Early Years Training and Coaching » Recommended Resources

The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan

Kathy — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:05:09 +0000

I’ve already written previously on the EYFS Forum about how Twitter can give you some surprising links (EYFS Forum).

The one I detailed in that particular article was a book by Jonathan Mugan. Just to recap, Jonathan had tweeted to me after reading the schema and fairies post. He had done some research on schema as part of his Ph.D. on robots learning and has subsequently written a book called The Curiosity Cycle. I had a quick read of the prologue and realised how relevant this book is to children’s learning. I bought it on Kindle and can now confirm that it is a fascinating viewpoint on how and why we should encourage and nurture children’s curiosity above all else.

The book is really about how we “actively construct” (page 4) our knowledge of the world as children. What this means is that we use a complicated web of previous information, new information, reinforcement and reinterpretation to make sense of the world around us.

Part 1 of the book investigates concepts and models of our knowledge acquisition. This includes the idea of “supple thinking” which means that a child can adapt and be flexible to different circumstances they find themselves in. The example given is that by learning maths by rote, rather than thoroughly understanding the underpinning concept, is not useful. It will not allow your child to move forward in maths because they won’t have the flexibility of mind to understand, for example, that ‘x’ can represent many different numbers.

There are many great examples of discussion topics and ideas for adults and children in part 1. These are mainly aimed at school-age children, although I think some of the more curious preschoolers would understand some of the concepts. One really useful tip that I think everyone could use, is to be specific when talking to young children. So rather than saying to a child “Please can you get me that thing from over there?” It is much more instructive to say “Please can you get me the small blue cup from the top of the medium bookcase?” Apart from the vocabulary, it also encourages children to be specific when expressing themselves.

I really love the idea of making the ordinary absurd. For example, exploring the idea that plane travel is flying in the sky sat in a chair or that a tree seed can transform from something tiny you can hold in your palm into a tree, which is bigger than your house. Sometimes as adults it is easy to become jaded about these “ordinary” things that happen all around us. It is a great reminder that these are amazing things and should be shared as such with children.

The second part of the book is about children as “embodied social beings”. It investigates the idea that children are good at recognising patterns and understanding abstract ideas. Again, there are some great ideas to support this way of thinking. This includes social situations, humour and understanding abstract ideas – with mention of Piaget’s conservation of mass.

Emotional embodiment on page 86, talks about “hot” and “cold” states, for when someone is (respectively) “visceral charged” or “cool, calm, rational”. I think this is an interesting way of defining emotions for a young child and could well be used to help children to verbalise and regulate their emotional states.

In part 3 of this book we learn how computers are everywhere and are growing in their capacity, both in terms of memory storage and ability to make links – “to think”. However, computers are still a long way behind the average preschooler in being able to think flexibly and creatively. This is currently what gives humans the edge over computers. Mugan goes on to explain how we can support children to be more creative in this technological world and give them the advantage for their world of the future.

There is a particularly timely notice about privacy, considering that research has found that children as young as 5 are using Facebook, (bbc news website) and how this may affect people in the future.

Jonathan Mugan concludes with a particularly sobering thought – “increasingly rapid change is coming and this change will require engaged curiosity to understand it” (page 150). I wonder if this is truly achieved through the EYFS or 2-year-old progress checks? This is why it is essential that practitioners are motivated, curious and involved.

This really is a superb book, which has made me re-evaluate how I communicate with my children. The Kindle version on the computer allows you to click through on the websites and research links, which gives a whole new level of reading material.

I would say this is essential reading for anyone who is passionate about encouraging curiosity and stimulating individuality and creativity in their children.

It is available on Kindle at Amazon Similar Posts:

The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Squish, Squash and Squeeze – from Alistair Bryce-Clegg

Kathy — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:57:09 +0000

I am very proud and pleased to have a guest blog today.

