Pattern

November 22, 2021 Miss McCallum Leave a comment

Patterns are all around us, and there are lots of great fun ways to develop children’s awareness of patterns to help them build important early maths skills and apply rules.

You can notice patterns:

On clothing, wellington boots and the soles of your shoes

On animals – “Tigers have stripes and leopards have spots.”

Go on a pattern hunt in your own and the wider environment

“I can see a pattern on the tyres.”

You can hear them:

Make a sound pattern with instruments e.g. BANG, tap, tap, BANG, tap, tap.

Sing songs where the lines are repeated where there is a number pattern going up or down.

You can make them:

Provide opportunities for children to copy patterns and create their own as they play.

“I’ve drawn lots of stripy dogs and cats.”

Using loose parts!

Moving your body to make an action pattern e.g. hop, hop, clap!

Uncategorized

Beatrix Potter

November 4, 2021 Miss McCallum Leave a comment

The children had been interested in books. Mrs Rodger had come back from her Honeymoon with lots of information on Beatrix Potter and her beautifully illustrated books. The children were very interested in learning about what an author is and meeting the different characters that Beatrix Potter created. The children loved watching the traditional story of Peter Rabbit as they were familiar with the more up to date version which is on our televisions at the moment.

“I love Peter Rabbit, I watch it at home.”

The children got to see a video of where Beatrix Potter lived on Hill top Farm.

“Where is that?” “I want to go there.”

The children created a frame for the picture of Beatrix Potter so that we could display it in our writing area. They also got to make rabbit ear hats which they had to cut out of paper plates. Cutting out shapes helps the children’s fine motor skills which in turn help them with their writing skills.

“This makes her look nice.”

“I can cut it look.”

“Is this the right way.”

This learning experience went on for a matter of weeks. The children still talk about it today and we still revisit the stories of the Mischievous characters that Beatrix Potter created. This was a lovely learning experience to share with the children.

Literacy and English

Mark Making

November 3, 2021 Miss McCallum Leave a comment

The children have been busy enjoying exploring different ways of mark making inside the nursery and outside in the gardens. Mark making gives children the opportunity to express themselves and explore using a variety of tools and materials, while also supporting development of fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. Furthermore, mark making allows children to develop their creativity and imagination, and communicate their feelings.

Here are a few photos to show you what the children have been doing:

Paper and Pens

“My butterflies are flying away in the sky.”

Paint and brush

“Do you like my stripes?”

Chalk

“I like drawing outside with the chalk”

Large floor drawing

“I’m using lots of crayons to draw lots and lots of circles.”

Playdough stampers

“They look like little flowers.”

Car ramp tyre print

“My car is going down really fast. I can see the paint.”

Gloop

“It feels all sticky on my fingers.”

Rollerball painting

“The balls are mixing all the paint together.”

Salt

“I’m drawing an aeroplane.”

Feather writing

“This is quite tricky to hold the feather.”

Large painting

“Can you reach up to the top like me?”

Shaving Foam

“My hands are so messy.”

There are many more mark making ideas that you could try at home such as ice writing, mud painting, shadow drawing or crayon rubbings on different textures.

Please remember to share your learning on Twitter @Glenwood FC #Glenwoodlearningathome

Expressive Arts, Technologies

Recycled Art, Modelling and Up-cycling

October 21, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

We are always in need of resources for our junk modelling area and would be grateful for any donations of:

small boxes and tubs (plastic or cardboard)
cardboard kitchen rolls
plastic lids, bottle tops, margarine lids, etc
ribbons, string, wool, buttons, sequins, material scraps
anything else of an interesting shape or feel from your recycling box

Many thanks for your donations.

Junk modelling or recycled art is being creative with materials that would otherwise be discarded. Junk modelling construction gives children the freedom to build what they want with the addition of resources like tape and glue.

Modelling with recycled resources encourages higher order thinking. Children can work on their own or co-operate with others, learning to explore and share ideas. When they create something new it can build self confidence and boost self-esteem. Junk modelling is all about the learning process rather than the end product.

Here are some examples of what we have made so far this term:

Up-cycling!

Donated cable drums have also been up-cycled to make tables for our indoor role play areas and outdoor areas. We measured offcuts of cloth, cut them to size and stapled them to the cable drum surface.

