Ourselves

Helen Shelbourne

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781843122906
• eBook ISBN: 9781317854982
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This exciting topic-based series offers early years practitioners collections of activities based on familiar themes. The activities can be easily implemented and readily incorporated into curriculum planning through links made to the Foundation Stage curriculum.

Each book includes:

• activities that can be used on their own or as part of a themed program
• ideas for enjoying an all round curriculum approach
• guidance on expanding existing ideas and resources
• linked ideas to be carried out at home.

Ourselves looks at families and society and includes important topics such as friendship and identity.

1

All about me

Adult-led focus activities

1

Me, myself, I

Home–Setting link. Here is a speaking and listening activity which provides practitioners with an opportunity to discover some basic information about children who are coming to the setting for the first time through the use of an ‘All About Me’ booklet. It gives you the practitioner the opportunity to tell parents and carers something about the setting in terms of its approach and, if the booklet is given to children on a home visit, it is something for them to be proud of, to bring to show you on their first day ‘at school’. Alternatively, if the children are given the booklet to fill in following their first day at the setting, it gives parents or carers a focus and opportunity for talk with them at home as they begin to adjust to their new environment.

Remember that this is a time of really getting to know your children, familiarising them with the new setting and making initial assessments concerning their ability, interests and needs. By doing this activity, you will be able not only to assess the suggested learning intentions below but also to look at factors such as a child’s willingness to come to a focus activity, his or her attention span and, even more importantly, his or her clarity of diction. This way the necessity or otherwise of intervention can be picked up very early on in the term and the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) alerted to any concerns that you might have.

Links to the Foundation Stage Curriculum

PSED	Have a positive approach to new experiences.
	Make connections between different parts of their life experience.
CLL	Listen to others one-to-one or in small groups when conversation interests them.
CLL	Use vocabulary focused on objects and people who are of particular importance to them.
KUW	Show interest in the lives of people familiar to them.

Adult:child ratio 1:1

Resources

Filled-in ‘All About Me’ booklets.

Preparation

Prepare a booklet for each child in your setting. Refer to the guidelines in Appendix 1 for this. You may wish to take into account the main languages spoken in your setting and use a translated version of the booklet in some cases. You will need to make sure you have a native speaker working in your setting to then complete the speaking and listening content of the activity with those English as an additional language (EAL) children who require it.

Decide when to distribute the booklets: on a home visit prior to the children starting the setting? The first day they arrive at the setting?

If the booklets are to be distributed on the first day children arrive at the setting, an accompanying letter for parents/carers may be necessary, explaining the purpose of the booklet and when to brin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1 All about me
• 2 My family and my home
• 3 My emotions
• 4 My day
• 5 My food
• 6 My body
• Appendix 1 Guidelines for ‘All About Me’ booklets
• Appendix 2 Recipes