This week the new house corner resources have been extremely popular with some fantastic imaginative play going on, especially with the baby dolls. The children have been learning about things that are safe to put in their bodies and things they should not touch or put near their mouths. As we are entering Spring we will be looking at plants and growth over the coming weeks. Outside the mud kitchen has been cooking up some not so delicious cakes, biscuits and pies which the children have enjoyed making with mud. The den building has also been popular with the children reading books outside in their dens.

This week we have been exploring patterns with the children. We looked at patterns on our clothes and on animals. We then took this further by looking at patterns outside in the playground. At the water tray there has been patterned socks for the children to match and sort which they have really enjoyed. At the art table they could explore painting patterns with different colours of paint. The big book planners will be available next week for you to see what they have been up too. We are moving on to looking after our bodies next week.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with Scottish Futures Trust and the Care Inspectorate are developing design guidance for early learning and childcare service providers. They are looking for the views of parents and carers about the important aspects of child care services. See below for the link which will take you to their survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NFSZWCV

We have had a busy week playing indoor and outdoors and exploring colours with the different activities on offer. Some new play equipment arrived for our outdoor area and the children have had great fun building and exploring the outdoor blocks. Yesterday they had the opportunity to explore mixing colours with their hands which was messy but lots of fun.

Remember next week the nursery will finish on the Thursday and the children do not return until Wednesday 15th.

We have had lots of fun with light in the nursery this week. The children have been using torches in the black out tent to make shadow puppets with their hands. We have a new light box which the children have been using to explore shapes and colours. We turned the lights off in the nursery and used the projector and smartboard to create our own shadows. For our big book planner we talked about sources of light at home and in our environment.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who came along to our stay and play sessions this week.

Next week is the morning children’s assembly. Please come to the schools main entrance on Friday for 9.15am.

The afternoon children will be performing their assembly on Wednesday 8th February at 2.30pm. Please come to the school main entrance for this time.

This week we have been focusing on light and dark within the topic of space which the children were interested in last week. On Tuesday we set up the black out tent and the children explored it in small groups using torches. They also learned how to make shadow puppets using the torch and their hands. They had a great time exploring and making the puppets. Outside the morning children helped to make a rocket out of one of our new wicker tents using foil. They zoomed off to space and were landing on different planets during their play. In the afternoon the children used the bricks to build a museum. We looked at photos of the national museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the type of exhibitions they had. There was lots of discussion about the animals in the museum and some of the children were able to describe when they had visited it.

Next week we will be introducing a light box to the nursery for the children to further explore light and dark. We will also try to make shadows using the smartboard.

This week the children have been interested in a space theme with rockets and jet packs zooming around the nursery. They have also been talking about the type of snack they like to eat. At group time this week we asked the children to find their own name from a selection using the picture to help them and then without the picture. Yesterday we took the children in groups outside to explore the snow. They enjoyed making footprints in the snow and trying to make snowballs to throw.

Next week we will be continuing with the space theme and also further extending literacy skills during group time.

Afternoon parents please note that the afternoon assembly will now be on Wednesday 8th February and not the 9th as previously stated in the last newsletter. 

All of the children had a great time at the nursery party today. They had some disco dancing, party games and everyone enjoyed their party food. We hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and New year. We will look forward to seeing everyone back on the 4th of January.

Christmas arrived in the nursery this week. We have had a Santa’s workshop in the building area with the children wrapping parcels. The musical instruments have been out and the children have been playing jingle bells. Yesterday there was a Santa’s sleigh with four reindeer pulling the sleigh along. The children enjoyed giving out the presents from the sleigh. Look out for the Christmas trees that the children have decorated and are displayed in the nursery.

Next week is the last week of nursery before the Christmas holidays. Wednesday is our Christmas party day and the children should come to nursery in their party clothes. A special visitor will be visiting the nursery parties and if you wish to see your child receive their present please come to the nursery at 10.30am for the morning nursery and 2.30pm for the afternoon nursery children.

The nursery will close for the holidays on Wednesday and reopen on Wednesday 4th January after the Christmas break.

The nursery team would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

A huge well done to all the nursery boys and girls for singing so well at our nursery performances today. They were all superstars and demonstrated great confidence standing on the stage performing for an audience. The next Christmas event will be the nursery Christmas party on the last day of school.

Just a reminder that the pre-school eye tests will be carried out next Tuesday during the nursery session.

This week has been busy in the nursery. It is road safety week so on Tuesday we had visits from the school’s Junior Road Safety Officers who did a magic trick to explain how to cross a road safely. The children very much enjoyed the magic show and were all able to talk about the magic words you use when crossing the road – Stop Look, Listen and Think. Today the children had the puppet show from Mousetale theatre. They enjoyed watching the puppet show in the dark  and at the end got to meet some of the puppets from the show.

Next week will continue to be busy in the nursery. On Wednesday it is the school Christmas Fair in the main hall. The nursery children have made lovely Christmas tree decorations to sell at the fair. The fair opens at 6pm and finishes at 7.30pm and there will be lots of stalls with craft items to buy and prizes to be won. On Thursday the children will be performing a selection of festive songs for their Christmas Concert. They have made their own hats for the performance and have been practising hard to learn the words and actions to the songs. We look forward to seeing family members in the main hall on Thursday .

Christmas is fast approaching and next week we will also be decorating the tree and making the nursery look more festive.