Literacy and English

Story Stones

September 30, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

Story stones are great resources for developing children’s communication skills, promoting their language skills and encouraging their imagination and creativity.

Here are some ideas you can use story stones for at home..

Add the story stones to a sensory bin.
Place them face-down on a table. Children can begin a story and then flip over a story stone to incorporate that idea or prompt. Remember it does not need to be in sequential order!
Read a book together with your child. After the book, tell the story again using the story stones.
Play Kim’s game and see if the children can identify what character or scene is missing.
Practice sequencing stories by lining the story stones up in the order of a story.

When using the story stones use language such as:

Once upon a time..
The next thing to happen…
Suddenly…

These phrases help develop your child’s ability to predict and retell stories they are both familiar and unfamiliar with.

All you need to make your own story stones are:

Stones of any shape, size and colour
Paints or paint pens

If you try this at home, why not share your photographs with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC

Literacy and English

Bookbug at Glenwood

September 22, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

In all our rooms we love exploring our favourite books. We use puppets and props to help us retell traditional tales.

“The troll is scary! He tries to eat the goats. I like the bit when the goat hits him with its horns.”

Taking part in regular Bookbug sessions, we have enjoyed listening to familiar stories and we have been learning some new songs, as well as reciting our favourite nursery rhymes.

Look out for links to our Google meet Bookbug sessions next week for Math Week Scotland and you can join in from home too!

Uncategorized

Woodland Adventures

August 26, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

We are excited to be beginning our Woodland Adventures in Eastwood Park again soon!

We have made changes to how we will be running these this session to better accommodate the varying patterns of attendance of our children. Each room will have a block of four weeks, with sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, and also a Wednesday afternoon.

Our first visits this session will begin during the week beginning 13th September:

Block 1: Meadow Room
Block 2: Orchard Room (from w/b 18th October)
Block 3: Willow Room (from w/b 15th November)

Our Woodland Adventures Handbook will tell you all about them:

Woodland Adventures Handbook

All children will need a completed permission form to participate, including children who were at Glenwood before the summer. Please return forms as soon as possible to enable your child to access Woodland Adventures fully.

Information on additional safety measures that have been put in place due to the current Covid19 situation can be found here:

COVID19 update 2021

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to answer them.

Health and Wellbeing, Uncategorized

Introducing lunches

August 20, 2021 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

As of Wednesday 11th August, Glenwood began providing a lunchtime meal to ALL children regardless of their provision.

This means children attending in the mornings will have a lunch before the end of their session, children attending in the afternoon will have a lunch when they arrive in the afternoon and children attending full days will be provided with a lunch instead of bringing a their own packed lunch.

We will continue to provide a small snack mid morning and mid afternoon in addition to this. All meals and snacks are developed in line with guidance to ensure they are well balanced and nutritious and the menus are available in advance. Note: After any holiday the 1st day back will always be the Monday menu and then the normal days will follow.

NURSERY SCHOOL LUNCH MENU – Aug 21- Oct 21

Our experience of providing snacks for children shows that children will often be encouraged by the social aspect of our meal/ snack times to try new foods in nursery which they may be reluctant to try at home so we hope the introduction of a lunch will be similarly successful.

For pupils wishing to access our vegetarian menu the lifestyles form must be completed.

If your child has food allergies/ intolerances, a medically prescribed meal request form must be completed.

Please contact the nursery for further advice regarding the required forms if you are unsure about anything.

If you do choose to provide a packed lunch for your child this should be a healthy lunch with an ice pack to keep the food cool. Sugary and salty snacks are not permitted.

Please note- we are a nut free zone so NO NUTS. We also have a person with significant allergies and so kiwi, grapefruit, pineapple and avocado are not permitted. (Please check the content of drinks etc for hidden ingredients)

- Achievement, Health and Wellbeing

Glenwood Family Centre- Time Capsule

June 25, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

We chose to mark the end of our first session in the new building with a Time Capsule, positioned at the front entrance and within the heart of the community in Eastwood Park, signifying our place in the heart of the community. We marked the spot with a toadstool, which came from the garden of the old building from a wooded area known as Toadstool Tales.

