The children  had a great time this week role playing within our space theme.  They were pretending to be astronauts and aliens and had fun playing in our phone booth, which was transformed into a rocket.   They have also been very busy constructing their own rockets with blocks and other construction toys .  In the art area they have been making rockets using 2D shapes and staff have been encouraging the children to name the shapes while they were creating their pictures.   We have been reading space related stories to the children, watching astronauts floating about in space stations and rockets taking off on the smart board.  Story spoons (aliens love underpants), were put out to encourage the children to create their own stories through play.  It’s been a busy and fun filled week.

We would like to wish all our little pre schoolers who are moving onto Primary 1 the very best of luck on that start of a new and exciting chapter.  It has been an absolute joy watching you all grow and blossom during your time with us.  We would also like to thank all our wonderful parents for their support over the years.  It certainly has been a challenging year, but we’ve made it.  We are never far away for any support and advice you may need.

On behalf of all the ELC team thank you and good luck to everyone.

The children had a great time this week role playing in the requested Ice Cream Parlour.  They had the opportunity to handle money and use their imagination through this fun activity.  They also practised turn taking and developed their listening skills.  As the children were working with a 3D shape, the cone, we decided to extend this activity by putting  out other 3D shapes at the maths table for everyone to explore.  The children have taken a keen interest in learning 3D shape and have managed to remember some of the names, especially the cone. well done everyone!

Sunny Day Beach Fun

What an amazing week it’s been in the nursery.   The children have been loving the fantastic sunny weather we have been experiencing.  There has been lots of opportunity to enjoy the outside area with lots of discussions about summer.  The children have chatted about how they would like to go to the seaside, eat ice cream and build sandcastles in the sand.  In order to extend the children’s learning and following on from lots of quality discussion the children decided they would like to make a beach hut in the role play area.  The children said they would like shells, sand, spades and buckets.  The children worked hard to put this together.  The end result was a beautiful and calming little beach hut where the children can engage in some creative imaginary role play.  The children have enjoyed getting into character and there has been lots of different scenarios, which has been fantastic to see.  Role play is more than just fun it’s an important element of learning.  Children learn from experience and from what happens around them.  Through this our children can play and have fun will develop healthy connections and choices in life.  To continue the summer theme the children also decided they would love a beach in the outdoor area.  The children have absolutely loved this.  Not only has there been lots of role play taking place there has also been lots of quality learning taking place covering all curricular areas.  The children have been counting buckets, spades and shells.  They have been comparing the size of their sandcastles using a good range of mathematical language.  Let’s hope the sunshine continues so we can continue to enjoy and learn lots more about summer.

When the cats away the mice can play………

The children have loved their week at nursery.  They have enjoyed spending time outside while soaking up the sunrays and exploring areas of the school when it was too hot outside.  The parachute made an appearance and the children participated with great delight and excitement.

Team building and turn taking…..

Investigating and exploring the footprint the children found in the nursery garden….’I think it’s a dinosaur’s footprint’…. Watching and listening through the eyes of a child is not only powerful but magical…

This week the children participated in a problem solving STEM activity.  They had to help the bears cross the river by building a bridge for them.  This activity was very challenging for the children as they had to negotiate with each other, turn take, listen, problem solve, use their initiative and imagination.  Despite the challenges, the children had lots of fun with this activity and managed to construct a variety of different bridges.  Well done everyone.

The children have had great fun learning French words during carpet time and then reinforcing the learning through role play and games.  We set up a little fruit and veg shop to give the children the opportunity to use the French words that they have learnt.  The children have expressed a lot of enthusiasm for learning French and have participated in all the French activities well.  They are becoming good at remembering the words for fruit and vegetables in French and have now decided  during registration time to respond in French.

  Lots of fun shopping!!                                                         

Hi Everyone,

We hope you are all safe and well. You should have all been getting messages with nursery home learning send to you via your child’s online learners journal. If you have not been receiving these messages please let us know by e-mailing the nursery

wlstnicholas-elc@westlothian.org.uk

We have been sending out home learning weekly however we know that lots of parents are busy with home schooling so these are just ideas and suggestions to do with your little ones, It is not compulsory.

Today is Robert Burns day so we thought we would share this link with some ideas on how you could learn and celebrate Robert Burns at home. If you do have a burns supper or enjoy any of the activities please post a picture on your child’s learners journal via the parental contribution button.

