Guest Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 Any inspiring ideas anyone would like to share for getting newbies started?! Was thinking about all about me as a general umbrella. Any creative ideas greatly appreciated! E x
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 what info do you have from their previous settings? on our visits to the local school we had lots of discussion about what the children might like to do/learn about ...could that be a starting point? (sorry...have a distinct dislike of 'all about me topics'...in my mind it goes in the same catergory as those awful 'what have you done in the holiday' essays my teachers used to make me write! ) 1
Guest LornaW Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 finleysmaid I also hate All about me!!! If you are doing home. Visits you will get to know what interests your children and you can have resources available for them but to be honest do you really need a topic int the first two weeks? Your classroom will be like a sweatshop full of wonderful delights and as you get to know the children and they learn your environment and routines you will begin to see what will interest them! I love the idea from ABCDoes of going back to basics and slowly introducing different resources into the environment! LornaW
Guest Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 I similarly dislike 'all about me' having done it several times in different guises as it doesn't particularly get them excited. I have tried different things in the past- last year we did goldilocks and the 3 bears as a starting point for the first couple of weeks, previous year Elmer. This year I'm not having a theme at all to begin with as you don't get to know what they are interested in. ( and also mine are part time for 4 weeks so its trickyto get your teeth into something) My new children have been tasked with filling a treasure box from things they've done in the holidays so the first few weeks we will be giving opportunities for them to talk about what's in their box. We will plan from their interests hopefully sparked from what's in the boxes -holidays, seaside maybe? Superheroes is a favourite with the boys coming in but they've done that to death at Playgroup all through the summer terms and I want school to be something different. Deb
Guest Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 I spend the first 2 weeks anyway Introducing the children to each area of the classroom -how to get things out and tidy them away again in small groups and I also seem to spend a lot of time supervising the toilets!!! Everything takes soo long at the start of the year there's never very much time to do much else! Deb
SueFinanceManager Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 Well if you do decide to do all about me there is a topic support called 'Ourselves' listed here that has some creative activities listed
Guest Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 Thanks for all of your replies! You have definitely helped, think I'm just going to go with the flow and see where their interests lie as you suggest. In previous years before my time (i joined this year) my school had done all about me so was going to go with tradition I guess but really it's not necessary! I did think about superheroes as I have 20 boys!! Think I will see how things go...from the information I've gathered so far they generally like monsters and Spider-Man type characters. The girls appear to like most things you would expect! X
AnonyMouse_35585 Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 We have decided on Superheroes as the children we are keeping were showing an interest and I think the new ones will enjoy it too. We are vaguely linking it to 'all about me' by getting the children to make a booklet about themselves as superheroes (colour eyes, age, height, weight etc.) and using a photo of them dressed as a superhero on the front.
Guest Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 We are doing ourselves/all about me and I'm really looking forward to it. I know some people think it's dry, but surely you can spice it up a little
Guest Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 I called my topic "me and my special powers" which links nicely to both areas.
Guest Posted July 24, 2013 Posted July 24, 2013 I'm starting at a new school in Sept and have yet to meet my class. We are doing home visits in the first couple of days of term and I have asked parents to help their child make a treasure box to share with us at the home visit, which will then be brought into school on their first day. This should get us going with finding out about what children are interested in. To be honest though, my priority in the first few weeks/half term is to get children settled in, get the routines sorted (tidying up/caring/sharing) and basically just get to know them. I feel that working in early years, you follow an 'all about me' kind of theme all of the time anyway as that's what following children's interests is all about to me. The treasure boxes are from the Marion Dowling/Early Education 'Supporting Children's Sustained Shared Thinking' DVD (though they are called shrine boxes in the DVD).
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