Author: Miss Devlin

Overview Week Beginning 4th October

 

Click the link below to see all the fantastic work the children have done this week.

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Come and see what we’ve been up to :)

The children have been busy the past few weeks exploring a wide range of different activities in our new rooms and outdoor area. Please click on the links below to see what the children have been exploring and all their hard work.

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Numeracy Week at Catrine ECC

During week beginning 17th of May the children took part in numeracy week.

We explored money where they were learning about recognising a range of coins, understanding that coins have different values and that you need to exchange money to receive items.

We also explored measurement where the children learnt about size, height, capacity ,weight and amounts.

They created their own graphs using data they had collected from counting certain objects in or around the ECC and were introduced to tally marks.

Simple fractions were up next, where they split whole items into even sized parts through a range of active games and experiences (halves/quarters).

The children participated in a range of activities that allowed them to follow simple directions/movements and positional language. They achieved this by using technology to follow dance moves, following clues to find all the police equipment, completing an obstinate courses both indoors and out and investigating with remote control/programmable toys.

I think you will agree it was a super busy week for everyone involved and the learning experiences offered to the children were absolutely fantastic.

Please click the link below to see the Mini beasts hard work:

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Please click the link below to see the Sea creatures hard work:

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World of Work

The children have been very busy the past few weeks participating in activities related to the World of Work. We have learnt so much about lots of different jobs available in the world we live in.  The children have experienced lots of different learning opportunities that has allowed them to explore and gain knowledge of the roles of police officers, fire fighters, doctors, teachers, builders/road workers, hairdressers/beauticians, football coaches and lots more. Please click the link below to see some of the fantastic work the children have done.

Mini beasts:

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Sea Creatures:

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A huge thank you to all the parents, friends, family members and businesses that helped us provide excellent learning experiences for the children by providing us with fantastic resources and videos full of knowledge about their jobs. The children loved using the resources and watching all the videos where they recognised some familiar faces.

 

 

Some of the parents might have heard there was a thief in the ECC last week !

PLEASE  DO NOT BE ALARMED!! Alana’s biscuits for her cup of tea were returned safely to her (minus a few as the thief was hungry).

Please see the link below for the police report of the offence (and to find out who took Alana’s biscuits )

Go to this Sway

 

To round off world of work week we have asked the children what kind of job they would like to do when they grow up. Press the link bellow to see the children’s fantastic drawings of the jobs they inspire to have when they grow up as we “build the foundations of our future work force”.

The staff have also done videos as they look back to when they were younger and share the jobs they thought they wanted to do.

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Bumble bees March-April overview

Click the link bellow to see all the fantastic work the Bumblebees have been doing.

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Maths challenge card

Here is the maths challenge card for this week. We can explore estimation, counting and mathematical language with this challenge.

Before you start, ask your child to guess (estimate) how many cups of water it will take to fill the item you have chosen to put the water in. Once they have estimated, encourage them to count out how many cups it takes to see if their guess was correct. You can also encourage your child to use language such as empty and full when doing this activity.

Have fun and remember to send any photos to easherrie.devlin@glow.sch.uk

World of Work Week – We need your help!

In April we will be participating in World of Work Week. The main aim of this week is to allow the children to gain knowledge about some of the different jobs available in the world around them. Within the ECC we will provide the children with lots of fun experiences to spark their imagination and build the foundations for their future.  To give them an idea of what jobs they could aim to have when they grow up – we need your help!
Due to the current restrictions this year, we are unable to have visitors in to speak to our children about the jobs they do. Therefore we are asking if any of our parents/carers would be willing to provide us with a short video telling us all about their job. These videos will be shown to the ECC children to allow them to learn all about the different types of jobs that are available when they grow up.

Within the video you could include the following: job title, job role, who you help, the uniform you wear, the products you produce or the tools you use.

We would appreciate it if you could email any videos to easherrie.devlin@glow.sch.uk by Friday 19th April to allow time for editing.

We hope you can help and look forward to seeing all the different types of jobs our parents/carers have.

Numeracy challenge card

Hi everyone, this week in the ECC some of the children have been talking about families and comparing the heights of their friends to see who is the tallest and smallest.
Therefore this weeks challenge card is to try and find out who is the tallest and smallest in your family?

You could draw a picture to show us who is the tallest and smallest.

Please send your pictures to easherrie.devlin@glow.sch.uk

Aliens love Underpants!!

