Making shapes to sound

Today I wanted to explore children's interest to establish sound-sense-shape relationship. I could see many of them (generally those above 3 1/2 years) interested in shaping their names in developing letters. When I thought about writing I remembered physical differences in their hands holding a pencil. I discussed the matter with Irene and suggested Tarquin holding the pencil making a three point grip (which is good). The angle of pencil to the paper is also 45 degrees. Most of the children in the centre are developing this skill through encouragement to write their names. Charlie is developing his skill by holding a crayon in the proper method. I think it would be a good start to transform meaningful sounds into shapes (letters) beginning from children's names. If it prospers well, numeracy will also be shaped on paper. Irene has tested Tarquin, Donnagh and Charlie and shared their interest with us.

Mohanan

May Newsletter

Click on newsletter to enlarge

Meghan joins our team

It's official! Meghan finishes her practicum this week and next week will switch her home centre practicum to KIDSPACE. She will do 3-5 on Thursdays and 9-5 on Fridays. Tamara will be Meghan's peer support teacher.

Welcome Meghan, I hope you find your time at KIDSPACE enjoyable and rewarding.

Irene

Important Blog Links

On the right hand side of the blog page we have added two important links. The first one takes you to the Child Forum's summary of the Government's ECE Taskforce report, An Agenda for Amazing Children, which was released yesterday.

The taskforce have made 65 recommendations, although it remains to be seen how many of these the government will choose to implement. The report clearly recognises the huge impact of high quality early childhood education. There is some information on the KIDSPACE noticeboard about the report and some copies of this mornings Dominion Post article about the benefits to families and society of high quality ECE.

The other new link is to the Fightflu website, Don't let the 'flu get you! This colourful, easy to follow website has lots of useful information on keeping winter chills and ills away.
Irene

We welcome Charlie to KIDSPACE

Click to enlarge

Happy Birthday Ann

Fishing Fun in the Sun

Over the time I have been at KIDSPACE I have noticed a growing interest in fishing. Last week Tamara, myself and a small group of children including Emily, Isabella, Mana, Tarquin and Donnagh decided we would go fishing with magnets. The children enjoyed casting their fishing rods made from bamboo and string into the river they had drawn themselves. This great interest is enabling the children to learn about the wider world and how it works.

Meg