Click on the link below for information from the Head of Education regarding places for next session.

Allocation of ELC places for session 2020-21

Number Catch Game with Active Apple Man

Really simple game that you can play with 2 players or just one.

You will need;

• paper
• pen
• ball

2 players

• First write several numbers each on a separate piece of paper, could be 0-5, 0-10
• Scatter your numbers all over the floor or preferably in the garden
• To begin start running around the numbers all over the space, being careful you don’t bump into anything and when the adult says so, run and jump onto a number
• Players can now call out the number that they have landed on and pass the ball that amount of times to the other player

( you could take turns with what number you choose to throw and even talk about for ex; “Is 5 a bigger number than 3?”) 

1 player

• Again use your number cards but this time when you land on that number could you try and do that amount of throwing up and catching yourself or bouncing off the ground or a wall outside

You could try different tricks with the ball, experiment and have fun.  This is a great opportunity to not only get some exercise but to focus on numeral recognition, counting skills, listening skills and turn-taking.

Have Fun ♥

Happy Tuesday morning to you all 🙂

Staff are allowed back in the Primary School and ECC this week, so Alana and Lesleyanne were in the ECC yesterday, with all of the other staff members coming in over the next few days.  It’s going to be great seeing them again – we’ve not seen each other since March!

Today’s challenge is another Estimation Challenge, as you all seemed to have such good fun with the Doors Estimation Challenge last week. 

Can you guess how many pairs of shoes you own?  Shoes can be any kind of footwear – trainers, sandals, slippers, football boots, wellies … Estimate how many pairs you have and then go and count them. 

Was your estimate close to your final answer?  Challenge some other people in your family to make a guess about their shoes total too.  Let me know how you get on.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

We plan to make a simple “Virtual Tour” video for our new children and families starting in August. We hope that by showing them around our ECC and introducing them to our fabulous staff team it might help with the transition process and put their mind at ease a little about starting nursery in these uncertain times.

We can tell new parents what we offer and what we strive to achieve……but we believe your voices and views will be what they want to hear.

Under the circumstances this year our priority in August will be settling our children – both returners and new, it will be about emotional wellbeing and nurture, care and trust, relationships and respect.

We would appreciate it so much if you would take just 5/10 minutes to answer a few questions in relation to how you found your experience at Catrine ECC last year. We hope to use some of your responses in our short video.

Thank you in advance 🙂

Alana Speirs

Depute Manger

Good morning everyone. Hope you had a great weekend.
My task for you is bubble painting. We had great fun blowing bubbles and watching them pop on the paper. See how many bubbles you can make. Enjoy!
Here is what you need.

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man is a story you may have read at home or in the nursery. If you have the book at home, ask a grown up to read it to you or if you don’t have it at home you can watch & listen to it on the link below. After the story tell your grown up what happened in the story.

• Can you remember who made the Gingerbread Man?

• What was the Gingerbread Man’s eyes & nose made of?

• What did the Gingerbread Man say when he was running?

Maybe you can draw a picture of your own Gingerbread Man or even make one out of playdough?

Send me pictures of your creations, I’d love to see them – eamarion.smith@glow.sch.uk

Last week one of our favourite shops, Dunelm in Kilmarnock, posted a competition on Facebook…….

Lots of parents, carers, family members and friends of the school and ECC voted ….. and guess what …… WE WON !!!!!!

We are absolutely delighted and want to thank both yourselves for voting and Dunelm for donating the fabulous outdoor toys.

The children in Catrine will ❤ them 🌈

Good morning and happy Thursday to you all – this week is just flying in!

We were delighted to be chosen as the winners in the Dunelm Kilmarnock Outdoor Toys competition – thank you to everyone who nominated both the ECC and the PS.  Alana, our ECC Deputy Manager, collected the toys yesterday – look out for her post and photo today and I’m sure the wide selection of toys will be well played with by pupils at both establishments.

As we had such a horrible wet day yesterday I’m giving you a skiddly challenge today – The Water Bucket Challenge.

You will need – one bucket/container filled with water, one empty bucket/container, a plastic cup and a timer.

This can get messy so this challenge is best done outdoors (and it might be even more skiddly fun if it’s done in the rain!)

Place the empty container at one end of the garden or path, and place the container filled with water at the other end.  Start the timer for one minute.  Starting at the end of the garden/path with the filled container, fill up your cup and run to the empty container, pour your water in and then repeat until your minute is up.  How many cups of water can you fill the container with in one minute?  Challenge the rest of your family and see who can empty the most cups into the container in one minute.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Please note – ​​​​​​​an article was released in a local newspaper yesterday which stated that all EAC schools and ECCs  were starting back on 18th August 2020 – this is not the case. 

A starting date has still to be confirmed for a return for both pupils and staff.  Further information will follow regarding the start date for the August term.

On behalf of Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Head of Education

An Eggcellent Experiment!

What you will need : Eggs, clear cup or jar, distilled white vinegar and a bowl of water.

Firstly get an egg, allow your child to feel the egg and ask them to describe what the texture of the egg shell feels like. Encourage the use of words such as hard, firm, strong, flat and smooth.

Then get your cup/jar and gently put your egg in it, be careful not to drop it as you might crack the sell. Pour in the vinegar and ensure the vinegar covers the egg.

Leave the egg in the vinegar for 4-6 days, each day have a look at your egg and see if it looks different or if there are any changes. You could record any changes you see by the use of drawings or taking pictures using a camera.

