Starting school at five can be an exciting and nervous time for both children and their families, especially during these uncertain times we are currently teaching under.
For New Entrants my goal is to firmly establish the key skills required for literacy and numeracy success, and to build upon the work parents and your ECE/Kindergartens have begun. We know all children are different and I structure my New Entrant programme to cater to each individual child’s needs.
For this first part of the year it is all about building relationships with both the children and the parents. Making sure that they are having fun and want to return to school the next day!!
I have a couple of really boisterous boys and they just love being outside - I was lucky enough to capture one conversation they had and this was truely eye opening to me. Just the way they were communicating with each other to build their treehouse.
This made me more aware on how I need to take my learning outside and really dig deeper into Blue Sky thinking and teaching.
Oral Language will be a BIG focus on developing good listening skills, speaking clearly and loudly for others to hear, and asking appropriate questions.
How will I make them a better speaker and me a better listener:
- Giving the students time to answer questions and encouraging them to ask questions
- Encouraging them to join in discussions and encouraging them to listen to others
- Showing them how to talk on the phone
- Showing them how to ask for help
- Telling them stories
- Encouraging them to bring an item to show and talk about during news time – eg. photos, books, insects, cultural items, own arts and crafts
Our main focus in Maths is on developing children’s understanding of number concepts. Other mathematical areas that we cover are algebra, geometry, measurement and statistics.
How will I make sure this happens:
- Encouraging them to do lots of counting in english and Te Reo
- Looking for numbers in the environment
- Solving simple real life problems – eg. if Grandma and Granddad come for tea, how many people will we have altogether?
- Encouraging them to use counters or count using their fingers
- Encouraging them to play board games
- Asking them to say how they ‘figured it out’
