All of the children had equal opportunities because the children were given the time they need to finish their paintings. The adult provided age appropriate tools, for example: big paint brushes and a big sheet of paper and more colours of paint when it was asked.
My role was to set up the physical environment, organise the environment so that children are enabled to make choices. I gave the children enough time to explore. I interacted with/listened to children. It is important to praise and encourage them and to supervise the activity.
In conclusion the activity did meet the learning outcomes. They explored new colours and shapes. And they were also able to manipulate the tools they used.
Activity Plan 2.
Aim: To enable children to explore moving in different ways.
Introduction: I will do this activity with the reception class (4-5 yrs). The children will need to pretend to be animals from the Noah’s Ark.
Learning Outcome:
Early Years Foundation Stage – Practice Guidance May 2008
Area of Learning: Physical Development
P97 Experiment with different ways of moving.
Resources:
- Animal cards (from the Noah’s Ark memory game)
- 1 staff required
Preparation: The activity has been planned as an outdoor activity. I am allowed to have 30 minutes for this activity for PE. I would like to implement this activity with a small group (8 children).
Health and Safety: Because it is a physical activity accidents could happen, so I will check if the first aid box is at the right place. I will also ensure that the children are appropriately dressed for outdoor activity, and that the outdoor equipment is free from any hazard.
Equal Opportunities: Adult support will be provided for the children, who have lower ability, e.g.: prompting.
Role of the adult:
- Provide situations that interest and challenge children,
- Give time for children to express their own ideas,
- Provide new vocabulary, praise and encourage,
- Evaluate the success of the activity.
Description of implementation: Stimulate and encourage general chat about the animals from the story. Questions such as: What kind of animals did we see in the book? How those animals move? What sounds do they make? Explain the children what we are going to do. The children will get an animal card from the Noah’s Ark memory game, and they will be asked to pretend to make the animal’s sound and movements. Then the children will be invited to guess which animal their peer was acting out. They will take turns.
Evaluation
My aim was with the activity to enable children to explore moving in different ways. However I did not achieved my aim in a few cases, because some of the children could not pretend the animal movements without prompting.
The children meet the learning outcome, because they could experience different animal movements. The children listened well and followed my instruction such as not to say its name aloud and move like an animal and then make the sounds that animal makes.
The activity was planned with a small group, but because I am a volunteer in my setting, I had to implement this activity with the support of a knowledgeable and skilled adult. The whole Foundation Stage: 8 children from Nursery and 13 children from Reception took part in the activity. It was noticeable that in this large group it was hard for the children to take turns, and stay motivated.
Adapting this activity for those children who lack confidence working in a large group, I could asked them to tell me what animal their friend is acting out, and not to ask him to demonstrate the animal movements in front of the group. Or do it with a friend, who he could be confident with – in pairs like the animals from the story.
Activity Plan 3.
Aim: enable the children to understand how colours mix and form another colour.
Introduction: I am planning a colour mixing activity for the children (3-4 years old) to create a rainbow.
Learning Outcome:
Early Years Foundation Stage – Practice Guidance May 2008
Area of Learning: Knowledge and Understanding of the World
P80 Find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural
Area of Learning: Creative Development
P110 Explore colour and begin to differentiate between colours.
Resources:
- Paint (red, yellow, blue)
- Paintbrushes
- White papers
- Aprons
- Table
- Chairs
- One staff required
Preparation: This activity will be implemented in the Community Room. A small group of children (3 children) will take part in the activity. Time is not specific. A preparation time which is 10 minutes and a tidy up time which is another 15 minutes have been planned. Questions to be asked: ‘What colours did you use?’ ‘What happened when you mixed these colours?’ ‘What is the new colour you have made?’ ‘How many colours in the rainbow?’
Health and safety: Children will need to wear aprons. The children will wash their hands after the activity. The adult will need to clean all the surfaces with an antibacterial spray.
Equal Opportunities: The children will be given the time they need to find out the new colour they have created.
Role of Adult:
- Set up the physical environment,
- Organise the environment.
- Give children time to explore.
- Interact with/listen to children.
- Praise and encourage.
- Supervise the activity.
Description of implementation: All of the children will be given a piece of paper. The children will be asked to splash a particular colour on one side. The 3 children will be given different colour combinations. Then they will fold the two sides together and open it.
Evaluation
The aim of this activity was to enable the children to understand how colours mix and form another colour. I did not achieve it with all of the children, because 2 children could not recognise the new colour. One because she did not use enough paint, and the other child because he was not familiar with the colour purple.
Two children meet the learning outcomes because they were able to identify that these colours are in the rainbow and they also learnt that how the rainbow appears on the sky.
If I had to adapt this activity with child who has development delay I would only make a colour recognition session, where I would use some pictures to identify colours.
Introduction
The main resource of this assignment is the Noah’s Ark by Lucy Cousins. In the assignment I am going to evaluate the book I have used and its effectiveness by the activities that have been planned.
