Here at Catrine ECC we love books so much that we need more than just one day to have fun with some of our favourite stories. We have therefore decided to celebrate World Book Day ALL next week 🙂
We are so excited.
As well as a very large range of experiences that have been planned for each day, Alana will be delivering Bookbug sessions throughout the week to everyone within the centre.
On THURSDAY 4th MARCH children can come to the centre dressed upas their favourite book character if they wish to do so – this is not compulsory.
Please note – unfortunately due to COVID-19 restrictions we cannot allow ANY PROPS this year that would accompany your child’s outfits. For example, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz could not come with a basket/toy dog for Toto and Thor couldn’t come with his hammer.
Look out for further GLOW posts next week to see what stories the children have been exploring.
Please click on the link below to watch our Catrine ECC video, full of memories that will last a lifetime, as we celebrate together our final day of home learning and hub provisions.
After the First Minister’s statement yesterday we are delighted to be able to welcome back all of our children to Catrine ECC on Monday 22nd February 2021, with the exception of our March starts who will attend as planned on Monday 1st March.
From the 22nd February, we will be going forward with our new bubbles, as highlighted to all parent/carers in December.
A little reminder:-
The Magnificent Minibeasts Bubble consists of:-
Carrie’s Caterpillars
Sherrie’s Bumblebees and
Rena’s Butterflies
Drop off time – 8.35am on the rainbows, pick up time – 2.35pm (with the option to collect at 12.15pm after lunch if you choose to use only half days)
The Spectacular Sea Creatures consists of:-
Michelle’s Sharks
Julie’s Jellyfish
Jan’s Dolphins and
Leoni’s Starfish
Drop off time – 8.45am on the sunshines, pick up time – 2.45pm (with the option to collect at 12.20pm after lunch if you choose to use only half days)
We ask that you continue to support us in providing a safe provision for our children by observing current social distancing guidelines:
always wearing a face covering at both drop off and pick up times unless you are exempt for medical reasons
ensuring that you maintain a 2 metre distance between yourself and all other adults, including staff
carrying out handwashing and sanitising before and after ECC pick ups and drop offs.
We ask that only the very necessary items are brought into the setting and all toys and backpacks stay at home. Changes of clothes can be handed into the ECC in a throw away carrier bag, if you wish.
If you have any further questions in relation to your child’s return to the ECC please do not hesitate to phone 01290 551233 or email alana.speirs@eastayrshire.org.uk
In the meantime, staff have been busy setting up the playrooms ready for Monday and cannot wait to see you all again soon 🙂
Another super busy week. Scroll down and have a wee peek.
Lukas followed the instructions in a big book of science experiments to make his very own volcano. He used vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to create lava and watched as it erupted. Does everyone reading this know what the word erupted means?
Lottie has been busy with her big brother’s school work this week. She also had great fun adding in lovely sparkly glitter to her play dough pack 🙂
School work just like her big sister
Pick up Pack fun for the family
Emily has also been working hard on both ECC tasks and sibling school work:)
When friends are reunited 🙂 ♥ ♥ ♥
Katie made a super duper den to hid in this week – this was my favourite thing to do was I was your age Katie 🙂
Charlotte’s mum was mega proud of her fantastic writing this week – well done Charlotte – great job 🙂
Yummy cakes from her Pick up Pack
Wow Abi ! Your cakes look good enough to eat and your names are amazing !
Katie is under the table
Katie was pretending to be on top of her horse called Spirit. Great movement Katie and super positional language 🙂
Theia’s first ever poem, age 3 🙂 A big well done Theia 🙂
The giggles in this video made me smile – we are glad our wee Pick up Pick of play dough ingredients brought you so much joy (and by the looks of things your mum so much mess – haha 🙂 Great job Louie.
CONCEPT CAT – Leoni was delighted to receive these pictures from Katie and Ayla. Both girls did well to explore lots of things about the word “small”. I wonder what word Concept Cat will want us all to investigate next week 🙂
Great literacy skills Harry – super smart skills 🙂
Initial sound hunt – elephant, eight, egg, envelope and of course ELLIE 🙂
Ayla found something beginning with A, Alexa.
Great initial sound idea Ayla, we love the Alexa in our house too 🙂
A for Ayla and A for Alexa
And the award for having the bravest parents goes to Quinn 🙂 FANTASTIC!
Thanks again for another great week everyone. Your communication and responses to blogs and questionnaires have been greatly appreciated this week.
Have a super weekend everyone and we will see you all back again next week
We emptied our ECC Post Box today and found lots of lovely letters, cards and drawings from some of the children addressed to friends and staff at the centre. Thank you so much for dropping them in to us, we thoroughly enjoyed reading them 🙂
If you haven’t managed yet but would still like to, then don’t worry, our post box will be out all next week for any more mail 🙂
Please may we ask all parent/carers to take a few moments to complete our short questionnaire. This helps us, as a provision, to get things right. It gives you a voice and helps us to improve our practice. It shouldn’t take any longer than around 5 minutes but, as always, if you would like to address any other issues that you feel are not on this form please feel free to email your child’s keyworker or alana.speirs@eastayrshire.org.uk
DIY playdough packs have been made up for our children while they are learning from home. They will be placed in our foyer area beside our ECC Post Box from Monday to Friday this week. Collections can be made between 10am and 2pm. Please ensure only one family is in the foyer area at any one time.
