Synthetic Phonics Books for the Playgroup.

We now have x12 phonics books in the setting at the Ascension Preschool Playgroup, part of the Usborne Books phonics readers set. These books have been created in consultation with a language expert, taking into account the most effective ways of teaching early reading.

The 12 books include:

- Ted in a red bed, Big pig on a dig, Fat cat on a mat, goose on the loose, Ted’s shed, Frog on a log, Hen’s pens, Shark in the park, Mouse moves house, Sam sheep can’t sleep, Fox on a box and Toad makes a road.

The books are designed to support synthetic phonics learning, which is the process of reading by sounding the individual phonemes (distinct sounds) in a word, then running them together to read a whole word.

We will be using these books during story time and step-up sessions in order to provision for children’s early reading skills. These books will be read to the child, and we will encourage them to sound out the words of the story as we go along, and many will pick up the repetition and repeated refrains the more often the story is read. 

Promoting a Love of Learning!

I have planned for next weeks session on Thursday 19th of September 2013 a Mud Kitchen for the children in this session to take part in! I am so excited about this event purely because it gives the children a chance to explore their senses and the consistency of mud through very messy play!

Since becoming Sensory Play Co-ordinater, I have become increasingly passionate about bringing new activities, resources and experiences into the setting. I want the children to thrive and experience new things, and experiment with different resources and materials. I feel so eager about this Mud Kitchen, so the children can not only develop gross motor movements of moulding and manipulating mud, previously adapting on the skills they already have. But, to also have their curiosity ignited by a new activity, giving them a chance to describe, elaborate and promote this experience to not only their peers and the staff members but within their home life as well.

Many of the children within the setting are curious about how things work, and this Kitchen will not only allow them the chance to explore and develop their curiosity, but also allow them to develop new learning strengths, and how to apply what they have learnt here into numerous other situations.

I feel this will also be a learning challenge for them, to work as a group, communicating experiences and processes involved in this Mud Kitchen. This will also greatly enhance Sustained Shared thinking between the children and the adults within the setting. The reason this activity will encompass Sustained Shared Thinking is because: this activity will be carried on for a period of time, and planning will provide for this. It is a shared experience between the group of children and the adults and will promote dialogue and communication with lots of terminology in regards to MUD! Finally, this experience will allow me to process and visualize each individual child's way of thinking and learning, getting to grips with this activity!

Hope you are excited as I am about this activity!!!!

Sensory Box!

I have had great fun creating a Sensory Box for the start of the new term! The idea is that the staff put Sensory objects/items inside, and at quiet times such as Story Time we ask the children to lift the flap and have a feel of the item inside (without peeking!). It relies on them using their touch/feelings in relation to the unseen items in the box.

I used an old, very colourful Iron Fist shoe box! I cut out a rectangular shape hole, large enough for a child to fit there hand through. I didn't cut it completely off, so this acts as a hinge/doorway. I proceeded to stick lots of sensory items on the box to make it more decorative this included: coloured pom poms, foam letters and animal shapes, buttons, pipe cleaners, soft material and tin foil.

Here are some photos of my Sensory Box:

Side of the Box, with coloured Foam letters, asking the question: What is it?

Coloured Foam animals on the side 

Tin foil and touchy fabric on the side

The hinge/doorway on the lid of the box. I used a sparkly pipe cleaner on the top as a lifting mechanism/handle 

The top of my Sensory Box! :)

I am very excited to use this in the setting, and I cant wait to see what responses the children give us! I'm going to have great fun finding items to put in here! This will be making an appearance at Playgroup in September 2013, let me know what you think of it!

Sensory Bottles!

Hello!

I have been busy preparing for University! However, I have had time to prepare some Sensory Bottles for the children at the playgroup for September 2013! I managed to get this great idea from my placement setting. I was working with Babies 0-2 years old for x2 sessions for 6 weeks. One thing that I found out in regards to Babies is how they learn through the use of all of their senses touch/sight/smell/taste/hearing. Within my placement setting, they had numerous sensory bottles in their Baby Room to aid learning development and exploration of senses! I would watch the Babies with fascination at how they interacted and experimented with these bottles- it offered long term play and interest for them!

I decided to incorporate these bottles into our own setting, for several reasons. First of all I think there is a lack of sensory play within our setting and for the chance for our children to explore different resources and materials, consistencies, weights and liquids in a more visual form. Secondly, it gives the children to visualise different materials through a clear bottle, clearly using their senses to experiment shape/weight/colour/consistency.Thirdly, we have quite alot of 2 year olds in the setting, they are still learning and experimenting with their senses and learning about the world, this will greatly aid them in their experiences. Finally, all children learn by doing and experimenting and this will be a great tool of experience and visualisation for all children of all ages within my setting.

