Mrs Caskie

Nursery News

Another busy and exciting week has flown by in Nursery. Our Transition programme continued with our pre schoolers getting the opportunity to have a school lunch in the dinner hall alongside our school pupils. They all coped with this new challenge so well and there were plenty of empty plates !

We enjoyed the lovely warm weather and took our learning outside a lot this week. The children used their curiosity and creativity when they made a den out of material, pegs and bricks and worked really well as a team to complete this. Our buddies also came along to play with us and we enjoyed showing them all the exciting things we were able to do. Our potatoes are really growing well in the heat and hopefully we can use these when they are finished growing. The children also enjoyed singing and dancing on our stage. What talented children we have! Can we please ask that the children come to Nursery in hot days wearing suntan cream and a hat. Thank you for your help in this.

We had a special visitor in our AM session when Eilidh brought in her pet turtle Sheldon to see us and some children were brave enough to hold him. We were able to think up some interesting questions to ask her about him. Thank you Eilidh.

We continue with our Transition programme next week with our two moving up days . On Tuesday 7th June the children should be brought to the main entrance of the school for 9 o’ clock where you will be taken into the main school hall. The children will be taken down to their new classes and get the chance to meet their new teacher and the other children in their class. There will be a meeting for parents while the children are away where you will be given important information about the school. The children will be brought back to the hall at 11 o’ clock.

On Wednesday 10th June the children should be brought to the infant playground for 9 o’clock where they will line up at coloured cones and the Primary 1 teachers will come out and collect them. The children should then be collected from the cones at 11 o’ clock. As the children will also go out at playtime on both these days they can bring a small snack to eat when out. Please ensure children have suitable clothing depending on the weather.

Transition letters have been issued with all the information for these two days. As usual if you have any worries or questions please don’t hesitate to ask any member of the Nursery team who will be more than happy to answer these for you.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine if it stays.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

Wow what an even busier week than usual in Nursery. We have been taking part in lots of activities during Health week. These included football, yoga, the Daily Mile, playground games with the buddies and dance clips on the Smartboard. We have been discussing what we need to do and eat to stay healthy and building on teamwork and working together.

The children in both sessions also visited the local library and enjoyed listening to a story about a baby kangaroo called, ” No room for Roo,” which was then followed by a talk about Australia using animal puppets. The children all enjoyed this fantastic opportunity to visit the library and we have planned three more visits which take place on Mondays starting with Monday 30th May.

Next week our transition programme continues with the children who are starting school in August joining the Primary 1 pupils for 10 minutes to experience playtime in the playground. This will involve both sessions. This will be outwith the normal playtime hours so it’s not too busy for them for their initial experience. We would appreciate it if the children could bring a small snack with them which they can eat during the playtime. The nursery children will also be joining the Primary 1 children for a shared learning experience which will be Science based. There will be a lesson in the classroom and one in the Outdoor area. We are sure they will all enjoy this collaborative learning. The nursery children will also be asked to choose their lunch for the following week as they will be able to have the experience of joining the school at lunchtime in the dinner hall. More details of this will be given out next week.

Also next week we are planning a Polish breakfast on Wednesday 25th May and Nathan and Leons’dad has very kindly offered to come in and help us with this. All AM children are welcome to come to this when Nursery opens at 805am.

Just a wee reminder that Nursery is on holiday on Monday. We look forward to seeing all the children back on Tuesday. If you haven’t received a time for our Parental consultations on Wednesday and Thursday and would like one please contact the school office and they will be happy to give you a time slot.

We hope the children have all enjoyed Health week and we are sure they would be very tired. The Nursery Team certainly were! Please check out our Nursery Parents Facebook page for more photos of Health Week.

Have a lovely holiday weekend.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

Although a shorter week at Nursery it has been as busy as usual. We have continued with our Fairy tales topic with the children leading on the planning and learning experiences.

Our AM children have been busy in the construction area building lots of exciting models including the Gingerbread house. They have been writing about the characters in the story and drawing them too. We also had some special visitors on Wednesday. Four teachers from Panama were visiting the school and nursery. They were very impressed when we greeted them in Spanish and loved our bright and nurturing environment.They took lots of photographs to take back to their school.

