Health and Wellbeing

Risky Play

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What is Risky Play and Why is it Important?

 

Children need to be kept safe from potential harm and hazards at all times, but they also need to explore and take risks. Risky play is exciting, challenging, fun, it pushes limits and there is every chance of physical injury. We don’t want children’s lives to be in danger, or any serious injury to be likely. That’s why with any new piece of equipment we carry out a risk assessment. This allows us to assess whether the risk of a resource or activity outweighs the benefit. Is something guaranteed to be seriously dangerous? Well, then it’s probably not ok. But if there is a low chance of bumps, grazes, or cuts? Maybe that’s alright. 

The Experience of risky play is an important part of children’s learning. It develops the child’s self-confidence, resilience, promotes problem solving and trust in their own judgements as adults.  Children have the right to make decisions and take risks through their play. In having these opportunities, children will be able to maximise their enjoyment of the environment whilst removing obvious risk. The ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ states in article 31: ‘All Children have the right to relax and play and to join in a wide range of activities.’ 

In our Centre we encourage children to manage their own risk in everyday play situations both indoors and out.

 

  • Climbing a high tree


 

  • Rope swinging

   

  • Whittling wood

   

  • Balancing

 

   

  • Using tools at the woodwork bench, saws, hammer and drills
  • Playing in the stream to build a dam
  • Building fires
  • Running fast, chasing each other.

It’s easy to say things like: “Be Careful,” and if you listen to yourself on how many times a day you say it with your child you will be amazed. What we are actually doing is telling children to stop and it’s for our benefit because we don’t want our children to get hurt. If instead we ask: –

  •     Do you feel safe?
  •     Can you see anything that could hurt you or be in the way?
  •     What can I do to help you to be safe?
  •     Where can you put your hand next?

This helps the child to focus on the environment around them. With time and Space, the child will revisit this experience, remember what they did before and build on that knowledge.

 

Sciences

Superb Science

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Over the past few weeks we have been carrying out a number of different experiments using water and food colouring. Using our observation skills we are beginning to recognise simple cause and effect. We have been developing our ability to ask relevant questions and making predictions about what will happen next.

We used different concentrations of food colouring to see  what flower would change colour first.

 

 

“How fast will it go?” 

 

“Is mine going to change colour?”

 

 

We also made our own lava lamps!

 

 

“Look at my bubbles, my bubbles are moving.”

 

 

 

 

We made a rainbow water walk.

 

“The colour is getting sucked up like a straw.”

 

 

 

 

“They have mixed together.”

 

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Wonderful Weaving!

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We’ve been having lots of fun being creative and exploring how to use different materials to learn how to weave.  The children enjoyed choosing from a variety of colours and textures of ribbon, paper, card and wool.  Weaving is a fantastic activity for young children to try and offers many benefits such as developing fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, as well as developing concentration and providing a physical experience of the spatial concepts of over and under. It is also an ideal experience to help strengthen the muscles in both hands as the dominant and non-dominant hands are used at the same time.  Here are some of the different types of weaving that we tried:

Fence Weaving

 

“I like all the different colours of the ribbon.”

 

 

 

 

Table Top Weaving

 

“You need to go over and under and over and under all the way to the end.”

 

 

“I’m lifting the wool up so the ribbon can go under”

 

 

 

Paper Weaving

     

“This is quite tricky.”

Large Needle Weaving

“

“I need to push this through and catch it at the other side.”

Individual Loom Weaving

 

“I like the gold ribbon best.  It’s so shiny.”

Small Needle Weaving

 

“I’m getting good at this now.  I’m just going to pull the needle.”    

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WOODWORK

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At Glenwood our children enjoy daily opportunities to engage in woodwork.  

This involves experimenting and tinkering with the possibilities of the materials and tools, which helps to build our children’s confidence and develop their creativity and imagination. 

“I want to use the hammer.”

Observations of the children show high levels of engagement and perseverance with challenging tasks.

