Author: H Rafferty

NURSERY – Learning at Home

Hi Everyone,

It’s hard to believe it’s the last week of term already.  Our end of term has been very different this year and unfortunately we have not been able to give our nursery leavers the proud celebration they so deserve before moving onto school.  Certificates are being posted on our Nursery Leavers Learning Journals this week this can be printed as a reminder of their early year’s journey (access PDF file this by pressing the options button on your child’s learning journal).

We will miss them all so much and feel privileged to have had the pleasure of watching them grow into confident little individuals at East Calder Nursery who are now ready to embrace the next exciting new journey in their lives.

Staff Changes

Sadly Mrs O’Neill will be leaving nursery as she retires this term.  We wish her well as she approaches a new and exciting time in her life.  She came to work at East Calder when the original  nursery was opened over 30 years ago, over this time she has supported and guided hundreds of children as they took their first steps into their school lives.  Many of our present parents still have precious memories of those first days in nursery and the support Mrs O’Neill gave them.  Good Luck Mrs O’Neill we will all miss you.

Mrs Sharkey our Pupil Support Worker is moving on to work at the school, she will also be such a loss at Nursery and we wish her well in her new adventure.

Mrs O’Neill has kindly written a poem for the children who are leaving to start school.  She will miss them dearly and wishes them all lots of happiness in their new adventure.

 

Leaving nursery now, full of different ideas

Onwards to school, lots of excitement and fears.

Gaining lots of confidence during the last 2 years

We had variation of emotions, laughter and tears.

 

Now starting to read, write and learn, continuing to grow

Transporting your thoughts and developing what you know.

The uniform for school you can wear and be ready

Everything you need in bag, but don’t need no teddy.

 

Old and new faces you can readily approach

A new teacher there smiling and ready to coach.

Learning in nursery will now be put to the test,

We all know you will do your very very best!

 

Have lots of fun, be happy, makes lots of new friends

Your learning experience can continue to extend.

Nursery, though fun will now be a thing of the past,

Now look forward to your own little special class.

 

New Term

We are looking forward to welcoming back our returning children and families in the new term and are busy preparing our nursery environment to make this a positive and supportive experience.  You will be notified shortly of when the nursery will resume.

New Staff

We would like to welcome  new staff to our team who are looking forward to meeting you all in the new term.

Mrs Murray  –  Early Years Officer

Miss  Ritchie  –  Nursery Nurse

Most of our nursery team will be busy working at hubs over the summer and our nursery will close until the new term, therefore this will be the last blog post until we return.  We wish all our families a safe summer and hope that you continue to enjoy making happy memories with your children. We have felt so proud when reading all the learning, experiences and achievements you have supported your children with over this challenging time and hope you recognise the great parents that you are.

A few idea’s to try at home – kindly shared by our families

Cloud Dough

This is an easy no cook recipe using just three ingredients and is great for sensory play and some hands on maths and science learning.

  • Plain Flour (4 cups)
  • Oil – baby or vegetable oil (1 cup)
  • Colour (grate in some coloured chalk or use gel food colouring)

Encourage your child to get involved when making it and as they count and measure the ingredients and observe the change in textures as the materials combine they are experiencing learning in maths and science.

L.1. I have experimented with everyday items as units of measure to investigate and compare sizes and amounts in my environment, sharing my findings with others.

 

Sunshine and Ice Cream

Enjoy the outdoors with plenty of fresh air and exercise, helping your child to use up energy, discovering new places together and practising gross motor skills.

L.1. I am enjoying daily opportunities to participate in different kinds of energetic play, both outdoors and indoors. 3 +

 

 

 

 

 

Further support and inspiration for learning is available at https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/snonursery/

 

EC Nursery Team

NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home

Good Morning Everyone,

We hope you have all had a good weekend.

Keeping In Touch

We have enjoyed seeing your new photo’s on your Learning Journals, thank you for keeping in touch.  Since Covid-19 has had an effect on our lives and home learning began, you have responded and risen to this challenge amazingly by continuing to keep your little one’s minds active with fun learning experiences, invaluable life skills and lots of fresh air and exercise, which is so important for their health and wellbeing.

