Communications

Prior Communications

2020-05-12
Miss Perriss – Zoom With Miss Perriss
Good morning all,

Please find in your email, the details of my zoom meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at 11am.
I have made a short quiz suitable for pre-schoolers which I hope the children will enjoy! The children will probably need an adult alongside them to write down the answers. Older siblings are welcome to join too!
Hope to see many of you tomorrow.
Best wishes, Miss Perriss

2020-05-11
Mrs Okoth – Zoom Meeting
Dear All,
Please feel free to join in with some songs on zoom tomorrow!
Kyra Okoth

2020-05-11
Mrs Okoth – Scotland Learns: Parents and Carers Newsletter
Parents and Carers Newsletter.pdf

Mrs Okoth – Transition Information
Dear Parents and Carers,
Please check our website for information regarding your child’s transition to P1 and transition back into pre school.
Next week I will be sending information about the Transition Project and the Transition Report Profile which will be completed at home this term.

Many thanks,

Kyra

Ms Allan – Zoom Invitation
Miss Allan’s zoom meeting-baby animal game and bug models

Mrs Uhm – This Friday
Hi all,

Hope you had a peaceful long weekend.

This is a wee heads up for this Friday.
We will continue to do some games and movements with music. There will be some running, hopping, skipping etc in these movements this Friday. I will encourage the children to do them on the spot but they might want to go further as you can imagine. Hope it’s ok.

Also, any feedback would be welcome. As this is a new teaching/learning method to all of us, I would be grateful if you could let me know if the music was loud enough or if any games the children would like to do together or any other suggestions.

I’ll send the Zoom details on Thursday.

Thank you for your continued support.
Have a great week.

Kind regards,

Ahn (Mrs. Um)

2020-05-10
Mrs French – Zoom Update
Dear All,

For my Zoom Session tomorrow I am going to do a small group with the Blue Squares. Just to facilitate a platform for more time to share and less waiting!
Blue Squares have been notified with the invite.

I shall pop into another Zoom session this week, so I can say hello to you all.

Have a lovely week everyone, with another exciting plan. Blue bunny might even try and make a Raft. Lets hope it floats or he will get rather wet!

See you soon.

Mrs French

Mrs Okoth – Bulletin
Dear Parents and Carers,
We seem to be having more success with our zoom sessions and it’s great to see so many families joining them.
All staff have commented on how much they like doing the sessions!
It has been lovely to see the things the children are doing- we have been staggered at the range and complexity of their models/ paintings and imagination!
Please find next weeks plan attached. Also a planner for the river raft activity and a picture of the next stage of the painting my dad did with the children.

REMINDERS
Remember to identify yourself when you are in the waiting room.
Please keep the recipes coming in!

Hope you are enjoying the VE weekend!

Very best,
Kyra and Pre School Team
Attachments:
Taking a line for a walk 2
River raft activity card

2020-05-06
Mrs Okoth – Pictures From David!
Dear Parents and Carers,

Please find the images you saw today attached- remember to take that line for a walk around the paper!!!

Hugs to you all,

Love from Mrs.Okoth and my Dad
Attachments:
African Villagers
Taking a line for a walk

2020-05-04
Mrs Okoth – Zoom Meetings and Journals
Dear Parents and Carers,

Just a couple of updates-

I included all the children in the last music session in the journals- just to encourage everyone to sing together! I do apologise for a typo- ‘see’!
Please let us know if the timings suit you- your feedback is very important.

If you send pictures of what your children have been doing that’s great- but if you use the parental contribution section in the journal it will now be uploaded into your child’s journal which is fantastic for their progress and continuity through his period of time.

Stay safe,

Very best,

Kyra

Miss Perriss – Zoom Meeting
Dear all,

I will be joining Miss Allan’s zoom meeting tomorrow as on Thursday I am going to try my zoom meeting with just my key group children. This is based on some feedback from parents that the children might benefit from a slightly smaller group with more time to chat. However, as I’ve said I will be on tomorrow with Miss Allan if any children who aren’t in my key group are wanting to see me and next week I will hold a session for all children again!

Details of my zoom session will be emailed out to the relevant parents of my key group children in due course.