“The saw is a bit tricky.”

Design is part of the woodwork process, defining the task and planning how to proceed.

“I’m making a helicopter car. I need 4 wheels so it can drive and a window at the front. The helicopter blades are going to sit on top so it can lift off into the sky.”

 

 

 

 

The importance of woodwork cannot be underestimated!

 

 

 

 

 

Look at all the skills our children are learning – 

  • Hand eye coordination
  • Fine motor development
  • Problem-solving
  • Creative thinking
  • Imagination
  • Independence
  • Respect
  • Understanding of the world around them
  • Language development

The foundations for STEM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Achievement, - Pupils, Expressive Arts, parents, Technologies

Terrific Triangles

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Working with Starcatchers, we developed a creative project on triangles. Children and parents brought lots of lovely triangles from home (thank you). 

Child: “The triangles are all different sizes.  Oh, Look at them, they are all my favourite. I made some at home, here they are.”

Then  …….

…we made more at Glenwood using lots of different materials to decorate.

     

…we cut slots into our triangles. We tried scissors and then saws.

…we found we could make 3D shapes by connecting them together and we could make lots of different shapes. 

     

…we took some outside and made a traffic jam with lots of cars.

…we were thinking about our community and neighbours and being ‘intergenerational’. So we made some into bunting and delivered it to our friends with a card. We wrote:

“We are thinking of you and hope our triangles make you happy”.

Parent: “I really liked the idea of the triangles and having something to work with my child at home and bring in. It made me feel more connected to the nursery at this time when we can’t come in”. 

Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Technologies

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

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Through play opportunities children can experience a range of resources that support their ICT knowledge and understanding.

CHOOSING ICT TOYS

In Glenwood, the children can choose ICT from a choosing book. The children chose a voice recordable game which supports children’s numeracy and literacy skills.

TORCHES

During their learning the children were interested in the shapes and patterns made by the light and shadows outdoors in the sunshine. To re-create shadows indoors light from a torch was projected onto a hanging sheet. The children used their bodies and open-ended resources to explore shadows, identify shapes or people from behind the sheet.

BEE-BOT

The children programmed a small robot to move forward, backwards, left and right movements to move around the floor. A programmable toy can support literacy and numeracy skills.

REMOTE CONTROL TOYS

Using remote-control toys children learn about cause-and-effect. As they play as they work out which buttons make the car go in each direction. The children set up an obstacle course with ramps to drive up and down, or tunnels for them to drive through. This is a great way to develop a child’s hand-eye co-ordination. Some of our remote control toys are operated by the iPad.

INTERACTIVE BOARD

An interactive smart board allows images from a computer screen to be displayed onto a classroom board where the children can interact with the images directly on the screen using a tool or even a finger.

IPADS/TABLETS

Ipads are available as part of the nursery’s continuous provision and children are encouraged to use them to record their achievements and share it with others using the ipads.

IMAGINARY PLAY

During their imaginary role-play children are provided with old ICT equipment. Children are observed in the home corner using the ICT in real life situations i.e. an office, a train or even a trip to space.

EXPLORING ICT AND HOW IT WORKS

Taking apart old pieces of everyday ICT equipment to look at what is inside and how it works is a popular activity. Children explore the inside of old clocks, computer boards, telephones and CD players.

Sciences

Runner Beans

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The children have been very interested to learn about planting and growing runner bean seeds for our new family centre.  By placing a runner bean seed in a zip lock bag with some wet cotton wool and sticking this on to the window, the children were able to observe the seeds germinate as the roots and shoots started to grow. 

“I can see the roots going down and the shoots going up.”

“They are going to be so tall.”

“The roots are getting really long now.”

After about 10 days the children filled some small plant pots with soil and carefully planted a seedling in each one and then watered them all.


“I will give them some water.  They need water so they can grow.”

The children took responsibility for checking that the soil in the pots was not too dry and made sure each plant had enough water to help it grow.

