In this outdoor painting space, I wanted the children to be able to use all of the skills that they had learned about painting indoors and apply them in a different way outdoors. I used 2 artists easels because they are easy to put up, collapse and adjust. Plus they give the children some experience of the equipment that a professional artist might use. To stand on the easel and hold the paper I had 2 pieces of thin plywood cut to size for me at B+Q. To cover the board, I used lining paper from Wilko’s as this can be as large or small depending on the preferences of the children. To make the paint you will need Bowls … Read More
Tales Toolkit – A resource worth having!
Good morning! Hope you had a good week. I took ‘Excellence in Early Years’ up to Scotland for my first official ABC Does conference North of the boarder in Glasgow. I had such a great day with a great bunch of people. I even got my own tin of Hawick mint balls to compare with the tin of Uncle Joe’s that I got when I went to Wigan. I will let you know which one I prefer! I will definitely be back to Scotland! Off to Belfast next week – I will see you there if you are coming… When I first came across Tales Toolkit, I loved the simplicity of it. I have featured on my blog a couple of times and … Read More
We All Have A Story – A Guest Post from Trisha Lee
This weekend I have got a guest post from Trisha Lee who uses ‘helicopter stories’ to promote creativity and story telling. Over to you Trisha… We All Have A Story By Trisha Lee Helicopter Stories is in theory a simple approach, the practitioner sits with the child and scribes their story verbatim. Then the whole class gather to act these stories out. The complexity of this model lies in its child-centred foundations. Based on the work and ethos of Vivian Gussin Paley, Helicopter Stories creates a non-judgemental environment for children to share their narratives, a place where nothing they do is wrong. Used regularly, Storytelling and Story Acting quickly becomes an activity that all children want to engage with, regardless … Read More
Cursive Writing in Reception – A Good Idea?
I am regularly get emails from Reception practitioners saying that they have been told they have to teach cursive writing to their children, even though it is against their better judgement. They usually ask two questions. 1) Would I recommend it? and 2) How do you teach it? My my answers are usually : ‘I wouldn’t’ and ‘don’t’. Or, ask the person who has told you you have to do it. They must have a plan! I appreciate none of the above are actually very helpful, but fundamentally I don’t think that it is developmentally appropriate for Reception children to be cursive writing. Most (not all ) of the teachers that I have worked with who do cursive writing with Reception tell … Read More