Hope this is okay.
Best wishes,
Miss Perriss

Ms Allan – Zoom Meeting
We are going to play eye spy and read a story

Mrs Uhm – Friday Zoom Play Plan
Good morning!

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

This is just a heads-up for Friday Zoom play with Mrs. Um.

As you may know, it’s a bank holiday this Friday but Zoom play with Mrs. Um is still on. If you still want to join in, you are more than welcome but if you can’t be there as you are away or on holiday to another room 😉 that’s ok too.

The plan for Friday Zoom is to do some games and dance with sticky kids music if we have enough time. Hope it will work. I’ll let you know the meeting ID and password this Thursday.

I find it’s not always easy to communicate with each other through zoom but our children are doing really well.

Thank you so much for your support.

Looking foward to seeing you soon.

Kind regards,

Ahn

2020-05-04
Mrs French – Zoom Session
Sorry, this is posted too late. I didn’t think to post just the information and not the video chat details.
Dear All,

Please see the attached invite to Zoom tomorrow at 11 am.
Blue Bunny is looking forward to seeing you as much as I am!
I wonder if your children could bring something special to show us tomorrow. This can be anything from a special cuddly toy/ any toy they like or something they have been doing.
Thank you for your support during Zoom, when turn taking can sometimes be rather tricky for our youngsters.
Kind regards
Julie

2020-05-03
Mrs Okoth – Bulletin
Dear Parents and Carers,

Many thanks for engaging with our zoom sessions!
It has been nice to be able to do these and we will continue this over the coming weeks.
Staff should give you a focus for these sessions to get the most out of them- so do look out for this.
Attached please find the weekly planner– if you have any questions just email me-
On Wednesday there will be a special invite to meet my dad- he is isolating but has made many paintings which I think the children will love. Please join us if you can!
Please google ECO SCHOOLS SCOTLAND for ideas about doing our ECO things at home. Record anything you want in the journal- massive thanks for all your contributions- keep going!!!

Otherwise please stay safe and well,

With hugs and best wishes from all of us at Greenbank,

Kyra
Attachments:
Drawing Project

2020-04-27
Mrs Okoth – Bulletin
Dear Parents and Carers,

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!
It was great to see so many of you on Thursday! We hope you enjoy doing the art project- some of you have already shared your work!
It’s lovely to know that the children are happy and well and are making the most of their time at home.
I am attaching this week’s activity plan. You will see that each staff member has a ZOOM day. We will invite you to join a meeting on that day at a certain time. Any child can join any meeting and we will always invite Mrs. McDonald and Ms. Balzarini so you get to see them too!

With kind regards,
Kyra and Pre School team

Attachments:
My plant life cycle activity booklet
Seed-planting-Sheets

2020-04-23
Mrs Okoth – Art Bags
Dear Parents and Carers,

We will deliver your bags today.
Mrs. French will do the Blue Squares, Miss Periss the Green Circles and I will do the Yellow Triangles.
If you or any family member are unwell please let us know via email.
If you stay in a block of flats we will not be entering the stairwell but will text/ ring door bell to let you know your bag is there and to wave/ say hello from a distance.
I have tried to organise the packs as fairly as possible- I ran out of a few things so ended up using things at home- so if you didn’t get buttons you might have bits of Harris tweed instead!
Children don’t have to use all the materials nor do they have to do a mixed media picture- they may want to draw or paint- that is totally fine- talk to them about this. Everyone has 3 large pieces of coloured card to work on. Have fun!

Look forward to seeing some of you later!

Very best,

Kyra

2020-04-22
Miss Perriss – Planted Seeds
Hello everyone,

I hope you’ve all had a lovely Easter break and managed to take some time to rest and recuperate after a somewhat stressful few weeks.

I am finding that I am missing all of your lovely children very much but I’m loving seeing all of your updates on the journals. Please do keep updating them, it’s wonderful to see what all the children have been up to.

