Category: Latest News

Hello from the Discovery Zone!

We hope you are all having lots of fun and staying safe. We are missing you all so much and wanted to leave you some of our Discovery Zone activities for you and your family to enjoy this week. Make sure to leave us a comment and let us know how you get on.

From Annemarie and Claire xx

Today, we are Architects!

Your challenge: –

*To gather loose parts around your home and garden. These can be resources such as rope, cardboard boxes, string, wood, old sheets/material, pegs, branches/sticks, old bike wheels, tyres, empty plastic storage crates, off cuts of guttering etc.

* Look at what objects you have found and using paper and a pencil start to plan what you want to build. Look at what shapes you have, how will they fit together? Do you need something to hold it all together? Will it balance? Is it safe?

* NOW START TO BUILD, CREATE AND INVENT! We both know how good you all are at risk assessing so make sure you assess as you go and make your creation SAFE! Keep looking back at your plans you have made to check your build and HAVE FUN!

With your loose parts both indoors and outdoors you can create all sorts of fantastic creations! Whether it’s a den, a dolls house, a train, a volcano, a castle … We think it’s going to be AMAZING and cannot wait to see what you invent and create!

Information for the grown-ups!

(A ‘loose parts’ toy, is open-ended; children may use it in many ways and combine with other loose-parts through imagination and creativity.) These loose part objects offer limitless possibilities, they may seem like scrap materials and rubbish but to a child it is endless opportunities of adventure and play. They will take risks, learn from mistakes and problem solve throughout. This will increase creativity and imagination, be physical and active and communicate and negotiate with others.

Have fun and tell us all about your creations in the comments!

 

We all know how to blow up a balloon … but did you know you could blow it up with a chemical reaction?

Put your safety goggles on as you are about to become scientists!

What you need:-

• An empty plastic bottle
• A balloon
• Vinegar
• Bicarbonate of soda
• A funnel

This experiment is excellent for showing off to your family through video call, that you have a trick to blow up a balloon!

Here’s what to do…

• Pour some vinegar into the plastic bottle (about 1/5 of the way)
• Insert the funnel into the balloon and carefully add 2 tablespoons of bicarb inside
• Carefully fit the balloon over the top of the bottle (Be careful not to spill any bicarb in yet!!)
• Once the balloon is secure, hold up the balloon – pouring the bicarb into the vinegar
• Watch as your balloon starts to inflate!

This happens because of the gas produced when the vinegar and bicarb mix together to cause a chemical reaction.

Some things to think about during your experimenting:-

• Predict what you think will happen before you carry out your experiment
• Why did this happen?
• Does it work with other ingredients? e.g. oil? baking powder? salt? water?
• Why does the balloon stop blowing up?
• How tall is your balloon? (Use a measuring tape or ruler to measure the height of your balloon)

This is a great experiment to promote inquiry, prediction, observation skills, critical thinking and don’t forget measuring!

As an extra, I like to draw funny faces on the balloons first so that when they blow up they make my family laugh! Have a race with your family to see who’s balloon will blow up first!

Enjoy being scientists and don’t forget to leave a comment and tell us all about your results!

Have fun!!

 

Morning Everyone, it is the outdoor people again.

We all know that you all like to run around, climb, jump and dance when outdoors. We know that physical exercise is good for you and keeps you fit and your body healthy.

We know It is not so easy to get outside that at this time. So here’s a few psychical exercises to get you moving and grooving and get your wiggles out!!

Spell out your name and do all the exercises for each letter!! Good luck if you have a long name!!!

Here’s a Link for jump start Jonny – his free energiser videos will get your blood pumping!! The one rule with jump start Jonny is that you have to get everyone involved! Including mum and dad!!!

https://www.jumpstartjonny.co.uk/free-stuff

Here is a link to get set Tokyo – This is a programmed created by the British Olympics and Paralympics to get people moving! The link has multiple activities online where you can log and track your activities!

https://www.getset.co.uk/travel-tokyo

Please send us a picture or leave a comment if you take part in any of these exercises and tell us what one was your favourite!

Also let us know if there’s any other exercises that you have been taking part in that you have been loving!!

Scones 

Scones are yummy and so easy to make.  Did you know you can develop mathematical concepts just by making them?  Use the recipe below to measure and weigh your ingredients, adding more or less ingredients if needed.  What happens to the dry ingredients when we add milk? How many scones can we make from our ingredients?  Are some of our scones bigger than the others ?  Have you made enough to share with everyone in your family ? Go on try these today and share your scone experience with us all.

This is the recipe that we use in the nursery.

1. 350 g of self raising flour

2. Quarter tea spoon of salt

3. 1 tea spoon of baking powder

4. 85 g of cubed butter

5. 3 table spoons of caster sugar

6. 175 ml of milk

7. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

8. Mix all together and shape

9 Place on a baking tray

10. Bake for 10 mins at 160 C until golden

11. Enjoy 🙂

What fillings are you going to put on your scones I like jam

Calling all parents and carers! We know the past few months of home learning haven’t been easy and we are keen to help. So to get a better idea of how we can do that, we are running a short home learning survey for parents and carers of pupils at Renfrewshire schools and council-run nurseries.

