Showing posts with label mathematics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mathematics. Show all posts
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
More Highland
Highland dancing continues to be requested, and there's lots of "I'm going to be at dancing tomorrow," with mums telling us our dancers count the sleeps between lessons.
Eden, Katy, Billie, Abigail, Harriet, Charlotte and more.
We watched some pipe bands on youtube the other day to learn about how the music is made. We also had a go a marching, did you know Sharon used to be a marching girl, and so was her mum.
We must watch the dancers on Greenwood Community Kindergarten's Blog with our dancers, what will they think?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Higland Cd arrived
Our new highland dance cd "leap and rock" volume I, arrived today. We purchased it due to the on going interest in highland dancing which up to now we've only been able support with some irish pipe and jigs by Declan Masterton. We put it on and started to explore the possibilities. Perhaps we need some old school kilts in our dance clothes!
Following a beat is a good way to learn about numbers, physically and mentally.
Friday, February 5, 2010
National Standards- Don't get stressed by them.
Currently you will be hearing a lot of very politically slanted information from a range of sources about, what the effect of national standards will be, and why teachers, principals and leading academics are resisting how they are being implemented (not the actual standards, just the implementation and plans for how outside parties {including politicians} will use them.)
I do have an opinion on them, but it's not my place to comment on them in this forum, and like most of the opinions I'm hearing expressed in the media, it's a not very well informed opinion. Nor is it likely to become informed at any time soon given the current political nature of the debate.
One thing I have noticed about the debate however is that it is having an impact on parents. A number of parents have had concerns about their child, "will they be ready for school", "I'd better be doing extra work with them on reading writing and maths now, so they'll be ready in six months when they turn 5, because they're finding it hard." Let's face it no parent wants their child to be classified as below standard.
But "Don't panic", in some countries children don't start on formal reading and writing till age 7 and they don't fall behind, trust me on this.
The best thing you can do if you're worried is inform yourself. Read the "moving to learn booklets" in the parent library for ideas on what works for instance.
Better yet a great place to start right now is to watch this 15 minute online video , it talks about all the things that need to be in place before a child starts to learn to read, write , and do mathematics. It shows actual children in an actual classroom, shows some who struggle, explains why they struggle and how to help them get ready to read, write and do maths. We have the full DVD at Kindergarten, two copies, both out, so book it in, but watch that first chapter now.
As the video explains, if a child isn't physically ready to learn formally, not only will trying to make them do formal reading, writing and maths be hard for them, but chances are they won't hold onto that learning, they may also learn bad habits that will be hard to unlearn later, and they might even decide to classify formal learning as too hard, or worse still take on the attitude they're no good at it. ( Not that there's anything wrong with teaching them if they are ready.)
I'm sure we all remember "learning" stuff from school we no longer remember how to do now, things we learnt but never used and so forgot, as well as stuff that was too hard and we gave up on. I'm no dummy, I got top mark in New Zealand, in my Biology bursary exams, but I missed 6th form (year 12) chemistry and then tried to catch up in the seventh form (year 13) but found I couldn't, I really struggled. I then continued to struggle failing first year chemistry twice until in my third year at uni I did a basic chemistry course that taught me the foundation skills I was missing from way back in the sixth form, suddenly it all made sense, I just wished I hadn't run out of time so I could have gone back and done first, second and third year chemistry papers. It wasn't that I was dumb, but that I'd missed out on the foundation skills and knowledge and so found the work hard, and taken on the attitude I was not good at it.
Regardless of National standards New Zealand already has some of the best education systems and assessment practises in the world in the world, many of our teachers and researches are world leaders, so don't stress about them now.
Instead if you want to help you child learn to read, then read to them, read where they can see you reading, share a joy of books, newspapers, online blogs and the attitude that books and reading are important to you. Play ball games with them to strengthen their eye muscles and the brain connections that process information from the eyes. Point out important letters, like the first letter in their name, what it's called, how it sounds.
