Bischof Klein Thankyou

Kylemore Nursery School Newsletter October 2010

Dear Parents and Carers

We are delighted that most of the children have been settling really well. As often happens when young children come together for the first time there will be incidents where some children are having difficulty relating appropriately to other children. We would appreciate it if you would talk with your child about our nursery school’s Golden rules.And we will talk about them in school

· We play together

· We try to be friends with everyone

· We share

· We walk indoors

· We take care of the toys and materials

· We tidy up our own mess – when we’ve finished

· We try to remember to say please and thank you

· We tell our teacher if someone gets hurt or if someone hurts us

Please try to make the most of the session and do not collect your child before the end of the session unless in an emergency. If your child will be absent for any reason other than illness we will require a letter from you stating the reason for absence.

Don’t forget that the children will be outside each day so remember to send a coat!! Any child who is not well enough to go outside is not well enough to be in school!

And remember – if your child is unwell the best place for him/her is in the comfort of home. This is important to prevent the spread of coughs colds, flu and diarrhoea bugs etc...Please don’t say “but s/he wanted to come” – you are the adult and you make the final decision!

Best wishes,

Marian On behalf of all Nursery Staff

THEMES What’s happening in school…

This term we are continuing to focus our work around Me, my senses, and Autumn. We will be looking at changes in nature with the turning seasons. We will also observe changes in the children, how much they grow and new things that they are able to do. Another range of experiences we hope to provide is observing changes in materials, for example observing how cake or bread ingredients change when liquid is added or they are cooked. This topic helps to develop the children’s sense of time and to gain an awareness of things that happened in the past or may happen in the future

We will continue to encourage the children to use all their senses and again be approaching activities from a sensory perspective.

In October we will concentrate on developing the children’s interests and discussing – Autumn, Harvest and Hallowe’en..

Our colour tables will begin in October and will be:

Orange Brown

Your child is encouraged to contribute items to the colour displays.

Please put your child’s name on any item brought into school -don’t bring in anything too special – some colourful leaves will be perfect!!

We will be planting bulbs and winter vegetables in the garden.

We will use cooking apples to make our own apple pies and crumble before the end of the month.

There are lots of ways you can support your child at home and in nursery, some of these are listed below:-

· Look at photos with your child of when they were babies, then toddlers. Talk about what they can do now that they couldn’t when they were younger.

· Bring pictures to school to add to our display of Firsts- 1st time I rode a bike, had a friend to stay, wrote my name. Your child will have 1sts almost daily; we would love to celebrate them with you.

· Have fun cooking with your child, let them stir and mix ingredients.

· Come into nursery to help us with cooking activities

· On your walk to school notice the changes in the seasons, for example, the leaves changing colour, the conkers growing and the sky colour changes.

· Experiment with colour mixing at home or play with your child at nursery.

Information will be displayed around the Nursery, and please ask if you would like further information about any of the work that we are doing or if you would like to help. We would love to know if the children are talking about the work they do at nursery at home, if they are and you are able to jot down what they are saying or bring any work they do at home to share with us it would give us a further insight to the children’s learning and our planning.

PARENT NEWS

Parents Group It was great to see so many of you at our first Parent evening. To plan for the year Christine will be distributing info sheets this week. Please fill in and return to her so we can plan for the year ahead.

Our next evening will be Monday 18th October at 7.30pm.

Healthy lifestyles at Kylemore Nursery School

Please come along and bring a friend.

Stay and Play visits for parents will start after Mid-term and we hope you will come in to spend a session with your child. This will help you become more aware of what your child does during time in nursery school. The timetable will be displayed in the classroom during the last week in October.

Help in the Nursery We are always grateful for extra help in and out of Nursery. Our Homelinker is the coordinator for parental/carer involvement so if you feel you could spend some time in Nursery or help by doing jobs such as sewing, mending, cleaning equipment at home please let her know.

VISITS AND VISITORS

Music with Louise will take place in school most Mondays. This will be a part of our DSD project. Your school fund contribution also helps to pay for this.

Mick Conway will visit the nursery school on Monday 11th October with his collection of birds and animals. This will be an introduction to woodland life for the children in preparation for their visits to Woodland School at Roe Valley Country Park in November.