This letter was placed inside the Time Capsule-

Glenwood Nursery School opened officially on 4th October, 1976 in a purpose built building on Woodfarm Road, with a capacity of 80 children in the morning and 80 in the afternoon. The first entry in the log book dated 10th November 1976 states, “ the waiting list opened on 13th September, and mothers have been enquiring daily ever since. Even at that numbers are slow to rise. At this moment we have 50 morning and 26 afternoon children. At this date we have one Head Teacher, one Assistant Teacher and five Nursery Nurses.”

The first head teacher was Mrs Elizabeth Anderson (became McDowell). She was succeeded briefly by Mrs Robertson, acting head teacher, in January 1990 before Mrs Karin Gilhooly took on the role on 3rd September, 1990. Mrs Gilhooly retired in June 2013 and I, Lorraine Brown, was appointed permanently in October 2013.

In 2015 Glenwood Nursery School became Glenwood Family Centre and we began operating throughout the year. Soon after, Scottish Government plans were announced for every child to receive 1140 hours of early learning and childcare by 2020 and so, to meet the increased demand, a new centre was planned due to open in August 2020. The new building was to be sited close to the old building. This was a much more prominent site, in the heart of Eastwood Park.

Unfortunately the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in 2020 resulted in the country going into lockdown and the opening of the building was delayed. The new building finally opened during a second lockdown at the start of 2021. We welcomed the first of our children on 1st February 2021, opening only to children whose parents were key workers or vulnerable children who were attending the Hub provision. The first children to step through our doors were Lewis and Cameron Wilkinson. On 22nd February 2021 we fully opened for all children. Our role at February 2021 was 141 children, with a head teacher, a principal teacher, a teacher, a depute head of centre, a senior child development officer, 16 child development officers (including 4 part time), 5 part time early years play workers, 2 business support assistants and 2 janitor/ cleaners.

The new centre has a capacity of 180 children at any one time, with children attending various patterns across the week to meet the needs of the families. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm every week day except public holidays and in-service days.

We hope that upon opening this Time Capsule, you will experience some of the thrill of learning about the past and the history of Glenwood. We have had an eventful journey recently due to coronavirus however the spirit of Glenwood is strong and we hope this continues long into the future.

Love and Best Wishes

Mrs Lorraine Brown

Head Teacher

25th June, 2021

Health and Wellbeing

Fun Friends

June 24, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

Going to school is a big transition and children feel that. From May as children’s awareness of their move to school increases we see slight changes in the children. We often hear individuals saying to their friends or adults “I’m going to miss you when I go to school”. Some of our younger children protest “I’m going to school too”. We see some children become a little more anxious and look for more reassurance, or return to play they had previously moved on from.

At this time children also begin to explore their identity through their friendships and sometimes excluding others and we often hear disagreements about who is allowed to join in or who is in a friendship group. Recently some children made this sign:

As adults we seek to encourage children to be aware of how it feels to be excluded; and challenge children to think how and why we should include others. Parents this is a time when children will soak up the way you interact with others and your values both conscious and unconscious ones.

At Glenwood we use the Fun Friends approach with all children. You may already be familiar with this but I am putting links to previous blogs and a sways to provide more fun ideas to support wellbeing.

F is for Feelings

We talk to children about their own feelings and others “I can see that you thought that was funny and it made you laugh but look, your friends not laughing he got a fright. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/21/remote-learning-fun-friends-have-feelings/

R is for Relaxing and Self-Regulation

Learning calm ourselves when we are scared, angry or in a disagreement is an important skill and it involves stopping a moment and breathing slowly. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/28/remote-learning-relax/

I is for ‘I can do it.’

We teach children to think positively “I can’t do it yet, but I can try hard. We call positive thoughts green as they help us go and negative thoughts red as they make us stop. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/04/remote-learning-fun-friends-i-can-do-it/

E is for Encourage

We celebrate success and encourage on the journey “you are concentrating really hard” or “I can see you are doing your very best” https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/11/remote-learning-fun-friends-encourage/

N is for Nurture

We are wired for positive connection. Love can be ‘all we need’. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/18/remote-learning-fun-friends-nurture/

D is for don’t forget to be Brave.

