Dear Children of Dunlop ECC,

Good morning and happy Monday everyone, I hope you enjoyed a lovely weekend and perhaps enjoyed lots of outdoor fun.

Today is my first day at Dunlop ECC and it is rather strange being here because there are no boys and girls! I am really looking forward to seeing you and getting to know you when you come back to the ECC. For this week, I have some literacy and maths activities for you to do at home and it would be lovely if you shared your learning with me. As I am still so new to Dunlop ECC, I don’t have my Glow email yet but you could send your photographs to Mrs Nouillan and she has said she will share them with me.

Please find below lots of super activities for this week’s shared home learning. I hope you enjoy these and I will see you soon in Dunlop ECC.

Fine Motor Skills

Activity 1

Open the link to pencil control pack I have shared below and if you are able to print, use coloured pencils, pens or crayons to mark make.

pencil control

Activity 2 –

Using pencils, crayons or pens, draw a picture of you and your family.  Remember to look carefully at everyone and draw their features.

Activity 3

Open the link to scissor control pack I have shared below and if you are able to print, follow the scissor cutting patterns with your scissors.  Remember, children should only use scissors when an adult is supervising.

scissors

Activity 4

If you have chalk, or water and a paintbrush, go outside and mark make on your garden path or wall.  Can you write your name?  can you write numbers?

Maths

Activity 1

Collect 6 different items for your floating and sinking experiment.  Before you test your items, first sort them into categories – Float/Sink/Don’t Know

Now conduct your floating and sinking experiment.  Do you know why some objects float or sink?

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dUQ1VSVTlWOUo3RVdLUU9GTU5IUEVZQUtFOC4u

Activity 2

Before bath time, go on a hunt for toys that you can take in your bath.  Before taking them in the bath, again sort them into categories Float/Sink/Don’t Know. Now conduct your floating and sinking experiment in the bath.

Activity 3

Using materials you have in your home, can you make an object that you can take in your bath to test if it floats.

Activity 4

Find 4 small objects and trap them in ice (put the objects in water and place in the freezer)

After your ice cubes have frozen, conduct your floating and sinking experiment – do the objects float or sink?

To finish, after the ice cubes have melted, take your 4 small objects and conduct your floating and sinking experiment again.  What happens now?

Please open the link below for a STEM story called Who Sank the Boat?

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dUN0YxQ1ZRWlhPN1RJR0JIVk5RSEJKMjU0RS4u

I hope you enjoy this week’s shared home learning and remember you can email photographs.  On Friday, I am going to read you one of my favourite stories and you will get to see me!!

Take care, Mrs Marshall

Day 5 – Children’s Mental Health Week

Good morning and happy Friday everyone.  I hope you have enjoyed this week’s themed shared home learning and you have learned lots of new skills.

Today is the last day of Children’s Mental Health Week and today’s activities are designed for you to express yourself – dress to express yourself through role play.

Benefits of Role Play

Role play is an important part of child development, as it builds confidence, creativity, communication, physical development and problem solving. Along with being a fun activity, it also allows children to get into character and act out real life roles or fictional performances. It can be purely child-led, and encourages children to take risks and be creative with the role they are playing.

Today’s role play focuses on superheroes and I would like you to make your own superhero costume using whatever you can find in your home, it could be a table cloth or sheet for a cape, goggles for your super power glasses and brightly coloured socks for your superhero gloves!  The choice is endless, look around your house and think creatively about how you can use what you have!

Once you have your costume and you are a powerful superhero, why don’t you show and tell your family your superhero powers! 

Open the link for two superhero dances and a fabulous superhero story.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dUNjRGNDJXN0ZJT0pDOFRRN002WThTRUxFVC4u

Please remember to send me a photograph, we would love to see you as a superhero!

In other news, next week we will welcome Mrs Marshall, our ECC Senior and she says she is so looking forward to working in Dunlop and getting to know our lovely children and families.

Next week, Mrs Marshall will be leading the ECC shared home learning with lots of super literacy and numeracy learning.

Take care and enjoy a lovely weekend with your family.

With kindest regards, Mrs Nouillan

Day 4 – Thursday 4th February 2021

Good morning and happy Thursday everyone!

For day 4 of Children’s Mental Health Week, we are going to be embracing the theme Express Yourself.  There are so many different ways to express yourself, this may be painting or drawing, building something but my favourite is dancing!