It’ll take a couple of minutes to fill out and asks how you are accessing home learning, the equipment you are using, and any issues you have experienced. We’ll use the results to work out how we can better support you next term, as pupils will still be learning at home on some days.

You can fill out the survey here
http://orlo.uk/u7y6p

If you have questions or need more info, please see our detailed home learning website Q&A
http://orlo.uk/y4ntr

New P1 induction session will take place across the 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd June (in small groups). We have started to call parents individually today and will continue to work our way through the list. We will let you know over the phone your allocated date/time.
We can’t wait to meet you all ❤️🌈

Have a look on our school website. The Primary 1 team have left a message for all our new entrants.

 

 

Hi everyone, a little message from your outdoor ladies …

We were thinking about all of the wonderful learning that was taking place in our garden over the past few months. The messy maths area was used lots and you all showed a lot of interest and knowledge whilst using this area.

A note for parents

Numeracy is everywhere if you look at the world through the eyes of a child…it is so much more than just counting and adding!

Loose parts can at first appear to be a pile of rubbish however it can be a wonderful resource to use with children. It captures their imagination and is like treasure that they can explore on their own and create their own learning.

Loose parts can be anything – lids, stones, bark, shells, kitchen roll tubes, ring pull, sticks, flowers anything you can think of.

Now back to the children!

Exploring weight

You can use loose parts to explore weight, seeing what items weigh more or less, how many of item (A) weighs the same as item (B). This encourages the children to use mathematical language such as heavy/heavier, light/lighter, more, less etc.

Sorting items

Sorting items is a great way for children to explore loose parts. They can sort items into different categories – by colour, by type of item by size or even counting out a specific number of items.

Exploring Patterns 

Patterns are everywhere, on the road, driveways, on cereal boxes, everywhere. Loose parts allow children to explore patterns and create their own. Here are some examples.

Symmetry 

Loose parts can be a great way to explore and learn about symmetry. It allows children to create their own image and pattern and begin to explore how to create the symmetrical image. Here are some examples.

Alison used natural items she collected from her daily walk to create an image that she wanted to copy symmetrically.

Creating images

Encouraging children to use their imagination and giving them the opportunity and freedom to be creative allowing them them to make and create works of art. Allowing your child to explore loose parts independently helps them to build confidence, use their imagination and promotes a sense of pride in their achievements. Here are some examples…

Please leave a comment and share what you have created at home.

Hi everyone, we are missing seeing you all and hope that you are getting on well at home!

The weather has been fantastic hasn’t it?

Our nursery plants are growing so big and tall at home with Stephanie. Hopefully by the time we are back at nursery there will be some yummy home grown vegetables to eat.

The seeds that were planted needed to live by a window so the heat came through to help them grow.  However, because we planted so many amazing seeds I had no room for them on my windowsill so I bought a special greenhouse to help the plants grow.

Our Peppers and Avocado have grown so much!

You can even see the radish growing and our cucumbers now have lots of leaves!

When I was at the shops, I noticed that there were lots of seeds and decided to buy some more and plant them for nursery! I thought I’d share this process with you guys, so that you could plant and grow your own food at home!

As most of you know, you need to start off by putting some soil into a plant pot.  Then add your seeds, then cover them up with some more soil on top! Remember to write on your pot what you have planted.

Once you have planted your seeds, make sure to water them and leave them in a sunny, warm place for them to grow. Remember to water them every few days.

Don’t worry if you don’t have any plant pots in your house, You can recycle some of your rubbish and use them as planters – Here’s some ideas!

I used an empty orange juice carton, an empty milk carton, an egg case and the bottom of a plastic bottle!

Remember you don’t always need seeds to grow your own food.  You can use food to grow more food! HOW AMAZING!

Here’s some links to videos as an example of using food to regrow more food.

Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know if you planted your own seeds or used some of the hacks in these videos!

 

As part of National Smile Month, this week we are promoting good tooth brushing technique and good oral health habits.

Below are some activities you could do as a family at home:

• Make up and complete a tooth brushing diary, draw pictures of your lovely sparkly teeth or dazzling smile 🙂 to decorate, if you have stickers to hand you could maybe add a sticker to your chart each time you brush.
• Use the 2 minute tooth brushing song to help ensure you are brushing your teeth for the right amount of time. Some links below for you and your family to enjoy and learn the songs –

https://youtu.be/3N8YZU7-bRA

https://youtu.be/QURu68na4Qw

• You could make a poster to share what you know about good tooth brushing.

Please share your work with us in the comments.

You can also share on social media using the following –

#SmileMonth

@Childsmile

@NHSGGC

 

Here are a few more web links that you may like:

·       http://www.child-smile.org.uk/parents-and-carers/index.aspx

https://youtu.be/QURu68na4Qw

http://www.child-smile.org.uk/parents-and-carers/toothbrushing/index.aspx