Children’s Learning Journey

Week commencing 3rd October 2011

Children’s learning journey based on children’s interests, needs and professional observations made in the setting.

To make the most of the room we have, we have set up the following activities in Tosca: - playdough, this is set up on the round table as we feel this is a really sociable activity that lots of children enjoy, 3 table top activities such as abacus, a mark making activity and a maths activity, the large train track and the small world village, as well as the wooden car. These are as well as the activities we always have set up in the main setting. Staff work in pairs in each room and when we open the outdoor area, we close TOSCA. If we are quieter in the afternoon we use the pre-school room and the outdoor area. If you have any questions, please ask staff. We will change the activities on a weekly basis according to our theme as we do the pre-school room.

Last week:

Last week helped us talk about eating habits both at home and at pre-school with children. Children discussed likes and dislikes as they pretended to be the Hungry caterpillar and made collages of their food preferences. Children also became very familiar with the story, reciting it from memory, telling practitioners what happened on each day of the week.

Children also took part in playing the picnic basket game. This was a memory testing game where children had to remember where a particular food picture had been put if they had it in their picnic basket. This was a great stimuli for conversation about food and children enjoyed helping each other remember where each other’s pictures were.

Children also spent time making their own sandwiches for snack time. This acted as a great resource for helping children’s independence and encouraging them to make choices. It refines hand/eye coordination, safety with tools such as knifes, responsibility for their own snack and identifying likes and dislikes.

Children then went on to eat the snack they had made.

Some children also had a go at the Hungry caterpillar jigsaw helping them with spatial awareness, shape, space and measures and seeing how a shape needs moving to fit into a gap promoting predicting skills as well as problem solving, patience and persistence.

As children enter their 5th week at pre-school, we will continue to observe and assess your child at play and try to discover as much as can about them. Formal assessments will continue alongside written observations and photographs for profiles.

The theme for the next week will be our pets. We are aware that some of you have very unusual and interesting pets and photographs would be most welcome. We are also going to try and fit in a visit to Pets At Home with a few children.

If children show new learning, we will record this learning in their profile. We will be putting a sheet of stickers into your plastic envelopes and sending them home for you to record what your child does. Please return them if they do anything you feel you want to put into profiles and put it into their drawers. Staff will sort them out at the end of each week. A photograph of your child mark making at home will also be useful for profiles.

None of the plans are time restricted and much of the activity will be dictated by the child’s individual interest and involvement.

My Pet.

Key Vocabulary: Dog, cat, budgie, hamster, guinea pig, pig, horse, snake, lizard, frog, etc.

Skills children will learn: children will be encouraged to describe and talk about the pet they have and if they haven’t got a pet they can tell us about the sort of animal they would like as a pet. Children will be encouraged to listen to others and question how they look after their pets. They will be able to explore textures as they make beds for imaginary pets, match and order colours as they make a snake in the science area, refine mark making skills as they draw around animal stencils using various mark making equipment and care for imaginary pets in the home corner.

Attitudes children will become more aware of: children will be caring and loving as they tend to pretend pets in the home corner, be sensitive and curious as they discuss how they would look after pets at home or in pre-school, be responsible for their pets and tell us how they would do this.

Knowledge and Concepts: Activities that will reinforce mark making skills this week are:

• Writing the letter of the week – please encourage your child to take part in this activity as you enter the room. It is their first taste of mark making and is fun if you join in with them. There is no right or wrong way to begin with, just encourage your child to hold the writing implement. If your child is starting to try, encourage all the way. If your child is confident and is starting to form recognisable letters, show them where to start the letter – usually at the top – and form the letter correctly. This saves time later as your child may begin to form letters one way and may have to relearn. This activity encourages hand/eye coordination, sound and letter recognition, develops fine/small motor skills, increases and extends vocabulary, develops refined hand movements, demonstrates 1:1 correspondence, to select writing implements that suit their needs, to enjoy using language, to explore initial sounds in words, to initiate and create letter sounds. Our sound this week is Ee. The Jolly Phonics sound and action for this is to pretend to tap an egg on the suide of a pan and crack it into the pan saying eh,eh,eh,
• Snack table: children will be able to make snack each morning. Children will prepare a healthy, filling snack such as fruit salad, toast (pre-cooked for children) and bananas, crumpets and spread, crackers and cheese, fruit smoothies, pitta breads, wraps, scones, fruit teacakes, bagels, sandwiches, muffins, and other food such as food from other countries or baking. All knives are child safety knives and this activity is closely supervised.
• Home Corner: caring for pets – we will have a few pets in various beds which children can care for. We hope this will encourage children to tell us what they do for pets at home.
• Math’s area: Matching pets and their homes. Children will be asked to look at the different animals and talk about what kind of homes they may life in. The children can then draw a picture of the homes and match them with the animals or they match them with the pre-printed pictures. The children can place as many animals in the homes and then either with adult supervision or by themselves count the animals up and then look around the room to find the matching number. This activity will give the children the opportunity to count, look at numbers, make choices, sort and talk about pets they may have at home.
• Construction area: Wooden blocks – build a pets home. Children will be able to construct with blocks that do not fit or fix together, encouraging them to explore balance, categorise, begin to understand variations in size, use positional language, begin to become aware of and use language for 3D shapes.
• Wooden car: This piece of equipment enables children to use their hands to turn, push, pull, fit into, twist, gauge space and helps to strengthen large muscles as they use their arms to help them climb into the car, pull the gears and steer.
• The Large dolls house: This piece of equipment helps children prepare for mark making by enabling children to hold, grip and carry. It gives their little hands the chance to feel and apply pressure as they play with the small dolls in the house, practice palmer and pincer grips and become more direct with their aim as they have less room to manoeuvre the dolls in the small area in which they are playing.
• Small world activities –The Castle and The Palace – which pets would live in these houses – children will be able to create make believe worlds that involve people and their pets. We hope this will encourage imaginative play and develop imaginative skills, along with conversation, language for thinking and role play outside the home corner.
• Mark making table: stencils – children will either be able to dip the stencils into paint or draw around the stencils of animals. Children will be able to access many writing and drawing implements to enable them to experiment and find out which implement is the easiest for them to use.
• Easel: similar to above although children have access to wipe able pens and chalk. This gives children a different writing or mark making experience. They can experiment with how to use the equipment available to them and begin to understand you don’t need paper to draw on. They have to learn to respect each others space here and take turns, respect each others work as pictures or writing is easily removed. During this week children will be writing Spanish words for counting.
• The Interactive White Board: This board is fantastic for young children to mark make on. We have programmes that encourage children to make their own patterns using their fingers although they Can also use the board pens. Children have the experience of writing or mark making in different positions, not just sat at a table. Children can mark make together, sharing the board and the mark making they are doing on it. Children’s ICT knowledge is enhanced in this area too as they learn how to use the equipment for themselves. Children will practice writing and mark making in many forms here during the term.
• The Book Corner: The Book of the Week will be Runaway Rabbit by Ron Maris. This book will be read at every session. We will also have a large selection of books for children to browse through as they wish all based around the theme of pets. Run away Rabbit This story will be read to the children in small groups, one to one and at circle times through out the day. This story will encourage the children to talk freely about any pets they have or any pets they would like to have. The children will be encouraged to talk about there pets with others or pets they would like to have. This story will also be used for children to gain information about the natural world. The reading of this story will help the children to be aware of how stories are structured, beware of illustrations, print within the books, turn the pages from front to back and how to hold books correctly (right way up). When I have read the book the children will be asked some questions about the story which will encourage them to commutate and think about the story and retell any parts they found interesting. The children will be encouraged to draw a picture of there special pet or if they don’t have a pet draw what pet they would like to have. This will help children of all ages build fine motor skills, be able to use tools for a purposes, help them engage in activities requiring hand eye co-ordination and build there self confidence and self esteem.
• Malleable area: This week we will have playdough . children will experiment many different ways of using the dough as the mats suggest various ways in which to use their hands, refining strength in small muscle groups, practicing grips such as grasps, pincer grips – all good precursors for handwriting.
• Junk Modelling: -Recycling area: During this week the children will be able to design and create their own bed for a pet. They will use a range of different textures and materials available. This activity encourages creativity and imagination and allows the children to express themselves freely.
• Paint area: children will be able to paint pictures of their pets or animals in general. This will help refine hand/eye coordination, grasping and holding techniques, writing and handwriting applications as children learn to use mark making equipment as it suits them.
• Science area: Making bird feeders. This activity is to promote inclusion as we are fully aware that not all children will have a pet at home. We will make bird feeders so that all children feel they can take part in feeding an animal or bird, learning how to care for an animal or bird, be able to watch the animal or bird visit where they live and become more aware of the environment in which they live.
• Outdoor area: gardening – getting to know the area. Free flow play and exploration.