Our PM children have been loving the puppet theatre and have been retelling the story of Hansel and Gretel using the puppets they made themselves. The audience have been very impressed by the shows! They have also been busy in the construction area with lots of fantastic models being made.

We have also been outdoors and continued with our construction ideas using our natural materials. We are hoping for lovely warm weather soon,

Our transition programme continues next week with our PM children who are going to school in August visiting P1R to rake part in some carousel activities. They are looking forward to having this exciting experience. We also have some special visitors on Monday and Tuesday. Watch this space next week for details!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

Another busy and exciting week in Nursery. Our transition programme is well underway with the Talking Books making their way round the children. Our AM children visited Primary 1D in their groups to take part in a Literacy carousel. They all did extremely well and looked so grown up. A big thank you to Miss Diamond and her super class. Our PM children will have their visits in the week beginning 9th May. All details of our transition programme are contained in the transition booklet which was given out last week. If you have any questions on any of the activities please ask any member of the Nursery team.

In our consultative planning with the children the topic of Fairy Tales came out as the firm favourite. Our AM children chose The Gingerbread Man as their first story. This week they have listened to the story, drawn pictures of the gingerbread man, made headbands with their favourite character from the story on them. They also got the opportunity to smell real ginger and even made some gingerbread men biscuits which they then decorated and ate! They were yummy.

Our PM children chose Hansel and Gretel as their favourite story. They also listened to the story, made the cottage covered in sweets and managed to decorate it without eating the sweets! They also made puppets of the characters in the story and they plan to use these next week to retell the story in our puppet theatre. We can’t wait to see that! They also listened to a song about the story and sang along to it.

Just a little reminder that Nursery is on holiday on Monday and Tuesday. We look forward to welcoming all the children back on Wednesday.

Have a lovely holiday weekend. Hope the weather improves!

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

It was lovely to welcome back all the children on Monday and we are looking forward to a very busy but exciting last term. As part of Creative Industries week the children had a visit from Andrew a musician who worked with the boys and girls on their favourite Nursery rhymes. They all did a fantastic job with their singing and dancing.

Nursery rhymes was also the focus in our transition programme as the children had to pick their favourite rhyme and perform it for the Primary 1 children who in turn showed us their fantastic work and learning in their rhymes. We carried on this learning in our water tray when the children decided to put a long tube round the top of the tray and see how the water moved up and down it just like Incy Wincy Spider moved up and down the water spout!

AM children decided on Humpty Dumpty and PM children chose Incy Wincy Spider as their favourite rhymes. As well as singing their rhymes the children also made props and puppets. They all did an amazing job! A big thank you goes to Mrs Roy , Miss Diamond and all the Primary 1 children for working with us on this project. There will be lots of further opportunities to work with Primary 1 as part of our transition programme. A booklet explaining all the planned activities will be issued to parents next week.

Wednesday was a very busy day for baking birthday cakes as Leon in AM and Klaudia in PM celebrated their birthdays. They both did a great job of making delicious cakes.

Also next week as part of our consultative planning we will be asking the children for their ideas on what they would like their next topic to be. Watch this space!

Next Thursday Nursery Natter takes place at 2.00 pm for our PM children and on Friday between 10.30 and 11.00 for our AM children. This gives you an opportunity to come along and read your child’s Learner Journey and discusss with them all they are learning at Nursery.

Also on Thursday during the Natter there will be a Bake Sale . This will be the first time Nursery has been involved with this. Our PM children along with P1D and P2B are asked to bake some cakes which can then be bought during the natter. Half of the money made at the sale will be split between the three classes and the other half goes to the Parent Council. The children can then decide what they would like to buy for Nursery with their share. We would really appreciate any donations of home baking which can be handed in at the beginning of the PM Nursery session on Thursday. The AM children will be involved in a Bake Sale later on in the term.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

First of all we would like to thank all the parents who came along to our focus groups as part of our review week. We really appreciated you taking the time to come along and we value your continued support.

