Map Making
Jacob was playing a game with friends. “Shhh!” he said. “There’s a t-rex and a rhino!” Jacob and his friend crept on tiptoes looking for the animals.
I challenged Jacob to make a map to show us where the animals were. Jacob drew a long looping line to show the way. “Just round the circle then on the bridge then, boom! You’re here! Look they near each other ‘cause they best friend. I’ll show you where rhino is.” Jacob added crosses to show where the t-rex and rhino were.
“It needs my name on,” he said and wrote his name independently.
I suggested Jacob write some labels for his map. Jacob could hear a ‘t’ at the start of t-rex and wrote it independently. With support to listen for the sounds, he could also hear the ‘r’, ‘e’ and ‘x’. He found ‘r’ and ‘x’ independently on a sound mat and ‘e’ with support.
Jacob could hear a ‘r’, ‘n’ and ‘o’ in rhino. “Like the other one!” He said writing ‘r’. Jacob found ‘n’ on the sound mat. “I knowed what it looks like!” He said laughing happily.
RW: Why are you laughing?
Jacob: ‘Cause I got it right!
I explained that the long ‘oh’ sound can sometimes be spelled with an ‘o’ and Jacob wrote ‘o’ independently.
When his map was finished he took it off the clip board.
RW: What are you going to do now?
Jacob: Find rhino and t-rex!
Jacob held his map and followed it around the playground.
My Maths Game
After learning how to make a number game in our maths focus time, Torben chose to make one of his own. Drawing the sections for the game, Torben wrote numbers to ten in order with wonderful formation to four. Torben concentrated to write each number, where we then discussed formation where appropriate. Writing ‘winner’ at the end of the game Torben heard each sound independently and wrote with some support. I asked Torben what we needed to write before the number one on the game. “Zero!” Torben said, writing the digit by himself. We then played the game together, with Torben able to subitising me each number on the dice to six. Torben counted on each time, and was very pleased when he won the game! He then helped his friend make their game, encouraging them to think of the sounds for ‘winner’ to write on their own. “Miss Brown, how do you write i again? He asked me. Torben then showed his friend, when he had finished, Torben and his friend took turns with the game.
Owl Babies
After reading ‘Owl Babies,’ we drew our families on the tree branch. Ziva said, “I’ll start with Mummy, then the baby.” She drew a head for her Mummy. “I’m doing ears, legs, feet,” she said when drawing her Mummy. “Now for the baby,” she said, drawing a small circle. “It’s got a little face,” she continued. Ziva then drew the rest of her family, Nick, Piper and Ziva. I then modelled to Ziva the starting sound and modelled how to write the letter. Ziva then made letter like shapes to represent the starting letters of her families names.
Flags: sense of self, writing, people and communities
Cutting and Name Writing
Following on from our ‘Room On The Broom’ story, Ava chose to cut out characters from the story. At first she held the scissors in two hands. I modelled how to hold scissors for cutting in one hand and then supported her by guiding the paper. She then used the glue to stick her animal on the paper. “This is for Nannie” she said.
On the third attempt Ava independently made snips to cut out the frog. “I did it I did it,” Ava said proudly.
I wrote Ava’s name on her paper, “You can write your A for Ava,” I said suggesting she have a go at writing the letter A.
She had a great try making zig zag marks.
Nest Step: To write the first letter in your name 'A' for Ava.
Flags: Moving and handling; writing