Setting up our indoor learning environment Monday 3rd September

INSET – Setting up our indoor learning environment
Monday 3rd September
Child, though I take your hand
and walk in the snow;
though we follow the track of the mouse together,
though we try to unlock together the mystery
of the printed word, and slowly discover
why two and three make five
always, in an uncertain world –
Child, though I am meant to teach you much,
what is it, in the end,
except that together we are
meant to be children
of the same Father
and I must unlearn
all the adult structure
and the cumbering years
and you must teach me
to look at the earth and the heaven
with your fresh wonder.
Jane Tyson Clement
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all the art
and science. He to whom emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder,
wrapt in awe, is as good as dead, his eyes are closed.”
Albert Einstein
“Your space should respond to the needs identified by your assessments”
Alistair Bryce-Clegg
New EYFS
Prime
Personal, social and
emotional development
Physical development
Communication and
Language
Specific
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive art and design
Three characteristics of
effective learners
Playing and exploring
(Engagement)



Finding out and
exploring
Playing with what
they know
Being willing to “have
a go”
Active learning
(Motivation)
Being involved and
concentrating
 Keeping trying
 Enjoying achieving
what they set out to
do
Creating and thinking
critically
(Thinking)



Having their own
ideas
 Making links
Choosing ways to do
things
Other interesting ideas
“Mindset – How you can fulfil your potential” - Dr Carol S. Dweck
“Fixed mindset” or a “Growth mindset”
“When you enter a mindset you enter a new world. In one world – the world of fixed traits
– success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other – the
world of changing qualities – it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new.
Developing yourself.”
“Drive – The surprising truth about what motivates us” – Daniel H. Pink
“This new approach has three essential elements :
1) Autonomy – the desire to direct our own lives
2) Mastery – the urge to get better and better at something that matters
3) Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than
ourselves”
“The Science of Marginal Gains”
(Rowers and Cyclists use this approach)
Always ask themselves
“Is this going to make the boat/ bike go faster ?
How will we know ?
What will we do if it doesn’t ?”
“…winning a medal is becoming more and more difficult and athletes and support teams
are looking at every possible area to identify marginal gains able to increase the
likelihood of success.”
Dr. Marco Cardinale - Head of Sports Science and Research of the British Olympic
Association
In the same way (well almost !) … what are the little things we can develop and
improve ?
What do we know about our children who are coming back ?
Some of their interests
Some skills and characteristics to develop
Babies
Worms
Dinosaurs
Mud
Horses
Cameras
Paint mixing
Being outdoors
Getting muddy
Ordering and lining things up
Confidence
Independence
Trying something new
Perseverance
Developing an idea
Relationships
Sharing
Physical skills
Looking after equipment
Tidying
Speech
Challenge
Establish routines
So what type of environment do
we need to establish ?
 Everything having a place
 Clearly labelled
 Open ended
 Choices
 Progression through the
year ?
Group areas
 Group board
 Signing in area
 Group time area
(where ? some areas noisier
than others ?)
Discussions
(Adapted from Community Playthings articles )
 In which areas do children and adults prefer to
spend their time?
 Which areas can be combined to make more
space?
 What to include in each area ?
 What shall we put away until later in the year ?
Workshop
 Paint
 Collage
 Mark making
 Woodwork
 Playdough
 Clay
 Space for ongoing projects
“Powder paint in sugar dispensers, ready
mix in tea light holders and water in a
pump dispenser.
It makes selecting and mixing paint very
simple.”
Construction and small world
 Blocks
 Trains
 Duplo
 Animals
 People
Whiteboard and ICT area
Bee-Bot
Cameras
Storyphones
Laptop
Talking tins
Talking photo frames
Water
 Capacity
 Movement
 Small world
 Size comparision
“Learning science. What does it do? How can I change
it? Curiosity leads to experimentation, which provokes
even more curiosity and more questions to challenge and
intrigue. Concepts can be built about force, energy,
properties of liquids, states of matter, displacement,
surface tension, pollution, solutions, and ecology.
Learning physical skills. Physical skills are developed
through use. Children use large muscles as they lift
buckets and wield big sponges while they fill, empty, and
clean up the water area. Short-handled mops for cleaning
up drips and splashes also enhance large-muscle
development.Eye-hand coordination is practiced as
children retrieve objects with tongs, aquarium nets,
scoops, and fingers. Hand whisks, basting bulbs, and egg
beaters require coordination and are fun to use.
Small muscles get a workout as plastic tubes are fitted to
funnels, medicine droppers are manipulated, water is
poured from container to container, squeeze bottles are
explored, and sponges are wrung dry.
Learning social skills. Water play may be solitary,
parallel, associative, or even cooperative play with a group
goal.
Learning language. When children play, they use and
learn language naturally. Words such as sieve, funnel,
surface, whip, flow, slot and strain enrich the young child’s
vocabulary and allow him to express himself more
explicitly. Positional words (beside, above, next to) and
words that express relationships (larger, smaller, last)
grow naturally out of water-play experiences.”
Community Playthings
.
Books
 Fiction and information
 Core books
 Comics
 Home made books
Snack table and water
Role play ?
 Drapes
 Boxes
 Resource boxes
 Bigger space
“It was at Noah’s Ark that I saw my first ever free
flow snack with children of this age. It wasn’t as if
they were just helping themselves to a piece of
fruit, they were collecting their own pottery bowl
and metal spoon, serving their own cereal and
pouring their own milk from a glass jug. If they
fancied a bit of toast, then they could help
themselves to bread (which some of them would
have made with an adult in the bread maker the
day before) pop it in the toaster and wait for it to
pop up. While they were waiting they went and
got a pottery plate and a knife and one the
toast was done they put it on their plate, took it
to the table and buttered it.”
Alistair Bryce-Clegg
“with a more open-ended approach with
multiple sets of resources -even with less defined
more open -ended resources as in the Waldorf
schools.- children's play deepened, changed
direction, rose and fell as it should, - prerequisites
are also time, space, materials and
understanding by those who run / evaluate/
inspect these settings”
Nursery Teacher on TES Forum
Displays
Scrapbook displays
Investigation
Interesting collections
(shells, pebbles, buttons, conkers etc)
which can be moved and taken
anywhere and brought back !
Equipment to explore e.g. magnifying
glasses, calculator, mirrors
Tape measure
Mini tool boxes, bags, tool belts etc for
carrying them around