Hello everyone…

What a week we have had. Children have been very busy learning about all sorts of things…
At the start of the week children made pancake batter to celebrate Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. One child was amazed at using the electric whisk, I think more batter went outside the bowl and surrounding area < "It goes soooooo fast, wheee."

Continuing on from last week’s focus: Fairtrade and why farmers need extra money to support their family as some children recognise how fortunate we are in our country as "We have snack, and drink milk and water." "You have to look after your teeth or they will move down to here (gums)." This linked nicely to the introduction of UNCRC article 24, where it is the right of ALL children to have good healthy food, water and health care". This message will be further explored next week.
Some children went on a bus journey to explore and discover Fairtrade produce in West Calder Scotmid – don't worry if your child didn't go this time, there will be other opportunities. Some children were apprehensive as they hadn't been on a bus before but it it wasn't long before they enjoyed the ride. Children were very enthusiastic exploring all the aisles looking for that iconic logo. They discovered tea, coffee, bananas, lots of chocolate and even the odd Easter Egg or two. One child was amazed at the the wine aisle, a few stories were shared about someone liking this… The children did buy some produce – chocolate, tomatoes, drinking chocolate, and all children just loved bananas.

Children were very keen to make chocolate crispies which they took home to eat.

World Book Day was yesterday: Thursday, and children visited the school library where school staff were very kind to leave a wee treat or two to share with the children. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and discovered a hidden piano and a few other instruments. They entertained staff with an impromptu performance.

Everyone is warmly invited to support Addiewell’s planting event. It is on March 16th between 12:45 and 2:00 pm. This is the perfect opportunity for both morning and afternoon session to come along and either collect your child or be a moment or two late dropping off. Everyone is hoping for dry weather.

This is a fantastic initiative to make learning maths fun for everyone. A story is chosen and some activities are organised for children to participate or engage with throughout their session.
So far for estimation we read Goldilocks and the three bears where some children wanted to make bowls for the bears porridge. They then had to guess which held the most, or compare more/less.

This week the story has changed to Counting Crocodiles where children have the opportunity to learn number orderings and sequencing. If you could do something similar at home where you challenge your child to say which number is more than or less than a number you have stated would support us in nursery to build confidence and consistency with the children’s learning. You don’t need anything special – collect stones, sticks or even leaves.

On a separate note – Playbase is hoping to start up in our Community Centre. This is a West Lothian play project from Broxburn Family Centre and will support families by working alongside our community to develop skills . If you wish to find out more please visit them on their FB page, or telephone 01506 857158 or email leigh@fcdwl.org