Nursery Blog
NOTE: All of our blog posts from February onwards can be found by going to Our Nursery –> Nursery Blog or by clicking here.
Week Beginning 30th January
After so much interest in our Beauty Salon over the past couple of weeks, we all went on a walk around our local community. We walked over to the shops in Carrick Knowe and found lots of different businesses, including a post office, hair dressers and bakers-which had so many yummy cakes in the window! . Lots of children were talking about when they visit these shops with their families.
We have been helping to keep the birds happy by making lots of bird food for the garden! They seemed to love it as it didn’t last long on the bird table! We definitely didn’t like the look of it!
Information/Reminders:
Defer Entry to Primary 1.
If your child is born between 16th August 2018 and 28 February 2019 you are able to defer their school entry until August 2024. The application process will close 28th February. Please follow the link below.
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/nurseries-childcare/defer-entry-p1
Week Beginning 23rd January
The children have still been spending a lot of time at the Beauty Salon. They have been taking calls for appointments and using the tills to take payments. They have loved playing the part of hairdressers and clients. This has created play outside, with children selling hot chocolates and ice creams!
We have been celebrating Robert Burns. The children have been listening to his songs and poems and even preformed at the Burns assembly, singing, ‘3 Craws’. They were fantastic! We also had a Burns supper, which the children tried. We have been talking about Scotland too. The children were sharing what they knew about Scotland and made their own Scottish flags.
Week Beginning 16th January
This week we have been looking at Winter and talking about what we know about Winter. Despite the cold weather the children have loved being in the garden investigating the seasonal changes. They have been playing in the snow and mark making in the frost and snow.
We have our very own Beauty Salon and hairdressers. Some of the children have been interested in ‘doing their hair and make up!’ We asked them for their ideas and they drew these in our Big Book and we have created our own Beauty Salon. The children have helped make signs and have loved role playing in the area! Appointments are going fast!
Information/Reminders:
Week Beginning 9th January
Welcome back to all our learners! It was lovely to welcome them back after the festive break. The children have all returned keen to get back to playing and learning. The children have been busy mixing colours and finding out what different colours mixed together make. The children have been interested in putting on a show. They made a puppet theatre with the big box, decorating it, made tickets for the audience and got the puppets out for the show. It was a great show!
Some children were building towers and were proud that they used all the materials and it was still standing!
They have been spending a lot of time creating art. We used golf balls and paint to make pictures. We used beads and pipe cleaners to make bracelets. It was a bit tricky but they made some lovely bracelets, with some patterns too!
Week Beginning 19th December
What a busy term it has been! The final couple of days are here before we finish for Christmas. The children have loved counting down to Christmas and have taken part in so many activities over the past few weeks.
It was so lovely having lots of parents, grandparents and friends join us for our festive sing-a-long. All the children had worked so hard to learn the songs and actions and were happy to finally perform for you all on Friday! They were all amazing!
The children all enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch. We decorated the tables and all had lunch together.
Information/Reminders
We have our Christmas party on Tuesday 20th December. Children are welcome to come to Nursery in their party clothes!
End of term is Tuesday 20th December. The door will open at 12.30pm. Children will return on Thursday 5th January 2023.
Wishing you, and your family a lovely Christmas break. We are looking forward to seeing you all in 2023!
Week Beginning 12th December
We are continuing the festive season with more Christmas crafts. The children have been busy making their own Christmas decorations, cards and a special calendar to share with their families at the end of term.
The weather has definitely got a lot colder but the children have still loved being outside. They are finding a lot of ice and we have been investigating how to make ice. A few children have left small pots of water over night and we are looking forward to see if it will be cold enough to turn into ice.
Information/Reminders:
Christmas Sing-a-long
We are looking forward to welcoming you into Nursery, this Friday 16th December at 11.30 for some festive singing. The children have been working hard preparing for the sing-a-long and it will be lovely to have you join us. We will hopefully see you there!
The term ends on Tuesday, 20th December. The door will be open from 12.30. Children will return on Thursday 5th January 2023.
Week Beginning 5th December
Christmas has arrived at Carrick Knowe. The Nursery is feeling very festive. Children have been busy decorating the Christmas tree and taking part in lots of Christmas crafts. We have been making party crowns, decorating our mini Christmas trees and making stockings. We have been busy helping to wrap the presents for Santa to deliver to the boys and girls. The children have been learning Christmas songs, which we are excited to share with you next week and listening to Christmas stories.