Facing new experiences and people requires bravery. Children can practice being confident in new situations or saying they don’t like something. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/?s=Fun+friends

S stay happy and stay safe

Children learn best when they are happy and safe. They love having Fun. Also they can learn safety messages when presented in fun ways. https://sway.office.com/j8AjRWaA8PxjM1CQ?ref=Link

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Playdough and loose parts play

June 22, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

The orchard bubble have been busy!

The orchard bubble has shown a great interest in making playdough over the last few weeks. The children have taken responsibility for their own learning by coming up with different ideas of how they want to create their playdough from colours and texture. “I want blue.”

“I want pink.”

The children had shown an interest in loose parts and wanted to include this in their playdough experience. By incorporating loose parts with playdough the children are developing their fine motor skills. They use a variety of movements such as pressing, rolling and stretching. This will help to strengthen the muscles in their hand which in turn will help them with their writing skills.

“I want to use leaves.”

“Oooohhh feathers.”

The children showed ownership over their creations and seemed to enjoy the fact that they could start again when one model was finished. They did show interest in taking them home so our next steps will be trying to create models with loose parts and clay.

“Can we take them home?”

- Pupils, Health and Wellbeing

Children’s Voice

June 21, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

Listening to children’s voices.

At the end of April, after every bubble had spent three weeks in each playroom every child was invited to share their thoughts. We used photographs of the playrooms to help us to talk about our likes and dislikes.

The children said they enjoyed moving around all the rooms and shared their ideas to make each room better. Some children felt that the garden in Playzone 2 was too small.

“I don’t like the garden”

“I didn’t like this because it wasn’t too big.”

We were able to begin using the side garden from Playzone 1 and expand the outdoor area for Playzone 2.

Some children missed the tyre swing from the old building so we added one to Playzone 1.

“I miss the tyre swing.”

“We should put some swings in the back yard.”

In Playzone 3 we added dolls to the home corner.

“Can we have babies in this room?”

“I would like to play with babies here.”

To help us look at some of the areas more closely we used Tuff Cams to share our thoughts.

“This art area is not so good. We need more things for sticky pictures.”

“People need to put things away in the right place, we need signs to tell them”.

The children suggested new resources and helped to organise and label them.

This has led to lots of new opportunities for leading their own learning.

As we continue to settle into our new building we can’t wait to hear more of the children’s ideas and suggestions to develop our learning environment.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics

Musicality benefits

June 16, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

From a very young age children benefit in all areas of their development when taking part in musicality sessions.

Literacy

Helps children understand the meaning and the sound of words.
Helps develop their listening skills (loud, quiet)
Rhyming
Syllables (clapping out)
Helps them predict
Imagination
Conversation
Follow instruction

Maths

Counting beats
Number song
Recognition of numbers
Recognition of Shapes And their names
Rhythm pattern

Gross and fine motor motor skills

Jumping, hopping, skipping and dancing.
Helps them develop and control their body movements.
Better control at manipulating objects (instruments)
Helps strengthen their muscles.
Moving the instruments in all different directions(up downside to side, front back)

Social and emotional skills

Interaction with other children.
Introduction to different kinds of music and cultural differences awareness.
Increasing confidence in performing
Sharing resources.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Ballet

June 16, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

In Ballet the children are learning how to control their bodies through balance, good posture, listening skills, following instructions and rhythm, also finding their own space, cooperating with others and taking part in a performance.

We started of with the basic movements of dance and Ballet such as Feet Positions ——- first position (happy feet ) , parallel ——- (feet together ) and Second (feet apart).

Arm Positions ——- Bras Bas (first position of the arms ) Gateway (out in front ) Second(arms out wide ).

Moves within Ballet such as —- point lift, point close, springs in first, plies “which we called make a diamond,”

And at the end of every performance we learned who to do a bow and a courtesy.

We put it altogether and made a dance and chose music.

Ballet is an art form created by the movement of the human body. It is theatrical – performed on a stage to an audience utilising costumes, scenic design and lighting. It can tell a story or express a thought, concept or emotion. Ballet dance can be magical and exciting.

Health and Wellbeing

Risky Play

June 11, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

What is Risky Play and Why is it Important?

