Guest Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Hi. My head has set 'supporting gifted and talented pupils' as a target for me for my perfromance management. I'm not really sure what I should be doing other than the usual differentiation! Does anyone have any ideas? I am meeting with my head soon to review what I have done on the issue!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Cannot really help, but share your angst - we have a high achieving 3 year old in our setting; anything you can suggest would be welcome, I will send anything we hit on to you. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Hi we have a high achieving 3 yr old too. we just keep an eye on his IPPs and plan accordingly........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 Maybe talking to your KS1 colleagues, and finding out what work they have that you could adapt/steal Investigational Maths activities are always a good one to share between year groups; maybe they have some open-ended games you could keep in a box file somewhere to whip out for extensional activities for the high-flier(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 We have some extention activities for our very bright children they are usually very motivated and are able to work on these with minimal adult imput. We also have computer games and some interesting George Luck puzzles they rearly enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Mimi, George Luck??? Dianne xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 George Luck is a British company producing hand crafted multi layered educational puzzles. They are wonderful, not cheap but they last, they will even provide replacement pieces if they get lost. Try the undecided Toy Company. email them at utc@fsmail.net they will upload graphics of their range and take mail order enquiries. Put Foundation Stage in the subject box to identify your email as genuine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Vickyjane I was concerned that you had said that the Head had set your pm targets. Didnt you have any say in the matter? Is this the same for everyone else? I certainly chose mine. Mimi, I had heard that George Luck had been taken over by another company who would be no longer producing in Britain but were moving production to China. Does anyone know anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 I had not heard that but will see if I can find out from my contacts. I had heard they recently had a fire but now had a new factory with laser technology, they used to work from a large shed in the back garden. George's daughter designs all the puzzles so if they are produced in China I hope they will be to her designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Thanks for your reply Mimi, I'll try an email and see what I can find out (& then there's yet another thing to add to my wish list!) Dianne xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 we have a bright child in our group .... gifted Im not quite sure? but we are aware that the child is being "pushed" at home and at 3 able to read write and count but there are so many other areas of development that she is "just average" if there is such a term? we are trying to explain to her parents that she needs all areas of development stimulated and not just focuse on the traditional "3R's" its such a sensative subject! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Gifted children? Two of my three children were not early, but quick-progressing, readers. Both had reading ages of 11+ when they were 5. Neither were readers before they started school. One was also gifted at maths (she did her yr 2 SAT in reception). When they were at pre-school (I was just a mum then), I knew they needed something more (than the proscribed activities provided). They both loved being at pre-school, and I knew that they were experiencing the social side of life. So, to compensate - at home, we played endless games (make-believe, board games, story-telling), we made things (oh, what things - mostly nameless!), we painted, jumped in puddles, and did everything. Now, as a pre-school worker, I firmly believe that we CAN extend children of pre-school age without enforcing the national curriculum upon them! Some will be reading, etc., before they start school - this may happen of its own accord, or the parents may progress this (in either case, we can support it, without excluding any other aspect of the child's pre-school experiences, but we can give them so much more than that). I aim to give the able children the opportunity to be imaginative (whether in role-play, craft, or anything), to use and develop their verbal skills, and to use their intellectual maturity in social ways. I suppose that what I do with (not just the able, but all) children in my setting is keep them enthusiastic and busy. Just what I did with my own children! The important thing to me is to make sure that every child has good fun, great discoveries, and achievements to be proud of. That is how I extend children. Diane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gezabel Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Ooooh! Diane What a lovely message!! I second everything you say. I long to get away from profiles and ticking a box for a toddlers achievement!! OK so observations, records etc etc do have an important part to play but personally I feel they are not "the B all and end all" when working to do our best for little people! I am getting increasingly concerned about the growing emphasis on presenting the foundation stage to such young children. Alot of our parents are VERY keen to see evidence of the 3 R's as opposed to their children "just playing" and it can be difficult to get the message across of how important the "just play" is!! I have thought back to when my own children were pre school age and though they had lots of opportunities for being creative in many areas, including paper and writing materials I can't recall "teaching" them, (sort of formally I mean!) how to write letters or numbers. I asked my youngest son (21 next week) what he could remember doing at home before he went to school and his reply was "I remember one day you had promised to take us on a picnic and it was pouring with rain so we had one under the kitchen table! We wandered round the house looking for a good place, with the picnic hamper and you put the sheet right over the table down to the floor and we crawled underneath - it was brilliant!" Back to the parents of our pre-schoolers - they seem "target orientated" wanting them to write, read etc before they start school, the feeling is this is good preparation for SATS and that if they start young then they will have an advantage later on. I would be interested to hear views on this. Great emphasis seems to be put on excellent test results and an early start is supposedly the answer. I am not convinced this is so! Simply because my own children were not early starters and have done more than alright! I can't actually remember exactly how many GCSE's my son has but 12 or 13 and the lowest grade was one B, the 4 A levels are all top grade and he has a first class honours degree. This isn't me being a boastful mum at all just an illustration that it squashes the theory that formal teaching for pre school children is necessary for good exam results in later life. Sometimes I just want to scream "They are little more than babies just let them be!" OOps didn't mean to rant on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Geraldine, Your picnic story is exactly the sort of thing I think children need . It reminds me of the time when my eldest was nearly 2. It had snowed a little overnight. I could see it would not last until she was up, dressed and breakfasted, so I hurtled into the garden, collected a washing-up bowl full of snow and put it into the freezer. When my daughter woke, I put her coat and wellies on her (over her pj's), and she had her first experience of snow - all 5 minutes of it - before it started raining. After breakfast, we built mini snowmen on the kitchen floor. She is now 17 and still remembers! People thought I was crazy when they heard about it. Diane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 reading all these wonderful stories, I now feel a tad guilty. I had parents' evening last week and my interpretation of what I was told,(by an excellent teacher by the way who thinks that Europe has it right!) that my daughter does not always work to her full potential. This is my interpretation of her comments and I agreed that she could be pushed a little bit harder! Why???????????? She's only 4!! I wish that, as a mum, I could uphold all my educational principles that I fight for at school. I might add that I don't do anything 'academic' or push her to achieve. I wite etc with her, read, play, make, splash and splosh and have fun. I feel though that whatever I do, it's not quoite right somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gezabel Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Oh Kate! I am sure you are a WONDERFUL Mum. You say you write, read,play, make, splash, splosh and have fun - sums it up very nicely and sounds very, VERY right to me. I would stop worrying and carry on as you are, enjoy having fun with your little daughter because believe me before you know it she will be "all grown up" and you will be wondering where the years have gone!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Kate, I can't believe you think that!!! You're very creative and give S. the opportunities and the space she needs to make decisions about her own creativity. That's the best possible combination I can think of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Thanks everyone, lots of your messages just confirm what I think (though what my head will think I am not sure!!) Just give children time to be children - to exercise their imagination, test out their ideas, to talk and be listened to. The 'gifted' children will extend themselves if given the opportunity to do these things. Of course we support them in their chosen play - I hope this doesn't sound like a cop out. I'm sure if we just give them time to be children they can be 'gifted' later!!! I think it's all about treating all children as individuals - I feel a bit uncomfortable with prioritising particular children, whether SEN or gifted. Thanks Mimi for your suggestion - what other kinds of things do you have as extension activities? ( I have no budget for the George Luck puzzles!) I think this might be the kind of thing my head has in mind - a box of activities for these children to refer to. SHe has mentioned 'challenge cards' to me. And Mundia, I think you are right too, I should be setting my own performance targets but sometimes you can get a bit bulldozed! I shall be more prepared with my own list of targets next year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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