I have chosen this resource because that is a story I am familiar with. In Hungary where I come from, we do not use picture books in the nursery setting the way we do here in England. Children only meet these books during the quiet time, but teachers read the story without showing the pictures to the children. On one hand this reading technique can support children’s imagination, however on the other hand according to Denise von Stockar (2005) it is very important in the child’s development to improve their visual reading skills,
“Child can make a true visual reading of a picture book, based on the pictures. He learns to read the pictures’ grammar, and this prepares him for the reading of texts.”
Three activities were planned, using this book as a resource. The first activity was an animal recognition, where children selected and painted an animal from the Noah’s Ark. The two learning outcomes of the activity were, explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two dimensions, and handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.
The second activity was, role playing where the children needed to pretend to be an animal from the Noah’s Ark. The learning outcome of the activity was, experiment with different ways of moving.
The third activity was colour mixing, based on Piaget’s theory, that learning is an active process. Children could experience themselves how colours mix and forming a new colour. At the end of the activity they could paint their own rainbow picture. The two learning outcomes of the activity were, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural and explore colour and begin to differentiate between colours.
Main body
The first activity was animal painting. It is important that mark-making resources are carefully chosen and well organised. That is the reason why I provided an A3 sheet of paper, big paintbrushes and four colour of paint: orange (because I expected that the majority of the children were going to paint a tiger) green (for crocodiles), yellow (because it is outstanding) and grey (because I knew that this colour is unfamiliar to some children). All the other colours were prepared in case a child would need to use them. The activity had been set up before the children came to the class room, because if your resources are attractively displayed, then children’s curiosity is aroused and they are tempted to try the activity.
I grouped the children 1 to 1, adult and child. Because you can focus on the individual needs of the child, you can give him more attention, and it also promotes the child’s confidence.
The aim of the activity was to develop the children’s awareness of animal recognition, and so gain new vocabulary, e.g. flamingo, stork, dove, tapir, and pheasant. If there was a new word for the children while the story was being read I pronounced the word and asked them to repeat it by virtue of Skinner’s (Cited in Theories about Language Development, 2008) theory that,
“Children learn language through reinforcement. In other words, when a parent or carer shows enthusiasm for something a child tries to say, this should encourage the child to repeat the utterance.” pg. 2
Adults should therefore provide for generous amounts of time, space and attention to be given to children’s mark making. I guided them all the way through the activity by asking leading questions. With adult support the children were able to copy the animal from the book. By doing this activity the children could develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
According to Essa (1998) to assist children with their fine motor development you have to use modified tools. For young children it is important to provide a tool that they are able to manipulate. That is why I gave them big paintbrushes. The use of these paintbrushes allows for a child to create a more precise picture because of the control he has and this also helps the child to pursue such personal expression. Children’s drawings also develop as a child ages and refines his fine motor skills.
The time children spent on this activity depended on their individual involvement, for example some only painted one and then left, but some others stayed to make more. Child A made a flamingo and she concentrated and answered my questions first but after a few minutes she lost her interest in the subject and she started to paint the whole paper pink like she was deeply engaged in her painting. She was really absorbed in her painting, according to Matthews’ (Cited in Mark Making Matters, 2008)
“Children as they begin to draw and paint make an intellectual journey which has musical, linguistic, logical and mathematical as well as aesthetic aspects.” p.13
The expected learning outcome from this activity was that children differentiate marks and movements on paper. The key aspect of this assignment is how well children met learning outcomes. Most of the children were able to differentiate the shapes on the paper. All of them started by making the animal’s body and then added details e.g., painted its legs next and then its “face” (see photographs in appendix 1). In addition they explored new colours and shapes. They were also able to manipulate the tools they used.
The role of adult was to set up the physical environment, organise the environment so that children are enabled to make choices. It is important to give children time to explore. They need you to interact with them and listen to them as well.
The second activity was pretending to be an animal. After reading the book with the children, we had a discussion about animals. Questions were asked such as: ‘What kind of animals we saw in the book?’ ‘What do those animals do?’ ‘What sounds do they make?’ ‘What are the differences between pets and wild animals?’ Asking open-ended questions encourage children to recall the story and the animals from the book. The children appeared to love explaining to me (the interested adult) what they knew about the animals. These questions helped them share their knowledge with their peers, because children learn the most from their peers. In virtue of Margaret McMillan’s (1930 cited in Macleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008) work I planned this activity as an outdoor activity. She saw nursery education, health and social care as being of equal importance.
“Children want space at all ages. But from the age of one to seven, space is almost as much wanted as food and air. To move to run, to find things out by new movements, to feel one’s life in every limb, that is the life of early childhood...” p.32
This time multi-aged groups were formed, because the whole foundation stage (nursery and reception) have PE class at the same time. The children were at least one year apart in age. This grouping style promotes collaborative learning, as Goldstein (Cited in Macnaughton and Williams, 2009) explained:
“Multi-age grouping give children the opportunity to be both a younger and an older in the same classroom; they provide opportunities for cross-age tutoring; and they are developmentally appropriate, fostering flexibility and responsiveness to the individual needs of the particular students.” Pg. 105
Every child has been given a card from the Noah’s Ark memory game. They have been asked to do not say its name aloud. An example was shown to them by the adult. Then the children were invited to guess what animal was pretended.