During our World Book Day week the Minibeast have had lots of fun exploring the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. We have been using our creative skills to make our own aliens using connects and potatoes with a range of craft materials. We were also designing underpants for the aliens using lots of bright colours. The children have further developed their role play skills when washing the underpants in our water tray. They then created their own washing line to hang  the underpants on, just like in the story.

Here is a video of the story we have been reading in the ECC for you to enjoy at home.

Thursday 11th February

For today’s activity I thought I would show you two experiments that you could try at home.

The first experiment is a great way to show children the importance of washing their hands. Recently we have been encouraging children to wash their hands more often because of Coronavirus. This experiment will show them what happens to bad germs when they wash their hands.

Here is a short video about germs:

Stop Germs from Spreading: Wash Your Hands | Cincinnati Children’s – YouTube

This experiment demonstrates the cleaning power of soap and will help you to explain why it’s so important to use soap when washing our hands.  The children get to chase away the “bad germs” in their own little bowl.

Before you start, put some pepper onto a plate and ask your child to dip their finger into the pepper and see what happens. The pepper should stick to the child’s finger – explain that in this experiment we will pretend that the pepper represents germs.  (You can wipe the pepper off their finger after showing them that it has stuck to their finger just the same as germs do)

What you need:

  • Water
  • A bowl
  • Pepper
  • Toothpicks
  • Soap/washing up liquid

Step 1 : Pour some water into a bowl (a few centimetres deep).

Step 2 : Ask your child to shake some pepper into the bowl of water. Explain to your child that the pepper represents germs.

Step 3 : Dip your child’s finger into the soap/washing up liquid or dip a toothpick into the soap/washing up liquid instead if they don’t want to use their finger.

Step 4: Then get them to dip their finger or toothpick with the soap on it into the middle of the bowl (that has water and pepper in it) and the “germs” (the pepper) will disperse! It’s magic!

Ask them what has happened ? Ask them why they think that this has happened ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/germs-experiment

Discuss and reinforce when we should wash our hands:

  • Before a meal or snack
  • After playing outside
  • After being at a playground or busy area
  • Before cooking or preparing a meal
  • After using the bathroom
  • After touching animals
  • After coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose

Encourage your child to count to 20 while washing their hands. (You could count to 10 twice or count to 5 four times to suit different abilities)

The second experiment is another fun way to use soap. 

What you will need: 

  • A bar of ivory soap (must be ivory)
  • A bowl
  • A microwave

Before you begin, you can let your child examine the bar of soap. Encourage them to use descriptive words as they hold it, feel it and smell it. Encourage them to describe the weight/size of the soap.

Step 1 : Unwrap your bar of soap and place it on a microwaveable plate.

Step 2 : Put your plate of soap in the microwave.

Ask your child what they think might happen to the soap?

Step 3 : Heat for 1-2 minutes. (You can’t really overcook your Ivory, but it will eventually reach a point where it stops expanding). While it cooks encourage your child to watch what is happening to the soap. Ask them why they think this is happening?

The microwave is putting a high volume of air into the ivory soap which makes it rapidly expand into a huge, fluffy cloud.

When your microwave stops get an adult to remove the soap from the microwave.

Caution!  The plate and the soap will be hot for a minute or so after being removed from the microwave.  Please give the soap a few minutes to cool before letting your children handle it.

Allow your child to explore the soap now it’s been cooked. Encourage them to use descriptive words to compare the texture, smell and look of the soap to before it went into the microwave.  Also encourage them to compare the weight/size of the soap now it has been in the  microwave.

Curricular areas covered: 

Health and well being – learning about germs and the importance of washing our hands. To reinforce safety when items are hot. 

Science – experimenting with water , experimenting with heat to create the expansion of soap. 

Maths – counting while washing their hands. Comparing the weights/size of the soap before and after it has been in the microwave. Predicting what will happen to the soap. 

Literacy – descriptive words to describe the texture, look and smell of the soap and what happens to the soap.

I hope you have fun trying these experiments and remember to send any photos to my email address.

sherrie.devlin@eastayrshire.org.uk

Continue reading “Thursday 11th February”

Friday 5th February

This week I have a fun painting activity for you all to try at home. I would recommend trying this one outside or putting an old sheet down that you don’t need anymore to catch the excess paint. (It could get messy 😂)This painting activity is called pendulum painting and it explores gravity.

Use technology to research some facts about gravity – you could draw a picture, record you telling me some facts or ask an adult to write the facts you find out about gravity. Here is a video that tells us all about gravity:

Gravity | The Dr. Binocs Show | Learn Videos For Kids – YouTube

Gravity is the reason objects come back down when you throw them into the air or drop them from a height. Without gravity everything would float, like in space.

