Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Let’s Get Ready For Spring…

March 29, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Wilson

The children have been very busy over the last few weeks planning and preparing everything we need to get ready to start planting in our nursery garden.

We made a floor map to add our ideas about what we needed to do and what we would like to grow.

“I’m drawing rain at the top. Plants need water so they can grow.”

One of the ideas from the floor map was to plant pumpkin seeds so we could grow our own for Halloween. We learned that pumpkin seeds are planted on their sides and when they are growing they will need lots of water.

“There are lots and lots of weeds here. I need to dig them all out.”

We have been developing our fine and gross motor skills as we used trowels to dig out weeds and turn over the soil in our raised beds so the soil is prepared for planting. Some of the children remembered that last year some of our plants were eaten by slugs, so we decided to go on a slug hunt in the garden so we could remove them.

“This slug is really big. It’s all slimy.”

Using soapy water and sponges we washed out old plant pots so they are ready for planting our new seeds.

Potatoes are always a favourite to grow with the children at our family centre. We used our observation skills and magnifying glasses to learn about chitting seed potatoes to allow the eyes to grow before we can plant them.

“I can see the eyes. They are really small.”

To decide what we are going to plant we used buttons to choose our three favourite fruits or vegetables to grow in the garden.

“Strawberries are the winners. They have the most.”

We made a graph using unifix cubes to help interpret the results of our fruit and vegetable survey.

The children are now looking forward to planting in the garden. This will help to develop their knowledge and understanding about how the different plants grow and how to look after them, as well as the opportunity to taste a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables when they are ready to harvest.

Further information about growing fruits, vegetables and flowers and gardening with children can be found on the following websites:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/grow-it

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/tips-for-gardening-with-children/

Expressive Arts

Large Scale Painting

March 6, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Miss McArthur

Do you have an old sheet lying around?
Do you have some empty spray bottles and/or paintbrushes?
If you do, then this activity might be the one for you!

You can help your child develop their big, gross motor muscles and their small, fine motor skills through painting on a large white sheet.

In this activity, the children were using varying brush sizes to accomplish the “splat” look! They have been developing their gross motor skills through using their shoulders, arms and wrists to splat with the brushes and they challenged each other to see who could splat the furthest.

“I have big muscles so I can splat mine the furthest.”

“Maybe I can do it the furthest because I can do a full circle with my arm!”

The children have also been developing their fine motor skills through the use of spray bottles. The children are manipulating the nozzle and using their knowledge of direction to ensure that they spray the sheet.

“Don’t point it to the ceiling or the paint will go all the way up there! We need to keep it down low.”

“I like spraying the bottle. It makes my fingers strong.”

“This nozzle is a bit tricky to press, I need to use two hands to do it!”

“I need to point it at the sheet to make marks on the white bits.”

Did you know?
One of the most important skills developed through art activities is fine motor development. During art experiences, your child’s small muscles in their fingers, hands, and wrists are exercised and strengthened, helping to make learning to write easier!

Ideas to develop your child’s fine and gross motor skills at home:
● Spray bottles with paint or water- your child can spray a sheet to decorate it or spray the flowers to help care for them!
● Paint brushes- a variety of sizes are perfect to develop your child’s fine motor and pincer skills! Helpful hint- larger handles can be useful for younger children i.e. siblings under 3 as they will be able to grip the handle better!
● Chalking outdoors.
● Painting on large areas such as sheets or A3 paper will encourage children to use their bigger muscles in their shoulders and arms.

Painting and creating with your child, not only helps their creative development but it also stimulates their brain. They can also learn about colour mixing and colour recognition through art activities. Painting doesn’t always have to be sitting at the table with a paintbrush and paint, the opportunities are limitless; be creative and offer it to your child in a variety of ways, like large-scale painting, cling film on windows, window paints, and stone painting (to name a few!) Painting opportunities are great for developing your child’s social skills and their communication as they learn new terms, words and phrases and talk aloud about their thoughts and processes. We would love to see some Tweets of the art activities your child has taken part in at home.

Health and Wellbeing, Technologies

Baking

March 6, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Miss Bibby

We have been busy baking at Glenwood. First, we researched what we wanted to bake and looked at a range of recipes. We chose one for gluten free shortbread. Then, we talked about what ingredients and equipment we needed and we set up the table. The children were discussing the different measurements they would need and they worked as a team to weigh out the shortbread ingredients.

“I need another two spoonfuls of this sugar!”

