contents...discuss different bridal outfits that the children have seen in photographs, shops,...
TRANSCRIPT
to the April issue of Nursery Education PLUS!
Children love all the fun of the farm – being in the great outdoors, with exciting machinery, animals and the sowing of crops – it’s a great theme to explore and inspire every area of learning. Spring is such a busy time with festivals and celebrations (see pages 48–49 for our Easter activities) and children can send ‘Spring greetings’ with an easy-to-make card online – it’s so simple and colourful! There’s lots of useful tips and advice to support you in this bumper issue; we explore the condition ADHD on pages 37–38, fi nd out how to establish effective partnerships with parents on pages 45–46 and start preparations for ‘The Royal Wedding’ on pages 14–15. Now there is no better time to subscribe – you’ll be able to access all of these materials, plus all of our
brilliant resources and interactives that are linked to a whole range of themes – Holi wouldn’t be the same without ‘Colour splash fun’! As a subscriber you know that your magazine will be delivered directly to you, and that you’ll receive regular emails with useful links to our fabulous resources and offers. Spread the word – Nursery Education PLUS is a must-have resource for every Early Years practitioner – saving YOU time and energy!
Tracey Brand,Editor
APRIL 2011
Welcome
14 The Royal Wedding: Celebrate this special big day with fun activities
48 Easter: Lovely ideas to inspire your setting’s festivities
45 Parents as partners: Discover useful advice and tips for including parents in their children’s learning
Features and activitiesOn the cover
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16 Down on the farm: Find out about a childminder’s trip to a farmyard
20 Farmyard friends: Develop communication skills by learning about familiar animals
22 Cultivating crops: Find out more about growth and simple gardening processes
24 Moving machines: Try fun role play activities inspired by farm vehicles
27 Outdoor fun: Great themed ideas to try in your outside area this month
30 Old MacDonald had a band: Great ideas to inspire some musical fun!
37 ADHD: Find out more about this condition in young children
40 Yoga for youngsters: Alternative activities to promote well-being
50 Duck in the Truck: Focus on another favourite tale in our story corner
53 The chicken and the egg: Explore the life cycle of the chicken
54 Spring treats: Yummy recipes for Easter celebrations
TWO GREAT POSTERSFind our ‘Fun on the farm’ themed posters in the centre of this issue, where you’ll also discover great ideas for linking activities and resources to support our themed features on pages 19–25.
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PS Our subscriber offer of the month is
Story Stage CD-ROM: Three Billy Goats Gruff – available from the Scholastic
shop for only £30 – usual cost £50.
3APRIL 2011 NURSERY EDUCATION PLUS
CONTENTSApril issue’s contributors
Call 0845 850 4411Online www.scholastic.co.uk/magazinesEmail [email protected] Write to Linda Dodd, Scholastic Ltd, Freepost CV1034,
Westfi eld Road, Southam, Leamington Spa CV47 0BR.
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Publishing Director Teacher Community
Paula [email protected]
EditorTracey Brand
Assistant Editor Philippa Richards
Designer Lee Churchill
Picture ResearcherSarah Kane
Marketing enquiriesDulcie Ball
Advertising enquiriesShirley Wylde
© Scholastic Ltd 2011ISSN 1755-8883
Nursery Education PLUS is published monthly by the proprietors, Scholastic Ltd, Book End, Range Road, Witney, Oxfordshire OX29 0YD.
Designed using Adobe InDesign. Printed by St Ives plc, St Austell.
Telephone: 01993 893456 Fax: 01993 893222
Website: www.scholastic.co.uk
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and the publisher apologises for any
inadvertent omissions. Crown copyright material is reproduced under the terms of the Click Use Licence. Due to the nature of the web, the publisher cannot
guarantee the content or links of any websites referred to. It is the responsibility of the reader to
assess the suitability of websites.
Acknowledgement Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) for the use of extracts from ‘The Early
Years Foundation Stage’, 2007 © Crown copyright. Reproduced under the terms of the Click Use Licence.
Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations
Regulars and online resources 7 News: Keep up to date
8 Calendar: Don’t miss all of this month’s key events and dates
11 What’s new: The latest products and resources
12 Readers’ pages: Your letters and ideas shared
32 Ten of the best: Fantastic ‘Fun of the farm’ resources to win!
35 Bookshelf: New books with a food theme inspire us this month
53 Next month: What’s coming up in our future issues
Judith HarriesEarly Years teacher and writer
Jean EvansEarly Years consultant and author
Sally GrayEarly Years practitioner and writer
STUDENT OFFER!
