By Mrs Rodger
The children in the Willow room have been doing a lot of tinkering! They have been exploring electronic equipment and took apart an old speaker, DVD player, and laptop.
They have been using fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to take screws out using a screwdriver. They have been using their gross motor skills to help pull parts of the objects apart.
“This is so cool”
“Look what’s inside this.”
“ This is fun.”
“I did it. Look, the screw is out.”
by Miss Chrystal
The children were excited when we received a delivery of new resources containing balls and other gym equipment such as skipping ropes and bibs.
We asked the children what they would like to do with our new equipment and they decided that they wanted to play football. We collated all of their fantastic ideas and then together came up with a plan.
First of all, the children took responsibility for preparing our resources by pumping up the new footballs.
We have been focusing on different skills with the children, such as kicking and stopping the ball, as well as passing and dribbling. This has supported the children to further develop their understanding of the different stages of football.
The children have also been developing their gross motor and teamwork skills working alongside each other in small groups. The children have really enjoyed this block of football and are excited to show their families their talents.
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.
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.
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: –
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.
Then the children wanted to use the big blocks inside to create a big obstacle course together.
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.
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
We have all had lots of fun this week joining in with our sporting activities and we hope you have too!
Thank you for posting all your videos on Google Classrooms – we have enjoyed watching you all.
Here are some pictures from the week…apologies if they are a bit blurry but the adults from Glenwood move very fast!
All of the staff are super excited about our Virtual Sports Week and have been out practising! Take a look at the video…
Each day next week we will post on Google Classrooms different sports for you to try at home. Take some photos or videos of you taking part and post them in your Google Classroom for your Glenwood friends to see.
You can also share on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Exercise keeps us healthy and taking part in fun games can improve our coordination and movement skills. Here are some more fun ideas for keeping active…
Animal Actions
Pretend to be different animals. Can you….
Jump like a frog
Prowl like a tiger (crawl on hands and knees)
Walk like a bear (crawl with your hands and feet on the floor)
Bounce like a Kangaroo
Balance like a flamingo
Slither like a snake
Gallop like a horse
Walk tall like a giraffe
Stomp like an elephant
Walk sideways like a crab
Flap your wings like a bird
Obstacle Course
Can you build an indoor obstacle course? Don’t forget that building and tidying up the course is also part of your exercise! Here are some ideas to get you started but we’re sure you can use your imagination to think of more!
Mrs McGrory has put together some other ideas of games you can play with your family in this Sway.
| Fun ways to exercise | |
| During our gym sessions we like to do a warm-up game called the bean game. To play this game you have to run around until someone calls out one of the types of bean. There are many differen… | |
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Remember to share some of your pictures with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
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At Glenwood we know how important it is to be active to keep our bodies healthy. There are lots of ways you can do this at home, here are some ideas you can try with items you may have in your house! You will be learning how to control your body, how to move at different speeds, how to follow instructions and how to share and take turns.
We will post some more fun ways of being active next week so if you have any ideas to share with your friends please email or Tweet @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Balloon Games
Paper Fun
You will need a sheet of newspaper or a large piece of paper.
Ball Games
How many different balls can you find in your house? Try these out with balls of different sizes!
Throwing and catching
Kicking
Bouncing
Rolling
Children enjoy using chalk outside and can use it in a variety of different activities, developing many different skills.
For many children it may be one of their first experiences of mark making, allowing them to freely explore and encouraging their wonderful imagination. This will help to develop their fine motor skills which will strengthen their pincer grip essential movements for controlling and holding any writing implement.
Games such as hopscotch can help our physical well being, encouraging the development of our large motor skills, through hopping, jumping and balancing. Using numbers or letters can also help with numeracy & literacy skills.
Number Circles
Other great chalk ideas that would help to further develop numeracy skills could be, number circles having to count and place the correct amount of marbles or counters into the correct numbered circle.
Sequencing
Developing the ability to recognise the pattern and follow it on by drawing the correct missing shape or saying the shapes name. Encourages shape recognition and problem solving.
