not just something that you put in a designated area or table for children to explore in a particular timeslot, when it is provided by adults.  It is very much experienced throughout the day, inside and outside and transitions with the learning experience, across different times and spaces.  These opportunities are supported by skilled adults who notice the interests of the children, are knowledgeable on child development and the curriculum,  and understand the possibilities of where learning could go next.

This week we have taken a lot of opportunities to support learning in the moment as interests present themselves.  (This is also balanced with planned adult initiated learning experiences.)

In the dark tent, one of our pupils noticed the red light and green light working like the port and starboard of a boat, this provided much discussion with other children and was a lovely learning experience.  We spoke about direction, left and right and all things boats.

Outside while investigating signs of autumn, children were using the seeds and leaves they noticed to then made a “rosehip seed soup”.  A great amount of engagement followed with children working collaboratively together to collect the ingredients, take turns mixing and discussing the recipe.  Afterwards a cafe was created to sell the soup.

Again exploring signs of autum, the children enjoyed a long walk in the community with Lisa’s dog Willow.  Willow was very well behaved and allowed different children to hold her lead while experiencing the changing weather, and noticing all the seasonal changes that are going on.  We even heard a skylark.

Children were exploring the different texture and mark making properties of “gloop” through the week.  We needed to wear our aprons, but it was great fun with lots of shapes, marks, pictures and letters made or created.

We were delighted to celebrate a birthday this week and welcomed another pupils in to our nursery.  It is a real privilege to see how kind and helpful the children and adults were in showing a new friend around.

One of our pupils had a WOW moment this week, as she learned to cycle her bike without stabilisers.  We were delighted and celebrated together in the multicourt, where she showed us how well she could cycle and we gave her a really big clap.

Most of all, we have had fun exploring and playing together as we learn.

A continuous provision, or environment that is familiar to children is an important feature or a high quality nursery setting.  It allows children to explore their surroundings with greater depth and skill development.  However, it is important for nursery staff to observe and reflect on the provision and enhance, develop or take away resources to support progress in learning at a time that is right, or when interest or curiosity presents.

There have been a couple of new additions to the nursery environment this week.  We have introduced a smaller darker tent, so children can explore light and dark.  We have also introduced some textured mark making resources in a tuff tray with shaving foam and writing implements.  The shaving foam has an interesting texture which allows children to be interested in the sensory aspects of touching and playing with it.  It also is easily manipulated allow marks to be make with a brush or finger.

We have welcomed our student into our setting this week, she will be joining us on Fridays and Mondays.

A pop up ambulance has been added to our environment too.  This is supplementing the doctor’s role play area.  Children have been speaking about being a paramedic and also caring for others as they are brought to the doctor’s in the ambulance.

After the sad news of the Queen passing this week, we have also introduced some red, white and blue playdough to our playdough area.  This has sparked conversation about colours, the Union Jack flag, the Queen and the new King.

We have made dairy free scones this week in baking with Emma.  They were delicious and of course everyone could have a try of the same recipe.

We have noticed how much colder the weather has been.  This has led us to speak about changes in the seasons and we have been looking for signs of changes in the natural environment on our community walks.

We have also been spotting shapes and numbers in the signs around our community.  We have linked this learning to shape and pattern, noticing the shapes inside and outside whilst in the setting and on the website “Topmarks” .  There are lots of super interactive games to discover for Early Years there.  Early Years – Topmarks Search

All of our usual activities in our discovery, creative, social and outdoor zones have been engaged with this week by all of our children as we play and learn together.  We solve problems, speak, sing, rhyme and communicate.  We notice things and speak bout what we notice and experience.  We work together and we have fun!

Please be reminded that we are closed on Monday 19th September.  Have a lovely weekend everyone!

We have been singing lots of songs and rhymes this week, which has given us a chance to express ourselves a bit more in movement and dance too.  Emma and Hayley were able to put a band together this week, and the children were moving and singing to provided songs as well as given a chance to create their own music.  We also were singing along with Mr Travins in music this week.  The “chick- a-dee-dee song” and “the wheels on the bus” were very popular.  Our song of the week has been “heads, shoulders, knees and toes.”

We have been expressive with our bodies in movement while using the gym hall too.

Emma has been baking banana muffins with the children this week, they were delicious!  The ingredients were explored, smelled and mixed before the cooking process began.  The tasting part was enjoyed by most.

Carrying on with the theme of our healthy body, we have had a close up look as what our bodies look like underneath the skin.  This has been interesting to see and speak about.

We have been outside such a lot this week.  The water ways have been in use, and children have been using their problem solving skills to connect pipes and buckets as they observe the water’s movement.  We are getting better at putting on our own suits too.

We have had such a lot of fun learning and playing together again this week, and we hope you have a lovely weekend.

 

Another busy week in Nursery has already passed!

We have set up a hospital space this week, which has been well explored and used by children and adults together in role playing experiences.  There are x-ray pictures and a light box to help display these.  Lots of clip boards and mark making materials are being used.  Bandages have been applied, appointments and surgeries have been given and attended, even some of the animals have been helped back to full health! It’s been a lot of fun.

We were all delighted to see Linda this week, when she popped in for a visit.  She played for a little while in the hospital, spoke to all the bairns and read some stories.  She made us all smile and we hope to see her again soon.

We have managed to go on a couple of walks and spend time in the big play park this week.  We met Peter who showed us some of the seeds inside a rose-hip.  We also got to see the swans on our Tingwall Loch.  We are hoping for more nice and midgie free days as we love being outside so much.

This morning was very exciting for one of our Nursery pupils, who had been to The Marts with his parents to sell 50 lambs.  We were able to get a live link up to the sheep sale, hear the auctioneer and find out a little bit more about what happens at The Marts from his news and the filming.  It was really exciting hearing how fast the auctioneer spoke!

 

Nursery bairns have been making models with wooden pegs and lollipop sticks.  After creating and using fine motor skills to fix the models together, the children were asked to count how many things they had used in their models.  When we were speaking about numbers in play, we were able to see if we could match the number counted to the number on the stick.  Lots of learning about numbers through a variety of experiences has been going on this week.

Our playdough has been used to make face pictures, while we were thinking about what parts of the body are on our faces.  Some lovely creations were illustrated and spoken about.

Lots of opportunities to cut, stick, paste, draw, create, paint, transform, solve problems, carry, lift, count, play and learn together this week.

Will be updating “personal plans” and make sure the “all about me” sheets are updated in the coming weeks.  It is really important that we are working together with parents to support our children to feel welcomed and a sense of belonging in our setting.  More information is available about “Realising the Ambition: Being me” on line.

This is our national guidance document for early years, and very much places the children at the centre of our quality practice.  We hope to give you more information in the coming weeks about an information night for parents, and look forward to working together with parents on documents such as our Outdoor Play Policy.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!