Parental Involvement – Page 2 – St Ninian's Primary School

Mrs Docherty Health and Wellbeing Happiness Day 1: 2.6.20

Good morning everyone. What an amazing spell of weather we have had bringing some happiness and sunshine to our lives. Our theme for this week is Happiness and so on this positive note we will share some feel-good ideas to try with family, friends and on your own. These will help you to explore what happiness looks like and how we can start our days on a happy note in the simplest of ways.

To start the most important thing is to ask ourselves is what makes us feel happy. Think of people, places and activities. There is no right or wrong answer as it is personal to each and everyone of us. You and your child can write these down or draw them in a little happiness journal. Now really think of the top three things that makes you feel happy. This is a great start for our happiness activities.

As we all know life can be busy and sometimes we don’t realise we have not stopped for a break or indeed had a break to stop and think. One way to help this is to start your day the mindful way. I have included an image below for you to help with helpful hints on how to do this. Instead of on your way to school or work at the minute we could use our daily walk as a way of being mindful about what we can see, hear and smell.

50_ways_download_-_start_your_day_the_mindful_way

Use your happiness journal to record some of the things you could see, feel, smell and hear when completing some of these activities. Did you notice something you have never noticed before, did you hear a familiar sound that you had taken for granted?

Let me know how you get on with this activity and over the coming days we will continue to explore more activities and ideas to help boost our happiness.

Have a lovely day,

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty Positive Song for the Week 1.6.20: Happy

Good morning everyone. I cannot believe we are in June already. You have all come a long way since the start of lockdown and adjusted remarkably to the whole new way of life we have been living.

June is a lovely month in school as it is a time when we reflect on the year gone by and we look forward to the coming year getting ready for new experiences and new challenges. It is always a happy time in school and so I have made our theme of positivity about Happiness this week both in our positive song and indeed our positive thought for the week.

There was only one song I could choose this week, the one that the children sing and dance to in school at Assemblies and during our Funky Fridays. It is a song that sums up our time in school when we are all together. It is of course the one and only Happy by Pharrell Williams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

Have a listen to it and please singalong and dance with your children to rouse that happiness feeling and positivity for the week. So come on everyone:

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do

I hope this has made you smile and has been an upbeat start to your week ahead. Know that as a staff this will be our theme tune too for the week and please also know we are here for you at all times.

Have a happy, fun filled week and as always stay safe everyone,

Mrs Docherty Positive Thought For The Week: 29.5.20

Good morning as we approach another weekend and look back at what has gone we think of the word Friendship and realise that it has never meant so much as it means just now. As our Positive Song of the Week was I’ll be There for You we think about all of those whio have been there for us during th past 10 weeks and those who have supported us and each other in many different ways. The meaning of a true friend is summed up beautifully below:

A true friend is a friend who is always there for you. They standby you consistently both when you are present and when you are not.

Friendship can mean so many things to so many people but for us as a School, Friendship is one of our core values and one that is at the heart of everything we do and say. It is about support and kindness and this has not changed because we are not together. Indeed we have formed a stronger friendship as we all realise how important it is to be there for each other and how the smallest of things and the simplest of words can brighten up someone’s day or week. Just knowing that we are supporting each other and that we are always just a phone call or email away has meant we have been able to sustain and strengthen the bonds we have in our school community. As we continue to move forward and plan for the next stage please know that we are grateful to you and to your children for all you do to continue to make our school a special place to be in with special people to work with. Thank you.

Have a great weekend everyone and as always stay safe and look after each other.

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty HWB: Feelings 27.5.20

Good morning everyone. This week’s Health and Wellbeing theme will be feelings and how we can explore them with our children. There are so many feelings for children to name and recognise and it is good to encourage our children to begin to both recognise these and how they make us feel.

I have included a lovely link below for a story all about feelings called In my Heart. Please listen to the story and share it with your child as a way of supporting them to recognise feelings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIfLgHBwYx4

For today I thought it would be good to share ideas about how we can talk about feelings.

Knowing your Feelings:

It is easy to talk ab out feelings when we know how we feel and why we feel that way. Some ways to achieve this with your child include:

Think of the name for how you feel. (Maybe you feel upset.)
Think of why you feel that way. (Maybe you feel this way because of how much things have changed for us and because our routine is different)
Get your child to put these two points together into words. (Say to yourself, “I feel upset about Coronavirus.”)
If your child doesn’t know why they feel a certain way, you can still talk about it. You can say, “I feel upset but I don’t know why.”

Pick someone to talk to:

It is good for your child to choose someone to talk to. In school we do this using the helping hand approach. On each finger the child identifies someone they can talk to. Try this at home too. It is a good way for your child to know there will always be someone to talk to.

Let them know that the other person will listen
They might give them advice or they might even make them laugh
Let them know they have someone to share their worry or indeed their excitement with as all feelings are good to share.

Taking time to talk to someone and taking the time to listen is such a key part of allowing your child to explore and identify their feelings . I hope you have enjoyed the story and if you try any of the ideas please let me know.

Have a great day everyone,

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty HWB: Positive Thought for the Week: 22.5.20

Another week has flown by and I hope you have all had a good week and continued to make memories.

Every week we hope we are getting closer to returning to the way things were and to being able to see each other again, hearing laughter in the playground, seeing smiling faces all around and experiencing the sound of joy in our daily lives. Things we all took for granted before now become so important and precious.

As a school we have been amazed at how much you have come together to support us and also to support each other. 9 weeks have already gone by and I think that what we have all learned is how strong we are and much we can achieve in challenging times. On that note our special quote for this week is:

You have certainly risen to the challenges and overcome them all with great strength and compassion so thank you and remember:

Please have a lovely relaxing weekend and enjoy doing the things you love most. Stay safe and keep smiling.

