Toys from Home

Could we kindly ask that we try and discourage children from bringing in toys/ objects from home- we have all been there trying to find the favourite car that has been in every nook and cranny of our nursery. For everyone's peace of mind, it may be best to keep our precious toys safe at home rather than run the risk of it being forever lost somewhere in our playroom.

Stay and Play

Week beginning March 2nd will be our stay and play sessions. Sign-up sheets should be available next week at the nursery door.

Money, money, money!

This week in nursery, our numeracy focus has been centred around money. There have been a large variety of learning experiences on offer, introducing children to the different types of money and the concept of exchanging. Some examples of our fantastic learning include:

• Creating their own money out of loose parts

• Looking at the values of coins and notes - playing matching games

• Discussions around different ways we can pay for things

• Creating an outdoor shop where gems are exchanged for treasures!

Doctor role-play

Recently, inspired by the children, our home corner has been transformed into a doctor's surgery! We have been learning all about how our body works and what we need to do to keep it safe. The children have been fascinated by the equipment that doctors use, such as a stethoscope, and have been role-playing extensively with this. They have been using their counting skills to see how many patients are in the waiting room and some of our children have helped to create signs for the surgery too. We certainly have a few budding experts in the medical field on our hands!

Vision Screening

The NHS will be visiting us on Monday and Tuesday of next week to conduct vision screening for our preschool pupils. Please ensure you have returned the form to our school office if you wish your child to be screened.

Literacy focus!

We decided it was time to give our literacy area a refresh. We worked collaboratively with the children and redesigned the space. The children wanted to move our library and change the way we store our mark materials. Well done to all those involved, it has sparked lots of interest!

Themes emerging from this area include environmental issues. This has led to the children rescuing the animals from litter, exploring the text ‘Someone Swallowed Stanley’ and creating their own characters from recycled materials.

Perhaps you could link into this at home by thinking about different creative ways to reuse your waste.

Fairy Garden 

Our nursery garden is also undergoing a transformation. The children received a letter from a fairy this week! You can imagine the excitement when we were asked by the fairies to create a garden for them. The children proceeded to make a list of resources and began to gather things they needed. Perhaps you could help us, help the fairies? If you have any of the following items, we would be very grateful: 

• Pinecones; sticks; pebbles; stones; leaves and solar powered twinkly lights

Maybe a nature walk will be on the agenda for our Maidenhill families this weekend. 

This week at nursery, following on from our fantastic landmark creation, we have been so interested in the wider world around us. We all gathered together on Friday for a 'showcase' from the children who had been involved in creating the landmarks. This was wonderful to see our children share their learning and inspire their peers.

Looking at the wider world, a lot of children have been loving learning about space and the planets. Children have developed their mark making skills by drawing the planets and placing them in order. Some quotes include "Do you know that the sun is a star and not a planet?" and "Venus is the warmest planet." We have been designing our own rockets and talking about how we would get to the moon. We now have many budding astronauts and astronomers! 

Sparked by our discussions about the world around us, children have been very interested in recycling and keeping our oceans free from plastic. We have enjoyed reading the book 'Someone Swallowed Stanley' - a story about what pollution does to our oceans and how we can help. The children have been learning the importance of putting our litter in a bin and have enjoyed identifying objects that we can reuse and recycle, helping our planet. 

We are excited to see where this learning develops!

It has been lovely to return to nursery after the Christmas break. We hope all our families had a happy and restful time. Since coming back, we have welcomed some new children to our nursery. They are settling well and it has been lovely to see our children make new friends. We couldn't be more proud of some of out older children who have made an extra effort to make our newcomers feel settled. Below, you will see some of the learning themes which are emerging. 

Ice, Ice, Ice!

The weather has created the perfect backdrop for lots of scientific learning experiences. We explored the various states of water, during water and ice play. The children demonstrated a good understanding of the process of freezing/melting. They even set up their own experiments which led to us excavating animals and dinosaurs. The children also explored different qualities of ice, where they explore the concepts of weight and mass. They tried a range of utensils to break up the ice, recognising that if the ice was thinner, it would break more easily. They also recognised that warm water would melt the ice. 