Open the link below to lots of super songs that will have you up and moving, toe tapping and dancing yourself silly! Go on, dance like no one is watching and express yourself!  I do this in my house in the kitchen and it is great fun!

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dURFNFUUtRQjNLNjVRV1Q3T1ROWlVXNVpJVy4u

After all that movement you could now practice your mindfulness, yesterday I shared breathing techniques which help to calm both the body ad the mind.  I have shared three news ones in the link below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dUQTQzUVpaVTZaWFZMMUdFS0ZBSURZQ0YzWC4u

Now that you are feeling calmer in both your body and mind, sit somewhere comfortable for today’s lovely stories.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dUNzlBVlUxVlBXOU1ETjlUU0VMQURaRkdUWS4u

Activity – Worry Dolls

Did you know that worry dolls come from Guatemala, a country in South America.   According to legend, it is said that before you go to sleep, you can tell your worry doll your worries then place your doll under your pillow.  The next morning, all your worries will have become much smaller or maybe even gone away!

Activity – Make your own worry doll or choose a toy you already have to be your worry toy that you share your thoughts with.

Remember we all have worries and we miss our friends and family, but it won’t be long until we can reunite again, which will make it all that more special.  All the teachers at Dunlop ECC cannot wait to see you on the 22nd February.

with warmest regards, Mrs Nouillan

Wednesday 3rd February 2021

Good afternoon everyone,

I’d like to start by saying, following the First Ministers announcement yesterday, we are all absolutely delighted with the news that we will be welcoming back our lovely young learners to Dunlop ECC on 22nd February.  Should we have specific information to share with you regarding the ECC, both Mrs Wilson and myself will keep you updated via the school app.

Day 3 – Children’s Mental Health Week and Self Care

As I have shared this week, our themed shared home learning this week focuses Children’s Mental Health and the joint working of healthy bodies and healthy minds.

It is important young children are taught strategies to help calm the mind and body and this can be achieved through mindfulness, meditation and yoga, and by being outdoors in nature and enjoying fresh air.

Outdoors Activity – Take a Walk on the Wild Side and find your Mindfulness on a Nature Safari

Mindfulness is a great way of helping the mind to become more aware of the surrounding environment.  It allows us to live in the present moment and appreciate the wonder of what is around us.

A nature safari walk is a great way of introducing mindfulness to children and it turns an everyday walk into an exciting adventure – and sometimes we all need a little adventure!

On your nature safari walk, be present and don’t rush! Take the time to notice what is around you.  Look for and count; trees, flowers, birds, insects and other animals.  Look carefully and try and spot things that walk, swim or fly.  Be still and listen, what sounds can you hear?

If you slow down your nature safari walk, your child will begin to engage their senses and this will create a state of awareness to the present moment and an appreciation of the beauty of the natural world around us.

Please open the form below to take you to the links for mindfulness activities, including stories and guided meditation activities to promote self care, wellbeing and relaxation.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKa7q-_oQ4u9Bvx36I8QYd4dURTVSTFBaWkJUUlZTWks5WFFBUDVNR1hQTi4u

Shared Home Learning Activity – Be a Bucket Filler

If possible, find a bucket and decorate or perhaps you could use an old box.  Create your family bucket of kindness and help each other to fill the bucket.

I appreciate you are all very busy in many different ways and shared home learning is completely optional.  If you do take part, it would be lovely to see some photos.  You are always most welcome to email me.

I hope you are safe and well and you too are being kind to yourself.

With warmest regards,

Mrs Nouillan

Day 2 – Children’s Mental Health Week

Tuesday 2nd February 2021

Good afternoon and I hope you are well and cosy in your house.  The snow is starting to get heavy now so it is an afternoon for staying safe and warm inside.  If you have time, this would be the perfect afternoon for trying out some of the activities from yesterday and today, they are all designed to support the development of healthy bodies and healthy minds.

The children in the ECC are very familiar with Cosmic Yoga and mindfulness and they enjoy daily opportunities to engage in these activities, you will be surprised by how quickly the children can move from one yoga pose to another!

