By Mr Fleming
We have been learning about our bodies. We know how to keep ourselves healthy. We are very interested in what is inside our bodies. We have learned we have a skeleton and are learning the names of some of the bones. We worked together to make our own skeleton.
“ There are lots of ribs.”
“ The spine is long.”
There are little bones in your toes.”
The very cold weather when we returned after our winter break sparked our curiosity about ice as we played in the garden.
This led on to further experimentation… discovering how water turns to ice, investigating ways we can melt ice quicker, using ice in our artwork, rescuing items trapped in ice and even making our own ice lollies!
By Mrs Russell
The turnips that we planted in the spring time were growing very big and one of the children commented
“it’s like the story of the big turnip that was pulled by the dog and man and boy and girl”
Some of the children hadn’t heard the story so we read the story together. We also watched a video of the story.
At last the time came when our enormous turnip was ready to pull up.
“We are going to need a lot of children to pull up our turnip.”
We later made turnip soup and also tried some mashed turnip.
Planting and growing our own vegetables helps us build our understanding of where our food comes from.
We were also developing our early literacy skills as we compared our own experience to the story.
We were interested in getting some fish for our playroom. We talked about what we would need to do to care for fish. We made a list of all the things we would need.
“I have a fish at home. You have to feed it every day.”- Ralph
“We need money to buy fish food.” -Conin
We bought 2 goldfish and voted to decide their names. We chose Rainbow and Goldie.
We made a feeding chart to make sure our goldfish are not over-fed.
We created a set of rules to help us take care of our fish.
We love to sit and just watch the goldfish in their tank.
Full photos and more posts can be viewed on our X (formerly Twitter) – Glenwood Family Centre X
Here is a snapshot of some of the experiences the children enjoyed during September …
Here is a snapshot of some of the experiences the children enjoyed during July and August…
Interests included music, sports and harvesting and cooking our own produce.
By Mrs Rodger
The children in the Willow room have been doing a lot of tinkering! They have been exploring electronic equipment and took apart an old speaker, DVD player, and laptop.
They have been using fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to take screws out using a screwdriver. They have been using their gross motor skills to help pull parts of the objects apart.
“This is so cool”
“Look what’s inside this.”
“ This is fun.”
“I did it. Look, the screw is out.”
We are delighted to have received our Rights Respecting Schools SILVER award.
Click here to see our submission and read our report here.
In Glenwood, we celebrate what is special and unique about each and every person. We are all loved and included just for being who we are!
We had a special Being Me! celebration and invited all our families. We performed some of our favourite songs using Makaton signs. Our songs included our Rights song as we learn all about the rights of all children.
Together with our families we decorated wooden hearts to celebrate what is special and unique about us and to share some of things that are important to us.
Happy Diwali to our families and friends celebrating this week.
Diwali is the five-day Festival of Lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.
Diwali is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, and for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations.
One of the ways people celebrate Diwali is by decorating their homes with colourful rangoli designs, lighting diyas or displaying lights around the house.
We have been learning about Diwali through stories, research and activities.
We painted colourful rangoli designs to decorate our nursery.
We created clay diya lights and painted these in bright colours.
Happy Diwali!
Please support your child to learn good hand washing habits. Children should be supported and encouraged to wash hands regularly throughout the day including before eating, after toileting, before leaving the house and after returning home.
In Glenwood, we support the children to wash their hands with soap and water before they enter the playrooms and before they leave at the end of their session. They wash hands before snack and lunch and after toileting. They wash hands after playing outdoors. We keep the use of hand gel to a minimum, only using this when no sinks are available, such as when entering or leaving the building at the main door or while in the woods.
For more details and a helpful video-
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/
We have had a summer full of interesting and exciting experiences – here are just some of them that we shared on Twitter.
The children learned about our local community and services – with visits from the police and fire service and trips to the synagogue, library, park and shops.
They enjoyed harvesting and preparing fruit and vegetables from our garden…
Here is a snapshot of some of the other experiences on offer!
The children have been learning about making life and the impact rubbish can have on animals living in the water! Let’s dive in and take a closer look at what they learned..
“700 is like the whole sea! We need to save them before they get extinct like the dinosaurs”
“If we save one fish from every type then we can save them all next year and all the years after that”
“If a fish or a birdie gets stuck in a net then it can’t move and be safe”
“Nets stop swimming”
“Babies and children like me can suffocate with plastic bags and so can fish and birds!”
“If they eat it and don’t mean to they get sick and sad”
“Some fish accidentally eat plastic bottle tops and straws because they think they are food”
We asked our nursery friends some questions about what rubbish they see on their way into nursery. After seeing the results we used recyclable materials to create a ‘3D’ poster of ways rubbish affects the sea life.
“We made a rainbow fish with masking tape, bottle tops and wooden sticks to show all the rubbish pollution”
“The nets are making the fish sad because they get trapped in them all of the time and they can’t get out”
“Nets get fish trapped”
“Plastic bottle tops make the fish sick because they think that they are food to eat”
What can we do to help? Here are the children’s ideas…
“We can make paper straws by rolling up paper and then we can recycle them”
“We can keep the grounds clear by not littering”
“We can go on a litter pick with our mums and dads and we can do them in nursery too”
“We need to work together with team work to help the oceans get free from plastic”
“We can have a plastic bottle bag to collect the, all at the door and use them for junk modelling”
#source2sea #KeepScotlandBeautiful #LfS
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!
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.
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:
Our Woodland Adventures Handbook will tell you all about them:
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:
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to answer them.
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)
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 –
The foundations for STEM!
We have had great fun learning how to use a variety of our digital toys.
We have been developing our use of directional language using our Code-a-pillars and Sphero.
“When you put the body bits on it goes left and right.”
“I made it go forwards then turn around.”
“The green one goes forward.”
We use an App on the iPad to make Sphero…
It took great teamwork and problem solving skills to build an obstacle course and pathways for the Wonder Bug. We had to work together to find the best way to help Wonder Bug travel from one end of the room to the other.
“We need a ramp for it to go up.”
“It will need to balance on top.”
“If we add a corner, it will need to turn the corner.”
This year we couldn’t invite parents in to nursery to read stories so we invited them to read to us remotely! Some were able to join us live for a Google Meet and some shared videos of themselves reading with us. A huge “Thank you!” to all our storytellers.
All the children will receive a World Book Day voucher to spend – find out more in this fun song… how many stories to you recognise?
You might like to listen to Lydia Monks read What the Ladybird Heard in a video she recorded for World Book Day.
Sharing books and stories together is a valuable learning experience for your child. This document gives some advice on ways to get the most out of reading together.
