Marilyn Li – Page 2

2nd November 2017

Nursery News November 2017 Millerfield Place

Nursery News November 2017

Thank you to all parents who completed our Values, Vision & Aims questionnaires. We really appreciate your input and will feedback to everyone once we have collated all of the responses.

Thank you also to Krishna’s Mum, Radhika, for coming in and celebrating Diwali with the children. Radhika read us a story about Diwali and played songs for us to dance to. We also used coloured sand and our fingers to make Rangoli patterns & designs.

Zoolab

The children sat really well as we listened to the Halloween story and learned about the Zoolab animals. We got to touch (if we wanted to!) and look at a snake, toads, snails, a tarantula, cockroach & a millipede. All of the children were very good at remembering to wash their hands afterwards!

Outdoor Learning in the Community

We spent some time at the Meadows and Sciennes woodland this month gathering leaves and natural materials for our displays and messy play.

Our Forest Schools trips have been going really well. We have been learning about the animals that live at Blackford pond as well as discussing environmental print, such as street signs, we see on our way to the pond.

Some of the Rabbits went to Summerhall to take part in in a workshop called ‘I’m a very Clever Cat’- part of the kite and trumpet festival of Polish art. We listened to stories and had lots of fun creating artwork using wool and other collage materials.

Diary Dates

Wednesday 15^th November- Parent Forum

Thursday 14^th December- Rabbit & Fox Nativity & Christmas Party

Friday 15^th December- Hedgehogs Christmas Party

5th October 2017

Hedgehogs News October 2017

Hedgehogs News October 2017

A big Welcome! to Thomas, Solo, Angus, Cormac and Salman, our new Hedgehogs, who started with us this month – and a very Happy Birthday! to Julek, Max, Emily and Krishna who are now 2 and to Cormac who recently had his first birthday.

This month the children have been very busy helping to make a pond for our Tree Room wall display. It has been great fun, gluing and sticking with our friends. We have had lots of activities to encourage and develop our fine motor skills, using our big chalk board and threading pasta through spaghetti. We have also been exploring our junk modelling table, gluing and sticking lots of different things, painting and playing in the sand and water tray.

In the Tree Room, we have been doing lots of different Number and animal puzzles, drawing on paper and magazines with chalk and crayons, also doing role play with dolls, story time and lots of music time that keeps us very active and on our toes. We have been practicing taking off our socks and shoes and putting them back when it’s time to go to the garden or go home. This encourages the children to become independent along with their fine motor skills and concentration skills.

We have been using the Bird Room, which is a nice quiet room, for our tired little Hedgehogs who need naps throughout the day. We also use this room for Hedgehogs to explore texture and sensory play.

Garden time is always great fun, we get all wrapped up in our waterproofs if it’s raining so we can still go out to play. Some of us have been developing and using our hand and feet coordination, kicking and throwing balls with our teachers and friends. Our teachers read us stories in the Garden Room if we want to have quiet time or we free play in the garden with the slide, buggies, babies, building blocks, sand play, bikes, balls, and our Wendy house where we also do role play and peekaboo.

We continue to go to the Care Home every second Wednesday with two Hedgehogs and 4 children from downstairs. We really enjoy the activities with the residents and making friends with them. We have also had trips to the Meadows park with our older Foxes and Rabbits which is great fun.

5th October 2017

Rabbits & Foxes News October 2017

Rabbits and Foxes News October 2017

Happy birthday to Isabella and Pearl who have both just turned 3!

A big hello to Karen who is starting at the beginning of October!

Wow, September was a very busy month for us in the Rabbits and Foxes group. We finished our Dinosaurs topic, and enjoyed measuring the Dinosaurs and learning how to compare their sizes using appropriate language (taller, smaller, etc). The children also really enjoyed doing “Rhymeasarus” – with Denisa’s help, they choose rhyming words from their Core Text and matched them together. We learned a little bit about the Triassic and Jurassic periods. The children seemed to really enjoy looking at the difference in the dinosaurs from these periods and chose some to draw themselves.

The Rabbits and Foxes talked a lot about their feelings over the last few weeks . The children were able to identify their core feelings (happy, sad, angry and frightened) and we discussed different ways we can deal with these feelings. The children have been practicing using their words to tell both adults and other children what they would like and how they feel.

Both Rabbits and Foxes have had their turns at Forest Schools. The Foxes enjoyed half day sessions at Sciennes Woods where they did lots of digging, searching for bugs and really enjoyed creating beautiful things from nature. The Rabbits have now started going to Blackford Pond for their block of Forest Schools. Everyone has been having a brilliant time exploring the area and watching the ducks, swans and geese.

We are now well in swing with our Tatty Bumpkin and Enjoy-A-Ball sessions. All the children in nursery on a Monday get to have great Adventures with Tatty B and do some Yoga all the way. All of our 3 year olds love going out to the Meadows on a Tuesday to practice their balls and other practical skills.

