Milngavie Early Years Centre

news for parents

January 14, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

What a wintry morning! Time for an Icy Activity and a bit of Scots!

Good morning everyone – I hope you are well and safe this morning and that home-schooling is going well.  You are doing a good job.  It  really is not easy, and if your children are happy, safe and engaged in something, you should be very pleased with yourself!!

This morning Jen has sent us some great ideas for icy play, when the temperature drops below zero.  This happened last week and the children in nursery made some ice sculptures too.

If you know that it is going to freeze hard overnight, you can prepare plastic boxes with water in, shallow trays and even buckets, the day before and leave them out overnight.  A wide variety of different shapes of containers is best and leaves and coloured paper can be put in to create pictures in the ice. Shallow trays allow you to create window ice.  This activity is exciting for children as it allows them to see a liquid change to be solid – all caused by changing its temperature.  Jen has sent examples of her work and some suggestions as to making Window Ice, Ice Pictures and Ice Castles, so your wee ones can unleash their inner Elsa!!!

Its not often I wish for a hard frost, but I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for some icy weather so you can try this!.

 

 

 

Here’s one of our nursery lads with an ice creation he made himself!

 

 

A wee bit of Burns and The Gruffalo in Scots

Today we are having a wee listen to a short poem written by Burns, in the Guid Scots Tongue.  Scots words are often really descriptive and it is a shame we don’t use them more.  It would be good to ask your family what their favourite Scots words are!  The Gruffalo in Scots is fun, but I found it a bit tricky to read!  I also have the Glasgow Gruffalo, which I won’t even attempt.  Instead I’ll include a link to the wonderful Elaine C Smith doing it justice.

https://youtu.be/qb5lLQljbJI

 

The Glasgow Guffalo by Elaine C Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq8zxYnWRW8

 

January 13, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

Feed the Birds with Eileen and perhaps become a “Citizen Scientist” too!

This post is by Eileen.

Hi girls and boys,
Today I made a bird feeder to hang from the trees in my garden. The birds find it difficult to find food during the cold winter months.
I used apples, lard, bird seed, dry porridge and grated cheese.
If you watch the video you will see how I made it. Maybe you could make one too?
I’ll be watching to see what birds come into my garden and I’ll try to name them. You can find pictures of different birds on the RSPB website. There is also a link there to join in with The Big Garden Birdwatch between 29- 31 January. Maybe this is something you could do with your brothers and sisters.  If you send the numbers of the different birds you see in your garden to the RSPB they will add them into their scientific survey of British Birds.

http://www.rspb.org.uk

Hope you’re having a good day!
See you soon.

Click the links to see Eileen’s bird feeder videos Parts 1 and 2

https://youtu.be/WtX4l6hFEyo

https://youtu.be/QvWg9Q_9DJQ

 

 

January 13, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

Let it snow, let it snow let it snow!

Snow was on last night’s weather forecast, but so far today is just a bit cold, wet and miserable.  Someone else has sent us some lovely snowy photos to show you – can you guess who it is?  It looks as though she is having a lot of fun.

If the snow doesn’t arrive today, Claire has a brilliant activity for you to try at home – making Snow Fluff.  You need a cup of cornflour, a cup of shaving foam and a few drops of food colouring:  click the link to see Claire showing you how to make it!

https://youtu.be/2DUuhm0qC5U

 

Yesterday Elaine mentioned Robert Burns in her Scottish Tartan Making activity.  I thought it would be good to learn a wee bit about who he was and why he is famous, so I’m going to put a wee video on every day with some facts about Rabbie, to introduce our national poet.  We’ll be reading a few Scots stories and learning a bit about Scottish culture in the next week, prior to Burn’s Day on Monday 25th January.  Click the link to learn a wee bit about where Robert Burns was born.

https://youtu.be/jRcTRkRaocs

 

 

January 12, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

Some stories and songs for a cold and frosty morning

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to have a wee look at some Scottish traditions, stories and songs. Today’s song is about 3 Craws, and rather than torture you with my singing, I have found a link to watch instead.  This is one of our favourite Scots songs in nursery- we usually sing it at our Burns’ Supper- and it would be really nice if you could learn it to sing to your family too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckhyx9QCMpo

Elaine and her daughter Lily have sent me this great crafty tartan activity-  why not give it a wee try!

