It is becoming more an more difficult in our Queensland Prep Classrooms to promote the avenue of 'Play' as a valuable and useful tool for learning. With the implementation of the National Curriculum, it seems that "Structured Learning" has become the overall component and skill building has been forgotten. I believe little people need to interact with their world in order to fully comprehend and understand it. They need to interact with each other to better build their communication skills. They need to imagine it, to feel it and to connect with it. This is why I am holding on to it with sheer grit and determination as it is my strong belief that children learn 'best' through appropriate "Play Opportunities".
Last week little 'Stella' broke her arm, Lil had her needles and Sophie's mum was rushed to hospital.
No prizes for guessing what our 'Play Area' is this week!!! YEP! Kalkie Hospital is alive and well!
(nice pun, Mrs Ward) ;)
The children have been playing so well in the Hospital. They have been learning about the appropriate clothing for workers in hospitals.
How Hospital Staff communicate with Patients.
How to give needles, compassionately!! OUCH!
The safe ways to handle and keep medicines.
Gender equity - power to Female doctors and Male nurses !!
They have been responsible for cleaning up after themselves ... well, with a little prompting ... but they have been exceptionally good with it!
Time management ... I hear you say ....
How? How? HOW? With 24 children?? They all want to be in there at once!!
Well, this is how I do it....
The class is divided into 3 groups.
Group 1 - plays in hospital.
Group 2 - plays with blocks and builds Hospitals and car parks etc.
Group 3 - writes up Patient Lists and organizes Patients in the waiting area.
I ring a bell after 10 -15 minutes and they rotate to the next activity.
Long Live PLAY BASED LEARNING!!
To download a Free Patient List
Great post! I think it is so important to find a balance between structured learning and play based learning in those early years. Looks like you are continuing the tradition.
ReplyDeleteTania
Mrs Poultney's Ponderings
I love this post. Your activities look great especially the hospital play centre. I am going to use this idea.
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Rhonda
Classroom Fun
It's so great to see that you're still doing play based learning! My school is wanting us to teach using more 'formal' methods but I am trying very hard to fit in an hour each day. My kids are really lacking social and problem solving skills this year so we need as much play time as possible! It's definitely an area I need to improve on as I struggle sometimes to get the structure I need though!
ReplyDeleteCasey
Lifelong Learners in Prep
It's so extraordinary to see that you're as of now doing play based studying! My school is needing us to instruct utilizing more "formal" routines however I am attempting earnestly to fit in a hour every day Best crowdsourcing sites raise money for film
ReplyDeleteI love this idea. I am glad to see that you value pretend and learn play. On my campus we change the pretend and learn center every week to go with our theme for the week. These learning opportunities help foster creativity, imagination and vocabulary. Every time you change the theme, for example from a doctors office to a restaurant or weather station and so on, the vocabulary they use will also change.
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