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Langenhoe

Pre-school

How we learn Summer 2019

“Preparing and inspiring today’s learners to succeed

in tomorrow’s world”

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Our mission statement

“Preparing and inspiring today’s learners to succeed in tomorrow’s world”

Our aim in Early Years is to encourage children to be happy and involved, play and explore, think critically

and creatively, become independent learners, gain confidence, and develop in a caring and friendly

environment. We also aim to prepare them for the next transition in their educational life.

The Curriculum

The Foundation Stage Curriculum provides opportunities for children to learn through play. Staff play

alongside children to encourage conversations that will help children develop in all aspects of their

learning. The Pre-school environment, both indoors and outdoors, is equipped to meet the needs, interests

and stages of development of each child. We offer a free flow system where children choose to play inside

and outside as they please.

The Foundation Stage areas of learning and development are blocked into prime and specific areas.

The prime areas include:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Physical Development

• Communication and Language

These prime areas are the foundations for all other learning. They are fundamental in working together to

support all other areas of development.

The Specific areas include:

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding of the World

• Expressive Arts and Design

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Pre-school staff will also be observing and assessing children’s learning behaviours. These are called the

Characteristics of Effective Learning. They run through all areas of the curriculum and identify the ways

that children engage with other people and their environment in order to learn.

They are divided into three areas:

• Playing and exploring – engagement. Children will be encouraged to find out and explore in their

learning, play with what they know and be willing to ‘have a go’.

• Active Learning – motivation. Children will be encouraged to keep trying, concentrate, and be involved

and enjoy achieving what they set out to do.

• Creating and thinking critically – thinking skills. Children will be encouraged to make links in their

experiences, choose different ways to do things, take risks and have their own ideas.

Mind-set

Langenhoe Primary School and Pre-school understand that a child’s ‘Mindset’ is key to successful learning

and promote a growth mind-set encouraging hard work, resilience and practise as key to successful

learning.

Have you ever heard someone say, ‘I can’t do that’, if so, that’s their ‘fixed’ mindset talking! Someone

showing a growth mindset is more inclined to say, I can’t do it yet!’

At Langenhoe Community Primary School and Pre-school we support your child to develop a ‘Growth

Mindset’ by:

By showing excitement and positivity when meeting an obstacle or a challenge. Discussing with the children how much they’ll learn by working on it. Praising the child for showing the same positivity.

Reading stories with a ‘Growth Mindset’ theme such as: o ‘Giraffes can’t dance’ by Giles Andrae and Guy Parker o ‘Zog’ by Julia Donaldson o ‘The girl who never made mistakes’ by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein

Praising the children for keeping going when an activity is difficult.

Getting excited by mistakes and getting stuck as it’s when we overcome these that we really begin learning!

Praising effort, repeated practise and working hard and flagging up what they have achieved because of it, for e.g. Wow, all that practise you have put in has meant that you can now do up your coat by yourself!

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Personal, social and emotional development and Health and Self-Care

During your child’s time at Langenhoe Pre-school they will be encouraged to be as independent as

possible. As part of developing your child’s growth mindset they are often encouraged to persist with

independence such as putting on their own shoes, socks and trousers. This will therefore mean they

may sometimes be sent home with trousers the wrong way or socks on the wrong feet, meaning they

have put them on independently, we encourage you to praise your child for their effort!

Some independent skills we learn at preschool are:

Dressing myself

Learning to know if I am clean or dirty

Saying I am hungry, tired or thirsty

Choosing when to have snack

Pouring my own drink at snack time

Using a knife and fork at lunchtime

Putting on my own mud suit, coat and wellington boots

Putting my things back on their peg

Choosing what I’d like to play with

Your child will make friendships, learn about empathy and develop a strong sense of right and wrong.

Learning these skills can present challenges along the way but Pre-school is the best place for children to

learn to deal with these challenges. Staff will encourage children to talk about their feelings referring to

colours in the book the ‘The colour monster’ by Anna Llenas.

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Communication and Language

Speaking, listening and understanding are fundamental to a child’s learning, they form the foundations for

reading and writing. At Langenhoe Pre-school we develop children’s communication and language by

always talking to, listening and asking purposeful questions of the children. We keep a close eye on

children’s speech development and if we notice any issues with their speech sounds we are quick to refer

them to a Speech and Language Therapist to ensure there is no hindrance in your child’s development. It is

also important to keep a close eye on communication skills, looking out for any potential hearing

difficulties as this can also have an impact to your child’s learning and can often quickly be addressed with

the appropriate support from other professionals.

