Smiles all round

As with every major decision we have to make, we deliberated for months about which nursery to send Daniel to.  The first term has come and gone, and I can confidently say that we made a good decision this time.  Ursuline Prep School seems to suit Danny well.  Everything went smoothly right from day 1.  He never shed a tear.  He took his teacher's hand and looked back at me and said "You can go now, Mom, I'm alright."  He loves his teachers, he has lots of friends, he brings amazing things home and he is continously surprising me with new things that he has learnt.  He got a glowing report at the end of last term and his teacher only had good things to say about him (apart from the fact that he sometimes gets into a strop).  He always has a smile on his face when I collect him (and sometimes he doesn't even want to come home).  This boy is extremely happy at his nursery!

These two photos are from the first week

This is his best friend, Isla

"We even bake bread at MY school!"

This is some of the stuff in his work book

This is some of his art work

The rocket that impressed everyone

(if you look carefully you'll notice that it is a rocket

and you can also see his name

and a count down from 10 to 1)

Daniel can write his name

There are so many great blogs out there with all kinds of tips on encouraging learning in fun and different ways.  It's these sorts of blogs that I enjoy reading to get tips of things to do with the boys.  A lot of activities that I have been doing with Danny over the past few months revolve around his name.  This post is about some of the things I did to help him learn how to write his name, which he can now do beautifully!

Step 1: Work on their fine motor control

Step 2: Familiarise them with the letters

Step 3: Teach them the correct order of the letters

Step 4: Let them copy / trace their name

Step 5: Let the writing begin 

Step 6: Don't stop playing name games

Friends and Activities

Daniel is a social little character and makes friends where ever he goes.  He has nursery every morning from 9am-12pm.  Then we usually have lunch together at home before we head out for one of our activities and most days we also have some special time together at home before it's time to fetch Nicholas from school.  I realised that this time with with my boy is so precious so I really cherish it!

This is Danny's best friend from nursery, Isla.  His world revolves around her at the moment and the great thing is that the feeling is mutual.  Pity that they will be going to different schools next year but hopefully we can do some activities together to keep their friendship alive.  The added bonus is that I really like her mom as well.

On Monday we have Little Gym.  Danny has been doing it since he turned one so it's all old hat to him.  I think he is actually quite agile and so good at it.  The class is quite big with a lot of familiar faces but he always seems to garvitate towards the teachers, who he knows really well, and Lily-May.

Swimming is on Tuesday.  Danny is a waterbaby and really amazing in the pool.  His teacher, Virginia, is one of his favourite people in the world.  After all they've known each other since he was born.  He is friendly with all 6 kids in the class, but the ones that stand out are Cecilia and Olivia.

Wednesday is Playball day and, as a result, one of Danny's favourite days of the week.  I am a huge Playball fan and believe every child should do it when they are this age.  Danny loves it and always does everything with great enthusiasm.  Ernie and Eli are Danny's playball friends and his best boy friends.

On Thursdays we have music.  We are trying a new music class this year, Colour Strings, which is quite a formal approach compared the music classes we've done in the past.  Danny participates nicely and seems to enjoy it.  Again, he is very friendly with everyone, but his favourite by far is Lily-May once again.

Fridays are our free day for something different and fun, or a playdate perhaps.  So far we haven't embarked on any organised weekend activities with Danny yet but if Nicholas is anything to go by we'll have enough of that before we know it!

Silly Faces

In December when I was trying to take a photo of Nicholas to show off his big new teeth. I noticed Daniel sulking in the corner of the room.  The lack of direct attention obviously upset him.  I started teasing him to try and cheer him up.  It worked as you can see from the photos (displayed in reverse order).  This boy has a very expressive face and I just love his smile!

Happy

Sad (trying very hard)

Confused

Cross

Certificates Galore

Here are some photos from the end of Nicholas' year in Reception. It's one of those posts I was preparing before the summer holidays and simply just didn't get a chance to publish it.  It seems like such a long time ago now!

Last Day of Reception

Nicholas consistently received good results throughout his first year at school.  We were so proud when he got the prize for Ourstanding knowledge and understanding of the world and Literacy.  We were also delighted with his glowing report that was filled with words like excellent and outstanding!

Prize Giving

Here are some of the other certificates he got just to give you an idea of the activites he was involved in at school last year. They have so many things for the boys to do. It's quite tricky not to get carried away and try to do everything on offer!

Certificate and badge from the Chess Club

Certificate from the Football Club

Report from the Violin teacher

Certificate from the Spanish Club

The best learning experience that Nicholas got in Reception is Show and Tell.  The format last year was very loose, it was not compulsory, and the boys could do anything relating to the weekly theme.  We took full advantage of the opportunity and Nicholas almost always had something interesting to present at Show and Tell.  It not only fed his curiosity but also did wonders for his confidence.  He got many a 'super star' certificate for his contributions which obviously also added encouragement!

Certificates for his Mini-Beast Project and
Show and Tell on Thorn Trees (with props the teacher kept)

All the parents got a little present from the boys at the end of the year.  It was a plate with a picture drawn by the boys.  Nick's picture was of some blue bells finished off with a magnificent butterfly. I am a real sucker for keepsakes like this!

Bluebells Plate

These are some photos that I pirated off the school website.  The first few are to give you an idea where my boy spends his days and the last couple of are of the reception boys playing around.  They all seem so much older already!

The main building


The reception classrooms


The mosaic at the entrance


The adventure playground


Some of Nick's classmates

One of his football matches

Whole school photo
(Nicholas is red second from the right)