It is important that all children are given the opportunity to play in different environments. Children learn best through play and hands on experiences. Children learn the most during their first five years through play. By playing children are building on their self-esteem and confidence and are able to take risks and make mistakes. Play is very important for a child to learn, they are able to learn indoors and outdoors, children learn everywhere they go. Children can play individuallt or in a group, by doing this the child with develop social skills and also learn how to share with others.
Daily Montessori (2011) Montessori Theory Retrieved 20th April 2013 from http://www.dailymontessori.com/montessori-theory/
Casa Dei Bambini (2010) Abour Maria Montessori Retrieved 14th April 2013 from
http://www.casadeibambini.info/montessori/
Welsh Assembly Government (2008) Framework for Children’s Learning for 3 to 7-year-olds in Wales Retrieved 01st April 2013 from
http://wales.gov.uk/dcells/publications/policy_strategy_and_planning/early-wales/whatisfoundation/foundationphase/2274085/frameworkforchildrene.pdf;jsessionid=1735525FFBAFF933D4FC0E40CF25A46E?lang=en
Isaacs, B. (2010), Bring the Montessori Approach to you: London
Williams-Siegfredsen, J. (2012), Understanding the Danish Forest School Approach: Oxon
Friday 26 April 2013
The Foundation Phase
The Foundation Phase
was implemented in 2008, this document is mandatory for teaching and learning
in Wales for children aged 3-8. The Foundation Phase is based on children’s
learning through play; it encompasses the developmental needs of children. At the
centre of the curriculum lies the holistic development of children and their
skills, also building on previous learning experiences, knowledge and skills. The
Foundation Phase curriculum acknowledges parents/carers as the children’s first
educators. The Foundation Phase states that ‘Children learn through first-hand
experiential activities with the serious business of play.’ Through playing
children are able to practice and consolidate their learning, experiment, solve
problems, take risks, play with ideas and make individual decisions or group
decisions. By children having first-hand experiences the child is able to
develop an understanding of themselves and the world that they live in. at the
core of the Foundation Phase is the development of a child’s self image,
feelings of self worth and self esteem. The Foundation Phase is made up of
seven areas of learning, the statutory areas of learning in The Foundation
Phase are:-
•
Personal and Social Development, Well-Being and Cultural
Diversity
•
Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
•
Mathematical Development
•
Welsh Language Development
•
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
•
Physical Development
•
Creative Development.
For each area of
learning in the Foundation Phase there are certain things set out on what
children should be taught and there are outcomes set.
The Foundation Phase
provides an inclusive curriculum that will offer the children to achieve their
full potential, covering race, gender and disability. In a Foundation Phase
setting it is important that they make reasonable adjustments for children with
disabilities so they are able to participate in activities too.
The Foundation Phase
helps to meet each child’s individual learning needs as there are seven areas
of learning which will teach the children about a lot of things. The Foundation
Phase states that it aims to ensure that all children and young people have a
flying start in life and the best possible basis for their future growth and
development.
Practitioners should
know the children develop and plan suitable activities that will meet each
child’s individual needs. Whilst planning activities it is important that the
practitioner takes into account, the children’s developmental needs, skills and
what they need to grow to become confident learners.
The foundation Phase
aims to ensure all children and young people:
•
have a flying start in life and the best possible basis for
their future growth and development
•
have access to a comprehensive range of education, training
and learning opportunities, including acquisition of essential personal and
social skills
•
enjoy the best possible physical and mental, social and
emotional health, including freedom from abuse, victimisation and exploitation
•
have access to play, leisure, sporting and cultural
activities
•
are listened to, treated with respect, and are able to have
their race and cultural identity recognised
•
have a safe home and a community that supports physical
andemotional wellbeing
•
are not disadvantaged by any type of poverty.