“The beans need a little drink of water.  I touched the soil with my finger and it felt dry.”

To prepare for planting the runner beans outdoors a handheld drill was used to drill drainage holes in planters, the planters were filled with soil and canes were added to provide support.

“I’m turning the handle round and round.  I can see little bits of plastic at the bottom.”

 

 

To help carefully remove the plant from the pot without damaging it, the children learned about gently rolling and squeezing the pot with their fingers and hands.  They were very interested to see how the roots had grown inside the pot.

“Look at all the roots.  There are so many.”

When the children had finished planting all the runner bean plants they chose a sunny spot to put them in the garden and gave them a big drink of water. 

“The beans are really tall.  They have lots of leaves.”

Further information about growing runner beans can be found on the following website:  https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-runner-beans/

Health and Wellbeing

Obstacle Courses

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The children in the Orchard Bubble have been having a great time in the nursery with our obstacle course equipment. We have been learning to work together as a team and use everyone’s ideas to create the courses. We have also been learning about how to risk assess for ourselves.

The children decided to add to the obstacle course and make one where they have to use their gross motor skills to hop and jump.

We need to jump over the ropes.
We could hop at the end.

Then the children wanted to use the big blocks inside to create a big obstacle course together.

Together we are strong.
Look how high I can jump!
We could use this as a slide.

When we create and use obstacle courses we are not just developing our gross motor skills but also learning to share, take turns and cooperate with each other.

Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics

How big is a dinosaur?

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Many of the children have been enjoying playing with the new dinosaurs. We had lots of questions so we watched some videos on Tig Tag Junior. We learned about how they became extinct. 

“When a big space rock made some dust it made the place go dark. Then without sunlight the plants died. Then without plants the plant-eating dinosaurs died. Then all the meat-eaters died. Then they all started to die. Extinct.” 

“What size was a T-Rex?” 

We used books to research and discovered that a Tyrannosaurus rex was 12 metres long. Would it fit in our playroom? Let’s find out by measuring…

“I need to measure and write it down.”

   

Our playroom is 10 metres long – “T-rex’s head would be next door!” Which dinosaur is smallest? We researched on the iPad. Compsognathus was 60cm long and 40cm tall.

“How tall are you?”

 Let’s put them in order… 

“This one is taller.”
“Brachiosaurus is the biggest.”
“How long is Triceratops?”
“The T-rexs are the same size.”

 

Numeracy and Mathematics, Technologies, Uncategorized

Technology Toys

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We have had great fun learning how to use a variety of our digital toys.

We have been developing our use of directional language using our Code-a-pillars and Sphero.

“When you put the body bits on it goes left and right.” 

“I made it go forwards then turn around.” 

“The green one goes forward.”

 

We use an App on the iPad to make Sphero…

It took great teamwork and problem solving skills to build an obstacle course and pathways for the Wonder Bug. We had to work together to find the best way to help Wonder Bug travel from one end of the room to the other.

“We need a ramp for it to go up.”

“It will need to balance on top.” 

“If we add a corner, it will need to turn the corner.” 

 

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World Book Day 2021

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This year we couldn’t invite parents in to nursery to read stories so we invited them to read to us remotely! Some were able to join us live for a Google Meet and some shared videos of themselves reading with us. A huge “Thank you!” to all our storytellers.

Zachary’s mum read a story about dinosaurs.
Sorley’s grandad read a story about pirates.
We heard a Supertato story from Sam’s mum.
…and a Kipper story with a very bright torch.
Luke’s mum told us the story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea – which was written before Mrs Husbands was born!
Evie’s mum read another of our favourite stories Whatever Next
There was a tired unicorn in Lacey’s mum’s story.
Everyone joined in shouting “There’s a shark in the park!” with Alistair’s dad.
Mrs Brown used puppets to tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

All the children will receive a World Book Day voucher to spend – find out more in this fun song… how many stories to you recognise?

