October 2018

SummersideKindergarten & Pre SchoolProviding quality, service & value since 1991

NewsUpdate

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Welcome to the October

News Update

We changed our small tray to a larger tray so the babies could get themselves fully involved with the paint experiences and interact with the different textures. This is something we are doing once a week and rotating the days to give all Babies the opportunity to participate. We started this activity off with spaghetti painting. We put a large amount of spaghetti in the black

We have had an exciting month in the Baby room. We decided to expand our messy experiences, giving the children more time to explore.

tray with lots of paint and gave the Babies lots of time to explore this experience. Only one baby preferred to observe and not participate. We also created a water discovery tray, putting together lots of bubbles and glitter for the boats to float along. Most children preferred to sit beside the experience and dip the boats in; one baby used a spoon to mix the water. Playing with shaving foam was a popular experience, with most Babies putting brushes in it to explore. The older Babies have spent lots of time exploring the sand with small sea animals buried in it. We used cotton buds and brushes to create art on black paper, all of which is now displayed on the walls within the room. We have been getting into the Halloween spirit in the Baby room through colour. We have been using black and white paint to create hand print-spiders and footprint-ghosts. The Babies that got involved were all relaxed whilst getting their hands and feet painted. We also have been working closely with the

Tweenie room recently to support our Babies in transitioning to the Tweenie room. They have been making really positive progress so far.In the Baby room, we have been welcoming new friends and families. We have also created room experiences that they are familiar with to make the transition into

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nursery life pleasant. Loose parts have been the most popular in our room. The majority of the Babies have made music toys from these parts.We have been on lots of different autumn walks recently, which has given the Babies a variety of experiences. Leaf picking has been especially popular. We brought the leaves back to nursery to make an autumn discovery tray. Whilst the small play park in Victoria Park was quiet, we made the most of it by spending plenty of time there, with the swings being the most popular attraction. We have also been making the most of our wonderful garden by taking the indoors outdoors, exploring loose parts in the garden. All of our Babies are confident when outdoors. We made the most of the lovely autumn weather by taking a stroll to the local harbour where we enjoyed stories and a nap. If you haven’t already, just ask a member of staff to join Class Dojo where you will see lots of photos from these experiences.This month, the Tweenies have explored a new topic of ‘colours’, as the children have showed a keen interest in coloured objects

and experiences within the Tweenies room. The children have explored a coloured shaving foam sensory tray and shaving foam with animals. Using their hands and fingers, they have mixed the paint into the shaving foam and watched it turn into various colours.The children have used their bodies to dance to various different songs during our frequent ‘Step It Up Dance’ sessions. They are really great at following simple instructions and copying actions to different songs. It’s fun to watch. In addition, we have created some art this month with lollipop sticks and sponges to paint using Greek yoghurt mixed with food colouring. This was an edible creative play experience which they all loved. The bonus of being able to eat it while we played was enjoyed by all! We also created a colourful rice sensory tray for the children to feel and explore. We also hid a variety of small animals inside and the children had the opportunity to find them. The children then took all the animals out and tried to identify them by making the sounds that the animals make. Moreover, we had our third and final trip to the beach this month. It was a windy one but the Tweenies still had a fantastic time running along the sand, running from the tide coming in and trying to stand up all at the same time! We enjoyed having snacks on the benches, making sand castles, using spades

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and buckets and collecting shells to bring back to nursery to add to our sand and loose parts play. We followed the beach trip up by creating a water play experience with whisks, funnels, coloured fish and food colouring. They used the funnels and whisks to explore the water and enhance their senses. Ros came to nursery to spend an afternoon in the garden with the Tweenies. The children listened to a story about pumpkin soup and planted bulbs using soil and tools. We then used

chopped-up pumpkins to make our own ‘soup’, adding water and mud using kitchen utensils.The Tweenies have enjoyed another great ‘Just Dance’ session where we pretended to be different forms of transport and connected them to transport sounds that the children recognised. We used colourful materials to move them around to the music and they followed simple instructions to find a colour to run to each time the music stopped. We have been creating autumn pictures for our wall displays and have been painting our hands and feet. The children were all particularly interested and keen to have their feet painted. The children have explored a shredded paper animal habitat where they have been hiding the animals under the paper and identifying them as they find them. We have been busy having tea parties in the home corner and have been dressing up and putting the babies to bed in the new cot. These experiences are great for