                           Heres a photograph of my Sensory Bottles! So far my bottles include:

                           * Food Dyed Water with Oil and Foam Letters (Visual, colour/letter recognition, weight)

* Food Dyed Water with glitter (Visual, colour recognition, weight)

* Water with Washing up Liquid, makes bubbles when shaken! (Visual, Weight) 

* Flour (Visual, Weight)

* Coffee (Visual, Weight, Sound)

* Food Dyed Rice (Visual, Weight, Sound)

I will be making new Sensory Bottles when I have/receive new ideas- keep an eye out for this activity in September 2013!

Very Fun and Messy Sensory Play!

Sensory play is important and integral part of the learning process for children. Initially when we are born we only have the basal ganglia or the Reptilian Brain which is fully developed. According to Regalena Melrose, when a baby is born they are hard-wired to the basal ganglia, and respond to their immediate needs from this. 

Babies experiences are dominated by sensations and "the brain develops in response to the environment and in response to the interactions of the people within this environment." Melrose emphasises that Brain Development is hierarchical, the other parts of the brain cannot form unless the basal ganglia is reinforced by experiences of the senses.

This explanation offers predominance in relation to the idea of sensory play. When a child initiates play using their senses of touch, smell, sight, sound and taste their experience is heightened for optimal learning. Sensory Play therefore stimulates the basal ganglia and allows the child to experience a multitude of sensory experiences that aid and develop their learning experiences and capabilities.

Moving on, for this activity you will need... Petroleum Jelly!

I bought x6 tubs (we have over 20 children in a session at our playgroup) from Wilkinsons 55p for a pot which is a brilliant deal.

 Also this stuff is suitable for sensitive skin, which is a bonus for any of our children in the setting who suffer from skin conditions, so they can also get involved with this messy play!

On a protected surface I smushed the Petroleum Jelly into weird and wonderful shapes.

It felt really gooey and sticky and its incredibly malleable, so younger children will find this an easy object to mould. 

As you can see I had great fun squishing the Jelly in between my fingers, experimenting with the texture and how it changed shape when pressure was put on it.

          I also held my hand out flat, and you can see how the shape of the Petroleum has changed and how malleable this is!

I plan to include this activity in the Playgroup when we go back from Summer Holidays. To be honest I'm slightly fed up of playdough, and I thought Petroleum Jelly would be an amazing idea to provide differentiation and a new range of fun and messy play idea! Its great as it will allow the children to experiment their physical fine motor movement skills of rolling/gripping/pressing. It's also a lovely sticky, malleable texture which will allow the children to experience moulding a different material. 

Parents, let me know what you think of this Sensory Play idea! :)

References:

Melrose, R. (2010) Self-regulation and brain development (1) and (2), [online], Youtube, Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzm0t6wXW0c&list=PL888EF7F2D99252C4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9LHvJwj-PQ&list=PL888EF7F2D99252C4 [accessed 17/6/13]

Overview of: The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE Project Report)

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education [EPPE] Project, [online], Institute of Education, Available: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/eppe%20final%20report%202004.pdf


Hello! I am back from having a weeks holiday and now very eager to continue with my learning prep for University! This week I decided to read the EPPE project report, it is 107 pages long and basically outlines data collection across numerous regions and examples within the United Kingdom. These samples are Pre-schools, Nurseries, Family Centres and other forms of Early Years Education settings, as well as schools in the KS1 and KS2 year groups. The samples also roughly cover over 3,000 individual children and their families who attended early years settings and then transitioned to primary school. The aim of the project was to emphasise that pre-school education greatly benefits children, assists with their educational and social/emotional development and is an essential tool that not only prepares them for Primary School, but that all skills a child learns within early years are still predominant and visible throughout their primary education. This report also governed the Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project which emphaised on pre-school and its relation to special educational needs.

I found this paper to be a highly fascinating read, I really enjoyed reading the 107 pages that the report included... however I felt towards the end all the previously stated points were constantly being repeated. I found that this paper had particular relevance to me, as I happen to work in a Playgroup, so everything I was reading struck a particular chord.

