March 2024 Stay and Play Session

Please find attached information with regards to our upcoming Stay and Play session in the month of March. This Stay and Play session is tailored around STEM week where you will have a variety of STEM challenges to complete with your child during the Stay and Play session. If the day allocated for your child’s group doesn’t suit then we are happy for you to join another group that week and if you can notify a staff member of this. Hope to see you all there for fun filled STEM challenges.

Learning Together Groups 2024

Following from parental feedback in relation to being involved in learning experiences with your child in the ECC delivered by our champions. We have organised a variety of ‘Learning Together Groups’ in the month of April and May for you to be a part of with your child. These ‘Learning Together Groups’ link to our Curriculum for Excellence outcomes and range from Creative/Drama, Exploring the Great Outdoors, All Things Literacy and Communication, Health and Wellbeing and All Things Numeracy. Your child must be accompanied by an adult to take part in the ‘Learning Together Groups’. We hope to see you all there. Further information with dates and times below.

Week beginning 19.02.24

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In the creative area this week, all children have had the opportunity to explore letter formation. Children were given the challenge of recognising the initial letter of their name before attempting to write their full name using a variety of materials. This supports with fine motor skills including pencil control and pincer grip. Some children also used the play dough to create letter moulds which supports children’s hand eye co-ordination and encourages focus and concentration. 🔡✏️

𝕃𝕀𝕋 𝟘–𝟚𝟙𝕒 𝟘–𝟚𝟙𝕓

We have enjoyed exploring our ‘curiosity case’ which contains various technology objects including torches, talking boxes and magnets of various sizes. The children enjoyed exploring the environment identifying objects that stick to the magnets. We are also beginning to explore farm animals and their habitats based on the children’s interests observed within the playroom. Some children have been creating their own stories relating to animals, sparking imaginative skills and creativity.

𝕃𝕀𝕋 𝟘–𝟚𝟙𝕒/𝟘–𝟚𝟙𝕓 𝕋ℂℍ 𝟘–𝟘𝟙𝕒/𝟘–𝟘𝟛𝕒 𝟘–𝟙𝟙𝕒

𝒲𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒟𝒶𝓎 📚 🐉 🧚‍♀️ 🐈‍⬛ 📕

ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ꜰᴀɪʀ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴇʟᴏᴡ;

In the ECC we will be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 7th March 2024. Children are welcome to attend the ECC in their pyjamas to promote bedtime reading or if they wish to dress up in their favourite costume or their favourite character in a story they can do so as well. Children are welcome to bring their own story book to share with their peers.

Any parents/carers who wish to read a story to a small group of children in the ECC on this day and haven’t already signed up please speak to a member of staff and we will provide you with a time slot to attend the ECC.

You are invited along to our Book Fair-

Once again we are holding a book fair at Mauchline Primary School. It is the perfect time for you and your child/children to browse some fantastic books from Scholastic Books. Please remember to bring along your World Book Day Token.

The book fair in school will be open at these times:

• Monday 4th March 2.00pm – 3.00pm
• Tuesday 5th March 9.00am – 10.00am
• Wednesday  6th March 9.00am – 10.00am
• Thursday  7th March 2.00pm – 3.00pm

You can use your book token to get £1 off any full price book, just as long as the book or audiobook costs at least £2.99.

The World Book Day book tokens are valid from 15th February – 31st March 2024.

If you require further information please speak to a staff member, thank you.

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Outdoors this week, some children enjoyed creating their own gym using the construction resources. They enjoyed taking part in physical activities and discussed the importance of being healthy and active. All children worked together and shared the resources well, demonstrating team work 💪🏻. We have also been exploring capacity and enjoyed creating  potions in the water tray. Children used various containers to measure the volume of water and discussed their findings using appropriate mathematical language including full/empty. In the mud kitchen, some children have been busy creating recipes using real ingredients and discussing quantities and numbers throughout. 🥕🥦 🫑 Children have also extended their interest in numbers by exploring number recognition and identifying numbers in play. This supports with children’s numeracy, mathematical and problem solving skills.

The staff at Mauchline ECC wish all our children and families a lovely weekend and we will see you on Monday. 😊

𝐿𝒾𝓈𝒶 x

A short week this week due to school holidays and in-service day. However, there has been lots of learning taking place.

Outdoors 

Our Mud kitchen has changed into a cafe where experimenting and exploring has been happening making their own recipes.

Looking at architectural buildings using the iPad has been popular in the construction area looking at different shapes and styles.

Using small world to retell and role play familiar stories. Moving on to sequence familiar stories then making their own.

Indoors

We celebrated Valentine’s Day and made creative masterpieces to share with our loved ones.

As it is Chinese New Year, we explored the celebration on the promethean board, made a visual display and role played with Chinese crockery and chopsticks.

Continued using blocks to build houses and  introduced smaller blocks increasing concentration and creativity with challenge to draw their constructions.

Creatively we continued exploring the cycle of the butterfly incorporating shape and number.

CFE areas : Literacy, Science, Technology, RME, Health & well-being, Numeracy.

Hope you have a lovely weekend

Lynnette x

In the playroom, we have been enjoying den building. We used wooden blocks and various types of material to create houses for some animals. 

In the creative area, we are beginning to learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly with a main focus on caterpillars at the moment. We have been working on number recognition and have began to explore symmetry, shape and pattern further.

Curricular Areas – Science, HWB, Numeracy, Technologies

As a result of the children’s vote, we will be moving on to gymnastics during our gym time  🤸‍♀️. This week we were exploring movement skills, competences and concepts. The children were developing their movement skills through practice and energetic play as well as learning how to move their body & exploring how to control it. Next week we will be introducing larger apparatus  🧗‍♀️

Curricular Areas – HWB

Outdoors we have been enjoying imaginative play, we created our own cafe in the mud kitchen and explored different ingredients.

