Hello everyone! We trust that you are all keeping well. We can’t believe it’s already been well over a month since we’ve last seen our wee ones and we’re all missing them terribly. This is a difficult situation as we find ourselves in, it's unchartered territory but remember we are in this together!  We know home schooling is difficult especially since parents are also working from home and maybe home-schooling more than one child.  You are going a great job!  We can see from all the wonderful photos that you have been emailing that your children are thriving. They are certainly keeping busy! There are many budding chefs, builders, artists, teachers, doctors and gardeners of the future! Well done everyone! We think that our parents and children deserve a special clap in recognition of all their hard work and dedication to home schooling. We are so proud of you all.

As May begins, we are now entering what should have been your child’s third and final term in nursery. During this time, we will continue try our best to ensure that your children continue to learn and develop. Now is a great time to slow things down and just PLAY with your child. Stay at home and playing daily, whilst talking and interacting with them is a great way to continue developing their personal, social and emotional skills, language and communication skills, all the while having fun! Continue to read to your child daily, and revise all of the nursery rhymes which they have learned over the past few months. The importance of physical activity cannot be stressed enough. So, where possible, get outdoors (even to the back garden) and get those children moving!  

Below are some more ideas for you to continue to develop your child's skills, related to the six areas of the nursery curriculum, which will be regularly updated by the class teachers.  We have included an example of a daily routine which you may choose to follow.  

Parents/guardians, please feel free to email us, using the addresses below should you have any questions or queries. Thank you all so much for the wonderful photos. Keep them coming!  They’ve really made us smile, we love seeing our wee ones having fun and enjoying their activities.

But above all, for now we ask be kind to yourself! Stay strong, enjoy lots of cuddles, look after each other. Stay safe!

Mrs D Molloy, and Miss AM Mc Callion.

dmolloy902@c2ken.net

amccallion378@c2ken.net

8:00-9:00 am- Wake up/breakfast time

9:00-9.30 am -Get physical! -Check out Joe Wicks (fitness coach) on YouTube, or GoNoodle -The children enjoy the dances/work outs on this! (Also, on YouTube).

9.30-11.30 am- Play time-Play with their toys, or even better any "loose parts" that you have lying around-put these out for your child and just watch their imaginations come alive! E.g. ribbons, feathers, egg cartons, shells, wool, baking trays, kitchen utensils, brushes, paint, cardboard, boxes, to name a few...

11.30-11.45am-Tidy up time-Give your child the responsibility of tidying up after themselves.

11.45-12.00 pm-Story/song time-Allow your child to pick a story and read it with them (even if it's one they have read 100 times)! Sing 5 nursery rhymes with your child.

12.00pm -Lunch time

1:00pm-2:00pm- Get creative-Gather a selection of "junk art" materials and allow your child to get creative. e.g. cereal boxes, wool, cellotape, glue, markers, pens, pencils, chalk, pasta, empty containers, tubs, etc.

AND/OR

Physical activity-Get some outdoor play. E.g. In the back garden! Examples of activities...Hop on right foot, hop on left foot, 5 jumping jacks, bear crawls, running, jogging, walking, climbing, hopscotch, skipping...

These are only examples of a daily routine that your child will be able to follow given their age and stage of development. Feel free to add to it or adjust as you see fit. Don’t stress, your child will lead the way. They will let you know what they want or do not want to do! Go with the flow. They will let you know what they are interested in. If they are engaged in what they are doing, they are learning.

This term ask your child to help with easy tasks around the house. This will help them to develop a sense of pride and achievement on completion of the tasks. When children contribute to family life, it helps them feel competent and responsible. For example, you could ask him/her to set out the cutlery for dinner time (as our helpers do in nursery), to tidy up their toys/books after play time, to help to brush/hoover the floor, to pair socks together and to help with putting away groceries etc.

Give them plenty of praise for their efforts. Tell them how wonderful and helpful they are. This will do wonders for their self-esteem. They will grow 10ft tall!