And as always – send us in your pictures and videos 🙂
Well, its Friday again !!! And again we are chuffed to bits with everyone’s efforts.
Scroll down to see how busy the children of CATRINE ECC have been this week.
Matthew was exploring with light and shadows
Matthew’s rabbit thought this looked super cool and wanted to join in
Super shadows Abi 🙂
Harry using his Thomas train to create a shadow to draw around.
A super poem Louie
Love it Olivia
Well done Lukas
Super writing and poem Abi
Great poem April
Louie and mum spent lots of time discussing daily routine
Lukas’s reading diary
Zakaria’s reading diary
Olivia’s favourite storybook
Snuggle time for a story
Olivia’s reading diary
Abi’s reading diary
April’s timeline of her day – great pictures
Just WOW Braxton!
So this little Super Star is Emily’s little sister. Libby should have been starting with us on Monday, after just turning a big 3 this month – so a massive well done for learning all of that Scottish poem Libby. We hope to see you soon 🙂
Great observation skills Logan – a lovely wee video.
Counting out 0 – 15 – what a clever wee cookie 🙂
What a busy week we have had. We are all super proud of everyone.
Keep your pictures and videos coming in and don’t forget to pop us some cards and letters into our post box next week.
It’s now been a whole 42 days since we saw the majority of our children – and STILL not even met some of our wee newbies 🙁
The staff and children within the centre would love to hear from you all.
So, while some of us have been in the centre we have made a special Catrine ECC Post Box.
Your task for today is to help us to fill it.
We would love nothing more than for the children to :-
make handmade cards
write letters (scribe your child’s words for them or encourage them to copy some words if they are beginning to show an interest in letters)
tell us their news (as above)
draw us a picture of what they have been doing or who they are missing from the ECC
post us a photograph, or
anything else you can think of that will fit in our post box that can be shared with children and staff
….and to deliver them to the ECC. Our post box will be sitting outside our main entrance on dry days, and in our foyer area on wet days.
By giving your child a purpose to write can give them motivation and a better understanding of both our written and spoken language with it being put into context for them.
Encourage them as often as you can to make marks on paper, in sand, with shaving foam (recognisable or not – this does not matter).
Below you can see that each stage of mark making is as important as the next and part of a super special process each child will go through.
You can talk to your child while they mark make about a range of different things – long/short words, the initial letter in familiar names like the A in Alana and the M in Mum etc.
Whilst drawing encourage your child to add detail, eyes, hair, windows on houses etc. All of these little conversations stimulate so much learning and development – and remember, if it doesn’t quite look like a goat to you, it certainly does to them 🙂 so praise their fabulous drawing of a goat and give them a big hug for working so hard 🙂
a goat
We cannot wait to start receiving your post – and when we do, look out for some videos of us opening them up to read aloud to everyone 🙂
And just to give you all that Friday feeling, here is a great wee tune you can dance along to.
Can you copy the dancers cool moves?
More importantly ……. can your mum or dad?
Uploaded dance videos will be much appreciated for our GLOW posts while we wait for the surprises of your post to arrive 🙂
alana.speirs@eastayrshire.org.uk
Some curricular areas covered
Literacy – early writing skills, drawing, fine motor development, ability to discuss past experiences and share news with peers, quality conversations and interaction with adults
Expressive Arts – design and creativity making cards, expressing selves through drawings/art/craft, moving rhythmically through music and dance
Health & Wellbeing – understanding of job roles (the postman), fresh air and a relaxing walk to the post box, express their feelings appropriately about who or what they may be missing throughout lockdown.
If the ECC had been open as normal we would have been learning all about a very special person this week ready to help celebrate his birthday on Monday.
Do you recognise this man?
His name was ROBERT BURNS and he was a very famous Scottish man who wrote lovely songs and poems.
He was so famous that people in Scotland and around the world celebrate his birthday every year by doing lots of Scottish things together:)
Some of the words in Scottish poems can sound a wee bit funny.
Ask your child if they know what any of these Scottish words might mean and send us in their answers – right or wrong 🙂
BRAW
WHEESHT
BLETHER
BAHOOKIE
BOWFIN
HEID
You could video your child’s responses or type them up in an email to me at
alana.speirs@eastayrshire.org.uk
But your BIG task for today and the rest of the week is ……….
…….to learn a Scottish song or poem and send it in by 5pm on Friday 22nd January to be in with the chance of winning our CATRINE ECC BURNS DAY COMPETITION.