We are now starting a new topic called “Our Nursery”. We look forward to discussing with the children and parents their experience of not only our nursery, but other nurseries in order to further improve our service and care. How exciting!

5th October 2017

Nursery News October 2017 Millerfield Place

Nursery News October 2017

Our Nursery Topic

As you may be aware, our new topic on the ground floor is ‘Our Nursery’. This will involve the children expressing their likes and dislikes and suggesting ideas about activities, environment and practice.

We are really excited about this new topic in our nursery and we have lots of great ideas.

We would like to invite parents to come in and spend time with us discussing their childhood memories from their own nurseries. This could include – What did your nursery look like? Did you have a uniform? What was your favourite activity? What are the differences & similarities between your nursery and ours?

We would also appreciate it if you could give us your opinion about what you like in our nursery and what makes us unique.

Junk Modelling

The Hedgehogs, Foxes and Rabbits all spend lots of time junk modelling. We would be grateful if parents could bring in any ‘junk’ (yogurt pots, kitchen roll tubes etc) from home to replenish our supplies.

Staff CPD

Kathleen has recently started studying the BA in Childhood Practice at the University of Edinburgh. Kathleen will study on a part time basis over the next 3 years.

Diary Dates

Our Halloween Tea Party will take place on Tuesday 31^st October at 3pm.

6th September 201711th September 2017

Rabbits & Foxes News September 2017

Rabbits and Foxes News September 2017

This month we have been really busy in the nursery. We said goodbye to some of our oldest Rabbits who have started school and sang Happy Birthday to Peter who turned 3 this month! We have had some great activities starting up again, such as Forest Schools for the Foxes and Enjoy-a-ball for the Rabbits, as well as our regular trips to the Meadows swing park.

Our theme this month has been Dinosaurs. The Rabbits and Foxes been learning all about the different kinds of dinosaurs and when they were alive. The Rabbits have been learning what a rhyming word is and using the rhymosaurus to create different rhyming words. We have also been learning about archeology and what archaeologists do. We searched for dinosaur bones in sand and tried to match the dinosaur to its picture.

We have also been thinking about our emotions and recognising the different emotions that we have by drawing and exploring different images of people and how these emotions make us feel.

This month Carrie has been doing eco schools with the children and we had an eco meeting which went really well. We got lots of ideas for upcoming events and ways for the nursery to be more eco friendly. Thank you to Sarah’s dad, Slim for coming along and giving us some great ideas.

The Foxes theme this month has also been dinosaurs, and we have incorporated dinosaurs into our messy play and water play. We have read lots of books on dinosaurs, looked at all the different types that there were and including this in the Foxes floorbook

A new block of Forest Schools started this month and the Foxes have had lots of fun digging for insects and having our hot chocolate outside. We have been getting really muddy, running around outside and playing with the ropes, making swings and balancing beams.

6th September 2017

Hedgehogs News September 2017

Hedgehogs News September 2017

Meadows would like to give a warm welcome to Theia and Isa, our new Hedgehogs, who started with us this month, we look forward to getting to know you all more.

We would also like to wish Sandy a very happy 1^st birthday!

We have been very busy in the Animal Room this month, messy painting our own little fishes for our wall display which has been great fun. Our teachers helped us to plant our own water cress plants by putting cotton wool into a tub with water, then adding our seeds. We also enjoyed our junk modelling table, gluing and sticking lots of different things.

In the Tree Room, we have had our tunnels out, puzzles, drawing paper and crayons, role play dolls, story time and lots of music time which keeps us very active. We have been practicing taking off our socks and shoes and putting them back on when it’s time to go to the garden or to go home.

We have had lots of messy fun in the garden playing with our mud kitchen. Some of us Hedgehogs used our spades to carry the sand over into the sand tray which takes a lot of concentration and hand eye coordination skills. We have also had our water tray out and some of us got very wet splashing about with our friends. We have lots of activities such as drawing with crayons, balancing beams, ball games, sand and water.

We continue to go to the care home every second Wednesday with 2 Hedgehogs and 4 older children. We do lots of activities with the residents which helps us to develop skills and relationships. We have also had trips to the park with the older Foxes and Rabbits.

We had a tea party at the start of this month for which the children baked banana scones and biscuits. Parents were also invited to the tea party and had some snacks with the children and some juice!

17th August 2017

Nursery News July 2017 Millerfield Place

Nursery News July 2017

Trips

This month the Rabbits and Foxes have been learning about Summer. Within our Summer topic, the children wanted to learn more about holidays and transport so we turned our home corner into an airport and have been learning about holiday destinations around the world. We have also carried out surveys of the modes of transport the children and teachers used to go on their holidays.

The Hedgehogs have had a great time exploring baking activities this month. We have been exploring the different textures of the ingredients and had lots of fun mixing our ingredients together with our spoons (and hands!).

We have all been getting out and about to the Meadows, the Fruit Shop and the Care Home this month. We have been taking our clipboards with us so that we can record what we see on our walk, using tally marks beside pictures of objects eg. dog, bike.