Here is the link…

http://static.visitscotland.com/pdf/rabbie-for-kids.pdf

Stay Safe and Take Care,

The ELC Team

Hi Everyone,

It was a busy week last week with all our Christmas parties. Great fun was had by all! The children all looked amazing in their party clothes and all behaved so well, the ladies are very proud of all the boys and girls.

At the party we played musical statues, musical bumps and the corners games. There was lots of dancing, there was even a dance off between some staff and children! ( the children won by miles!!)

After all the dancing everyone enjoyed a nice drink and some party food, it was delicious! We then heard some jingling bells and when we went back into the nursery Santa had left a gift for everyone under the Christmas tree. We all waited so patiently until all our friends had received their gift then we opened them together. Everyone was very happy and grateful for their gift.

This week your child will be bringing home all their Christmas crafts. Every child worked so hard to make these. We are sure you will love them!

The nursery team would like to thank you all for your continued support this year, especially during these difficult times.

We hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas with love and best wishes for 2021 xx

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to give you a little update on what has been happening the past few weeks at nursery. We are continuing to keep the children in two ‘bubbles’ but we have now transformed the classroom next door into another fantastic learning space. This means that including our popular garden we now have three learning areas for the children, meaning that the bubbles don’t crossover and the children can still access the same experiences as they would being in the nursery.

All these changes have been put in place to keep all our little learners as safe as possible during these unprecedented times. The staff are so proud of every one of them as they have coped with these changes amazingly well. These changes mean there is less children in each area at the one time and they all seem to embracing this opportunity, keeping busy and engaged in all the activities and fun on offer to them daily.

Staff members are also allocated to bubbles and this means that we when you arrive at nursery with your child, he/she will be brought in by the members of staff in their bubble. This is so we can keep the children in each bubble on separate sides of the cloakroom and we can only have limited numbers in here at a time. We would like to thank you all for your co-operation and support at this time and please be assured that staff will try their best to bring your child into the nursery as quick but as safely as possible. You may need to stand in que for a few minutes but this is for the safety of all the children and we appreciate your patience.

We also want to thank you all for wearing your masks in the playground and for keeping a safe distance from staff at the nursery door.

If you have any questions or concerns and would like to speak to a member of team, please give us a phone on 01506 858907.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend,

The Nursery Team

Hi Everyone,

What a fun week we have had at nursery. There has been lots of Halloween fun, including pumpkin carving, art and crafts, dressing up and delicious ‘spooky’ snacks. I think great fun has been had by all.

Lots of the children went a walk to the woods this week too. The children all demonstrated good listening as we walked there and back and knew to keep safe by holding their partners hand and staying in the line. We were very proud of all our little learners! When we got there the children had great fun throwing all the leaves up in the air. They were comparing sizes of the different leaves and matching colours. We even brought some back to the nursery for the craft area.

A lot of children have commented on how it dark it is when they finish nursery so the week ahead we will learning more about dark nights and keeping safe. If your child has a torch at home they are welcome to bring it into nursery (please put their name on it).

We will also be doing some fireworks arts and crafts as bonfire night is coming up so expect to see some glitter next week! There is a photo of the snack menu for next week so you can see what your little one is being  offered.

We hope you all have a great weekend.

The Nursery Team

Hi Everyone,

The children have been busy learning more about Autumn time and what happens to the animals in autumn. We used our big smartboard to learn about hibernation and what animals hibernate. We have been leaving some food in the garden, hoping to see some visitors.

We are still keeping safe in our bubbles. We decided that we should name our bubbles. The children participated in a vote for the name, The choices were…

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Moon and Stars

Tigers and Cubs

Sunshine and rainbows

The most popular names were…………… Butterflies and Caterpillars!

So if your child is in the morning or afternoon session they will be in the butterfly group and if your child attends full days they will be in the caterpillar group.

The children recorded the votes using the blocks. This was a great way for them to understand the voting system, as they could see straight away what names had the most votes. See the photos below.

The children are welcome to dress up for Halloween on Thursday, More details are in the newsletter.

The newsletter will be given out this week if you haven’t already received it. We will also send it out via the school app.

We hope you all have a great weekend,

The Nursery Team

Hello Everyone,

The children have been learning more about autumn this week, especially the change in the weather. Please remember that we access outdoor play every day so please remember hats and wellies for your child to wear or cold and wet days.