The activity was repeated until all the children got a turn. However it was hard for the children to concentrate because twenty-one children took part in this activity.
Some of the children had difficulty in knowing what to do, and what sounds to make. They could not manage the task without prompting. However in some cases it was my fault they could not manage the task, because some of the cards were really difficult, even for me to pretend for example rhino or parrot. I should have chosen the cards before the activity but I did not. That is something I am going to do different next time.
In conclusion the aim was the activity to enable children to explore moving in different ways. The aim was achieved and the activity met the learning outcomes, because the children could experience different animal movements.
If I had to adapt this activity for those children who lack confidence working in a large group, I could asked them to tell me what animal their friend is acting out, and not to ask him to pretend animal movements in front of the group.
The third activity was a colour mixing activity. The children watched the DVD which was attached to the book. They appeared to be very excited; I know it because when they were asked who want to make a rainbow picture most of children raised their hands.
Three different children were chosen, a boy who is the youngest in the group, a girl who is the oldest and another girl who has very good communication skills. A small group was formed because,
“Smaller group sizes are associated with: ‘more opportunities for teachers to work on extending language, mediating, children’s social interactions, and encouraging and supporting problem-solving’” (MacNaughton and Williams 2009 pg. 106)
I chose these children because I wanted to see how age and comprehension can influence the activity. explained to the children that a rainbow is an arch of colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), which appears in the sky when it’s sunny and rainy at the same time.
I provided a white folded paper to each child. The children were asked to splash a particular colour on one side. The 3 children were given different colour combinations. The children were asked not to open it until everybody finished it. The children opened it at the same time, and they were really surprised when they saw their creation, they said “It’s magic”.
The oldest child shouted immediately that hers was green. But the other two children were not able to see the new colour they created. With adult support the children mixed the colours again, and then child B was able to see that hers was orange, but the youngest did not know that his picture was purple. However he benefited a lot from this activity, because he learnt a new colour. He also learnt what happens if you mix blue and red together.
At the end of the session I told the child’s mother what happened and asked her to refresh these colours at home by reading a picture book and checking what colours the child could identify. You need to involve the parents in your work, because parents and practitioners have a lot to learn from each other. In this case parents can help their child to understand more about the colours. There are more ways to involve the parents in your practice e.g.: sending letters home about actualities in the setting or “making workshop sessions for the parents on important areas such as play or early reading”. (KEEP, 2008.)
“Parents are the most important people in their children’s lives. It is from parents that children learn most, particularly in the early months and years. The closer the links between parents and nursery the more effective that learning becomes.” Ball (1994)
I explained to the children that colours are everywhere and the rainbow has all the colours that we see around us. It is a wonderful experience for children to see and experience how colours mix and form other colours. We experienced this together and then I demonstrated to the children how the primary colours: red, blue and yellow mix and form the secondary colours: green, orange, and purple.
I concluded that two of three children did meet the learning outcomes because they were able to identify that these colours are in the rainbow and they also learnt that how the rainbow appears on the sky.
If I had to adapt this activity with child who has development delays I would only make a colour recognition session, where I would use some pictures to identify colours.
Conclusion
The results show that this book was a very useful resource to facilitate children’s learning. The Noah’s Ark was a very good starting point for my planning. I could cover all the six areas of learning.
This is a bible story therefore it is different from the other children books, for that very reason I chose this resource. The findings prove that all of my three activities were very effective; moreover you can plan a lot of fascinating and exciting activities around this book.
By planning and implementing these activities the children were able to gain some new experience and knowledge of the world; having fun by painting, exploring and moving. I also gained in confidence as well, because I am a volunteer in my setting. It was a fantastic experience for me to get to know the children in establishing a good relationship. I now feel that I am respected by them.
References
Source Reference
Cousins, L., (2007) Noah’s Ark, Walker Books
Craig, G., Kermis, M. & Digdon, N. (2001) Children today, 2nd Ed. Toronto: Prentice Hall
Essa, E., etal (1998) Introduction to early childhood education, 2nd Ed. Toronto: Nelson
Macleod-Brudenell, I.,Kay, J., (2008) Advanced Early Years for Foundation Degrees & Levels 4/5, 2nd Ed., UK: Heinemann
DFES (2008), Theories About Language Development. [pdf]
Available at:
[Accessed on 21/12/2009]
DFES (2008), Mark Making Matters [pdf]
Available At:
http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/publications/foundation_stage/ey_making_mark_matters76708
[Accessed on 21/12/2009]
DFES (2008), Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham, DCFS Publications.
von Stockar, D. (2005?) The Importance of Literacy and Books in Children's Development [online publication]
Available at:
[Accessed on 22/12/2009]
KEEP (2008) Work with parents, carers and the wider community, Nottingham, DfES Publications
Ball (1994) cited in Facilitating Children’s Learning lecture note 04/11/2009
MacNaughton G., Williams G. (2009) Teaching Young Children, Berkshide: O.U. Press
Appendix 1
Appendix 2