For the past couple of weeks, we have been considering positional language, particularly focusing on 'next to', 'behind' and 'in front of' but also, because it is fun to explore, thinking about 'in' and 'under'. Last week we looked at photographs of cats and tried to describe where they were in relation to, say, a fence, another animal or a door. The children then had great fun pretending to be cats, and responding to the instruction to position themselves in, under, behind, next to, or in front of a large basket. Of course, getting inside and under caused the most giggling! During the normal course of the week the teachers have tried to be increasingly conscious of using and drawing attention to these positional words in authentic everyday use. Then again this week, we made sure to make time for a particular focus on these terms. We read a short non-fiction book together before taking advantage of a break in the rain to head outdoors and challenge the children in small groups to crawl under or into, stand next to, behind and in front of, and climb on top of the climbing equipment. We found that 'in' and 'under' were more readily understood than 'next to', 'behind' (I reinforced this one by adding 'at the back of') or 'in front of', perhaps because hiding in or under things is a fun thing to do, and therefore sticks in the mind more quickly. It would be helpful if at home you could take any naturally occurring opportunity that arises to use these terms in your home language with your children. Ongoing CorrespondenceIn the continuing adventures of our (previously mysterious) letter-writer, Tilly Teddy, this week we received a plea our nighttime visitor, saying she would love some fresh fruit salad. Naturally, the children wanted to help. I said I would go shopping for the apples, bananas, pears and mandarins that Tilly Teddy said she liked best. The next day, we looked at a 'recipe' for fruit salad. We were able to make the link again it was letters that made up the words that told us of both the ingredients and the instructions for making our fruit salad, in other words, letters were helping us to organise ourselves. Each child helped to wash and chop the fruit salad. Luckily, the fruit salad we made was very large, and there was enough for everyone who wanted to, to have a bowl themselves at snack time (or in some cases to eat three bowls!) It was VERY exciting the next day to come into the classroom and discover another letter from Tilly Teddy. This time, with a selfie photo! In the words of one child "We've solved the mystery! We know what she looks like!" Of course, we responded to Tilly's plea to us to share our favourite books with her, and left a pile for her to read while we were at home that night... She wrote in return to say how much she had enjoyed our choices....and so the correspondence adventure continues. Of course during this ongoing learning engagement we are able to take many opportunities to point out how letters (of the alphabet) are being used in both our correspondence to Tilly, and hers to us.
Please don't forget to spend a few minutes with your child looking for letters around your home. Please then email me two photographs as we will be using these on Monday. Thank you for the photographs I have already received.
1 Comment
Nancy E Levyssohn
15/2/2020 10:34:17 pm
Thank you so very much. I loved this. I loved how to have taught them all the different positions. It looks so exciting and fun to learn! Having the kids make the fruit salad was amazing. You are such wonderful teachers!
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