The Learning Journals have proved to be a great resource helping us to remain contacted with our families – we are very proud to announce that so far we have received over 464 posts from families keeping us updated with their child’s learning and progress.  Thank you so much for this, we are very proud of all our little ones and everything they do.  Please continue to keep in touch, this not only helps to build and maintain relationships between families and our Early Years Team it also gives us an understanding of your child’s experiences and how they have developed and coped over these last few months helping us to support them further when they return to nursery.

Sports Day at Home

Did you make your own Medal?  We hope you rewarded yourself for trying hard – you deserved it!

Our own little learner organised her sports day independently at home for her family to participate in and look at the fun they had. Well done – what a star! We are very proud of you.

Well done to everyone for trying this at home, we are so proud of you all.

Cycling

Have you had fun staying active? We have enjoyed looking at all the photo’s you have shared with us and many have been outdoors exploring Calderwood and Almondell on bikes, scooters and foot.

Another little learner of ours has shared his amazing cycling achievements, what a star!

Encouraging your little one to cycle or scooter promotes many learning experiences whilst having fun.

  • Moving at different speeds, levels and directions and understanding speed in simple terms.
  • Maintaining balance when moving.
  • Developing knowledge and understanding of what a quality movement looks like and feels like.
  • Starting and stopping quickly and understanding speed in simple terms.
  • Learning how to stay safe with using equipment safely and being aware of roads, traffic cyclists and pedestrians.
  • Developing an awareness of self and an increasing self-reliance in dealing with new situations and new learning.

 

West Lothian Libraries

Information from West Lothian Libraries to share with our families.

As we approach some lockdown restrictions being eased and your services resuming in some way I am contacting you to advise about the digital resources we have available free to children who are members of West Lothian libraries.  I would be grateful if you could share this information with parents and carers please.

Every child in West Lothian can and should be a West Lothian library member and we endeavour to engage with and register as many children as possible as part of the ECALM initiative.  However, if a child is not already a library member and their parents/carers are interested in their child becoming a library member then they can simply complete the online application here: http://bit.ly/Join-WL-libraries they will then be sent their child’s membership information and will have access to our digital resources and all of our libraries when we reopen.

During the lockdown we have significantly increased our collection of children’s e-Books and e-Audio books.  These can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/WLlibebooksChildren

We also have also purchased e-Books and e-audio books which allow multiple downloads, so there are no waiting lists for these.  The latest addition is Flying Fergus, The Great Cycle Challenge by Sir Chris Hoy and this can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/FlyingFergusTgcc    

The e-audio books are particularly good for younger children providing them with their own personal story times, often with famous actors or even the authors themselves narrating.

If you require any assistance on the use of these resources or library membership applications please do not hesitate to contact me. Email: helene.rennie@westlothian.gov.uk

 

Hopefully this week’s weather and our summer ahead will continue to provide lots of opportunities to get outdoors with your little one and enjoy the benefits of fresh air and exercise.  Please continue to share your fantastic photos, news and everything that makes you so very proud of your little learners as much as we are.

Further support and inspiration for learning is available at https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/snonursery/

EC Nursery Team

 

 

NURSERY – Fun Learning at Home

Hello Everyone,

We hope you had a good weekend and enjoyed reuniting safely outdoors with family and friends.

Here are some new idea’s to share with the your child at home.  Please continue to let us know how they get on through their Learning Journal.  Enjoy!

New Life

   

         

The nursery ladies have been out walking and cycling and they have seen lots of new baby animals at Mill Farm and Lanthorne Pond.  They have taken these photo’s to share with you.

Encourage your child to watch out for new animal life when outdoors and share your photo’s through Home Learning on your child’s Learning Journal.  This activity encourages lots of discussion about animals, babies, families and new life as well as exercising outdoors and learning about technology.  Give your child a camera or device to take photos and help them to upload them onto their Learning Journal’s.

You can extend this further by helping your child to search online for the names of animals e.g. Cygnet, Calf, Foal.

Can you name all the animals you find?

Do you know what a female cow, horse or swan is called?

