We are getting really excited about Christmas this week. So instead of a phonic sound this week 'Stick man' is inspiring us.
So Neil will be reading 'Stickman' and we will be having bread sticks for snacks and we will be making stick men from sticks.
So bring your festive spirit and your warm clothes and join us for a pre festive treat!
Mel
Sunday, 7 December 2014
Saturday, 29 November 2014
Why choose outdoor learning at Mini Rangers
Why Come to Mini Rangers?
I am sometimes asked 'Will my child of x months benefit from a mini rangers session?'
The answer is that Babies and young children learn through their actions, movements and the information they receive from their five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. These early sensory experiences and movements are vital to a child's development and learning (Louis et al 2008).
If your child is between 0-18 months they are said to be in the sensori motor stage and moving into the pre operational stage from 18 months to 7 years of age. What does this mean to your child, well it means that being outdoors Mini Rangers naturally provides activities that are relevant to both these stages. Children attending Mini Rangers are generally moving between these stages and are enjoying sensory touch experiences, such as pushing their fingers into the earth, or running their fingers through the grass, over the fresh green moss. For children in the sensori motor stage these experiences together with hearing environmental sounds for example the river flowing or the animal noises (such as the ducks honking) provide at first powerful novel experiences and then with repetition connections are formed in your child's brain that enable them to focus, retrieve and forge new found skills over time.
I have been using our time in Mini Rangers to introduce the children to the sounds of phonics, as I have mentioned in the previous paragraph sounds when we are first introduced to them are just noise which appeals to the sensori motor stage of our youngest Mini Rangers. For the children in the pre operational stage it is only with repetition that we make sense of the sounds that we hear. By showing objects that use the sound that we are introducing we are employing children's spontaneous active way in which children learn through active engagement. It is the new experiences through manipulation, discovery and exploration that engage children in taking on board purposeful learning. Of course children will take on board non purposeful learning also, it is up to us as adults to ensure that they are exposed to a balance of experiences that expand their minds and time to allow them to repeat and ensure that learning is taken on bit by bit.
This week our sound is 'o' as in 'o'range, 'o'blong, 'o'n and 'o'ff.
So we will be stepping 'o'n to the stepping stones and 'o'ff the stepping log circle.
One of our families favourite characters are the Octonauts so I will be reading The Octonauts and the sea of shade as our book.
Marina will be volunteering as money collector and snack provider. Ranger Steve will be doing what only a Ranger can and Neil and Paul will be organising our area for us.
We will be providing delicious 'o'ranges, coffee and biscuits.
Looking forward to seeing you Monday.
Melanie Commins, EYTS
References
Understanding Schemas by Louis et al
Jolly Phonics
Cbeebies Phonics
I am sometimes asked 'Will my child of x months benefit from a mini rangers session?'
The answer is that Babies and young children learn through their actions, movements and the information they receive from their five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. These early sensory experiences and movements are vital to a child's development and learning (Louis et al 2008).
If your child is between 0-18 months they are said to be in the sensori motor stage and moving into the pre operational stage from 18 months to 7 years of age. What does this mean to your child, well it means that being outdoors Mini Rangers naturally provides activities that are relevant to both these stages. Children attending Mini Rangers are generally moving between these stages and are enjoying sensory touch experiences, such as pushing their fingers into the earth, or running their fingers through the grass, over the fresh green moss. For children in the sensori motor stage these experiences together with hearing environmental sounds for example the river flowing or the animal noises (such as the ducks honking) provide at first powerful novel experiences and then with repetition connections are formed in your child's brain that enable them to focus, retrieve and forge new found skills over time.