I first met Alistair Bryce-Clegg when I asked him to come and ‘close’ our annual North West EYP Conference. He was amazing that day – and has been amazing our EYPs in the North West ever since! If you ever have the opportunity to hear Alistair at a Conference, I would strongly recommend you do so. Inspirational and irreverent in equal measure, and with loads of practical, cheap and useful ideas.

Which brings us to the blog. Alistair has very kindly shared this blog with me, which originally appeared on his site in February. You can find it at www.abcdoes.com He has also written a number of books, which you can find on Amazon or through your local independent book seller.

I hope you are as inspired as I was on reading these ideas. Enjoy!

Activity Ideas – Squish Squash and Squeeze

By Alistair Bryce-Clegg

It was meant to be a rare day off but it seems that the printing press waits for no man and I had to get my photoshoot sorted out for the next ’50 Fantastic Things’ book.

I have to say a HUGE thank you to Jo and all of the team at Penguins Pre-School in Timperley who were super organised and super helpful and made the shoot run like a dream.

Here are a few of the things that we did…

BAGS OF FUN

Mix some food colouring with water in a pot
Put 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the bottom of your plastic bag
Then add 4 tablespoons of coloured water
WAIT (and see what happens)
Add 4 tablespoons of golden syrup to the bag.
WAIT
Zip up the bag and let the children squish.

THINGS IN JELLY

I know that jelly is a regular favourite but it never fails to get great results. We tried putting jelly into various other containers of different sizes, ice cube trays, freezer bags and even a rubber glove, which made for a very squshy hand shake! In the pots of jelly, I asked Jo and the team to add other ‘items’ for the children to look at and fish out. These caused a great deal of interest.

GET STUCK IN!

You can use this idea in SO many ways. It works equally well on a large or small scale.

All you do is to cover a surface (in this case a table) with sticky backed plastic. MAKE SURE THE STICKY SIDE IS UP! You can secure it underneath the table with tape.

Then let the children stick various items onto it to make patterns. They are always fascinated by sticking their hands to it and feeling the resistance as they pull them away.

PINK SLME

Dead easy and really effective…

Pink marshmallows in a bowl. Squirt of washing up liquid. Whizz in the microwave until they begin to melt. Cool a bit so as not to burn any fingers. That’s it!

If you use white marsh mallows you can add food colouring to change the colour of your slime.

BREAD + PVA MODELLING DOUGH

Hours of fun… White bread, grated or crumbled into a bowl. Add PVA glue a teaspoonful at a time, mixing with your fingers. When the mixture becomes slightly tacky (not sticky), then it is ready. You can model with it and then leave it to air dry.

If you use flour and water paste instead of PVA you can leave your models out for the birds to eat!

RAINBOW GLOOP!

The secret to this one is baby wipes!

Mix your gloop (or goop) as usual in a builders tray. Then paint it with food colouring. The best way to do this is to dip the corner of a baby wipe into the food colouring and then hold the clean bit.

That way you can dip and drag your wipe without getting stained fingers.

Once you have made your picture then play in it.

WARM TAPIOCA

Cook as per the instructions. Add colour if you fancy it. Squish whilst warm!

MEGA BUBBLES

Just soap flakes, water and a whisk!

WHAT ON EARTH?

What do you think this squashable landscape it made out of?

The answer is Vaseline! Scoop it out onto a glass plate or mirror then put it into the freezer over night. Take it out as you are about to use it. The Vaseline and the plate will have frosted over and stiffened up giving it a completely different texture.

If you want to make your Vaseline creation extra frosty then mist it with a water spray before you freeze it.

Hope that was a little bit of Thursday night inspiration! It was hard work, but great fun.

Alistair

P.S. Don’t forget to check for food and skin allergies when you are doing any messy play!

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a0134863096e6970c0168e7ddb328970cSimilar Posts:

Squish, Squash and Squeeze – from Alistair Bryce-Clegg is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Schema booklet

Kathy — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:19 +0000

I have written in the past about schema. This only gave a brief overview of schema and how they relate to children’s learning.