You might like to listen to Lydia Monks read What the Ladybird Heard in a video she recorded for World Book Day.

Sharing books and stories together is a valuable learning experience for your child. This document gives some advice on ways to get the most out of reading together.

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Chocolate Playdough for Fairtrade Fortnight

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We made some chocolate playdough in nursery today. It smelt delicious – but we knew we couldn’t eat it! Here is how we made it…

Our ingredients

First we measured our ingredients and put them in the bowl: 2 cups plain flour, 1 cup salt, half a cup of cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons oil, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar and 2 cups water.

Then we stirred it until it was smooth – “It looks like chocolate icing!”

We cooked ours in the microwave – stir every minute until it is cooked.

Fairtrade Fortnight began on 22nd February and our cocoa powder had a Fairtrade logo on it. Fairtrade means the farmers get paid a ‘fair price’ for the crop. Can you find any logos on anything in your house?

A bunch of bananas is called a hand.

Find out more about Fairtrade bananas with Pablo Super Banana in this video: https://vimeo.com/153120034

 

Why not try this quiz with your family on the Fairtrade website? How much do you know about Chocolate?

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Remote Learning: Eco Schools

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Responsible Robbie

As a nursery community, we are on a continuous journey to empower our children to improve their environmental awareness.  

There are lots of wonderful ideas that you can do as a family to learn more about the natural world and care for the environment, which supports STEM and literacy learning, as well as your child’s health and wellbeing.

RECYCLE

Introduce your children to the concept of sorting household rubbish for recycling into categories such as plastic, paper, metal and glass.  This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about different types of materials used for packaging, how they are made and how they can be reused.  

National Geographic have a great online game to do a recycle round-up and clean up the park: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/games/action-and-adventure/recycle-roundup-new/

RE-USE

Instead of throwing things away, encourage your child to think of great ways to reuse items.  Egg cartons work really well for growing herbs, glass jars are perfect for storing loose parts for play, and tin cans make really good pen and pencil holders.

COMPOST

Composting helps to teach our children about reducing the waste that heads to landfills by converting it into nutrient-rich soil.

There are lots of free and easy ways for your family to start composting.  

Use a recycled plastic drinks bottle – https://www.changeworks.org.uk/sites/default/files/Make_compost_in_a_bottle.pdf 

Recycle some wooden pallets – https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/startcomposting/

You could also simply create a compost trench in your garden or use an old bin or container – https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Kindergarden/kidscompost/CompostingForKids.pdf

So what should you put in?

Greens – these are things that rot quickly, and provide important nitrogen and moisture

  • Tea bags
  • Grass cuttings
  • Vegetable peelings, salad leaves and fruit scraps
  • Coffee grounds
  • Old flowers and nettles

Browns – these are things that rot more slowly.  They provide carbon and fibre and also allow air pockets to form

  • Cardboard
  • Egg boxes
  • Paper
  • Leaves
  • Twigs and branches
  • Sawdust
  • Egg shells

LITTER PICK

Visit a local park and spend some time cleaning up the litter.  You will not only be protecting the wildlife and caring for the world around you but you will also be helping your community.  It will hopefully inspire others to join in too.  Count how many bits of rubbish you find – you will be amazed!  Don’t forget to wear protective gloves and take a rubbish bag.     

GARDEN SAFARI

You don’t have to go far to encounter some amazing living things.  Going on a back garden safari in your own garden or to a local park or woods will be a real voyage of discovery.  It is such a fun way to explore and learn about local plants, animals and minibeasts.  You can simply sit and watch, take photos or a video, do a scavenger checklist or record what you found by drawing a picture.

There is lots of information on the WWF to help you get started – https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/love-nature/garden-safari

GROWING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Getting your child involved in growing fruit and vegetables is a great way for them to learn where their food comes from and make healthy eating choices.  Children can see first hand the growing cycle and develop an awareness of the seasonal nature of food.