I have been using our time in Mini Rangers to introduce the children to the sounds of phonics, as I have mentioned in the previous paragraph sounds when we are first introduced to them are just noise which appeals to the sensori motor stage of our youngest Mini Rangers. For the children in the pre operational stage it is only with repetition that we make sense of the sounds that we hear. By showing objects that use the sound that we are introducing we are employing children's spontaneous active way in which children learn through active engagement. It is the new experiences through manipulation, discovery and exploration that engage children in taking on board purposeful learning. Of course children will take on board non purposeful learning also, it is up to us as adults to ensure that they are exposed to a balance of experiences that expand their minds and time to allow them to repeat and ensure that learning is taken on bit by bit.
This week our sound is 'o' as in 'o'range, 'o'blong, 'o'n and 'o'ff.
So we will be stepping 'o'n to the stepping stones and 'o'ff the stepping log circle.
One of our families favourite characters are the Octonauts so I will be reading The Octonauts and the sea of shade as our book.
Marina will be volunteering as money collector and snack provider. Ranger Steve will be doing what only a Ranger can and Neil and Paul will be organising our area for us.
We will be providing delicious 'o'ranges, coffee and biscuits.
Looking forward to seeing you Monday.
Melanie Commins, EYTS
References
Understanding Schemas by Louis et al
Jolly Phonics
Cbeebies Phonics
Saturday, 22 November 2014
The Gruffalo - 24 November 2014
We are moving on this week with a brand new sound it is g as in 'g'argle, 'g'rumpy and 'g'arden....
So in our lovely Etherow Park garden area there is one book that has always been my favourite and that is the ......
Gruffalo
First we are going to get the children to make their very own Gruffalo grasshead. Then the Gruffalos and their makers are going to go on a walking story of the Gruffalo.
The essence of a walking story is all about spotting the various characters in the bushes and trees and then listening to the next part of the story for guidance as to where the next character is hiding?
Learning in the Early years is about being able to take control, thrills and a very sensory dependent way of learning. It is about learning how to filter out the many environmental sounds to the one voice that is telling the story, it is about finding it interesting enough to move ones body in ways that provide challenge and discovery. The senses provide the children with a continued understanding of what surrounds them and how to make sense of it. As parents our guidance through these social interactions are essential, it is our excitement,our joy, our engagement that children take on when experiencing these interactions.
ref: https://www.facebook.com/alistair.bryceclegg for more information on thrills in early years learning.
Saturday, 15 November 2014
Den building dinosaurs - Monday 17th November 2014
Oh no Dinosaurs have a escaped in our play area!!!!!!
Ranger Steve has promised to help us build some hide out dens so that we can spy on the dogs and ducks of Etherow park, but I really need your help to come down and help me dig out the dinosaurs.
Where could they be? Have they dug themselves into the mole hills??? Maybe they have lost themselves in the maze we built last week, maybe you need to come down and give me a hand in finding them.
Marina is back this week to help me with some snacks there will be our usual coffee and juice, but I am adding in some 'd'ates. If anyone else wants to bring snacks beginning with the sound 'd' that would be awsome.
Looking forward to seeing you
Melanie Commins, EYTS.
Ranger Steve has promised to help us build some hide out dens so that we can spy on the dogs and ducks of Etherow park, but I really need your help to come down and help me dig out the dinosaurs.
Where could they be? Have they dug themselves into the mole hills??? Maybe they have lost themselves in the maze we built last week, maybe you need to come down and give me a hand in finding them.
Marina is back this week to help me with some snacks there will be our usual coffee and juice, but I am adding in some 'd'ates. If anyone else wants to bring snacks beginning with the sound 'd' that would be awsome.
Looking forward to seeing you
Melanie Commins, EYTS.
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Cats and Kittens - 3rd November 2014
Ahh no not pictures of cute fluffly things, but our latest sounds on the phonics trail....
The C and K sounds represent the hard C sounds such as found in cat and kitten. As an adult we know that K can sometimes be an invisible sound or work with c to make the end ck sound in click or the soft c in spice, but when we first introduce these sounds we introduce them together and talk about their similarities, introducing the other rules comes later when we talk about blending and writing things down, at this early before pre school stage we are just introducing first sounds and it is later introductions that will add the layers that reinforce all the purposes that C and K have. All we as adults are doing in introducing our children to the picture as in 'have you met c and k before? great letters make a lovely c sound as in cat and kitten, here is a cat and here is a kitten they both start with c great isn't it?'