The main reason for this message is to give the children a wee update on the seeds we planted just before we closed. Many of the children were involved in planting the “little seedlings” kits from Marks and Spencer and I took the seedlings home when we closed to look after them and keep them watered. I am pleased to report that they are all doing well! We have pansies, violas, parsley and carrots. I have potted them on into bigger pots and they are currently being looked after in my dad’s greenhouse! I would appreciate if you could tell the children about them and show them these pictures to show how well they are doing. One of the daily activities on Mrs Okoth’s planner is planting some seeds or decorating little pots. I think it’s important for the children to see what the seeds can turn into with a bit of light, water and TLC. I’m sure many of you have already planted seeds and have spoken about the plants/flowers and vegetables in your garden.

Photos in the Play at Home gallery

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this lovely sunny weather we’ve been having. I will be delivering Mrs Okoth’s special art packs to the green circles tomorrow (Thursday) from about 12pm so might get to see some of you (from a distance!) and give you a little wave and say hello.

Take care,
With love from Miss Perriss x

2020-04-21
Mrs Okoth – Newsletter for the Summer Term
Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that everyone is keeping safe and well at this time. I hope too that families had some Easter fun with egg hunting and chocolate eating!!
Staff at Greenbank are all doing well and will meet tomorrow morning for a ZOOM meeting.
I have attached the planner for this week from Wednesday which would have been the day the children returned.
I have not used our usual ‘newsletter format’ as it just doesn’t work for the current situation. So please read below the key projects and plans for the coming weeks.

National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition
Mrs. French and I will deliver a bag of art materials to your door this Thursday. Hopefully we will get to say hi at a distance- I will deliver to the Yellow Triangles and half of the Green Circles- Mrs. French will deliver to the Blue Squares and the other half of the Green Circles. If you stay in a flat we will send you a text msg. and leave your delivery at the main entrance to your flat. If you want to say hi you can come to the main door or wave from the window- whatever you feel comfortable with. Look at the planner and follow the remit. When you talk to your child there are 4 areas to think about and explore- remember to write down what your child says even if it seems random!
CONTENT- what can you see in the painting?
FORM- is it a painting? drawing? sculpture?
PROCESS- how was it made? what did the artist use?
MOOD- do you like the picture? why do you like it? how does it make you feel?

One Planet Pocket Picnic Garden
Just before the Easter break our design was shortlisted for the above exhibition that would have been in the Highland Show this year. Obviously this has been cancelled, however, ECO schools have still encouraged entries to start growing things for their garden designs. So please do follow the planner and get some herbs/ wildflowers growing.

Greenbank Pre School Cookbook
We thought it might be fun to compile a cookbook together and get it printed. To do this we need families to send a recipe to Mrs. French. She will select a recipe for each week that we can all have a go at following. This will be put in the parent section of our website. To make this meaningful it would be great if you could give us some information about the recipe- where does it come from? did you make it up yourself? were you taught it by a grandparent? Remember to add your child’s name to the recipe.

Ongoing Communication
We are hoping to set up ZOOM communication with keyworker groups this week. If you can download the app for this your keyworker will invite you to join a meeting. If you don’t want to join it’s absolutely fine.
We will also make a call once a week to our key group families just to say a quick hello and make sure everyone is ok and that children know we still exist!!! Again- if you don’t want this or opt to chat/ join a meeting less frequently- that is fine.

Finally, we really hope everyone is keeping positive- this is very important right now and we are always here to support families.

Very best wishes to you all,

Mrs. Okoth, Mrs. French, Miss. Perris, Ms. Allan, Mrs. Um, Mrs. Mc Donald and Ms. Balzarini.

2020-04-03
Mrs Okoth – Bulletin
Dear Parents and Carers,

Once again thank you all so much for sending/ sharing the lovely things you are all doing with your children- it is so great for us to see this!
We have struggled somewhat with the video conferencing this week- it will work but there are occasionally technical hitches!
One way forward would be to use Zoom. My suggestion would be that after the Easter break we all try to link up with our key group children using Zoom- some families might not want to- there is no obligation- but if children want to see any of the teachers its probably the best way forward.

In the meantime keyworkers may well give their group a quick call this weekend just to say hi.

We are obviously around over the holidays but I feel that all staff need a breather after this crisis and the shift in our work pattern that is still taking time to adjust to. As time passes I am sure this will become easier and there will be more resources to share.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very warm and heart felt thanks for all your support and understanding during this difficult time and on behalf of all of us at Greenbank a very happy, safe and peaceful Easter break.

