Hello Willow Room boys and girls.
I hope you are staying safe and working hard at home. Did you get plenty of exercise this week with all the sports day activities?
Below are the tasks I would like you to try next week (w/b 15 June)
Take care
Mrs Travers
As it is Health Week and we are looking at different aspects of health, this week the nurture blog will focus on PATHs and our emotional health. PATHs has become a huge focus in all our classrooms as we begin to understand the different feelings we may experience. We recognise that these emotions can be categorised as ‘comfortable’ and ‘uncomfortable’.
We have spent time talking about how emotions change our facial expressions and by looking at the eyebrows, eyes and mouth, how this can indicate what a person might be feeling. Its important we recognise these emotions in ourselves and others, so we can help someone if they are experiencing uncomfortable feelings. Or use a strategy to help when we recognise those feelings in ourselves.
You may see a few familiar faces below as some of our Mount Carmel staff helped put a PATHs challenge together. Can you guess the PATHs emotion expressed by each member of staff? There are 8 different emotions being expressed and once you have guessed, can you sort these into comfortable and uncomfortable?
Why not give it a try at home? There is no better way to understand a feeling than to try and express that emotion yourself. Focus on the facial expressions and try a few of our comfortable and uncomfortable feelings. You can use a mirror to do this or ask a parent to take a photo of you and become the star of your own PATHs emotions chart. Send these to me and I can share these on our blog (check with parents this is okay before sending).
susan.travers@eastayrshire.gov.uk
Stay safe, have fun and take care 
Hello Willow Room boys and girls,
Below are the tasks I would like you to try next week. As its health week, the tasks are a little bit different and focus on different aspects of health. There are some work sheets attached to the grid activities this week too.
Have fun with the activities and remember to send some pictures of your work or you completing your activities.
Take care, stay safe
Mrs Travers
Like the popular TV show, but with a twist, create a ‘Come Dine with Me’ experience at home, with your family. Choose a day and set the table for a meal. Allow the children to make lunch, parents providing the ingredients and foods children will need to make a snack. Children will prepare and serve lunch to the rest of the family. Like the TV show, you will give the children a mark out of 10 for their efforts.
In the evening, parents can then make a family meal and serve the children in the same way as lunch was served. Likewise, children will also get to score the meal out of 10. Who will win in the battle of the meals?
Use this time to have a chat with your children too. It is very likely, with talk of schools returning, your child will have some anxieties or concerns about how this is all going to look as we transition into a new school routine given the governments guidance.
Watch the our PATHs video story about Tamera, who is worried. It helps children to understand if we share our worries with someone, it helps us to feel better.
Make a list of your child’s worries and talk about each point, discussing what the reality may be like. Reassure your child, that staff will work together to keep them safe and happy.
Stay safe, together we are Team MC
Hi Willow boys and girls
Here are the tasks I’d like you try next week (from 1st June).
I hope you are all well and keeping busy at home.
Take care
Mrs Travers
Taking Control
In life there are things that we can control and things that are out with our control. It can be hard to put negative thoughts out of our heads, particularly when we worry about what others think of us. It’s good to remember those things we do have control over and focus on what we can do, to make ourselves feel better.
Persistence
When times are tough and it feels like a struggle, remember the quote above. The river cuts through rock, not because of power but because of its persistence, it doesn’t give up. When you are having a tough time, what helps you keep going? Where do you find your strengths?
Superhero
What are your superhero strengths? What helps you keep going when times get tough? Try drawing yourself as a superhero and think about your superhero strengths. Are you hard working, persistent, good at problem solving? Whatever it might be, try to list at least three superpowers you have. It’s because of these powers, you can achieve anything!!
As always, take care, stay safe, together we are Team MC!
Hello Willow Room boys and girls. I hope you are all safe and well and managing to complete some of the activities from the grids I have been sending to you.
Below are links to the tasks I would like you to try next week. As Monday 25th May is a holiday and Tuesday 26th is an inset day, its just a short week and therefore there is a smaller amount of tasks than normal to complete. Give them a try and let me know how you get on.
Could you also try a few activities from our IDL grid? There are a couple of attachments to go with this grid.
As always, please take care, stay safe and I hope to see you all soon.
Mrs Travers
Growing Your Brain
https://biglifejournal.com/ (for more kids’ journal ideas)
Try this activity at home. When we make a mistake, it causes our brains to spark and grow. In fact, when we get something right, our brains do not grow. What a wonderful fact to learn… it’s okay to make a mistake!! In fact, mistakes help us learn and grow.
Think of a time you made a mistake. How did you feel? When you stuck with it and figured out how to get the right answer, did you feel a sense of achievement?
