Welcome Back!
We welcomed our pupils back to the setting this week, refreshed after a break with their families. The new themes have started and we are grateful for better weather, so that we can explore the outdoor spaces more freely.
We’ve lots planned this term; Earth Week starts on 24
th April, we’ve our official photo session in May, the Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai Carnival in May (an event not to be missed!) and the family picnic in June. For parents, we have some exceptional information sessions schedule which will be outlined each week. Some of these are a series of three sessions around positive parenting and etiquette which are sure to be very popular.
We said a fond farewell to our two interns last term and welcome another two for Summer Term. Peter and Marina have joined us (Marina never really left, she went to the International School for a term) from the UK and will support the pupils with language acquisition, phonics and singing. They will also get involved in their own projects – we do like the interns to leave a permanent ‘stamp’ on the setting, something that they can be proud of achieving together with the pupils.
Annual Review feedback
We recently went through the process of annual review, whereby a small team of experienced educators and leaders visited the setting to observe and discuss our practice. The review process is a rigorous system of meetings, observations and evidence scrutiny which ultimately results in judgements being made. From this, we can consider areas for focus in our strategic planning – overall, a very positive process to support professional and practice development. The annual reviewers are experienced head teachers and inspectors, therefore they have a wealth of experience to reflect upon. The feedback from the reviewers was exceptionally positive and I was delighted to be able to convey their comments to the team. We have achieved a lot in a short space of time and our capacity for excellence is strong. The report acknowledges our passion, strength of vision, behaviour of the children, partnership, quality of teaching and learning, strength of the curriculum and the team. I will summarise the comments made and will be sending these to the parent body over the coming weeks.
Praising children – good job?
All children love praise; they thrive on it, right? Not always! Knowing when to praise and provide encouragement is important. As a Head of Early Years, one of my greatest gripes is when I hear the dreaded words, ‘Good job!’ Good job for what? Breathing? Walking? Putting away your toys? Is this a ‘good job’ or is this normal, expected behaviour? The way we use praise is important in building self-esteem in children however, it should be used with caution. “Effective praise focuses on a child’s effort rather than on what is actually accomplished. When educators give genuine praise that is specific, spontaneous and well-deserved, it encourages continual learning and decreases competition amongst students.” Leah Davies,
www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip37.html.
The challenge is knowing where appropriate praise ends and inflated praise begins. Parents, like teachers must ask themselves, ‘How hard was my child actually trying when he did that behaviour?’ If they weren’t trying hard or developing a new skill, the praise should be shorter.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/children-praise_n_4549369.html. Often narrating what a child is doing is more effective, as it demonstrates that a parent or teacher is paying attention; e.g. ‘I really liked the way that you shared your cars with your brother’.
What is the difference between praise and encouragement? Praise is when you tell your child what you like about them or their behaviour. It goes a long way to helping your child feel good about themselves. Encouragement is praise for effort; e.g. ‘You worked really hard on your maths homework’. Rewards are consequences for good behaviour. It is a way of saying ‘well done’ after your child has done something good or behaved well. This could be a treat, a surprise or an extra privilege.
www.raisingchildren.net.au/articles/praise_and_encouragement.html.
How should we give praise effectively?
- Be sensitive to your child’s developmental level
- Be sincere and specific
- Praise children for traits they have the power to change
- Use descriptive praise that coveys realistic, attainable standards
- Beware of praising children for achievements that come easily
- Beware of over-praising children for doing things they like anyway
- Avoid praise that compares your child to others – this form of praise (social comparison) is only motivating if children continue to finish first (they become poor losers) and it teaches children that competitive standing and not mastery is the goal. This type of praise doesn’t prepare children for coping with failure (we all fail at times – this is life!). Instead of learning from mistakes, children respond by feeling helpless.
www.parentingscience.com/effects-of-praise.html.
I heard a rumour…….
This week, some parents saw a job advertised for Principal of Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai and were concerned that I may be leaving. In fact, the situation is more exciting than that, particularly for parents of our EY3 pupils. We are now recruiting school Principals (English and Chinese) for the new Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai school that will open in New Bund which will include primary and junior high schools. I will continue to be the Head of Early Years. There will be more news on these developments over the coming weeks.
Classroom News for week beginning 17th April 2017
Early Years 1 – Favourite Stories
This week we will continue learning about characters and food from the story ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’. We will invite our children to join us to retell the story altogether. Children will draw the food and the main characters from this story step by step when we read the story. At last, we will have a performance. Children will lead this ‘show’ with the help of their teachers and demonstrate their understanding of this story. Children will have the opportunities to reflect upon their favourite foods and, in particular, what foods they like to eat. Children will be given the opportunity to draw their favourite foods on the whiteboard to introduce to their peers. During carpet time, we will continue reading ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and will practice describing our water bottles (e.g. colour and size). Children will also have the opportunity to practise saying “I am here” when their names are called.
Extending the learning, we will learn about similarities and differences through using play dough to make animals. We will talk about the size of the animals. For example, we will learn which animals are big and which are small. We will also learn how to care for animals by feeding as well as giving them a bath.
We are reading: The Hungry Caterpillar and other books related to animals in our class libraries
We are singing: One finger, one finger turn, turn, turn (bilingual); If you’re happy; Open and shut; How’s the Weather?; Chun tian zai na li?; Shu ya zi
Early Years 2 – Gardens
We are excited to start our second week of ‘Gardens’. The children will engage in multiple activities, such as observations around our setting with magnifying glasses, exploring the different textures, colours, smells of fruits and vegetables. We will open different fruits and vegetables to investigate what is inside and see if we can find some seeds to plant, and to not let anything go to waste we will be creating some magical paintings using the vegetables.
Shapes will continue to be a focus for the children, and they will be encouraged to find different shapes in their environment, and so don’t be surprised if they start calling out random shapes at you on the way home from the setting! As the week draws to a close, the children will be encouraged to dig deep into their imagination and create their own small world garden, whether it be a butterfly garden, vegetable garden or a dinosaur garden, which they will create using the different materials found in our setting.
We are reading: 蚯蚓日记, Tiny Seed (Eric Carle)
We are singing: 小蜜蜂, Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, I’ll Plant a Little Seed, This is the Way We Plant Our Seeds, Hokey Pokey (Fortnightly Song)
A Special note from the EY2 team: Please ensure your child comes to the setting with a change of clothes, rain boots, sun cream and a Wellington sun hat (No hat on sunny days, no play)
Early Years 3 – Lifecycles
The children have had so much fun with their Lifecycles learning this week and have especially enjoyed watching the tadpoles grow! Next week we will be changing our focus to look at the lifecycle of a butterfly. We will be using the story ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ to look at the various stages of growth and creating necklaces to show how the animal changes. Using the words ‘first, next, after’ and ‘finally’ the children will be making their own books to help them talk about the cycle.
We are reading: Tadpoles Looking for Mother, From Tadpole to Frog,
We are singing: Butterfly Life Cycle Rhyme, Butterfly, Butterfly Flutter Around, 5 Little Speckled Frogs.
A special note from the EY3 team: Please continue to encourage your children to bring in any books about lifecycles and growing animals that they have at home – they really do enjoy sharing their favourite books with their friends.