At home, continue to encourage your child to develop their sharing and turn taking skills. As stated previously playing family games is a great way to encourage this. Your child will benefit greatly from playing games together with the family. Not only does it encourage discussion, playing games will develop their collaborative play skills (being able to play with others) and will develop conflict resolution (being able to sort arguments and disagreements out by themselves). Continue working on their self-help and independence skills. Please allow them to do as much as they can for themselves as they really enjoy this (e.g. dressing, undressing, putting on and taking off shoes...).

Most important of all, create a sense of well-being and security. Many children may be anxious and worried about what’s going on, they are still trying to figure out this situation. Help them to express their feelings and emotions. Often in nursery, they talk about how they feel during circle time activities. Sometimes, they like having a teddy/puppet or their favourite toy to talk to help to get their feelings out. As you all know, a chat and a cuddle is the best medicine of all!  A very helpful sight ‘Cosmic Kids’ on YouTube is a channel dedicated not only to the physical health of children, but also to their mental health and well-being. At Cosmic Kids the children can learn relaxation techniques and yoga. More significantly they can learn how to deal with their feelings and emotions. It is definitely worth having a look!

• Engage in appropriate play
• Begin to develop the ability to listen/share/reach agreement
• Demonstrate acceptable behaviour
• Begin to express his/her own feelings and emotions
• Continue to develop self-help skills
• Continue to become more independent
• Persevere with a task

During the month of May, we are continuing to learn about growth, minibeasts and the changing seasons as we move from Spring to Summer.

Key words include: Daffodil, crocus, hyacinth, tulip, sun, air, water, petal, leaf, stem, bud.

Mini beasts: worm, caterpillar, butterfly, lady bird, fly, bee, wasp, beetle, grasshopper, spider, snails. Talk about their characteristics, where they live, have they patterns? What might they eat?

Life- cycle of a butterfly: egg, caterpillar (larva), pupa (chrysalis), butterfly. (The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a wonderful book for children to explain the life cycle of a butterfly. Always a favourite in nursery).

Our main theme this month is ‘People Who Help Us’, very apt for the times we are living in! No doubt through the news on TV etc, your child will be aware that there are lots of people who are helping us at this time. Take this opportunity to chat with them about the people who help us in our community. Chat about how some of these people help us in emergencies like, nurses, doctors, paramedics, police and firefighters etc. Explain how the emergency services help to keep us safe. If there is an emergency, they need to know how to phone 999 to get in touch with the right person to help. For example, if there is a fire you need to phone the fire service for help. Explain that other people in the community help us to stay safe and healthy, again nurses and doctors, dentists, lollipop man and lollipop woman and opticians etc. To explore this topic further you will find lots of information on the internet.  www.TheSchoolRun.com is worth delving into.

Key words include: Nurses, doctors, paramedics, police, firefighters, dentist, lollipop man/woman, opticians.

Uniform, casualty, hospital, 999, emergency, ambulance, siren, equipment, hose, fire engine, police car, pedestrian, lollipop stick etc.

Talk about how these people help us to stay safe and healthy and how they help us in an emergency. During role-play (The Arts) the children love dressing up as firefighters, the police, nurses and doctors etc. As well as having fun they gain lots of vocabulary associated with these jobs. Invaluable language acquisition which they will carry with them to Primary 1.

We are also continuing to develop:

Talking and listening skills (particularly listening skills).

Listening when someone else is talking.

Understanding and responding appropriately to questions.

Handling books appropriately and with confidence.

Mark making and learning now that we write for a purpose (children can mark make with literally anything e.g. sticks, mud, paint, chalk, pencils, pens, crayons... Allow opportunities for them to continue doing this at home).

Developing memory skills-e.g. put out three toys, take one away. Can the child remember which one has been taken away?

Continue to practice recognition of own name/begin to write own name.

During the month of May, we are learning about the rectangle shape. (The rectangle shape is often the one they find the most difficult to learn). Help your child to look around home/outside to see if they can find something that is a rectangle shape e.g. door, iPad,Tv, a book etc.  You can also take this opportunity to revise other shapes from previous learning. The square, circle, triangle, oval, star etc. You could play "I spy" to point out these shapes or go on a ‘shape hunt’. When your child finds the shapes, they could sort them into groups.  Using old magazines and catalogues are useful for shape recognition. When your child finds the shapes, they could cut the shapes out, sort them and stick them into groups. (A good opportunity to continue to develop their scissor and sticking skills).

