If you are worried about the behaviour of a young child you care for you may be interested in our free online Psychology of Parenting Programme for families with children aged 2-8 years.
Get in touch to find out more by emailing Popp@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk pic.twitter.com/g7zmwNNXll
— East Renfrewshire (@EastRenCouncil) October 21, 2020
Category Archives: Uncategorized
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.
Exploring Mark Making
Over the past few weeks at nursery, the children have been exploring different ways of mark making both indoors and outside.
Here are just a few photographs of what we have been doing…
Whiteboards are a favourite…
Writing in salt…
Gloop is always popular!
Mixing our own colours of paint…
We love painting on a large scale (although it can get messy!)
Making paint from things we find outdoors…
Crayon rubbings and chalk outside too.
How do you like to make marks, draw and write? Why not share with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC or in your Google Classroom.
Let’s Play Programme
https://twitter.com/FamilyFirst_ERC/status/1282621209595858944
Class of 2020
Unfortunately not everyone can view our 'Moving On' ceremony photographs on Google Classrooms, so here are some messages for the children moving onto school.#GlenwoodClassof2020 #WeStartedAsStrangersWeLeaveAsFriends pic.twitter.com/vYXWjfbP1X
— GlenwoodFamilyCentre (@GlenwoodFC) June 30, 2020
Remote Learning – Patterns
Patterns are everywhere. Looking for patterns helps us discover and learn new things about the world around us.
Mrs Wilson went on a pattern hunt in her house and garden. Here are some of the patterns she found.
Can you find any of these patterns?
Maybe you can find some different patterns in your house or when you are outside.
Activities to try at home
Pair socks by looking at their patterns to help develop matching skills.
Print a pattern using fruit and vegetables.
Look at the patterns on the soles of your shoes and wellington boots. How many different patterns can you find?
Design your own tartan pattern using paint and toy car wheels.
Support your child develop their understanding of repeated patterns by providing simple patterns for them to copy using loose parts. Saying the pattern out loud as it is made can really help children as they decide what item is next. Making their own patterns also helps children develop their decision making skills as well as learning how to make logical connections.
Collect some leaves to peg a leaf pattern on a washing line or piece of wool or string.
Explore the different patterns that animals might have by watching a clip from CBeebies about animals with spots and stripes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011mxh0
Remember to tweet to let us see the patterns you find or make. Have fun! @Glenwood FC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – Fun Friends: Don’t Forget to be Brave and Stay Happy!
Hello Fun Friends. This is our last message of this year and we want you to carry on being Brave and Happy!
Remember to use your milkshake breathing and relax when you feel upset or worried. Also it can be good to talk about your feelings with people who care for you.
Mirror, Mirror
When you are looking at yourself in the mirror (perhaps brushing your teeth or hair) Tell yourself something positive e.g “I can be brave, kind, helpful, try my best” These are positive (green) thoughts.
You can help other people to have green positive thoughts too. Send a message to a friend, member of your family or neighbour.
We know that you are Brave! We saw how Brave you could be at Glenwood and we know you will continue to try and be brave. Remember to keep practising being brave. Brave is :
- Looking people in the eye
- Smiling
- Using a brave voice
- Standing up tall
- Trying your best and giving it a go!
Making New Friends
It’s good to make new friends and to play with different people. Friends smile, help, talk, listen, play and share. What would you tell your friend? What would you ask them? Would you tell them about your family?
Family Fun Questions (why not write these out, add some more and then pick a question to answer)
- Who has the loudest laugh?
- Who makes the best food and what is it?
- Who is the funniest person?
- Who has the smelliest shoes?
- Who is the oldest person in the family?
- What is your favourite thing to do?
Our support Team
Sometimes we need help or care from others. On a piece of paper draw yourself and then people who can help or support you round about you. This might include siblings, wider family, neighbours, teachers (pets can also be included).
Game – What could you do if? (Think of solutions to these problems)
- You don’t get a plate/book but everyone else does.
- There’s a lion in the garden.
- There is a group of children playing and you want to join in.
- Everyone is doing an activity and you don’t know how to do it.
- Your friend gets their head stuck in some railings.
Make up your own scenarios – some things that might happen and some funny.