In this article I also detailed some resources and for which you can use for children to support their schemas. Since then there’s been a new booklet published by in the picture, entitled ‘Spot the Schema: why do children do these things?’

This is a lovely little booklet that explains and describes the 8 most common schemas: transporting, trajectory, transforming, enveloping, enclosing, connection, positioning and finally rotation. Each schema has a double page spread to itself, what signs to look out for and things you can do to extend learning and thinking are detailed.

For example, the trajectory schema page explains how this schema can often be seen as challenging behaviour, where children throw or kick things. However, if the child has been identified with a trajectory schema, the sorts of things that can be done to extend learning and thinking are:

Provide games such as marble run skittles.

Spray and splatter painting.

Making paper aeroplanes.

Throwing and aiming games using balls and other toys.

The sort of activities these children might enjoy could be based around rockets and spaceships.

This is really straight forward, clear advice that could be used by all practitioners.

The real beauty of this booklet is its instructions and lovely pictures that accompany them. In full colour and good production quality it is a booklet that will stand up to the ravages of time in any setting. At the back there is included a comprehensive reading list where practitioners can get further information about schema and associated items.

This booklet could be used to inform parents or during a staff meeting for practitioners. It will certainly be useful for training courses on schema to leave with practitioners for them to look at, at their own leisure.

‘Spot the schema’ is available from www.inthepicture.info/schemas.

The kind people at inthepicture gave me a free preview copy.Similar Posts:

Schema booklet is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Fabulous Resources

Kathy — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:16:35 +0000

As a trainer and lecturer, I’m always on the look out for resources that will support best practice in settings as well as resources that will make my lectures and tutorials interesting.

In the last week, just like buses, I have come across not one, but two exceedingly good resources.

The first is from ‘in the picture’, who are already well known for their training and information videos and DVDs. They have now branched out into some eye-catching booklets, the most recent of which is ‘Spot the Schema’*.

Schemas are a fascinating part of children’s development. By spotting schemas practitioners, parents and carers can support children’s learning more effectively and make sense of seemingly unconnected behaviour.

However, some of the standard texts about schema can be highly academic and this can sometimes discourage people from finding out more about this extremely interesting subject.

The “Spot the Schema” booklet produced by in the picture solves this problem wonderfully. The booklet is beautifully produced, in an easy to read format, in bright colours. Eight of the most common schemas are covered, including transporting and enveloping.

Each schema has a double page spread with signs to look out for, irritating behaviours and, most importantly, things you can do to extend learning and thinking. These are laid out in a stylish way and accompanied by some charming photographs of children playing.

But the real beauty of this booklet is its accessibility. Practitioners with little or no knowledge of schema can use this booklet immediately. Each schema is explained clearly with some really practical activities, which can be incorporated into the daily routines. The ‘signs to look out for’ sections summarise the salient points for each schema, including the children’s learning and development opportunities.

Particularly useful are the ideas for outings. All too often the advice given to practitioners concentrates on activities within the setting, without exploring the rich learning opportunities on trips and visits. These ideas are deceptively simple, but are the sorts of things that children would remember for a long time afterwards, such as watching marching in parades or visiting a train station. My son still remembers the elephant weeing at the zoo….

There is also a comprehensive reading list for those practitioners and parents who would like to read further about schema.

This booklet is suitable for those just coming across schematic play for the first time, as well as experienced practitioners, parents and carers who are looking for new ideas to support their children’s learning. The high production quality values will ensure that it will become a resource that I will be using time after time.

The second resource is on another subject close to my heart – the under 3s. Produced with Nursery World, this set of DVDs, entitled Enhance Active Learning When Working with under 3s, is a set of 4 DVDs aimed at supporting sensory play, communication and language, music rhymes and story telling and physical activities.

Each DVD also includes a power point as well as examples of good practice.

