- Achievement, - Pupils, Technologies

Digital Schools Award

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.”

Experimenting with Botley
Mark making on the Promethean board
QR code books and online research
Photographs using ipads
Using the desktop computer for mouse control
Adding detail using the pen on the Promethean board
Sciences

Colour Science

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

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 are lots of small squares.”
“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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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. 

Literacy and English, parents

World Book Day 2022

Leave a comment

We celebrated World Book Day by coming to nursery in our pyjamas and bringing in our favourite stories (and teddies!).

 We had a special snack of Gruffalo Tusks…

We shared lots of stories through the day and a special ‘thank you’ goes to our visitors who read stories outdoors.

There is a World Book Day Token for everyone – we hope you enjoy reading the special £1 books that you can use it to buy.

 

Expressive Arts, parents, Religious and Moral Education

Chinese New Year

Leave a comment

We marked the start of the Chinese New Year and the year of the Tiger with some wonderful celebrations.

It was fantastic to engage with some of our families to help us learn all about the Chinese New Year celebrations; A huge thank you to Gerald’s mum for sharing how this is celebrated in their home using Google Meet and also to Mrs Wilson’s daughter who shared her experiences having lived in Hong Kong for some time.

The children have been learning about some of the ways families may celebrate Chinese New Year and taking part in art experiences, Chinese mark making, dragon dancing and tasting Chinese food to name a few opportunities on offer.

Health and Wellbeing

The Human Body

Leave a comment

The children in the Orchard room have been learning about the human body. The children had been talking about their bodies and taking turns to share their knowledge on the different parts of their bodies. We began by getting one of our peers to lie down on paper so we could draw around them. This would be the shape for our body. We then took turns to say what we had on our faces and draw it into our paper body.

“Eyes.”

“Nose.”

“ Ears.”

“ We wear clothes on our bodies.”

From this activity we moved on to have a look at what was inside our bodies. We used a doll to explore this area.

“We have a heart.”

“What helps us to think?”

“Our brain.”

The children decided they would like to build a skeleton using our body jigsaw puzzle.

“We need a head.”

 

“The body is next.”

“ The hips go onto the body.”

We can’t wait to expand on this topic and do more activities about our body.

Expressive Arts, Religious and Moral Education, Technologies

Diwali

Leave a comment

Recently, the children had the opportunity to learn about and celebrate Diwali. The children were able to choose from different experiences throughout the nursery. 

The children in the Orchard room got to create their own fireworks in the shaving foam and there was lots of discussion . 

“Oh look red, that is my favourite colour.”

“ I like how the colour is splashed all over.”

  “I love fireworks.”

In the Orchard room the children also go to try and make Chapatis. The children did very well following the recipe and listening to what we needed to do. The children were very patient in waiting for their turn.

“We need to pour until it says 100.”

“ I love baking.”

“These taste good ….. I love them.”

The children in the Willow room, participated in a variety of Diwali experiences as they learned about The Festival Of  Light. They listened to the story of Rama and Sita with great interest. The children were keen to ask and answer questions about the story. We discussed ways that we can be kind to each other and how our behaviour can affect others. The children were given time to discuss and share their own experiences.

“I can be kind by helping to tidy the playroom.”

“I can share with my friends.”

Some of the children designed Divas made from clay. The children demonstrated good concentration and followed the instructions well. 

They also had the opportunity to design Rangoli Patterns. 

“Wow look what I made!”

“ Can I take this home to show my mummy.”

Uncategorized

Pattern

Leave a comment

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!

Uncategorized

Beatrix Potter

Leave a comment

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.

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy

Glow Blogs uses cookies to enhance your experience on our service. By using this service or closing this message you consent to our use of those cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy.

Close