With kindest regards,

Kyra, Julie, Debi, Ahn, Fiona, Krisha and Andrea

2020-03-31
Mrs Okoth – Video Conferencing
Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you so much for sharing all the experiences you are having with your children at home- it is great to see this.
We have now set up a video conferencing facility and will test run this tomorrow amongst staff initially to see how it works.
Once this is done and we think it will be ok, please expect an email from your key worker inviting you to a meeting.
I will forward instructions to everyone tomorrow.
We thought we would start with a one to one meeting then hopefully move onto a group meeting.
There is no obligation to join the meeting if you do not want to and you can suggest a different time if the one given is inconvenient.

Very best,

Kyra

2020-03-28
Mrs Okoth – Bulletin
Dear Parents and Carers,

I am hoping that everyone is doing ok and that WELLBEING- both mentally and physically are at the heart of our lives in this crisis.

Thankyou so much to all the families posts of things the children have been doing- it’s very uplifting and rewarding for all of us to share this. I know how I feel about not having contact with the children in reality- it is quite devastating and something out of my experience- I really miss each and everyone of them and I know for sure all staff feel the same. Children have the ability to ride the storm and to give us all hope because they live in the moment.

Please find another little plan for the coming week.
I am in the process of setting up a video conferencing account for staff and children to see one another and chat/ sing a song/ read a story etc. Catriona ( Jason’s mum) is helping to sort this and I will let everyone know when it is ready to use. I think each staff member will have a slot every week and all families are invited to check in.

Ahn Um is also setting up a slide show of STEM activities on the website- please let me know you are all ok about having your child’s picture posted.

Otherwise please all stay happy and safe,

With love, kindness and strength from Kyra, Julie, Fiona, Ahn, Debi, Krisha and Andrea.

2020-03-27
Miss Perriss – some more ideas
Hi all,

Hope everyone is still doing okay and keeping safe and well. I’m finding I’m missing all of the children a lot! Please give them all abig hug from me.
I’ve found a couple of more activities I thought you might like to try over the weekend if you’re stuck for something to do. They’re from an Instagram account called ‘my teacher mummy and me’ if any of you want to check out her ideas.

Cotton Bud Flower Prints: The first idea involves using cotton buds to do pictures of flowers and is a numeracy based craft. Tie 7 cotton buds together using an elastic band. Dip the end of them into some paint and press onto the paper to make a flower pattern. Draw on some stalks and leaves. Try and do a different number of flowers on each one, it’s great for practising number recognition and counting. I’ve added a photo for reference.

Memory Game: This is a really simple but nice game to play together. Collect 5-10 items from around the house (toys, stationery, buttons etc) Place them on a tray. Get children to look at all the items and try to remember as many as possible. Cover with a tea towel and get the children to name as many items as they can. Write them down and see if they can get them all.

Final activity – Zippy Bag Painting: This one is great if parents can’t face cleaning up the mess after painting! If you have liquid paints, squirt some onto a sheet of card. Place the card inside a zip lock bag and let the children explore the paint using their hands and feet – No mess! It’s great to see how the paints merge together and move inside the plastic bag.

I hope this sounds okay – again these are by no means mandatory, just suggestions!
Also, my emails are playing up slightly so I would really appreciate if some of you could reply just letting me know you’ve got this email!
Best wishes to all,
Love Miss Perriss

Mrs Uhm – online resources
Hi everyone,

Hope you and your family are safe and well.

As Kyra emailed you last week, I’m still working from home Mondays and Fridays.
I understand that it would be never easy to do ‘home schooling’ but I’m here to support you.
If you need any questions or support please get in touch with me.

Hope our daily plan and advice will keep our children busy learning as well as having fun.