If you want your child to write, get them to crawl to strengthen coordination of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, model correct typing and writing posture, get them to swing on trees to strengthen their shoulders, hands and backs, let them to draw and paint to develop hand eye coordination and control. Whenthey are ready and do show an interest answer their questions and build on them, but don't pressure them, have fun.
Equally if you want them to be good at maths, give them responsibilities that strengthen their number concepts (being able to count to 4 is different from knowing how much 4 is and what happens if you add or take away 1 from 4). "Can you get me two cans of cat food, oops we had 4 of our list, see, how many more will we need to make four."
Find out what numbers they can handle easily and build on them, use familiar, real every day situations, so that later when they get to more abstract stuff at school they'll have a firm base to build on. At this age children think concretely, that is hands on, in terms of real physical situations, rather than in their heads. Get them to put out the plates. "We'll need one plate for each person, have you got one for mum, 1 for dad, 1 for baby, one for gran, and one for you. How many have we got, wow that's five plates. Yes that's right when you're five you'll go to school, how old are you now?"
And remember relationships and attitudes are some of the most important things of all. Children pick up and mimic both of these. So get to know your child's teachers and future teachers, and help them get to know you. Build positive relationships and always model positive attitudes to learning, especially that it is fun.
Remember watch that video!
I do have an opinion on them, but it's not my place to comment on them in this forum, and like most of the opinions I'm hearing expressed in the media, it's a not very well informed opinion. Nor is it likely to become informed at any time soon given the current political nature of the debate.
One thing I have noticed about the debate however is that it is having an impact on parents. A number of parents have had concerns about their child, "will they be ready for school", "I'd better be doing extra work with them on reading writing and maths now, so they'll be ready in six months when they turn 5, because they're finding it hard." Let's face it no parent wants their child to be classified as below standard.
But "Don't panic", in some countries children don't start on formal reading and writing till age 7 and they don't fall behind, trust me on this.
The best thing you can do if you're worried is inform yourself. Read the "moving to learn booklets" in the parent library for ideas on what works for instance.
Better yet a great place to start right now is to watch this 15 minute online video , it talks about all the things that need to be in place before a child starts to learn to read, write , and do mathematics. It shows actual children in an actual classroom, shows some who struggle, explains why they struggle and how to help them get ready to read, write and do maths. We have the full DVD at Kindergarten, two copies, both out, so book it in, but watch that first chapter now.
As the video explains, if a child isn't physically ready to learn formally, not only will trying to make them do formal reading, writing and maths be hard for them, but chances are they won't hold onto that learning, they may also learn bad habits that will be hard to unlearn later, and they might even decide to classify formal learning as too hard, or worse still take on the attitude they're no good at it. ( Not that there's anything wrong with teaching them if they are ready.)
I'm sure we all remember "learning" stuff from school we no longer remember how to do now, things we learnt but never used and so forgot, as well as stuff that was too hard and we gave up on. I'm no dummy, I got top mark in New Zealand, in my Biology bursary exams, but I missed 6th form (year 12) chemistry and then tried to catch up in the seventh form (year 13) but found I couldn't, I really struggled. I then continued to struggle failing first year chemistry twice until in my third year at uni I did a basic chemistry course that taught me the foundation skills I was missing from way back in the sixth form, suddenly it all made sense, I just wished I hadn't run out of time so I could have gone back and done first, second and third year chemistry papers. It wasn't that I was dumb, but that I'd missed out on the foundation skills and knowledge and so found the work hard, and taken on the attitude I was not good at it.
Regardless of National standards New Zealand already has some of the best education systems and assessment practises in the world in the world, many of our teachers and researches are world leaders, so don't stress about them now.
Instead if you want to help you child learn to read, then read to them, read where they can see you reading, share a joy of books, newspapers, online blogs and the attitude that books and reading are important to you. Play ball games with them to strengthen their eye muscles and the brain connections that process information from the eyes. Point out important letters, like the first letter in their name, what it's called, how it sounds.
