Early literacy skills

Recently the children have been showing a lot of interest in books and story-telling props such as the puppets and small toys. A few weeks ago I made a set of 5 ducks and attached Velcro to the backs of them in order for them to be placed on the walls or carpet boxes. Theses have proven themselves to be very popular with the older children who sit with me as I sing songs using them, but also for all the children to choose to independently sit and pull them off or stick them on. Even pull them off and transport the ducks to another area of the room. I was watching Olivia the other day, who chose to experiment with different places that the ducks could stick to. Through trial and error, she discovered that the Velcro ducks do not stick to a painted door or the side of a chair, but sometimes they may stick to her hair. When I noticed what she was doing, I verbalised what was happening, using the phrases, “I can see you are trying to put the ducks up. Do you think they will stick to the door? No, they slide off the door/chair. They are on your head. They stick to the wall…”etc. I didn’t want to interrupt her exploration with songs as it didn’t seem to be what she was interested in. She seemed more focused on the mechanics of the ducks sticking to different mediums. I believe that my response to this situation demonstrated dimension 16- demonstrates flexibility and responsiveness. I chose not to place my agenda onto what Olivia was doing; rather I followed her and added to her own experiences.

Daily routine for Daksh

On Tuesday the 21st of December, one of my children was absent from nursery. I phoned his mother as she had asked me to do to talk to her about the trouble they were having at home regarding his sleeping patterns (or lack there of). His sleeping late and waking up late was causing Mum to have to take unnecessary time off work. I thought the best way to deal with this issue was together as a team. I offered to write up the updated routine of what Daksh does during the day at nursery, and suggested that they stick to the routine at home as well. I've asked for feed back so we can assess if it works, or if it doesn't what we need to change.
Fingers crossed...

Amusing songs outside

I don't see any reason why there needs to be a formal 'mat time'. I'm more of the opinion that 'gathering times' can happen informally any time or anywhere. This was a perfect example of that. What had started as a time to explore outside ended up being a small group singing session. By showing respect and creating a welcoming environment, the children choose to come and participate and the programme just grows from there.

This is an example of dimension 14 - engages students in learning; and dimension 23 - demonstrates flexibility and adaptability.

Personality types

Nakita came in to Natural Steps for a professional development workshop (22nd November). In a group of three I went in to see her, not sure what it was going to be about. After being handed a sheet of paper, we were asked to circle what words we felt described ourselves the best. I went through and circled my words, and then after gridding and counting, discovered that I was predominately a 'peaceful personality' type of person. When handed the chapter printout from the book 'Pressing the Right Buttons' by Allison Mooney , I read through and it made me literally laugh out loud. A lot of the statements were describing me directly, and I had done a few of the examples during the previous weekend - such as writing a list and doing what I thought were the stink or hard jobs first. One description in the chapter was that peaceful personalities will complete all tasks. "You will be amazed sometimes how much they can get done in an hour". This brought back memories of school homework and my Mother 'nagging' me about not having finished homework. I know this has always been and will always be an issue in some households, but I always completed every job. At least now I feel validated in that it is just my personality - but with that in mind, it is something I want to work on as I know it can be frustrating for others. At least now I have a better understanding of my capabilities and strengths (and weaknesses), but also the opportunity to know the other staffs personality types. Hopefully I can use this knowledge to better communicate with them and work together as a team (and not leave to the last minute???) I'm also going to use this new way of looking at others to plan appropriately for the children's personality types. Although I am in Nursery one and the children are young, they are beginning to show individual personalities. After discussing this with Sharron, we were able to pick out a couple of children's personality types - and thankfully we both thought the same types for the same children. This workshop helps me to meet dimension 2o -contributes to the life of the learning centre Pressing the Right Buttons Allison Mooney Publisher: Random House September 2007

Reggio Study Tour presentation

During our November staff meeting, two staff members gave a presentation regarding a Reggio Aotearoa New Zealand study tour to Melbourne that they had recently returned from. I found the photos they showed and centres we were told about to be not only interesting, but also thought provoking. It got me thinking about not only my own practise, but also how my style of practise came to be - why I do what I do. I loved how the centres were based on exploration - children learning through exploring, doing, discovering, building relationships with others and things. This is an aspect I have always felt was important. I believe that children learn best when they are doing, and doing things that are meaningful to them. I went to an early years science course while in London, and something I remember from there was the analogy of a lemon. We could give children a real lemon to explore, or a plastic container that looked like a lemon, or else a photo of a lemon. But the only way they could truly understand was to be provided with a real lemon. The same applies to every aspect of early years learning. The best way to provide a quality learning environment is for the children and the adults to learn how to listen with all the senses. As a team in the nursery, the presentation has impacted on our planning. Not just what we will do, but also how we will display this. I have realised that during the past six months or so, most of my displays have been typed up on a computer. I do know that this makes for a tidy presentation, but I noticed one of the kindergartens shown used only hand written words. I won't go that far, but I was reminded of how it is important for a balance of text to be displayed, and for children to see writing happening. The headings for our planning wall are now hand written, and as they were being written the children showed a lot of interest. Ava sat and really focused on the letters and words being formed. I will try and ensure a lot more of this happens

Foot gloop

One thing I have noticed recently is that a lot of 'activities' provided have been paint based- one or two children seated at the table, paint provided, and told what they need to do with the resources provided. I would like to introduce more child interest based activities, which allows for more freedom to explore and enjoy different textures, feelings, being with others, sharing, cooperation, etc.

One activity I had provided recently was gloop, but instead of having it at a table, I provided it in bowls for the children to explore with their feet.

I felt that this activity really fitted in with the Exploration strand of Te Whariki -gaining confidence and control of their bodies, and learning strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning.

I would like to continue providing these sorts of activities, open-ended exploration with different parts of their bodies - good messy fun.

Use of Te Reo

During our staff meeting (Septemeber 7th 2010), all staff were asked if they could bring in a bicultural resource to share. I brought in a book I had aquired a few years ago titled 'Tangaroa's gift', a New Zealand story of how the paua got it's colours. This book was written in both Maori and English, showing Maori as a text and reinforcing it's value. Having our discussions about the use of Maori in everyday situations made me think though. I do use simple words and phrases, but it is has always been a part of me and where I am from. I do need to keep in mind that not everyone has the same advantage of being exposed to the culture and language in the same way that I was, and I need to be more overt with the knowledge I have. One goal I have set myself is to write up some simple words and phrases in both English and Maori to share with staff in my room, and begin to make some displays for the room and changing room to encourage more natural use of Te Reo.