It’s ok to say No!
Sometimes our friends do or say things we don’t like. Remember it’s ok to say “I don’t like that”. Look the person in the eye and use a brave voice. Next you can get louder and show a cross face. Then use a very loud voice and show your angry face and body (no hitting or kicking). Get help from an adult if you need it.
We follow the rules so we don’t get lost or hurt. We ask for help when we need it and we remember the Pants rule https://youtu.be/_SzbMEVYiyg
Game – Today we will be……
Here are a few positive behaviours (add your own), write them on pieces of paper, fold them up, put them in a container and then pick one out each day. Then everyone playing needs to try and be this word.
Determined Flexible Thankful Friendly Creative Funny Surprising Tidy Helpful Co-operative Bendy Strong Gentle Playful Try hard
Keep Learning!
As you grow there are lots of things to learn! Keep practising to achieve your goals and try hard! Remember: ‘No matter how old you are everyday is a learning day’.
We are proud of you!
Being in lockdown has been very hard and we want you to know that we have missed you very much but we are very proud of you staying at home or going to a nursery hub.
We hope you will continue being Fun Friends and will remember:
-
- Friends- can recognise our own and others feelings
- Relaxing and milkshake breathing
- I can do it – turning red thoughts green
- Encouraging – I can achieve a goal
- Nurture – I can be a good friend
- Don’t forget to be brave!
- Stay happy!
Remote Learning – Healthy Tuck Shop
Miss Bibby has been thinking about ways you can use money in your house.
One way I thought of is to set up your very own healthy snack shop.
My snack shop is going to have apples, tangerines, strawberries, blueberries, carrot sticks, peppers and celery for sale.
You and your family can take turns at both selling and buying your snacks.
Why not see what coins you can recognise and use these to buy your snacks?
This activity will help develop numeracy skills such as coin and number recognition.
Don’t forget to share your tuck shop with us on Twitter or Google Classrooms #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – Number Sense
Number Sense is when a person has a sense of what numbers mean, understands their relationship to one another, can perform mental arithmetic and can use numbers in real situations.
At Glenwood we play games that help us to develop our number sense. All of these ideas can be adapted to suit the stage of individual children – make the numbers and quantities smaller or larger to give the appropriate amount of challenge.
We like to add an element of competition to add to the fun and will play several games in a row for a short time each.
Saying Number Sequences – Forwards and backwards: this can be as simple as counting together as you climb up the stairs, kick a football or count down to begin a race. Try saying alternate numbers as you count, or clapping for each number.
Recognising and sequencing numerals:
Counting Visible Items:
Spatial Patterns: These are the dot patterns that are on dice or dominoes – we learn to recognise the pattern and can say how many spots there are without counting them.
Subitising: Our brains are very clever – they can tell us ‘how many’ items are in a small group without us counting!
You could try using more than one colour and asking how many of each colour.
We hope you will try out some of these games with your family… have fun and let us know which you enjoyed most.
@GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – We’re Going to Go to School Soon – Week 6
It is the final week of our transitions programme. Can you believe how quickly time has gone?
As we are saying ‘goodbye’ in nursery to all the children who will be going to school in August, here are some activities to finish off our Bear Hunt…
Transition Visits to Glenwood
This week we have been excited to welcome our pre-school children back to Glenwood for the first of their transition visits.
It was a bit strange at first but the children soon got over their nerves and were soon joining in with all the different activities. It was hard remembering that we couldn’t be too close together but everyone did very well.
Here are some pictures of the experiences we took part in…
The Beebots went on a Bear Hunt
Building houses for bears
Inventing our own bear maths games
Playing on the computers
Drawing pictures and reading books
Listening to the story of Whiffy Wilson The wolf who didn’t want to go to school
And everyone decorated a triangle to make our own bunting
Next week we will hear all about your adventures when you visited your new schools and also have a small celebration together to say ‘Goodbye’.
Remote Learning – Fun Friends: Nurture
Consistency is key – the more your child practices, the better they will become at finding ways to work through their own personal challenges.
Recap on previous weeks’ learning:
- Feelings It’s ok to have feelings, everyone has feelings. Learning how to recognise and deal with our feelings is an important skill.