So for Monday I am going to bring a ball to play 'c'atch with. A great game for this age group as it involves giving up an interesting object to gain the pleasure of interacting with someone else. It can be difficult initially in persuading this to happen, but the pleasure is in the skill of learning to catch and the realisation that working with others can be of a benefit.
I will put all the mud kitchen stuff out as I can see the 'c'reative benefits behind this. I love seeing the unprompted sculptures they are making. I can see the transporters collecting other materials to add to their potions. It really does promote so many independently practised skills that while they enjoy it I will put it out every week.
Book wise I cannot ignore the 'hungry caterpillar' a great book with lots of lovely crafts leading off from it. I think we may have to get the clay out again and roll some balls of clay out and put them together to make little caterpillars. I will provide some paper plates for you to put your caterpillar on, use of seeds, twigs, leaves who knows what will happen I am always delighted by the way a child will use this as a jump off point or inspiration for amazing creations.
There will also be our usual 'c'offee and juice and some snacks .....
So see you tomorrow for our first of the new half terms Mini Rangers.
Melanie Commins, EYTS.
The C and K sounds represent the hard C sounds such as found in cat and kitten. As an adult we know that K can sometimes be an invisible sound or work with c to make the end ck sound in click or the soft c in spice, but when we first introduce these sounds we introduce them together and talk about their similarities, introducing the other rules comes later when we talk about blending and writing things down, at this early before pre school stage we are just introducing first sounds and it is later introductions that will add the layers that reinforce all the purposes that C and K have. All we as adults are doing in introducing our children to the picture as in 'have you met c and k before? great letters make a lovely c sound as in cat and kitten, here is a cat and here is a kitten they both start with c great isn't it?'
So for Monday I am going to bring a ball to play 'c'atch with. A great game for this age group as it involves giving up an interesting object to gain the pleasure of interacting with someone else. It can be difficult initially in persuading this to happen, but the pleasure is in the skill of learning to catch and the realisation that working with others can be of a benefit.
I will put all the mud kitchen stuff out as I can see the 'c'reative benefits behind this. I love seeing the unprompted sculptures they are making. I can see the transporters collecting other materials to add to their potions. It really does promote so many independently practised skills that while they enjoy it I will put it out every week.
Book wise I cannot ignore the 'hungry caterpillar' a great book with lots of lovely crafts leading off from it. I think we may have to get the clay out again and roll some balls of clay out and put them together to make little caterpillars. I will provide some paper plates for you to put your caterpillar on, use of seeds, twigs, leaves who knows what will happen I am always delighted by the way a child will use this as a jump off point or inspiration for amazing creations.
There will also be our usual 'c'offee and juice and some snacks .....
So see you tomorrow for our first of the new half terms Mini Rangers.
Melanie Commins, EYTS.
Sunday, 19 October 2014
Monday 20 March 2014
Hi again,
It is Sunday evening and I am putting together my plan for tomorrow, which is to all intents and purposes our End of Term Halloween party. We have finished the first segment of phonic sounds 'satpin' and therefore I will be handing out certificates to celebrate our first part of the phonics journey. There is a chance it will be a wet one, but as always mini-rangers dress for the weather we don't stay in!!!
So let us look back over our glorious half term of mini rangers, it has been fantastic. At our high point we had 70 bodies in our little area and have regularly been seeing eager mini rangers no matter the weather. We have had the most amazing September/October weather wise as you will see from these fantastic pictures to remind us of our first half term:
snake in the box, can you see that lovely dry ground!!!Following this we had apples, ants and Alice!!!
A teddy bears picnic with twigs, tennis on the lawn, toast that was really home made bread and butter and a tidy area... that led to the puppy pic nic, some putting a snack of pears and pineapples. We've had insects and ink made of mud.