Staff will: work with children to develop an idea or skill. Show genuine interest, offer encouragement, clarify ideas and ask open questions which support and extends children’s thinking and helps make connections in learning.

Parents and carers can: bring in photographs of pets at home. Encourage children to help care for your pet and bring their experiences into pre-school.

The Team

About Belinda: Belinda is Pre-School Manager and is responsible mainly for the planning for pre-school, managing staff, ensuring children’s safety – she is the Pre-school Safeguarding Officer – and ensuring the smooth running of the pre-school.

Belinda achieved CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Pre-school Practice in October 2002 and is now working towards her Level 4 Children’s Care Learning and Development which will give her points towards her Degree , she also has training in Paediatric First Aid, Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene, Developing the Foundation Stage Curriculum, Module 9, Communication, Language and Literacy, Developing the Foundation Stage Curriculum, Module 8, Mathematical Development, Developing the Foundation Stage curriculum, Module 11, Creative Development, Working at Quality in Early Childhood Education – The Well-being and the Involvement of children as keys, Early Identification and Identification, Developing Quality Outcomes for Children, Assessment of Knowledge and Understanding, It’s Different for Boys!, Inclusion – Special Educational Needs in the Foundation Stage, EYFS Training, EYFS Conference for Outdoor Play. Health and Safety Level 2, Selection and Recruitment, Safeguarding Children, PSED: Raising Awareness of the new SEAD Materials, Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering, The Language of Learning, Linking Letters and Sounds, Who is my Key Person? Risk Assessment, Supervision and Appraisal, Stepping into Management Level 3, PSED, Wedge meetings and Nursery Network Childcare Providers Forum’s.

About Nici: Nici passed Level 3 Diplomas in Pre-school Practice over a year ago and has been pre-school Safeguarding officer for the last 12 months. She is trained to deliver Safeguarding training to other staff and settings. Nici is a qualified First Aider, as well as Food Safety, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, EYFS training and Senco, Stepping Into Management – Level 3, Listening to Children, Speech Sounds workshop. Nici now works as pre-school administrator and an assistant in the setting.

About Sarah: has currently finished her Level 3 Diploma in Pre-school Practice and is awaiting her certificate. She is Senco for pre-school ensuring inclusion for all children and their families. She is First Aid trained, has Food Safety and Health and Safety training.

About Jane: Jane is currently training towards her Level 3 Childcare and Development. She hopes to complete this by July 2011. She also has Safeguarding training, Food Safety, Linking Sounds and Letters, Who is my Key Person? And a qualified First Aider.

About Izzy: Izzy is our first pre-school apprentice. She has gained her Level 2 Childcare and Development qualification and is currently studying towards Level 3 which she hopes to pass by July 2011. She is a qualified First Aider, she also has training in Who Is my Key Person?, Health and Safety, Food Safety, Symptoms of Autism, Outdoor Play, Linking Sounds and Letters.

About Tracy: Tracy is currently training towards her Level 3 in Childcare and Development, she also has Food Safety, Health and Safety and is a qualified Paediatric First Aider.

Jo Jingles

On every other Wednesday morning Jo Jingles attends pre-school. This is available to all children that attend on Wednesday morning sessions and is differentiated to suit all children’s ages. Children have the opportunity to sing, dance, move, play musical instruments, and improve physical development and co-ordination. Sessions with Jo Jingles correspond with our theme and reinforce the learning within the pre-school.

Baking and Cookery

Every Tuesday and Thursday we have baking or cookery sessions. This is theme orientated and helps to reinforce the theme of the week. Risk assessments are carried out before any baking or cooking activity and safety is paramount at all times. Children do not have access to the kitchen and do not taste food as it is being prepared unless it is part of the activity. 2 members of staff supervise this activity and plan around the weekly theme. All children that want to take part are able to as many times as they want to and if your lucky they might even save it to eat at home!

All activities are child initiated, child led and differentiated to suit all stages of development. If you would like to discuss an activity please feel free to ask any member of staff at any time.

We would always welcome help from parents. If you would like to help as a volunteer on a regular basis please talk to Belinda. We love having parents around and any help is welcome help. We will use your skills to enhance the setting so if you enjoy baking, cooking, DIY please let us know. If you would just like to come in and be an extra pair of hands – brilliant – we would love it. Your input is always welcome and helps us provide the best setting possible for your children.