THE STAFF AT THE ECC THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO SEE AND HEAR A WEE POEM FIRST SO LESLEYANNE USED HER FAB I.T SKILLS TO CREATE THIS WEE VIDEO. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.
Here are a few ideas of some songs we would usually sing in the ECC …..
Other favourites at Catrine are,
The Wee Rid Motor
Wee Willie Winkie
Skinny Malinky Long legs, and
Donald Where’s Yer Troosers
Remember it doesn’t need to be full songs – some are long, it can be a verse, a chorus, a couple of lines or the full thing. It’s completely up to you.
We are soooooo excited to see your videos and showcase them to everyone on Rabbie’s birthday.
Some Curricular Areas covered
Social Studies – finding out about people in the past, learning about Scottish history.
Literacy – learning new vocabulary (Scottish words and their meanings), reciting a poem or song.
Expressive Arts – performing to others through the use of I.T, being part of an audience (when you watch back everyone’s video clips next week) and feel free to make a Scotland flag or tartan picture to hold up while you film.
After our first full week of Home Learning we would like to say that we are ….
Well done to everyone who has managed to try one or more of our tasks.
We have loved seeing your work and hearing from your parents/carers through staff GLOW emails. Here are some of your outstanding efforts 🙂
Monday’s Christmas picture and story by Leoni
Abi loved opening her presents and her favourite thing was to wrap presents or her family. She has given herself pink hair as it’s cool and she has her party hat on from her Christmas cracker 🙂
Tuesday’s Bird Feeders by Michelle
Carter and Clara have uploaded photos to Michelle however due to her wee competition still being LIVE until Monday, Michelle is keeping her pics until then 🙂
Wednesday’s Soup by Julie
Thursday’s Snow and Ice challenge by Carrie
Friday’s Scavenger Hunt by Sherrie
DON’T FORGET TO KEEP YOUR WORK, PHOTOS AND VIDEOS COMING IN 🙂
Before we head into term 3, I hope that you all enjoyed a very festive break at Christmas time and I know I speak on behalf of all of the staff here at Catrine ECC in wishing each of you a very healthy, happy and bright 2021.
You may remember in our December newsletter we informed you of our newest member of TEAM CATRINE who would be joining us in January – well here she is …….
We are delighted to welcome Julie Taylor to our centre. We hope you enjoy working here Julie 🙂
In light of the First Minister’s announcement this week, although we are happy to be back at work, we are saddened by the fact that we are unable to welcome back all of our children. We are especially regretful to our 5 new children who were due to start with us upon our return to the centre today. We hope that we can finally meet you all soon and get back to having lots of fun.
For those of our families who were lucky enough to have been with us during our first lockdown back in March, you will know what is coming 🙂 Families however that just joined us in August I will explain a little more …..
Each day by 10am one of our super duper Early Learning and Childcare Practitioners (ELCP’s) will post a totally tremendous learning experience onto GLOW for you and your child to work on at some point in your day that suits you. Each activity, without your child even realising due to its play based nature, will cover various curricular areas helping to support cognitive development, social skills, mental wellbeing and so much more. At the end of each post the ELCP will leave their email address for you to send in any photos, videos, pieces of work or simply to ask any questions or comment on the activity if you wish to. Photos and videos sent in will be used at the end to create a lockdown memory video. If you DO NOT WISH your child’s photographs or videos to be included in the video for our social media sites then please inform staff of this when you send in the emails. Thank you.
At this point I feel it important to say that with the majority of our staff team also working parents or living with other caring roles within our personal lives – we get it. We understand. And we want you each to remember that these posts are here to provide ideas, give a wee challenge to pass the day, to ensure daily communication with us is easy and accessible but most of all in an effort to support our children and families at a time where some can feel isolated and down. They are not created to add extra stress to what may well already be a challenging day, week, month or even year. With parents potentially juggling work, childcare, home schooling of older siblings, caring responsibilities for elderly or vulnerable family members we ask you to remember at all times to “do what you can, when you can”.
Please also remember that both myself and/or your childs keyworker are still here to support you and your family during this pandemic, so if you ever wish to talk to us please feel free to phone the ECC on 01290 551233 or send us an email on the addresses I will note below.
We planned to wait until Monday to begin our daily posts but Lesleyanne is so excited to get started that she has asked to start hers tomorrow, so look out for our very first challenge which might be a good one for over the weekend. We cannot wait to see and hear all about it!!!!!
Thank you as always for your continued support and understanding at this time
We are delighted to present to you a short surprise we have been preparing for quite some time now.
Unfortunately due to current circumstances we have been unable to invite parent/carers in this year to participate in our usual Christmas festivities. Children and staff have therefore worked super duper hard in an effort to show off what they have been learning, only this time in front of the big screen 🙂
As well as a very large range of experiences that have been planned for each day, Alana will be delivering Bookbug sessions throughout the week to everyone within the centre.
Some of the words in Scottish poems can sound a wee bit funny.