Then finally we have had our week of 'n'
remember our nests, I think some people have still to collect theirs.So we have covered the sounds of 'satpin' and this week we will be presenting you with a certificate to commemorate your time with us and to remind you all that we have used lots of physical ideas to convey our sound and we have read books to repeat that sound.
Anne Meade, in her work One Hundred Billion Neurons: How do they become organised? (2001) considered the connection between play and brain development Her study found that play gives children vital opportunities to lay down implicit memories of skills, dispositions and schemas. Our efforts to teach phonic sounds through active physical play takes into consideration children's need to repeat and to actively experience sounds, smells, and touch to make the vital connections with the phonic sounds that we want them to remember.
I have spent Saturday morning at a Creative Minds conference and in this we discussed the importance of children's schemas on their approach to learning and retaining different information. I am always interested in how your children are approaching the learning and would like to ask you to answer the following questions:
Have you noticed your child repeating any of the sounds we have talked about?
If yes in what situation?
Have you been reminded to mention the sounds when you see them out and about?
Do you have a street sign that you and your child have looked at a little more closely?
Have you repeated any of the activities at home to remind your child of the sounds that they have heard?
I really appreciate your input and hope that we can continue even as the weather gets colder and a bit damper.
Thank you again for your continued support
Melanie Commins, EYTS
Saturday, 11 October 2014
'n' for November on the 13th of October!!!!!!
The jolly phonics action for this sound is to 'make noise, as if a plane - hold arms out and say nnnnnnnnnnn.' The sound 'n' appears in words such as neck, nip, hand and man.
So for our group this means.....
We will be making a nest! It cold be a tiny nest for a little baby fluffy bird, or a enormous nest for a dinosaur, can you find anything to use as an egg[s].
We are going to collect sticks, grasses, mud perhaps some moss,lichens, feathers, fluffy seed heads, sheeps wool???? Then we are going to use some mud or clay to weave our twigs or sticks together to make the base of our nest and then use all our softer materials to line the nest with. We can then hide our nests in the hedges or takes them home with us and make them safe from predators.
We will then read our story called Rollo and Ruff and the little fluffy bird by Michael Inkpen. Which is all about making a comfy place to sleep for a little friend.
I am also going to be asking the children to act out the 'little nut tree rhyme'
Maybe you could practice before Monday here goes:
Nut Tree
small brown, hard, round
The nut is lying underground
Now a shoot begins to show
Now the shoot begins to grow
Tall, taller, tall as can be
The shoot is growing into a tree
and branches grow and stretch and spread
with twigs and leaves above your head.
And on a windy autumn day
The nut tree bends, the branches sway.
The leaves fly off and whirl around
and nuts go tumbling to the ground
small, brown, hard, round.
by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt
I am working on getting us some big tubs to use for our mud kitchen, but until then we are exploring the mole hills and collecting seeds, leaves, twigs etc to cook up in our saucepans and make some fantastic mud pies. I realise this is away from 'n', but hey ho!!!!
As well as the usual coffee, juice and biscuits there will be chocolate nests made by Helen and Nuts bought in by me!!!
Looking forward to seeing you this Monday
Melanie Commins, EYTS
So for our group this means.....
We will be making a nest! It cold be a tiny nest for a little baby fluffy bird, or a enormous nest for a dinosaur, can you find anything to use as an egg[s].
We are going to collect sticks, grasses, mud perhaps some moss,lichens, feathers, fluffy seed heads, sheeps wool???? Then we are going to use some mud or clay to weave our twigs or sticks together to make the base of our nest and then use all our softer materials to line the nest with. We can then hide our nests in the hedges or takes them home with us and make them safe from predators.
We will then read our story called Rollo and Ruff and the little fluffy bird by Michael Inkpen. Which is all about making a comfy place to sleep for a little friend.