After leaving your egg in the vinegar for 4-6 days, remove the egg from the vinegar and place it in a bowl of water. (Adults might want to help as it may need a little rub) Can you see any changes in your egg? Can you feel any changes in the texture of your egg?

Ask your child to describe how the texture of the egg feels now and compare it to how the egg felt before they put it in the vinegar. Encourage words such as bouncy, squishy and soft.  (Some of the eggs might even bounce however do be careful as they might burst) If they do burst explore what the inside of the egg looks like.

Ask the children why they think the egg has changed and where has the shell gone?

The vinegar dissolves the shell of the egg which then exposes the membrane of the egg and that is why the egg changes. (Introduce your child to the word dissolve)

While taking part in this experiment please reinforce that the egg is not cooked therefore the children should not eat this egg.

Huge big birthday wishes and Olaf special warm hugs are being sent to April today from all of the staff and your friends at Catrine ECC.

We hope you have had a great day xxxxx

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well! Today I have a fun building activity for you all.

I want you to see how creative you can get with your letters and see what things around the home you could use to build the letters of your name and if this is super easy for you then start exploring building other members of your families names!

Remember to send over some of your photos to me!
courtney.cameron@eastayrshire.org.uk

Happy Tuesday to you all 🙂

Thank you to all pupils, parents, family and friends who participated in our Health Week and Sports Day last week.  It was wonderful seeing so many photos and videos of your Family Sports Day events – lots of effort had gone into preparing for races and organising equipment and it was brilliant to see.  I was lucky enough to see April and her big brother, Kerr, enjoying their races with their mum and gran – they had a welly throw competition, obstacle race and a dressing up race.  They were having a great time!

All staff are gearing up towards getting back into both the school and ECC from next week – we are making plans for when we return in August and will share these with you as soon as they are approved by EAC.  The health and safety of our children is our main priority so we’re taking on board both local and national guidelines to make sure we get it right.

Today’s challenge is an Estimation Challenge, and it might sound easier than it actually is.  Sit yourself down in the living room of your house and count how many doors there are in your entire house. Easy peasy!  Or is it?? 

Remember that there are external doors, internal doors, cupboard doors, cabinet doors, dolls house doors … the list is endless!  With the help of someone in your house guess how many doors there are – make an estimate – and then go around your whole house and count all the doors and see how close your estimate was to the correct answer.  You’ll be amazed how many doors there are in your house!  Challenge the other people in your house to make an estimate too. Let me know who got the closest answer in your household.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Active Apple Man is impressed with all the hard work of all of those who took part in Health Week last week.

From counting your miles whilst out walking & cycling to naming parts of the body, from drawing your own pair of pants to joining in the the Catrine ECC Workout video.

You all did a fantastic job and we are all so proud of you.

East Ayrshire Council have developed a dedicated Wellbeing Website at  https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/SocialCareAndHealth/Wellbeing/Wellbeing.aspx which is filled with advice on mental wellbeing, exercise, healthy eating and new activities to try. It also has a range of supports for those who may be struggling. There is a dedicated section for Children, Young People, Parents and Carers which I hope you will find particularly helpful during these challenging times. We will continue to add to this section therefore it would be helpful if you could email any suggestions to healthandsafety@east-ayrshire.gov.uk together with any feedback on the current content.

Thank you.  Nicola Stewart, Principal Educational Psychologist for East Ayrshire Council

A great big well done to all of you who participated in Catrine ECC Virtual Sports Day. You all did a fantastic job and looked like you and your families were having lots of fun.

Good morning everyone, I have two tasks to keep you all busy. 🙂

The first task, can you collect flowers/leaves from the garden or whilst out a walk to match/create quantities?
The second task, can you collect some toys or objects and sort them into big, medium and small?

Quinn joined in our sports day with his family and looks like he was having great fun – Well Done Quinn.

Hello everyone, I just want to start by saying thank you all so much for your contribution in this week’s virtual health week and our sports day today. We have all loved seeing your pictures and videos.

I set a challenge on Monday for the full Catrine team on how many miles we could complete combined and see where it takes us to. I can now let you all know we have managed a whopping 85 MILES!!

Altogether with the miles we have completed starting from Catrine ECC and our final destination is…

EDINBURGH CASTLE!!

Active Apple Man and myself are so proud of everyone of you and all your hard work, thank you all for your participation. We hope you enjoy  your weekend x

Well done to everyone who took part in our first virtual Catrine ECC Sports Day. We hope you all had fun taking part and trying out all of the different challenges. We loved seeing some of your videos and pictures of you having fun and involving all your families in the day too.

And the winners are:

Race 1: Hurdles

1^st Place:Oscar  2^nd Place: Rebecca 3^rd Place: Harris

Race 2: Egg/Potato & Spoon

1^st Place:  Alfie       2^nd Place: Logan   3^rd Place: Oscar

Race 3: Dress Up

1^st Place:  Lukas McC       2^nd Place: Ashton   3^rd Place: Harris

Race 4: Sack Race

1^st Place:  Rebecca       2^nd Place: Alfie  3^rd Place: Logan

Race 5: Welly Boot Toss

1^st Place: Harris       2^nd Place: Lukas   3^rd Place: Ashton

Race 6: Long Jump

1^st Place: Ashton       2^nd Place: Oscar   3^rd Place: Lukas

Race 7: 3 Legged Family Race

1^st Place: Logan       2^nd Place: Alfie   3^rd Place: Rebecca

A big Well Done to all the winners and thank you all for taking part  – Catrine ECC Sports Day Superstars