I feel these DVDs will bring life and demonstrate good practice well, both on training courses and during lectures. The presentation is very upbeat and not too ‘teachery’ – just what you need on a late night course!

If you have already used either of these resources, why not leave a comment and tell everyone what YOU think about them?

* Disclaimer: Victoria from in the picture sent me an advance, complimentary copy of this booklet to do the review.

The image comes from Jeffrey Beall Thanks, Jeffrey.Similar Posts:

Fabulous Resources is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Resource ideas to support children

Kathy — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:27:57 +0000

If you do a course about special educational needs with me, you’ll find that it isn’t too long before I suggest that all resources you use the children with SEN are good for children who do not have SEN.

A good case in point was recently, on our accredited course, we had a very knowledgeable and experienced teacher come to talk to us about her work with children who have SEN. By the end of the 3 hours there was no doubt left in my mind that good practice with children who have SEN is good practice for all. Let me give you a few examples to show you what I mean:

Two-way communication with parents, families and carers. For a child with SEN this is an essential part of the practitioners work. Without good communication joint targets cannot be realistically set. Hospital appointments, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and the myriad of different professionals that a child may see, need coordinating effectively.

For the child who does not have SEN, good communication is still very important. And it is essential that this communication is two way. By this I mean that the parents offers information and the practitioner offers information and between them this becomes greater than the sum of the whole. For example, an activity may well benefit from a parent coming in and demonstrating their skills. Without good communication or understanding of the parents abilities, this would not happen.

Describing emotions. For a child who has difficulty communicating with speech or finds it difficult to make sense of the world around them, it is essential that the practitioner gives them the tools to express their emotions. This may be an emotions board or a picture exchange system.

This is just as important for the child who does not have SEN. Giving a child the ability to express their emotions can reduce behaviour problems and frustration for the child. It has also been shown in research that children who have better emotional intelligence, or the ability to express emotions effectively, do much better later on in life (Goleman, 1996).

Other elements of good practice are as simple as having the right equipment for a child who has SEN. For example, having a calm space where child can retreat to if it’s just getting all too much for them. This could be as simple as a curtained off area in the corner with a few comfy cushions.

Or, for the child who has a visual impairment, using bubblewrap or the rough side of Velcro along the edge of the wall can help them move around the setting more easily. Different textured materials can be used on the handles of different doors, so children know where they are going.

One idea which I particularly like, is having a colour and a smell of the day. For example, Monday could be orange. This would be demonstrated using an orange piece of material and an orange scent spray in the entrance hall. When children first enter the setting they will know immediately that it is Monday because they can smell orange and they can see the orange fabric up. Similarly each day will have a different smell and a different colour. Others which could be used are lime, strawberry, apple, peach, cherry, lemon, cinnamon and vanilla. Or whatever takes your imagination!

Another excellent idea is using objects of reference rather than pictures on the outside of storage boxes and for the day’s timeline. Objects of reference are objects which are representative of the pieces in the box. For example instead of putting the word Lego, or putting a picture of Lego, on the outside of a box, you could superglue a piece of Lego on the outside of the box. This is particularly good for children who have difficulty interpreting pictures or who may have a visual impairment. But it is also an excellent visual clue for other children.

This could be extended to the day’s timeline. Instead of having pictures for snack time or playing outside for example, you could attach a a plastic cup for snack or a laminated leaf for playing outside. This can often be more meaningful for children who have difficulty in understanding pictorial representation. You could involve the children and have them choose what object they would like to have represent different activities during the day.

You will see that most of these ideas cost very little, if anything at all, but have great benefits for the children in your care. By embedding these good practices into the setting, you will be prepared when a child who does have SEN joins you. This will ease the transition into your setting, and demonstrate professionalism in your working practices.

Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. London: Bloomsbury Publishing

Image by Wetsun
See more great images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wetsun/Similar Posts:

Resource ideas to support children is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Review Roundup

Kathy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:59:35 +0000

Reviews

At the minute it seems to be that every new week brings a new Review of some sort. Although I have already written about some in detail, I felt it was timely to do a round-up of the latest reviews in the Early Years Sector. Roughly in chronological order:

Bercow 2008 – 0-19 years Speech Language and Communication needs
This report by John Bercow, MP, concentrated on the provision of speech and language in three main areas:

The range and composition of services required to meet the diverse needs of children and young people from 0 to 19 in an affordable way.
How planning and performance management arrangements, together with better cooperation nationally and locally between health and education services, can spur beneficial early intervention.
What examples of best practice could be identified as templates for the wider roll-out of services across the country.

The recommendations for the transformation of the provision and services for children who have Speech, Language and Communication Needs fell into 5 themes:
1. Communication is crucial
2. Early identification and intervention are essential
3. A continuum of services designed around the family is needed
4. Joint working is critical
5. The current system is characterised by high variability and lack of equity.

A total of 40 recommendations were made, some of which have come to fruition already, such as the communications champion and the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication.

This review has had a particular impact on how speech and language programmes are delivered to families from the Local Authority.

The Bercow Report

Field 2010 – Poverty review

The aims of Frank Field’s report – The Foundation Years: Preventing poor children from becoming Poor adults – were to:

Explore how a child’s home environment affects their chances of being ready to take full advantage of their schooling
Generate a broader debate about the nature and extent of poverty in the UK
Recommend potential action by government and other institutions to reduce poverty and enhance life chances for the least advantaged, consistent with the Government’s fiscal strategy
Examine the case for reforms to the poverty measures, in particular for the inclusion of non-financial elements.

He made 24 recommendations which link closely with other reviews, for example he suggests that the information collected from the 2 year old check and the health check at 24 months recommended in the Tickell Review should be used to collect data about child poverty. He also recommends a Minister for the Foundation Years (Recommendation 17) which sounds like a fantastic idea.

Frank Field Poverty Review

Marmot 2010 – Healthy eating, healthy lives

Sir Michael Marmot led the review to ‘propose the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England from 2010.’ In his introduction Sir Michael lays out the bare truth: ‘the more favoured people are, socially and economically, the better their health’.

The review had four aims:

1. Identify, for the health inequalities challenge facing England, the evidence most relevant to underpinning future policy and action
2. Show how this evidence could be translated into practice
3. Advise on possible objectives and measures, building on the experience of the current PSA target on infant mortality and life expectancy
4. Publish a report of the Review’s work that will contribute to the development of a post-2010 health inequalities strategy

Sir Michael is well positioned to investigate such things. He led the Whitehall studies, which showed that the people in the lowest status jobs were far more likely to suffer from ill health, including stress related diseases, than those people in the highest status jobs.

At the time this seemed counter-intuitive. Surely the bosses would suffer from the highest rate of stress related illness? But the studies showed that lack of control over your own working environment contributed greatly to the stress felt.

In ‘Healthy Eating, Healthy Lives’, Sir Michael suggested:
Reducing health inequalities will require action on six policy objectives:
— Give every child the best start in life
— Enable all children young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives
— Create fair employment and good work for all
— Ensure healthy standard of living for all
— Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
— Strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention

This review contains a vast array of statistics and quantitative data as well as qualitative data. Because of the nature of the investigation there are references from incredibly diverse sources – from mental health to social mobility to fast food restaurants. A thoroughly interesting review, which will stand as social comment on our current life styles in years to come.

Marmot Review, Healthy Eating, Healthy lives

Allen 2011 – Early Intervention: The Next Steps

The Allen Review of Early Intervention in children’s lives starts with a graphic and horrifying image – the CT scans of two brains, one of which is markedly smaller than the other. The smaller brain is due to the child having suffered ‘severe sensory-deprivation neglect in early childhood’.

