An idea for introducing children to you and each other in class! using the Henry doll pass him around the circle to music like pass the parcel, when the music stops the child introduces himself to Henry saying "Hello Henry my name is *********" then the music starts again and Henry continues on his journey. If the child is not ready to introduce themselves mum could introduce child. I would probably not use this game every class but on taster sessions and maybe classes one or two.
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Samantha Simspon
South West Regional Manager
Brightstarters.co.uk
Use a bit of magic. I hide about 6 different letters under my magic blanket and get the children to tell me the phonic sounds and then the letter of the day disappears. In order for it to come back they have to tell me the phonic sound and something that it begins with eg a for apple - then it magically appears again. Then in turn they choose a letter to disappear. This really accelerates the learning of the letter sounds. I tend to start about 4 classes into the term and then just using the four letters we have done so far and gradually add the following week's letters. My children were most disappointed that we didn't do it at the beginning of this term but I have told them we will be doing it soon.
I have decided to formalise Beginners into the following:- 3 sessions of colours, 3 sessions of shapes, 3 sessions of numbers and 3 sessions of letters. This works really well in 3 ways
when mums enquire about the classes they can see a clear plan as to how the learning takes place and encourages them to join for the term.
it doesn't bother them that there is lots of repetition as they know that we are moving onto another topic next week
I can give them tips in class as to how to further develop at home and they see real progression the following week.