Give your child opportunities to count during their play activities. Count their toys, touching each one with their finger as they say the number. 1, 2, 3, 4 ….

The opportunities for counting are endless! Your child can use things in their environment to count e.g. buttons, pasta shapes, flowers, dried beans, people!! Make a set, small sets at first, ask your child to count each object in that set. (be careful they sometimes runaway with themselves and count too quickly!) Ask them to use their finger to touch each object as they count. They will gain a lot of confidence in getting it right. Before you know it, they will want to count everything!

Begin to recognise and name numbers in their environment. For example, they will begin to recognise the number ‘9’ as they learn how to dial ‘999’ through topic work.

Have a look at some of the maths apps that have been added to support mathematical skills this month.

We are continuing to learn about the passage of time and the days of the week. Ask your child "Which day comes after?" "Which day comes before?" (The Very Hungry Caterpillar book is also good for reinforcing the days of the week!)

We are continuing to develop positional language (e.g. in, on, in front, behind). You can use props such as teddies/dolls to create games for positional language development. E.g. Put the teddy under the chair. Where is teddy? etc.

We are continuing to develop language associated with size (e.g. big, medium, small) and quantity (full, empty, half-full).

Begin to use the language of comparison: long-longer, short-shorter, tall-taller, small-smaller, big-bigger. For example:    I am tall, Daddy is taller. Mammy bears bowl is big, Daddy bears bowl is bigger.             

Begin to develop the language of sequencing: First, next, then, last. This language would work well giving instructions, in a recipe for example. The children would have heard these terms when we made our pancakes and jelly in nursery.

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• Follow daily routines
• Begin to develop awareness of the passage of time
• Continue to be aware of the days of the week.
• Show some awareness of counting.
• Begin to recognise and name some numbers in their environment.
• Participate in number rhymes and jingles.
• Begin the development of shape awareness.
• Recognise and name some colours

Physical skills come under two categories:

Firstly, Gross motor skills - All large-scale movements such as walking, running, climbing, hopping, balancing, co-ordination etc.

To develop gross motor skills, you could:

Tune into Joe Wicks and GoNoodle on YouTube.

Make obstacle courses.

Play hopscotch.

Skipping activities with a rope.

Go on a trike, bike or scooter.  (WEARING A HELMET)

Throwing and catching balls of different sizes balls. Try throwing at a target or throwing a ball through a hoop.

Wheelbarrow walks where the child walks on their hands whilst an adult holds their legs straight. Great for developing core and arm strength.

If you don’t fancy a workout with Joe Wicks here is a simple workout for kids and kids at heart. Set a timer for 45 seconds for each activity, allow 15 seconds rest and start the next activity. It’s lots of fun and everyone at home can take part. Enjoy!

 Frog Jumps-Hop, hop, hop! Up and down like a frog.

 Bear Walk-With your hands and feet on the floor, hips high, walk left and right.

 Gorilla Shuffle-In a low sumo squat, use your hands to balance and shuffle around the room.

 Starfish Jumps-Jump up and down spreading your arms and legs wide (jumping Jacks)

 Cheetah Run-Run on the spot as fast as you can, just like the fastest animal in the Sahara.

 Crab Walk-Sitting down, place your palms on the ground behind you. Lift your hips and crawl on your hands. (For   the more flexible and adventurous!). Or simply walk side-ways!

 Elephant Stomps-March on the spot, stomping your feet as you can.

Secondly, Fine motor skills e.g. using small tools, developing pencil grasp, scissor skills, fitting materials together and taking apart etc).

To develop fine motor skills, you could:

Continue to give opportunities for your child to mark make using pens, pencils, chunky markers, brushes, sticks etc.

Observe their grip and control of these tools, and model/correct grip where necessary.

Allow them to use scissors. Model the correct grip and show your child how to snip/cut pieces of paper.

Dough is useful also for the beginning of scissor skill development. Allow your child to cut the dough (a very simple recipe for making dough is posted below in "The Arts" section).