Here’s Elaine’s message:

Hi boys and girls! I hope you are all well and keeping safe.  As it is January and next week we celebrate Robert Burns I thought it would be nice for us to design your own tartan.
What you will need:
paper (a mix of different colours if you have them)
scissors
glue
pens/pencils/crayons (if you don’t have coloured paper)
Here is an example of one I made using paper strips.  My daughter Lily also made one too.
Why don’t you ask if your grown up has any tartan clothes or you might have some yourself to see the different colours and patterns.
Tartan is usually made from wool and is a very cosy material – just right for a cold and frosty morning.
Our next activity for today is a listening one – Lisa has sent us a video of a great Julia Donaldson story called Sharing a Shell
Apologies for the video yesterday which wouldn’t play – to hear Josh’s story, please click this new link.

January 11, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

Angela’s Snowy Day Adventure

On Friday Angela was out and about enjoying the snowy weather with her family.  She sent some lovely snowy pictures and also a Winter Walk Check List that you might like to try filling in on your next family outing.

You might like to look for these things when you are next out. Can you see what Angela found?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While she was out and about, Angela remembered a great story about a wee tortoise who should have been hibernating, but wanted to see what Winter was like.  Click the link below to hear the story!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9Roi1isVM

Can you think of any other animals who might be hibernating right now.  Ask your mum or dad to help you find out.

If you have any snowy day pictures you would like to share on the blog Photo Gallery, please email them to KCameron@milngavie.e-dunbarton.sch.uk.

 

January 11, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

Happy New Year and A Warm Welcome Back -to Online Learning

This is really not the welcome we had hoped to be giving our families at the start of 2021!  We are all feeling sad that we can’t all be back at nursery together, sharing Christmas experiences and catching up with everyone’s news.  However, we are all very aware of the need to keep safe and protect ourselves and others from this awful virus, and with the vaccines starting to be rolled out in our community, hopefully it will not be too long till we  are able to be together again.

Our nursery is open for Keyworkers children and our staff are on a rota to work in the building.  The remainder of staff are working at home on training and professional reading, as well as preparing online learning experiences which we will be posting on our blog and in our Learning Journals.  We want to ensure that parents feel supported and give suggestions for learning activities to keep your wee ones busy, however we are very aware of the pressures on parents at this time.  Our activities are completely optional and if you are feeling the pressure, working from home and home-schooling your other children, please do not feel you have to be constantly uploading photos or printing out resources for your nursery child.

We are going to suggest 1 activity per week which we would love you to upload a photo of, to your child’s learning journal.  This would allow us to keep in touch with your child and their learning and will be from three curricular areas, Maths, Literacy and Health and Wellbeing.  The importance of Health and Wellbeing is paramount just now- for everyone in our nursery community.  Our first week’s Learning Journal task is to ask your child to draw a picture of themselves wearing their winter clothes.  We would love it if you could ask your child what they really like just now, and also what they don’t like.  This will help staff in planning the activities they are organising to share on the blog.  If you take a photo on your phone and then open your learning journal, it is easy to follow the prompts to upload your photo.  If you have any difficulty doing this, or have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email Kate on KCameron@milngavie.e-dunbarton.sch.uk .  Please remember – if this is too stressful this week – do not worry!

Here is an example of Penny’s- she is my captive volunteer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do any of our activities or if your child makes or draws something they are really proud of we thought we could have an Art Gallery on the blog, to share our creations with our friends.  If you would like to post a photo of anything you have been doing and are ok with it being on the blog, please just email it to Kate at the above address.  You don’t necessarily need to put your child’s photo on if you don’t want to – even just their handiwork would be amazing.

We will be posting different members of staff with their suggestions for a daily activity on the blog.  We hope you enjoy all their posts. Please send us some feedback either on the blog or by email.   We would really appreciate hearing what you think.

MEET A BRAND NEW MEMBER OF OUR NURSERY COMMUNITY

This beautiful wee bundle of joy,  Wee Jack, arrived in time for Christmas on 18th December- a very special early Christmas present for our lovely Fiona and her partner – Paul.  He is absolutely adorable and both he and his mum are doing really well.  Lots of Love and Congratulations to Fiona, Paul and Jack starting 2021 as a new family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 10, 2021
by K. Cameron
0 comments

School Registration is Online Now- Register Pre-school children before Jan 22nd

East Dunbartonshire Council have put the registration forms for school online and the closing date for these is January 22nd 2021.

The link for the page on the council website is https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-learning/primary-school-registration .  Information on how to apply and documents that need to be submitted are detailed on this page.

Registration for our ante-pre-school children returning for another year at nursery will be online later this month.

 

December 23, 2020
by Ms C McMenemy
0 comments

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!

The staff at Milngavie EYC would like to wish all our families and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We would like to thank our staff team for their amazing hard work and commitment this year. It has been a year of change and challenge but there has been lots of learning and laughter too!

Take care and stay safe over the festive period. Looking forward to seeing you all in 2021!

 

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy

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