Butterfly42

This morning I read Open EYE's Submission to the National Union of Teachers' Consultation on the Early Years. Open EYE are continuing their campaign for developmentally appropriate early years 'education' which they claim the new early years foundation stage requirements are not in sympathy with. The paragraph on ICT, focused on the dangers of 'the screen' referred texts in support and I must look carefully at them. Straight away I moved onto on to ' Does Not Compute ' by Aric Sigman and his Remotely Controlled . This is a laudable debate and needs airing..I'll continue to follow it, where are the counter arguments? I've got mine to follow, share yours

Received an e-mail from 10 Downing Street today.. I'm quite used to digital communications from there as they are also one of my Twitter friends. The message pointed to the government's response to the EYFS petition. Details of Petition: “We recognise the government’s good intentions in its early-years policy-making, but are concerned about the EYFS legislation, which comes into force in England next September. Our concerns focus on the learning and development requirements, as follows: 1. They may harm children’s development 2. They will restrict parents’ freedom of choice in childcare and education 3. Their assessment profile requirements may place an unnecessary bureaucratic burden on those who care for young children 4. Recent evidence suggests that government interventions in education generally may not be driving standards up and may be putting too much pressure on children.” The full response can be read here but two paragraphs to hold on to are: "The EYF...

I like to keep in touch with what's happening in the early years. One of the ways I have of getting a global view is to follow early years blogs. I follow quite a few occasionally leaving messages of encouragement and will share them over the weeks. Here is Little Voices, little Scholars . Little Voices, Little Scholars via kwout " They have had a focus on Speaking and listening, as well as environmental issues. Take a look at the video Apii's Hippo

... that Wales , following overall European trends in early education began the phased introduction it's new foundation stage with huge emphasis on play and outdoor learning. The BBC News reports the education minister Jane Hutt: "The foundation phase takes a different approach to learning and a key feature is using the outdoors to encourage children to learn about conservation and the environment ….(we have) drawn on experiences in Denmark, New Zealand and Italy and believed the "radical new way of learning" would have a long-term impact."

.....over but not forgotten. September 1st 2008 and the new Early Years Foundation Stage came into force for ALL nursery schools, playgroups and registered child minders, despite the concerns of many and best efforts of the Openeye campaign and it’s many supporters some seen commenting below. An article in the Telegraph On Line answered a question for me, What about the Montessori and Steiner Waldorf Schools? “Montessori and Steiner Waldorf schools, which have an ethos of development through play, say they have been assured by ministers that they will not be forced to compromise their teaching methods.” So if they need not compromise why then do the rest of the country have to do so?

Not only the motto of the scouts but also of the successful early years practitioner. Catalysts for early learning are often spontaneous, unexpected events which the practitioner is able to take advantage of. A spill of paint is not a problem but an opportunity to explore liquids flowing or the best thing to clean it up. ICT has added a new dimension ...but like everything else in the foundation setting you have to be ready for it.. I've been working with the Early Years group within the PGCE course at Leicester University looking at ICT in the foundation stage and the we touched on the Intel QX Microscope and the importance of being prepared. Every English Primary school was given one free during Science Year 2002. It was a bit of a surprise for some who either sent it back as an unwanted ‘gift’ or popped it in a cupboard somewhere unopened as yet another thing that had to be thought about. However many got to grips with it and used it well and continue to use i...

Yesterday I had a timely reminder ( I’m preparing work for a group of early years students) about ICT in the Early Years , the Homerton Nursery ICT, site from my friend Doug Dickinson. Homerton Nursery in Cambridge is a center of excellence and part of it’s outreach is supporting ICT in the foundation stage. The site offers examples both in text and video and support for planning. As you would probably expect from a centre of excellence everything is firmly linked to Early Years Foundation Stage . It’s worth spending some time having a look around the site.

We have come along way since Listen with Mother and Watch with Mother both aimed providing edutainment for the child at home in a time when social contact with other children under five relied on parent connections and preschool groups were not the norm. The titles set the scene these were short 15 minute programmes to be shared with ‘mother’. Now children 0-5 years have range of pre school opportunities to socialise and learn as well as having many television programmes to watch through out the day when at home. But there is no guarantee that anyone sits and watches with the child. Most of the programmes have associated web sites and these can provide a good opportunity for practitioners in an early years setting to work with groups of children around the site to build on home television watching. ‘In the Night Garden’ is a gentle little CBeebies programme for 1-4 year olds, set in a real garden with some main toy characters, having predictably unusual names that allow for making go...

Simon Mills in his blog ICT Inspirations writes about his experience with Early Years children and animation as a catalyst for language development and social interaction. Using a Digital Blue video camera and stop frame animation they build a house in Lego.. What a good idea. He speculates about extensions to this activity, but would like foundation stage people to comment on these.. have look and help with any comments Animating Discussions in the Foundation Stage

Flixn http://flixn.com/ Saw this on Kathy Cassidy's blog and the idea is spreading. A great tool for children to talk for a purpose.. tell the world.