Construction play-e.g. Lego-Allowing your child to put small pieces together and pull apart whilst making a model.

Threading- Thread buttons onto pipe cleaners

Use (uncooked) spaghetti, stick into playdough and thread Cheerio’s onto them. (can use to colour sort)

Use string and Cheerio’s to make a necklace (a great opportunity to use the different colour of oats to make simple patterns on you necklace).

Squeezy bottles- Allow your child to use squeezy bottles to paint, we did this in nursery, and they loved it. Though we did find it would be a good activity for outside as it can get quite messy! Make the most of this good weather and give it a go!

Loose parts-tightening nuts onto bolts.

Using tweezers or tongs to pick up objects.

Getting dressed up with buttons and zips.

The Arts include being creative, role-play/imaginative play, construction/model making activities and music/singing activities. All of these activities are self-explanatory, and as the adult all you need to do is provide a few resources/materials and just watch the fantastic ideas your child will come up with!

The children may like to draw or paint the things they are learning about this month: rainbows, people who help us, mini beasts, butterflies etc.

Dough is a great resource for developing all of the above as well as strengthening the muscles in those little hands (which will prepare them for writing development in Primary 1).

A very simple recipe includes:                                                                                                   

One cup of flour

half cup of salt

half cup of water

add food colouring (any colour)

mix together and Hey Presto!

Moon sand is another malleable material that your child will enjoy playing with. Its magic! It holds its shape like playdough; however, it crumbles like sand but can stick together to make sandcastles!

Moon sand recipe:

8 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup baby oil

Food colouring (your choice)

Essential oil for fragrance

Pour lour into a large plastic container

Add food colouring and fragrance

Put the oil in the centre and mix together until the flour sticks together and you can squeeze it!

Give your child moulds, scoops, cookie cutters and junk material and watch them have hours of fun.

Share this experience with you child, its easy and fun and you can develop the sequencing language whilst doing it.

Sing the songs for May (included on this page)

Jo Jingles have been doing some live sessions via their Facebook page, (look up Jo Jingles), if you would like to follow them and join in! The children love taking part in Jo Jingles sessions in nursery. They are very enthusiastic and always have lots of fun!

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• Continue exploring imaginative play (easily done at home)
• Enjoy taking on a role
• Enjoy performing for an audience- this includes family members!

• Music/Movement-

• Continue to take an interest in musical activities

• Enjoy listening to music

• Continue to make music by singing/clapping and playing instruments

• Experiment to make musical sounds using a variety of materials. This can be done with the likes of empty bottles and lentils for example or rice (at home)!

• Take part in rhymes, try making up your own!

During the month of May, we are learning about seasonal change, growth, the life cycle of a butterfly, mini beasts and ‘People Who Help Us’. (see our Language page for ideas).

Continue to hunt for little mini beasts in your garden. Let your child enjoy picking them up to examine them and then put them back carefully. This would be a good time to cultivate some little ‘green fingers’ whether it’s a pot on a windowsill or a plot in the garden, get them growing something from seed. (We see from your photos we already have some keen gardeners! Keep up the good work). Growing their own plants is a great way to show them how things grow and will show them how to take care of plants. Give your child the responsibility of watering their plants. And if you can’t get hold of seeds right now, let them have a go at re-growing vegetables!!! Talk to them about what a plant needs to grow, sun, water etc. Chat to them about what they need to help them to grow. They need- sleep, a good balanced diet, regular exercise and most of all lots of love. Continue to get them to names parts of the body.

Talk about how the seasons are changing from Spring to Summer. What changes do they see around them? How does the weather change? What clothes do they wear in Summer?

This would be a great time to allow your child to explore messy play (maybe in the back garden)! Our children love mud, soil, slime, clay, dough, glitter, sand, water. Just add a few utensils and again, watch their little imaginations come to life!

They love exploring and getting messy! Remember a messy child is a happy child!

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Early Exploration

• Enjoy playing with sand/water/soil/clay etc
• Continue to explore the properties of materials
• Continue to develop sensory awareness
• Continue to show and interest in design and construction
• Continue to make simple models

ICT

• Continue to show an interest in a range of devices
• Continue to explore and use a range of apps that supports their learning