The children have continued to explore architecture through drawing and problem solving in the construction area.

As part of Mental Health Week, we have explored various activities throughout the week. This included mindfulness activities, children’s yoga and lots of discussion and stories to support our children’s wellbeing. Also a focus on children’s rights. Thank you for taking part in Express Yourself Day and our HWB home-link.

Hope everyone has a lovely holiday weekend!

Beth⭐️

This week we have been continuing to learn about Robert Burns. We have been focusing on using ICT to research Burns Cottage . We have used the information we have found to create Burns cottage  using loose parts.through this we have been we developing  our technology skills and problem solving skills. We have also started to explore rhyme through looking at some of the songs/ poems Burns wrote.

The children have continued to participate in bird watching week. Thank you to everyone who brought back their homework. Lynnette will pass this on to RSPB.

Technology/ Science/ Literacy

Creative area the children have been beginning to explore Butterflies they have shown an interest in butterflies and what they look like 🦋 The children have been continuing to develop their pattern skills through  creating their own.

Expresive/ technology

On outdoors this week the children have been exploring and discussing the weather due to the stormy weather we have had recently. The children have also been continuing to explore the new resources in the mud kitchen and water play.

science/ technology

I n d o o r s 😊

This week in the ECC we have been exploring Scottish Castles🏰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The children began learning about Scottish castles and explored when they were built, how they were built and what they were used for. We even had a look at the castle in Disneyland. The children have been building on their enquiry skills, help to understand how people from different cultures used to live and comparing and contrasting the world today and the past. The children were also using technology to explore castles and find out useful information.

The children have also been exploring shapes and creating their own mosaic castles.

Links to Curriculum; Social Studies, Expressive Arts, Technology, Literacy.

Beginning to explore Scottish dancing within the ECC and we are having a special guest attending the ECC next week- a highland dancer from Aileen Robertson School of Highland dance to perform to the children 🕺.

C r e a t i v e     A r e a 😊

In the creative area we have been exploring the work of an artist, Steven brown art and we even created our own McCoo and the children named it May McCoo 🐮

Links to the Curriculum; Literacy, Expressive Arts, Social Studies.

Week beginning 8th January 2024

We are beginning to explore Scotland in the ECC.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿We have watched some videos of highland dancing and began to copy the moves, we discussed the type of clothing dancers wear and where they might perform, leading us to discussion of Edinburgh Castle🏰.

Children have been using a small world castle to role play using their imagination and a selection of Scottish, tartan dress up clothes to support increasing knowledge of their own country.

Building our own Scottish castles🏰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿  in our Scottish highlands imaginative area working on gross motor and team work skills.

Leading up to Robert Burns day we will be exploring Scottish songs and rhymes and learning a Scottish poem “The wee rid motor”, a copy of the words have been put on learning journals.

Creatively children have been exploring the saltire flag of Scotland using craft materials. Whilst learning all about Scotland the country we live in, we used our imagination and creativity skills and created her own Scotland flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 with the playdough.

Outdoors we have been exploring the Scottish weather which this week has been frost and ice. Children have been experimenting how to extract ice from the equipment and then see how small they can make it. Conversation led to discussion where we may find ice and interest has led to mountains. We will continue to explore  more about Scottish mountains and our weather through play.

We will be learning more about Scotland over the next few weeks.

CfE areas – science, technology, expressive arts, literacy,  numeracy, RME, social studies, health & wellbeing.

Please check learning journals for our latest newsletters and dates for up and coming personal plans meetings.

Hope you have a lovely weekend, Lynnette x

Week beginning 18.12.23

What an exciting week we have had in the run up to the holidays 😊🎉🎅

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Indoors this week, the children have enjoyed exploring transient art 🪵🌲

https://earlyimpactlearning.com/transient-art-definition-examples-activities/

They enjoyed exploring various materials and creating Christmas trees using moveable objects 🎄 This encourages creativity with open ended resources and supports language and communication skills.

Some children created play dough before exploring various shape cutters, making Christmas ‘cookies’ 🍪 We added some cinnamon spice to the play dough and enjoyed using our senses to smell and touch throughout. We also decorated some gingerbread biscuits with our TAP teacher Hannah before eating them 😋 The children discussed the different smells, taste and touch. Some children described the biscuits as spicy, salty and minty 🍪

P A R T Y!

On Tuesday we enjoyed our Christmas party 🎈 All children looked amazing in their party clothes and enjoyed taking part in some party games. We played musical bumps, Christmas corners and had a prize for the best dancer. We danced to a selection of Christmas music and showed off our favourite moves 🕺 Also, thank-you to the parent council for donating a special party snack 🍬

P A N T O M I M E

Our N5 children had the opportunity to watch our in school pantomime on Wednesday ‘ Robin Hood.’ They all thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Oh yes they did! 🍿🎭

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Outdoors this week some children enjoyed making a gaming station using wooden planks and crates. The children worked together and shared the resources well. They also created an ice rink using the wood, working together and working as a team.

Some children created a water slide with balance materials 💦 They took it in turns to explore the slide and had great fun. This supports the development of large motor skills as well as encouraging problem solving and creativity. The children also demonstrated balance and co-ordination skills and supported each other throughout. Due to a weather warning, outdoors was not permitted at the end of the week for the safety and welfare of everyone 🌬

The staff at Mauchline ECC wish all our children and families a healthy and happy Christmas 🎄Stay safe and we can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for us all 😀

𝐿𝒾𝓈𝒶 x