Supporting_Learning_and_Play_in_Pre-School

Unit 1 – Supporting play and learning in the pre-school setting “Play is the highest form of Research”, Albert Einstein, Scientist P1 – Discuss how play supports children’s learning Play is an activity which a child can enjoy, explore, express, learn and develop skills, be creative and imaginative with and be challenged with. Play is not just a break from learning but it’s the way young children learn, from being a baby to toddler to a junior, the child grows and develops skills through different activities including play. These important skills will help them through out their childhood into their adult life. From an early age children start to learn that some things roll and some things don’t, some things can be stacked and some can’t. Different play activities help develop different areas of development, while group play can enhance social and emotional development it may also help build intellectual and language skills. During role play/imaginary play children dress up and pretend to be in a certain situation this will develop their language, communication and intellectual skills all in one activity. In my setting the home corner has costumes/dresses of different occupations and cultures, I have seen some of the children dress up in saree’s and trousers and skirts and pretend they are at a party. Sometimes they dress up as nurse or fireman and try to act out the role, this shows how much children are aware of the world. From interacting with each other they are learning about their different cultures and what is the importance of a Fireman or a nurse, they are also increasing there vocabulary by listening to each other and picking up new words. Children also choose to play by themselves, this gives them the opportunity to explore in-depth and be themselves. “In their play, children invent the world for themselves and create a place for themselves in it. They are re-creating their pasts and imagining their futures, while grounding themselves in the reality and fantasy of their lives here-and-now”. (www.trevorcairney.blogspot.com/2008/02, 28.04..11) Children show their different emotions through play and learn how to be sensitive towards others, how to share and wait for their turn, they also learn how to problem solve. Children imitate what they see and always question and are eager to show what they have learnt when playing with each other or when in adult directed play. It is every child’s right to play and it is important that all children irrespective of their race, color or creed be able to take part in play activities, activities can be adapted to cater for children with special needs so they do not feel left out. For example children with hearing or visual impairment can be given toys and instruments with sensory or textured material so they may be able to smell or feel the object. The Early Years Foundation stage use play in each of the following key areas of the foundation stage curriculum: • Personal, Social and Emotional Development • Communication, Language and Literacy • Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy • Knowledge and Understanding of the world • Physical Development • Creative Development P6 – Discuss ways the pre-school setting works in partnership with parents to support children’s learning Partnership with parents is a very important factor in the development of the child. In many ways the co-operation between the pre-school setting and parents can increase the volume of learning a child can achieve. Outside of Pre-school parents and guardians play a unique role in supporting developing skills. They can carry on certain activities at home. Parents can support learning at home by giving their children time for play, playing with them, play with toys or games suggested by their child, praise and encourage the child, make it fun so all can enjoy. Settings often send home News letters or inform the parents of activities that are taking place in the setting or a specific topic that the children are going to be taught, this is a good opportunity for the parents to show their interest and get involved in their child’s learning and Parents can get involved by providing resources from home or taking part in activities in the setting. They can provide old clothes and costumes for dressing up, fruits and vegetables for cooking, food like sandwiches, cakes and biscuits, drinks and cutlery for parties. My setting recently celebrated culture week and British culture week, they informed parents 2 weeks ahead of the celebration and asked the parents if they could come in and talk to the children about and show them musical instruments, folk stories, celebrations, traditional dance and childhood games in their culture. They were asked to dress their children in cultural clothes and bring in food if convenient. During British culture week, the setting parents were asked to wear Red, White and Blue and if they could donate biscuits, cakes or drinks for the strawberry fair to be held at the end of the day and also asked them to help their child design a wedding invitation to the Royal Wedding. By involving parents it sends a positive message to the children and seeing their parents helping out and taking part in activities boosts their confidence and encourages the children to attain a positive attitude which promotes a happy and healthy environment for the children in the setting. Parents also have a responsibility to ensure that they are well informed of their child’s progress, reading the daily activity plan posted on the wall or on the notice board, looking at the their child’s work which is sent home and reading the news letters and daily diary will keep them aware of their