Our brains need lots of things to help it grow and work properly, like exercise, sleep, new learning and healthy foods. Try doing the activity on the blue page above and look at all the ways we help our brain to grow!
Nature Treasure Box
Why not have a Welly Wednesday walk (it doesn’t have to be on Wednesday, it can be any day you have time to do this as a family). Our Willow Children always enjoy exploring nature and the great outdoors.
Take an empty egg box and fill each empty compartment with an item from nature, you found on your walk. It’s a great way to have a little piece of nature at home and a lovely memory box of your family walk.
Why not take a photo of your nature box and send it to me. I’d love to see them: easusan.travers@glow.sch.uk
As always, stay safe, take care, together we are Team MC!
Hi Willow Room boys and girls,
I hope you are all safe and well. I hope you liked the surprise I sent to your email last week?
Here are the tasks I’d like you to try:
Take care and stay safe,
Mrs Travers
Mirror Image
This game requires coordination, copying another person like you are looking in a mirror. If the instructor raises their right hand, the other person raises their left. Take turns at being the instructor and the mirror image. Try moving different body parts and concentrate and think about what part of your body you must move, like looking in a mirror.
Try doing the same with facial expressions. Can you make a face displaying one of our comfortable/uncomfortable Paths emotions? Can you, or the other person name the emotion being expressed? Talk about what that emotion looks like and how you may feel when you express that emotion.
What is in the box/bag?
This is a game we often use in our Willow Room, which encourages the children to listen for/use good descriptive words to describe an item in the box/bag? Find an empty box or bag and fill it with small items and toys. Make sure the box/bag is not transparent as the item should remain hidden.
The child places their hand in the bag and without revealing the item, describes how it looks and feels to another person when they hold it in their hand. This is a sensory activity, so having items with different textures would be good. The other person will then guess what the item is, based on the description given. The child and the other person can then swap places, and the child can guess what the next item is.
AS always, stay safe, stay well, and take care! Together we are Team MC!
I hope our Willow Room children are keeping safe and well.
I’d love to hear from you all.
I have put together a grid of activities I’d like you to try.
You could try some of these activities too:
I’ve sent a special message in an email to you all today. I hope you are able to receive it and enjoy it!
Take care for now,
Mrs Travers
Activity Ideas
A few more activities to try at home if your child is feeling worried or anxious. They are designed to help them talk through and resolve the anxiety or create a sense of calm whilst focussing on texture or listening for instructions.
Simon Says
The Simon Says game is a great way to encourage getting the body moving and relieving tight body muscles whilst having some fun. It aims to get your child listening to another person and being able to follow instructions in a fun way.
If the adult starts by giving instructions, such as ‘Simon says jog on the spot’, ‘Simon says touch your toes’, ‘Simon says do star jumps’ and the child will follow these instructions. How well are they listening?
The child should only complete the instruction if it starts with ‘Simon Says’. Give a final instruction, ‘touch your nose’ and see if the child completes the instruction or not. If not, they can become the instructor and if they do, they try again.
Finger Painting
Finger painting is a great way to relax and have some messy fun. Either out in the garden or on a table indoors with a wipeable table cover. Start by putting out two trays, a different colour of paint in each. Kids can begin by mixing the two colours on paper and talk about what happens when mixed. Then make marks or patterns, using their fingers and talk about how the paint feels on their skin.
What happens when you put a dollop of paint on the paper and pull a comb or run a toy car through the paint? Is there anything else you could use to create a pattern? Why not take a print of the patterns you have created by gently placing a piece of paper on top, gently peal back and leaving it to dry?
Why not change the texture by adding sand? How does that feel when you mix it with your fingers? Or use shaving foam instead? How does it make you feel when you touch these different textures?
Worry Dolls
Worry Dolls are a great way for your child to explore the different emotions we experience by creating a doll for each emotion. Why not start with 6 feelings such as: happy, sad, worried, frightened, excited and tired. You can add to the collection as your child discovers new emotions.
Using large wooden clothes pegs, colour, paint or create clothes for their doll using fabric or wool. On the head (rounded top), draw in the emotion each peg represents and this will become the face.
Bedtime is a good time to use these, although your child can play with these dolls throughout the day to talk/work through or role play any emotions, comfortable/uncomfortable, they may be experiencing. It can aide a restful night’s sleep, if your child is able to discuss these emotions before bed, releasing the ‘worry’ or feeling that may be making it hard for them to sleep.
Stay safe!
Good morning on this beautiful sunny Monday morning.
A few more activities to try at home. It is always good to take a short break from schoolwork activities and these ideas are great for a short brain break:
Busy Bags
Creating a ‘busy bag’ for your child is a great way to have a 10-minute break from schoolwork, or a chance to have quiet time if they are feeling overwhelmed or anxious. Using the resources in the bag, children can fidget, build, or make a craft item.