“I like shortbread. Do you like shortbread?”

“I’m going to pour this flour into the bowl”

Literacy and English, Sciences

Virtual Nature Schools – Water

February 9, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Miss Liddell

During our Virtual Nature School journey, we explored the theme of water.

We asked the children to think about places where they might find water. They had lots of great ideas such as in rivers, seas, ponds, “in our taps” and “in bottles.” One child shared:

“When it rains and then I can jump in big puddles!”

The children then decided they wanted to play outside in the puddles and explore the water. However, we had one BIG problem…it wasn’t raining! Somebody suggested:

“We could do a rain dance and make it rain!”

This led to a whole range of creative learning experiences. We watched videos of Native Americans doing a rain dance, we made headdresses and we explored and played musical instruments.

“Where did he get those big feathers? What’s that called?”

The children were disappointed when their rain dance did not work so we discussed the water cycle to understand how rain is made.

We learned lots of new vocabulary such as evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.

We also did some fun experiments to see how the water cycle worked.

“Boiling water is hot. It will burn you!”

Expressive Arts, Literacy and English, Technologies

Batty About Bats!

November 29, 2022 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Burnett

November has provided so many opportunities for quality conversations with the children and helped nurture a love of inquiry and investigation.

After the excitement of Halloween, the children were talking about scary things they had associated with having been out guising. Vampires and bats were a recurring theme, which some children seemed genuinely worried about, so we explored a little about bats to dispel the myths about them being scary.

“They drink your blood.”

“Bats are scary…but not Batman. I like him.”

“I don’t like them, they frighten me.”

Investigation

We talked about how we could find out more information on bats and discovered we could ask people to see what they know, we could look up books in the nursery and we could look on the computer to help us.

“My daddy knows a lot about stuff, I could ask him”

We considered what we wanted to know about bats, which included what they eat… particularly do they drink people’s blood at Halloween, but also where they live, where they sleep and what do baby bats look like?

Children naturally have inquiring minds and researching together further develops an interest in discovery. It also reinforces that it is ok not to know something because we can all learn something new.

“He is like a little mouse.” “Awwww, it’s so cute.”

“It has a funny squashy face!” “They eat midges….yuck!”

We discovered that bats are not so scary after all…even vampire bats because “they don’t live in Scotland.” The children particularly liked the pictures of the Natterer’s Bat which they nicknamed “the laughing bat” because “he is smiling” in the photos. We learned that many of the species of bat we have in Scotland are tiny and most weigh less than a £1 coin, which felt very light when we held the coin in our hands. We even found out what bat poop looks like!

Development

We learned online that you can make your own bat box .

“It’s a bit like a bird house.”

Some of the children drew pictures of the bat they wanted to make a house for and even drew a design for a bat box.

With the help of a social enterprise that specialises in recycling wood, we sourced a bat box that the children helped assemble using the tool bench. One of the children even tested it out for size using a dinosaur!

“I want to make a house for the laughing bat.”

Our bat box is ready for the spring when the bats come out of hibernation and everyone now agrees that bats are not scary any more.

Expressive Arts, Literacy and English

Small World Play

November 11, 2022 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Cramb

Small world play is when children use figures and resources in miniature to build stories and play imaginatively. Your small world could represent a real-life place like a farm, zoo, nursery, home or it might be a completely imaginary world.

Small world play offers a fantastic opportunity to grow a child’s imagination and is also an outlet for their emotions. Children can do everything from acting out routines or recalling past events, to building their own unique stories.

When observing the children, l noticed that they were using their imagination to pretend that they were superheroes. I asked the children if they would like to create their own superhero small world. They decided they wanted to create a small world for some of our superhero peg people. The children selected an empty box from the junk modelling and recycled it into an amazing building for our superheroes to explore.

The children chose the colours to paint their box and used different patterned rollers, which gave the outside of their box some texture. They added some small stones, twigs, logs and leaves. Once it was finished and dry, the children were ready to explore their building with their superheroes.

Creating small worlds helps your child to develop their language skills, imagination, curiosity and friendships, as well as allowing their confidence to grow. It also allows the child to think and ask questions about the different environments that we live in and the ones that they want to create.

There are many benefits of children making and exploring small worlds so please join in at home and allow your child to take the lead, while you support them in creating at their own wonderful world to explore. You could create your own characters using wooden clothes pegs, wooden lollipop sticks or even use the children’s own toys like safari animals, farm animals or dinosaurs. Anything goes, it’s your small world!

