This week, the children had been talking about the “Aurora borealis” from the weekend, this sparked an interest in the night sky and finding out more information about space. We used the internet research engine to fact find about planets and solar systems in space. We have enjoyed creating our own spaceship and creating our own astronaut suits.

We also enjoyed using various coloured stones to create a transient art planet 🌎 . We explored information books to develop our knowledge around planets before exploring a range of small loose parts, developing hand-eye coordination.

In the creative area, we added tubes of coloured paint to the water for them to experiment and watch colours mix. The children worked hard to open the tube to mix the colours and was excited to watch it pour changing the colour. Creating their own Aurora borealis.

We were in the Quiet Room as the Music Room was busy this week but we still had fun doing our music and movement to the “Sticky Kids”. 💃🏽🕺🎶

Outdoors, we have been working on our problem solving and thinking skills. The children created their own obstacle course outside and tested their gross motor skills and understanding of behind, in front of, above and below. They were able to work together as a team to create different challenges and could adapt the course to make it more challenging.

The children have been very engaged in the construction area, using thinking and problem solving skills to create a house with friends. The houses had walls, windows and doorways. They explored risky play as we had to figure out a way to keep our house safe from falling and use our safety skills to manoeuvre loose parts.

As part of Health Week next week, the ECC are participating in walk to school week. Attached is the themes for each day.

𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕤 😃

This week in the ECC the children have been finding out facts and information about ladybird and life cycles. The children have also continued to focus on their interest of direction and positional language whilst exploring using transport 🚗 🚙 🚃

In the creative area the children have been exploring the life cycle of plants and butterflies. Some children created their own symmetrical butterfly paintings 🦋

Outdoors the children have been exploring building and constructing their own houses using a variety of materials. The children also have been exploring 2D and 3D shapes whilst creating their own houses. Some children were able to identify their address and were able to use Google maps to explore street views in Mauchline 🗺 🌍 

We have also continued to explore the life cycle of plant and the children planted their own sunflowers 🌻 , pumpkins in the community garden 🎃 and strawberries and tomatoes in our ECC. We are looking to continue to plant vegetables and wildflowers in our ECC outdoor area if anyone would wish to donate seeds or compost it would be very much appreciated.

Due to the lovely weather we all enjoyed a picnic in the garden today  🍎 🍌 ☀️

ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴡᴇᴇᴋ 💜

Rebecca from the Crosshouse Ted-ucation 🐻 team visited the centre to discuss Crosshouse Children’s Fund and what to expect if we ever need to visit a children’s hospital. Crosshouse Children’s Fund is a charity in place to help support babies, children and young people in hospital in Ayrshire and Arran. Rebecca brought various medical equipment and discussed the purpose and benefit of its use. We also watched a slideshow and video telling us more about what the charity does to help others 👣💜👶🏼👦🏽

INDOORS

This week we have started to explore the life cycle of ladybirds. This was taken from children taking about ladybirds in their gardens.

Following on from last week we have continued to explore vehicles using “click” resources to make “monster trucks”. Children required to do lots of trial and error to fix the pieces the way they wanted.

We have also been using the Bee-Bots to build on our knowledge of using directions forwards, backwards, left and right.

Curricular areas : HWB, LIT, MNU, TECHNOLOGY, SCN.

OUTDOORS

With the nice weather, the children have been exploring the plant life cycle and getting our ECC garden ready for summer/Halloween harvest. We planted pumpkins, tomatoes and strawberries. This will be a continuous process over the next few weeks/months as we watch our plants change and understand how to look after them.

We have also been exploring the community garden. As part of our outdoor learning, we are currently learning how to look after plants. The children explored the community garden and also the school grounds. We then worked together to collect soil and planted some flowers.

Almost all children have been enjoying the construction area outdoors using their imagination to make things they use in a house. Developing gross motor skills when moving the tyres around and showing signs of lots of perseverance as it was a little tricky at times as they are heavy.

Curricular area: HWB, LIT, MNU, SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES.

REMEMBER ECC IS CLOSED MONDAY 6th MAY 2024.

Have a great weekend.