The Learning Country 2: Delivering the
Promise
(Welsh
Assembly Government, 2006)
http://wales.gov.uk/dcells/publications/policy_strategy_and_planning/early-wales/whatisfoundation/foundationphase/2274085/frameworkforchildrene.pdf;jsessionid=1735525FFBAFF933D4FC0E40CF25A46E?lang=en
http://wales.gov.uk/dcells/publications/policy_strategy_and_planning/early-wales/whatisfoundation/foundationphase/2274085/frameworkforchildrene.pdf;jsessionid=1735525FFBAFF933D4FC0E40CF25A46E?lang=en
Thursday 25 April 2013
Importance of Play
Play is very important for a child, children learn best
through play, young children learn more during the first five years of the
lives than at any time, at this time in life they are learning through playing.
Play is creative and self directed, a child can play on his own or with others,
both ways the child will learn new things. By playing from a young age the
child will learn a lot of different skills that will help all through the child’s
life, the child will learn to share with others, socialise, deal with mistakes
and take risks. Play always involves action, active involvement is essential to
play and learning. Playing as a child contributes to physical development,
social development, cognitive development and cultural development. Through
play children develop their knowledge about the world, they develop their
language as they will learn new words and try them out, whilst playing the
child will use many different emotions depending on what they are playing, the
child is learning to share and gaining social skills whilst playing with others
and physically the child is developing coordination skills.
There
are a lot of theoretical approaches that are current today that link to play
that helps to meet the children’s needs. Theorists for many years have
professed that children learn best through play.
Play
is important in settings as children learn through play; whilst children play
they build on their self esteem and become more confident. It is important that
children’s needs are met so they will develop more skills and have a wider
knowledge of the environment.
Many
theorists believed that the way for children to understand difficult learning
concepts is through play and they have forward models of learning based on
children’s play and how they learn through suitable activities.
Froebel
believed that play was important for the child for them to discover how things
work, he believed that it was a pleasurable activity but it is very purposeful.
Froebel founded his first Kindergarten in 1840, he believed that children
should be aware of the outdoor world and he expressed that children should be
physically active and have real life experiences. He believed in Child Centred
education and that play was an important part of children’s development. He
invented finger play, songs and rhymes to meet children’s learning needs, this
is still used today in settings where they use songs and rhymes to help the
children learn, and this is good as the children are learning as well as having
fun. He was well known for encouraging learning by using blocks which he called
gifts, these encouraged children to understand mathematical concepts and
relationships through playing with blocks. Froebel valued symbolic play, this
is where children understand that they can make one thing stand for something
else, and this is still used today as the Foundation Phase is used in settings
and it has seven areas of learning and one of those areas is Mathematical
Development so they are using this by playing with blocks. He felt that
children would learn at their highest level through imaginative play and
encouraged play in the home corners and dressing up areas as they would have to
use their imagination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGIE6ZXJPa8
Maria Montessori
Maria
Montessori was born in Chiatavale, Italy in 1870. Montessori was supported by
her mother to study maths, science and later medicine; she enrolled to study
medicine in the University of Rome Medical School in 1892. Montessori worked
for ten years with women and children and she became interested in children
with mental disability, after a lot of observation she decided that children
with mental disabilities needed suitable education more than medical treatment;
this is when she became interested in education. She worked with teachers in
Rome and then went back to study education and anthropology in the University
of Rome, in 1906 she set up a nursery in a newly built social housing estate, during
this time education was compulsory at the age of six but the director of the housing
wanted Montessori to care for children under that age while their mothers
worked. In 1907, she opened her first childrens house called Casa dei Bambini,
a lot of people became interested and she was astonished as well as everyone
else as the children were progressing both socially and intellectually.
Montessori
believed that each child is unique and she believed that adults should trust
the child to have its own ability to learn to grow up and become an adult.
Montessori believed that children developed in stages or
planes and that each stage had its own unique qualities and characteristics.
They had to be reflected in the environment and in the strategies employed by
the adults when facilitating the children’s learning.
(Bringing the Montessori approach to your early years
practice. page 9)
The three stages are, the absorbent mind, this stage is from
conception to the age of six, childhood, this stage is from six until the child
reaches twelve years old and the third stage is adolescence, this id from
twelve to the age of eighteen. These age bands are approximate and were called
sensitive periods.