Try growing indoors whilst the weather is still cold.  Tomatoes, carrots, peppers and beans work well on a nice sunny windowsill using a recycled container that allows drainage.

https://kidsgardening.org/gardening-basics-indoor-gardening/

Spring is coming soon and the perfect time to start growing outdoors if you have the opportunity.  You can plant in tubs, make a raised bed or create a garden growing patch.  

Fruits and vegetables that are easy to grow and mature quickly are strawberries, lettuce, peas, radishes, and courgettes.       

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/easy-crops-kids-grow

We would love if you could share your learning from home with us so we can use it as part of our action plan, either via Google Classroom or Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningfromhome  

Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics, Uncategorized

Remote Learning: Pancakes

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Healthy Henry

Healthy Henry likes to eat healthy food but he says it’s OK to have a treat sometimes.

As it’s Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, Miss Pearson would like to share her pancake recipe with you.

Miss Pearson’s Pancakes

First of all you will have to wash your hands with soap and water to make sure they are clean and dry them well. If you have an apron you can wear this as well to keep your clothes clean .

You will need:

  • mixing bowl 
  • wooden spoon 
  • tablespoon
  • mug 
  • frying pan
  • spatula 

 

Ingredients: 

  • 1 level mug of  self raising flour 
  • 1 level tablespoon of caster sugar 
  • 1 egg 
  • 1 cup of milk for mixing 
  • Oil for your pan 

Method: 

1. Put the flour and sugar into the bowl.
2. Add the egg and mix well.
3. Then gradually add the milk to make a runny consistency – you might not use all the milk.
  1. Mix until smooth.

Now we can start making our pancakes. 

First of all you will need to ask an adult to help you with this part as we are going to use the cooker and we have to be very careful  so we don’t get burnt . 

We need the frying pan to be hot. 

So put a little drop of oil in the pan and wait until it is hot.

Put a spoonful of your mixture into the pan and wait for the bubbles and then turn and cook the other side.

Turn the pancakes over when you see the bubbles.

I made 12 pancakes out of my mixture you could make big pancakes or small pancakes it is up to you.

Here are some ideas for toppings:

  • Jam 
  • Banana 
  • Butter 
  • Chocolate spread  (but just a little) 

 

Miss Pearson hopes you have as much fun making them as she did.

What toppings will you choose?

Cooking together provides us with lots of opportunities to practise our maths skills – measuring out our ingredients, talking about colours, shapes and sizes, using a timer – as well as helping develop fine motor skills – chopping, mixing, spreading – and literacy skills as we read a recipe.

Here are some other ideas for simple cooking activities:

  • sandwiches
  • fruit salad or fruit kebabs
  • pitta bread pizzas
  • vegetable soup

Let us know what you like to cook together and show us your pancakes on Twitter @GlenwoodFC  #Glenwoodlearningathome 

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Remote Learning: Chinese New Year

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Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the Ox. The Ox represents strength and confidence in others, something those of us at Glenwood have shown in recent months.

Chinese New Year has been celebrated in China and other Asian cultures for thousands of years. It is also celebrated as part of the Spring festival which allows this holiday to mark the end of the coldest days and allows the people to welcome in the Spring season with planting and new beginnings.  

Fireworks are a big tradition to mark the celebrations of Chinese New Year with firecrackers used to scare off bad luck with these being set off at midnight. The following day firecrackers are used again to welcome in the new year with good luck.

Red and gold envelopes which contain money are given during the festival to children from their relatives. The envelopes are a  symbolism of good luck and wishes, but it is the red paper which is significant and not the money inside as this represents happiness and blessings to the children receiving them. 