We have been continuing with our Space topic this week and the children had the opportunity to make alien headbands and space play dough. The children also made a model of Earth using a football. What a great idea! Lots of rockets continue to be built in the construction area and some children even became human rockets!

In our Outdoor learning we have been looking at Numeracy and Literacy using ten green bottles and using books to look for signs of Spring and nature. The children then recorded their findings on paper. We have continued this indoors using matching games and Space pictures as a stimulus for writing. The children have also helped make a lovely Spring tree and painted some beautiful grass to go under it.

Our focus next week will be Easter. We will be looking at Easter traditions, take part in Easter crafts and of course looking for some hidden Easter eggs!

Just a little reminder that on Wednesday 23rd March the Nursery is joining the school to have Daily Mile with dad or grandad at 10.00am and 2.00pm. If you are free to come along and join in you are more than welcome to . No running required! Also on Thursday 24 March at 10.00am and 2.00pm we are having a Sponsored Bunny Hop where the children will be hopping round the school. Parents and Carers are invited to join us for this. There will be no sponsor forms issued for this but we would welcome any donations which will go towards the buying of new Nursery resources in consultation with the children.

Please note Nursery finishes on Thursday 24th March for the Easter holidays and everyone returns on Monday 11th April.

Have a lovely weekend.

Apologies for no photographs this week as our media space is full on the Blog. They will be added as soon as space becomes available.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

What a busy week we have had in Nursery. We started our new topic Space planned with the children. All their super ideas are now on our Talking Trees. Please feel free to have a look at these the next time you are in Nursery. Also if you have any ideas or thoughts on this topic we would love it if you could write these in our Talking Books which are on display beside our trees.

One of the most favourite activities to come out of the planning was to make a rocket and these are now flying up on our Space display and from the ceiling. This gave the children the opportunity to discuss what shapes they might use in their models. The children have also become astronauts zooming into Space in our big rocket discussing how they would walk and eat in Space! Lots of sparkling stars will also soon be appearing in the sky keep an eye out when you are in. We also listened to the story Aliens love Underpants which the children loved. We talked about the author and illustrator and some children drew their own aliens which we have displayed in our Reading Corner.

On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day with a pirate theme. Lots of pirates were seen in Nursery trying to discover the lost treasure! We started the day with a yummy pirate breakfast and then we listened to a pirate story. Our Space rocket seats then became pirate boats and we even had some pirates walking the plank! The Nursery team were glad we didn’t have to do that!

Also on Thursday the children who are preparing to go to school in August went through to join the Primary 1 children for a shared story which was My granny is a Pirate which they all really enjoyed. They all behaved so well and were confident individuals. They are all certainly ready for this next exciting step in their learning. We were all really proud of them. Our transition programme will continue next week with some of the children getting an opportunity to visit the Primary 1 classrooms and get a chance to sit at a desk and have a look around.

A big well done to Jarred who received a reading Achievement certificate at our Achievement Assembly on Thursday afternoon. Our AM children will get an opportunity to go along to the next morning Achievement assembly.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and Happy Mother’s day on Sunday.

Apologies there is not enough storage space to upload more photographs. When more becomes available I will post some more.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

Although a shorter week at Nursery it was by no means quieter. On Wednesday we were all super excited to get a visit from our friends in Primary 1D and 1R who came to show us some learning apps that they use on their iPads in school. We listened really well to our excellent Primary 1 teachers. Thank you so much for coming to visit us Primary 1. Please come back again. Our pre school children are really looking forward to working alongside you when we start our transition.

As it was very frosty and snowy outside this week the children made some lovely sparkly, frosty pictures using salt and glitter. We are planning to put these fantastic pictures up on the wall.

The frost and snow didn’t keep us away from our Outdoor Learning and we got the opportunity to learn about shapes, numbers and even how long our shadows were and what made them! We discovered that the snow had left some interesting patterns and we made some little snowmen. We also explored the school garden looking at ice patterns, the sun dial and how it worked and we were amazed to see some flowers beginning to grow! We thought we looked great in our new all in one suits for outdoors. As we are trying to give the children the opportunity to go outside every day could we please ask that the children come to Nursery with warm clothing and suitable footwear. Thank you very much for your support in this.

