The Week Ahead..............this week, it is all about fingers!
‘This is the mountain. And the little pink ones are the flowers. And the pink ones on the trees are the fruit’.
What can you do with a simple squiggle? The EY4 pupils showcased their artistic talents recently with a wide range of imaginative pieces of art – all from a simple squiggle. Based around the concept developed in Australia during the 1950’s and showcased on the TV programme Mr Squiggle, the children were encouraged to take a simple line drawing and make it their own. The results were wonderful and reflected the individual personalities of the pupils.
Whether a jolly looking girl with a pretty, stripy dress and delicate earrings, or dramatic lightening and an abundance of raindrops falling from gloomy-looking rainclouds, a simple shape can unlock the creativity in a child. As well as providing plentiful opp ortunity to create, drawing also supports fine motor development in tiny hands, strengthening muscles and developing precision.
Fine motor skills are achieved when children learn to use their smaller muscles, e.g. the muscles of the hands, fingers, and wrists. Children use their fine motor skills when writing, holding small items, buttoning clothing, turning pages, eating and cutting with scissors. Mastery of fine motor skills requires precision and coordination.
Fine motor skills develop through copious amounts of practise and in most cases of fine motor skill development, practice does in fact make perfect. Ways to develop these skills include:
- Popping bubbles on bubble wrap with just the index finger and thumb
- Finger painting
- Threading activities
- Using zips and buttons
- Puzzles
- Holding a pencil to draw, trace shapes or letters
- Using Lego or building blocks
- These activities focus on smaller muscle groups. Using the same muscles can help children develop muscle memory, when repetition of one action allows that action to eventually be performed almost automatically without much effort.
Early years practitioners and primary school teachers have aired concerns that children who are raised with increased exposure to iPads demonstrate a lack of fine motor development and are not ready to write when they start school. A report issued at the end of 2017 in Australia highlighted that many children starting school struggled to write, they could not form letters appropriately, could not tie shoelaces and had difficulty holding cutlery correctly. Moreover, many of the children suffered from fatigue in their hands, as their muscles were not ‘trained’ sufficiently for the required tasks.
Using screens to entertain, educate and ‘babysit’ young children is a topic of much discussion amongst parents, particularly considering the growing body of evidence demonstrating the impact on brain development, wellbeing and physical health. Opinions from world leaders in technology stress the need to regulate and limit screen time for young children, and police chat rooms and sites used by older children.
- The UK government's Commons Science & Technology Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the impact of social media and screen-use on young people's health. UNICEF has published a review on the effects of digital technology on children's psychological wellbeing, including happiness, mental health and social life. This review suggests that some screen time could be good for children's mental wellbeing, but that too much has a negative impact.
- The UK government has recently backtracked on a 2008 guidance that children should be exposed to technology and computers from a very young age, however currently no medical or governmental guidelines publish screen time recommendations in the UK. The advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is that children should have TV-free days or have two-hour limits on the time spent in front of screens.
- The US Department of Health recommends that children under two years of age should not be in front of a screen at all and over that age, the maximum leisure screen time should be no more than two hours a day.
- The French government has banned digital terrestrial TV aimed at all children under three, while Australia and Canada have similar recommendations and guidelines.
It's interesting to note that Apple's Steve Jobs didn't allow his children to play with iPads at all and Bill Gates of Microsoft limited screen time for his daughter……..now let’s get busy with some drawing……
Adapted from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-fine-motor-skills-in-children-development-definition-examples.html,
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-14/ipad-generations-fingers-not-ready-to-write/9143880?pfmredir=sm and
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/feature/digital-home/how-much-screen-time-for-kids-3520917/
Classroom News for week beginning Monday 14th May 2018
EY1 – Erica Ni writes about the theme The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This week, we will review numbers with children through role play, we are going to play hide and seek and other activities. Children will pretend to go shopping with teachers and children will have to point out products that do not belong to a certain group. We will match the number card with the correct amount of toy fruit. Children will use socks as a measuring tool. We are going to find out how many socks tall we all are.
We are reading:
《很饿的毛毛虫》
《小船的旅行》
《小白兔学归类》
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
We are singing:
《小老鼠》
《手指谣》
《健康歌》
Days of the week
EY2 – Vivian He writes about the theme A Squash and a Squeeze
This week we will begin our new theme and it will be based around the book ‘Rainbow Fish’. As the book is set in the ocean we will be opening the topic by going on a treasure hunt and learning about the creatures from the sea. Children will also create fish and an ocean world. At the end of the week, we will talk about daily routines.