The effect of deprivation on child development could not be illustrated more clearly.

Thirty three recommendations were made in all, with the top three being identified as:

1. The 19 ‘top programmes’ identified in the Report should be supported and work undertaken with local areas to explore how they might be expanded to demonstrate our commitment to Early Intervention.

2. Early Intervention should build on the strength of its local base by establishing 15 local Early Intervention Places to spearhead its development. These should be run by local authorities and the voluntary sector, who are already the main initiators and innovators of Early Intervention.

3. The establishment of an independent Early Intervention Foundation to support local people, communities and agencies, with initial emphasis on the 15 Early Intervention Places.

This is an amazingly broad review, covering everything from babies to brain development to economic implications of not having Early Intervention. The tone is very positive and the way forward is clearly laid out. There are examples from around the world, demonstrating the good practice of early intervention and the good economic sense.

However, the Review does not preach, but puts forward irrefutable evidence for Early Intervention.

Graham Allen Review Early Intervention

Munro Review 2011 – Safeguarding

The Munro Review is an independent review of child protection in England and asks the central question of ‘What helps professionals make the best judgments they can to protect a vulnerable child?’

Fifteen recommendations are made, which start with a child centred approach. They strongly advise against cherry picking from the recommendations and urge that they should be considered as a whole to be meaningful.

The main thrust of the Review is that there are better outcomes for children when agencies, across the broad spectrum, work together – with the child at the centre of their thinking.

There is support for the Tickell Review, with the suggestion that the ‘Welfare requirements’ are renamed as the ‘Safeguarding and Welfare requirements’ (p. 59).

Munro Review

Bailey Review 2011 – Letting Children be Children

This is an independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of childhood and covers the age range from 0 up to the age of 16.

The evidence was considered under 4 themes

1. The ‘wallpaper’ of children’s lives
2. Clothing, products and services for children
3. Children as consumers
4. Making parents’ voices heard

The Review suggests an approach which simultaneously stops the ‘unthinking drift towards greater commercialisation and sexualisation’(p. 11) but which also supports children and helps them understand the adult world, through the support of family and wider society.

14 Recommendations are made in all. Some of these are common sense and would cost nothing, for example, not putting sexualised images where children can easily see them and introducing age ratings for music videos. Some are more thorny, such as ensuring greater transparency in the regulatory frameworks.

The discussion about making the parents voice heard is particularly interesting. Advertisers and businesses claim that there is not a problem due to the low levels of complaints but, as the Review highlights, this is probably because it is not ‘top priority’ for parents (p. 76) not because there are no concerns. From the evidence gathered for the Review there are obviously many and varied concerns.

Bailey Review

Tickell Review 2011

In the summer of 2010, Dame Clare Tickell was asked by the DfE to review the EYFS, in particular how to refocus on children’s early learning.
The Review covered 4 main areas:

Learning and development of young children
Assessment and how this should be done
Welfare standards
Regulation of settings and childminders
The call for evidence closed on 30th September 2011 and the new EYFS is due out in Spring 2012, with implementation September 2012.

Further discussion about the Tickell review can be found at:
Tickell Review part one
Tickell Review part two

Tickell Review

Nutbrown Review 2011

In October 2011 the DfE asked Professor Cathy Nutbrown of the University of Sheffield, to review the qualifications of the childcare workforce.
The Review aims to assess:

content of early years and childcare qualifications and training.
development of the range of qualifications
career progression
knowledge and experience of early years professionals
raising the status of early education and childcare

Professor Nutbrown said,‘I will look at how to improve the rigour and quality of current training and qualifications, and create a clear route for career progression. It’s vital that we have a professional, diverse and confident workforce who feel equipped to do their job well. They are often the unsung heroes of the children’s workforce – responsible for the care, education, development and wellbeing of over three million young children.’ (Nursery World, 28th October 2011).