I find these online resources particularly helpful.
– The Pod: science
– Eco School Scotland: science, social studies
– Earth Calling (Facebook): science, social studies
– Play Scotland: various activities
– Sticky kids: Dance and music
– PE with Joe (as you know!): Physical workout
– Edinburgh for under Fives
– Pinterest: various activities

Kind regards,

Ahn

2020-03-25
Mrs French – NYCOS
Dear All,

Please find a useful link to NYCOS – National Youth Choir of Scotland.
Here you will find some useful daily musical games and activities you can play at home. Some of them may be more suitable for older children but have a go, we all know the amazing benefits that music can have.
Have fun too grown ups!
https://www.nycos.co.uk/daily-activities

Best wishes to you all.

Julie

Mrs Okoth – Dance Workshop

Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope everyone is doing fine and have managed to access their child’s journal without too much stress.
I realise its been a week of things just ‘sinking in’- well that’s how it has felt for me-particularly when we don’t know how long for.
I have been in touch with Jon and Tracy who would have been doing the dance workshops today- I will shortly forward everyone a link to the ebook ‘The Toy Sailor’. Jon has told me that the music to go with this story is in three movements- the Poulenc Trio for Piano, Basson and Clarinet- you should be able to get this with Alexa or You Tube.
If you have a family of siblings you can all have a part to play. Dress up as your character and use lots of old toys as props.
Read the story together first. Choose your character. Dress up. Then begin to act out the story to the music ( ideally a parent/ adult needs to read the story with this so children can respond with actions.)
Or you might just want to dance freely and include a few actions. There is no fixed way of approaching this and it should be guided by the children.

Have fun and tell us about it!

Very best wishes to you all,

Kyra, Tracy and Jon

2020-03-24
Miss Perriss – David Walliams
Hello all,

Just a quick note to say that the author David Walliams is releasing a free audio book for children every day at 11am. You can find it on https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/

I’ve had a little listen and it seems quite good. I think in general his books are for slightly older children so siblings might like them too. They’re around 20 mins long so just a nice time for you to go and make yourself a cup of tea!

Best wishes,
Miss Perriss

2020-03-23
Miss Okoth – A little book of help

Dear Parents and Carers,

Sent to me from Alice, William’s mum, hope it helps you to explain to your children.

https://nursedottybooks.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/dave-the-dog-coronavirus-1-1.pdf

Very best,

Kyra

Miss Okoth – Online journals
Dear Parents and Carers,

I am thinking of all of you today as we commence our first week out of pre school.
I hope everyone has seen Julie French’s info regarding the online journals.
As key workers we will be checking into the children’s accounts everyday.
Some of you may want to email your keyworker with news or observations or photos etc. Others may want to post your observations straight into the journal.
Please do communicate with us and let us know how you are and how you are managing at home- we are all here to give support and advice to everyone.

We also welcome your ideas and if children are missing something that was part of their pre school experience then let us know so we can find solutions.

Otherwise expect a weekly activity plan from me and updates from your individual key worker.

Stay strong, safe and well,

Very best,

Kyra

Miss Perriss – literacy ideas

Hello all,

I hope everyone is well and managing to stay safe during this turbulent time. It does feel very strange not to be in preschool and I miss all the children very much.
I have come up with a few more ideas for activities relating to literacy – they are mostly expansions on activities we do day to day in preschool. These are by no means mandatory, merely some extra suggestions if you are stuck for something to do! I would appreciate if you do any of these suggestions, take a quick picture of your child and send it on to either myself or your key worker for us to upload into the journals.. I believe you now also all have the ability to upload things yourself into your child’s journal.

Here are the suggestions:

Name card tracing – write your child’s name in large clear letters in a dark pen on a piece of card – get them to trace the letters by putting a thinner sheet of paper on top

Using dots to spell out your child’s name for children to join together to form their letters

Think of different animals/foods/names beginning with different letters of alphabet create a collage and draw pictures of the things

Writing names in white crayon and using watercolour paint to go over the crayon -revealing the name (https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/26618/crayon-resist/)

Follow some simple recipes together – talk to the children about what each measurement means (teaspoon, 100ml etc), where the ingredients come from, eggs, milk etc and get the children to help with cooking

Story videos on YouTube – The smartest giant in town, we’re going on a bear hunt link (https://youtu.be/Waoa3iG3bZ4)
room on the broom etc

Make some “alphabet bags” find things from around the house that begin with each letter (p for pen, penny, paperclip, plant, plug) (s for shoe, spoon, sock, stamp)

Best wishes to all, please say hello to your children from Miss Perriss!

