It has been a very exciting week as boys and girls at Bathgate West Nursery have been receiving some letters from a special friend called Farmer Bert asking for their help. Bert wants to be a Farmer and is hoping the boys and girls can help him learn about farms, harvest time and food that comes from farms. He has been sending letters setting the children challenges to help him. So we have been very busy this week finding out what we know about farms, building tractors, making Scarecrows and even making our own bread!

Have a look at our very busy week….so busy that it must be time for a holiday!

A reminder that our book fair arrived today and will be here all next week, so please have a look around when collecting your child.

Our new topic Autumn and Harvest has now started within the nursery following on from the children’s interests and observations of the seasonal changes around them. This week the Rangers service from Beecraigs arrived to explore some of the autumn changes with the children in our nursery garden and beyond.

Inside the nursery we have been busy exploring autumn colours with lots of creative art work, singing (and dancing) about autumn leaves and we have even set up our own little bird watching platform as we have been watching the birds enjoy some of the treats we have been leaving on our bird table and window bird feeders.

Here are just a few of the activities that the children have been busy with this week…

Our new topic Autumn and Harvest will begin on Monday 5th October. Harvest and autumn parents note

The children have enjoyed being involved in developing their mud kitchen in the nursery garden this week. It is an ongoing project and the children have lots of ideas about what they need in their mud kitchen …. “we need an oven”, ” we need some spoons to stir” and “more mud!”. As the main appeal  of the mud kitchen its to get messy, please can we remind you not to send your child to nursery in their finest! We are waiting for more all-in-one water proof suits and hopefully some more welly donations to come in to help reduce the mess a little.

The lovely weather has meant that we have been able to get out our large building bricks and barrels and the children have been busy creating castles, bridges and wibbly wobbly roads.

Take a look at our week at nursery and read what some of our children have enjoyed most about their week….

“I like playing in the mud kitchen making lettuce soup.” River

“I’m cooking jelly soup in the mud kitchen.” Aileigh

“The play dough smelled of niceness.” Willow  (it was lavender play dough this week!)

” I like making bridges with the bricks.” Ethan

Just a reminder about our Parent Notice board which is by our coat pegs and above our friendship tree. This board has current monthly updates and calendars highlighting activities in the nursery and a topic planner to advise parents what we are currently learning in nursery.

It may have been a shorter week than usual but it certainly has been a busy few days! On Wednesday it was all hands on deck as we were getting prepared for Grandparents Day with a little baking (both in our snack kitchen indoors and our mud kitchen outdoors). On Thursday we had a very special day at nursery when our children invited their Grandparents to join them at nursery and show them all of the things they enjoy learning and doing here at Bathgate West. It was a very busy day and it was so lovely to see and meet so many Grandparents and to see them really get involved in the children’s activities and play. The tea and cake room was buzzing too and the children had a few surprises for their Grandparents, including a wee montage of video messages  and even a wee performance with our tap sticks.

Take a look at just a few of the many lovely comments we received in our comments book and some of our photos from the day. We hope the children and grandparents enjoyed their special day together.

“Had a fabulous visit. Everyone was very busy! What a great day.”

“Lovely morning watching the children. Thanks for the lovely tea.”

“Great idea, loved to see how much the kids enjoy it.”

“Really enjoyed the grandparents day. Terrific nursery with lots for the kids to do. They all seem very happy to be here.”

“What a wonderful atmosphere in the nursery. Children seem very happy and well equipped nursery. Great outdoor space. My grandson really enjoys his time here.”

“Fantastic environment, great welcome from staff and children. My grandaughter has flourished in the nursery!

“Wee trip down memory lane today. Fantastic staff, kids all happy too! Cakes were brilliant!”

“Another great day day. Keeps us in touch with what goes on and what they are doing.”

It’s been a busy week in the nursery, with lots of imaginative and creative play including building and putting out a ‘fire’, trekking through the jungle and we have even had an invasion of dinosaurs in our gardens! We have been making some natural art work outdoors and have been developing our ICT skills at the computer indoors. Take a look at some of the things we have been getting up to and what the children have had to say about their week at nursery….

“The dinosaurs live in the jungle.” Kaiden D

“I like going outside to play with the bikes and scooters.” Louie T

“I was helping people get their cars to the garage to fix them up.” Regan F

“I liked group time.” Adam C

“I can play the trumpet.” Mac F

“I like having picnics with my friend.” Megan C and Amy K

A quick reminder that we are having our annual Grandparents Day next Thursday 24th September…….

The children of Bathgate West Nursery School would like to invite their grandparents along for a special visit to the nursery.

When: Thursday 24^th September

Time: 10.15am – 11.30am (morning session) /

2.00pm – 3.15pm (afternoon session)

(We kindly request that only grandparents come along in order to keep numbers manageable.)

Any home baking that could be donated for our special occasion would be greatly received!

We have been singing about the sunshine a lot this week at nursery and it seems to have had a positive effect on the weather! We have enjoyed being out and about decorating our brick wall, creating music on our Musical Tree in the garden and painting in our outdoor classroom.