October 1st 2018
Ladywell

Some children enjoyed watching the spider episode of Come Outside on YouTube. This is a great series that provides young children with just the right amount of information to engage their thoughts and develop their learning. Well worth having a look at at home.
Here is the link

The painting area has been busy with children mixing their own paint, discovering how much water to add to the powder and the different colours and shades they can create as they mix.
In the garden the sunflowers had been blown over by the strong wind and so needed digging up from their bed. The bed was then prepared for some new plants to be grown.
Many children have been showing a keen interest in writing their names.They were learning to recognise their own name and then trying hard to copy the letters.
There has been some great team work and cooperation as children have worked together to create tall structures with the bricks.

LADYWELL AND INVERALMOND

BIG BEDTIME READ

Take home a pack of five books, you will find them on your child’s peg.
Read them together at home.
Return the pack to nursery and your child will be given a new one.

LADYWELL
21.9.18

Wednesday was a wild and windy day and this provoked much discussion about the weather. Children arrived at nursery on Thursday eager to share their experiences and talk about the damage caused by the wind. They went into the nursery garden to see what had happened there and found branches, twigs, leaves and conkers which had been blown about. Some worked together to move some of the larger branches

whilst others made collections of what they found.

Some used these collections to design and create shapes, patterns and designs on the ground.

These collections of leaves, conkers and twigs provide fabulous natural ‘loose parts’, things that can be transported,moved, carried, combined and re-designed in many different ways. Children are able to use their imagination and creativity to utilise the loose parts in their play in any way they choose. Loose parts are ‘open ended’ meaning that there is no right or wrong and no pre determined finished product.

September 14th

This week in Inveralmond we have been learning about jungle/zoo animals.  We have explored patterns, discussed and compared sizes matched and sorted animal types, found out what different animals eat and where they live in the world.

We have also been enjoying making our own musical instruments using various materials.

In the garden it has been rather windy so the children decided to build a shelter using big bricks and then we put up a tent which was quite a challenge but we persevered and there was great fun had making up stories inside the tent.

Enjoy the long weekend

Ladywell
September 7th 2018

The children noticed the spider webs in the garden which had dew on them. This led to lots of discussions about different spiders and what the children like or dislike about them. The children have been making different webs using wool woven round card and glitter sprinkled onto gluey patterns on paper. They have been singing Incy Wincy Spider with some pouring water through the guttering outside to ‘wash the spider out’!

The children have been showing great interest in harvesting the potatoes which were planted earlier in the year. They are lookng forward to tasting them at snack time. The potatoes have been sorted into different sizes, colours and textures.

The children in the Two’s room have been identifying different insects after someone spotted a butterfly in the garden. This interest led to choosing ‘ A Very Busy Spider’ as their story of the week.

They have also been enjoying playing in the bigger nursery for part of their day providing them with the opportunity to experience making choices and developing their independence in a bigger play space.

LADYWELL
August 31st 2018

A busy week at the nursery, nothing new there then!
Children have been exploring sound whilst playing outside, beating the boomwhackers(tubes of plastic cut to different lengths thus producing different pitched sounds) on various surfaces to discover the range of sounds they can make.

The construction area inside has been busy too with children designing and creating models and structures which they, and others, have then used to develop their imaginative play ideas.

Some were building tall structures and comparing them to their height.

Whilst others solved construction problems by selecting different resources to build with.

Lentil soup was on the menu this week and some children helped to cut up carrots to add to the pot. They use knives designed to be used by young children and can further develop their cutting skills whilst playing in the house corner where they can usually find real vegetables to cut up and use as part of their play.

Snack menus are displayed in the cloakroom.

Inveralmond and Ladywell
24th August 2018

A very warm welcome back to nursery for those returning and an equally warm welcome to the children and families who are joining us this session.

The children in both centres have had a busy week, exploring, investigating and immersing themselves in play. They are all picking up nursery routines and enjoying having the opportunity to make new friends and meet new staff.

We have named the shoe bags that are on your child’s cloakroom peg. Please remember to leave a full set of clothes in the bag just in case your child needs a change whilst at nursery.

We will be starting the Big Bedtime Read soon. Each week your child will bring home a bag of five books to be enjoyed together at home. Return the pack and your child will bring home another one. The feedback from last term was very positive and we hope that you will all continue to enjoy the packs.

Ladywell
28.6.18
We have said goodbye to the children who are going to school in August and farewell to those who are leaving us to go to a different nursery.
Both morning and afternoon groups of children enjoyed welcoming parents/carers into our garden where they sang several of their favourite nursery songs. It was a lovely relaxed occasion, thank you to those who were able to join us.

We wish you all a happy summer and may the sun keep shining!

LADYWELL AND INVERALMOND
Will your child be starting Primary 1 at HARRYSMUIR P.S. after the holidays?

They are offering free workshops over the summer for future P1 pupils and their families.
Thursday 19th July – Craft session
Thursday 26th July – Teddy Bears Picnic(bring a teddy!)
Thursday 2nd August- Music and movement
Thursday 9th August – Story and puppet making
Thursday 16th August- Playground games

All sessions will be from 10.30-12.30
A great opportunity to spend time in school taking part in fun weekly activities. Parents/carers will have the chance to meet over a cuppa and have a chat!

Any questions to Christine Ferguson
Family Link Worker
Harrysmuir P.S.
Call or text on 07948493236

Ladywell
21st June 2018

The butterflies emerged from their cocoons this week and were released into the garden. We hope that they found somewhere to lay some eggs and that there will soon be some more tiny caterpillars to continue this extraordinary life cycle.

Our last trip to Beecraigs took place on Tuesday and the photos have been added to the SWAY. The QR code can be found in the cloakroom (a QR reader is an app that is freely available for you to download) or here on the blog. The trips all went well, the children were excited by their adventure and did a good job at spotting the farm animals in the fields. The last group were lucky enough to see a very young calf, we were interested to see how the mother cow stood protecting her calf from us. The weather was kind to us, the low cloud on some mornings added to the atmosphere especially when the stags with their enormous antlers loomed out of the mist!

Some of our children have already left on summer holidays but we are having our annual nursery farewell on
WEDNESDAY JUNE 27TH at
10.45 for the morning children
and at
2.45 for the afternoon children.
All parents and carers are very welcome to join us whether your child is leaving or not.
The children have been practising their singing and it is well worth coming to listen.
See you there!