Hello everyone, thank you so much for the amazing photos of your bird feeders, we are all very impressed with your ideas & creations, well done!! The winner will be announced soon.🤩

The RSPB big garden Birdwatch is this month. I am excited to see what type of birds visit your garden & also how many birds visit!

I have attached below a photo of the different type of garden birds you might see & also instructions from the RSPB website.

⭐️Challenge⭐️
Can you create a tally graph to record –

1) What type of birds visit your garden

2) How many of each type of bird you saw in your garden.

You can submit your findings to – https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/everything-you-need-to-know-about-big-garden-birdwatch/

I would love to see photos of your Birdwatch & Tally graphs which you can send to me – Michelle.Terry@eastayrshire.org.uk 📸

Curriculum Areas :- 

Literacy – As I talk & listen in different situations, I am learning to take turns and I am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.

Numeracy – Counting skills, I am developing a sense of amount by observing, exploring, using and communicating with others about things in the world around me.
Information handling,  I can gather information and display my findings.

Social Studies – I explore and appreciate the wonder of nature and play a part in caring for the environment.

 

Our January Newsletter can be found by following the link below

January Newsletter 2021

 

So today Achieving Apple has a little challenge for everyone to do at home.  He really enjoys reading, do you?  He likes reading so much because he knows that reading helps him explore letters and their sounds and how they form together to make words.  He has a reading diary that he would like everyone to try and fill in over the next week at home with their grown ups.  While you are reading some of your favourite stories at home could you talk about the sounds of the letters and try blending them together?  Also he wants us all to look at books and see if we can recognise the difference between the letters, words, pictures and possibly numerals.  Who wrote your book, who is the author?  Who drew the lovely pictures in your story, who is the illustrator?  Take time to discuss your stories, its so much fun and lots of great learning happens when you take a little time out to really enjoy a book.

*If you don’t have a printer don’t worry you could make your very own reading diary.

**If you are in need of any books or fancy a wee change from the ones you already have, there will be a table in the foyer area of the ECC this week. The books you choose can be kept for use in your home over and over again. You do not need to return these.

I have a story for you all to listen to at home.  I think there could be someone in this story who achieves something? So get comfy, switch those listening ears on and maybe your grown up could ask you some of the questions afterwards, enjoy.

Possible questions to discuss;

•   Why do you think the tortoise challenged the hare to a race?
•  Why was the hare so sure that he would win the race?
•  How did the tortoise win the race even though he is slower than the hare?
•  Can you remember some of the friends who were watching the race?
•  Who are the the main characters in the story?  Do you have a favourite   character?
• Who do you think had a great achievement at the end of the story?
•  Have you learned anything about this story?

I would love to see you diaries once they are completed by next Wednesday but also over the week if you would like to share any photographs of you with your favourite book, any pictures you have drawn of your favourite characters, any writing you have done, maybe even telling your own story or making one up please send me your fabulous work and I can share it with all the ladies and your friends on GLOW.  You could also take the photographs and videos of your work on your own with permission from your grown up, you can send your creations to me at,

Ealesley-anne.adams@glow.sch.uk

Learning outcomes

Literacy – (Reading) To listen and engage in a story, show interest in books/text, talk about stories, explore letters, symbols, sounds and print and recall story parts. (Writing) Mark making, letter formation, pencil control. (Listening and Talking) Can listen and engage, hear and say sounds of letters and words, retell story parts, share ideas, when to talk and when to listen.

Technology – Explore using technology, how to share ideas.

Expressive Arts – Freedom to choose ways to create images, explore mark making, identify colours, begin to draw a recognisable body with arms, legs and head, different types of lines (zig zag, straight, wiggly, long and short)

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                               

Good morning boys and girls, I hope you are all well. Today we are going to  attempt a numeracy activity involving measurement.

In the house you could look at your toys and see which are the biggest and smallest. You could also look at a variety of household items such as cups, cutlery etc – what is the longest? the widest? the shortest or the narrowest? You could use a range of resources such as rulers, measuring tapes, hands or even bricks (lego) to measure each item, eg what numbers are on the ruler ? which one did  you stop at? how many bricks did you need ?

Within the family you could draw around each others hands and feet …..

Question 1     Whose is the largest?

Question 2      Whose is the smallest?