The children were very excited for the first snow of Winter, we have ben wrapped up playing in the garden.
Week Beginning 28th November
The children have been busy creating lots of exciting play across the Nursery. We had the parachute out and had fun playing and learning different circle time games. We played the honey pot game and learnt a new rhyme. The children all had turns delivering the post to their friends. We took the parachute into the garden where more friends joined in to play a game with the ball. It was lots of fun!
More building and creating this week in Nursery. We’ve had robots with Duplo and ‘neighbours’ with the big bricks. Lots of imaginative play and working together to create fantastic models.
It has been getting colder and children have been finding ice in the garden some mornings. They have been interested in where it has come from and many could talk about the water turning to ice because it was so cold.
Information/Reminders:
Nursery drop off/pick up
The Nursery door will close at 8.50am. Please ensure you child arrives before this time. The door will continue to open at 2.45pm and all children should be collected for the door closing at 3pm. Staff in Nursery often have courses and meetings to attend and on occasions are required to leave the Nursery straight away. We thank you for your support with this.
Donations
We are hoping to have a magician join us at our Christmas party and perform for the children on the last day of term. A box will be available at the door from tomorrow and any donations would be gratefully received to help cover some of the cost of this.
Thank you.
Week Beginning 21st November
We continued to celebrate ‘Book Week Scotland’ The children have been listening to and looking at books across the Nursery. We had a special visit from our local librarian who very kindly came in and read a selection of books to the children, which they loved!
We have continued to experiment when painting, using different tools to create different effects with the paint.
Children have been using good problem solving and imaginative skills when building with the construction. We have had traps cars and work shops!
Children have been working together to create cosy dens.
Week Beginning 14th November
This week we ae celebrating ‘Book Week Scotland’ in Nursery. During this week it is all about books and stories! In the tuff tray we had ‘The Gruffalo’ book and characters. Children were telling the story and acting out their favourite part of the book. Children have been creating their own stories becoming authors and illustrators. We’ve already had books about colours, music and instruments! We are looking forward to see what other stories we have this week. In the water tray we had whales and snails to re tell the story of ‘The Snail and the Whale’.
Some children were building houses and playing the part of the big bad wolf, trying to huff and puff the house down! The children had built very strong houses!
In the messy area, we had some experimenting going on with the paint, using different techniques to create fantastic pictures.
Week Beginning 7th November
This week the children have been excited about all the fireworks and bonfires they saw over the weekend. Using the fire pit in the garden we had our own little bonfire which the children loved! They have also been making fireworks with different materials and even turning themselves into fireworks, dancing in the garden.
Our Pre school children have started their Woodland Adventures and have been busy exploring the woods, going on their very own Bear Hunt and finding sticks to take on adventures. They were excited to go back again this week.
The magnets have been popular in the Nursery this week. Lots of children have been looking to see what the magnets will stick to. We have been predicting what we think they will stick to and went on a magnet hunt to find things around the Nursery to find out what was magnetic.
With some of our leftover pumpkins from home the children have been investigating what they look like in inside. They described them as being ‘sticky’ and ‘gooey’. Some children have decided they want to plant some of the seeds which we will do in Nursery.
We all went on an Autumn walk and ended our walk at the park. The children loved playing in the park and showing off their amazing climbing and balancing skills.
Week Beginning 31st October
It was lovely to welcome everyone back to Nursery. The children returned ready to go and have all been super busy!
Autumn has well and truly arrived! The children have been involved in Autumn experiences throughout the Nursery. Some have been making Autumn wreaths in the garden, creating beautiful pieces. Others have been out collecting leaves, using them to print and trace round and looking at their colours and shapes. Some children were creating amazing pictures using natural loose parts and then took photos of their master pieces to display.
Lots of children were still going on their holidays! They flew to sunny Spain with Carrick Knowe airlines and had fun at the beach and water park!
Information/Reminders;
Primary One registration
Registration for Primary One opens Monday 31st October and will be open until Friday 18th November. You will need to register for your catchment school for those starting in August 2023. Please follow the link below to complete the form online.
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/school-places/start-primary-school/1
Primary One Open Day
Children due to start school in August 2023 are invited to visit their catchment school on Wednesday 2nd November. You can bring your child to Carrick Knowe between 9.30-10.30, 11-12 or 1-2pm if you wish to do so. It is a good chance for you and your child see the school they will be attending next year.
Support for parents/families
Incredible Years have courses available in 2023. Please click the link below to see more details and where you can also book spaces directly.
