Health and Wellbeing – Page 3 – St Ninian's Primary School

NHS Speech and Language Advice 30.4.20

Today’s focus from the NHS Speech and Language Facebook page is focussing on Listening and Talking. Listening and attention skills are one of the key parts of our overall Literacy and Language areas of CfE. They are important for your child to help with their social skills, understanding of language, following instructions, learning to communicate, developing speech sounds and all areas of their learning.

The website below shares some great ideas to help support your child with listening and talking and is definitely worth a look.

www.lets-talk.scot.nhs.uk

Please see below ideas suggestions for you to use with your child to help support them with their speech sounds:

Play musical bumps or statues. These are also examples of games we play in Nursery and School.
Get your child to spot the mistake. You could use their favourite song or nursery Rhyme and make a deliberate mistake. See can your child recognise the mistake you have made or the word you have left out.
Play games where your child must wait for you to say go before they take part. An example is building a tower of bricks where your child cannot knock it down until you say Go!
Use a noisy toy and get your child to follow the noise by hiding the toy or object.

As always have a go and try them out. If you have any other ideas that you use at home please share these also.

Have a great day everyone,

Mrs Docherty

NHS Speech and Language Advice 29.4.20

Following on from Monday’s Speech and Language advice I have included ideas on how to support your child with speech sounds. This was shared on the NHS Lothians Speech and Language Therapy on Facebook.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/NHSLothianSLT/

Please see below ideas and suggestions from NHS Lothians for you to use with your child to help support them with their speech sounds:

Hide objects or pictures in a sensory box (a box filled with feathers, leaves, popcorn kernels, ripped up paper etc) – every time your child finds an object/picture they should practise saying the word.
Use any fun turn-taking game – every time your child takes a turn they should practise a word.
Take turns naming a picture and then posting the picture into the box
Take turns to throw a bean bag/ball into a box, choose a picture/object from the box and practise the word.
For all these activities you can use objects around the house or cut out pictures from magazines/newspapers etc, that begin with the sound your child finds difficult.

Please use the comments box if you have tried any of these ideas and let us know how you got on.

Have a great day everyone,

Mrs Docherty

NHS Speech and Language Therapy Marvellous Monday Post: 27.4.20

Good morning everyone. A very exciting piece of information to share is that NHS Lothian Speech and Language Therapy are this week posting great ideas on how to support your child with Phonological awareness.

They are doing this on their Facebook page:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/NHSLothianSLT/

I will take out the main points as shared below and over the week continue to share their ideas and tips with you. It is also worth going onto the page using the link above as there is a wealth of resources available. Over the coming weeks I will use this site to continue to support you with your child’s speech and language development.

Did you know? Phonological (Sound) Awareness involves listening and playing around with sounds in words. Children can then begin to understand how the sounds join together to form words.

Children benefit from being able to break words down into smaller parts called ‘syllables’. First show your child by clapping 👏🏼 whilst saying 🗣words and then let them try too!

‼️ Remember: these activities are beneficial for all children in nursery and early school years as it helps with early reading 📖 and writing 📝skills. The activities also support children with speech sound difficulties 🗣!

⬇️ Try the syllable activities below using words with different numbers of syllables.

If you have any questions please just post in the comments section above.

Have a great day everyone and please visit the Facebook page it is really informative.

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty POSITIVE SONG OF THE WEEK: 27.4.20

This week’s Positive Song is Rise Up by Andra Day which is a very powerful song with a powerful message. It is a song about courage and strength in the face of adversity. The song has a very special message for everyone and has been used by our special NHS nurses across the country to rally each other and support their patients.

As a school we feel the message of the song is exactly what we would want to say to you as our parents and as our friends. It is a message of working through things and knowing that we will rise up and come out the other end. We will do this together as a team and the lines from the song which stand out for me are:

You’re broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can’t find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
And I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day
I’ll rise up
I’ll rise unafraid
I’ll rise up
And I’ll do it a thousand times again
And I’ll rise up
High like the waves
I’ll rise up
In spite of the ache
I’ll rise up
And I’ll do it a thousand times again
For you

Please listen to the song which is even more powerful when you hear the lyrics with music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMpXtI6Nhskknowing

The song gives a clear message that who we are is demonstrated in what we do to help each other. It is about how we show support and empathy for each other which as a school we see in abundance not just now but at all times, so thank you. The words of the song give us a positive message of how we will get through these times and the positivity and experiences we will have again soon.

Have a great week everyone and please stay safe,

Mrs Docherty

MRS DOCHERTY POSITIVE THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Friendship: 24.4.20

At the end of our first week back in our final term we hope you have had a successful week of fun and learning. Please know you are all doing so well and we are very proud of you. I know we have loved being in teaching mode and in contact with you all again this week and following on from our positive song of the week we have appreciated all of your friendship. As I always say Thursday is such an important day to stop, think and reflect especially when we Clap for our Heroes. Some of the things I ask myself on Thursdays are:

What have I felt happy about this week?

What have I done to make someone smile?

What special memory have I made this week?

What has made me sad or worried?

Who helped me when I felt that way?

Most answers involve my family and my friends which again I know we will all be missing. So for today I am sending you all a special message to help you to know we are all here for you and for each other. So from all of us to you we are sending big hugs and a big thank you for your support, hard work and friendship.

And please remember:

Have a lovely day everyone and look after yourselves,

Mrs Docherty

MRS DOCHERTY SUPPORTING YOU TO LOOK AFTER YOU AND YOURS: 22.4.20

Following on from yesterday’s advice on how to look after each other during Lockdown I’ll keep providing further supports from the Glasgow Times article which I found so informative. Today’s focus is

Acknowledgement:

Children can find it difficult to recognise or share what their feelings are. It is important to talk about these with your child and help them to identify what they may be feeling and why. When doing this it is important to get your child to name their feelings. You can help with this by identifying the feeling for them if required. This can be done by saying: I can see you are feeling….

