Anxiety in children. Can curiosity be a remedy?

Here is a link to an interesting article about a way to try and retrack the transmittors in the brain. For children who suffer trauma or stress too often, their body's response of high levels of cortisol and adrenaline overrides rational and empathetic thoughts. This response can become a well-worn track in the brain because repeated experiences create brain connections. What is needed is to try and make better connections. Here is a possible way to try and help create these better connections.

Think I might try start doing this in our class.

https://www.enlightenpress.com.au/single-post/2018/08/30/Anxiety-in-children-Can-curiosity-be-a-remedy

New Focus

Over the past 2 terms in our New Entrant space we have been focussing a lot on how we can get our ever-expanding (space and children) area to work the most effectively it can. In the last holidays we opened up the wall between Rooms 14 and 15 so we now have 3 classrooms joined through openings. We also employed a new teacher Viola Masen to be the teacher for the new new entrants.
We have endeavoured to keep having time set aside for children to play while also continuing to juggle small group literacy teaching and DMIC teaching in maths.

Initially we had planned for quite a lot of mixing up of the 3 classes. We found however that the organisation of reorganising the children took up too much time. Having a new beginning teacher trying to get their head around a more complex organisational structure also meant that for the time being we felt it was better to stay in our set classes more. As time goes on we hope to change this up a bit more as it is really good to for children to have to identify with more than one teacher so they adjust better to change.

On the whole the space works well. It is good having the support of other teachers. Especially as there are often those unexpected occurrence when you might need to focus on one or two children.  It is also great that the children are able to interact with a wider range of children and are able to play with them in the classroom.

As we go forward we need to continue to try share our children across the 3 teachers more often. We need to keep working on developing good protocols for behaviour in our space i.e. noise level, tidying up after themselves, and continuing reinforcing a culture of being kind and sharing.

Keeping in check

Constantly we face the dilemma of juggling the importance of play, (what we instinctively believe and what research has backed) with the expectations of where we need to get children by the age of 6. Observing the thinking, creativity and social skills evident whenever our children are playing continually proves this to me, but still I have to always keep myself in check when I find myself thinking and stressing about what level of reading they should be at, how many words they should know, what they should be able to count to.

Here is a child development expert's views. Well worth revisiting to remember not to over-emphasise traditional formal learning to the detriment of all other diverse areas of learning.



http://wikieducator.org/Professional_Inquiry/Nathan_Mikaere_Wallis

https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018635221/when-should-a-child-learn-to-write

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UWbCnv1vno

2018 Inquiry - Oral Language

Does having a strong oral language focus affect achievement in literacy and maths for students who come in with below standard oracy skills?

Building on from last year.

One key aspect of trying to develop better oral language last year was having regular tapatoru sharing sessions where the children would get into groups of 3 (knees touching) and follow a format of Buddy A asks Buddy B a question to which they reply, then Buddy B ask Buddy C etc. 

Positives:

This formalised structure helped listening and repeating skills. It modeled correct language structure which the children then gotto practise. It also modeled the asking and answering of questions. 

Limitations:

It was too set so didn’t really encourage extended conversations. Most children answered with a short, simple sentence. While some could have coped with extending it so it was more like a conversation, others struggled with it as it was.

This year so far

I have been trying to get the basic tapatoru routine going but time has been a bit limited with swimming to get it going well. We have had a go at respoding to someone’s ideas by asking more questions. This means the other children in the group need to listen more actively. Over the rest of the term the aim is to try and introduce more of the Talk Moves such as repeating, rephrasing  and adding on to someone else’s ideas. 

DMIC Maths 

DMIC maths with a strong emphasis on children exploring maths ideas through solving problems and explaining theirs’ and others’ thinking is another good opportunity to develop these oracy skills. At present however it is very much a work in progress in trying to implement it successfully.

Recording Oral Language To Make It Repeatable

I think that one way children can develop their storytelling is through drawing. Allowing them the space and time to draw more extended pictures helps them include more details in their thoughts and stories which in turn means they have more stimulus to talk about in more detail. I have begun to record children talking about their stories. This is also a way of them being able to relisten to themselves talk and share their ideas with others.

Talk Through Play

Through the children’s play  it is really fascinating to see their language develop. Given the opportunity to interract, negotiate, respond to eachother, and be imaginiative, more richer  oral language interrations occur.  It would be good to find ways to capitalise on this more. 

Learn Create Share

In today's staff meeting we were looking at how Learn, Create Share has helped bring about acceleration. We looked at one child in particular and focussed on what evidence of acceleration there was. and what particular examples of learning (that implemented Learn, Create, Share) may have supported this acceleration.

My inquiry this year has been looking at implementing  the Quick 60 Literacy Programme and improving Oral Language. In looking at Oral Language in particular many of the children come in with very low skills - operating at 1-2 years below where a 5 year old should be.  There are several components of our programme that have supported the acceleration of Oral Language acquisition. 

We regularly have the routine of sharing in a group of 3. We practice asking a question to a buddy and then the buddy answering using a set language pattern. This modelling and repetition has really had a positive impact on oral language skills. For one particular child his early testing showed that he struggled to say a three word sentence. He could say a dog, and reply to the question 'What colour is the dog?'  by saying black  but couldn't say a black dog. Last week when talking about the bike track said "You have to ride bike carefully." Although his lformation of words is still at times difficult to understand he is continuing to improve in putting his ideas together with more complexity and sharing them with others.

However when reflecting about what impact Learn Create Share has had, I came to the realisation that we could  have been taking this learning further by sharing it online and making it rewindable. Part of the difficulty is needing to manage the children learning these routines, and being on hand to support the process. However despite these challenges it would be good to try to regularly capture what happens in these sessions. I know the children really enjoy seeing themselves on the TV or online, and it will help for them to hear themselves talking. It also will be a great way to record their progress. 

Another way of accelerating oral language is giving the children loads of opportunities to play. Having times where the children can be building, playing with sand, dressing up, making things with play dough, and drawing,  provides situations where the children are being imaginative, sharing ideas and negotiating with others. This all help extend the children's language and vocabulary.  
While I have captured some of these moments it would be good to regularly record this to be able to play it back to the children and share it with family.

Dramatic Play

Here is an interesting article I read today about dramatic play. It is the realisation I have come to  also that giving children opportunities to play in their own imaginative way is great for their social skills, language skills and thinking skills. This is an area I would like to definitely like to explore more next year. I think those experiences would also be a great starting point for extending oral language in the more structured way I have been doing this year.

https://www.longwortheducation.co.nz/single-post/2016/06/24/Dramatic-Play-and-Urges

Term 4 Inquiry Update