Lynnette x

Week commencing 22.04.24

𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕤

Indoors this week, the children continued to explore different forms of transport and extended their knowledge through research. We added new resources to play including small world vehicles and figures. The children explored direction through use of bee bots 🐝 and discussed mathematical language effectively. This supported the children to engage, interact and communicate with each other whilst exploring sequences and computational thinking. 🚘 🚐 🚛🚂

𝕄ℕ𝕌/ 𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕙𝕟𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕪/ 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕪/ 𝕊𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖

The children enjoyed exploring planting through mailable materials. Some children selected mint and lavender leaves from our garden to add to the dough to give it a lovely scent. They used small pots, dough and artificial flowers to create their own planting experience. 🪴 This helps to develop fine motor skills and encourages creativity. 🌱🍃 🍂

𝕊𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖/𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕪/𝕄ℕ𝕌

𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕕𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕤

Outdoors this week we have been continuing to explore houses and the various structures of our homes. Children have been using materials to create their own homes including construction blocks,  magnetic shapes and large lego. We discussed the essentials required to make a house including the use of electricity and water. Some children could identify some of the roles involved in this process including an electrician and plumber. We also discussed the importance of knowing our address in the event of an emergency 🚨 👮‍♀️

ℍ𝕎𝔹/𝕄ℕ𝕌

Ｒｏａｄ Ｓａｆｅｔｙ 🚘 🚦🚏🖐🏼

Outdoors this week we have been discussing the importance of road safety and keeping ourselves safe when in the community. This includes riding a bike, walking or in a car. We discussed the purpose of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and what we need to do to ensure we are kept safe and free from harm. We created our  own road using chalk and included some traffic lights in our play.

“STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN” – quote by Jax

Some children also created a car wash station where they cleaned their scooters and bikes 🚘 😊

This week on indoors we have started to explore the modes of transport air, road, rail and sea. We have been using books  and ICT to research information about different types of transport. We have also started to explore distance using different types of transport.🚗🚂⛴✈️

MNU/ technology/ literacy/ Science

This week in the creative area the children have been exploring the life cycle of plants 🪴We have been exploring the process of germination and what plants need to survive.  The children have been planting sunflowers and will begin their planting in the community garden with Beth  soon🌻🎃🥕🍓 They have also been creating diagrams of the plant process and creating their own pictures of flowers/plants.

HWB/ Technology/Science

In the outdoor area this week, we have been discussing and creating our own homes using the construction resources. We have been exploring our address and where we live, using Google earth to investigate this further. We have been discussing the different foundations when creating a home and through number formation designing our own door signs. We have also been exploring shape and using mathematical language throughout.

HWB/ Numeracy

Indoor learning:

This week the children have continued to explore animal habitats and construct models of them independently, showing the knowledge they have gained in their learning.  They enjoyed a lotto game matching the animals to their homes.

They have also began exploring Easter, listening to Easter stories and  learning songs using the Promethian Board. They have been dressing up in the Imaginative area, enjoying the Easter/Spring costumes.

Number recognition and formation writing has been a focus indoors and the children are showing their writing skills ready for P1.

In the art and craft area the children have been creating their own pictures of jungle animals and are continuing to make lovely patterns of colour and shape. They also explored the Easter Bunny story and drew their own Easter Bunnies, some children also used their cutting skills when making their pictures.

On Monday we went our Community Walk, it was very wet so we were all dressed for the weather in our waterproofs and wellies, we turned left going out the school and went up to the Hilltop where we used our binoculars to look down into Mauchline and beyond, we also looked for birds and insects. There was a lot of road signs to see and we were very good at using our road safety rules of stop ✋ look 👀 and listen 👂.

They have been exploring planets, where they learned the names of them and were practising their dribbling skills going in and out the planets. They have also been using their problem solving skills when making “jet packs” ….what materials to use, how to stick them together and how to fasten them onto their backs???

Indoors

This week we have continued exploring our interest in animals and further explored animal habitats and animal pattern. We have been learning about the tropical jungle and forest in Africa and the Wetlands and Waterways. We explored shape and pattern throughout this learning and also enjoyed lots of imaginative play and construction/problem solving. We created our own African necklaces in the art area, focusing on pattern and colour and also drew our own jungle scenes.

We continued to expand our learning through research using iPads and the Promethean board. The children learnt some new words this week such as; endangered, species and extinct!

“Endangered means there isn’t many animals left in the world”

“Species is the different animals”

“It means there’s none left”

Links to the Curriculum; Social Studies, Science, Technology, Numeracy, Expressive Arts.

