Bookbug promotes positive interactions through telling stories, singing songs, rhymes and play. We have been taking part in sessions over the past few months to help encourage new friendships and develop positive relationships between staff and children.
We have also started our family session within the centre and have loved seeing how many families have joined us so far. Sharing stories, songs and rhymes with your children also have a huge impact on your child’s language development. Taking a few minutes each day to read a story or sing a song will help form positive parent and child relationships and help develop the connections in a child’s brain that promote emotional development. It is also a great way to have fun!
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.
“I like the bubbles in the water.”
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.
“I like strawberries.”“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:
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.”
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
In Ballet the children are learning how to control their bodies through balance, good posture, listening skills, following instructions and rhythm, also finding their own space, cooperating with others and taking part in a performance.
We started of with the basic movements of dance and Ballet such as Feet Positions ——- first position (happy feet ) , parallel ——- (feet together ) and Second (feet apart).
Arm Positions ——- Bras Bas (first position of the arms ) Gateway (out in front ) Second(arms out wide ).
Moves within Ballet such as —- point lift, point close, springs in first, plies “which we called make a diamond,”
And at the end of every performance we learned who to do a bow and a courtesy.
We put it altogether and made a dance and chose music.
Ballet is an art form created by the movement of the human body. It is theatrical – performed on a stage to an audience utilising costumes, scenic design and lighting. It can tell a story or express a thought, concept or emotion. Ballet dance can be magical and exciting.
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.
The children participated and enjoyed our Sports Day on the 25th May. Kerry Comerford, our Active Sports Coordinator, set up a number of activities and sports for us to try – inluding bowling, curling and gymnastics. The children were running, hurling, balancing and jumping. After the activities the children enjoyed ice lollies.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Responsible Robbie likes to help look after the environment and wildlife.
Have you tried the recipe for bird cake in your home learning booklet?
Why not try to make your own bird feeder from recycled materials you have in the house. Here are some ideas…
Remember to throw any wire away after the birds have eaten the cereal.
The CBeebies website has some more ideas on how to make bird feeders for your garden. Why not take a look… Make a bird feeder – CBeebies – BBC
Why not join in with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch which is happening from the 29th to 31st January and you can sign up for free. There are lots of other things to do on their website too, including stories to read and games to play.
I wonder which birds you will have visiting your garden?
Why not let us know on Google Classroom or Twitter?
Respected Rhiya encourages us to think and talk, and to share our ideas and views.
Rhiya has got some sad news, happy news and she wants to give you a challenge.
The sad news is that we can’t all be at nursery together as we have to make sure everyone is safe from the virus. Also when we come back together, our nursery building might have disappeared. Big machines are going to knock it down.
How does that make you feel?
Some people think that will be exciting and they want to see it all smashed. Some people are worried it will be very noisy and messy. For lots of people the building and garden have lots of happy memories. The happy news that we are getting a new nursery with lots of lovely new toys inside. It is much bigger, with large playrooms, lots of windows and a little garden in the middle. Everything is new and clean and there will be lots of new things to try and we will see our friends there.
What do you think?Are you excited, worried or not sure?
The adults are getting things ready in the new nursery – here are a few photos for you to see what it looks like.
The cloakroom where you will hang your jacket.These are some of the toilets.
The book corners are waiting for their rugs.Look at the lovely new cooker and sink in the role play area.One of our new art areas.Some new vehicles to play with in the sand.
This room will be a gym hall and dining room.What a smart mud kitchen!
The sandpit is underneath the white tarpaulin – isn’t it big?
Rhiya’s challenges are:
Can you tell us what you liked best about our old nursery?
What are you looking forward to at our new nursery?
Can you draw us a picture or make us a model or write us a story or make a game?
What should our rules be for our nursery and what is important?
Rhiya hopes you like the challenges and that you will post into Google Classroom.
Completing the challenges will help you use lots of skills – you will be remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. These are called higher order thinking skills.
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Bookbug promotes positive interactions through telling stories, singing songs, rhymes and play. We have been taking part in sessions over the past few months to help encourage new friendships and develop positive relationships between staff and children.
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