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.
We have been learning about money and exploring coins in lots of our play experiences.
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.
When we returned after the Christmas break, we noticed some of the containers left outdoors were full of ice. We thought of how the ice had formed and how to get the ice out.
Indoors, we decided to explore ice in different ways. We froze some water and used pipettes and coloured water to investigate the melting ice.
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.
We have been busy practising for our outdoor nativity performances next week – we hope that the weather is kind and that you can join us!
If you would like to help your child practise at home, here is a copy of the words to our songs.
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.”
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.
The children have been busy enjoying exploring different ways of mark making inside the nursery and outside in the gardens. Mark making gives children the opportunity to express themselves and explore using a variety of tools and materials, while also supporting development of fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. Furthermore, mark making allows children to develop their creativity and imagination, and communicate their feelings.
Here are a few photos to show you what the children have been doing:
Paper and Pens
“My butterflies are flying away in the sky.”
Paint and brush
“Do you like my stripes?”
Chalk
“I like drawing outside with the chalk”
Large floor drawing
“I’m using lots of crayons to draw lots and lots of circles.”
Playdough stampers
“They look like little flowers.”
Car ramp tyre print
“My car is going down really fast. I can see the paint.”
Gloop
“It feels all sticky on my fingers.”
Rollerball painting
“The balls are mixing all the paint together.”
Salt
“I’m drawing an aeroplane.”
Feather writing
“This is quite tricky to hold the feather.”
Large painting
“Can you reach up to the top like me?”
Shaving Foam
“My hands are so messy.”
There are many more mark making ideas that you could try at home such as ice writing, mud painting, shadow drawing or crayon rubbings on different textures.
Please remember to share your learning on Twitter @Glenwood FC #Glenwoodlearningathome
We are always in need of resources for our junk modelling area and would be grateful for any donations of:
Many thanks for your donations.
Junk modelling or recycled art is being creative with materials that would otherwise be discarded. Junk modelling construction gives children the freedom to build what they want with the addition of resources like tape and glue.
Modelling with recycled resources encourages higher order thinking. Children can work on their own or co-operate with others, learning to explore and share ideas. When they create something new it can build self confidence and boost self-esteem. Junk modelling is all about the learning process rather than the end product.
Here are some examples of what we have made so far this term:
Up-cycling!
Donated cable drums have also been up-cycled to make tables for our indoor role play areas and outdoor areas. We measured offcuts of cloth, cut them to size and stapled them to the cable drum surface.
Story stones are great resources for developing children’s communication skills, promoting their language skills and encouraging their imagination and creativity.
Here are some ideas you can use story stones for at home..
When using the story stones use language such as:
These phrases help develop your child’s ability to predict and retell stories they are both familiar and unfamiliar with.
All you need to make your own story stones are:
If you try this at home, why not share your photographs with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC
In all our rooms we love exploring our favourite books. We use puppets and props to help us retell traditional tales.
“The troll is scary! He tries to eat the goats. I like the bit when the goat hits him with its horns.”
Taking part in regular Bookbug sessions, we have enjoyed listening to familiar stories and we have been learning some new songs, as well as reciting our favourite nursery rhymes.
Look out for links to our Google meet Bookbug sessions next week for Math Week Scotland and you can join in from home too!
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)
We chose to mark the end of our first session in the new building with a Time Capsule, positioned at the front entrance and within the heart of the community in Eastwood Park, signifying our place in the heart of the community. We marked the spot with a toadstool, which came from the garden of the old building from a wooded area known as Toadstool Tales.
This letter was placed inside the Time Capsule-
Glenwood Nursery School opened officially on 4th October, 1976 in a purpose built building on Woodfarm Road, with a capacity of 80 children in the morning and 80 in the afternoon. The first entry in the log book dated 10th November 1976 states, “ the waiting list opened on 13th September, and mothers have been enquiring daily ever since. Even at that numbers are slow to rise. At this moment we have 50 morning and 26 afternoon children. At this date we have one Head Teacher, one Assistant Teacher and five Nursery Nurses.”
The first head teacher was Mrs Elizabeth Anderson (became McDowell). She was succeeded briefly by Mrs Robertson, acting head teacher, in January 1990 before Mrs Karin Gilhooly took on the role on 3rd September, 1990. Mrs Gilhooly retired in June 2013 and I, Lorraine Brown, was appointed permanently in October 2013.
In 2015 Glenwood Nursery School became Glenwood Family Centre and we began operating throughout the year. Soon after, Scottish Government plans were announced for every child to receive 1140 hours of early learning and childcare by 2020 and so, to meet the increased demand, a new centre was planned due to open in August 2020. The new building was to be sited close to the old building. This was a much more prominent site, in the heart of Eastwood Park.
Unfortunately the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in 2020 resulted in the country going into lockdown and the opening of the building was delayed. The new building finally opened during a second lockdown at the start of 2021. We welcomed the first of our children on 1st February 2021, opening only to children whose parents were key workers or vulnerable children who were attending the Hub provision. The first children to step through our doors were Lewis and Cameron Wilkinson. On 22nd February 2021 we fully opened for all children. Our role at February 2021 was 141 children, with a head teacher, a principal teacher, a teacher, a depute head of centre, a senior child development officer, 16 child development officers (including 4 part time), 5 part time early years play workers, 2 business support assistants and 2 janitor/ cleaners.