Outdoors

This week we have began exploring space. The children were keen to take part in the planet hop where they discovered things about the different planets, this is part of our focus outdoors in line with the book “How to catch a Star”. Some children made their own rocket-ships using magnetic shapes then expanded on this by making larger rockets that they could sit in. Lots of imagination and team work through construction too.

Links to the curriculum; Science, Health and Well-being, Numeracy, Literacy

Out in the Community

We explored the local community when out a walk and discussing the importance of road safety and keeping ourselves safe when in the community 🚦 We also popped in to the local shop to say hi to the shopkeeper 😊

Our woodland Wednesday we continued to expand our focus on insects and used our investigation and exploration skills to find them.

During both of these visits we focussed the importance of listening to an adult, road safety and keeping safe , the purpose of the green cross code, stop, look and listen ✋👀👂 recognising key traffic signs and noises.

Links to the curriculum; social studies, health and well-being, science

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Beth✨

I n d o o r s

This week in the ECC we have continued with our interest of jungle animals and we have been using the interest research engine to research different facts about jungle animals 🦁 🦓 🐅 🐘 

Through exploring small world jungle animals it sparked wonder and questioning…

“Can pandas climb”

“Why do zebras have stripes”

“How tall does a giraffes neck have to be to reach the trees”

We then used the internet to research our wonders and discovered our findings.

We continued to explore the story of Handas Surprise and some children were able to retell the story and create their own handa story 📕 📚.

Links to the Curriculum; Literacy, Expressive Arts.

For STEM week this week, we set STEM challenges in relation to exploring the jungle and constructing our own designs. Most children were able to complete the STEM challenge.

As part of STEM week this week the children have been using their problem solving skills to see who could create the largest fruit tower, setting challenges and achievements for themselves 🍎 🍌 

Links to the Curriculum; Technology, Engineering Disciplines, Health and Well-being.

O u t d o o r s

Big well done to everyone who took part in our STEM Home Link challenge to create your own boat. A lot of hard work, problem solving and engineering skills went into create these boats, well done to everyone such great effort 🛥 🚤 

Outdoors this week the children have tried and tested their boats to see if they could float or sink.

I n d o o r s

This week in the ECC on the lead up to World Book Day we have been exploring the story of Handas Surprise, predicting what happens next, retelling the story and exploring the characters in the story.
One of our parents also attended the ECC and read a story to the children as part of World Book Day 📚 

This has led onto the children exploring the culture of Africa and African families and researching different facts around this.  A staff member within the ECC was born in Africa and shared her experience with the children and also her African resources/family culture 🌎

Links to the Curriculum; Literacy, Social Studies.

 

C r e a t i v e / N u m e r a c y

Linking to the story of Handas surprise, the children have been exploring in a fruit shop within the numeracy area, taking on the role of a shop keeper, exploring and using money.

In the creative area the children have been painting real life fruit paintings and discussing the different fruits in Handas surprise story 🍌 🍍

Exploring the story Handas surprise outdoors, opportunities to explore the real foods from the story in the mud kitchen, working upon our cutting skills and utilising our imagination 🍎 🍌 🍍 

Then further extended the children’s knowledge through exploring more imaginative stories, focusing on the smartest giant in town. We focused on using our imagination to retell the story and we even created our own boots using junk modelling materials and tested out boats to see if they could float or sink 📚 🛶 

Outdoor learning…..we have continued to explore construction and den building. We have created our own houses, gaming rooms ,slides and bridges. We have also been extending our learning about capacity in the mud kitchen and water tray. The children have shown an interest in ring games and have worked hard on their team building skills.

At the woods we are continuing to work on our problem solving skills, decision making and risk assessing. This week we have started to explore insects. 🐛🐞🪳.

Indoors…..In the art area the children have been recognising the initial letter in their name through environmental print, stampers and dough  moulds. They having been using their name cards to help with letter recognition.

The children are beginning to learn all about animal habitats and have been using  the Promethian Board to research this. They have also been creating their own animal stories, being the author and illustrator.  The “Curiosity Case” has been popular with the children where they have been exploring a variety of items like magnets, torches, a laptop and talking clipboards.

Just a wee reminder that Thursday 7th March is “World Book Day” and the children can wear their pyjamas to promote bedtime reading or a costume of their favourite character.

Thankyou to the parents who have volunteered to come into the ECC and read a story to the children.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Jan.