Marilyn Li – Page 6

30th June 2016

Hedgehogs News June 2016

Hedgehogs News June 2016

This month the Hedgehogs have had a busy and fun month and enjoyed a range of fun and exciting activities.

Tree Room

In the Tree Room we have a construction work-shop area, where we enjoyed dressing up as builders, wearing vests and builders hats. We have had a range of different tools to explore and a builder’s work bench to use the tools on. The children have been very interested in dressing up as ‘Bob the Builder’ and helping to ‘fix’ things using their tools, whilst taking turns with friends interacting together and developing their fine motor skills. Our favourite song whilst playing in the work-shop has been “Bob the Builder”!

Animal Room

The children have shown an interest in trains, so our main focus in messy play was making our own trains using a range of junk materials such as boxes, tubes, milk bottle, bottle lids and a choice of gluing/ painting material. The Hedgehogs used their own imagination to create their very own trains.

Bird Room

The younger Hedgehogs have enjoyed time in the Bird Room using baby walkers and pulling themselves up or cruising by holding on to furniture and becoming more mobile and confident on their feet. We have also enjoyed sensory play with a variety of textures such as sand, water, glitter, foam, oats and paint, using texture gloves to feel and explore the textures through the gloves.

Outdoor Play

We have been spending lots of time in the garden in the sunshine (and also the rain!). We have enjoyed being out in the rain with our wellington boots on and splashing in the puddles. We have also been developing our gross motor skills and balancing whilst making an obstacle course using crates, tyres and balancing beams, walking across the beams whilst balancing and jumping from tyre to tyre.

30th June 201630th June 2016

Rabbits & Foxes News June 2016

Rabbits and Foxes News June 2016

Literacy

This month for literacy we have been finishing off Our Community topic where we all helped to write our own story, which we titled “Jodie Hurt Her Leg”. This is the story we all performed for you for our Summer show! We all did so well in our show, the teachers were very proud and I am sure everyone that came to see it was very impressed too. We spent lots of time learning our lines and character roles and all the song lyrics too. Well done guys!

For our new topic of schools, we have begun looking at the alphabet and all the different sounds that the different letters make. To start with we buried all the letters and name tags in the sand and had to dig around to find our own letters and names. This was lots of fun!

Numeracy

Through “Our Community” topic we were looking at money and how and when it is used. We had regular trips to the fruit shop where we got to use money in a real life setting! We have now moved onto our new topic of “Schools” as we have a few boys and girls going to school this Summer. The children were keen to learn what days we go to school and if it was the same as nursery, so we decided to look at this in more detail with them over the next few weeks. We started by singing our days of the week song and we even got a new chart which we complete every day to help us order our days.

Trips, Baking and Other Areas

We have been continuing with our weekly trips out; visiting the library and our care home and we have had tennis start up too! We have also been baking lots of yummy treats for snack and for our parties. We had a P1 party this month, where all the boys and girls who went to school last year came back to visit us and tell us all about how exciting school is. This was really good for the boys and girls who will be going to school this year as they got to see some of the things they will be doing at school.

30th June 2016

Nursery News June 2016 Millerfield Place

Nursery News June 2016

Lunch Provision

We continue to progress with the upgrade to the Pilrig nursery kitchen which will provide the additional capacity to undertake the trial provision of lunches at Millerfield Place. This includes installation of a larger commercial dishwasher & additional catering sinks to meet the demands of cooking for more children. We expect to be in a position to undertake the trial before the end of the summer and we will keep you updated.

Out & About

We have been enjoying trips to the museum and library this month! The children have done really well sitting and listening to the stories from the librarians at the library and always enjoy choosing books for us to bring back to nursery.

Our Tennis lessons over in the Meadows have also been going really well. The children taking part are all becoming more confident each week and have enjoyed learning new skills.

The Hedgehogs have enjoyed walks around the Meadows and trips to the small park. The children love to explore the climbing frame and the little roundabout!

Children & Activities

The Hedgehogs, Rabbits and Foxes have continued to love taking part in Tatty Bumpkins and Boogie Beat which are carried out by Tara & Zoe. If you would like more details on these classes please let us know.

Our Rabbits did a great job performing their summer show! The children worked really hard to write the story and learn all the songs. They had lots of fun painting props and backdrops for their show.