Question 3       Whose hand size is the in the middle?

If you’re going out a wee walk with the family, look around, what can you see – tall/short trees, long/short twigs, big/small pebbles etc.

Remember and have fun, draw lots of pictures or take photos and send them to me at

rena.dornan@eastayrshire.org.uk

Curricular areas covered.

Numeracy  –  mathematical language, counting, number recognition and problem solving, measurement

Literacy – mark making, pencil control, asking and answering questions.

HWB – Using your senses to explore the world around you

 

 

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

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 🙂

 

Firstly I would like everyone to see this wonderful photo I’ve been sent in from Katie who has recently just became a big sister for the second time to a beautiful baby brother called Blair. Congratulations to Katie and all of her family – you look so proud ♥

Also I had asked for everyone to think of something that they would liked to have focused on achieving over the past week. April told me that her aim was to ensure that each day she took part in an exercise activity such as Joe Wicks, Cosmic Yoga or a walk with her family – I hope you managed to achieve this April.  Now I said my goal was to achieve 100,000 steps and I have just managed this (even if it has meant jogging up and down the stairs in my own house).  I am going to make this a weekly target for myself as I have enjoyed doing it ♥

In total this week I have managed to do 101,696 steps and I am very happy with my achievement. How do your achievements make you feel?

Lastly, I am so proud of all the children who this week have worked very hard designing and naming their own superheroes.  They have all been fantastic and totally unique.  Thank you to all the parents/carers also for taking the time to draw templates etc – fantastic effort from everyone!  So here we have the gallery with all of our entries with some super names also.  I am in the ECC today and the children who are attending the hub have voted for their favourite.

So I am delighted to tell you that after all the votes today from the staff and the children that the next Achieving Superhero is going to be…………Achieving Apple by Braxton, so well done Braxton, you have done a great job and everyone thinks so.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend with their families, stay safe ♥

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

*REMINDER*

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, children who are five years of age between 1 March 2021 and 29 February 2022, and whose parents wish them to attend school, should register for education during the week commencing Monday 11 January 2021 until Friday 15 January 2021. As a result of the current Covid 19 restrictions and to ensure the safety of all parents/carers and school staff East Ayrshire Council has developed an online registration form.

How to register

East Ayrshire Council P1 registration form will go live on their website on Monday 11 January 2021. Parents/Carers should go to http://eastayrshi.re/enrolAtSchool

If you already have an East Ayrshire Council Customer Account you should select the “login” option. If you do not have a Customer Account you should select the “register” option.

• the first screen tells parents/carers about the online process
• the next screen is where you should fill in all the parent/carer details
• the next screen is where you fill in all of the child’s details
• the next screen is where you should list an emergency contact for your child
• the next screen is asking for health and medical details for your child
• the last screen relates to equal opportunities information

Once all mandatory fields have been completed you will be taken to the “evidence” page. This page requires Parents/Carers to photograph and upload their child’s full birth certificate and two proof of address documents. If you are unable to do this at this point you should click “No”. You will receive an email explaining how this can be done at a later date.

The next screen is where you make the decision whether your child attends Catrine Primary School or you make a placing request.

When the form has been submitted you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your school enrolment application form.

We look forward to receiving the information about our new intake. Please do not hesitate to contact the school for any assistance. I can be contacted at: mary.mcdicken@eastayrshire.org.uk.

We have been loving exploring the snow and ice. We hope you have all had lots of fun outside too. Did anyone build a snowman?  I’m going to continue with the ice / outdoor theme.

If we have an icy morning can you take a paint brush or stick outside and a cup of hot water and draw me a picture?

If we get more snow can you add paint / food colouring and paint it to make it all colourful?

Go on an ice hunt and find ways to break it up.

Collect objects from your garden and freeze them inside or out if cold enough. Then explore it. Use predictions skills and investigate how to melt it, break it up and how to free the objects.

Make our own ice paint. Freeze some paint or food colouring in ice cube trays.

Any pictures can be sent to Carrie.hamilton@eastayrshire.org.uk

Curriculum areas covered
Science – exploring ice. Discuss the changes from water to ice. Ask your child questions – what will happen? When? How can we change it?
Literacy- prediction skills , lots of discussion, ask questions, mark making on ice.
Expressive arts – be creative 😊 make an image /pattern in the snow or ice

Good morning everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas break, unfortunately it is longer than intended.  Until we can welcome you back into the centre we all need to do what we can to stay safe.