child’s development in all the key areas of the curriculum. If they have any concerns or suggestions they should take it up with the setting. The setting should keep the parents informed of both negative and positive progress of their child, this can be done by speaking to the parent at arrival or at home time to either have a brief word or set up a one to one meeting, by letter or phone asking them to come in at a convenient time or at parents day. P7- Identify ways to develop your own practice in supporting children’s learning. In my setting I planned an activity, a discussion on a recent zoo trip, I included children with ESOL in the group, I also asked them to write a few sentences and draw a picture of their favourite animal there. I found that children were able to discuss their trip and how they spent the day and interact wit each other, the ESOL children were unable to contribute a lot and therefore had difficulty in writing about their experience and needed support. From this I concluded that in future activities, the children with ESOL and myself would benefit from visual aids and to speak to them more during the day to help develop their language skills. While observing the teacher I found that it is a good idea to sometimes do a one to one activity with the children who need support. While working in the setting I have learnt that by making observations of the children while they are playing and noting down the children’s language in detail, will help me to assess when to intervene and while planning activities they must appropriate for that specific age group. Taking time to talk to them about their play and what they have learnt can also help in developing my own practice. M1- Explain why Adult Interactions with children are an important part of supporting children. Adults can guide and extend play by responding to the child at play, while observing children in an activity the adults praise and encourage the child by questioning and making suggestions to encourage further development. Risk assessment while planning an activity in order to ensure safe play and make the children aware of dangers to them. Adults should be there to interact with child when they need help or are stuck, sometimes children become bored this is where an adult can step in and make it interesting. In my setting adults interaction encourages the children to build their skill by praising them for e.g., in the role play area, there is a ice cream parlour set up, children pretend they are buying and enjoying there ice cream and pay with pretend money and learn about the different flavours and denomination of money, if they do not understand the concept of money the adult is there to explain and help. During outdoor play, one child was sitting on a buggy looking bored and at the same time reluctant to give it away and try something else, so one of the key workers approached him and asked him, “where are you driving to', how far is it', will you stop on the way for a bite to eat'”, this encouraged the child’s imagination, who then replied, “to the big Park…..”he was then happily speeding away in his buggy. The adult interaction in this case was to make the play interesting rather than taking the child off the buggy. In both of the above activities the interactions kept the children focused and keep them from getting bored. Adults role in supporting learning also entails being able to communicate with children according to their age and development. Babies – 10 months: Babies use crying and facial expressions and it is important to be able to understand their emotions, body language is also important and therefore more physical gestures like hugs should be used to comfort them. 10 mths -2 years: they are just beginning to talk so it is best to speak slowly as they also imitate at this age, be careful what you say and how you say it, use simple language also look out for body language. 2 yrs -5yrs:get down to their level, show a friendly and caring approach so they do not hesitate to express their emotions or feelings, show more affection to them. Children with special needs may need other modes of communication such as, Visual System, Picture Exchange System, Sign representation and British Sign Language. Some children are shy of speaking in public and therefore opt for voluntary muteness, in such cases picture cards and picture exchange system may be used to communicate. D – Explain how child initiated and adult directed play activities support children’s learning. ‘A self initiated activity is an activity wholly decided on by the child and is the result of an intrinsic motivation to explore a project, or express an idea. In doing this the child may make use of a variety of resources and demonstrate a complex range of knowledge, skills and understanding.’ (QCA, 2008), The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile handbook, (http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/child-initiated-learning-6861, 19/05/2011) Child initiated play is the most attractive to the child and fun, as they can choose what they want to play with and is often known as “free play”. As the child is involved in what they enjoy doing they can concentrate for a longer period of time. ‘Child-initiated learning enables the children to work with confidence, persevering for incredibly long periods of time and working at levels far higher than those sometimes identified in the planned curriculum.’ (Corfield, 2005) (http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/child-initiated-learning-6861, 19.05.2011) Child initiated play makes the child to use and develop thinking skills, by asking how and why' Investigating and discussing their ideas and problem solving with the other children. They will learn by making their own mistakes as they will be more interested in investigating their failures. During child initiated play, observations can be made of the child’s interest are weaknesses and strengths and can help the setting plan ahead. Adult interaction has to be careful and should be only when needed to assist or for safety reasons. ‘Adult directed activities, where the Adult is leading the activity or play’ (P.Tassoni, page 176, 2007). Adult directed activities are to teach specific skills or a lesson and are planned by the adult. This could used to teach a key area of the curriculum. This gives the setting a chance to check on the child’s development progress and plan a learning plan for the particular child. Although Adult directed activities are important for the development of skills, they can also have a negative effect, so it is important that they are carefully planned. Children may become bored and frustrated which may cause them not to concentrate and therefore will not be able to learn the specific skill being taught. In my setting, during the school day, children are provided with child initiated and adult directed activities. On one table there is an adult directed activity, for example this term children are learning basic addition. While children are free to choose their activities, a group of 6 children are called to the adult directed table. On the table there are small hoops with two number cards for e.g., 2 and 4, children are asked to count out those numbers using small animals and then add them by counting all of them in the hoop. The purpose of this activity is to teach them addition, during this activity the teacher will assess their thinking skills, recognition of numbers and problem solving all in one activity to see their stage of development. Children who are free to choose their activity have a range of choices like the home corner where they can role play, play dough and sticky table, drawing and painting, puzzles, construction and outdoor play. When the teacher calls a couple of the children who are in free play, they are reluctant to come over as they want to carry on playing with their chosen activities and say “not yet” and “I don’t want to”. In the above activities, difference of interest between the adult directed and child initiated play is apparent, child initiated is most attractive activity and initial reaction is to avoid the adult directed activity and carry on with their chosen activities which are more interesting to them. M2 Bibliography Tassoni, P (2007). Child Care and Education. 3rd ed. London: Heinemann. 176. Tassoni, P (2007). Child Care and Education. 3rd ed. London: Heinemann. 38, 40, 154. Einon's, D (2001). Complete Book of Child Care and Development. London: Marshall Publishing. 94-110. Meggitt, C (2006). Child Development, An illustrated Guide. 2nd ed. London: Heinemann. p82-83. Tripod . (). Montessori Wisdom. Available: http://junojuno2.tripod.com/words.html. Last accessed 28th Jan 2011. How Kids Develop. (2008). How a Child Develops - Develop Skills. Available: http://www.howkidsdevelop.com/developSkills.html#devMilestone. Last accessed 29th Jan 2011. Richards, Jill. (2010). Poverty & Child Development. Available: http://www.livestrong.com/article/232889-poverty-child-development/. Last accessed 03rd Feb 2011. NACCRRA. (2011). Sleep: An important part of Healthy Development. Available: http://www.childcareaware.org/en/subscriptions/dailyparent/volume.php'id=61. Last accessed 03rd Feb 2011 Dept for Education. (2008). Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Pack. Available: http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationdetail/page1/DCSF-00261-2008. Last accessed 09th Feb 2011. Drake, J. (2006). Working with Parents to support Children's Learning. Available: http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/721165/working-parents-support-childrens-learning/'DCMP=ILC-SEARCH. Last accessed 11th Feb 2011 teachingexpertise. (2005). working with parents in developing successful partnership. Available: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/developing-successful-partnership-272. Last accessed 11th Feb 2011 naccrra. (2011). It's a Win-Win Situation: When Parents and Providers Work Together. Available:http://www.childcareaware.org/en/subscriptions/dailyparent/volume.php'id=29Last accessed 12th Feb 2011 Le Page, K. (2010). Observation Methods for Assessing Child Development. Available: http://www.suite101.com/content/observation-methods-for-assessing-child-development-a242883. Last accessed 13th Feb 2011. essortment. (2010). Selective mute: Is your child mute or just shy'. Available: http://www.essortment.com/selective-mute-child-mute-just-shy-36348.html. Last accessed 6th April 2011 dspace. (). Guided interaction is pre-school settings. Available: https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/449/1/JCAL%20guided%20interaction%20final.pdf. Last accessed 20th April 2011 William Allen, Ph.D., NCSP. (). Building Social Interaction in Shy Preschool Children . Available: http://www.parent-Childservices.com/handouts/building_social_interaction_in_s.htm. Last accessed 20th April 2011 By pbsparents.org. (2010). How you communicate with preschoolers. http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/how_you_communicate_with_preschoolers_pbs.htm. Last accessed 22nd April 2011. Cairney, T. (2008). The Importance of Play Part 1. Available: http://trevorcairney.blogspot.com/2008/02/importance-of-play-part-1.html. Last accessed 28th April 2011 Clarke, J. (2008). Child Initiated Learning. Available: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/child-initiated-learning-6861. Last accessed 19th May 2011.