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developing their social and communication skills.The children have been very interested in and have been sitting for long periods of time reading through stories with staff or looking through stories independently.Some of the Tweenies had the opportunity to be involved in exploring a spaghetti painting sensory experience alongside the Babies. The Tweenies who chose to be involved were very keen to explore and touch the spaghetti while moving it around the different paints in the tray. They loved getting covered in paint and moving freely. Not so much getting cleaned up though!The Tweenies have been busy creating lots of artwork for the Tweenie Room. We created car track paintings and collected conkers, leaves and sticks on our walks. We then brought them back to nursery to create autumn artwork which is now displayed within our room. The younger Tweenies have been practising walking for short distances within the community. We have enjoyed taking balls and stories to the park while having group song sessions and visiting some local parks. The children were particularly interested in creating handprint and footprint paintings for our wall display. We have had our last ‘Just Dance’ session of the term and will be starting these sessions again when the

new term begins.The children have been exploring clay using shape cutters, beads and other arts and crafts tools. They then mixed what they chose into their clay, making them into different shaped decorations, which were then taken home. The Pre Schoolers have had a great month, celebrating autumn and getting involved in different experiences that interest them. We finished our ‘Colours’ theme off with more art and craft experiences. They enjoyed potato printing with different basic shapes and using shape playdough cutters. Some children have been interested in 3D shapes and have been asking what they are called. This is a great natural progression from 2D shapes.We have had a large group of children visit us from the Tweenie room as well as new children starting so we have decided to have a look at ‘Road Safety’ as we continue our daily trips outdoors. We have discussed the traffic lights, their colours and what they mean. We have helped the children to become more aware of what is around them when we are out and to look where they are going. We have looked at various signs when we have been out and identified a No Entry sign and a sign with children on it. We also spotted the Lollipop Lady outside the school.

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Back at nursery, we made a lollipop stick with a plank of wood and a cardboard circle at the top. The children painted it the correct colours after looking them up on the internet, just to be sure! They were very proud of their stick and engaged in a roleplay game outdoors using the signs and lollipop stick. Autumn has been popular with the children, who have enjoyed interacting with our autumn tray. We have used the leaves for leaf printing using crayons and paint. We have also been looking at the beautiful colours that are around us, identifying red, orange, yellow and green. We went conker hunting, bringing back plenty. We used the conkers to create conker paintings (like marble painting but with conkers). We made an autumn scene in a small container; placing soil, leaves, conkers and sticks inside and then filling it up with water. We froze it overnight and had fun trying to break it up. The children tried punching it with no effect. One child asked for a knife, so they tried to saw it apart. That didn’t work either, so another child asked for a hammer! We gave them a few children’s hammers and they had great fun hammering until it was mostly broken. As they did this, they were fascinated at how the items were stuck in the ice.As we were doing this, another child came over with a small apple and asked what it was. Once they knew it was an apple, one suggested we could make apple juice. It was explained to them that we would need more than one apple to do that. They were pointed in the direction of the pear tree, and how there were lots of pears. They decided they wanted to make pear juice. Several children helped pick the pears, cut them into tiny pieces and put them in the blender. It didn’t come out as juice as we hoped but more like a puree. We tasted it and the children agreed it was nice. They had it that day for their pudding with their yoghurt. The children are really embracing

the loose parts play in the garden and the free flow into the garden. We have had stories in the garden sitting on the logs. We also have had the opportunity to dismantle an old printer which the children loved! They have asked for screwdrivers and hammers to get right inside with all the wires.Some of the children had the opportunity recently to visit Trinity Primary and the children who left in the summer. It was fantastic to see the children in their new environment and looking so confident and happy. We had the chance to visit their chickens in the secret garden and learned that the P1’s would be looking after them that week. We went back into the classroom and we all sang the ‘Birdie Song’ complete with actions.

Have a great month,

MichelleNursery Manager

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Classic butternut squash soup

IngredientsServes: 4 • 25g butter• 1 small onion, chopped• 1 stalk celery, chopped• 1 medium carrot, chopped• 2 medium potatoes, cubed• 1 medium butternut squash -

peeled, seeded and cubed• 500ml chicken stock• salt and freshly ground black

pepper to taste

Method1 - Melt the butter in a large pot,

and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes and squash for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.

2 - Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to the boil.

3 - Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

4 - Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth (alternatively, use a hand-held stick blender). Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency.

5 - Season with salt and pepper.

This is a soup that we enjoy for our lunch in the autumn and winter days. Yum.

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At the Allotment

Most of our crops have finished now and all we are harvesting at present are tomatoes, brussel sprouts and chard. The raspberries and apples are just about

done, but we have enjoyed eating them so much. The children have liked the little apple peeler machine we

have at the allotment, which twirls quickly and leaves us with a beautiful spiral apple shape.

