Guest Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Hi I am new to the thread and would like some of your helpful advice please. Have got an interview where I need to carry out a 20 minute cross curriculur activity based on a creative stimulus such as an object, an image, a piece of music to a group of about 4 Reception children. Have considered using some large sparkly eggs to generate a speech and language activity with lots of talk, exploration, discussion about what the eggs could be, could have come from etc. But this desnt involve many other areas of learning and I would struggle to make it last for 20 minutes! Any ideas to extend this or any other suggestions? Thankyou! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LornaW Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 What about going outside? yoou will meet all curriculum areas there and your stimulus could be a leaf or a conker, teasel, rose hip the list could go on. You could find all sorts of things, see all sorts of things and hear lots of wonerful things. collect these in a basket and bring them back to discuss! Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 What about going outside? yoou will meet all curriculum areas there and your stimulus could be a leaf or a conker, teasel, rose hip the list could go on. You could find all sorts of things, see all sorts of things and hear lots of wonerful things. collect these in a basket and bring them back to discuss! Lorna I like this.The children have control over the stimulus and so therefore gain a sense of ownership of their learning. I have some large ears that the children could wear to listen and could make some glasses that children could wear to look for objects and maybe provide them with clip boards to mark down what they have found or heard. I have some mark making tool belts where children can keep pens and pencils, along with magnifying glasses that they could wear. We could collect objects in a basket and bring them indoors to discuss if we have time, reflecting on what we found and sounds we heard. Problem is Im not really sure what the outdoor area is like and where the interview will be taking place in order to have access outdoors. Another idea I had was to place story props in a bag (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and pass around a circle singing the mystery bag song and children pull out a prop to figure out what the story is. I could introduce numeracy by talking about the different sized bowls and spoons as we go along. Children can then retell me the story as I have 'lost' my book, as Im sure they will know this tale, sequencing pictures or the props and using Pie Corbett's actions for 'first', 'next', 'middle', 'then' and 'the end' that I could introduce. Children could then produce picture story maps on rolled out wallpaper or on laminated hands (wouldnt want them to draw on their own hands!) if we had time which would then lead onto further shared, guided and independent writing activities later in the week which i could describe in my planning. Problem is this is very literacy based and doesnt really have the children up and doing at any point in the 20 mins. I like the first idea. I think i will look into their outdoor learning space and get in touch with the school about whether we could have access to outdoors. Thanks Lorna!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LornaW Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Laumad I like your idea of the story sack just wonder if you are not trying to do too much in a 20 minute session. If you do go outdoors don't use the ears focus on the language the children use and you could talk about size and shape. If you get a chance to visit the school before the interview you could collect some leaves and laminate the leaves then you could introduce the children to the leaves. do they know what they are, where they would find them and then let them go outside in search of the leaves. Listen to what they say etc and then once you have had a look you can bring the children back and see what they have managed to find. Can they match their finds to the leaves you provided? Who has the larges / smallest/ most jagged edged leaf etc??? But if you are more comfortable with the story sack it will make an excellent lesson just reduce it a little! Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Laumad I like your idea of the story sack just wonder if you are not trying to do too much in a 20 minute session. If you do go outdoors don't use the ears focus on the language the children use and you could talk about size and shape. If you get a chance to visit the school before the interview you could collect some leaves and laminate the leaves then you could introduce the children to the leaves. do they know what they are, where they would find them and then let them go outside in search of the leaves. Listen to what they say etc and then once you have had a look you can bring the children back and see what they have managed to find. Can they match their finds to the leaves you provided? Who has the larges / smallest/ most jagged edged leaf etc??? But if you are more comfortable with the story sack it will make an excellent lesson just reduce it a little! Lorna Thanks Lorna. I do love the outdoor idea and think I am going to do it. I just hope they have plenty of stuff for the children to find as I wont have chance to visit beforehand as Im travelling from up north to a southern school the night before which has been a shame. Can provide children with a camera, still include some mark making tools and equipment and can take some laminated leaves, autumn objects from my own setting for them to compare their own findings with. This way I include cross curriculur objectives, mark making, ICT, compare and contrast, size and shape language and so on. My leaves can be a stimulus and if we dont find anything similar, we can always look for something new and direct the activity with their findings as the focus. That is the point of the Early Years after all, to allow children control of their own learning. This would make a good evaluative point to make in the interview afterwards so either way it wouldnt be a disaster!. What do you think? If I were to do the Goldilocks activity however, what would you take out? Your advice has been very helpful. Are you a teacher? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LornaW Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Hi Laumad Glad you have decided to give it a go outdoor learning is very high on agendas at the moment and there is a lot in both Nursery World and EYE magazine. There is an excellent piece in this weeks Nursery World on outdoor psacces on our doorsteps! I have been a teacher, headteacher and LA adviser but am now retired and doing some of my own thing with consultancy etc but have just recently finished working with practitioners on a wonderful topic using the outdoor for learning. I love the idea you will take a camera and mark making tools - brilliant! Believe me no matter what outside area the school has or does not have they will find something even if it is a cheesy bug under a stone! Spiders are great at this time of the year they are everywhere! It is about letting children really search!Taking your own objects also will mean if it is a barren desert then you will have something to fall back on. If you go for Goldilocks then I would finish at the Pie Corbett piece and leave out... Children could then produce picture story maps on rolled out wallpaper or on laminated hands (wouldnt want them to draw on their own hands!) if we had time which would then lead onto further shared, guided and independent writing activities later in the week which i could describe in my planning. Problem is this is very literacy based and doesnt really have the children up and doing at any point in the 20 mins. .... as you will have already covered 20 minutes I bet but there are lots of excellent class teachers on here who can give more advice onn this. Having interviewed many times the thing I see the most is trying to fit in too much so the learning gets lost! Where in the south are you coming to as you can see I am in Kent? Good luck let us know how it goes. Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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