Image by lotyloty at http://www.flickr.com/photos/loty/Similar Posts:

Review Roundup is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Sources of free information for Early Years Practitioners

Kathy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:36:54 +0000

If you are currently studying for a foundation degree or degree in Early Years, one of your challenges may be accessing reference materials for assignments.

There are lots of resources out there, sometimes you just need to know where to look.

A good place to start is the excellent Teachfind. On this site you will find all the great videos from TeacherTV, National Strategies documents to download and Teachernet information. The site is really easy to navigate and is constantly adding new materials. You can even suggest websites for it to link to.

A source of information about Government policy, new directives and press releases is the Department for Education website.

Personally I find this an incredibly frustrating site to navigate. You have to know exactly what you are searching for as the site takes a ‘scatter gun’ approach to search results – if it’s vaguely linked to your search, its included in the (thousands) of results! However, if you persevere there are some really useful resources available.

Less well known is Google Scholar. This can usually be found on the top bar under the drop down menu ‘more’. Google Scholar has listing of academic papers and books related to the search term. Although the results may refer you to academic journals, which you may then need to access via your Academic Institution, the abstracts are usually visible (and free). Occasionally the whole research paper is available, so you can read it there and then. This can be a great method to get a list of journals you’d like to read when you are next in college. It may also give you an idea of who is writing in that particular field of research, so you can search for their books in the library or on Amazon.

YouTube has some informative and interesting videos about all aspects of child development. For example, try this one about The Science of Child Development from HarvardEduction, 2009, which is about neuroscience and the developing brain. Be warned – you may need to put aside a couple of months to watch them all.

Of course THE video that must be viewed, is by Sir Ken Robinson, about how schools kill creativity and the knock-on effects. This was presented as part of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) lectures in 2007 and Sir Ken has presented a couple more follow up videos since then. The video is only 15 minutes long, but in that 15 minutes Sir Ken uses humour and sharp observations to make his point clearly. Dare you not to nod in agreement whilst watching!

Finally, do remember to use the websites of charitable organisations, such as iCan for speech, language and communication, National Autistic Society and the Foundation Years.Similar Posts:

Sources of free information for Early Years Practitioners is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

The Manual for the Early Years SENCO by Collette Drifte

Kathy — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:30:49 +0000

The manual for the Early Years SENCO is a great example of a practical book, pitched at just the right level for a new Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) or someone who needs extra support in this vital role within a nursery.

The Chapters take you through getting organised (locked filing cabinets and calendars), SEN policies, the SENCOs role in a fully supportive team and onto supporting children in the setting.

There are many examples given of the type of support different children may require, as well as how to record these in Early Years Action, Action Plus and Statutory Assessment.

Working effectively with parents and other agencies is covered in the last two Chapters.

There are 2 outstanding elements to this book:
Firstly that the advice is practical and clear. All the information for a first time SENCO is detailed in a logical and methodical order. The significant difference between integration and inclusion is clearly outlined. Writing an SEN policy is explained, with example of long and short policies included.

The format of the paperwork is explained, from Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to different types of observation forms.

Secondly the CD ROM which accompanies the book has 3 power point presentations which can be used immediately for staff training. This is invaluable and really underlines the role of the SENCO as coordinator rather than the misguided notion, that so many managers have, that the SENCO should be doing everything herself or himself.

In addition the CD ROM has blank forms which can be printed off, examples of SEN policies and case studies.

For the undergraduate student there are some academic references which can be followed up, but this is really for the SENCO on the ‘front line’, doing the job every day in a nursery or setting.

I also feel it has a lot to commend it if you are an experienced SENCO, particularly the power point presentations and case studies, which would be valuable for full staff training or training SENCOs to be.

I sincerely wish I’d had this book when I’d started out as a SENCO!

