Guest Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Hi I hope someone can help, after the Christmas Hols. I'm going to do a mini topic on ice which I am hoping will led onto the polar regions. I have never taught this before and spent most of yesterday trying to find information and activities-not having much luck with activities. I'm going to set up a small world in the tuff spot to cover The Artic with polar bears, fake snow, etc. And i'm hoping to get an igloo from Ikea for role play. I will place large ice blocks and penguins in the water tray to represent Antarctica but I'm struggling with other areas of the class room-I'm going to get lots of knowledge and understanding, but need something to cover PSRN, CD, CLL & PD. Hope someone can help. If anyone has already done this as a topic, would you mind sending me a copy of activities you used? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Hi we made a miniature igloo with the children using sugar cubes and watered down PVA. We also bought a igloo tent from Ikea for our role play area and had winter clothes for the children to dress uo in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_39602 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 we are doing Snow and ice next half term - filling plastic sweets trays with water to make ice , watching it melt , touching feeling , hot and cold , dressing for the weather, animal s in cold environments - using globe and maps - adding objects to water and freezing , all of these cover the 6 areas , looking and creating patterns for snowflakes , making snowflakes , scissor skills , creative dev- using semolina and glue , it goes on and on -hope this is of some help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We made Ice Pictures - we gave each child a foil container (like the ones you get dog/cat food in) - they filled them with different things like beads, sequins, buttons, glitter as well as natural materials such as leaves, small sticks, feathers. We laid a piece of string on top and filled them with water. We then put them outside to freeze. Once frozen they were easy to pop out of the foil containers and we hung them up outside. They looked lovely and when the sun began to shine we watched them melt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1999 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) Last week I saw the most amazing igloo in a setting It was made out of 2pt plastic milk containers and was just amazing. The containers were put on their side and and stuck together. The 'piles' of milk bottles curved slightly and then these were stuck side by side and round in an igloo shape leaving an opening at the front. I so wish I could have taken a picture. Inside the igloo all the different colour bottle tops looked amazing. Red, blue, green and purple. Some of the lids were stuck on and others left so the children could unscrew them. The outside had been given a liberal sprinkling of glitter. I am now saving my milk cartons.... Edited to say I have just googled milk carton igloo images and found these. Edited December 19, 2011 by Gezabel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Last week I saw the most amazing igloo in a setting It was made out of 2pt plastic milk containers and was just amazing. The containers were put on their side and and stuck together. The 'piles' of milk bottles curved slightly and then these were stuck side by side and round in an igloo shape leaving an opening at the front. I so wish I could have taken a picture. Inside the igloo all the different colour bottle tops looked amazing. Red, blue, green and purple. Some of the lids were stuck on and others left so the children could unscrew them. The outside had been given a liberal sprinkling of glitter. I am now saving my milk cartons.... Edited to say I have just googled milk carton igloo images and found these. fabulous - I wonder what you stick them together with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 how to make an igloo says hot glue gun, as do several other sites I have read.. more information on how to.. good pics but does not say which glue to use, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_38059 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 we are going to use 2l pop bottles in groups of 3 to create blocks and then give the children the opportunity to use their problem solving skills to work out how to build it and then create an entrance! love the idea of the picture to melt - will have a go at that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1195 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We have an area in the Resources Section called Topic Support which has various articles to support common themes we use with children. It is always worth having a look in there for ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Made a milk bottle igloo 3 years ago as part of a childs interest in house building and I can tell you categorically that a glue gun DOES NOT work. I ended up buying 3 rolls of the sticky tape used to stick carpet down with at a cost of £60 to eventually get it to stay together. It was brilliant once done and taking it down was even more fun as the children created large expanses of flattened milk bottles by stamping and jumping on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I assume hot glue would melt the bottles, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 No Cait, surprisingly it doesn't melt the bottles but as soon as it sets they just ping apart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Oh well you learn something every day eh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 but need something to cover PSRN, CD, CLL & PD. But do you? The pervasive sense (in school settings mostly, in y experience), that everything must come from one theme is, in my opinion, an arbitrary self imposed straitjacket!!! Why does it all have to be rooted in the one context? If it doesn't "fit" particularly, I think that ends up with lots of contrived doing and not necessarily actual next steps learning to be honest. What are the skills the children need to develop next from your assessments? If you define that first then I find the context to do it in will be clearer to plan for, rather than the other way round of starting with the context and then trying to squeeze everything in to it. Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 What are the skills the children need to develop next from your assessments? If you define that first then I find the context to do it in will be clearer to plan for, rather than the other way round of starting with the context and then trying to squeeze everything in to it. Cx I heartily agree with you Catma! I find if I plan a theme the children go off on their tangent of interest anyway and the planning goes out of the window. Even doing all the lovely Christmassy things that they initially asked to do (Which encompassed a great deal of wanted 'next steps') we slipped into exploring magnets for a few days and melting ice cubes in various places etc and it would have been oh so easy to go off on a different track! Normally, that's exactly what I'd have done but in the last week before Christmas we decided to leave the exploring of those things till the new year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 (edited) It's the flexibilty to make those decisions I value most - I get really disheartened when practitioners say "I can't do that because we're doing x or y" as if every child must leave the EYFS having "done" dinosaurs or transport or whatever. I'm not against themes or topics but only if they are a vehicle for developing identified gaps/skills that are needed to move children on towards the ELGs not the actual driver. Cx Edited December 20, 2011 by catma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_26037 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I heartily agree with you Catma! I find if I plan a theme the children go off on their tangent of interest anyway and the planning goes out of the window. That's so true! The last couple of days a group of my boys have been loading boxes with books, bags, dressing up clothes and blankets and taking them to the bench (like a park bench) behind the classroom. I couldn't work out what they were doing but eventually it turned out they were playing 'holidays' they've been to the airport, then Spain then it was a camper van and they were going all over the place including to school. It's the first time I've seen this group of boys really involved in any kind of role play and I'm just wondering if the interest will be strong enough to turn my role play area into some kind of holiday related 'place'. It doesn't directly link with my main topic of caves but who cares - if it's got those three interested in something other than chasing, playing 'dob' or guns I'm going with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 There is also a topic resource here on the forum about 'ICE' - includes booklists, topic web and lesson plan ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_38059 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I totally agree - the winter theme has come from the children and as we needed a little more time we planned it to be something to be excited about when we come back - the suggestion of the igloo drew gasps of wow! as for our theme - we plan out where we think we will go next but they decide where we go next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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