In this activity gravity is pulling the paint down to the ground which is shown when you watch the direction of the paint falling from the bottle/cup or running down the paper.

You will need: paint, paper/an old white sheet, a plastic bottle/cup, string, paint brush, scissors, sellotape, a branch on a tree or a washing rope outside.

Step 1:  Pierce a few holes in the bottom of your plastic bottle or cup.

Step 2: Attach the string to the top of the bottle/cup (wrap the string around a few times then tie or sellotape it in place) to ensure the bottle/cup does not fall to the ground when you then attach the other end of the string to a branch or washing rope outside. You might need an adult to help you tie the string if sellotape is not strong enough.

If you are doing this activity inside, then you could use 2 chairs with a brush connecting them to allow a pendulum to be created or use anything that can create the effect of a swing – in the video they use 2 cereal boxes and a kitchen roll tube.

Pendulum Painting With Kids – Bing video

Step 3: Place your paper or whatever you choose to paint on under the bottle/cup (if outside you might need to put stones on the corners of the paper to hold it in place) and fill the bottle/cup with paint. You may need to add some water to your paint.

Step 4: Watch what happens to the paint, you can gently swing/push the bottle/cup to move the paint all over your paper to create a lovely piece of art.

You can also do this activity indoors using only paint, paint brush, water and paper.

Add some water to your paint to ensure it is runny. Hold your paper up so it is not lying flat on a surface. Dip your paint brush into the paint then tap your brush on the top of your paper and watch what happens to the paint. You could also try turning your paper in different directions while the paint runs down to see what happens.

While doing this activity in whatever way you choose, encourage your child to use their problem solving skills.

Why is the paint falling to the ground/running down the paper? Reinforce the word GRAVITY and the facts you have found out about gravity.

Ask them what they could tie the bottle/cup to? Talk about the height of the item you tie it to. Ask them, before you try it, what they think might happen if you tie it up higher or lower?

Talk about the different directions they can move the paint in and how they will move the paint in the direction they choose. Encourage words such as pull, push, up, down, forwards or backwards.

If you use more than one colour the paints might mix so encourage your child to try and predict what colour they might make when 2 colours mix together.

Curricular areas covered:

Science – exploring gravity, Technology – searching for facts about gravity and recording the facts they find. Engineering – by creating their pendulum, Maths – discussing height and direction of pendulum. Using problem solving skills and prediction skills when exploring colour mixing. Literacy – discussing ideas, introducing new words, mark making pictures of their facts.

I hope you have fun exploring this painting activity and remember to send in any photos/videos of your hard work. Enjoy!

sherrie.devlin@eastayrshire.org.uk

Tuesday 26th January

I hope everyone’s staying safe and enjoying the fun activities we have posted so far.

In my last activity we used a torch to search for objects. The torch created a light to allow us to see the objects in the dark. When using the torch you might have noticed that when the light from the torch hit the object it creates a shadow behind the object.

Today’s activity is exploring shadows. Let’s find out what a shadow is and how a shadow is created. Use an ipad, computer or phone to search and find out some facts about shadows. Here are some videos that I found:

Shadow | The Dr. Binocs Show | Educational Videos For Kids – YouTube

How to Make Shadow Puppets (Sesame Studios) – YouTube

A poem called My Shadow

We are going to create our own shadows!

So first we need a light source. Ask your child if they can think of different types of light sources ?                                      (torch, sun or a lamp)

Here are some activities you can try to create shadows.

  1. Create you own shadow show. Place your light source  on the floor, on a table or get someone else to hold it for you (unless you’re using the sun which is hopefully shining brightly today) and shine it towards the wall. You can move your hands closer or further away from the light source to see what happens to the shadow.  Use your hands to create different character/animal shadows on the wall. Use your imagination to create a story for your shadow. Here are some ideas of how to create some different shadow animals:
  2. Find some items in your house that you want to create the shadow of and then try to draw around the shadow it creates. You will need paper and pens or pencils for this one. Use your light source to create a shadow of your object onto the paper, use your pen/pencil to try and draw around the shadow. (You will need to make sure you don’t block your source of light or the shadow will disappear) You can also count the items, discuss the size of the items and could try to order them by size.

  1. If the sun is out you could go outside and create shadows with your body on the ground. You could use your shadow to create a shadow dance or play shadow tig with a family member.