I am also going to be asking the children to act out the 'little nut tree rhyme'
Maybe you could practice before Monday here goes:
Nut Tree
small brown, hard, round
The nut is lying underground
Now a shoot begins to show
Now the shoot begins to grow
Tall, taller, tall as can be
The shoot is growing into a tree
and branches grow and stretch and spread
with twigs and leaves above your head.
And on a windy autumn day
The nut tree bends, the branches sway.
The leaves fly off and whirl around
and nuts go tumbling to the ground
small, brown, hard, round.
by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt
I am working on getting us some big tubs to use for our mud kitchen, but until then we are exploring the mole hills and collecting seeds, leaves, twigs etc to cook up in our saucepans and make some fantastic mud pies. I realise this is away from 'n', but hey ho!!!!
As well as the usual coffee, juice and biscuits there will be chocolate nests made by Helen and Nuts bought in by me!!!
Looking forward to seeing you this Monday
Melanie Commins, EYTS
Reflection of the Rainy Mini Rangers Monday 6th October 2014
The first of the wintry weather found the Etherow Park's Mini Rangers this week. It was windy, rainy and quite cold, so we made plans to batten down the hatches and see what we could make of it. I set off from home quite excited really because I knew that all my plans would change and the weather would make an impact on the children that I could never plan for. You see novel experiences are the most memorable learning journies any of us have and this was the first day of this type wintery weather in a long time, so I knew we had to capitalise on it!
To add to this Pure Innovations website manager came down to take photos and interview everyone that would turn up, I was a little afraid it would just be Neil, myself and volunteer Marina! It wasn't and we had a lovely time as depicted on the Pure Innovation website:
http://www.pureinnovations.co.uk/etherow-park-mini-rangers-volunteer/
I really enjoyed the mud ink that was created and I was interested to see how studious the children were in muddying up their boots and then jumping on to the pallet to carefully print on the sheet we had placed there. We added a drum beat and the footprints became dancing prints and the end result is on the Pure website!
Despite the weather Neil set up an insect making section, where children were encouraged to paint pine cones, stick leaves together and all sorts of other constructive, fantasy type of play was going on. It is a shame the Gazebo didn't work as the wind really was too strong for the Gazebo to last, but luckily the wind seemed to take the rain away and we were left with the damp, grey remnants of the rain.
We then sat in our circle and looked at the interesting objects in our sounds box. The children really enjoyed the instruments and when we were reading our itchy bear story they shook their instruments every time I said the word 'itchy'.
Due to the cold I completely forgot to show the fantastic presentation Helen had made to support her beautiful fairy cakes. So while the children cued up for snacks I showed them the ingredients that had gone into making the cakes. I was so impressed that the children that I childmind will be doing a similar activity soon!
I would love to hear how you felt the children did in the cold and the rain? I know Maddie came away with a smile on her face as did Marina, Neil and I!! Please let me know how you coped!
Look out for next October 13th's plan!
Melanie Commins, EYTS
To add to this Pure Innovations website manager came down to take photos and interview everyone that would turn up, I was a little afraid it would just be Neil, myself and volunteer Marina! It wasn't and we had a lovely time as depicted on the Pure Innovation website:
http://www.pureinnovations.co.uk/etherow-park-mini-rangers-volunteer/
I really enjoyed the mud ink that was created and I was interested to see how studious the children were in muddying up their boots and then jumping on to the pallet to carefully print on the sheet we had placed there. We added a drum beat and the footprints became dancing prints and the end result is on the Pure website!
Despite the weather Neil set up an insect making section, where children were encouraged to paint pine cones, stick leaves together and all sorts of other constructive, fantasy type of play was going on. It is a shame the Gazebo didn't work as the wind really was too strong for the Gazebo to last, but luckily the wind seemed to take the rain away and we were left with the damp, grey remnants of the rain.
We then sat in our circle and looked at the interesting objects in our sounds box. The children really enjoyed the instruments and when we were reading our itchy bear story they shook their instruments every time I said the word 'itchy'.