We are looking forward to performing some of the songs for the care home residents when they visit on 1 July.

Staff

We are pleased to welcome Kadie who recently started as Deputy Manager. Kadie has a BA in Childhood and Youth Studies and was formerly Lead Person in the Pre School room at our sister nursery at Meadows Nursery at Pilrig. Kadie joined Meadows in early 2015 and will lead the ground floor as well s undertaking the Deputy Manager role.

We will sadly be saying goodbye to Rebecca at the end of July. Rebecca is leaving us to move back down south to be closer to her family.

2nd June 20162nd June 2016

Hedgehogs News May 2016

Hedgehogs News May 2016

We would like to welcome Sebastian who has joined the Hedgehogs this month!

This month our main focus has been mark-making activities. The children have had lots of fun exploring with coloured water, making patterns on the chalk board and on paper. We also did this in the garden, using the paint brushes with coloured water to paint the walls and the ground.

Our favourite song has been “Sleeping Dinosaurs “. The children have had lots of fun doing dinosaur actions and making lots of dinosaur noises. We also had lots of big dinosaurs to play with and explore in our sand tray and also making dinosaur prints using paint and the dinosaur paws.

The younger Hedgehogs have been exploring with our sensory bags in the garden. The bags include a range of sensory objects, balls, jars and bottles and a range of materials to touch and feel and explore. The older Hedgehogs have had fun and active activities in the garden, including mark making, tunnels, hoops, balls balancing beams to develop their gross motor skills and balance. We also had lots of fun making a train and boat using crates whilst singing lots of song.

2nd June 20162nd June 2016

Rabbits & Foxes News May 2016

Rabbits and Foxes News May 2016

We would like to wish Frances, Sam, Alex, and Frieda and very big Happy Birthday!

May at nursery has been lots of fun. We have been enjoying practising for our summer show which is our own story ‘Jodie hurt her foot’. We all contributed together to draw pictures, write the story and to choose parts to play in the show. We are all doing so well and can’t wait to show our mums, dads, grandparents and friends our hard work.

This month we were very lucky and got to look after eggs which then hatched into chicks! It was great to see and very exciting for us all to watch. We got to keep the chicks at nursery for a week, feeding them and getting to hold them. The chicks got taken away and to say thank you we drew pictures of our favourite chick and gave them to the man to take away.

Our community topic has now come to an end. We learned a lot and enjoyed going out walks, exploring shops around our nursery and learning what people in our community do. We enjoyed local trips to the fruit shop to buy fruit for our snack, our weekly visit to the Care home and also walks around the Meadows.

We also have enjoyed our 6 week block of Forest Schools and visiting our local care home. It is a very fun experience for us and really does help with our confidence.

As we are losing our oldest children in a few months to go off to school we thought that in June we could focus on going to school. We will make a role-play school where the children can take turns and pretend to be teachers. We will add many new resources and also read a variety of stories about going to school to build our confidence.

We are also having a party and have invited last year’s school leavers to come back and join us to celebrate going off to school. They will share stories and experiences of their first year of school and give us advice.

We are very excited for June to begin, we have many exciting events planned and hopefully the sun will begin to come out!

2nd June 20162nd June 2016

Nursery News May 2016 Millerfield Place

Nursery News May 2016

The nicer weather has continued so we are still spending lots of time outside and have had a few picnic lunches in the garden! Can we please remind everyone to arrange for their children to have their own labelled sunhat and also suncream if you do not wish nursery suncream to be used.

Staff

We are very pleased to let you know that Kathleen has taken over the role of manager at the nursery. Kathleen has been doing a fantastic job these last few months carrying out all aspects of the role in a very calming and organised fashion! Kathleen will continue to be supported by Louise and Rebecca as floor leaders and Jen and the rest of the team. We wish her all the best in this new role.

Out & About

We will be starting a new block of our weekly visits to our local care home Glencairn and we are looking forward to getting to know the residents and taking part in activities such as drawing and making instruments with them.

We have concluded our block of Forest Schools trips to Johnston Terrace Wildlife Garden. The children had lots of fun exploring the wildlife garden and we are looking forward to starting our Forest Schools trips again after the summer holidays!