Numeracy and Mathematics

Nature In Our Play

November 1, 2022 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Silvester

Collecting Natural Resources.

The children at Glenwood have been visiting Eastwood Park to explore our environment and notice signs of Autumn. We collected sticks, conkers, leaves and fir cones which we used in our play.

Filling, Sorting and Counting.

Our autumn nature collection was placed in a tuff tray and masking tape was used to section it off. Bowls and tongs were provided to explore nature’s treasure, developing the children’s hand eye coordination and their pincer grip . The children enjoyed counting the contents to see who had the most.

Using Tools

The children used the workbench and hand held drill to make a hole in the conker then threaded them together to make a conker number line. Risky play with real tools develops children’s skills including communication, coordination and fine and gross motor development.

Literacy and English, Sciences

Virtual Nature Schools

November 1, 2022 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Miss Chrystal

We have recently introduced the Virtual Nature School program within our centre. This term, we have been using natural resources to develop speech and language skills through a range of activities, all led by the children’s interests.

The children have developed their communication skills through a variety of different water and mud play experiences. This has enabled the children to explore new vocabulary, talk about their ideas and think about how things change within the natural environment.

Water

The children have been exploring the different ways that we can experiment with water and colour change. We made our own clouds and rain using shaving foam and food colouring.

The children became confident at using a range of resources such as pipettes and paintbrushes. They were able to describe the change of state when the ice melted and also describe the colour changes that took place in the water.

We also explored different pictures of water experiences and the children discussed of what they associate each picture with:

“I see water at the park.” “ I go swimming.” “When it is raining, I can jump in puddles.”

Mud

The second element we explored was mud. The children led their own learning within this block with staff observing the children’s play. We were fortunate that it rained so we put on our wellies and waterproofs and went to play in the mud.

“Look, muddy puddles! I am jumping so high to make a huge splash!”

The children were engrossed in their play. They used their imaginations and they were confident to express their ideas and interests. They created their own mud paint as well as using paper to create muddy footprints from their wellies.

The children developed their confidence by talking and exploring a variety of vocabulary when asked to describe the texture of the mud.

“It is squelchy!”

“The rain has made it all gooey and sticky!”

- Achievement, - Pupils, Technologies

Digital Schools Award

October 24, 2022 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

We are delighted to have recently achieved our Digital Schools Award.

Digital Schools Awards is a national awards scheme to promote, recognise and encourage a whole school approach to the use of digital technology in schools and ELC centres.

Some of the feedback we received included-

“….children are actively encouraged to learn independently as well as collaboratively using digital technologies.”

“Different digital resources are utilised very effectively … targeting and challenging the learning for the children.”

“Glenwood Family Centre clearly demonstrates that it has a strong digital presence throughout the school.”

“Both the website and Twitter are current, vibrant and lively and help to convey all the wonderful learning and teaching that is going on in there.”

“Digital technology is an integral part of every day for the children and this allows them to be inquisitive and to challenge themselves regularly.”

“It is apparent that Glenwood Family Centre has a clear vision of where their digital journey will take them in the future and the staff are all on board to make this happen.”

Using the desktop computer for mouse control

Adding detail using the pen on the Promethean board

- Achievement, - Pupils, Health and Wellbeing, Sciences, Social Studies, Technologies

Eco Schools….Our 7th Green Flag!

September 30, 2022 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

We are delighted to have received our 7th Eco Schools Green Flag. This is a wonderful achievement and has been down to the hard work and commitment of the children, staff and wider community of Glenwood.

Read the wonderful feedback here.

Sciences

Colour Science

September 29, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

by Miss Callaghan

The children have been enjoying participating in a wide range of science activities this month. This provides a great opportunity for children to explore materials and observe changes.

“What happens if I mix that one and that one (yellow & red). It’s orange!”

We have been exploring colour mixing with primary colours and pipettes. The children have been growing their confidence in using charts for information and have been using them effectively to make choices and plan which colour they would like to mix. The pipettes have been great for developing fine motor skills and children have enjoyed discussions around colours and how they change.

“I want to make green – I need blue and yellow. It’s green!”

We then focused on using different materials to investigate change and colour. The children used glue to create a pattern on a piece of paper then covered it in salt. Children were able to use their problem solving skills to predict what would happen when they used the pipettes to drop colour onto the salt and glue.

“I think the colours will mix.”

“It moves slow!”