You can support your child’s communication and language by:

Playing with your child, using language to help develop their vocabulary

If your child says something incorrectly, modelling the word or sentence back instead of saying “no” or ignoring it

Questioning your child about what they are doing, looking to encourage them to talk about what they are doing and why

Encouraging them to use the correct words instead of shortened words

Teach your child new grown up words, they love it!

Read to your child daily

Go on listening walks and discuss what you can hear – this is activity we love at Pre-school!

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Reading

At Langenhoe Primary School and Pre-school we teach children to read using a phonics program called

Letters and Sounds. Phonics teaches children to be able to listen carefully and identify the phonemes that

make up each word. This helps children learn to read words and spell words.

In Pre-school we start our reading journey through exploring sound and rhyme (phase 1), which

concentrates specifically on children’s speaking and listening skills. The emphasis is to get children attuned

to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending (putting the sounds together to

form a word) and segmenting skills (chopping the sounds up in a word). During this stage children do not

learn letter names as this can confuse them.

Phase 1 is split into different aspects which are recommended to be dipped into rather than taught in

order:

General sound discrimination - environmental: The aim of this aspect is to raise children's awareness of the sounds around them and to develop their listening skills. Activities suggested in the guidance include going on a listening walk, drumming on different items outside and comparing the sounds, playing a sounds lotto game and making shakers.

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General sound discrimination – instrumental: This aspect aims to develop children's awareness of sounds made by various instruments and noise makers. Activities include comparing and matching sound makers, playing instruments alongside a story and making loud and quiet sounds.

General sound discrimination – body percussion: The aim of this aspect is to develop children's awareness of sounds and rhythms. Activities include singing songs and action rhymes, listening to music and developing a sounds vocabulary.

Rhythm and rhyme This aspect aims to develop children's appreciation and experiences of rhythm and rhyme in

speech. Activities include rhyming stories, rhyming bingo, clapping out the syllables in words and

odd one out.

Alliteration: The focus is on initial sounds of words, with activities including I-Spy type games and matching

objects which begin with the same sound. It is important we use consistent sounds with the

children, you can find a useful guide on you-tube called ‘How to learn the letters and sounds of

the Alphabet’ by Mr Thorne.

Voice sounds: The aim is to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral blending and segmenting. Activities include Metal Mike, where children feed pictures of objects into a toy robot's mouth and the teacher sounds out the name of the object in a robot voice - /c/-/u/-/p/ cup, with the children joining in.

You can support your child’s reading by:

Reading lots of stories to your child! Build up a real love of books! I will have over 6000 literacy experiences if I hear 2 stories a day by the time I go to school!

Making up stories, tell your child a story without a book or by using the pictures, encourage your child to do the same – this really helps children build up confidence and makes them unafraid of making mistakes

Make up your own ending to a book

Singing nursery rhymes

Read the same story hundreds of times, this helps your child learn about pattern, rhyme, sentence structure, sounds, beginnings, middles and ends.

Remember it is important that children are not rushed into reading- these aspects described above are

the foundation of a good reader.

Here is a short list of some great books to share with your children at home:

Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell

Julia Donaldson books (E.g. Gruffalo, Smartest Giant in Town, Gruffalo’s child, Scarecrow’s wedding, Stick

man, Room on the broom, Monkey Puzzle, a squash and a squeeze) – these are great rhyming stories

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Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle

We’re going on a bear hunt –Michael Rosen – this is great for repeated phrases and acting out/retelling

together

Shark in the Park – Nick Sharratt – this is great rhyming story with repeated phrases for children to join in

with

Just Imagine – Nick Sharrartt – this is great for creating discussions,as you look at pictures and choose your

favourite outfits, modes of transport, beds to sleep in etc.

Owl Babies – Martin Waddell – this is great to help children who worry about leaving mum/dad

The large family books (e.g. Five minutes peace) – Jill Murphy

Dr Seuss books (e.g. Cat in the hat, Hop on pop, Fox in socks, The Lorax) – these are great for exploring

rhymes and words

You can find a more comprehensive list online by the Book Trust https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-

and-reading/our-recommendations/100-best-books/

Writing

At Langenhoe Pre-school we celebrate all forms of mark making to build up children’s confidence in

writing. In the Foundation Stage Curriculum ‘Writing’ focuses on children’s ability to mark make and for

children to be able to talk about what they have drawn or attempted to write. The actual handwriting

comes into Physical Development.