When you have helped them to identify their feeling you can work together to develop ways to make them feel better if their feeling is one of fear, or worry or anxiousness.

Maybe as a family you are finding calmness at this time and that is important to recognise and spread too.

Some questions suggested that you could ask your child included:

What makes you feel calm?

How can you continue to keep in touch with friends and family at the moment?

Can you think of anything fun we can do at home today?

What is something you could you do for someone else today?

What have you enjoyed about today?

What made you feel proud today?

I will further support this on our positive thought for the week on Friday and also on Thursday’s mindfulness self-regulation focus.

Have a great day,

Mrs Docherty

Supporting you to support each other 21.4.20

As I spent my Easter holidays in very different times this year I came across lots of great advice and support for us all in such times of unknown and times of real change. A great piece of writing I came across was in the Glasgow Times which provided super ideas and advice on how to support yourself and others during Lockdown. I thought it would be good to share some of these ideas with you this week as part of our Health and Wellbeing weekly posts over the next two weeks.

The ideas shared range from special breathing exercises to ways of talking about feelings. I’ll share 4 of the strategies and supports the Glasgow Times discussed today.

INFORM

Provide clear, age appropriate information and reassure. Be led by what your child talks about. Talking will help reduce anxiety.

CONNECT

Encourage talking to friends and family through technology. Connection supports positive wellbeing.

SOOTHE

Spend time doing fun and positive activities together, laugh, sing, dance, try out relaxation and breathing exercises together.

CONTROL

Focus on what you and your child can do like handwashing, eating well, exercise, learning a new skill.

Some great advice and know that we are also hear to support you in these times and to stay connected to you and yours. Tomorrow we will look at further advice that was shared in the post which supports Acknowledgement and recognising feelings.

Have a great day in the lovely sunshine everyone and keep making memories.

Mrs Docherty

POSITIVE SONG FOR THE WEEK 20.4.20

Welcome back after the Easter break. I hope you have had a lovely time with your family and that you have made many memories to cherish at this time.

As we return to our New Term albeit a very different start to our final term I think the message we need to continue to focus on is that we are all in this together. We will get through this with the help of our friends and the support of each other. On this note the Song for the Week has been chosen by James in P3/4. It is a great song with a very strong message of Hope and Friendship which is what we are all relying on at the moment. It’s You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNi02gxTI1M

The lyrics always make me smile and help us realise that at St Ninian’s we stick together and share everything along the way as good friends do. One of my favourite lines is:

And as the years go by

Our Friendship will never die

You got to see it’s our destiny

You’ve got a friend in me

Please know we are missing you all greatly and missing the smiley faces but also know that when we are all back together we will continue to make great memories and build on our amazing Friendship as it is one that will last a lifetime even as the years go by. Have a good week everyone,

Mrs Docherty

Positive thought for the week 3.4.20

Good morning everyone. Well done on another successful week of learning and making memories in our new normal routines and with our distance learning. Life has certainly changed over the past few weeks and as we adjust to this new normal we hope that it will be for a short period safe in the knowledge that we will weather this together.

On that note my positive thought going into the weekend is:

As we all adjust to this new way of life it is important that we try to find alternative ways to make memories and make the most of all the wonderful things we have. It’s important to make memories that will last a lifetime, laugh at the smallest of things, dance to the music and care for each other holding close in our hearts our loved ones.

One of the most uplifting things I heard this week was a Scottish grandma’s advice to her grandchildren. It brought both a tear and a great big smile to me all at once. Her inspirational message reminds her family that it’s finding a new way to dance in the rain that will get us all through this to the warmth of the sun and each other. She even made National News and GMB.

You are all doing amazing things from home and we appreciate all you are doing and the contact you are keeping with us. It means a lot.

I’ll end my post with a beautiful poem Mrs Scott shared with me and the staff team called At Home. Please read it as it is truly magical and heart warming and sums up a beautiful positive message of how well you are all doing. Thank you Mrs Scott.

https://www.freechildrenstories.com/at-home

Have a lovely weekend and a wonderful Easter holiday as you switch off and spend time together with your loved ones whether that is in your home or via the phone. You truly deserve a magical time. Keep smiling and dancing!

Happy Easter everyone,

Mrs Docherty

Mindfulness 2.4.20

Good morning everyone,

You are all doing so well with our new normal and engaging so well in all of the activities and learning online.

In these times we also need to remember that it is equally important to look after our wellbeing. Last week I posted helpful hints on mindfulness with ideas and strategies to help us have that all important downtime.

Thursdays are now such important days where we all stop at 8 o clock and thank our NHS. This is a time for reflection. These times are important for ourselves and our own wellbeing daily also. Today I have included a link for a great resource to use with your children at this time.

There are 5 themes to explore on this site. They are Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep and Wake up. Your child will be introduced to simple fun breathing exercises, how to practise a relaxed precise kind of focus, will be taught about openness and generosity, how to get a good night’s sleep with relaxed mindfulness activities. These simple meditations will help your child start the day of right.

http://www.headspace.com/meditation/kids

As today is Thursday I have also included a Mindfulness NHS Heart picture to colour as a family and to say thank you. This is a little challenge from Mrs Docherty and one I’d love to see you share. I’m going to do one and display it in my house to remind me about what the most important things in life are and to remind me to stop and have quiet time.

NHS Mindfulness colouring

Please take times in your day to stop and think about you. Take time to stop and switch off and take time to relax your body and mind.

Have a lovely day everyone. I’m thinking of you all,

Mrs Docherty