The new centre has a capacity of 180 children at any one time, with children attending various patterns across the week to meet the needs of the families. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm every week day except public holidays and in-service days.
We hope that upon opening this Time Capsule, you will experience some of the thrill of learning about the past and the history of Glenwood. We have had an eventful journey recently due to coronavirus however the spirit of Glenwood is strong and we hope this continues long into the future.
Love and Best Wishes
Mrs Lorraine Brown
Head Teacher
25th June, 2021
Going to school is a big transition and children feel that. From May as children’s awareness of their move to school increases we see slight changes in the children. We often hear individuals saying to their friends or adults “I’m going to miss you when I go to school”. Some of our younger children protest “I’m going to school too”. We see some children become a little more anxious and look for more reassurance, or return to play they had previously moved on from.
At this time children also begin to explore their identity through their friendships and sometimes excluding others and we often hear disagreements about who is allowed to join in or who is in a friendship group. Recently some children made this sign:
As adults we seek to encourage children to be aware of how it feels to be excluded; and challenge children to think how and why we should include others. Parents this is a time when children will soak up the way you interact with others and your values both conscious and unconscious ones.
At Glenwood we use the Fun Friends approach with all children. You may already be familiar with this but I am putting links to previous blogs and a sways to provide more fun ideas to support wellbeing.
F is for Feelings
We talk to children about their own feelings and others “I can see that you thought that was funny and it made you laugh but look, your friends not laughing he got a fright. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/21/remote-learning-fun-friends-have-feelings/
R is for Relaxing and Self-Regulation
Learning calm ourselves when we are scared, angry or in a disagreement is an important skill and it involves stopping a moment and breathing slowly. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/28/remote-learning-relax/
I is for ‘I can do it.’
We teach children to think positively “I can’t do it yet, but I can try hard. We call positive thoughts green as they help us go and negative thoughts red as they make us stop. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/04/remote-learning-fun-friends-i-can-do-it/
E is for Encourage
We celebrate success and encourage on the journey “you are concentrating really hard” or “I can see you are doing your very best” https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/11/remote-learning-fun-friends-encourage/
N is for Nurture
We are wired for positive connection. Love can be ‘all we need’. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/18/remote-learning-fun-friends-nurture/
D is for don’t forget to be Brave.
Facing new experiences and people requires bravery. Children can practice being confident in new situations or saying they don’t like something. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/?s=Fun+friends
S stay happy and stay safe
Children learn best when they are happy and safe. They love having Fun. Also they can learn safety messages when presented in fun ways.
The orchard bubble have been busy!
The orchard bubble has shown a great interest in making playdough over the last few weeks. The children have taken responsibility for their own learning by coming up with different ideas of how they want to create their playdough from colours and texture. “I want blue.”
“I want pink.”
The children had shown an interest in loose parts and wanted to include this in their playdough experience. By incorporating loose parts with playdough the children are developing their fine motor skills. They use a variety of movements such as pressing, rolling and stretching. This will help to strengthen the muscles in their hand which in turn will help them with their writing skills.
“I want to use leaves.”
“Oooohhh feathers.”
The children showed ownership over their creations and seemed to enjoy the fact that they could start again when one model was finished. They did show interest in taking them home so our next steps will be trying to create models with loose parts and clay.
“Can we take them home?”
Listening to children’s voices.
At the end of April, after every bubble had spent three weeks in each playroom every child was invited to share their thoughts. We used photographs of the playrooms to help us to talk about our likes and dislikes.
The children said they enjoyed moving around all the rooms and shared their ideas to make each room better. Some children felt that the garden in Playzone 2 was too small.
“I don’t like the garden”
“I didn’t like this because it wasn’t too big.”
We were able to begin using the side garden from Playzone 1 and expand the outdoor area for Playzone 2.
Some children missed the tyre swing from the old building so we added one to Playzone 1.
“I miss the tyre swing.”
“We should put some swings in the back yard.”
In Playzone 3 we added dolls to the home corner.
“Can we have babies in this room?”
“I would like to play with babies here.”
To help us look at some of the areas more closely we used Tuff Cams to share our thoughts.
“This art area is not so good. We need more things for sticky pictures.”
“People need to put things away in the right place, we need signs to tell them”.
The children suggested new resources and helped to organise and label them.
This has led to lots of new opportunities for leading their own learning.
As we continue to settle into our new building we can’t wait to hear more of the children’s ideas and suggestions to develop our learning environment.
The Orchard bubble had a great experience creating a wormery. They were involved in every step of the process. We started off by watching a video instructing us on how to start creating a wormery. It provided us with information on the benefits of having a wormery. The first thing we started doing was drilling lots of holes in our box which took quite a number of days. The children thought this was: ‘Hard work.’
After we had finished drilling the holes in the box it was then time to add our compost into the box to start creating a nice home for our worms. The children were developing their gross motor skills by helping to pour the heavy bag of compost into the box. The children thought that: “The worms are really going to love their new home.”
Miss Maclean had ordered special composting worms from the internet and they had arrived. The children couldn’t believe that you could order worms from the internet. We sat down at group time and looked at the worms and Miss Maclean explained why we needed to use composting worms. The children had even remembered that: “The wormery helps us recycle” and “they will help make compost.”
Now that the worms are in their new home the children love to care and look after them everyday. “We spray the worms to give them a drink.” “We need to give them our food waste.” The Orchard bubble are attached to their worms and want them moved into the next room we move to.
“Miss Maclean can we look at the worms again.”
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