Throughout the summer we plan to have more trips to the Meadows with the Hedgehogs, Foxes and Rabbits. We often take resources such as balls and hoops with us and stay out at the Meadows for a picnic lunch.

Our weekly fruit shop trips are going very well, the children are really good at choosing fruit for snack and the older Rabbits are getting really good at identifying coins when it’s time to pay for our fruit!

Children & Activities

We really enjoyed watching our ‘living eggs’ hatch into chicks this month! The children all did really well at handling the chicks gently and washing their hands afterwards!

On the ground floor we will be turning our home corner into a school to help with the Rabbits transition to primary 1. We will also be taking part in the primary school transition projects by carrying out activities relating to ‘We’re going on a Bear hunt’ and ‘The Rainbow Fish’. We also have some primary 1 children who left Meadows Nursery last year coming in to talk to our Rabbits.

Our Hedgehogs have been spending lots of time exploring the sand this month! We added dinosaurs and natural resources for the children to explore. The Hedgehogs have also spent lots of time mark-making in the garden using Chunky chalks and crayons!

Staff CPD

Amy M attended a course on Floorbook planning, organised by Mindstretchers, which she found very interesting & informative. We are now looking forward to implementing her good ideas which will further improve our Floorbook planning with the children.

We also have a full day Child Protection course for all staff coming up on Saturday 2 July and various First Aid updates for individual staff over the next few months.

Diary Dates

Our summer show and graduation will be taking place on Friday 24 June!

4th May 2016

Rabbits & Foxes News April 2016

Rabbits and Foxes News April 2016

April has been a very quick month – the Foxes and Rabbits have been very busy and have also been having so much fun!

At the beginning of the month we started our new topic of ‘Our Community’. We have taken the children on several community walks where we discussed the different types of shops we could see in the area. We have organised regular trips out to the local fruit shop where the children were able to pick out fruit and vegetables and then help to pay for them! We then used the food for snacks or baking activities like the yummy blueberry muffins that we made! Carrying on from this, we set up a lovely shop front and cafe in our role play area which the children have really enjoyed. The children can choose all of their groceries and then pay for them with role play money. We have also been learning about where money comes from and the coins/notes that we use on a daily basis. As well as this, we have been writing our own story about the community. The children came up with the whole story – it is very exciting!

We have also been enjoying going to Johnston Terrace for Forest Schools where the children have been exploring this new area and taking a closer look at the different plants and wildlife we can see. As well as this we have been going to the Care Home and Library weekly which the children always love!

2nd May 2016

Hedgehogs News April 2016

Hedgehogs April News 2016

We would like to welcome Kiera and Misha who have joined the Hedgehogs this month! We would all like to wish Victor a big Happy 2^nd Birthday!

We have had a fantastic month in the Hedgehogs doing a range of fun activities such as messy play, role play, mark making, cognitive play and outdoor and indoor physical play!

Messy Play

This month in messy play our main focus has been sensory and texture play in our large texture tray. The Hedgehogs have enjoyed a wide range of sensory and texture activities to explore such as coloured and glittery sand, wet and dry sand, shaving foam, dry/cooked coloured rice, dry/cooked coloured pasta and spaghetti and jelly. We found that some children were not so keen at touching some of these textures with their hands. We then made up some texture gloves filled with sensory materials which the children really enjoyed exploring the sensory through the gloves.

Bird Room

The younger Hedgehogs have enjoyed time in the Bird Room exploring with our sensory and treasure baskets. This month’s favourite has been the sensory shakers making lots of different noises and using the activity board to practise standing and climbing.

Tree Room

We have enjoyed a range of activities in the Tree Room this month. The older Hedgehogs have enjoyed role play in the home corner, exploring with the tea sets and pretend food. We have also enjoyed a range of table top activities such as puzzles, sorting eggs, interlocking stars and the older Hedgehogs have enjoyed some time with the pegs boards, developing their hand-eye coordination.

Outdoor Play

The Hedgehogs have been enjoying getting out in the garden and enjoying the sunshine. We have enjoyed playing lots in the sand, making big sand castles and using the brushes to help sweep up all the sand. The younger Hedgehogs have enjoyed using the baby walkers in the garden to get around and become more mobile and confident on their feet. We will keep encouraging this indoors and outdoors.