To finish off our busy week Mrs Craig took a small group of children out to try our new balance bikes which arrived last week. Mrs Craig has attended a training day for the use of these bikes and our aim is to show the children how to use these bikes properly and also receive basic bike maintenance tips which is a valuable life skill. Pictures of our first balance bike session will be posted on the Nursery Facebook page for you to see.

We look forward to seeing the parents and carers who have signed up for our Curriculum Showcase which is on Thursday 25th February from 6.30 till 8.00. If coming along there will be a welcome from Mrs Purdie first in the main hall of the school at 6.30 after which you will then move onto your first workshop.

Lastly on World Book Day which is on Thursday 3rd March the Nursery is planning on taking on a Pirate theme and the children are welcome to come dressed as pirates that day. Ahoy, me Hearties!

Have a lovely weekend.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

This week in Nursery we have been learning about Chinese New Year which is celebrated on Monday 8th February. We listened to a story about how the years are named after different animals and had the opportunity to make Chinese drums. Our Chinese restaurant has also been busy with lots of cooking and writing down food orders. More exciting things are planned for Monday so watch this space.

In our Outdoor learning we have been using our new gardening tools to dig up the soil and see what we can discover. No treasure yet unfortunately! We are planning on buying all in one suits for the children to enable them to go outside regularly to experience all the benefits of learning outdoors.

Some of our AM children used their artistic skills to paint or colour in self portraits. Our responsive planning took on rockets too this week when some children decided they wanted to make their own rockets and then continued on to construct a super big one so they could travel to the moon wearing their moon boots and masks. They then watched a clip of Tim Peake on the Smartboard. Perhaps we may have a future astronaut in our Nursery!

We had a special treat at story time on Thursday afternoon when the children listened to the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff in both English and Polish read by our Polish student Miss Suszko. The children loved this experience and we plan to read this to our morning children next week.

Today at our Achievement assembly Kerr got a special certificate for being a reflective learner as he was excellent this week at talking about how we are Active in Nursery which is one of our GIRFEC indicators. Well done Kerr. We will be continuing to discuss each of the indicators in the GiRFEC wheel with the children and make a children’s display of this. We will post pictures of these as we complete them. We have also been recording the childrens’ views in our Talking Book.

Next week is Technology week across the school and Nursery and we are planning on working with Primary 1 classes on apps that can be used on the iPads as well as building some exciting things!

Our Breakfast Blether is on Tuesday 9th February at 845 all parents and carers are welcome to come along for an informal chat with some of the Nursery Team. If you are free to come along please add your name to the sign up sheet in the Nursery. Thank you to everyone who has put their name down so far. Remember breakfast is included! We look forward to seeing as many as possible at this event.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

The Nursery Team.

Nursery News

Another busy week in Nursery. First of all we would like to thank everyone who came along to our Nursery Natters on Thursday and Friday. If you were unable to attend this time there will be more Nursery Natters coming up.

We have continued to learn about Winter this week and we continued to look for signs of Winter outside. We discovered some ice and discussed how ice was formed and how it changed when it melted. We also looked at patterns on the leaves and how the frost changed their appearance.

Our PM children were worried that the birds were not getting enough food as it was Winter and so decided to make bird cakes. These will be put in our Nursery garden on Monday. We then plan to do some bird watching. We can’t wait to see what birds appear!

We also had a visit from Primary 2M who showed us something amazing on their iPad it was a picture of a rocket which had landed in the playground. They wanted to know if anyone had seen anything but we promised to have a look on the way home. It was all very exciting.

We have also been busy preparing for Grandparents Day which is on Thursday 28th January at 10 am and 2pm. We are very excited to show you what we have been doing. We would also be very grateful for any donations of home baking that could be handed in for this special event. Everyone is welcome to come along .

There is also a Breakfast Blether on Tuesday 9th February at 8:45 am. This is an opportunity for you to have an informal chat and provide valuable feedback to our Headteacher and members of our Nursery team. We are looking forward to seeing as many parents/carers as possible. If you are available please add your name to the sign up sheet in the Nursery . Breakfast is included!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

The Nursery Team.