Interview, Circle Time

[Guest]

Hi all,

I have an interview for a children's centre teacher on Thursday. I feel the role could suit me. I need to prepare a circle time activity for a mixed group of nursery children, which I would love to do. I now need some people to share my ideas with

 

It is tricky to plan for a group of children that you don't know. I was thinking along the lines of

- an animal activity, naming and talking about animal's appearance using toy animals followed by some animal songs or

- a counting activity where they have to count the number of children in group and some dice games or number songs

 

How have other people tackled this? obv I need to be ready to adapt the activity according to the response of the children.

 

And also, I have to give a presentation on how I see my role in working together with the parents to ensure the best outcomes for all children. I have gathered some ideas and done some research and I wondered if there was anyone who would be willing to look at my notes (which r in no means the final draft but just an outline of what I think i want to say) If you want to provide ur email address I would be v grateful.

 

Thanks xxx

[Guest]

Hi

When you say circle time do they expect you to have a strong PSE focus? If so maybe some of the SEAL guidance could help you.

 

http://www.bandapilot.org.uk/primary/seal/years_fs.html

 

I think your idea to sing songs songs (especially ones with stand up actions) is good.

Hope all goes well. Good luck.

[Guest Wolfie]

Hi Jen - I'll gladly have a look at your notes - you can PM me through this site if you want?

[Guest]

Hi

When you say circle time do they expect you to have a strong PSE focus? If so maybe some of the SEAL guidance could help you.

 

http://www.bandapilot.org.uk/primary/seal/years_fs.html

 

I think your idea to sing songs songs (especially ones with stand up actions) is good.

Hope all goes well. Good luck.

 

I think circle time is the general term given to a whole group session where children have a short directed teaching session. Often children do routine tasks, eg the date and weather and count children etc, so i'm not sure if it refers particulary to PSHE , I could do something based on seal. I love doing that sort of thing. i would love to do some songs but don't want to only do singing.

Thanks for wishing me luck, it should be good,

xx

[Guest]

I think you should play to you strengths.It has to be something you are totally comfortable with possibly something that has worked successfully for you before or at least have a dry run with children you know.I would be doing a story with props and envolving the chilren in some drama roleplay but thats my comfort zone you need to use yours

[Guest]

Hiya, i've been thinking and I think I will do the following:

 

Count fingers up to 5 and then 10 and practise counting with fingers waving when we get to five and ten,

sing Ten Little fingers: anyone heard of it? its quite a good one

Count the boys and then the girls and adults, and then everyone if fewer than 10 children

Play a game with a large dice and chn take turns rolling the dice and counting the dots and doing that many claps, nods, jumps, etc ... ask the children what they want to do

End by singing ten little fingers again,

 

What do people think?

[Guest]

I agree with biccy- do something that is tried and tested so you feel comfortable doing it.

I love the very hungry caterpillar story because it covers so many different areas... numbers, healthy eating (and not so healthy eating), growth and development/change, you can talk about which fruit the kids enjoy eating etc. You can get free resources to go with it on sparklebox or use puppets if you have them.

[Guest]

Ten little fingers and they all belong to me, I can make them do things would you like to see? I like that one

 

Do you have a large dice to take -don't bank on one being available.I would use a number one so you are linking number recognition as well as one-one counting in your warm up

[Guest]

The interview letter said a fifteen minuite circle time activity, do you think as part of that it would be ok to share a book providing theres lots of discussion and chances for the children to speak. I have this lovely book by Paeony Lewis called I'll always love you about a bear who keeps making mistakes and the mum assures him that she will always love him no matter what. Its one that children can relate to and will lead to discussion after and before the story is shared.

I wanted to abandon the counting idea, simply had a change of heart and sharing and discussing stories is something that i enjoy and I can do with enthusiasm.

[Guest]

hiya all, thanks v much for your advice. Unfortunately I didn't get the job but my presentation went well and my circle time activity went well. in the end i stuck to the counting thing. Sang ten little fingers and then 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree, found 5 lovely little monkeys and it went down well with the kids. Think i stumbled on a few of the questions about Sure Start so need to read up before applying for a similar post.

 

It was def worth applying for tho.

 

Thanks again to everyone for ur support, will use this forum loads in the future

Jen xx

[Susan]

Sorry to hear that you didnt get the job, Jen. Better luck next time.