Take care,

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty HWB: Positive Song for the Week 19.5.20

Good morning everyone. I hope you have all had a lovely long weekend. Over the weekend I stopped for a while and just sat and listened to what was all around me. As I listened I could hear so many wonderful sounds of nature. The birds could be heard singing their songs, more loudly than I have ever heard them, and all around life seemed still and quiet.

As I sat, it brought back a song that I feel sums up exactly what we can see and hear in these uncertain times. As we all wait for lockdown to be lifted and we take time in what is normally our very busy lives we can all appreciate what is important and what is special about life. The words of the song What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong sum it all up.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

It is a beautiful and uplifting song that really made me sit back and appreciate what life is and what it means. It means friendship, love and all of the beauty around us. Please listen to the song and know that while the world might look different just now it will emerge even brighter and we will return again to St Ninian’s grateful for what we have come through as a team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-T6aaRV9HY

Have a great week,

Mrs Docherty

MRS DOCHERTY’S POSITIVE THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK 15.5.20

Another Friday and the end of another fabulous week of work and support. I started this week with our positive song of the week: Somewhere Over the Rainbow which shared a message of hope and determination. This is exactly what we all have in abundance at the moment and continue to have going forward.

My positive thought for this week is one that sums up all of your positivity and our hopes as a school community.

Your comments, the daily work being shared and your positive messages of support through this time embody our school values and also the quote above. You are our rainbow and what has really struck us as a school is the care, love, support and friendship you have shown to us as your children’s teachers and as your friends.

It is the simplest of things and the Thursday Clap for our Carers that shows our rainbow shining through in these times and really make me smile knowing we are supporting each other and showing kindness and courage towards each other. Keep smiling and keep being that rainbow in someone else’s storm.

Thank you for being you and being brilliant. We couldn’t ask for a better set of children and parents for our school.

Have a great weekend and as always stay safe,

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty HWB: Self-esteem 14.5.20

Good morning everyone. These are very different times we are living in and especially for your children as they adjust to the new normal routine. They may find it difficult at times and so for this week I would like to focus on some Health and Wellbeing activities about self-esteem and managing change and emotions during this period.

Self-esteem is something that allows children to feel good about themselves. It allows them to recognise what they are good at, helps them to persevere even when they don’t get things first time and supports them to recognise that it is ok to make mistakes. I have included a link below for a lovely story called The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. Please have a listen and share it with your child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQG4vFGd6eU

Self-esteem gives your children the courage to try new things, make new friends and also gives them the ability to recognise that good things happen when they try.

A few ways to help develop their self-esteem include:

Sharing with them their successes and telling them you can see how well they are doing with something.
Get them to make a list of what they are good at. If they are finding this difficult you and other family members can share what you feel they are good at.
Get them to practise the things they do well.
Encourage your child to do their best at all times and to persevere even when things are hard. When they have success doing this their self-esteem grows.
Right now in these times spending time with their family doing things they love will help to build your child’s self-esteem.

I have attached a little activity you could try at home with your child. Share the strength cards attached below with your child. Get them to recognise what they think their strengths are from the cards. Then cut out five strips of paper and get your child to write their 5 strengths on these strips attaching them to the cloud template below. Everyone in the family could make one and you could all share what makes you special.

Strength-cards-new

self-esteem-cloud (1)

Next week we will focus on exploring feelings as part of our HWB. Have fun with the activity above and enjoy building up each other’s self-esteem.

As always, take care and stay safe,

Mrs Docherty

Writing support and ideas: Day 3 13.5.20

For our final day of writing support I would like to share further advice and strategies to support you when supporting your child. Writing is an important form of communication and one which plays an important part in your child’s life.

Today’s final tips will be simple ways you can further encourage writing at home using everyday routines.

Send a message

As parents you can leave messages for your child around the house, on their pillow, in their lunchbox or on a chalkboard. Encourage your child to write a response. The tooth fairy could even leave a message!! That happened in my house and caused great excitement leading to my child writing a response which I have kept for years!

Keep a Year in Review book:

A lovely idea is to keep a diary of things you have done as a family throughout the year. Everyone can add to this and it will encourage your child to write in it too. Pictures and photographs could also be added to make it all come to life.

Make a menu

Have your child create a menu/recipe for your family dinner. They could use the ingredients to help with spelling and vocabulary.

Copy

Think of your child’s favourite rhyme or song and get them to copy some of the lyrics.

Saying Thank You

Get your child to write thank you notes to friends and relatives.

On that note thank you for sharing in our blog posts and literacy supports and please do not hesitate to contact me for further ideas, supports or links when supporting your child with aspects of their literacy and language skills.

Have a great day everyone,

Mrs Docherty

Mrs Docherty’s Positive Song for the Week: Somewhere Over the Rainbow 11.5.20

Good morning and welcome back to the start of another week. I hope you have all had a lovely weekend and have continued to make memories along the way. I love to start our week with a positive song and today is no different. One of my all-time favourite films is The Wizard of Oz and with it, its iconic song Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

In the film the characters have to show courage and determination as they embark on a journey like no other. This is very reflective of what we are all doing with life at the moment. We are all on a journey like no other and what is important to get through it is bravery, determination, friendship, support and love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_XNczdUEoc

The lyrics of the song are reflective of what we are thinking and feeling every day as we wish for the brighter days ahead when we can all be together again. As we go into this week let’s think of the lyrics from the song and stay positive looking forward to another week of exciting learning and support of each other.

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There’s a land that I’ve heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.

The lyrics provide us with hope and knowledge that as each day goes by we will be getting closer to being together again and starting our new journey after the storm.

Have a great week everyone, take care and stay safe,

Mrs Docherty