Guest Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Hi, I am really trying to move on my CI time as it is just like ground hog day with the children repeating the same activities every time no matter what I suggest. I have to admit I don't really plan for CI although try to enhance experiences with thigs I know they are interested in. Two main questions 1. How do you you show that there interests feed into your planning 2. How can you move on their play, but still keep it as CI rather than teacher directed and do you plan for this. Thanks would really appreciate some help with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Sometimes I might suggest something to add to their play, like getting something to make a ramp for their cars and then I walk away after I've helped them with any construction they need. If, the next day they construct it themself - off their own bat, as it were, then it becomes CI. So I let them play with that for a few days then I might put some sticky tape lines on the carpet to see whose car can reach, and again leave it for a bit. Then when they've 'adopted' that I might suggest they measure the distance to the tape and between the next tape. Then introduce some sort of recording system, and so it goes on - does that make any sense? I'm Preschool so it's probably different - but I didn't want to 'read and run' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 That sounds good, but when I've tried this they have rarely adopted it. Maybe it is a matter of perseverance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_20645 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 I know how you feel! I have a group of boys who choose the construction area no matter what I try! Similarly, I have a little girl who chooses the make and do table every day. It's hard to know what to do because the time is meant to be their own, a time for them to explore their own interests without us 'butting in'! At the same time, it's easy to feel like you aren't actually teaching them anything when they do the same thing every day. I let them choose completely on their own what activities they are going to do and, whilst playing alongside them, ask questions and try to introduce language and skills throughout. I also agree with Cait, watch what they are doing and introduce slightly different angles to their play. It can be very frustrating when they seem to ignore your ideas and continue with their own play but I can only say, carry on doing it! Even if only one child runs with your enhancement, it'll be worth it. With showing that you are feeding their interests into your planning, people will be able to see this from looking at your observations e.g if you observed a child looking at a copy of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in the book area you would record that and then maybe put out some teddy bears or a selection of puppets from the story. If anyone asked you why you planned those activities, you could just show them the observation you made. Sorry to have waffled on so much! Hope some of it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19782 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 [quote name='bgfrancis' date='Feb 18 2010, 13:48' post='241760' It's hard to know what to do because the time is meant to be their own, a time for them to explore their own interests without us 'butting in'! At the same time, it's easy to feel like you aren't actually teaching them anything when they do the same thing every day. I also agree with Cait, watch what they are doing and introduce slightly different angles to their play. It can be very frustrating when they seem to ignore your ideas and continue with their own play but I can only say, carry on doing it! Even if only one child runs with your enhancement, it'll be worth it. I think this is one of the hardest parts of the job - knowing when to step in and when to back off. Just to turn this on its head sotospeak, this must be how the children feel when adults ignore their ideas and continue with their own agenda! If it is important to the child to appear to be repeating behaviour, rather than being stuck in it, it is of obvious importance to them and they are working something out in their own way and should be allowed that freedom I believe. However, if you can be sure that they are "stuck" in a behaviour then we must help them to be released from their anxieties and try something different first and then do their "thing" after, until they can see that they can move onto other things without fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19762 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Hmmm............ Remember a really good example of this from a training day - it was on 'Block Play'......... We were split into groups of 4 and sent off to 'build' the three bears house.....all good One of the tutors kept coming over to our group and saying things like "well where are the stairs", "where is the door" etc.etc. - obviously he was showing us how 'annoying' and 'disheartening' it can be when others impose their ideas on your play..... Such a skilful exercise - certainly made a big impression on me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Oh it absolutely is - and one I'd love to do on one of our dads who just isn't listening to us!!!!! When his daughter is writing her name on the whiteboard when she comes in, he WILL INSIST on rubbing out the letters with his thumb 'no that's not right' with every flippin letter!! (Every flippin day!!) If he wasn't so big and unpleasant I'd take him on! Sorry - hijacked your thread a bit there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 I know what you mean about butting in. It is difficult to find the balance. I have identified schemas in several of the children so I can ensure that alternative activities are within their comfort zone. Its just difficult to collect evidence for the whole profile when I can't interest them in it. On the other hand I only enjoyed music and maths at school so I suppose my teachers had a similar problem with me, but without the profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_21228 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Very impressed you have identified schemas etc. Would moving some of the resources around help? like, putting cars/ dolls in gloop or sand tray if they always play with the cars? that would cover some KUW aspects?? or keeping junk models etc to work on/ add to more the next day? Failing that, a desperate friend banned some themes for a few days, which did actually help extend the range of choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_19920 Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 sometimes we move resources around a bit and its surprising how many children will use different activities because they are on a different table/different area of the room. we had one little girl who always came in and did puzzles for ages - she would stay at table for ages, we wanted to introduce different activities to her and a few others who tended to spend ages at same avtivity day after day - so we moved puzzles to another table and replaced them with small construction. she went straight to what she thought was the puzzle table and after a few seconds when she obviously thought where have they gone - she sat at the table and used the construction! we now rotate table top stuff around the room every so often as it is surprising how many children go straight to a certain table at the start of a session every time they are in -this way we can introduce them to new resources and if they dont want them they can find the puzzles etc., - does that make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Yes, that makes perfect sense and also ties in with what someone else said about putting things in different places to usual. Will be exploring next week and let you know if we manage to move it on. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Failing that, a desperate friend banned some themes for a few days, which did actually help extend the range of choices. I did this in my year one class because it was obvious to me that far from exploring some children were simply 'stuck' doing one thing. It certainly helped a lot. For this half term I've also taken away completely any block construction materials we had in the classroom (wooden blocks, lego etc) since I have three or four boys who will do nothing else but build spaceships (to exactly the same design and taking up all available construction 'spaces' so no other children can get in there) no matter what else I put out or what the challenges are for the week. I've replaced it with cocktail sticks, skewers and bluetac (which we've used in adult led time) in a different area of the classroom in the hopes of encouraging at least a different type of construction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 We were very happy to see our boys 'mark making' when we put some cars near the paint! They had great fun driving the cars through the paint! I can't say they stayed there and continued painting but at least they had a different experience for a while. Also changing the car mat for a blank piece of big paper has been successful in the past. Last year I 'shared' some resources with Year 1 so they were out of the way for a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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