  1. Try and create some shadow letters, numbers or shapes. You could use your hands or draw the shape on paper and cut it out to create your shadow when you place it in front of the light. Ask your child if they can identify what letter, number or shape they have made.
    Remember to send any videos or photos of your work to my email : sherrie.devlin@eastayrshire.org.uk

Have fun!

Curricular areas covered:

Technology – discussing/use of different items to search information about shadows. Discussing how shadows are created and different types of light sources.

Literacy – using their imagination to create shadows, characters and shows. Recognising letters.

Numeracy -discussing the size of the shadows they make when moving closer or further away. Discussing  the size of the items they have used to create shadows and draw around. Sort in size order. Recognising numbers/shapes.

 

Friday 15th January

Here is a fun scavenger hunt for you to try.

You can do this hunt in dark rooms in your house or outside when it starts to get dark (remember to wrap up warmly if you are going outside)

What you will need: a torch or mobile phone, post it notes or paper and sellotape.

On as many post it notes/pieces of paper you want, write a range of numbers or letters, draw different shapes or use different coloured post it notes/paper. Hide and stick the post it notes/paper stuck with sellotape around your house or outside.

If inside – make the rooms as dark as possible by closing the blinds, turning off lights and then turn on the torch/phone light. Allow your child to use the torch/phone light to search for the post it notes/paper.

If outside–  wait until it starts to get dark, allow your child to search around using the torch/phone light to try and find the post it notes/paper.

Once they find one ask them what is on it?

If you chose letters ask them what the letter is ? Do they know any words that start with that letter? Is that letter in their name?

If you chose numbers ask them what number is it ? What number comes before or after that number? Can you count to that number?

If you chose shapes ask them what shape is that ? Can you think of anything that is the same shape?

If you chose colours ask them what colour is that? Can you think of anything that is the same colour?

Once they have found all the post it notes/paper you could encourage them to try and mark make the letters, numbers, shapes or to find something in the house the same colour as the colours they found on their hunt.

Curricular areas covered:

Literacy – Letter recognition, initial sound, developing mark making skills. Communication when looking for the post it notes and discussing the questions. Using problem solving skills if they can’t find them.

Numeracy – number recognition, counting, number formation, identifying shapes and colours. Matching/sorting by colour when looking for other items in the house that are the same colour as what they have found.

I hope you have fun using the torches to hunt – you can send photos of your hard work to my email address:

sherrie.devlin@eastayrshire.org.uk

 

 

 

 

Pink group – November

The children have participated in lots of activities this month that have linked with nursery rhyme week and children in need. We have also been busy doing lots of other activities – here are some of the things we have been learning.

During group time Cole has been practicing clapping out the syllables in his name. He was able to identify his name had one clap, therefore we tried to clap the syllables in  other words.

We have started to speak about the different senses we have and which part of the body we use for each sense. Harry was using his sense of sight to paint a picture of one of his friends. He could identify that we use our eyes for our sense of sight.

Olivia has been using her imagination creating her own stories with a beginning, middle and end. Olivia was able to act out the story she created using the puppets at the puppet theatre.

Katie was developing her letter formation outside using a stick to write in the mud. She chose some word cards to try and copy the letters on the card.

Callum has been practicing turn taking and working as a team with his friends. He was able to identify the shapes square, rectangle, circle and triangle when participating in the game.

Abi used her imagination to create an imaginary fire outside. She was able to recall the steps we take when using the firepit at nursery. She told her friends not to step inside the circle because the fire is hot and dangerous. She could also identify who would help if there was a real fire.

Logan has been working hard to develop his mark making skills into writing letters. He is able to copy a few letters to try and create the word on the board.

 

 

Pink group November post

The children have been working hard inside and outside. We have been exploring letter, words, numbers and shape. Here are some photos of their work.

Abi has been working hard to develop her writting skills. She is attempting to underwrite a range of different words using different writting materials such as chalk, pencils and chalkboard pens.

Logan has been exploring numbers outside. He was able to identify a few numbers on our number square.

 

Harry has been developing his fine motor skills when using the tap tap resources to hammer shapes and pins into the board.

 

Katie has been attempting to identify numbers 1-10, she also managed to order numbere 1-5.


Olivia has shown an interest in writting. She has been attempting to develop her letter formation when copying letters from the words around our board.

 

 

Callum has been working hard to develop his concentration skills when participating in activities. Callum showed good concentration when using the tap tap hammers to hammer shapes into the board.

 

Cole showed an interest in the tap tap hammers. He spent some time developing  his fine motor skills when hammering the shapes into the board.

 

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