We are reading:
The Gingerbread Man
Shark in a Park
Rainbow Fish
彩虹鱼
揭秘海洋
白轮船生病了
We are singing:
Rainbow song
Hokey Cokey
The Grand Old Duke of York
许多小鱼游来了
小乌鸦爱妈妈
数字歌
Special date: Funky Friday –A Royal Celebration
Special note:
Children need to bring in hats everyday as it is now getting warmer and they need to wear for outdoor play.
EY3 – Nicole writes about the theme Adventures under the Sea
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
―
Rachel Carson,
Silent Spring
So far this term we have talked about the animals we find on the beach, and then creatures we might find under the waves. At the end of last week we spoke to the children about the different machines that can go under water, from bikes, cars, submarines and scuba divers. We discovered that we need these machines to go under water as we can’t breathe there. This week we will start off by continuing this theme, after which we will look at the size of sea creatures, from the Great Blue Whale to the tiny sea horse. In English the children will work on language to describe the different sizes. At the end of the week to finish our work on “The Rainbow Fish”, the children will be creating their own representations of this beautiful fish.
The regular activities that the children will be involved with next week will be their music lessons, gym and library sessions (Please remember to send library books back into the setting every week).
We are reading:
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
EY4 – Emily Gu writes about the theme Imagine That
We will continue with our The Three Little Pig story for the next week. Children will tell the story by using the Three Little Pig story road. After that they can change characters, add drawings or key words and phrases to the road to create their own version. Children will continue learning 3D shapes and will work in small groups to do the experiment on creating solid houses by using different resources and discuss what’s working and what’s not and discover how to make the solid structure when building things.
We are reading:
《三只小猪》
Three Little Pigs
We are singing:
三只小猪
Special date: May 18, 2018 A Royal Celebration
Music and Movement – PeiHua and Sarah write about life in the music space
EY 1 – Early summer in the garden is a magical time. Everything is growing and changing… even the children who play there! We will continue our snail themed songs and rhymes, and move our bodies to music fast and slow just like creatures in the garden. This week we will also review our songs from this term and begin to prepare class performances for the end of year celebration. Stay tuned for more details!
EY 2 – It’s the final week of the
A Squash and a Squeeze theme. We’ll sing the book together again, and then take a final musical visit to all of our farm animal friends. As always we’ll sing, dance, and play instruments around the farm. Preparations for our end of year musical celebrations will also begin this week. Stay tuned for more details!
EY 3 – “I like to sail out on my big blue boat and see what I can see!" The sea shanties and silly songs continue as we head out to the ocean for musical adventures again this week. The children will continue to practice basic hula steps, and play with fish during 小鱼游 and
1 2 3 4 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive. We will also review our favourite songs from this term and begin to prepare class performances for the end of year celebration. Stay tuned for more details!
EY 4 – Troubled waters ahead! The world’s oceans and beaches are very polluted and our children will take a musical journey to help clean them up this week. We’ll continue to work together as we sing and dance to 众人划桨开大船 learning to cooperate in teams. A new English song
Clean Up the Beach will also be introduced.
We are reading:
EY 2 – A Squash and a Squeeze
EY 3 – Sharing a Shell
We are singing:
EY 1 -美丽的蝴蝶Hello Mr. Sun, 小蜗牛, Fly Fly the Butterfly
EY 2 -小小猪, A Squash and A Squeeze
EY 3 -Baby Beluga, 1 2 3 4 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive, 小鱼游
EY 4 – Bound for South Australia, 众人划桨开大船(二), Clean Up the Beach
Special notes:
EY 3 children please bring a pair of socks to play with during our小鱼游dance in music this week. Any colour or pattern is welcome!
Spring is here and we are expanding the Music Kitchen. Pots, pans, spoons, plastic bottles, biscuit tins, chopsticks, ladles, cups… We would love to have those odd pieces from the back of your cupboard for our children to make joyful noises with! Please drop your items in the Music Kitchen box in Reception.
Should you have any questions please e-mail
peihua.wang@wellingtoncollege.cn or
sarah.peel@wellingtoncollege.cn for more details.
