Category Archives: Nursery

Learning Letters, Nursery

Nursery Learning Letter Term 4

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Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome to the final term this session.  Term 3 was very busy with our focus on Superheroes and on keeping ourselves healthy.  Highlights from the term include visits by the Fire Brigade and the Ambulance Service.  The children also enjoyed taking part in our Burns Celebrations in January.  It was fantastic to have so many mums join us for our Mother’s Day tea party. Everyone enjoyed it and the children loved having you in the nursery with them. Thank you for once again supporting us and your children. This term we will be looking forward to our Sports Day, our trip to the Five Sisters Zoo and an event to celebrate the end of another year. We are also excited about the return of Adventure Ted. We hope you and your child have a lovely time with him.  We are looking forward to a variety of transition events for our Preschool children this term preparing them to ensure their move to Primary School is smooth.

Kind regards, Mrs Murray, Mrs Diamond, Mrs Aikman and Mrs Findlay

nursery learning letter term 4

Nursery, Technologies

GoPro Guys!

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At the smart board, the children watched their video footage made using the GoPro. Watching and listening carefully the children took turns to discuss and share their learning experiences with each other. It was good looking back at what we have been doing in the nursery and will continue to explore how we can use various technologies to enhance our learning through play.

Achievement Awards, Community, Events, Maths & Numeracy, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Sciences, Technologies

Term 3 Celebration Assembly

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This morning we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Celebration so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Remarkable Reader Awards. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house and a big well done to Almondell who won the House Cup for last term.

Miss Sherlow presented those pupils who came in the top 50 of the West Lothain SumDog Competition with a certificate.

Lewis and Ross, both past pupils from our school who now attend West Calder High shared their achievements with us. They reminded us it was important to achievement academically and in other areas of life, and also to have fund along the way. A big thank you to Lewis and Ross for joining us.

 

 

 

Events, Expressive Arts, Fundraising, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, PSA, Uncategorized

PSA Easter Egg Competiton

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A big well done to everyone who participated in the PSA Easter Egg Competition. Mrs Murray and Miss Sherlow had a difficult job judging the competition! Mrs Learmont from the PSA presented the winners with an Easter Egg at the Church service today. Thank you to the PSA for organising this event.

 

English & Literacy, Expressive Arts, Nursery, Technologies

Snow Day!

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Even though it was the first day of Spring, the nursery children had great fun playing and exploring the snow. They made snowmen, slushes, pretended to be snow ploughs and all this was filmed by our GoPro team! They even filmed themselves giving an update on the new nursery. By lunch time the snow had cleared so the boys and girls asked to have bubbly water, pretending it was snow and burst into Christmas songs!  The children were very excited to wear their new waterproof suits.

Community, Events, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, STEM 2017, Useful Websites

Building Site Safety

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Today, Mid Calder Primary had an important talk from Stephen from Hadden Construction, the company who are building our new nursery. He showed us the plans for the nursery, described what it will look like, and spoke to us about some of the equipment that will be used to build it. We also learned about the different careers people can have in the construction industry. He also taught us, very importantly, about the potential dangers found on a building site, and how to keep ourselves safe.

Stephen also introduced a whole competition to design a poster about building site safety. Hadden Construction have very kindly donated money to the school for prizes, so we are very excited to take part and to share what we have learned about how to stay safe.

If you want to learn more about building site safety, visit Ivor Goodsite’s website: https://www.ivorgoodsite.org.uk/kidszone/

English & Literacy, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, STEM 2017, Technologies

Sharing our Learning!

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This week, the nursery children visited the P1 and P2/1 classes to share what they had observed and learned during the construction of the new nursery building. They confidently used the GoPro to film their visit, explaining which materials were used, what held the bricks together and why the pipes were under the ground. The P1 and P2/1 children exchanged their knowledge, showing us their Architect drawings and building area. Thank you for letting us visit your class to share our learning.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Community, Events, Maths & Numeracy, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Sciences, Technologies, Uncategorized

STEM Sharing the Learning Afternoon

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This afternoon we opened our doors to parents, carers and friends to come and explore our STEM interdisciplinary learning. In the different areas we had:

  • Nursery: STEM activities
  • P1 and P2/1: Building our Nursery
  • P3/2: Bike Challenge
  • P3: Baby Gym
  • P4: Project Planetarium
  • P5: Kidnapped: CSI
  • P6-7: Cool Chemistry

Visitors had an opportunity to take part in a range of science, technologies, engineering and mathematical activities with their children including chemistry experiments, designing the front of our new nursery, making parts of a bike, trying out toys for our baby gyms, making star constellations, fingerprint analysis and showcasing how we use digital learning.

The Nursery used this opportunity to try out their Go Pro, and Scarlet and Archie recorded the STEM afternoon through their eyes.

Our Technical Troopers also tried out using Microsoft Forms to collect information about out visitors’ experiences. This was a fantastic and instant way to gain feedback. You can complete the form by clicking here if you did not have time to do so during your visit.

Some of our feedback so far has included:

The most popular Science, Technologies or Mathematical skills evident during your visit:

  • Creativity
  • Observation
  • Problem Solving
  • Scientific inquiry and investigation
  • Discussion

We use a range of ways to involve parents/carers in their children’s learning. The methods you prefer are:

  • Newsletter
  • Parents Night
  • Sending jotters home
  • Sharing the Learning Afternoon

At Mid Calder we use digital technologies in a range of ways to enhance learning and teaching experiences. How do you feel the use of digital technologies enhances your child/ children’s learning?

  • To enhance learning for the future and modern living. Knowing what is safe and secure online. Learning new things that I may not be able to help with or understand.
  • Excellent , as technology is the future and will be used more and more as my child gets older and becomes an adult. I would encourage more use of technology in school and support the use of all types of digital technologies.
  • The use of digital learning will enhance their learning experiences and translate to real life.
  • I think they find it more engaging and interesting. Technology is everywhere, in leisure and the world of work and it helps to learn about it now. In the case of Sumdog, learning can be continued at home.
  • I feel that the digital technology used in the nursery is a great way to help the children’s understanding of how the things in the real world work. Everything is digital now and learning to use these technologies at a young age is beneficial as these can be used in a range of ways. We have a range of different devices in the household and although used more as a treat, I feel that my child knows how things work and can’t believe how quickly things can be picked up.

Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event.