Today I am going to be making some delicious vegetable soup for my family and would love it if you could join me in this task.

Firstly we need to make sure we have all the ingredients we need.  Let’s get our adult to help us out here.  If you don’t have all the ingredients maybe your adult could take you to the shop to get these or make some soup of your choice with the ingredients you have in your house.

Let’s wash our hands and prepare our vegetables, remembering to get our adults help when cutting and peeling.  Can you count how many carrots you have? what about your potatoes?

While you are waiting on your soup getting ready why don’t you ask your adult to help you find out where all your vegetables come from.

Parents/carers – you can encourage your child by searching the internet to find out what countries these ingredients come from and also how they are grown.

Remember to send me some pictures of your hard work and yummy soup

Curricular areas covered

• Literacy – following a recipe, new vocabulary such as “ingredients, measure, equipment”
• Maths and Numeracy – measuring, counting, weight
• Health & Wellbeing – healthy foods, where vegetables come from, food preparation, personal hygiene.

Please forward any pictures to Julie.nohar@eastayrshire.org.uk

Good morning everyone, it is nice to welcome you back. Unfortunately it is not under the circumstances we had wished but I am still glad to be offering you fun and exciting experiences!

Today, I thought I could create tasks based on something we would have spoken about upon our return. I hope you enjoy the tasks and I cannot wait to see all your hard work and efforts!

Task 1:-

I would like you to make me a picture using any resources or materials you have handy to show me your favourite Christmas memory and/or present.

Task 2:-

After completing your picture, I would like you to create your own story based on what you have done in your picture.

Parents/carers, whilst getting your child to create their story, here are some questions to help prompt them:

Who- who is in the picture?

What- what is in the picture? what are they doing?

Where- where were you within the picture?

Why- why is that your favourite memory/present?

How- how were you feeling? how did this memory/present make you feel?

Also, try and encourage your child to section their story and use story telling language such as in the beginning, in the middle, at the end etc.

Task 3:-

Now your picture and story is completed, I would like you to send it to my email which is posted below. To make it more fun, why don’t you ask your adult for permission to use their phone, tablet etc to take a picture of your picture and story or even make your own video showing me your picture and telling me your story!

leoni.gilmour@eastayrshire.org.uk

Curricular areas covered:

∙Literacy – recalling a story, retelling a story, using story telling language

∙Expressive Arts – using a variety of resources and materials to make a picture

∙Health and Wellbeing – understanding our emotions, talking about our lives, expressing ourselves and our emotions

∙Technology – using technology such as phones, cameras, iPads etc to take a picture or video to document our tasks

Hello everyone, hope you have all had great fun outside in the snow ❄️🛷☃️

I have a very important challenge for you all!!
From the 29th – 31st of January the RSPB are having their annual Big Garden Birdwatch which I will give you more information on nearer the time, HOWEVER, I have an important and fun job for you all to do.

⭐️Challenge⭐️
I am looking for the most creative & funkiest homemade bird feeder in the whole wide world!!! 🐦 The best bird feeder will get a special PRIZE 🎁 Please send your photos to -Michelle.Terry@eastayrshire.org.uk  before Monday 25th January.

Click the link below for tips & other fun activities.

https://www.crayola.com/crafts/milk-carton-bird-feeder-craft/

Good luck

Michelle 🙂

As part of our health and wellbeing focused learning we are going to look at what achievement means and how we can actively encourage achievement at home.  We encourage the children within the ECC to be aware of what their targets are and acknowledge when they have achieved these.  Children can set their own targets at home too alongside parents/carers to identify what they want to achieve and ways that they can do this.  Firstly I would love some help designing our very own superhero character to support us through our learning.  Below I have a template of 2 superheroes could you choose one to design and give them a name beginning with the letter A?, for example;  Achieving… Andy, April etc.   Don’t worry if you can’t print these templates you could also draw your very own template. We will choose a winner next week,  who will be our new character?!  You can send your superhero to

lesley-anne.adams@eastayrshire.org.uk

                            

I have found a lovely story about a little alien called Zid who is very determined to achieve something that he has his heart set on ♥

Parents/carers, here are some questions you can ask to encourage recall skills, hope everyone has had their listening ears on.

