AnonyMouse_5003 Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Hi, I just started a new job in a Reception class and our next topic will be Houses and Homes. I have never taught this topic before so help would be gratefully received! I've thought about setting up an estate agent in the writing area and setting up a castle role play area and link this to fairy tale stories. I've just joined the forums and think its well worth the money! I just wished I'd discovered it earlier! Thanks Rosie
AnonyMouse_4544 Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Just a few ideas of the top of my head will think about it more make 10 houses from card and number the doors use them for the children ordering numbers 1-10 look at the different materials used to build houses you can buy small bricks and cement to build with we made pictograms of the type of house we live in eg terraced detached semis bungalows ect can do the same with the colour of front doors weve built houses for the 3 little pigs using straw sticks and bricks read the 3 little wolves and the big bad pig and discussed how to make strong buildings
Guest tinkerbell Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Welcome Rosemary If you look through the site some where someone put a link to the Norfolk education web site .There you will find 6 topics for each half term and one of them is on Buildings and Homes www.norfolkesinet.org.uk.Sorry i dont know how to hyperlink Tinkerbell
Guest Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 I did this topic with reception a while back. All the children painted a picture of a house. These houses were then cut out and displayed on a board as 2 sides of a street with a pedestrian crossing in the road and everything so we could discuss road safety (linked to being safe where we live). I also had an interactive display of items/materials for building homes such as bricks, tubing, skirting board screws, wood etc. for the children to come and look at and to use the attached clipboard to write where they thought the different items/materials would be used. (Had to be a little careful with this for H&S reasons; screws were stored in a clear zip-lock bag and children were warned to take care when handling the items.) We looked at different types of homes: flats, bungalows, houses etc. as well as the cultural differences between homes: mud huts, igloos etc. I used a big book (I think it was just called 'Homes') to illustrate this. Carried out internet searches on homes. Did circle time activities using items from the home - children had to say where in the home they thought they would find them. Items included an oven glove, a towel rail, a mug, a flannel, a cushion. This was quite interesting as some children would say an item belonged in one room, when another would place it elsewhere - nice opportunity to discuss differences between people and their homes. Went on a walk around the school seeing what sorts of homes we could see. We were lucky enough to walk very close to a building site where the builders had trenches dug with exposed pipework, which the children (with care!) were able to look in. I also did an on-going piece of an optional homework in the form of a 'My home' booklet, which had pages to be completed over time, such as 'here is a picture of my house', 'these are the people that live in my house' 'my house has ? doors'. etc. The downside to this was that I really didn't want the children to take it and be expected to do it all in a weekend, which is what many did!!! But the parents received the homework idea well and most children participated enthusiastically. We looked at the foolish man & wise man who built houses on rocks/sand and did an experiment showing what happened in each situation. Did some science with washing different items that you would in your homes, with different tools or detergents: feet(soap, flannel, nail brush, pummice stone); clothes (washing detergent); dishes (washing liquid); hands (soap bar & liquid soap). Great language came out of this - the focus was on senses so lots about feeling tickly or smelling lovely. I like your estate agent idea - our role play area was a castle (a very lavish home, I know!), but we looked at the pictures from estage agents details to see which features we could identify. I'm sure you'll have loads of fun with this one!
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 happy to help , norfolk site Tinkerbell go here and all will become clear for making those links. Inge
Guest Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Welcome to the forum, Rosie. Your first post of many, I'm sure
Guest Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Hi Rosie, I'm a new member too, joined yesterday. I am teaching reception/Year 1 for the first time, the mixed age group being quite a challenge! I am in the middle of a houses and homes topic and have had the role play area as an estate agents. Old maps and bunches of keys have fired a lot of imaginative play. Another idea that worked really well was writing letters to grandparents or an older person and asking about their homes when they were little. We asked for the replies to be sent back to school and the children have been very excited as the have started to come in. I'm now planning to change the role play area into a castle/palace but not quite sure how to do it- any ideas would be gratefully recieved. Flossie
Guest Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Some lovely ideas, Flossie, and a warm welcome to you too
AnonyMouse_2732 Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Welcome, flossie, A bit stressed at the moment, will get back later - I dive in for sanity!!! Sue
Guest tinkerbell Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Hello Flossie Welcome ,I to teach reception /year1 its good to know other people are doing it to.Have you managed to work out a system for planning both curriculums? I seem to change my ideas each half term!! Tinkerbell
Guest tinkerbell Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Inge Cheers I will have ago at it when I have a bit more time.Cant believe its half term but have loads of planning and a tricky form to fill in . my brain is addled at the moment. thanks Tinkerbell
Guest Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Hi Is there any chance that small groups could go out and take photo's of their homes, look at where they live, make estate agents particulars for thier own homes. Use the photos as a stimulus for art- collage, 3d, number lines, shape activities, sorting, old and new, map making, paired talk etc. Have done this twice now and the children have thouroughly enjoyed the walk- keen to direct you, tell you when to cross (good opportunities for real road safety), even the quite ones become very animated as they lead you to thier homes (only a few did not recognise their own homes!). Try to get photo's of homes that you can' t visit though. Lisa
Guest Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 Hi Is there any chance that small groups could go out and take photo's of their homes, look at where they live, make estate agents particulars for thier own homes. Use the photos as a stimulus for art- collage, 3d, number lines, shape activities, sorting, old and new, map making, paired talk etc. Have done this twice now and the children have thouroughly enjoyed the walk- keen to direct you, tell you when to cross (good opportunities for real road safety), even the quite ones become very animated as they lead you to thier homes (only a few did not recognise their own homes!). Try to get photo's of homes that you can' t visit though. Lisa 41441[/snapback]
Guest Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 41451[/snapback] Hi Tinkerbell, It's great to hear you also teach R/Y1.As this is my first term I'm very much feeling my way. I have the plans of the previous teacher as a starting point which are based on the Year 1 curriculum with ELGs then added. However I dont feel as though I'm on top of any of the planning yet or doing it in the best way. For literacy I used the web site www.literacymatters which has very good medium term plans and I have combined the Year 1 and Reception objectives which I seem to have managed to cover using the same texts. I'm also failing miserably on the observations at he moment - got to work out a system! Having said all that, I'm really enjoying being with the children and I have a very supportive head. Flossie
Guest tinkerbell Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 Don't be hard on yourself Flossie Its a real juggling job.For observations we have a class list and we write comments say on each child as they move through an activity on postits and slap them on the sheet,the objective is written at the top of the sheet.These sheets are then collected and go towards making judgements for filling in the e-profile along with photographs collectedetc.Wealso use them to inform our planning...who needs what ......does this help?? Tinkerbell
Guest Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 Thanks Tinkerbell, Yes it does help. Do you store photos in individual records or as evidence under areas of learning? Do you take lots? Flossie
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