lizzie Posted June 24, 2004 Posted June 24, 2004 OK so now i have finally finished the dissertation (please no one ever mention brain gym and philosophy for children as i get a nervous twitch when i hear those words!) and now waiting for results.. yippeee its all over now i can have my very own class... well that is if someone wants me!!!!? i have now started to apply for jobs and one poor school have succumbed to my banter and offered me an interview... so who can recommend a good story to develop language skills in reception classroom? i need to read a story to show how i would develop language skills... as my brain is numb i thought the good people out there would be able to say get a grip and look at these titles! i have 15 mins to prove my brillance as a reception teacher i have a nice lesson plan/proforma for story session with learning objectives and activities and where other rhymes etc would fit in that i will use (to show my professionalism and all that) but a kick start is just what i need. the interview in on 6th July any one... please....is any one out there?!!!!!! Lizzie ps i know i trained for this but i think i must have slept through the lecture on interview techniques!!
Helen Posted June 24, 2004 Posted June 24, 2004 Hi Lizzie, I think the best books to develop the children's language skills have to be ones where there is a lot of fun repetition. My three favourites are: 1) Ridiculous! by Michael Coleman (Lots of different animals see a tortoise who refuses to hibernate, and keep saying "A tortoise out in winter? That's ridiculous!" Our children love saying long words like that!) 2) Peace at Last, by Jill Murphy. Daddy bear can't sleep anywhere in the house because noises prevent him from falling asleep. He keeps on moving from place to place, saying "Oh no! I can't stand this!" 3) The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffer. Lots of rhymes and repetitive phrases. Great book! Hope these suggestions help, and good luck with the preparation.
Susan Posted June 24, 2004 Posted June 24, 2004 HI Lizzie, glad to hear the dissertation is finished etc and wish you luck with the results. have long have you got to wait? There are so many wonderful stories out there, I think you might need to start with the learning objective/s you are going to use and find a suitable story. at this end of the school year the children will presumably be able to concentrate for a reasonable length of time, although often its surprisisng how concentration can be extended with a good story! On the other hand if your total time is not very long, a shorter story might be better? How about a story and some role play to retell and sequence. You could reinforce listening skills and children's knowledge of beginning, middle and end and talk about characters etc. Can the children extend the story by suggesting what happened next. Or you could get descriptive writing with a story like "The Griffalo", children could tell one another about a monster and then write their own descriptions. You could scribe a class description and model writing techniques? Scope for rhyming words too. I've mentioned language skills in the literacy sense but actually thought you meant, communication and thinking skills at first so do be careful you get the emphasis right or perhaps its openended and doesnt matter? Good luck.
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