Overall, the EPPE project highlighted the main points over the pre-school period the experience for a child:
* enhances all round development in children.
* an earlier start (under 3) provides a stable intellectual development which continues into KS1 and KS2, increasing intellectual attainment, and encouraging children to be more sociable.
* Full time attendance does not lead to better provisions then part time (so it doesn't matter how many hours a week your child attends, their learning curves are exactly the same.)
* Disadvantaged children benefit from pre-school and having different interactions with children with different social backgrounds.
* Specialised support in pre-school especially for language and pre-reading skills benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as those children who have English as an additional language.
* EPPE Report argues that: "pre-school helps ameliorate the effects of social disadvantage and provide children with a better start to school."
* EPPE project showed that 1 in 3 children were at risk of developing learning difficulties at the start of preschool, however this fell to 1 in 5 by the time they started school. Therefore the project argues that: "pre-school is an effective intervention for the reduction of special educational needs especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable children."
* With high quality pre-schooling children have better intellectual and social behavioral development. Quality is assessed as being: "warm interactive relationships with children, having a trained teacher as a manager and a good proportioned of trained teachers as staff." 
* Home learning was essential for any child attending early years settings, as this helped to reinforce their learning development from the setting into their home life.

Overall, the EPPE Project highlighted the main points from pre-school to KS1 period in regards to the childs experiences:
* Pre-school had beneficial effects, that remained evident throughout KS1, such as Maths, Literacy and Social Skills.
* The number of months a child attended at pre-school had a benefit to their future academic progress.
* Higher quality provision combined with longer duration had the strongest effect on development.


Hope these following points I had drawn from my reading help to reinforce and solidify any parents that if you are considering sending your child to a playgroup this is defiantly a right move! Playgroups provide the best all-round pre-curriculum activities for your children, as well as allowing your child to socialise with children from a multitude of backgrounds both social and cultural.

References: 
Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B. (2004) The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education [EPPE] Project, [online], Institute of Education, Available: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/eppe%20final%20report%202004.pdf [accessed 17/6/13]

A Overview of TACTYC Report on School Readiness

As part of my Uni preparation I have been required to read the following report:

http://www.tactyc.org.uk/occasional-papers/occasional-paper2.pdf

It is 4 pages long, and it emphasises how Pre-school children are effectively "made ready" for school education, by learning literacy and numeracy skills from a young age. This particular report informs the reader that when each child embarks on their school journey they have a variety of diverse previous experiences, learnt knowledge, essential skills and an eager mind to engage in learning. However, the government has intervened within the early years sector to control and standardise what aspects children learn within the school setting.

The government has emphasised that each child will have a level of "school readiness" which reflects their stasis within schools and other provisions of education and care. The report views this as a misguided approach and a strong attempt to enforce conforming children at a young age to a school environment.

The TACTYC refers to numerous Vygotskian theories and that "all children at all ages are ready to learn" (1)  due to the fact that many of a child's cognitive processes are fully functioning from birth, and evolve quickly from the ages of 0-5. From this period a child's brain size quadruples as a effect of synaptic connections between neurons in the cerebral cortex of the brain. Through play and interactive experiences a child can develop fundamental learning processes such as learning by imitation, analogy and casual reasoning.

In relation to Vygotsky, the theory of social constructivism demonstrates that "learning determines development. Learning is social in origin" (1) Vygotsky believed that children's cognitive development does not just happen in the brain, but is greatly influenced by interactions between a child and others I.e adults/peers through communication.  Numerous playgroups have adapted this approach into their planning, adopting a holistic pedagogical approach, in which children's activities are supported by prime careers/key workers to support the development of cognitive and self regulatory tasks.

This links back to another aspect of the TACTYC report in regards to Metacognition which is the process of a child monitoring and controlling their own cognitive tasks. Ultimately the child's tasks are underpinned by their motivation. By engaging in social interaction, and other child led tasks and activities it places a strong emphasis on their emotional responses, their self-agency and building upon warm and loving relationships allows them to take command of their own motivations in any situation.

Finally, the report argues that children will not have the abilities to learn socially and develop metacognitive skills if they are forced to learn school-based tasks from a young age. The report strongly emphasises its more important for a child to flourish in a secure social environment with the opportunity to develop their functioning and self regulatory skills and experiences.

My opinions:

I found this report an interesting and challenging read. I have not previous read much into Child Psychological previously as I have more of a background in Sociology. Trying to get my head around some of the psychology terminology was rather taxing!

 I enjoyed Vygotskys theories of Social Constructivism purely because I can see this concept resonate within the children in my setting.  Many of the children at my Playgroup have strongly developed independent motivations and needs, and often undertake self regulatory tasks with great ease and confidence. They have developed essential social communication skills through child based activities and free flow play.

Now I leave you with a few quotes from the report which I feel have instrumental value to my understanding of a child's development of learning:

"Play is a central vehicle for...multi sensory, active learning...through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic...regions...allowing children to imitate adult behaviour, practise motor skills, process emotional events and develop understanding about their world." (1)

"The problem is not that the children are not ready for school, but that our schools are not ready for children." (1)

References: 

(1) Whitebread D & Bingham S (2011) School Readiness: a Critical Review Of perspectives and evidence, Occasional Paper Number 2: TACTYC [online]