There are 12 different Zodiac Signs which the years are named after:  rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Find out more about Chinese New Year celebrations and how the years got their names here Chinese and Lunar New Year – CBeebies – BBC

Here are some ideas to try at home with your families:

Miss Chrystal’s Chinese Vegetable Stir Fry

Ingredients:

  • Garlic
  • Peppers
  • Onion
  • Baby sweet corn 
  • Carrots
  • Spring onion
  • Crushed ginger
  • Sunflower oil 
  • Soy sauce 
  • Optional Stir fry sauce
  • Noodles
First chop your vegetables.
Heat up the oil in a wok or frying pan, add your vegetables.

Remember to keep stirring!

Add the soy sauce and any other sauces.
Serve over noodles.

Enjoy your tasty stir fry – I wonder if you can use chopsticks?

Creating our own firework paintings

 You will need:  cardboard tubes,  scissors, (paper) plates, different colours of paint, paper  

Cut up the cardboard tubes to give a fringe – why not try different lengths.  

You can use as many different colours of paint as you wish.  Pour your paint onto the plates.

Press the cardboard tube down into the paint and then print your firework onto the paper.

Repeat this process by using all of your colours. 

Find more ideas for firework crafts here Firework Crafts – Easy Firework Crafts and Activity Ideas – Science Experiments for Kids (science-sparks.com)

Chinese Lanterns  

Can you create your own Chinese lanterns using A4 sheets of paper, glue or sticky tape and scissors. 

 You can decorate your lanterns using whatever you like. You might like to draw the animals of the zodiac in them using colouring pens or pencils.

Chinese New Year Dancing

The Lion Dance is an important part of the celebrations – find out more and why not have a go!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-go-club-chinese-lion-dance  

Chinese Lion Dance | An introduction (Hello China #39) – YouTube 

Don’t forget to let us know how you get on by sharing with us on Google Classroom or Twitter @GlenwoodFC  #Glenwoodlearningathome 

Health and Wellbeing

Remote Learning: Active Aamir

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Active Aamir is here to give you some activities to help you stay active indoors.  

 

Star Jumps 

See how many star jumps you can do in 30 seconds. Remember to count!

Limbo

Tie a piece of string between 2 objects (or ask someone to hold it) and every time you make it under the string move it lower, how low can you go?

Book balance 

Place a book on your head and walk from one side of the room to another, see how many times you can do this without the book falling off. Remember not to touch the book with your hands. 

Washing basket 

Count how many pairs of socks you can throw into your washing basket. Move the basket further away to make it more difficult. 

Balloon volley 

All you need is a balloon and you! The aim is to use different parts of your body to keep the balloon in the air and off the ground.

Don’t worry if it goes on the ground, just pick it up and start again. See how long you can keep the balloon in the air…10 seconds, 25 seconds? Count and see.

Can you beat your own personal best? Invite your family to do it too. Who can keep the balloon in the air for the longest time?

Freeze dance

Choose some music you like, get some of your cuddly toys or even your family to join in.

Play the music and everyone has to dance to the music. When the music stops you have to freeze. Just like an icicle!

If you search ‘freeze dance’ on YouTube you will find music that stops automatically. Here is one to try!

A move jar

With some help write down the names of about 5 animals on a small piece of paper. Fold the paper and put them in a jar (or box).

Now pop your hand in and pull out a piece of paper. What does it say? Think about the animal you have chosen. How does this animal move its body?

Does it slither, wiggle, hop, stop, jump or crawl. You decide and try to move your body like this animal from one side of the room to the other.

Be creative and think big – pretend you are in the same environment as the animal you have chosen. It could be the jungle, a farm or the ocean.

Why not try a Sticky Kids Work out?

Here are some more ideas from NHS Change 4 Life Indoor Activities for Kids.

Show us how you are staying active on Google Classroom or Twitter @GlenwoodFC  #Glenwoodlearningathome

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Remote Learning: Useful Websites

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We have created a Sway with a selection of websites that might be helpful to you at home.

We have included a selection of  sites – some online activities and games for your child, some with ideas of activities for you to try together and also some sites offering support and advice for parents and carers.

We hope you find this useful.