Nursery drop off/pick up
To be in line with the schools recent change of start time, the Nursery door will now close at 8.50am. Please ensure you child arrives before this time. The door will continue to open at 2.45pm and all children should be collected for the door closing at 3pm.
Week Beginning 10th October 2022
The weather is changing and the children are beginning to notice changes around them. Lots are talking about the leaves falling on the ground and them changing colour. We have had some busy helpers sweep up the leaves from the garden! A big job with all those trees. We have had some interesting chats about what happens in Autumn and many already have lots of facts. ‘Leaves fall off the trees in Autumn’ We will continue to look at seasonal changes in the coming weeks too.
The children have helped create a new self registration. We have made a fantastic house and Nursery. As the children come in each morning, they will move their cards from ‘Home’ to ‘Nursery’ to show that they are here that day. They had lots of fun making them.
Some children were interested in making ramps in the garden. We got the scooters, bikes and helmets out and the children loved trying them out! Our very own Carrick Knowe Skate park!
Information/Reminders:
Photographs
If you wish to order photographs please return order forms to Nursery before Wednesday 12th October. You can still order after this date but will have to order through Tempest directly.
Drop-Off/ Pick-Up Time Reminder: We would like to remind Parents/Carers that children should be dropped of by 9am each day. This enables our staff to plan and organise the day in the best way possible for your child. We would also ask that children are picked up no later than 3:00pm each day. The door will be open from 2.45pm Monday to Thursday and 12-12.30 on a Friday. Staff in Nursery often have courses and meetings to attend and on occasions are required to leave the Nursery straight away. We thank you for your support with this.
Half term Holiday
We will finish on Friday 14th October and children will return on Wednesday 26th October.
Wishing you all a lovely break when it comes.
Week Beginning 3rd October 2022
It has been all things Maths this week in Nursery for Scottish Maths Week. There has been experiences all around the Nursery for our children to take part in. We have been weighing, measuring, counting and sorting.
In the water tray, children were looking at volume and were using different apparatus to measure the water. They were counting how many spoons or cups it took to fill the cylinder. Great counting and concentration.
Numicon was used to match and count. The children had fun building Numicon City with it!
There were lovely butterflies being made at the creative area. We were looking at their wings and the children did a fantastic job making their butterflies symmetrical!
We had the smart board on for number games and the children loved sorting, matching and counting in the different games. Lots of number nursery rhymes too, the children came up with lots for us to sing at the end of each day!
Lots of children were re telling the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and had fun using the props to help them.
Week Beginning 26th September 2022
The children have been busy across the Nursery this week. Lots of children have been interested in making paper airplanes. They had lots of patience and perseverance when learning this new skill. They took the finished airplanes in the garden and were measuring how far they could fly! We have had lots of budding architects and builders creating amazing structures in the construction area, lots of team work to create castles, houses and towers.
The whole Nursery went on an adventure to the trim trail in the school play ground. There was fantastic climbing, balancing and lots of fun!
Reminders/Information
Parent Consultations will take place on week beginning 3rd and 10th October. Nursery staff will be in touch this week to arrange a suitable time to meet with you.
Week Beginning 20th September 2022
We have had lots of fun in Nursery this week. The children have been interested in den building. They have worked well together to create dens throughout the Nursery and are spending lots of time playing in them. We had some enthusiastic bakers, creating a cake recipe and baked a delicious cake in the mud kitchen in the garden! We are still looking for lots of mini beasts in the garden and learning to identify them and learn their names.
Week Beginning 12th September 2022
We have had another busy week in the Nursery. The children have enjoyed using the blocks to build our own creations, we had made our own snacks and used the tills to create different shops around the Nursery . This included an ice-cream shop in the garden ….YUM!! YUM!!
Information/Reminders :
Snack Menu : Please find attached the new snack menu. This has been created with the children’s help
Drop-Off/ Pick-Up Time Reminder: We would like to remind Parents/Carers that children should be dropped of by 9am each day. This enables our staff to plan and organise the day in the best way possible for your child. We would also ask that children are picked up no later than 3:00pm each day. Staff in Nursery often have courses and meetings to attend and on occasions are required to leave the Nursery straight away. We thank you for your support with this.
Week Beginning 29th August 2022
It has been great to welcome children old and new in to Nursery over the last 2 weeks. The children have enjoyed investigating all the areas.
Information/Reminders :
Newsletter: Please find attached the August Newsletter