- Relax Practise relaxation every day if you can and encourage your child to use relaxation strategies to calm down if they feel upset/worried/angry.
- I can try We can be BRAVE! By looking someone in the eye, smiling and using a brave voice. We now know that RED thoughts are unhelpful thoughts and GREEN thoughts are helpful thoughts. We can choose to turn our RED thoughts GREEN.
- Encourage Did you encourage your child to try a new skill, develop self-control or overcome a fear? Did your child have the opportunity to practice the skill of being brave as they took on a new challenge?
Nurture
Learning about role models in our lives and how they can influence how we nurture relationships. Spending time together doing fun activities with adults, peers and siblings help us to role model positive relationships. Our family, friends and adults in our lives can help us be brave and we can help them.
Being a good friend Discuss what makes a good friend – helping, sharing, smiling and listening. Then talk about a time that your child has been a good friend and thank them for sharing the story.
Making new friends Remind children about doing things one step at a time. Discuss steps to make new friends by, smiling and saying hello, asking them to play with you, share your toys, invite them to play at your garden, etc
Encourage children to listen to their friends.
Listening game: Play a Simon Says game but with a different action from what is being said. For example, Simon says “touch your nose”, while touching your head. Your child needs to listen and do what you say rather than what you do.
Sharing game: In a small group give each child 5 stickers of the same colour. The aim is to end up with 5 stickers- all different colours. Each child has to ask the other child for a sticker in a brave voice and say please and thank you. Afterward you can discuss the importance of being kind and sharing. What would happen if no one had shared a sticker.
Magical sound box: Put different objects, such as keys, paper, beans in a bottle, etc., into a covered box, and then manipulate one of the objects asking a child to tell you what he or she heard. You might need to introduce the child to different objects and sounds before playing this game.
Guess who is calling you: Seat everyone in a circle, choose one child to cover their eyes. Then choose someone else in the group to shout out the person’s name that has their eyes closed. The child then uncovers their eyes and has to guess who shouted out their name. Continue until everyone has had a turn in the circle.
Useful links for being a good friend.
CBeebies Justin’s Good Friends Song
What makes a good friend? song on YouTube
Bad Apple: a tale of friendship by Edward Hemingway (YouTube)
Friendship Soup – a recipe for friends (YouTube)
Can you tell us about when you have been a good friend to your family, neighbours or anyone else?
Share on Google Classrooms or Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – Catapults and Mazes
Mrs Silvester has been having fun with her recycling again! Here are some ideas of things you could try at home too…
Catapults
In Mrs Silvester’s house we set out to build our own catapults with things we had around the house to see if we could create our own trajectory devices. Then we built a basketball type game with the catapults.
Here are some of the things you could use:
- Piece of scrap wood/ cardboard/ice lollipop stick/craft stick
- Wood glue/rubber bands/sticky tack
- Clothes peg/plastic spoons
- Plastic bottle caps
- Cardboard box
- Yogurt pots/containers
- Projectile Ideas (safe for toddlers and preschoolers): peas, pom poms, dandelions (just the flower part)
These were some of the questions the children in my house had, which we were hoping the experiment would answer:
- Which would go further, heavier things or lighter things?
- Does a longer catapult fling the object further?
- Which catapult would work better, the spoon or the lollipop stick?
Find more information
https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/lolly-stick-catapults/
Maze Game
This game was fun to make and is great for building motor skills, concentration, counting and number recognition. Turn a cardboard box or plate into an entertaining ball maze game. This is a great hand-eye coordination game to make and play with reusable materials.
Suggestions of what you could use to make your own Recycled Maze Game:
- Scissors
- Cardboard Box or Plate
- Pencil
- Paper Strips or Cardboard Tubes (Toilet Paper Rolls, Paper towel rolls, wrapping paper tubes, etc.)
- Sticky Tape or Glue
- A bean, marble, scrunched up paper ball or something small that rolls.
Create the Maze
1) Design your maze by placing the tubes or paper strips on the box. Arrange them making sure you leave enough space for free ball travel around the maze.
2) Then attach the tubes or paper strips to your box or plate
3) ENJOY ! ! !
You could try these other ideas for making mazes too.