Can you count how many babies the animals have had?

L.1. I am learning about where living things come from and about how they grow, develop and are nurtured.

Literacy

Access these links to further extend your child’s learning with baby animals.

Baby Animals Song click here

Farm Animals and their Babies Book click here

 

Fun with Fruit

Involve your child in choosing fruit/vegetables to make a nutritious smoothie or milkshake or keep the animal theme going and make a fruit dolphin!

L.1. Together we enjoy handling, tasting, talking and learning about different foods, discovering ways in which eating and drinking may help us to grow and keep healthy.

  

 

 Salt Dough Decorations 

The children enjoy baking and cooking at nursery and independently follow step by step instructions through  picture and photo books.

Try this easy pictorial recipe to make salt dough decorations with your child,  allowing their creativity to flourish when decorating them.

L.1. Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design

       

   

 

 

 Remember to have a look at http://blogs.glowscotland.org,uk/wl/snonursery for more learning at home ideas.

We look forward to seeing your photos and learning  on your child’s Learning Journal’s.

EC Nursery Team

 

 

 

NURSERY – Sharing Home Learning

We would like to thank our families who are posting photo’s and keeping in touch through Home Learning on Learning Journals.  It’s lovely to hear what our children and families have been doing during lockdown.  East Calder Nursery Team are missing each and every one of our fabulous children and seeing little snippets of their learning and fun at home keeps us smiling!  It keeps us interacting and building our shared partnership and it’s an effective way of communicating and asking for advice if you need it.  Our Team will continue to be here to share advice, support and fun learning to all our families. Our Fun Learning at Home ideas and suggestions are posted on our Nursery Blog every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

If you are having difficulty using Home Learning please follow the instructions below

 

How to keep in touch on Learning Journal’s

There is a ‘Home Learning’ button on your child’s Learning Journal. This means you can share all your fun and learning with the nursery staff while recording it on their personal profile.
This button is located on the left hand side of your child’s profile. It is a blue button called Home Learning, click on it and you will be able to add posts and pictures.

NURSERY – Mental Health Awareness Week 2020

Hello Everyone,

Mental Health and Wellbeing

During this uncertain time with lots of changes and adjustments happening, it is important that you take steps to ensure you and your families mental health and wellbeing are a top priority.  Emotions can be tricky for young children to express, often leading to frustration and tantrums.  We have suggested stories and activities to support you with your child’s emotions and feelings, they will encourage your child to talk about how they are feeling and help them to release any worries they may have.

Lucy’s in Lockdown by Chris Duke – A short animated video on You Tube about children’s different emotions experienced during lockdown. To share the story with your child please click here

While We Can’t Hug by Eoin McLaughlin  – A short virtual storybook on You Tube to share with your child when they are missing their loved ones and friends. Please click here

@EarlyYearsScot on Twitter suggested a few tips to help promote good mental health and wellbeing in children…

  • Give them their own space
  • Make sure they get enough sleep
  • Ask them about their day
  • Let them get creative
  • Encourage exercise
  • Help them to relax
  • EarlyYearsScot Twitter page

 

Emotion Stones

Getting outdoors, being active and accessing fresh air are all good ways to relieve stress. While out on a socially distanced walk you could collect some stones, rocks or pebbles to create emotion stones. Enjoy spending time creating your stones and keep them somewhere close by. On days where your young child seems to be going through many emotions ask them to show you how they feel if they are struggling to find the words.  Another good way of children expressing how they feel is through drawing, painting or writing it down.  A letter was written and shared on Home Learning by one of our nursery children, she had written in her own way that she ‘wanted lockdown to end as she really misses her friends’ this can positively lead your child to open up by telling you what they have written or drawn.

We hope you find this information both helpful and supportive.  More suggestions for fun and learning at home can be found at http://blogs.glowscotland.org,uk/wl/snonursery

Take care everyone

EC Nursery Team

 

 

 

NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home

Hello Everyone,

We hope you enjoyed a long weekend and had fun at home.

Whilst the Nursery has been closed our cleaners have been busy steam cleaning and helping to prepare a safe environment for the children to return to when the time is right. We are very grateful for all their hard work behind the scenes.