Fill the bag with craft items such as pom poms, stickers, collage type materials, pens, pencils, small pad of paper, glue, pipe cleaners or any other items your child will want to get creative with. What can they create?
Try putting some Lego pieces or toy cars in the bag too and children can build a small object or roll the cars around on the floor. These are good ways to help a child self-regulate and ‘switch off’ to the world for a short time.
Brain Breaks
Our brains are a muscle and need exercise too. Challenge your child to the test below.
The first test is easier, ask your child to read the colours as written. Then ask them to say the colour of the word. This is more challenging as it is asking your left and right side of the brain to work against each other. Left wants to read the colour, right wants to say the colour it sees. Give it a try!
‘I Am…’ Poem
To remind your child of how fantastic they are, and to fill their thoughts with positivity, ask them to create an ‘I Am..’ poem, and to be honest about their worries and their hopes and dreams. You can use the template below or as a guide to creating your own.
Stay safe and well!
Hello and welcome back!
I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break and enjoyed some sunny weather in their gardens. It is still a very strange time for us all, our routines have completely changed, and we are missing seeing everyone in school.
Below are a couple of ideas you could do at home with your children, to help children talk about how they are feeling, what they are missing and to help us to share our thoughts as a family.
Conversation Café
Set up a ‘conversation café’ at home, ask the children to help set a table for afternoon tea, in the house or in the garden and let them help serve some sandwiches or sweet treats. It’s always nice to have some cake, a cuppa and a chat together. The attached photo suggests some conversation starters you could have together, which will encourage children to think about happiness.
Friendship Card
Like many of us, your children will be missing seeing their friends from school and may be finding it hard to understand why they can’t have a play date or a catch up with friends.
Encourage your child to make a ‘friendship card’ for a school friend. They can design and decorate their card with all the things they know their friend will like. Ask your child to write a personal message to their friend, writing about all the things they miss about their friend and what they hope they will do together once life returns to normal.
As always, any child who feels they would like a chat, can email me through Glow at any time and I will be sure to respond.
Take Care
Mrs Travers
During these troubling times, we are aware our children may be feeling scared, worried or anxious without the familiarity and routine of an ordinary school day.
I have attached some links and activity ideas which may help to relieve some worry or anxiety and will hopefully help our children to feel a little bit better during these uncertain times.
These activities are only a suggestion, there is no requirement to complete these, they are here to help should you feel your child may need them.
Activity Ideas:
Paths Mood Chart & Check in
By drawing the emotions from our Paths mood chart, using the emotions faces children are used to, children create their own mood metre and indicate daily, by pointing or putting a sticker on the emotion they are feeling. Parents and siblings can do the same and encourage children to talk about their feelings. Having a ‘family check in’ where you share your worries and feelings, can have a positive effect and help to relieve some of their worries or concerns.
Daily Diary
By keeping a daily diary and writing down the emotions you are feeling, this can be a positive way to release some of the worry you may be feeling.
Relaxation/Breathing
This video encourages controlled breathing and visualisation, which may help to relieve any stress or muscle tension children are experiencing.
Massage
Our school have had inputs on massage, which can be a relaxing way to wind down, or prepare for a good night’s sleep. Below are a few of those massage techniques children should be familiar with:
Head massage
Back massage
Try doing it as a family!
As always, any child who feels they may benefit from a chat with me, can email me, at any time, during this holiday period or otherwise, and I will be sure to be in touch.
Take care of each other!
Mrs Travers
Both our Willow and Oak nurture rooms are established and running well, giving pupils the opportunity to make connections and develop friendships with their peers. Children are happy and participating well in tasks and activities aimed at developing their health and well being.
In the Willow room, our focus for our Welly Wednesdays will be to have more opportunity to explore the great outdoors. We will primarily explore our immediate environment, but may explore areas further away from the school. The children will partake in a Wild Challenge, completing 6 activities linked to the RSPB challenge, which will encourage exploration of the natural habitats of small animals and insects from our local environment. Children will be encouraged to work in small teams, to create housing and gain knowledge of these animal habitats.
The focus for some of our children will be preparing for full time attendance in their primary classroom, reducing time spent in the Willow Room and helping the children find strategies and tools to support them throughout this period of change. For the children remaining in the Willow Room, they will need to time to adjust and chat about the changes taking place and how it makes them feel.
In our Oak room, the discussions and activities supported in the connected classroom materials, will continue to be our main focus, looking at different emotions, the impact these have on our bodies and how to manage big feelings. With time for discussion and sharing of experience, children will develop tools to help them manage feelings and see a positive outcome.
As always, if parents have any questions or would like to chat about any aspect of our nurture provision, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Mrs Travers
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