Category Archives: Sciences

Runner Beans

The children have been very interested to learn about planting and growing runner bean seeds for our new family centre.  By placing a runner bean seed in a zip lock bag with some wet cotton wool and sticking this on to the window, the children were able to observe the seeds germinate as the roots and shoots started to grow. 

“I can see the roots going down and the shoots going up.”

“They are going to be so tall.”

“The roots are getting really long now.”

After about 10 days the children filled some small plant pots with soil and carefully planted a seedling in each one and then watered them all.


“I will give them some water.  They need water so they can grow.”

The children took responsibility for checking that the soil in the pots was not too dry and made sure each plant had enough water to help it grow.

“The beans need a little drink of water.  I touched the soil with my finger and it felt dry.”

To prepare for planting the runner beans outdoors a handheld drill was used to drill drainage holes in planters, the planters were filled with soil and canes were added to provide support.

“I’m turning the handle round and round.  I can see little bits of plastic at the bottom.”

 

 

To help carefully remove the plant from the pot without damaging it, the children learned about gently rolling and squeezing the pot with their fingers and hands.  They were very interested to see how the roots had grown inside the pot.

“Look at all the roots.  There are so many.”

When the children had finished planting all the runner bean plants they chose a sunny spot to put them in the garden and gave them a big drink of water. 

“The beans are really tall.  They have lots of leaves.”

Further information about growing runner beans can be found on the following website:  https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-runner-beans/

Sensory Play

The children have been making potions, adding, mixing and pouring a variety of liquids and solids during their sensory play. During their sensory play the children are developing a range of skills and processes such as problem-solving, enquiry, experimentation, researching and investigating.


“The ice is cold. It’s melting when I pour the water on it.”

“I can smell chocolate and coffee.”

“I am squeezing it. It’s frozen. The heart is melting.”

“I’m pouring it. Look! It has bubbles.”

Did you know ?
Sensory play activities naturally encourages children to explore and investigate through their senses: touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight and hearing.
Hands on sensory activities can be set up at home using a variety of sensory materials found around the home or garden.

A few ideas to try at home-
Go on a walk and encourage children to explore textures in nature
Close your eyes and listen for sounds in the home or outdoors
Cooking activities or tasting new foods
Messy play using materials such as mud, water, sand or paint.

Some of the benefits of Sensory Play-
Stimulates the senses
Develops muscles in hands and arms
Develops creativity
Awareness of shape, space and measure
Language development
Mark making
Experimenting and sharing ideas
Developing relationships
Can be a calming experience

Volcano Fun!

Over the past few weeks, the children have been investigating dinosaurs and where they lived.

After using different reference books the children decided that the dinosaurs must have lived with a volcano.

We used the internet to investigate what makes volcanos erupt.

We decided to make our own volcano using a plastic bottle and paper mache. We used bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid and vinegar to make lava.

“Can you make dinosaur land?” Sorley

“Look at the lava, it looks hot and dangerous.” Fraser

“The dinosaurs lived along time ago, they are now extinct.” Zachary

“Will it explode?” Scott “No it will erupt, because the lava gets very hot, you know.” Maria

    

Remote Learning- Sunflowers and other plants

Mrs Brown writes-
I have been keeping a close watch on my sunflowers since I planted my seeds and I am delighted with how much they are growing. I had to replant them into bigger plant pots and I have now planted them in a sunny part of my garden near a wall for protection from the wind. Every few weeks I measure their height. In the beginning I  used a ruler to measure their height but now they have grown a bit taller I need to use a measuring tape. I  record their height on a growth chart.
Perhaps you have been measuring the height of your sunflowers. Are they taller than Mrs Brown’s? We would love to see how tall they have grown.
While in my garden I  got a bit annoyed because I spotted some weeds growing. Then I remembered weeds are just wild flowers growing in the wrong place and I recalled the fun I had as a child with wild flowers …..

Buttercups As a child I loved picking buttercups and holding them under the chin of friends and families. If you could see yellow under their chin it meant they liked butter. Why not try it to see if your family like butter.

Daisies Everyone loves making daisy chains. Not only are they very pretty, making daisy chains is great for hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.

Dandelions Although dandelions make me a bit cross when they grow on my lawn, they really are fascinating. You can see their life cycle over a short period of time as they change from yellow flowers to dandelion clocks with their fairy-like seeds. As a child  I liked to pick the yellow flowers and flick their heads off, saying, “Mary, Queen of Scots, got her head chopped off!” (although we all know what they say about picking dandelions…) I also recall counting “one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock…..“ as I blew the seeds into the air and watched them fly away in the wind, ready to find a new place to grow.

I love this transient art idea ‘borrowed’ from Carlibar nursery, for making a dande lion picture. Why not try making a picture with items you find in your garden.

Remote Learning- Sunflower seeds

Have you planted your sunflowers seeds yet? Mrs Brown has….. you can see how to do this on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GlenwoodFC

This song will help you along the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da_LbBewte8

When  your seeds have been planted they will begin to grow. After about 3 days the seeds will germinate. This means that the hard shell softens and splits.  Roots will begin to grow downwards and a shoot will grow upwards. After about a week the shoot will appear above the soil. Then leaves will start to grow.

  I can’t wait to see my seeds begin to grow into little shoots. Over the coming weeks we will find out what happens once the shoots get a bit bigger.

Perhaps you can keep a diary of the progress- take a photo or draw a picture every few days to record the changes.

Please remember to tweet your photos of planting and the progress of your sunflower.

@GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome

STEM curriculum evening

Thank you to all the parents who attended our recent STEM curriculum evening and to the whole staff team for showcasing our learning and making this evening a huge success. Our parents loved trying out some of the experiences on offer and feedback was very positive and encouraging.

Great to see all the stimulating and fun activities and nice to talk with staff and parents.

So lovely to see the amazing resources and have a chance to meet other staff members – really lovely group.

Thank you for all the staff’s knowledge and expertise!

The resources were fantastic, in particular the technology.

Loved the ideas for playing and learning at home and seeing what children do at nursery.

I wish I could provide constructive feedback, but nope! The evening and it’s content was perfect! So much effort made! Such a shame more parents didn’t come along.

If you didn’t manage along, see what you missed here STEM in Glenwood presentation

Exploring the properties of gloop
Using our Chromebooks to make playdough
Mini-beast hunt
Architect sharing plans for our new centre
More explorations with cornflour and water to make gloop
Vinegar, red powder paint and bicarbonate of soda…..
…it’s a volcano!
Spaghetti constructions
Playdough fun
Gloop- solid or liquid?

A foggy morning

Today as we came to nursery we were quite excited about the foggy morning.

Some of us read a story about fog.

When we went outdoors we easily spotted the spider webs because of the cold, foggy morning.

We went on a search for some more webs and discovered some spiders on the webs.

Come and see the spider’s web I found.” Jacob

”I want to see the spiders too.” Azan

The spiders are orange or black.” Jacob

Young archaeologists and paleontologists

We have been very interested in dinosaurs and this led us to find out about fossils and how paleontologists use fossils to explore plants and animals from the past.

We also discovered archaeologists find out about people in the past by exploring artifacts often found from archaeological digs.

We created our own fossils and hid artifacts in clay and carried out our own ‘dig’ in the sand tray. We used tools such as small chisels, rakes, brushes and small hammers as we worked.

Roads, runways, routes and ramps

In the construction area we have been working together to develop the area. We used small construction resources to build vehicles and used the large blocks to create roads and ramps.  We added a runway for aeroplanes and have created more roads using tape.  As we play, we are exploring forces using ramps and gutters to create slopes and we are learning about direction using arrows.