Here’s a fun song to help remind us of ways to cut down on single use plastic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0798jzc/junk-rescue-songs-2-single-use-no-thank-you
Don’t forget to share your creations on Google Classrooms or Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – Let’s Smile!
We love to see your smiles and it is nearly the end of National Smile Month (18th May – 18th June). When you smile it’s great to see your teeth especially when they are clean and bright.
Remember to:
- Brush your teeth twice a day in the morning and at night.
- Brush for two minutes with a pea sized amount of toothpaste
- At the end spit don’t rinse
- Reduce sugary foods and drinks and restrict them to mealtimes.
Why don’t you sing along with Hey Duggee’s toothbrushing song?
Activity
Next time you are brushing your teeth can you name the different parts you are brushing: the lower set, front of your teeth, gums, back of teeth, biting surface, corners and upper set of teeth.
Sugar
Lots of us also love things that are sweet but sugar isn’t good for our teeth or bodies. Are you eating too much sugar?
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/food-facts/sugar
Activity – Sugar Bags
Create bags with spoonfuls of sugar to show how much sugar is in a product you enjoy. You will find the amount of sugar in the nutrition panel of the product listed under “Carbohydrate of which sugars”. 1 teaspoon=roughly 4g of sugar so divide the figure on the packaging by 4 to get the number of teaspoons.
Mrs McGregor checked her yoghurt ingredient panel and found it contained 13.8g of carbohydrate as sugars. She measured out 3 ¼ teaspoons of sugar to show how much sugar was in the yoghurt.
Sugar swap
Which items do you enjoy that you could swap for similar products with less sugar? For example, you could swap flavoured yoghurt for natural yoghurt with fresh fruit . 
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/food-facts/sugar/sugar-swaps-for-kids
You can find out more about Child Smile on their website:
http://www.child-smile.org.uk/parents-and-carers/index.aspx
We would love to see your smiles and healthy swaps – why don’t you post them in your Google Classroom to show your friends?
@GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Remote Learning – Virtual Sports Week
We have all had lots of fun this week joining in with our sporting activities and we hope you have too!
Thank you for posting all your videos on Google Classrooms – we have enjoyed watching you all.
Here are some pictures from the week…apologies if they are a bit blurry but the adults from Glenwood move very fast!
Remote Learning – Fun Friends: Encourage
Welcome back to Fun Friends.
This week we are looking at encouragement.
Well done to all of you who have been learning about feelings, relaxing (and milkshake breathing) and ‘I can do it!’ (turning red thoughts green).
This week we want to set goals with children, and encourage them to gain a skill, develop self-control or overcome a fear. This is a chance for us to be brave as we take on a challenge!
To achieve our goal we can break the task into smaller steps. An example is learning to complete a jigsaw puzzle:
- Find the four corner pieces
- Find the pieces with a straight edge
- Match up the pieces with a straight edge
- Match up pieces with the same colour and join together
- Fill in the gaps with remaining pieces.
- Jigsaw complete
Can you pick a goal you would like to achieve? What will you pick?
If you can’t think of a goal here are some ideas:
- Getting dressed by yourself
- Sleeping in your own bed
- Learning a new sport (for sports week)
- Eating new food especially fruit or vegetables
- Fastenings- zips, buttons, studs or velcro
- Riding bike or scooter
- Finding and tidying up your belongings
- Being brave when ……….
Can you make a picture to show what you want to learn or get an adult to help write a list of steps to get you to your goal. If you want you could post it on your Google classroom.
Now start at step one and try and achieve it. If it takes practise try hard! Remember to think green thoughts. When you have achieved a step, Celebrate! Give yourself a cheer or do a little dance. When you achieve your goal maybe you will get a reward.
What reward would you pick? Maybe playing a favourite game as a family, or getting to choose what Mum or Dad will cook. Fun Friends Koala likes choosing activities with others more than sweet or toy rewards. Can you do the same?