More games
To develop colour, shape and number recognition, could be drawing the different shapes with different coloured chalks, writing a number in the middle then asking for the correct number and colour of marbles or counters to be placed in the named shape.
The freedom to explore different activities when using chalk will encourage more creativity, confidence and curiosity. You can help develop this by offering different learning experiences and ways to use chalk. Writing up picture idea cards might help encourage someone who is struggling to think of just what to draw.
Also by grating chalk into a fine powder and mixing it with water turning it into a paint, using a paint brush to paint with or adding it into a spray bottle will allow for different effects. Also mixing the chalk dust with shaving foam and placing into a squeeze bottle will create different textures foam paints which children love!
Don’t worry if you don’t have any chalk – you can make your own paint using cornflour, water and food colouring. Watch this video to find out how… Make your own chalk paint
Remember to Tweet @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
During our weekly yoga sessions we learnt lots of different poses – do you remember them all.
The candle 
The downward dog
The snake
The Shavasana
Mrs Russell hopes you have been practising and has made a short video to remind you of them all.
You could also have a look at Cosmic Kids Yoga for more exercises.
Remember to share with us @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Being outdoors has many benefits to children’s wellbeing and development. It has a positive impact on mental health as the body increases production of the feel-good hormone serotonin and reduces production of the stress hormone cortisol. Being outdoors provides lots of opportunities for physical activity, which increases muscle strength, stamina and bone density as well as reducing obesity. The NHS recommends that children under 5 years have at least 3 hours of physical activity daily. One final benefit is that spending time outdoors can lead to improved sleep.
At the moment children do not have the option of visiting their local playpark so here are just a few ideas of what you might do together outdoors…
Scavenger Hunts turn any walk into an adventure! Look for signs of spring, shapes, things that are one chosen colour, numbers (in order), make up your own list or download one from online….
Explore nature in the garden Go on a minibeast hunt – look under stones, pots, logs, under plants for creepy crawlies. Use an old plastic container such as a yoghurt pot to put them in if you don’t have a bug box.
Some other ideas can be found on these websites.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/looking-after-yourself-and-nature
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/03/kids-nature-activities-self-isolation/
Gardening Even if you have no seeds to plant, it’s great exercise to help tidy up the garden by weeding and digging over the soil. You might find some minibeasts to investigate as you work.
Don’t forget to plant the sunflower seeds from your Family Learning Bag. You might try growing new plants from fruit and vegetables that you have been eating – apples, potatoes and peppers are good ones to try.
Family Sports Day Everyone likes a bit of competition!
Try some novelty races – ‘egg’ and spoon, balancing a beanbag (or rolled up pair of socks) on your head, penguin waddle (hold a ball between your knees), crab walking, wheelbarrow race, dressing up, shoe box slide (put empty shoe boxes on your feet)…
Make you own assault course – go under, over, along, up, down. Use whatever you have available – garden chairs, tables, slides, planks of wood, old sheets, skipping ropes. Time how long it takes for each person to complete.
Target games – who can get closest to the target? You c
ould use a bucket as a target or make one on the ground. Throw balls, rolled up socks, wellies… Just make sure there is nothing breakable in the way.
Or you could
make some skittles using tin cans or plastic bottles.
We hope you are inspired to have fun in the outdoors and don’t forget to share with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome
Health and wellbeing is so important. This includes both physical health and mental wellbeing.
Why not start each day with some physical exercise, suitable for all the family.
https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/pe-with-joe-1254.html
Alternatively, perhaps some Cosmic Yoga may be more for you… we know this is a real favourite with our children in nursery.
https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
Gonoodle is another favourite.
Children may benefit from this Social Story to help them understand the current situation regarding Covid19.
Child-Friendly-Explanation-of-Coronavirus
At a time when we are all experiencing uncertain times, positive mental health has never been so important.
East Renfrewshire Council has developed a guide, Healthier Minds, to promote the mental wellbeing of our children and young people. This resources aims to help you find the information you need to develop children and young people’s talents and abilities in a way that will support them to meet life’s common challenges, develop their resilience, and have healthier minds as a result.
We have been enjoying some yoga sessions in nursery.