“It looks like fireworks that I went to watch.”

The children were excited to see the colour droplets expand as they travelled through the salt and when they added another colour beside it, the colour would mix and travel.

Lastly, we expanded on our materials and made puffy paint. The children used flour, baking powder, salt and food colouring and mixed it together to make a cake-like consistency. This also involved the use of instructions and a recipe, the children were able to recognise numbers and count out how much they needed. The last set of instructions was to put our creation into the microwave for 30 seconds and watch the painting come to life! The picture puffed up and the children were delighted with the result, this was a great opportunity to explore cause and effect and it left an open ended opportunity for discussion.

Numeracy and Mathematics

Woodland Adventures – Pattern

September 22, 2022 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Clark

Our woodland adventures are always full of exploration, and it is a great opportunity for our children to investigate patterns in both their local environment and in nature to develop their awareness.

“My wellies are making diamonds in the mud.”

“This slug has stripey lines on its back.”

Children’s ability to see patterns forms the basis of early mathematical thinking. Encouraging children to become aware of patterns helps them to build up the skill of spotting patterns for themselves.

“The leaves look the same on either side. They’ve got little lines.”

Children also learn to identify and talk about the shapes in patterns.

“I can see circles. They look all spotty.”

“There’s rectangle patterns where the car goes.”

Why not go on a pattern hunt and see what you can find?

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Beetroot

September 13, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

by Mrs Wilson

The children and adults have been learning about planting, growing and harvesting a variety of different vegetables and fruit with help and support from Goody Foody. Towards the end of August we began to harvest our beetroots and the children have been exploring them in their play experiences.

The children have been learning how to prepare the beetroot for cooking, using brushes and water to clean them and joining in with a rhyme as an adult used a sharp knife to cut off the bottom and cut the leaves off the top.

Chop, chop, choppity-chop,

Cut off the bottom, and cut off the top.

What there is left, we put in the pot.

Chop, chop, choppity-chop.

When the beetroots were cooked the children had the opportunity to have a go at tasting them.

“I like this beetroot. Can I have some more?”

The children were very interested to observe that the beetroot cooking water had changed colour.

“It looks a bit like purple now. The beetroot has changed the water.”

The cooking water was used to investigate what would happen if some white cotton material was soaked in it.

“It’s not white anymore. The beetroot colour is all over the material.”

The children developed their mark making skills using the cooking water to paint with.

The beetroot leaves were also used, along with some nasturtium flowers and leaves grown in the garden, to try the Japanese art of Hapa-Zome (leaf-dye).

“You need to hit really hard with the hammer to squash the leaves.”

Uncategorized

GOOD HAND WASHING

September 1, 2022 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

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/

Uncategorized

Summer Activities 2022

August 26, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

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!

Health and Wellbeing

Internet Safety with Jessie and Friends

June 21, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

It is important that we teach our children how to stay safe online.

Jessie and Friends is a new online resource from CEOP for children aged 4-7 years to use with their parents and educators to help them develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to stay safe online.

Find the parent information here : Jessie and Friends parent guide

Find the videos and games here: Jessie and Friends

Sciences, Uncategorized

Marine Litter

May 26, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

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..

There are 700 types of animals affected by plastic pollution:

“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”

10% of all dead animals and fish get caught in plastic bottles, bags and nets:

“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!”

20% of fish are known to have plastic in their stomachs:

“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

Religious and Moral Education

Eid Mubarak!

May 14, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

We have been learning about the Muslim month of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr.

A special thanks to Idrees’ mum for visiting to read us a story and tell us about their family’s celebrations.

We also had a special snack of chapati, dates and raita.

The staff would also like to say a special ‘thank you’ to the families who gifted us a yummy cake.

Sciences

Magnets

May 7, 2022 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

The children in the Orchard bubble have been exploring magnets and how they work. They used horseshoe magnets to find out what was magnetic in the nursery garden.

A basket of items made from different materials was sorted into magnetic and non-magnetic items. The children were very interested to find out that not all metals are magnetic and a magnet will only attract certain metals such as iron or steel.

The children investigated if a magnet would still attract a metal paper clip if it was covered over by different materials.

The children used their senses to help understand that when two magnets are near each other they either repel or attract each other.

We looked at an information book about magnets to learn that a magnet is strongest at its two ends and found out that they are called the north pole and the south pole.

The children were also interested to learn from the information book that earth is a giant magnet and we can use a compass to find where the magnetic north is.