During the absorbent mind stage, humans need stimulation and
opportunity to help develop their brain through active learning and exploring
using their senses. During this stage children acquire certain skills and
abilities, Montessori calls theses sensitive periods, there are six key
sensitive periods in this stage, these are; order, movement, small details,
language, refinement of the senses and the social aspects of life. The teacher
should focus when they observe the child during this stage so they can provide
appropriate learning opportunities for the child.
The second stage is childhood, Montessori described this stage
as the ‘calm stage’ According to Isaacs B, this stage is when the child is very
keen to learn and are eager to belong to a group.
Montessori saw that the environment was crucial for children
for spontaneous learning. The environment has to be safe for the child to be
able to explore freely, the environment has to be stimulating so the children
feel as if they want to learn in the environment. According to www.dailymontessori.com, Montessori refers
to work as an activity the child does or what many people may call play. Their play
is their work and they enjoy it. According to Isaacs B, From the Montessori perspective the favouritible environment is characterised by: accessability and avvailability, freedom of movement and choice, personal responsibility, reality and nature and beauty and harmony.
Maria Montessori believed that the children should gain independence
and to be able to do things for themselves. She liked the child to decide what
they wanted to do and dress themselves so whilst they were doing this they were
also gaining independence. She believed that by children being able to do
things for themselves that there would be an increase in their self belief,
self confidence and self esteem and that they may carry it on with them throughout
their lives.
Forest Schools
The
Forest School initiative originated in Scandinavia in the 1950s, the aim was to
encourage children to learn social, physical and educational skills while
encouraging an appreciation and understanding of the environment. By the 1980s
it had become an integral part of the Danish early years programme and was well
established in all the Scandinavian countries. Forest School now has prominence
in the UK with Forest Schools being part of early year education in Worchester,
Oxfordshire, Shropshire and Wales. Forest
schools are a system of learning that allows the environment to do the teaching
as the children are learning through the environment instead of being taught by
a teacher. By using a Forest School, children are still learning all the
national curriculum subjects, just in a different environment which is a very
stimulating environment for the children to learn in.
Forest School provides an excellent opportunity to bring learning to life, allowing children, young people and adults to explore and learn in a constructive way. This inspirational process increases self-confidence, self-esteem, improves individuals’ ability to work co-operatively and counters a lack of motivation and negative attitude towards learning, while offering the opportunities to take risks, make choices and initiate learning for themselves, as well as having hands on experiences outdoors. Forest School is a secure area of woodland, which acts as an outdoor classroom where people can explore, investigate and discover the natural environment. Sessions are organised and run by Qualified Forest School Leaders, while the leader will have a planned a range of potential activities, which might include shelter construction, bridge building, mapping or artwork with natural materials, it is the participants themselves that determine the range and scope of the activities.
According to Worcestershire.gov.uk the aims of Forest Schools are to, work with the holistic child, promote education and empathy for the natural world, model good leadership practice and structure and planning.
According to Jane Williams-Siegfredsen, 2012, Whilst using forest schools, a holistic approach to learning is concerned with the development of every child’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, creative and spiritual potential.
By a child being able to use a forest school, it encourages personal and collective responsibility. There are key factors that are involved with a holistic approach that children understand whilst being outdoors, these factors are to have self-respect and self-esteem, relationships with other children and adults, being able to overcome difficulties and challenges and they also learn about the beauty of the natural surroundings and having awe and wonder.
Children need time to play, experiment and explore with the ideas they have, they need to be able to make mistakes and repeat their play, they are able to do all these things whilst being outdoors in a forest school. Children will have the opportunity of hands on experiences and doing things themselves without being told what to do, by the children having the opportunity to do this by themselves they are able to make mistakes but also learn from the mistakes that they have made, they will gain confidence and build on their self esteem.
Children learn whilst being outdoors as they are able to explore and discover new things whilst being outside, they are also gaining confidence and developing self esteem whilst having fun at the same time.
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