Drifte, C. (2010)(2nd Ed) The Manual for the Early Years SENCO London: SAGESimilar Posts:

The Manual for the Early Years SENCO by Collette Drifte is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

The Trouble with Play. A thought provoking book

Kathy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:36:43 +0000

The Trouble with Play by Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle. Open University Press (2010)

This book will challenge any preconceptions about the innocence and universal benefit of play. It is based on naturalistic observations of children, where researchers do not interrupt or disturb the play, so the ‘real’ situation can be witnessed.The result is a number of fascinating, and sometimes disturbing, vignettes of play behaviour.

Some of these were very familiar scenes: the teacher who encourages a child to join in with a group playing Cinderella. But the newcomer is chosen by the other children to play “the piece of paper that was in front of the fireplace, collecting the cinders”.

How often do we encourage our children to “play together” and how often do we say “we’re all friends here” – to then go away convinced that its preferable for children to play socially than by themselves? Only to find the children subverting these good intentions for their own purpose. More importantly, how often do we find out that the children have subverted the play? As the authors assert “The Trouble With Play helps identify and recognise injustice that occurs in play”.

The authors, Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle, challenge play in six areas: play is natural; is about development and learning; is normal; is fun; is innocent and is a universal right. Each of the six areas are considered in detail, brought to life by many vignettes. There are reflection points and practical activities throughout the book are excellent starting points for discussions for students as well as staff meetings and training courses.

The penultimate chapter compares curricula from four different countries – Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden and England. This really made me realise how easy it is to become parochial in our use of curricula. Working in England means that I live and breathe the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). But what are children in other countries experiencing? There are some interesting similarities and significant differences.

In Hong Kong, children aged 5 to 6 would be encouraged to play chess, Australia educators are ‘deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and actions’, the Swedish curriculum is fully integrated to age 20.

My only (very small) disappointment was that the myth that the Early Learning Goals in the EYFS “must” be achieved by the end of the year in which children turn 5 years old. This is not the case – at the minute. But who knows with the results of EYFS review still to be announced? Overall a very interesting, thoughtful book.

As Sir Terry Pratchett observes in ‘The Hogfather’ its “nice to hear the voices of little children at play, provided you took care to be far enough away not to hear what they were actually saying”.Similar Posts:

The Trouble with Play. A thought provoking book is a post from: Kathy Brodie: Early Years Training Courses and Coaching for Early Years Professionals

Breathtakingly Beautiful Land of Me

Kathy — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:03:01 +0000

The amazingly talented team at ‘Made in Me’ understand the lesson that Disney demonstrated in Snow White 50 years ago – attention to detail and watercolour beautiful animations are a winning combination.

They have designed a computerised book, which is issued in themed chapters. Chapter one is shape, size and colour; Chapter 2 the Outside World; Chapter 3 is Making Things and the newly released Chapter 4 is Rhythm and Dance. The story is based around 3 animated friends – Buddy Boo the bear, Eric the raccoon and Willow the Owl. They can imagine being different things, but the three properties of the imagined objects are chosen by the child using the programme.

Once chosen, a picture of the imagined object appears. Clicking on the picture animates it. By changing the words in the descriptive speech bubble, the picture changes.

The stated aim of this delightful software is to promote discussion between the computer users, whether that is parent and child or children working together – the ‘sustained shared thinking’ of the EPPE research. I was initially concerned that the temptation would be to just leave the child to their own devices but when I left my youngest son alone with the first chapter, all he wanted to do was show me the pictures he had created!

The educational consultant on the project, Professor John Siraj-Blatchford has been able to optimise the learning opportunities such as symbols representing objects and the connections between words and actions. It is a great idea to be able to print the pictures and related activities. In my experience this is exactly what children will want to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed using this programme. It was very refreshing to hear English accents and the instructions are clear. There are only 3 options to choose from, but this is probably enough for very young children.

Personally I think, just as Disney 50 years ago, Made in Me have created a classic against which others will be measured in years to come.

The Land of Me can be downloaded very easily at www.madeinme.com Enjoy!