Save up to 25% off the cover price when you subscribe
Interactive games
Online resources
Invite children to make seasonal cards with our ‘Spring greetings’ interactive (far left). Then, find out what’s happening in ‘The farmer’s field’ (left).
There’s lots more online right now! If you don’t subscribe yet, you will need the access code to download resources (see below).
1 Farm produce circle-time cards 2 Farmyard map 3 Farm certificates 4 Award rosette template
(also in colour) 5 Dress the scarecrow 6 ADHD info sheet 7 Farm animal dominoes 8 Cross-curricular links 9 Observation and
assessment chart 10 Farm vehicles 11 The farmer grows wheat 12 Farmyard number cards 13 Farm flashcards 14 Parents as partners case study 15 Parents as partners info sheet
Enjoy all of this issue’s resources for FREE by visiting www.nurseryedplus.co.uk and entering the ACCESS CODE: FARMER in the ‘Get started’ panel.
Subscribers can access all of these resources and more from our resource bank by simply logging in with their email and password.
Phoebe DoyleEducational writer
Dr Hannah MortimerEducational Psychologist
Lorelli Mojica Early Years practitioner
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What’s online… What’s online… Expand children’s understanding of weddings and celebrations with ‘Let’s get ready!’ from the March 2011 issue. The activities are free for subscribers to view at www.nurseryedplus.co.uk
ACTIVITIES
PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Atmospheric venuesEarly learning goal: Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs that need to be treated with respect.
What to do
1 Establish children’s awareness of the forthcoming royal wedding. Explain that,
as Christians, the royal couple believe it is important to be married in a Christian place of worship and ask for God’s blessing on their love for each other.
2 Invite children to recall any visits to Christian churches and discuss the role
of certain elements, such as the altar, aisle, organ and vestry, in a traditional wedding.
3 Explain that a royal wedding is usually much larger than the average family
wedding, involving great pomp and ceremony. Explore images of past royal weddings and discuss the chosen venue, Westminster Abbey. Explain that Prince William’s grandmother, the present Queen, was married there and that it is big enough to hold more than 2000 guests.
4 Invite the children to draw and paint their own ideas of an atmospheric
venue for a royal wedding.
COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Dress the royal brideEarly learning goal: Attempt writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions.
What to do
1 Discuss different bridal outfits that the children have seen in photographs,
shops, magazines and books, at weddings or on television.
2 Explain that royal brides have a designer to create an outfit for them. Talk about
how the bride, Kate Middleton, will probably look through a selection of designer’s outfits before choosing the one she likes best.
3 Invite groups of children to create design portfolios for the royal bride to choose
from. Provide them with inspiring bridal catalogues showing dresses, shoes, veils, trains and tiaras that they can cut out and glue to sheets of paper. Encourage the children to use a wide selection of mark-making materials to annotate their portfolios.
4 Display the finished portfolios in a ‘royal wedding’ role play area.
PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY
Royal attendantsEarly learning goal: Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.
What to do
1 Explain that a royal bride often has a chief bridesmaid, as well lots of other
bridesmaids and pageboys to attend to her on the wedding day. If possible search websites for images of past royal weddings to demonstrate this.
2 Ask parents and staff if they have any old bridesmaids’ dresses and pageboys’
trousers and shirts to supplement your dressing-up clothes.
3 Put all of the articles in a pile and invite the children to sort them into dresses
for bridesmaids and shirts and trousers for pageboys.
4 Count up how many complete outfits can be created. Pose problems, for
example: Are there more bridesmaids’ outfits or more pageboys’? How many more dresses will we need so that we have the same number of bridesmaids and pageboys?
5 Have fun dressing up in the outfits.
Flying the flagEarly learning goal: Use language, such as ‘circle’ or ‘bigger’ to describe the shape and size of solids and flat shapes.
What to do
1 Explain that when there is a royal wedding everyone usually has a holiday.
Street parties are held and the people line the streets of London to wave Union flags and cheer the happy couple as they pass by.
2 Buy Union flags and bunting, explore the patterns, point out the triangles and
identify the white and red crosses.
3 Have fun designing and making simple paper flags and bunting to support your
royal wedding role play.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
Royal flowers Early learning goal: Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join materials they are using.
What to do
1 Look at images of wedding flowers and suggest making suitable flowers
for the royal wedding, including a bouquet for the bride, small posies or baskets for the bridesmaids, corsages for mothers and grandmothers and buttonholes for men in the party.