Trips

The Hedgehogs have enjoyed trips out to the Meadows Park and also a nice walk around the Meadows. We also went on a trip with four Hedgehogs to Zoom Club at the Summer Hall where they enjoyed sensory time. We will be taking Hedgehogs to the Zoom club once a month.

28th April 2016

Nursery News April 2016 Millerfield Place

Nursery News April 2016

We have all been enjoying spending more time outside in the nicer weather and we have even managed to have a few picnic lunches in the garden! Can we please ask that all children have their own labelled sunhat and also suncream if you do not wish your child to use nursery suncream.

Front Door Security

Can we please ask parents to ensure that the front door is properly closed behind them by pulling or pushing the door closed.

Out & About

We have been continuing with our visits to our local care home Glencairn and we have enjoyed exploring a range of craft activities with the residents. We plan to have the residents come to visit us at nursery during the summer for some sing songs and some scones!

We have also been having lots of fun on our Forest Schools trips to Johnston Terrace Wildlife Garden. The children have been learning about boundaries and developing their gross motor skills with lots of running, balancing and climbing as well as improving their literacy skills by making letters with sticks they have found!

Our library trips to George 1V Bridge have been going really well where the children have been great at listening at story time!

Our Hedgehogs have been getting out and about around the Meadows and to the park as well as exploring their senses at Summerhall as part of the Mini Zoomers group!

Children & Activities

Our current topic in the nursery is Our Community and we would welcome any parent who works in the local community to speak with the older children about what they do. We have been going on lots of Community Walks and talking about what we see on our walk then using our floor books to develop these observations. We have also started going to our local fruit shop on a regular basis with some of the older children where we have been choosing our fruit and learning about money. We have transformed our home corner into a shop and café so the children can carry on their learning about our community.

Allergies

We currently have a child in the nursery who has a very severe nut allergy and we therefore respectfully ask parents to provide a completely nut free lunch for their child.

Staff

Claire has moved on from Meadows Nursery and we’d like to thank her for all her efforts at the nursery and wish her all the best.

Rebecca will be taking over as Room Leader on the ground floor.

Lunch Provision

We have been further considering the options for provision of nursery lunches and the most likely option for the trial will be for Caroline, the Meadows at Pilrig cook, to cook lunch for both nurseries. This requires an upgrade to our equipment at Pilrig to deal with the additional capacity and this is now underway. We will keep you updated.

Diary Dates

Our topic session ‘A typical Day’ will be held on Thursday 5 May 6.30pm-8pm and our parent forum will take place on Monday 23 May.

11th April 2016

Hedgehogs News March 2016

We would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to Matilda who celebrated her 1^st birthday this month and to Remi, Gwion and Alasdair who have celebrated their 2^nd Birthday!

Messy Play

We have had a very fun and messy time in the Animal Room this month. Our main focus has been ‘Five little ducks’ and we have been busy creating duck pictures for our Tree Room display board. We have been using a range of colours, materials, and ducks to make prints using paint and glue to create our own duck art work. We also enjoyed making our own duck pond by putting blue paint into the water and ducks to swim. The Hedgehogs really enjoyed exploring with the ducks in the pond.

The Hedgehogs have been interested in using objects to make prints with paint and made Easter cards for their parents/carers. We did this by using potato prints using lots of bright colours, mixing them together with the potatoes and making lots of different prints for the Easter cards.

Tree Room

The Hedgehogs have enjoyed a range of activities in the Tree Room this month. The children have had lots of physical play using the ball pool and tunnels and have enjoyed exploring with all the balls in the ball pool and making an obstacle course with the tunnels, crawling in and out of the tunnels. We also enjoyed making a ‘cosy corner’ with the tents and bean-bags for the children to explore with books and musical instruments.

Outdoor Play

We have been spending lots of time in the garden where our main focus this month was an obstacle course. The Hedgehogs have had lots of fun running around in the garden, using balancing beams to balance on, jumping in and out of tyres and crawling through tunnels. We have also enjoyed getting out and about, with a walk around the Meadows and a trip to the Meadows Park where the children enjoyed running around in a large space playing on the swings and the slide.