Adventures In Learning

[Guest]

Hi,

The whole school is starting a focussed project on Learning styles, different ways in which we learn and about how we can improve learning. It came as a result of a handout on a Creative projects day so is being led by the SMT.

My challenge is how to explain to my Reception Class how they learn and what helps them to learn. The starting point is what helps me to learn best and had thought of whole class discussion and then 4 different types of learning activity which children would rotate round and record at each activity and then discuss which they preferred. But my class are only 4 and 5 years old and I really am not certain whether this is the best way to approach this and what we will have sorted out at the end. The end result has to go up on a whole school display in a weeks time before open evening and the SIP visit.

 

I can see lots of ways of this working further up the school eg Yr6 have talked about things they prefer to do and not do when learning but struggling with my class.

 

Any help really appreciated as we need to be seen to be taking an active part in the project whilst making it appropriate to Reception

 

Nicky Sussex

[Guest]

Not to sure on this one- the only thing i could think of was whilst the children were doing the four different activities,

you could give them post it notes with happy and sad faces on and they could decide on what they liked and disliked!

Maybe you could discuss and count the happy and sad faces when finished and record it some how??

 

Hope that helps a little xx

[Lorna]

I would base some activities over a number of lessons based on the VAK learning styles.

So have visual learning were there are things to look at, Auditory- activities that promote learning and Kinesthetic activities that the children can do.

I would then observe the children and how they interact with the activities that are available. Asking them which activity they enjoyed the most and why. The children should then be able to say which way they enjoy learning best and you would have some good observations of the children's prefered learning styles.

 

 

You could also link this to their individual learninng and continuous provision for example an interest in plants- reading simple text about plants, looking at a range of different plants and planting seeds and gardening. Covering the VAk and also being child friendly.

 

Hope that helps a little

[Rea]

I visited at nursery where the excellent teacher told the children at the start of the session that 'today we are going to get cleverer at...' She then went on to tell them how. It might be a way of introducing the vocabulary needed and a variety of activities to support it. You could then ask them if they feel cleverer from doing the activities.

[Cait]

I'd do something like described above - the different styles of learning. First I'd read a recipe for buns, just baldly read it. All go off to play then 20 mins later call them back and ask if they can remember.

Then you could show a video of buns being made, again, off to play and then the call back - what can you remember

Finally the kinaesthetic one - get them to make buns, you could go shopping for ingredients, look and taste different types of flour - can they taste which is self raising? feel the texture of the flour. squidge the butter, splurge the eggs, counting, weighing, measuring etc, writing the recipe down. oven temperature, bun case counting and of course, eating

then after 20 mins, how much can they remember?

[catma]

Have you considered looking at this from the perspective of what does being good at something mean?

 

For example - ask the children "what does being a good listener mean?"

 

They might be able to tell you about

• Looking at the other person
  
• asking questions to check you understand someone
  
• waiting until someone has finished
  
• being able to repeat what someone has said
  

 

By helping children understand what good means you can help them identify the things they have to be better at as personal "targets" from the agreed list of how to show you have learned to be a good listener. Not quite the same but more realistic for 4 and 5 yr olds??

 

Cxx