February

Over the next few sessions at playgroup we will be continuing to develop our children’s interest in their bodies focussing initially on our senses. I will be out of the playroom at meetings on Monday and Tuesday but leave you in Jordan and Sharon’s very capable hands. I will be back on Wednesday when we will also welcome Colette, a student from Forth Valley College, who will be doing her placement activities with us, initially every Wednesday.
February is a short month with our mid term break the w/b Feb 13th. Unfortunately that means we miss some traditional celebrations such as Pancake Day, Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. We would hope however, depending on children’s interest, still to incorporate some of these festivities within our senses activities.
Meantime, I have registered our playgroup in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch and we hope to be using our senses to see and hear some birds in our playgroup garden and perhaps undertake some activities to encourage more to come and visit. We’d be grateful if you could save your toilet and kitchen roll tubes in case we need some binoculars for our birdwatching 😉
#biggardenbirdwatch

Power Cut

I’m sad to be sending out another apology for a disruption in service today. Thank you for your understanding and patience. We were without power until 12:30. Thankfully the lights are back on again and we look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow when we will hold a delayed celebration of Burns Night 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Parental Engagement

Research clearly shows that children do better in school when their parents are actively involved in their education. The Playgroup model is one which relies on parental involvement so we have a head start when it comes to working with parents. This document sets out some of the background for engaging with parents but also suggests that we evaluate how we engage. It’s worth a read through, and, please do get back to us if you have comments on how we work with parents and/or suggestions as to how we can do it better.

Parental Engagement 2017/2020

The importance of emotional development

This is an interesting read on the importance of supporting children’s emotional development in early years. Children who struggle to regulate their emotions exert pressure on family relationships and struggle to develop friendships. Emotional development also is crucial to the development of academic ability with children more able to persist with a task, bounce back from a failure and more able to cope with the stress and anxiety of tests or exams. Far too often we focus on the academic outcomes of “education”. In the early years we need to get the social, personal and emotional foundations right. A solid and stable base upon which education can be built.

https://www.parentingforbrain.com/self-regulation-toddler-temper-tantrums/

Merry Christmas

On behalf of the staff team I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope there is health and happiness in store for you in 2018. Thanks for your good wishes and kind gifts.

Playgroup will re-open on Monday January 8th 2018 at 9.15 am. We look forward to seeing everyone then.

Soup

Chopping the vegetables for our soup ready for our parents lunch tomorrow. Please remember we are starting later, at 11am. Parents please come back at 12 to join us for lunch before we all head to Waitrose to sing some Christmas carols