•   What does Zid want to make?
•   Who helps Zid?
•  What happens when Zid first shows the dress to Yoff and Mab?
•   What do you like to make?
•   Do you think it was easy for Zid to make dress?
•   Why do you think Zid makes dresses for is friends too?
•   How do you think Zid feels when he achieves making his own dresses?

I would love now for everyone to think of something that they would like to achieve at home.  It could be anything from learning how to make your own bed everyday, going a daily walk with a step target, helping prepare your own meal or snack or even reading a certain amount of stories each day.  I would love to hear what everyone wants to achieve and how they are going to do this.  I’d love to hear what everyone is up to, send me along your photographs and comments.

lesley-anne.adams@eastayrshire.org.uk

I too am going to set myself a task, something I would like to achieve over the next week.  I would like to walk a total of 100,000 steps!  Wish me luck ♥

Curricular areas covered

• Health & wellbeing – goal setting, self belief, building confidence, self satisfaction, feelings and emotions, resilience
• Literacy – listening skills, answering simple questions about a story, discussing characters and events, pencil control
• Expressive Arts – creating an image of their own, imagination when making up a name, choice of design for character e.g pencils, paint, collage, crayon

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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.

Alana – Depute Manager – alana.speirs@eastayrshire.org.uk

Lesleyanne – Senior ELCP – lesleyanne.adams@eastayrshire.org.uk

Sherrie -Bumblebees –  sherrie.devlin@eastayrshire.org.uk

Carrie – Caterpillars –  carrie.hamilton@eastayrshire.org.uk

Rena –  Butterflies – rena.dornan@eastayrshire.org.uk

Leoni – Starfish –  leoni.gilmour@eastayrshire.org.uk

Jan – Dolphins –  jan.wardrop@eastayrshire.org.uk

Michelle – Sharks –  michelle.terry@eastayrshire.org.uk

Julie – Jellyfish – julie.nohar@eastayrshire.org.uk

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

Alana Speirs

Depute Manager

 

 

December Newsletter 2020

When our NHS staff aren’t allowed Christmas tree’s in their wards due to COVID-19 restrictions …… we brighten up their walls for them instead.

Thank you for allowing us to cheer up your corridors. And thank you to the children of Catrine ECC for allowing us to pass their artwork on 🙂

 

More of the children’s work can be found around the village in shop windows – if you are out and about why not see who’s work you can spot?

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 🙂

So sit back, relax and enjoy.

https://sway.office.com/lSQnHWFBq1ru70Pq?ref=Link

A special THANK YOU to Carrie for organising costumes, scripts, rhymes and working alongside Alana to risk assess our outdoor scenes.

And another big THANK YOU to Sherrie for editing all video clips and photos together to make two fabulous online performances.

 

 

We had such a fun morning, watching The McDougall’s Christmas Party show.  We were very lucky winning tickets to this.  We joined in, lots of laughter and dancing.  The ice cream 🍦a gift from Dino’s Cafe in Catrine went down a treat… A huge thank you for your generosity 🥰

We are absolutely delighted to announce that last month we were lucky enough to win a VIRTUAL PANTOMINE for the children here at Catrine ECC.

On Monday 14th December at 10am both bubbles of children and staff will enjoy the fabulous interactive Christmas show performed by THE McDOUGALLS.

Children can come with Christmas jumpers on if they wish to.

As well as our Panto we would like to take this opportunity to say a huge big THANK YOU to Dino’s Fish, Chip and Ice Cream shop in Catrine. They have very kindly phoned the ECC and asked to donate an ice cream tub for every child and staff member. We thought the Panto would be a fab time to enjoy the delicious treat and so therefore Dino will be delivering it to us in time for our “interval” 🙂

Our Sweetie Balloon winner was drawn on Friday and can be found on the previous glow post. All other raffles will be drawn by the children on Monday.

Also don’t forget our party day is on Thursday morning from 9 – 11am.

ECC and school staff finish at 2.30pm on Friday therefore doors will be open from 2pm to allow for prompt pick ups and time for anyone needing to be at surrounding schools for older siblings.

AGAIN WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT OVER THE YEAR AND WE WISH EVERYONE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A MUCH BETTER NEW YEAR.