Due to the cold I completely forgot to show the fantastic presentation Helen had made to support her beautiful fairy cakes. So while the children cued up for snacks I showed them the ingredients that had gone into making the cakes. I was so impressed that the children that I childmind will be doing a similar activity soon!
I would love to hear how you felt the children did in the cold and the rain? I know Maddie came away with a smile on her face as did Marina, Neil and I!! Please let me know how you coped!
Look out for next October 13th's plan!
Melanie Commins, EYTS
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Monday 6th, October, 2014 - Phonic Sound 'i'
It is that time of the week again and we are thinking about the next sound in our phonics journey. This week we are introducing the sound 'i' not to be confused with its partner eye! We are talking about itchy, igloo's, ink, ingredients and insects. So this is how I am proposing to approach the sound....
I have found a great book 'itchy bear' by Neil Griffiths, I think that we can all relate to an itchy bear.
This week we have volunteers a plenty with Tracey-Anne volunteering to provide us with our natural ink activity. She is going to be helping you and your child to whittle a twig with a potato peeler and use natural ink to create lovely art on the bits of cloth we will provide. Natural ink can be made from the natural supplies we have in the surrounding area. If you can find any blackberries left we could make purple, any part of an oak we can make brown, nettle tops make yellow (please bring some gardening gloves if you have any!) sweet chestnut twigs make a brown ink as do conkers and elder berries give lovely blues and purples. Or we can mix a little mud in a bowl with water and that makes a nice deep brown ink.
Another idea is hammering leaves, this will need to be supported by yourself as I feel that we could have a few hurt thumbs if we leave it to the children alone!!!
I think finding a snack beginning with 'i' is going to lead to us taking artistic licence. Helen Hurren is going to be making us some fairy cakes so that we can talk about the 'i'ngredients used to go in the cake. I am going to try to make some 'i'njera bread, which is an Ethiopian bread suggested by Annabel Bradbury that consists of water, flour and a pinch of salt. Paul Taylor has said that he is going to man the BBQ this week so we should be able to cook them fresh. I think they are a little like pancakes, obviously if there is anyone more experienced at this please help.
We will of course be providing our usual coffee, juice and biscuits, but you may need to bring any other refreshments your child may require during our time in the wild!
Jo Frost has offered to build us an 'i'gloo using our willow twigs and a sheet, I think she could use some young assistants to make this.
Marina will be assisting with the administrative tasks of taking the register and collecting the funds. This is going very well and we are hoping to connect with the friends of Etherow at some point to ask for their advice on how to spend the money we are raising in order to improve our little area.
Neil is going to be making insects from leaves, pine cones and berries.
We look forward to seeing the return of Ranger Steve, but last week he was called away on urgent business in rural Wales, so hopefully he has returned safe and sound and back to our little group.
I would like to thank every one who has attended Mini Rangers, I was so excited last week to see so many interested and happy faces. The children all seem really engaged and eager to meet the challenges set up for them.
In our circle time this week I will be introducing a few instruments. I will bring all the instruments that I have, but I feel that it won't be enough, so if you could bring an instrument with you that would be brilliant.
As always looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Melanie Commins
EYTS
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Monday 28 September 2014 -'P' as in 'p'utting, 'p'lay dough, 'p'ears and 'p'ineapples
After a super busy week of child minding, someone at mini rangers had suggested I put some information about price and location on the website, I thought that a nice poster for Mini Rangers explaining price, location and a bit about us would be even better. I then posted it on Facebook and was very pleased with the results. We have had quite a few shares so thank you to all who have helped with this.
Back to this week, I have been exploring different play dough recipes to bring down to our little area tomorrow and am hoping that the mini-rangers will be able to make pizza discs and then forage in the nearby woodland for the toppings (non-edible I am thinking pine cones, pebbles etc, Ivy leaves, ferns etc). If your child does pick up anything they shouldn't or touches anything you are a bit worried about we will have a ready stock of baby wipes and hand santisers back at base.
