Friday 10 February 2017

First Week Back

We had a great first week back.  The zones we have created and the loose parts area, together with the dress up area have allowed for everything to run really smoothly.

Its incredibly interesting to watch children and their interactions and to have the time to really step in when needed or to simply observe.  We wont start formal reading till week 3 but I can already see that this is going to fit in beautifully.  We are having a go at seesaw along with our individual journals and think this strategy will really give us some lovely deep understandings of the children.

We have 21 children at the moment with four more to come this term.  It has been really pleasing to see how quickly they have settled into school.  Our class is destined to grow hugely this year and is is very positive to see that this play-based approach can help them settle in so well.

The beauty of mess and the organic nature of the day is so rewarding, the fact that children can leave something and come back to it, or to even contribute to the same piece of work over the day is fantastic.

We've watched the first to growth mindset videos on class dojo and children really responded to this.   One of our newest starters was able to very accurately articulate how learning can be hard but we just have to try our best and not give up.  Eating together has been an awesome way to get to know the children and to give those children having difficulty making friends some gentle social coaching.

Number agents is being established through drama ....this week we used one prop each as part of our space game. Remarkably they are really confident and accepting of each other already so I think we will begin hooking in during week 3.  I am really looking forward to getting the company up and running.

The first video made by Hannah our puppet was LOVED by the children and really got them thinking about friendship and emotions, I am looking forward to them meeting Ian next week.  We watched the video twice, which is not something I would usually do, but when we played the video for the second time, their answers to her were so much deeper, they had made lovely connections and this was fabulous to see.










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