Welcome to your Autumn newsletter - connecting you locally Hello to you all and welcome to the East Midlands Service Hub Newsletter. As we are now in our second lock down, I hope this newsletter finds you and your teams keeping well. Our Alliance Connects continue to be popular and I know those of you who have joined us at one, or more of these meetings find them a useful networking session. We are currently planning our Spring Alliance Connect events and below you will find information on the Alliance Connects being held up to the end of this term. We are also holding our Special Alliance Connect on the 25 November. Further information can be found below - I hope to see you there. Our Virtual Classrooms are now open for bookings and remember we can also offer these as virtual in-house sessions to your team, get in touch with us for further information. With the nights drawing in and the temperature dropping, we need to ensure we look after our own wellbeing as well as those around us. Take time to have that walk, listen to music or do something you enjoy. Best wishes for the remainder of the year and lets see what 2021 brings. Keep safe. For up-to-date information and advice please visit: www.eyalliance.org.uk/coronavirus.and also the latest information surrounding the re-opening of providers can be found here For up-to-date local events see: Bev O'Keefe, Join us for more FREE Alliance Connect networking sessions! Following the continuing success of our free online Alliance Connect networking sessions, we have a programme of sessions planned around different subjects: Terrific twos Together we will talk about some of the developmental characteristics of 2 – 3 year olds, think about the signs of attachment, chat about the important role of the key person and ask the question - is settling in a process or an event? Whatever the Weather Join this interactive session for sharing ideas and overcoming challenges to enable exciting outdoor learning all year round. Lets Talk - more committee matters
Let's Talk January BOOK NOW: Click on the date and time that you are interested in above Autumn and Winter ideas for your setting and at home Looking after wild birds in autumn and winter As we move into winter our wild bird's natural food sources such as sunflower seeds and insects from gardens begin to deplete. The seeds get too moist and wet to eat and insects find warm places to shield from the cold. We need to help our birds keep fit and healthy for the spring and summer so they can produce big, healthy chicks. Unfortunately, birds' predators such as wild cats and squirrels are hungry too and so we need to protect our birds by putting food out of reach so they can enjoy their food and stay safe. The birds will need high energy (high fat) foods to survive the cold and frosty nights of winter. Different birds like different foods. Sparrows and finches like seeds, tits like fat, thrushes and robins like fruit and worms, starlings will eat almost anything. Some of our left-over food can be fed to birds too e.g. fruit cake, mince pies, dried fruit, unsalted nuts, apples and pears. Try to keep feeding to a routine and you will find the birds visit your garden around this time Birds also need water to drink and bathe in, this could be a bird bath, dish or an up-turned lid. Try and break the ice in the colder weather. There are lots of ideas to make bird feeders:
Once you’ve hung out your feeders why not sit at the window with your child observing the different birds that come into your garden, balcony or window box. You could have a book of different birds to look through if you are unsure of the names of birds, or you could take photos on your phone and search on Google to find out. Science ideas in the early years to encourage exploration and curiosity Children naturally explore and discover during play, so introducing children to science at an early age builds on their ingrained curiosity. Collecting information about the world around them helps children to understand how the world works allowing them to grasp more abstract ideas as they continue to learn and grow. This can be done through exploratory play, by teaching children to engage in conceptual learning and discussing what they have learned. Here are a few winter activities you can introduce into your planning: Painting on Blocks of Ice Experiment
Activity Tree Science Experiment
Activity Oil and water Experiment
Activity With Winter comes snow (Hopefully!) If we do get snow this year don’t forget to bring the snow inside for the children to play with. Make different sized snowballs, which one will melt first? Where does science fit within the Areas of Learning and Development and the EYFS curriculum?
Would you like to feature in our ‘Spotlight on local providers’? Whether you have reopened your setting or are in the planning stages for opening at a later date, we would like to hear about your experiences so that we can share best practice with colleagues from the local community. You can fill out the form below to submit your story! National lockdown and the early years sector: what are the rules? Following the announcement of a four-week national lockdown across England, a number of temporary changes have been made to how early years providers can and should operate. We know that ever-changing guidance means that staying on top of the latest updates can be a significant challenge for already-busy early years providers. Our latest webinar provides a timely overview of key areas of early years guidance: from parental visits to outdoor trips to face coverings and beyond. Please join Melanie Pilcher, quality and standards manager and Shannon Pite, press and public affairs director, as they provide a comprehensive overview of the latest guidance updates, including the new rules specifically put in place during the November lockdown. Can you get the resources you need during the pandemic? As part of the Alliance's ongoing work to try and ensure the sector has the support it needs during this period, we are keen to get a more detailed understanding of exactly what resources and equipment providers may be struggling to access during the pandemic, either due to cost or lack of availability (or both), To help inform us please would you fill in our short survey to gather views on this. |