I have attached the link to a yoga activity and this will help the children express themselves!

https://cosmickids.com/video/yoga-time-jungle-safari/

I have also attached below yoga cards with lots of yoga poses and brain break cards, if it is possible, these could be printed and put out for your child to practice.

yoga

brain breaks

Please open the form below to find two more links to activities, one is a beautiful story and so very appropriate at this time.

If your child has taken part in any of this week’s activities, it would be lovely for us all to see.  I am always most happy to blog your child’s shared home learning but please don’t worry if you are not able to take part in these, I am so mindful of the different pressures many families are under.

With sincerest regards, Mrs Nouillan

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope you enjoyed a lovely weekend and you are ready for another themed week of learning!  Last week, I received lots of lovely emails saying the children enjoyed our Scottish Week and the singing was particularly enjoyed!

As we enter another week of lockdown, it is understandable and very normal for both adults and children to be feeling sad and perhaps having low energy.  This week’s themed learning will provide a vehicle for exploring feelings/emotions and will hopefully help to lift mood and the feeling of positive wellbeing.

This week, 1st -7th February 2021, is  Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week with the theme Express Yourself!

As we are all under different pressures,  it is important,  now more than ever, that we take care of our own mental health and the mental health of your child/children.

This week, we will be exploring ways we can ensure positive wellbeing in children.

To mark the start of this week, please open the link to watch HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s video message on wellbeing

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/news/the-duchess-of-cambridge-sends-message-to-mark-children-s-mental-health-week/

Please also open this link to Place2Be’s parent/carer page for lots of wonderful ideas

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/parents-and-carers/

Here is also a poster with 12 Coping Skills you might use and practice with your child.

Shared home learning activities for this week are designed to enable your child to explore their wellbeing and express themselves!

Please open the link below to find activities centred around dancing, singing and listening to a story.

Activity for afterwards

Make a positive affirmation jar/bottle/box
Decorate the outside of your bottle/jar/box and decorate.  Then write some positive affirmations and place inside.  This might be:          I am kind,  I am happy, I am safe,  I am loved

Get your child to pick one positive affirmation out each a day and read it them and talk to them about the statement.

Make a worry monster/doll/teddy/animal – this could be out of recyclable materials, eg kitchen roll, shoe box, pegs, teddy bear etc.

Tell your worries to the monster/doll and talk about them to see if there is anything you could do to make the worry smaller or go away completely.

Think about the Colour Monster in the story you listened to – draw and colour your own monster and talk about how you are feeling, is it the same as your colour monster?  Finish off this activity by listening to the Colour Monster song in the link below.

To finish, it is important we learn to relax.  Visit the Cosmic Yoga website and choose a yoga activity, this is good for your body and your mind.

https://cosmickids.com/watch/

Lastly for today, Mrs Wilson shared on the school app, the primary school assembly on Friday.  It was called Under Pressure.  Open the assembly for lots of other super activities and to see some of the school staff telling us what they do when feeling under pressure.

I hope you enjoy this learning and tomorrow I will share more activities which will help develop mental wellbeing.

Be happy and healthy and don’t worry if you can’t manage these activities as I appreciate how busy you all are.

with kind regards, Mrs Nouillan

Happy Burns Day everybody!

Good morning everyone,

I hope you enjoyed the weekend and perhaps tried out some of the lovely outdoor ideas from the Winter Nature School post I shared on 13th January.  If you have, and you would like to share, please send me an email and I will blog this as we all love to see the children.

I cannot tell you how much we are missing seeing the children and hearing them in both the ECC and the primary department, school is rather quiet at the moment and it just isn’t the same!

At this time every year, the children in the ECC would be taking part in our whole school Scottish celebrations, including wearing a spot of tartan and enjoying a wee Burns Supper!  Maybe you could do this sometime this week??

For our Scottish Week, I have put together some Scottish links which will help you celebrate Scottish Week at home,  There is the story of Robert Burns, easy Scottish songs, Scottish dancing, Scottish stories and if you’d like a sweet treat as a reward for all your Scottish learning, I have also attached an easy shortbread recipe – please open the links below.

Easy Shortbread Recipe

I hope you enjoy this learning and have lots of fun.  I always appreciate many of the families are very busy with work and other family commitments, so this week’s learning is merely a suggestion for you.

Please click on the Forms box below to take you to the links.

Have a wonderful week and on Friday I will shared a story with you and an actvitiy from one of the ECC staff.

With warmest regards, Mrs Nouillan