Mrs French – Communication and Learning Journal’s

Dear All,

I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday and had lots of fun with your treasures.

Learning Journal Update:
A Parental Contribution section has been created on each child’s Learning Journal.
It is a place where Parent’s can add an observation from home directly into your child’s Learning Journal, this way staff can keep up with children’s learning remotely and perhaps come up with ‘Next Steps in Learning’ to support the wonderful fun and learning you are having at home.
Please note this is not compulsory and in no way should feel onerous.

It can be accessed through the Blue Button on your child’s profile.
We welcome feedback as to how you find this facility.

Do let me know if you are having difficulty accessing your child’s Journal, for example if you have forgotten your password (I can easily reset them.) If you need some support to use the Learning Journal – please just ask and I can talk you through it.

Please know you can email any of the ‘Greenbank Team’ at any point. We are here to help in the same way we would have done if we were at Pre School. For example if your child is not sleeping, sharing their feeling’s/ fears.

Best wishes

Julie

2020-03-19

Mrs Joan Ritchie

Dear parents and carers

I write as chair of the management committee to thank you all most sincerely for the help and support you have given the staff at Greenbank this session, and for the wonderful ways in which you are all helping your child’s learning and development. I would have thanked you all after the Easter service before we broke for the holidays, but events overtook us. We all owe a huge debt to Mrs Okoth and the staff team for their vision, leadership, energy and effort. Greenbank pre School is such a remarkable place.

We have known for a few weeks that the new coronavirus was spreading in the UK, and it was only a matter of time before it significantly affected Edinburgh, but none of use predicted how quickly life would change. Mrs Okoth, Mrs French and I met last week to draw up plans in the event of closure and you have now received these and more! I look forward to hearing from the keyworkers next term how all the children are progressing.

Shortly after we closed Greenbank Pre School on Tuesday the minister, Martin Ritchie, told me that the Church of Scotland advised that all activities at the church were cancelled immediately. We recently started streaming morning worship from Greenbank through the website greenbankchurch.org and Martin will continue to stream an act of worship with a small ministry team and musicians. You are welcome to join us “live” at 10.30 am on Sunday mornings, or watch the service later.

If anyone is in need of practical help e.g. prescriptions collected, Martin has a team of folk who have volunteered to run errands.

Mrs French continues to work on admissions and is now offering places for next session. If you know any families who are interested, they can contact her through Greenbank pre School’s website.

Keep well and stay safe

With best wishes to you all

Joan Ritchie

Mrs Okoth – Activity planner 1

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope everyone is doing alright.
I have developed an activity planner for you to follow each day.
I will send these out weekly.
They are there to provide you with some structure, particularly for our pre school children moving on to P1 in the Autumn. And they are certainly not compulsory!
Catriona ( Jason’s mum) has set up a link on our website so you can get all this information and any updates there.

Please get in touch if you need support.

Kind regards,

Kyra

2020-03-18
Miss Okoth – Updates to parents
Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope everyone is well and managing this crisis as best they can.
We are all here to help so please keep in touch.
We know that some of our families are self isolating at present but we have no confirmed cases.
Our staff are alright but some have health problems and this had to be acted on.
We have a new facility on the online journal created specifically for this crisis.
Please check your child’s online journal to see this- you are able to message us more easily.

We are here for you to contact at all times so please don’t hesitate to do so.

Very best, hugs and kindness,

Kyra and Team

Miss Okoth – Ongoing provision and support for our children

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you so much for all your care and support yesterday. We all really appreciate it and our primary concern is always for the wellbeing of our children.
Things are escalating quickly and the latest news indicates that school closures are imminent.
I will shortly send a separate email with an attachment that will support the ongoing learning experiences for your children. You will be able to see the email addresses of your keyworker. If your child is in my group please use this email to communicate.
Once you have established a routine at home it would be great if you could send your keyworker any salient learning observed so we can continue to update the online journals and support you with ideas for next steps in learning.

With kind regards,

Kyra and Pre School Team