The children have been having lots of fun playing with the small world fire station. They thought that fire fighters only helped people if they had a fire. We learned that they also help people who are stuck in their cars after a crash. We know this because we met Andy and the fire fighters from Bathgate Fire Station came today. It was very exciting because they came in their engine and we got to have a good explore and ask questions.

The firefighters showed us the equipment they use to cut cars open…they cut the legs of an old table at nursery. It was a spreader although today it made the legs flat and pincers which cut the legs off. We also saw the hose, lights and heard the siren. It was ‘very loud’.

We asked….

Q. How heavy is the equipment?

A. it is very heavy. You need to be very fit to be a firefighter.

Before the firefighters would put the siren on they asked us….

Q. Why does the engine have lights, horn and a siren?

A. we told them it was so people could hear them coming.

Andy agreed it is very important that people who are driving can hear them coming when they are answering a 999 call.

And then they got a ‘fire call’ so had to go and help some pensioners in Livingston. They will be back to visit us next week.

December 2017 final

Today we handed out our collection to the residents of Carron Court.  A big group of residents were waiting for us, each of us had a few things to hand out and then we sang some songs.  We even sang some songs that the residents knew, we think they enjoyed the singing as they were smiling lots.  They were very kind and gave us a present for visiting.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the collection.

November 2017

Yesterday we had our Halloween Parties at nursery. There were lots of fabulous costumes, fun and games including dooking for apples, pass the pumpkin and doughnuts on a string. We hope the children had lots of fun and a big thank you to all of the parent helpers for giving us a hand.

One boy was playing with his friend earlier this week when he invited an adult to “Come to the campfire.” He then went on to “set up fire” and involved his friends in his imaginative play. There was lots of discussion and skills being transferred from previous experience.

“We need to sing camp songs”

“Fire, fire, fire”

“We will have marshmallows.”

“We need sticks for the marshmallows”

“Oh I need a lighter stick to light the fire…. now blow to make it high”

“Now we can cook the marshmallows.”

Some children used the floor book to share their knowledge and experiences of camping and camp fires. They answered who, what and where questions and were keen to record their own ideas in the book. Have a look at some of their responses.

So this afternoon some of the children joined Mrs Waddell out at the fire pit where we explored fire safety and our knowledge of making a fire, when we worked together to create a small camp fire and the toasted our marshmallows on it. We used our senses to talk about the fire.

What can we see?

“Orange fire!”

“The wind is blowing the fire.”

“Is it steam?”

“The wood is going black”

What can we smell?

“I can smell burning.”

“It’s smokey”

What can we hear?

The children listen carefully and make some very good impressions of the fire crackling…”It’s making noises”

What can we taste?

“Marshmallows!!!!”

“It’s yummy”

“It’s strawberry taste”

What can we feel?

“It’s hot.”

“It feels warm.”

By using our Fire Pit we are developing:

Social interactions

Life skills

Risk Taking

Confidence

Experience

Co-operation

Communication

A wee reminder that we still have our harvest collection at the nursery entrance. Some children will help deliver these to local residents of Carron Court in the next few weeks. A big thank you to everyone who has so generously donated items already.

As we reach the end of a very busy term we wanted to wish all the families a very happy and safe October holidays. We will see all children return to nursery on Tuesday October 24th.

Below is the link to share more of our learning here at Bathgate West over the past few weeks, looking at Autumn changes and Harvest. Please take a look…..

https://sway.com/IJEf4DC6Mi73bxlw?ref=Link&loc=mysways

Yesterday we had our visit from Mhari and Ziggy from Childsmile who came along to talk to us about the ways in which we can look after our teeth and keep them healthy. We also got to see just how we should be brushing our teeth twice a day, front and back, up and down and round and round. We all helped teach Ziggy to brush his teeth properly too.