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Physical Development (Early Writing Skills):

At Langenhoe Community Primary School and Pre-school we follow a handwriting scheme called Penpals. In preschool the foundations are laid to support a child in their writing skills for their school journey.

Before a child can acquire the fine motor skills needed for good pencil control, they need to develop their gross motor skills by having the opportunity for making large movements. Research has shown that every time a child repeats these large movements, for example down brush strokes with the paint brush, they are creating pathways in the brain which later help with the development of their pencil control. It can be detrimental to encourage children to overwrite (e.g. joining the dots) before they have gained the necessary gross motor skills and would be similar to an adult trying to write with their opposite hand, the muscles in the hand become strained and posture is tense. This is therefore not something we would encourage for parents to do at home. It is often evident that children who have been encouraged to practice this too early have much poorer handwriting later on.

At Langenhoe Pre-school we therefore let children do their own mark making and allow them to develop letter formations in a more relaxed way, at their own pace. We provide lots of opportunities for mark making throughout the nursery, not just at the writing table and we always praise the children’s efforts, whatever their ‘name’ or words look like, which encourages them on to try again.

You can support your child by:

Promoting gross motor skills by; using ropes, tree climbing, rollers large paint brushes and chalk

Splatter painting or using squirty bottles

Transporting small logs from place to place

Car washing

Finger rhymes

Using scissors

Threading

Put clipboards everywhere so children have the opportunity to explore writing in their play

Use real tools for cooking with your child

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Mathematics

To support children in their mathematical development we encourage number talk in whatever we do.

Every morning we sing the days of the week song using our fingers to understand we have 7 days in a

week. We count how many boys and girls are in today. Then we count how many children altogether. We

often encourage the children to count objects, identify numbers and shapes in the environment. For your

child to develop a secure knowledge of number it is important that they understand a number represents a

quantity – counting objects is a perfect activity to develop this understanding.

How can support your child by:

Singing number rhymes

Making comparisons between quantities (who has more chips?)

Encourage your child to ‘share out’ objects such as sweets or toys

Spot numbers in the environment

Count everything!

Ask your ‘child how they know?’ this can support a deeper understanding of number

Use the words bigger, smaller, more, less

Talk about before, later, soon

Talk about the shape of objects and pictures

Use construction toys such as stickle bricks and magnetic shapes

Understanding the world

It is important for children to discover the world around them and develop a deeper knowledge of people,

technology and science. We help develop these areas by ensuring children have an opportunity to use

various technology, having visitors from different occupations and places in the world into preschool,

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having discussions that help support children in understanding that everyone is different and may have

different likes and dislikes. At least once a fortnight children go down to the wildlife area.

You can help support your child by:

Visiting family and meeting new people

Enjoy looking at photos together

Talking about similarities and differences of people

Talking to your child about their day at Pre-school

Meet people from different occupations

Visiting different places – taking photos while there, printing them out and creating a book, or drawing a picture of your day out

Use tapestry to record experiences at home – this is fantastic for children to share with their friends and teachers at preschool

Give your child opportunities to play with small world toys (dinosaurs, happy land, playmobil)

Talk about why things happen and how they work

Encourage your child to ask questions

Have fun outside in nature

Cook together

Play with electronic toys

Use various technology together

Talk about how to use technology safely and what to do if they have a problem online

Go outside in all weathers!

Expressive arts and design

All children should be able to express themselves. Building on children’s interests can lead to them creating

amazing inventions or making marks on paper to represent something they have seen. This helps children

make choices and to have confidence in their own ideas. This is about how children experiment with media

and materials finding their properties and manipulating them. It includes exploring sounds, patterns,

movements and different tools and techniques. This area also includes being imaginative in which children

explore the world around them through music, dance, role play and pretend play.

You can help your child by:

Singing songs and nursery rhymes

Dance!

See a range of performances

Make your own instruments

Mark make

Junk model

Talk about what things feel like

Sew

Value your child’s creations

Listen to a range of music

Encourage your child to make believe

Dress up

Thank you for taking the time to read this document. If you have any further queries or would like any further information please talk to the preschool teacher.