Louise McLean and the Willow Nativity Project -. We are extremely pleased that our children will be working with Louise at the end of October to create part of a Willow Nativity scene. This is a project being organised through the Causeway Enterprise Agency for schools in the Coleraine area.

STAFF MEETINGS

Every Thursday at lunch time our staff meeting takes place. This means that the front door will not be opened until 12.15pm. It may be worth bearing this in mind when setting off to Nursery to prevent a long wait in the entrance hall. The staff also meet daily at the end of each session in order to evaluate, plan and prepare for the next session. These meetings take place at 11.20 and 14.50 so we would be most grateful if you could collect your child promptly at the end of each session.

PARKING

For the new families joining us I need to mention about parking. Kylemore road is a very busy road and also a bus route. The spaces opposite the Nursery School are reserved for residents and the police have indicated concern about parking around our school. The police are keen to ensure there is access for emergency vehicles to either the Nursery or the local houses in case of any emergency. We would ask you to share this information with everyone who drives your child to school.

Thank you for your co-operation.

NAMING CHILDREN’S CLOTHES

All the staff would also welcome your co-operation in naming your children’s sweatshirts, as when they’re off they all look the same! Please also name coats, trousers and shoes/boots.

We would also be grateful if you could ensure that any items (normally pocket size!) that are accidentally taken home from Nursery are returned. Any LOST PROPERTY will be placed in the red box in the entrance hall.

NURSERY FUND

Thank you for your contributions to our school fund. It continues to pay for visitors, buy flowers and plants, material for dressing up props, cooking ingredients, books, paper and cartridges for the production of photographs among other things.

WOODLAND SCHOOL VISITS

Our visits will begin on Friday 5th November – timetable for all visits this term wull be shared with you shortly. Most parents and carers have now completed the Access NI forms so that you can accompany the children and staff on trips! Thanks to all our volunteers to date.. These forms must be completed before 8th October if you have not already done so. It will not be possible to complete one later in the year.

SCHOOL CLOSURES

Staff Development Day – school will be closed on Wednesday 20th October for staff training.

Mid term break School closes on Tuesday 26th October at 11.00 for the BLUE and RED Classes and at 2.30pm for the GREEN and YELLOW Classes.

School re-opens on Thursday 4th November.

STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE TO READ

This is the bear This is the bear and the scary night
We’re going on a bear hunt Peace at last
The owl who was afraid of the dark Owl Babies

After the Storm Funnybones

Meg and Mog Meg’s castle

Winnie the Witch stories

DATE / ACTIVITY /EVENT
Mon 4th / Music with Louise
Tues 5th
Wed 6th
Thurs 7th
Fri 8th
Mon 11th / Mick Conway and the animals
Tues 12th
Wed 13th
Thurs 14th
Fri 15th
Mon 18th / Music with Louise / Parent Evening 19.30 – 21.00
Tues 19th
Wed 20th / CLOSED - SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT DAY
Thurs 21st / Willow nativity project
Fri 22nd / Willow nativity project
Mon 25th / Music with Louise
Tues 26th
Wed 27th -29th / Midterm Break School Re-opens on Thursday 4th November

HERE ARE SOME RHYMES TO SING / SAY WITH YOUR CHILD

Five little leaves so bright and gay

Were dancing about in the breeze one day

The wind came howling through the town and

One little leaf came fluttering down. Four little leaves…. Three little leaves…

In the hairy scary castle

In the hairy scary castle

Where the cobwebs tickle and the ghosts say boo!

2 tiny Hedgehogs sitting by the shed

1 called Marybel and 1 called Fred

Curl up Marybel, curl up Fred

Peek a boo Marybel, Peek a boo Fred

2 tiny Hedgehogs sitting by the shed.

I’m a Dingle, Dangle Scarecrow

When all the cows were sleeping,

And the sun had gone to bed,

Up jumped the scarecrow,

And this is what he said:

‘I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow

With a flippy, floppy hat.

I can shake my hands like this,

And shake my feet like that.’

Itchy witchy spider

…Crawling on the mat

in came the wizard and nearly squashed him flat

off ran the spider he hid under a chair

no one can see him hiding under there!

Itchy witchy spider

Climbing up the wall

In came a goblin – he’s only very small

Off ran the spider he hid under the stair

no one can see him hiding under there!