Additional resources
CBeebies radio programme on encouragement: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/radio/treasure-champs-encouragement
Using zips: https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/kids/resources/ot-activityinformation-sheets/zips/
Learning to button: https://theinspiredtreehouse.com/teach-kids-button/
Introducing new food (its part of info on fussy eaters): https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/kids/resources/ot-activityinformation-sheets/fussy-eaters-information-sheet/
Staying in your bed: https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/sleep/night-time-problems/calling-out-getting-out-of-bed
Learning to ride a bike: https://blog.halfords.com/how-to-teach-a-child-to-ride-a-bike/
Remote Learning – Musicality
Children naturally enjoy music, and want to move, dance, vocalise and create sounds in whichever way they can to reflect their mood.
There are different aspects of musicality that you can explore with your child:
Movement
When children take part in music and movement activities, they can release lots of energy as they have fun being creative and dancing around. It also helps children to develop their gross and fine motor skills, express their emotions, learn how to share space, and improve their balance and co-ordination as they explore moving their body.
Great songs to try are Shake your sillies out and I can move my body like anything or you could play a game like musical statues.
Play Sounds
When children make sounds through play, they are developing early instrumental skills. They are first learning what the object is and then what they can do with it. As children experiment, they are building an understanding of how best to make the sound i.e shake maracas, use a beater to play a triangle, scrape or beat a woodblock, tap or bang drums with their hands.
Encouraging your child to explore what they can do with instruments is so beneficial for their development. It builds fine and gross motor skills, supports sensory development, enhances hand-eye co-ordination and helps your child to develop patience and perseverance.
You may have some instruments at home already or you could make your own such as lollipop stick harmonicas or straw pan flutes. We also included ideas in the home learning booklet in your family fun bag.
Listen
Listening is not just about hearing, it is also about being able to tune-in to sounds in the environment and sounds that are spoken. It can be described as an active process where we make sense and respond to what we hear. As children develop their listening skills, they are learning to take in information, respond to instructions and share ideas and thoughts.
You could try playing some listening games with your child, such as Simon Says, or online from the BBC website – https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listening-skills/zbc4y9q
Create
Having the opportunity to be creative with music enables children to think about how sounds are made and how they can put these sounds together to compose their own rhythms. Children need to be able to try out their own ideas and express themselves to nurture this creative process.
Here are some ideas to encourage your child:
Body rhythm using syllables: Start by thinking of 2 items that you want to use, for example apple and banana
Choose which body parts you want to use to beat out the syllables, you might clap hands twice for a-pple or stamp three times for ba-na-na
Put this rhythm together and then repeat: CLAP, CLAP, STAMP, STAMP, STAMP, CLAP, CLAP, STAMP, STAMP, STAMP
Say the syllables as you do the body rhythm: a-pple, ba-na-na, a-pple, ba-na-na
Sing
Singing with your child helps promote their language and literacy development. Songs can be very motivating for children, using simple, repetitive language to encourage engagement as they learn new things such as phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children’s songs also include concepts such as counting, body parts recognition, animals and following directions, and these really help your child to understand experiences, words, emotions, and much more.
Spend some time singing with your child everyday. Here are some song suggestions and ways that you can integrate activities to enhance the experience for your child:
Favourites: Incy Wincy Spider; Wheels on the Bus; Row, Row, Row your Boat
Body parts: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes; If You’re Happy and You Know It; Tommy Thumb
Animals: Old McDonald; I Went to Visit a Zoo One Day; There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly
Counting: 5 Little Monkeys; Once I Caught a Fish Alive; 5 Little Speckled Frogs
Other Ideas
- Try pausing before the last word in a line and see if your child finishes it. This is building skills such as attention, memory, language and rhyming.
- Add extra verses or change some of the details in the song. This encourages your child to be creative and flexible, whilst supporting vocabulary development.
- Make a mistake whilst singing and see if your child notices and can fix it. This helps improve attention and listening skills.
- Adapt a song to include holiday and seasonal topics, for example Santa on the Sleigh Goes Ho, Ho, Ho.
- Make up your own songs to develop your child’s understanding and motor movements.
Remember to share your ideas in your Google Classroom or on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
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 – Glenwood Virtual Sports Week
All of the staff are super excited about our Virtual Sports Week and have been out practising! Take a look at the video…
Each day next week we will post on Google Classrooms different sports for you to try at home. Take some photos or videos of you taking part and post them in your Google Classroom for your Glenwood friends to see.
You can also share on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
