All posts by Miss Cunningham

Family First and PoPP

Family First- Work with families living in ERC and have children aged 0-11years

The Family First Team offer a free, confidential service to support with any worries you might have. They can help you find the right people when you don’t know who to ask for help.  The highly skilled team will try to stop any issues you bring to them from getting worse and help you find the right support.

Contact the team at familyfirst@eastrenfrewshire.go.uk we look forward to hearing from you.

Twitter – Follow @FamilyFirst_ERC

For daily updates from a range of national and local organisations on themes of parenting, family wellbeing, ASN, money advice and rights, health and safety and education and learning

Website – https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/family-services

Our website provides an overview of the Family First service and contact details for the team.

Psychology of Parenting Programme/ PoPP

 If you are starting to worry about the behaviour of your child or a child you care for you may be interested in our new online parenting programme for children aged 2-8 years. The programme is aimed at increasing parents/carers confidence in dealing with unwanted behaviour and preventing it from getting worse.

Interested in finding out more? Contact the team on Popp@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk we look forward to hearing from you.

Spiders

The children have been very interested to find out more about spiders in the last few weeks. Here are a few photographs to show you what we have been doing.

 

 

 

 

We were developing our observation skills as we enjoyed using magnifying glasses to go on a spider hunt in the nursery garden.

“I can’t see any spiders in the tyre.”

“Look.  I can see some flies on the web.  Oh no. I think the spider will eat them.”

“There are lots of webs under here.”

We gently shook some branches over a tumble sheet to see if we could find any spiders in the bushes.

“The spider is running away.”

We looked at some reference books and photographs to research about spiders and their webs.  We learned that most spiders have 8 eyes and some make a new web every day.  

We also used the internet and discovered that some spiders don’t build webs but climb inside pitcher plants to catch their prey.

“The spider’s climbing in.  It’s going to catch the bug.”

We continued to develop our fine motor skills as we decided to draw spiders and webs and make spider models.

“The spider has 8 legs.  I will count them.”

Toothbrushing

Toothbrushing                  
Although we are not brushing our teeth in nursery at the moment, we are still talking about the key messages of oral health and promoting good brushing habits at home. Childsmile have a website where parents and carers can access information about the programme and tips for brushing at home, http://www.child-smile.org.uk/parents-and-carers/index.aspx.

You can also find lots of helpful resources online, here is a video that makes toothbrushing fun and lasts the length of time we brush our teeth for.

Playdough

The children have been enjoying making different types of playdough.

(Blue playdough with lavender)

Playdough provides excellent opportunities do develop your children’s fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, numeracy skills, language and social skills and helps develop the senses.      

Playdough takes around 10 minutes to make and can keep for weeks in an air-tight container. Why don’t you have a try yourself at home – don’t forget to tell us about it in you child’s Google Classroom. (If you don’t have your child’s Glow details or if you are having problems logging in please let us know by emailing schoolmail@glenwood.e-renfrew.sch.uk)

Ingredients:

  • One cup of plain flour
  • Half a cup of salt
  • One cup of water
  • One tablespoon of vegetable oil (helps to add this into the cup of water)
  • Few drops of food colouring (also helps to add this into the cup of water)

Resources:

  • Large bowl
  • Tea/coffee cup
  • Wooden/plastic spoon

Method:

  • Add the flour and salt together in the bowl
  • Gradually add the water/oil/food colouring mixture to the bowl, continuously stirring
  • Continue to mix until the mixture comes together into a soft dough – now it is time to get messy!
  • Spread a little flour onto the table and empty out the bowl
  • Mix the dough together with your hands.  If it is a little sticky, add some more flour

When your playdough is ready why not add some alternative play resources, like potato mashers, cutters, sticks, leaves, flowers, stones, lollipop sticks, matchsticks, stampers, or straws.

Adding scents and different textures, such as coffee grounds, coco powder, lemon/orange rind, or rice will provide a great sensory experience.
Next week for Maths Week Scotland we will be issuing a Family Fun bag to each child with the ingredients to try this at home.

Remote Learning – Eco Schools at Home

This year at Glenwood we have been investigating and exploring the environmental impact of litter.  The children enjoyed many different activities including the story of Zack’s Journey (You can read it by clicking this link), mapping out how the litter travels from our local area to the wider environment and measuring the amount of single use plastic in lunch boxes.

These are all things that you can continue to learn about at home. Eco-Schools Scotland shares some ideas on their website including:

One Planet Picnic – Have a picnic that’s good for you and good for the planet. Include healthy sustainable food with as little waste as possible.

Pop Up Pocket Garden – Design and grow a small garden at home in pots or outside. Celebrate Keep Scotland Beautiful’s birthday or the Year of Coasts and Waters with colourful and edible plants.

Fight Dog Fouling With Citizen Science – Have you noticed more dog fouling in your neighbourhood? We have! While out on your daily walk, can you help us with our survey work?
Count the number of bagged or unbagged dog poos you see (and why not take a photo?), post results on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with #PooPost or #TurdTag and remember to always pick up after your own dog

Some ideas we do at nursery:

  • Help sort the recycling 
  • Make a picture using recycled materials.
  • Encourage others to turn off taps
  • Do something that doesn’t require electricity (Try a screen free day)
  • Decorate used items such as tins/cartons/bottles to create a plant pot
  • Plant Seeds / Look after plants in your garden
  • Create a rain gauge 
  • ‘Junk mail crafts’ – Use scrap pieces of paper, used envelopes or cards
  • Make a bird feeder or do some birdwatching
  • Make a boat/car/robot from recycling (How creative can you be?)     

Remember to share your photos with us on Twitter by tagging @GlenwoodFC or by adding #glenwoodlearningathome