Talking of base we will be assisted this week by the lovely Marina and Sam as well as my husband Neil. Ranger Steve is taking a little break to assist a school group in there own nature session somewhere else in the park. So we will have our usual mud kitchen, along with some homeless piggies who can either be baked in a pie or perhaps you'll be able to build them a little pigsty. We will also have a putting green set up in our grassy area for the keen golfers. My soft toy puppies are having a pic nic and there is a baby that may need to be taken for a walk in it's pram.
I am confident to say that we have some lovely books this week, I have already tucked them into the shed! We have the 'Jolly Postman',' I don't want to be a pea' and one of Piglets adventures. I am never sure how much time we will have for our story time, but I am really pleased with how the children are sitting patiently and listening to the story (probably helps that they know the snack is coming!).
See you tomorrow
Melanie Commins
EYTS
for play dough recipes
Just like the Real Play dough
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup salt
food colouring
cinnamon
Cloud play dough
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups vegtable oil
6 cups of flour
few drops of food colouring
Combine water, oil and flour in a large bowl. Knead well.
Add more water if necessary in small amounts until thedough is soft and stretch. Cloud dough should be use on a washable surface for it is very greasy
This is where I got these recipes, he has more! abcdoes.com
Back to this week, I have been exploring different play dough recipes to bring down to our little area tomorrow and am hoping that the mini-rangers will be able to make pizza discs and then forage in the nearby woodland for the toppings (non-edible I am thinking pine cones, pebbles etc, Ivy leaves, ferns etc). If your child does pick up anything they shouldn't or touches anything you are a bit worried about we will have a ready stock of baby wipes and hand santisers back at base.
Talking of base we will be assisted this week by the lovely Marina and Sam as well as my husband Neil. Ranger Steve is taking a little break to assist a school group in there own nature session somewhere else in the park. So we will have our usual mud kitchen, along with some homeless piggies who can either be baked in a pie or perhaps you'll be able to build them a little pigsty. We will also have a putting green set up in our grassy area for the keen golfers. My soft toy puppies are having a pic nic and there is a baby that may need to be taken for a walk in it's pram.
I am confident to say that we have some lovely books this week, I have already tucked them into the shed! We have the 'Jolly Postman',' I don't want to be a pea' and one of Piglets adventures. I am never sure how much time we will have for our story time, but I am really pleased with how the children are sitting patiently and listening to the story (probably helps that they know the snack is coming!).
See you tomorrow
Melanie Commins
EYTS
for play dough recipes
Just like the Real Play dough
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup salt
food colouring
cinnamon
Cloud play dough
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups vegtable oil
6 cups of flour
few drops of food colouring
Combine water, oil and flour in a large bowl. Knead well.
Add more water if necessary in small amounts until thedough is soft and stretch. Cloud dough should be use on a washable surface for it is very greasy
This is where I got these recipes, he has more! abcdoes.com
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Phonics sound 't' as in 't'ennis and 't'ea pot
This week I have been really busy trying to work out the best ways to tell people about our woodland learning sessions and also to keep you in the loop of what we are doing.
We are going to continue meeting at the learning area at 10 am as everyone has their own walking pace and besides the walk over provides the children with so many exciting experiences.
The agenda for this week
Arrive at learning area at 10 am
Start by searching the area for objects beginning with 't'
Once everyone has arrived we will gather around the benches sharing the objects and asking what objects will be in the sound box this week?
Bring a teddy - I have some spares but we will set up a teddy bears pic nic this week
snack time: tomatoes and toast
and of course juice coffee and Tea
We will then be singing these songs
I'm a little tea pot
and the train song
Our book will be Charlie and Lola favourite I will never eat a Tomato.
The mud kitchen will be set up to make mud pies for the teddy bears pic nic!! Please feel free to get your hands dirty I will bring some water to clean off afterwards.