If you want your child to write, get them to crawl to strengthen coordination of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, model correct typing and writing posture, get them to swing on trees to strengthen their shoulders, hands and backs, let them to draw and paint to develop hand eye coordination and control. Whenthey are ready and do show an interest answer their questions and build on them, but don't pressure them, have fun.
Equally if you want them to be good at maths, give them responsibilities that strengthen their number concepts (being able to count to 4 is different from knowing how much 4 is and what happens if you add or take away 1 from 4). "Can you get me two cans of cat food, oops we had 4 of our list, see, how many more will we need to make four."
Find out what numbers they can handle easily and build on them, use familiar, real every day situations, so that later when they get to more abstract stuff at school they'll have a firm base to build on. At this age children think concretely, that is hands on, in terms of real physical situations, rather than in their heads. Get them to put out the plates. "We'll need one plate for each person, have you got one for mum, 1 for dad, 1 for baby, one for gran, and one for you. How many have we got, wow that's five plates. Yes that's right when you're five you'll go to school, how old are you now?"
And remember relationships and attitudes are some of the most important things of all. Children pick up and mimic both of these. So get to know your child's teachers and future teachers, and help them get to know you. Build positive relationships and always model positive attitudes to learning, especially that it is fun.
Remember watch that video!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Highland dancers visit
With our interest in dance and Charlotte's interest in highland dance in particular we took advantage of school holidays arriving to invite two highland dancers to kindergarten.
At first I thought our dancers wouldn't be able to make it, one had had a temperature the night before and the other a nasty fall off a swing frame, I'd told them we'd be okay, but they really wanted to be here and to my pleasant surprise they both trooped in and even did a performance at Lakeview Kindergarten for their brother first.
Annabelle started us off with three dances.
Then Bridget took over and danced us through the rest of their repertoire non stop.
Bridget was worn out after all that so Annabelle came back out to instruct the children in highland dance. We were all impressed by her kind, caring, supportive and positive manner, she'll make a lovely dance teacher.
Charlotte's friend Piper has been giving Charlotte tips.
We learnt boys can do highland dance too.
Annabelle helped us learn to squash the bug and to balance.
Dance and music help build mathematical patterns in the brain.
At first I thought our dancers wouldn't be able to make it, one had had a temperature the night before and the other a nasty fall off a swing frame, I'd told them we'd be okay, but they really wanted to be here and to my pleasant surprise they both trooped in and even did a performance at Lakeview Kindergarten for their brother first.
Annabelle started us off with three dances.
Then Bridget took over and danced us through the rest of their repertoire non stop.
Bridget was worn out after all that so Annabelle came back out to instruct the children in highland dance. We were all impressed by her kind, caring, supportive and positive manner, she'll make a lovely dance teacher.
Charlotte's friend Piper has been giving Charlotte tips.
We learnt boys can do highland dance too.
Annabelle helped us learn to squash the bug and to balance.
Dance and music help build mathematical patterns in the brain.After some individual coaching Annabelle taught the children how to space themselves out with their arms and we all tried it with the music.
We got better and better and even Jo and I had a go.
Friday, November 27, 2009
water bomb day
Harriet decided yesterday it would be a good idea to throw water bombs at the teachers, and asked us all to bring a change of clothes today. Then today she turned up with 250 waterbombs!
I helped her make a sign for the back gate and Sharon made one for the front gate warning all who entered (including as it happened Dave M our new education manager (senior teacher) [who proved very sneaky with water bombs and a good catcher ] welcome Dave and Brett from the association board,) to beware of water bombs.
Then we got started.
Oh oh, Adrianne and Sharon forgot their change of clothes, but Adele picked them up some rain ponchos from the $2 shop.
Just as well, as Jack sneaked in and pinched our stash of teacher balloons, and my idea to use the kindergarten umbrella. But watch out Jack Adrianne's sneaking up behind you!
We all got wet, especially Jack.
Watch out Sharon!
We had the odd tears, Ben "Adrianne burst my balloon, on me!"
I helped her make a sign for the back gate and Sharon made one for the front gate warning all who entered (including as it happened Dave M our new education manager (senior teacher) [who proved very sneaky with water bombs and a good catcher ] welcome Dave and Brett from the association board,) to beware of water bombs.