Through water play, they have explored floating and sinking. This is a lovely spark which will lead to some buoyancy experiments next week. 

The children have been keen to share their experiences from their holiday. This has involved sharing tales of travel which led to exploring the atlas. The children were captivated by landmarks and put their creative skills to the test by recreating landmarks in our junk modelling area. During this process, they worked collaboratively to make their ideas come to life. They also developed their fine motor skills while drawing, cutting, folding and weaving. Our creations include the Eiffel Tower, skyscrapers and the London Bridge. Through discussions, the children have also been various aspects of different cultures. Perhaps you could continue these celebrations at home...? We are always keen to celebrate diversity! 

Nursery Festivities

This week at nursery, the children have been enjoying a variety of festive experiences. They have been writing Christmas cards for their friends and family, creating paper chains for our party decorations and making wonderful clay ornaments which they then painted! All of these activities have been enhancing our imagination, problem solving and fine motor skills. 

Nursery Party

We had a wonderful time at our nursery party on the 15th of December. The children had a fun-filled time taking part in a range of party activities. They used their cooking skills to create a festive biscuit which they then enjoyed.  We also practiced our weaving skills by creating a personal Christmas decoration with wool and paper. Dancing was also on the cards with some music and traditional party games. We even had a visit from a special guest - Mrs Claus! She very kindly gave all the children a lovely Christmas gift. Thank you for joining us. 

Scottish Wildlife Trust - ' Maidenhill Nursery Wildlife Watch' 

We are very excited to announce that we have recently partnered up with the Scottish Wildlife Trust to become a 'Wildlife Watch' group. This will already enhance our strong connection to the outdoors as we will take part in different nature activities to help us get closer to the wildlife in our area. The Scottish Wildlife Trust have very kindly sent us new resources such as bug pots and nature spotting guides which we are so excited to use. We will have more information in the new year for ways for our families and wider community to get involved - watch this space! 

Thank you!

We would like to wish all of our families a wonderful and restful festive period. We will see you all in 2026!

We are so proud of all our children for their pariticpation in the Nativity. This is a lovely Christmas tradition and we think they did a wonderful job, retelling the Christmas story. Performing in front of an audience takes a lot of confidence, particularly at their young age. We couldn't be more proud. 

This week, our intentional planning involved 'subitising'. This is the recognition of quantities, without counting. The children had a wide range of opportunities, using a variety of materials to refine this skill. This led to discussions about how to make different amounts, with one child exclaiming "Let's do plus!" So that is exactly what we did. It is so heart-warming to work with such enthusiastic children. Some learning highlights: 

• "That's six, I know because it is three and three."

• "I have made a funny six. It looks different."

• "Six and one is seven." 

• "I want ten. I only have eight - I need two more." 

All our children have opportuities to take part in Mini Master Chef. This is where they get hands on experiences of cooking and baking. Most recently they have made coloured bread, biscuits and scones. During these activities, they learn about food hygiene, use sequential language and develop their fine motor skills. Most importantly, they get to take home yummy treats! A big thank you to Sophie Sinead who provide these experiences. 

Learning Update

It is a very busy time of year for our children! We have been working hard with our talking and listening skills in our nativity rehearsals. We certainly have lots of budding actors!  

Again, a small reminder of our nativity details: 

When - Thursday 11th December

• 9.45am for Rabbits, Foxes and Hedgehogs

• 2.00pm for Badgers, Squirrels and Owls

Where - Gym Hall 

Please note, that your tickets will be honoured for the show your child is in, even if you have already purchased tickets for a different performance. 

If you have already bought tickets, these will be available from your child's key worker at pick up and drop off. Spare tickets can be purchased from our school office - £4 per ticket (cash please!) 

As well as all the transferrable skills gained through the nativity process, we also have been focusing on stories and understanding a text. The children have enjoyed looking at lots of different books while recalling the main events and characters. For our numeracy focus, we have been learning about subitising - the skill of showing a quantity of an amount without having to count. Children have been enjoying playing dice games and using loose parts to represent lots of different numbers!