Go to this Sway

 

Literacy and English, Uncategorized

Remote Learning: Time to Rhyme

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Rhyming words are words that have the same ending sound: bat & cat, frog & log, car & star… Learning to recognise rhyme is an important step in learning to read.

Nursery Rhymes – Sharing songs and nursery rhymes with young children is the first step towards this and also helps create a bond with their carers.

Find out more: https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading-and-stories/why-share-songs-and-rhymes

The Scottish Book Trust has a Bookbug App for you to share stories, songs and rhymes together. Find out more here.

The CBeebies website also has lots of nursery rhymes to share. Click here.

Once your child understands rhyme you could make up some silly ones together… why not try Humpty Dumpty?

Humpty Dumpty sat in a tree, he fell down and hurt his …

Humpty Dumpty sat on a bed, he fell down and broke his…

Or Twinkle, Twinkle?

Twinkle, Twinkle little mouse, hiding in your little…

Twinkle, Twinkle little moon, I’d like to eat you with a …

Rhyming Stories – Lots of children’s stories are written in rhyme. As you read with your child, try missing out the last word to let them fill it in.

Here are just a few authors who write rhyming stories:

  • Lynley Dodd – Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy
  • Jez Alborough – Fix It Duck, Some Dogs Do
  • Kes Gray – Oi Frog, Oi Dog, Oi Cat, How Many Legs?
  • Nick Sharratt – Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose, Don’t Put Your Finger in the Jelly, Nelly!, Octopus Socktopus
  • Giles Andreae – Commotion in the Ocean, Mad About Minibeasts
  • Clare Freedman – Aliens Love Underpants
  • Dr Seuss – The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham

One of our favourite authors is Julia Donaldson and some of her rhyming stories have been made into animations. Why not watch some together? Zog and the Flying Doctors 

Rhyme Games 

Create a rhyming basket – Collect together pairs of rhyming objects – they could be toys or household items. Take out an object… can you find it’s rhyming partner?

Go on a rhyming treasure hunt – Collect together some objects again but this time challenge your child to find a rhyme around your house or garden. You might put in a star (to rhyme with car), a parrot (rhymes with carrot), a bee (to match with knee or tree), a cat (rhymes with mat or hat) or a bear (to rhyme with pear). I’m sure you will think of many more!

Play I-Spy – On a walk or in the house, you could play a rhyming version of I-spy…

I spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with bee.

I spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with bog.

It’s OK if your child makes up nonsense words – that means that they have understood the concept of rhyme.

Why not play this rhyming game on the computer with Grover from Sesame Street?

Share you rhyming fun on Google Classroom or Twitter @GlenwoodFC   #Glenwoodlearningathome

Numeracy and Mathematics, Uncategorized

Remote Learning: Everyday Counting

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Achieving Andrew

Children learn about numbers by hearing number sequences over and over and learning the number names. Through play and everyday activities is a natural way that children will learn.

There are lots of things you can do at home with your children to learn number sequence.

 

  • When you bring the shopping home can you count how many apples/bananas/blueberries you bought?
  • If you have stairs. How many do you have?
  • How many small/big steps is it from your front door to the gate?
  • A scavenger hunt. Can you find 8 leaves, 5 stones, 4 sticks.

Number songs are another great way to learn number sequences. Here are some Glenwood favourites (click on them to watch a Youtube video):

Playing board  and card games is another way to develop number recognition and practise counting.

  • Snakes and Ladders
  • Kids Monopoly
  • Snap (using playing cards)
  • Bingo
Play Splat! – say a number and ‘splat’ the correct card.

Another favourite game we play in Glenwood is Number Splat. This is a great way to develop number recognition. All you need is numbers 0-10 or 0-20 written on pieces of paper and a spatula or wooden spoon. Ask your child to splat different numbers in a random order. Why not have a competition?

Share with us on Google Classroom or Twitter how you have been practising your counting and number recognition. @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome

 

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