We have been making our own autumn trees in the art and craft area and these are now displayed proudly on our nursery wall. Some children have also been out about to see the signs of autumn and collect some leaves to use in the nursery. They even managed to pick some blackberries! Discussions and stories have led on to us learning more about hibernation so we will be focusing on this over the next few weeks.

The children are doing amazingly well at remembering all the Wellbeing Icons and what they mean. The icon we have been focusing on this week has been ‘achieving’. . We have a board in the nursery cloakroom to celebrate your child’s individual achievement, from out with the nursery. If you have any photos of your child doing something special at home or from a club they attend then please e-mail it to the nursery and we will print it out and share it on our board. The nursery e-mail address is:

wlstnicholas-elc@westlothian.org.uk

Have a look at the menu plan to see what is for snack next week.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

The Nursery Team

Hello Everyone,

We are all very proud of how well the children have adapted to the new routine of being in their ‘bubbles’. This has been a really smooth transition for them. We have been having lots of discussions about keeping safe and what Coronavirus means to them, have a look at the pictures to see what they have been saying.

This week the children have noticed a change in the weather and we have been learning about Autumn time through stories and discussions. We now have a cosy woodlands role play area in the nursery for the children to play in and learn about how the animals are preparing to hibernate. It even has a camp fire to keep them warm!

The wellbeing icon we have been learning about this week is ‘Included’. The children are doing an amazing job remembering the names of all our Wellbeing Icons and using them in their everyday play and discussions. Have a look at what Included means to some of the children.

The children requested that the role play get changed into a bedroom so we have been working on that this week with their help. You may have noticed that your child has had a new hair style at nursey this week, this is because our bedroom has a dressing table with hairbrushes and mirror and the children have really enjoyed being hair stylists!

Have a look at the snack menu to what your child will be enjoying next week for snack.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

The Nursery Team

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have all had a lovely week. We have been very busy in nursery learning about our Wellbeing Icons. We have been learning about ‘Respected’. Please ask your child what this means to them.

We have also had to spilt into our ‘Bubbles’ as our numbers have increased. This is for the safety and protection of all children. We will now be bringing your children into the cloakroom in their bubbles so please be patient with us and remember to keep a 2 meter distance from others.

The children have adapted well to this and we have been having discussions about what Coronavirus is and how it has impacted their lives.

We have been lucky with the weather this week and have been enjoying lots of play outdoors we have also been exploring numbers and numerals by counting and sequencing shells.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the long weekend if you are taking advantage of it.

The Nursery Team

Hi Everyone,

It has been another busy week at nursery this week. Most of our new children have now started and have settled really well with the help of all the children at St Nicholas Nursery Class. Well done!

We have been learning more about ourselves and friendships with an ‘All About Me’ topic. The children have been taking part in discussions about how we are all different and that makes us all special and unique. The children made self portraits of themselves using mirrors to check eye and hair colour. The portraits are now proudly displayed on our nursery wall.

We have also been learning about our wellbeing Icons with a focus on Safe and Healthy this week. Have a look at the photos to see what some of the children said about keeping safe and being healthy.

Please see the attached photo to see what is on offer for snack next week (week beginning 14th September).

We hope you all have a great weekend!

The Nursery Team

It has been a busy few weeks here in the nursery. We have welcomed many new children into our setting and we are so proud of all our returning children as they have been so kind and supportive towards the new children.

We are focusing on learning more about each other and talking about our feelings and experiences. We will be sending home more information on this over the next few weeks.

If you would like to email us a picture of your family we can display it in the nursery. You will find the new nursey email address on the newsletter.

Have a great weekend

The Nursery Team

Good morning everyone.  We really hope you are all well and keeping safe.  Here are a few suggestions / ideas on how to prepare your little cherub for school. As daunting as it may feel you are doing an amazing job and we know our children from St Nicholas Nursery are very resilient and confident individuals. We are very fortunate as a nursery to be adjacent to  Primary 1, which permits us to have a continuous  transition throughout the year. The children are very familiar  and comfortable with our infant area which is shared with Primary 1 on a daily basis.

Lets hope we will all be together soon.  Take care, be kind, stay positive and well.

Best wishes The Nursery Team xx

We hope you are all well during this uncertain time. This is a suggestion to keep your little ones busy at home. The children enjoy participating in mindfulness session in the nursery where we focus on breathing and feeling good about ourselves.

This is a video from Cosmic Kids which focuses on breathing. They do lots of other videos too to keep your children active so have a look and keep safe.

The Nursery Team