Activities

Our new blocks of Enjoy-a-Ball, Forest Schools, Care Home visits and Tatty Bumpkins will commence in August. The days of these activities will be rotated to allow all children to take part in all the relevant activities.

The first blocks will take place on-

Mondays – Tatty Bumpkins

Tuesdays – Enjoy-a-ball

Wednesdays – Care Home

Thursdays – Forest Schools

Standards, Quality & Improvement Plan

Thank you to all children, parents and staff who provided us with valuable feedback for our Standards, Quality & Improvement Plan. A summary of our 2017/2018 priorities is displayed on the front hall notice board.

Diary Dates

Eco Committee meeting 29^th August @ 4:30pm

13th July 201713th July 2017

Hedgehogs News June 2017

Hedgehogs News June 2017

The Hedgehogs would like to welcome our new friends Ella, Sandy and Magnus to our nursery.

We have been very busy this month exploring our plastic bugs. Our teachers put bugs in gloves with water and froze them so we could explore the different textures. We have also been fruit painting and making lots of patterns and cards for our new friends. We have had lots of water play and sand play too, we love getting messy and wet in nursery.

We have been doing lots of dancing. We love music and we never stand still when there is a tune playing! We have been singing lots of circle songs and even doing the actions. We have also been very interested in hand washing. We did various activities, including using a gel that allowed us to see the bacteria.

Some of the children have been helping to settle our new little Hedgehogs. We have shown our new friends our sensory toys and texture play.

We have been helping our teachers water the plants in our garden and have been learning about wildlife which was fun. We have lots of water play in the garden and exploring the patterns we can make in the sand.

We have been on trips to the Care Home this month and spent time with the residents. We have also been on trips to the park with our Rabbits and Foxes friends from the nursery. We have lots of fun at the park and enjoy getting out on a walk.

5th June 20175th June 2017

Hedgehogs News May 2017

Hedgehogs News May 2017

We would like to give a very big welcome our new friends Ella & Sandy who have joined the Hedgehogs this month.

We have had lots of activities in the Tree room this month. We turned our home corner into a grocery shop, with baskets to collect and learn about all different kind of food. We have also had lots of fun exploring our doctors role play set, checking over the teddy bears and babies with it, which has been really fun.

Scented play dough was great fun this month! We added lemon and lime to our play dough and also different colours, so we can learn colours and smells. Our teachers have let us do some tasting of the fruit we put into the play dough. We tasted some lemon and we made lots of funny faces. We have also been splashing in our water tray which has been lots of fun.

In the Bird room this month we have been focusing on a cosy corner with books that we like to read with our teachers and friends. We have lots of picture books and sensory books so we have lots of fun when we are reading. We have also been making funny faces in our mirrors with our friends to see our reflection.

Garden time is always fun in the sun. We have been singing Sleeping Bunnies under our parachute which we use shade us from the sun. We have been on our bikes and our teachers have been drawing tracks and snakes that the children all try to follow with their feet, which helps to develop their eye coordination and balance.

We took a few trips to Meadows Park this month to practice and develop our gross motor skills on climbing frames. We also had trips to the care home and did lots of fun activities such as painting, drawing, catching and reading books with some of the residents.

5th June 2017

Nursery News May 2017 Millerfield Place

Nursery News May 2017

Policy of the month

Our policy of the month for June is Sun Care, a copy of which is shown on the hall notice board. The nursery is committed to ensuring that all children are fully protected from the dangers of too much sun. It would be much appreciated if children could arrive at nursery with sun cream on if it’s going to be a hot day with a high UV index.

Activities

This month on the ground floor we have continued learning about the Life Cycle. The Foxes have been exploring bugs and mini beasts, while the Rabbits have been learning about the life cycle of different animals as well as the life cycle of humans. We have been looking at our caterpillars regularly to see which stage of their life cycle they are in!

On the middle floor we have been having lots of sensory play! The Hedgehogs have been exploring the smells, tastes and textures of fruit and vegetables and have carried out food tasting and printing activities. Our older Hedgehogs have been learning how to walk on the walkodile and walked really well while on our trips to the Meadows Park!

Our care home visits are going really well. This month we have been drawing, playing jenga and making paper plate pandas with the residents. We have invited the residents to come to the nursery later this month to listen to the Foxes and Rabbits sing their summer show songs.

Parent Involvement

We would like to say a big Thank you to Christian (Emily’s Dad) for coming in and reading the Hedgehogs stories in German. The Hedgehogs seemed to enjoy listening to Christian’s stories!

Forest Schools

We are currently on our last block of Forest Schools before the Summer. Forest Schools will resume after the summer at Sciennes Woodland with the Foxes and younger Rabbits.

Staffing

All staff recently completed a full day refresher infection control training course learning the most up to date infection control procedures.

Diary Dates

Friday 9 June – P1 party

Friday 23 June – Summer Show

Friday 30 June – Sports Day