2 Provide a stimulating selection of brightly coloured collage materials, paper, straws
and joining materials. Support with new techniques, such as taping twirled crêpe paper petals and leaves to straw stalks.
3 Use the completed flowers for royal wedding role play.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Colourful confettiEarly learning goal: Move with control and coordination.
What to do
1 Talk about the tradition of throwing confetti at a wedding.
2 Create a large picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton by drawing around a boy
and girl and painting their wedding outfits.
3 Invite the children to create some patriotic confetti by cutting scraps of
red, white and blue paper into tiny scraps. (Explain why you have chosen these colours.)
4 Put the picture of the royal couple on the floor and cover
it with a layer of paste.
5 Have fun standing around the edge of the picture throwing
the confetti at the bride and groom. Leave to dry before putting the picture on display.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Royal jewelleryEarly learning goal: Explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions.
What to do
1 Explain the tradition of passing on special royal jewellery to the bride at a royal
wedding, citing Kate Middleton’s engagement ring which was once owned by Prince William’s mother, Princess Diana, as an example.
2 Suggest that the children make precious items of jewellery for the royal bride
and groom to wear, such as rings, cufflinks, tiepins, tiaras, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and brooches. Provide them with rich materials, such as gold braid, gold and silver paper, sequins and beads, and include pipe cleaners, twist ties, elastic headbands and thread as joining materials.
3 Leave a safety mirror on a nearby table so that children can admire themselves
wearing the jewellery.
4 You could also try making and
decorating crowns and tiaras using our handy activity sheet, available for subscribers to to download from www.nurseryedplus.co.uk
Let’s partyEarly learning goal: Use their imagination in art and design, music, dance, imaginative and role-play and stories.
What to do
1 Invite the children to share memories of wedding receptions they have attended.
Talk about a likely spectacular venue for the royal wedding reception, such as a castle or palace. Discuss what the guests might eat and the music that might be played.
2 Make some ‘royal’ snacks together, such as red, white and blue-iced fairy
cakes and biscuits, and arrange these on silver and gold paper plates.
3 Create a castle or palace role play area using the children’s suggestions along
with lots of rich drapes, Union flag bunting and streamers.
4 Invite children to dress up in
the royal wedding role play outfits and come along to have a dance and snack at the reception.
Jean Evans is an Early Years consultant and author
THE ROYAL WEDDINGCelebrate the occasion of Prince William’s wedding in your setting with these cross-curricular activities, culminating in a party fit for a King!
APRIL 2011 NURSERY
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19APRIL 2011 NURSERY EDUCATION PLUS
FUN ON THE FARM
Farmyard friendsNow is a great time to get out and about and make a visit to a local farm or smallholding to have first-hand experiences of the sounds, sight and smells of a farmyard. With this issue we have created great themed number cards (see above) – ideal for displaying as a numberline or to use for counting and number recognition. Try out the counting activity ‘How many animals?’ and see if children can identify the correct numeral. Why not make your setting’s own book of ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’, with a recorded version of your song and some simple animal masks and costumes to use for dressing up?
ACTIVITIES
Cultivating cropsSpring is on its way and there is no better time for introducing children to the cycle of growing plants and crops. Even if you have limited outdoor space you can use windowsill planters and tubs to encourage small greenfingers. Our lovely ‘Farm produce circle-time cards’ show children some of the products a farm may process and food items we enjoy. Marigold flowers are usually a successful choice for growing quite easily – and if your children pot them in soil in time, they should even be ready for Easter. Flowers will make a lovely spring gift with a card created in our ‘Spring greetings’ resource at www.nurseryedplus.co.uk
Moving machinesYoung children are always captivated by large farm machinery. Noisy tractors and nifty quad bikes can provide great inspiration for role play. Our activity sheet ‘Farm vehicles’ could be used to introduce positional language and children could draw accompanying vehicles to be pulled along, too. Old, large tyres are fantastic for a wealth of outdoor ideas – planters for vegetables and flowers, sandpits, target areas for throwing activities, enclosed interest areas for small world play, or even small ball parks! Create a large farm collage, with a range of labelled colours and textures to develop descriptive language.
activitiesEditor of Nursery Education PLUS, Tracey, introduces our theme and ideas for exploring ‘FUN ON THE FARM’ ‘This month Sally Gray brings you great activity ideas to engage little learners in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The cross-curricular activities for each focus have a wealth of ideas and you will find supporting resources on the posters and online to help you save time – use the handy ‘bookmarks’ from this issue’s special central pull out to add to your planning and to help you focus upon observation.’
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