We had another great morning making dens with the Y5/6 children. Some were coming to help for the second time and you could really see that they had learned a great deal from working with the children yesterday.
I put out Art Straws and various joining items in the afternoon and was chuffed to see that a number of children replicated their dens in straws!
When we had finished working this morning I asked the Y5/6 if they wanted to stay and play with the children – which of course they did! When I say play ' with ' that is a bit of an over statement! We ended up with Y6 in the water tray, the compost and in full costume in the role play whilst the Nursery looked on agog!
There was a group of boys who were eager to have a go at making dough, having seen the Nursery children do it. They absolutely loved it. So much so that I have asked their teacher if they can come down tomorrow and help the children to make their daily dough supply. I think it is very empowering for the Y6 to be given that role of responsibility and I know that the Nursery children (especially the boys) think they are ACE!!
The school I am working in also has a behaviour unit attached to it which at the moment has 15 boys (no girls) in it. I popped in today to say hello to the boys and they were asking me all about the escaped gerbils so I invited them all down this afternoon to come and have a look. We got a gerbil out and they were all able to touch it and talk about it (whilst sat on the talk sofa). I know there are lots of Health and Safety issues to consider with class pets but I have to say these gerbils have been more than worth it!
' Sex in the club ' drew on the interactive whiteboard with a purple biro today! I said to her ' what have you done?' she replied ' I have done a picture – it's got boobs!' Which wasn't what I meant but sure enough on further inspection it did indeed have boobs and a head that joined the body and two arms and two legs! Her drawing is certainly coming along. No ferrets nestling that I could see though!
Have got a HT from Northern Ireland, who discovered me through the blog, flying over to spend the day in Nursery tomorrow, plus one of the teachers I have been working with on the Blackpool transition project coming in to work with Reception staff, plus a network meeting after school for about 40 schools to come and have a look at the setting and talk about planning – so a nice quiet day all round!
Speaking of planning… one of the Reception teachers had just come to the end of her first ' theme ' based on the child initiated medium term planner. Her class decided that they wanted to set up their own restaurant. They planned the menus, trialled different sorts of food, made menus, printed table cloths, set up a working kitchen with ' stations and loads more. Their end event was to invite me and a selection of nursery children to dine. It was brilliant. we were shown to our seats and were given menus and cutlery by waiters and waitresses. We then made our selections from the menu and the kitchen worked to produce our food. Both sets of children absolutely loved it.
Undoubtedly the Reception have learned loads and had a great time doing it!
Alistair
3 Comments on “Den Making Take Two!”
All looks great as always! Kids so engaged! We are trying out some of your ideas in our reception class and will continue into the next term. It would be great to see a completed version of the Medium Term Plan used by the reception class, is that possible? We are just trying to put together our first one using a very similar format to the one you use. Had a meeting with my TAs today, they looked scared but are up for a change. Keep the blogs coming! Julie x
I love reading this Blog and find myself looking forward to reading what you and the children have done next. I love seeing the involvement and concentration on the childrens faces…it’s great!
Keep up the good work.
Shelley.x.
Fabulous Al. I know nothing about Nursery, I’m more of a year 5/6 girl myself but this is a breath of fresh air! Come to our place! They’d love you
Karen x