Children need to be kept safe from potential harm and hazards at all times, but they also need to explore and take risks. Risky play is exciting, challenging, fun, it pushes limits and there is every chance of physical injury. We don’t want children’s lives to be in danger, or any serious injury to be likely. That’s why with any new piece of equipment we carry out a risk assessment. This allows us to assess whether the risk of a resource or activity outweighs the benefit. Is something guaranteed to be seriously dangerous? Well, then it’s probably not ok. But if there is a low chance of bumps, grazes, or cuts? Maybe that’s alright.

The Experience of risky play is an important part of children’s learning. It develops the child’s self-confidence, resilience, promotes problem solving and trust in their own judgements as adults. Children have the right to make decisions and take risks through their play. In having these opportunities, children will be able to maximise their enjoyment of the environment whilst removing obvious risk. The ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ states in article 31: ‘All Children have the right to relax and play and to join in a wide range of activities.’

In our Centre we encourage children to manage their own risk in everyday play situations both indoors and out.

Climbing a high tree

Rope swinging

Whittling wood

Balancing

Using tools at the woodwork bench, saws, hammer and drills
Playing in the stream to build a dam
Building fires
Running fast, chasing each other.

It’s easy to say things like: “Be Careful,” and if you listen to yourself on how many times a day you say it with your child you will be amazed. What we are actually doing is telling children to stop and it’s for our benefit because we don’t want our children to get hurt. If instead we ask: –

Do you feel safe?
Can you see anything that could hurt you or be in the way?
What can I do to help you to be safe?
Where can you put your hand next?

This helps the child to focus on the environment around them. With time and Space, the child will revisit this experience, remember what they did before and build on that knowledge.

Sciences

Superb Science

June 7, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

Over the past few weeks we have been carrying out a number of different experiments using water and food colouring. Using our observation skills we are beginning to recognise simple cause and effect. We have been developing our ability to ask relevant questions and making predictions about what will happen next.

We used different concentrations of food colouring to see what flower would change colour first.

“How fast will it go?”

“Is mine going to change colour?”

We also made our own lava lamps!

“Look at my bubbles, my bubbles are moving.”

We made a rainbow water walk.

“The colour is getting sucked up like a straw.”

“They have mixed together.”

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Wonderful Weaving!

June 4, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

We’ve been having lots of fun being creative and exploring how to use different materials to learn how to weave. The children enjoyed choosing from a variety of colours and textures of ribbon, paper, card and wool. Weaving is a fantastic activity for young children to try and offers many benefits such as developing fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, as well as developing concentration and providing a physical experience of the spatial concepts of over and under. It is also an ideal experience to help strengthen the muscles in both hands as the dominant and non-dominant hands are used at the same time. Here are some of the different types of weaving that we tried:

Fence Weaving

“I like all the different colours of the ribbon.”

Table Top Weaving

“You need to go over and under and over and under all the way to the end.”

“I’m lifting the wool up so the ribbon can go under”

Paper Weaving

“This is quite tricky.”

Large Needle Weaving

“

“I need to push this through and catch it at the other side.”

Individual Loom Weaving

“I like the gold ribbon best. It’s so shiny.”

Small Needle Weaving

“I’m getting good at this now. I’m just going to pull the needle.”

Health and Wellbeing

Sports Day 2021

June 3, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

The children participated and enjoyed our Sports Day on the 25th May. Kerry Comerford, our Active Sports Coordinator, set up a number of activities and sports for us to try – inluding bowling, curling and gymnastics. The children were running, hurling, balancing and jumping. After the activities the children enjoyed ice lollies.

Uncategorized

WOODWORK

June 2, 2021 gw19murraylouise@glow Leave a comment

At Glenwood our children enjoy daily opportunities to engage in woodwork.

This involves experimenting and tinkering with the possibilities of the materials and tools, which helps to build our children’s confidence and develop their creativity and imagination.

“I want to use the hammer.”

Observations of the children show high levels of engagement and perseverance with challenging tasks.

“The saw is a bit tricky.”

Design is part of the woodwork process, defining the task and planning how to proceed.

“I’m making a helicopter car. I need 4 wheels so it can drive and a window at the front. The helicopter blades are going to sit on top so it can lift off into the sky.”

The importance of woodwork cannot be underestimated!

Look at all the skills our children are learning –

Hand eye coordination
Fine motor development
Problem-solving
Creative thinking
Imagination
Independence
Respect
Understanding of the world around them
Language development

The foundations for STEM!