I am hoping Ranger Steve is back tomorrow, but if not I may need some volunteers to get stuck in at the mud kitchen and get stuck in with the play sometimes it takes a little encouragement and a nod from a grown up to really explore the different textures mud can bring. Some times all it takes is a saying 'have you tried making a magic potion the ingredients are a raggedy leaf, a crunchy piece of bark, a twig and lots of dirt a pinch of water and then lets mix the pot.' Or what happens to the soil when its wet can you make a face with it? Can you make a Tiger with it? Does it stick on trees? Sometimes a question can spark off deep learning and lots of fun.
I will be setting up the pallet to put our objects on, please explore them and feel free to make towers out of them or arrange them in size order or count them, whatever your child thinks is a good idea this activity should be completely child led.
We have reached the middle part of the term this Monday and I am really pleased with how our sound exploration has gone so far. We have explored the sounds 'S' and 'a' so far and I know the children I childmind have really enjoyed this so far and are constantly listening for the sounds that we have already mentioned. We hear them in the books that we read and the signs that we see outside, I hope you found many arrows in the environment last week. I would like to take time out to hear about any activities that you did and would really appreciate it if you could write it on our face book page? www.facebook.co.uk/etherowparkminirangers
Warmest regards
Melanie Commins
Early Years Teacher
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Stay and Play with the Mini Rangers
After being asked to set up a stay and play group by the Etherow Country Park visitors centre I wondered what would parents find the most useful. There are many groups that provide wonderful activities for young children, but what could I offer that would benefit the children around me. So we started off with a meeting place and a walk around the park. This was lovely, but for some children the undertaking was enormous and could have been done with just their carers and probably was being done often enough. I thought that if we were going to offer something it had to be something tangible to do with unveiling the mysteries of introducing phonics.
For the first terms sessions I didn't touch Phonics as there is sometimes a fear of teaching young children and I really didn't want to alienate the wonderful parents, what I really wanted to put into place was experiences. So to start with I used activities like feeding the ducks, following duck prints, planting seeds, grass heads, clay sculptures using sticks, flowers and leaves, blackberry painting to introduce children to the outdoor experiences that leave children with a token of their time to reflect on when they return home. These activities were lovely and watching the children I could see that they needed more than this I needed to put something purposeful learning behind it. This led me to develop my sound box!
For the first terms sessions I didn't touch Phonics as there is sometimes a fear of teaching young children and I really didn't want to alienate the wonderful parents, what I really wanted to put into place was experiences. So to start with I used activities like feeding the ducks, following duck prints, planting seeds, grass heads, clay sculptures using sticks, flowers and leaves, blackberry painting to introduce children to the outdoor experiences that leave children with a token of their time to reflect on when they return home. These activities were lovely and watching the children I could see that they needed more than this I needed to put something purposeful learning behind it. This led me to develop my sound box!
It also meant that we took ownership of the Etherow Country Park's learning area, I roped in a few helpers an ex ranger Steve who worked at Etherow Country Park until his retirement and my loyal and creative husband and together we created a central meeting point:
This means that we have somewhere sheltered to meet up and discuss keeping safe, it is where we talk, read our stories and show our objects that correlate to our sounds. We have also created a bug hotel:
A Den making area hidden under a bush, to give children somewhere to squirrel away safely in, but also so it is out of the way of passers by:
We have also introduced a mud kitchen and we have started to provide a drink and a snack to all our participants.
The group is well attended by a lovely mix of childminders, parents, grandparents and nannies and everyone is welcome. Last week we had two lovely volunteers who assisted in mud pie making and drink and snack serving.
The hope is that we introduce all these lovely people to the joys of early phonics which includes listening to the noises in the environment, attaching a sound to a picture in the same way we attach a sound to a picture of an animal. Add Jolly phonic actions to each sound and tie the whole thing up with a fun relaxed morning.
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