Term 2 Discovery time

The bird house

Using hammers and timber for imaginative play.

This term I have decided to follow a general theme for discovery time. Today we had our most successful session which was about construction with a focus on sharing.
The amount of language that came out of this session was amazing. One child told me that he was making a bird house but the bird had not arrived yet. Later he told me that the bird was "arriving now" and that he had made a bed for the bird. we then talked together about where birds sit and how we could make a bird perch for the bird to sit on. this was a fabulous conversation which then sparked other children to make houses for other animals.

Circle time session 2

Well, we had another session of circle time last thursday (week 1 of term 2) and it went really well. All the children in the class participated, they all listened to the instructions and they all seemed to enjoy it. We were lucky to have Loretta in again to take circle time and we also had Juan from Room 14 (year 4 student) in to help us as well. We did passing the smile, passing the wink, sentence completion and also a game where you say what you would put in the shopping trolley.

We went back over the rules of circle time such as one person speaking at a time, using 'I' statements, how we sit during circle time and paying attention to what other's say.

I feel that circle time is not only helping the children's oral language, but it is also teaching them the school rules (respect, honesty and responsibility) and skills for later in life.

This week we are going to work more on how to sit during circle time and respect- one person talking at a time. Room 2 has 4 new children so far this term and so we need to go back over how to put up our hands when we have something to say, how to listen to others, using eye contact when speaking to others, and how to listen to other's when they are talking.

No photo's as of yet- I have been too busy being a participant in circle time!