The Nursery Team are continuing to enjoy reading and replying to Home Learning posts in your child’s learning journals, thank you for taking the time to do this.

Bookbug

Bookbug is celebrating 10 years this week. Between 18-24 May there are special activities you can share with your children.  Full details have been posted separately on our Blog and you can access Bookbugs here

L.1. I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.

Hot and Cold

Some of the nursery children have been exploring hot and cold at home and experimenting with hot and cold liquids, this is a great science activity to try. Step 1: Send your child on a hot and cold hunt around the house, looking for items that are hot or cold. Step 2: Use red and blue food colouring to colour water, blue to represent cold and red to represent hot. Make ice cubes from the blue water and place them in a bowl of hot red water.  What happens to the blue ice cubes? Do they float or sink? Does the water change colour? Encourage your child to discuss the changes they see and why they think this is happening. L.1. By investigating how water can change from one form to another, I can relate my findings to everyday experiences.

Junk Modelling

Another great activity enjoyed by nursery children at home. This fantastic robot model was inspired by the story ‘One Button Benny’.  Provide your child with different sized boxes and junk with sellotape/glue and pens/paint to create a character from a favourite book you enjoy reading together.  L.1. I enjoy investigating objects and shapes and can sort, describe and be creative with them.

Please share photos of any Home Learning in your child’s Learning Journal and with your permission we can hopefully share on our Blog.

Some other suggested activities to try

Cress Heads

Use egg shells to grow cress and turn them into cress heads. Step 1: use an egg box to hold empty egg shells Step 2:  Gently draw faces on the shells; be careful not to break them! Step 3: Place damp cotton wool into the shells and sprinkle a few cress seeds on top. Step 4: Watch the cress hair grow, remembering to add drops of water when required and place them in a sunny position. L.1.I have helped to grow plants and can name their basic parts. I can talk about how they grow and what I need to do to look after them.

 

Remember you can also have a look at http://blogs.glowscotland.org,uk/wl/snonursery for more ideas.

 

Be kind to yourself and take care.

EC Nursery Team

NURSERY – Bookbug

Bookbug Week is 10

We hope you’ve all had a chance to watch the very special message the First Minister recorded for us (earlier this year before Covid-19). We are celebrating 10 years of the programme on our website too so please have a look – highlights include an article from our own Head of Early Years, Catriona Wallace, reflecting on 10 years of Bookbug, a film of Debi Gliori talking about how she created Bookbug, as well as a catalogue of all the books that have been in the Bookbug Bags over the last decade – see how many of them you’ve read!

We’d just like to say a huge thank you to you all for everything you have done to make Bookbug the success it is, and for all the joy and support you have brought to families over the last 10 years.

Bookbug Week 18-24 May

We hope you will join us in celebrating Bookbug Week all next week online and on our social media. Here’s an overview of our main content again. Please do share this with your families and take part yourselves! We’d also love to hear about anything you are doing to celebrate in your own areas, so please tag or share with us on social media.

  • Monday 18 – Saturday 23 Join us for a very special drawalong with Bookbug’s creator Debi Gliori from Monday to Saturday and learn how to draw Bookbug and some very special friends. We will also have a very special film with Debi Gliori as she explains how she created Bookbug!
  • Monday 18 We’ll have a special celebratory Bookbug Session for families to try at home themselves featuring classic songs and rhymes that have become firm family favourites!
  • Wednesday 20 Sprog Rock’s exclusive new song for the Bookbug app to celebrate Bookbug’s Birthday launches! Please encourage families to download the app for free and get access to songs and rhymes to enjoy at home, and we’d love to know what you think of the new track!
  • Friday 22 – 10am Join our live Bookbug Session on Bookbug’s facebook page. We’d love to see you all there to join in with singing for Bookbug’s birthday.
  • All week long our home activities hub will be packed with even more themed ideas to try at home, from making a party hat to colouring in Bookbug.

·         All week long we’ll also have a special competition on our website, and will be asking on social media for your memories of your Bookbug Bags and Bookbug Sessions with your wee ones. We’d also love to see any cards your little ones make for Bookbug – take a photo and share it with us!

NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home

Painted Rocks Hidden In East Calder

We have painted and hidden some rocks close to the school in East Calder.  If your out and about for a walk, have a look to see if you can find any (close to infant gate entrance – along the path and on the grass).

If you find any, please take a photo and share on the Home Learning in your child’s Learning Journal.  It would be lovely to leave the rocks where they are or to hide them somewhere close by for other children to enjoy.

 

You might find them around here ……..

          

Good Luck!

EC Nursery Team

 

NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home

Counting and Measuring with Lego

For a simple activity use 20 or more lego duplo blocks in various colours and write the numbers 0-20+ on the sides of them, using a permanent marker. On the opposite side of each draw the corresponding number of dots so that they can be counted to match the correct amount. Lay them out on the floor with the numbers showing and set the challenge to build them into a tall tower in the right order. L.1. I have explored numbers, understanding that they represent quantities, and I can use them to count, create sequences and describe order.

 

Rhyming Pairs Game

Make a simple rhyming activity to help practise rhyming pairs and learn about literacy in a playful, hands-on way! L.1. I explore sounds, letters and words, discovering how they work together, and I can use what I learn to help me as I read and write.

Practise hearing and identifying rhyming words for example, making a collection of rhyming words that all belong in the “-at” family, such as “cat”, “mat”, “bat”, “sat”, “fat” etc.

This makes learning more concrete and playful. Children learn best while touching, moving and doing, rather than looking at a worksheet or set of 2D images.

Playmobile figures or small world toys are ideal for this game. Some suggestions for rhyming words;

goat and boat

man and fan

chair and bear

snake and cake

cat and hat

duck and truck

fox and box

mouse and house

car and star

dog and frog

 

Football Buzz

Football Buzz is running online sessions for children during lockdown. If you are interested in your child participating in the free online sessions you should contact: footballbuzz@hotmail.co.uk  L.1. I am enjoying daily opportunities to participate in different kinds of energetic play, both outdoors and indoors

And remember you can access more play and learning ideas at http://blogs.glowscotland.org,uk/wl/snonursery

 

‘If you see someone without a smile,

give them one of yours’

 

EC Nursery Team

 

NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home

Good morning everyone

We hope you all had a good weekend.  Some new idea’s to try at home………

 

Playdough

Why not get your child involved in helping to make playdough, it’s a firm favourite at nursery. L.1. Through creative play, I explore different materials and can share my reasoning for selecting materials for different purposes.  For an easy non-cook recipe please click here.

The Benefits of Playdough

Fine motor development:
The properties of play dough make it fun for investigation and exploration as well as secretly building up strength in all the tiny hand muscles and tendons, making them ready for pencil and scissor control later on.

As part of simple, tactile play it can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked and shredded! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye co-ordination and general concentration.

Having a wide range of additional extras to use while playing extends the investigation and play possibilities endlessly. Poking in sticks provides a challenge and a new physical skill.

Squeezing through a garlic press leads to wonder and amazement at seeing it change shape, as well as using a gross motor movement to accomplish it.

Sticking in spaghetti requires a delicate hand and can lead to threading and stacking pasta shapes or beads over the top.

Providing boxes and containers with various shaped compartments can lead to cooking play, sorting, matching, ordering and counting, all naturally and without pressure to learn.

By providing objects from nature with a wide range of textures, colours and shapes, children can have multi-sensory experiences and engage with the world around them in a whole new way.

List of additional extras needed to create a play dough free play kit!

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but all of these elements can be used to create plenty of exciting, open-ended play times:

toy creatures
straws
rolling pins, plastic knives, scissors, pizza cutters
cupcake cases in different sizes
coloured and natural feathers
pine cones, sticks, bark, leaves
muffin tins, egg cartons, chocolate boxes,
small cups and shot glasses
alphabet, number and shape cookie cutters
pasta shapes
shells
buttons
glass pebbles
toy vehicles
wooden letters and numbers
fabric, netting and ribbons
match sticks and lolly sticks

Have fun!

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