First step was to fill all of Harriet's 250 balloons and 200 of the 400 I'd brought along for the teacher supply. This was a great exercise in the virtue of patience as everyone had to wait their turn for balloons and no one was allowed to throw them till they'd all been filled. While it was hard to wait, everyone managed really well.
So we filled up our buckets. "How many do you need?" "How many have you got now?" "How many more will you need to make X?" Lots of maths involved and peer tutoring as we moved from three in a bucket to ten or more as those with great math's skills like Tom stretched the boundaries of possibility for their friends. 
Tom "I've got eight, can I have ten like Joel, I need two more please," and later asking for thirteen. Harriet's were all different colours and often they were different shapes, so colour and shape got a good look in too.
Joel got his all out to count.
Then we got started.Oh oh, Adrianne and Sharon forgot their change of clothes, but Adele picked them up some rain ponchos from the $2 shop.Just as well, as Jack sneaked in and pinched our stash of teacher balloons, and my idea to use the kindergarten umbrella. But watch out Jack Adrianne's sneaking up behind you!
We all got wet, especially Jack.
Watch out Sharon! We had the odd tears, Ben "Adrianne burst my balloon, on me!" Good helping, Adrianne "David can you fill another baloon for Ben please, I broke the wrong one."
Lots of fun "you just keep patting that balloon on Adrianne's back Ben it'll burst eventually."
Lots of laughs, Ben "It burst."
Then we practised the virtue of cleanliness picking up all the tiny pieces of balloon.
We'll have to do this again. Thanks Harriet was a great day you gave us.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Just the bomb.
Josh found a green balloon, stuck it on the tap and started to fill it up. I helped him fill it fuller then tied off the end and watched to see what he would do with it.
He bounced it, tasted it, kicked it, chased it and threw it. Eventually it rolled down the hill and then it burst. We'd had so much fun I got him another one. As we filled it we were joined by others, fortunately I'd anticipated this and had a handful of balloons to pass around, but before we could finished filling them, "Lunch time" happened. We finished off our balloons, stashed them in the water trough and went in for lunch.
Then, as the children finished lunch, I headed off for my own break wondering what the balloons would get up too?
Wow did they ever get up to a lot. Jo must have wondered what was going on as the children, one by one, came in to ask her for a balloon till every one had one. Sharon helped fill them, getting soaked in the process.
When I got back the balloons were all over the place, being poured on, splashed with, fitted through holes, walked, kicked, thrown and dropped. 
Being rolled up planks, down planks, along the ground, down slides and down hills.
Some water balloons were bigger than others.
Sharon got very excited! We were all having great fun.Some were stashed in bags to take home, some placed on carseats, some carefully and lovingly dried.
James asked his mum first if he could take his in the car (as did many others). She said yes and he was allowed. Janine stopped and wound down her window on the way down the hill "It has burst in the car," she told us with a wry smile, "it went everywhere." Good thing it was a hot day.
Harriet has told us (teachers too) that we all need to bring a change of clothes tomorrow for a massive water bomb fight, oh, oh, sounds like fun, I'd better go to the supermarket and stock up.
Our biggest Volcano, Ever!
After we finished we couldn't hold back from running over it any longer.
Jack wanted me to lift him up so he could dump his bucket on the top. So I swung him right over it, much to everyone's delight.
It was our biggest one ever.
Watch the video to see it explode and listen to the language as the children predict, anticipate, observe and estimate it's timing.
Warning video does contain the odd farm word, that slipped out of the odd child, during filming. After some debate we decided to keep it real and leave them in, hope no one minds.
Jack wanted me to lift him up so he could dump his bucket on the top. So I swung him right over it, much to everyone's delight.
It was our biggest one ever.
Watch the video to see it explode and listen to the language as the children predict, anticipate, observe and estimate it's timing.
Warning video does contain the odd farm word, that slipped out of the odd child, during filming. After some debate we decided to keep it real and leave them in, hope no one minds.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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