Many bulbs have been planted this month both at the nursery and the allotment, so hopefully we will have

many lovely flowers in the spring,

starting with the snow drops planted by the babies. We will be entering The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society Bulb Show in March, and so have had to take special care when planting these bulbs into 1 litre pots.A few winter crops have been planted including garlic, onions, winter wheat, barley and oats. Green manure seeds have been planted in empty beds; these are great as they protect the soil through the winter and are very nutritious once they are finally dug back in.Last month I let you know that we were entering the Edinburgh Allotment Show. The children helped prepare for the show, they chose what should be entered and carefully harvested and

Another busy month has passed by, and at this point the allotment is looking tidy and ready for the winter months.

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washed the

produce. They

particularly liked washing the huge pumpkin. We won 4 awards in the children section including first prize for cut flowers and allotment photos, second prize for our vegetables and third prize for our monster vegetable.The poly tunnel had been given a tidy and clean up, and we have planted in some things for the winter months including chard, rocket, lettuces and herbs. I have also put seating in there, which we can use if the weather is not too good.

Bye for now,

RosResident

Horticulturalist

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Whats On..

Wee Treasures (Ages 2-5)Multisensory storytelling in the gallery, inspired by a different painting each month.Performance time: 10:30 - 11:15 am

For more information: www.list.co.uk/event/1114147-wee-treasures-ages-2-5

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Venue: Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Address: 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JD

Date: Saturday 3 November

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Venue: Ghillie Dhu

Address: 2 Rutland Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2AD

Dates: Sunday 25th November

Ghillie Dhu Cinema Club

Head to the stunning Auditorium at the Ghillie Dhu for a movie experience with a difference!Family Cinema Club - Brunch & Movie £7.95 per Adult, Kids eat free!

10am - Brave followed by Kiddies Ceilidh with Merida

For more information: www.ghillie-dhu.co.uk

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Christmas at The BotanicsThe winter trail is a place where fairytale meets fantasy. Glowing larger-than-life incandescent flowers rise high into the night sky leading you on a path towards illuminated tree sculptures with delicate beads of light clinging to each branch. There are hidden surprises too - watch out for shards of light, frosty snowflakes, stars and baubles, marching reindeer and gingerbread men where you least expect to see them.The event runs from 23 November to 29 December (closed 26 and 27 Nov and 3, 4, 10, 11, 25 Dec). There are 11 entry times to start your trail, every 20 minutes from 4.40pm (last entry 8pm). The Garden will close at 10pm on event nights.This is an evening event that takes place after the Garden closes. It is an outdoor trail and does not include entry into the Glasshouses. Keep cosy by wearing warm and waterproof clothing and footwear.Advance tickets from £14, children from £8. Tickets will be dearer on the day. Children under 4 and carers go free.Members can enjoy £2 discount on adult tickets when booked in advance and the discount is valid for the whole transaction.

For more information: www.rbge.org.uk

SummersideKindergarten & Pre SchoolProviding quality, service & value since 1991

Pre-Birth To Three

1 Summerside Street • Edinburgh EH6 4NTw www.summersidekindergarten.org • t 0131 554 6560

e summersidekindergarten@blueyonder.co.uk

A successful free flow play session offers a rich play and learning experience for children. It allows them to progress at their own, individual pace, and practice choosing and dealing with the consequences of their choice. It also encourages a more flexible and open-ended use of the group’s resources.

Other benefits of free flow play include, but are not limited to: 1. Great independence - as children are able to access the different environments freely, it helps them develop a greater independence. They are able to make those independent choices as to whether they want to play outdoors or access the messy activities inside. Older children, especially, strive on being given extra responsibilities and this will help them later on in life.2. Progress at own pace - children shouldn’t be rushed in their learning. It should be about giving children the time they need to fully embrace the skills they are learning. Free flow play allows children the opportunity to develop at their own pace; they can decide to either spend the morning outside participating in the stimulating activities or sitting at the table manipulating play dough.

3. Decision making - if children are able to choose where they would like to play and with what, this is developing their decision making skills. As they get older, they will begin to learn that their choices may have consequences. 4. Physical well-being - offering children the choice, especially the choice to play outdoors, enables them the opportunity to run around and build on their physical skills. Practitioners can use their skills to mirror indoor activities outside, which is great for children who prefer to spend their time outdoors. 5. Different environments - as children explore their different environments it allows them to open up many learning opportunities especially as they begin to discover the differences between the indoors and the outside.

It’s important to understand and remember a child’s play is:• Central to their learning• An integral part of a child’s development

and learning• A purposeful experience• The right of all children

Copyright 2018