N1's Termly Overview
Term 1
To introduce Farm Animals to the children, Nursery 1 will begin with learning the names of farm animals through songs like “Old Macdonal had a farm” and imitate the sound of the animals. N1 Sunny will also be doing feather collage of a chicken to learn about texture. At the same time, learn to grasp spatial reasoning as they paste the feathers within the line and try to identify small and big sapces with the art piece. Integrating the theme into the activity, children will learn to count 1 to 10 using a ten egg carton and filling in the carton with the plastic egg while doing one to one correspondence. N1 Sunny will be introduced to a book titled, Oh Dear! by Rod Campbell. This will help to reiterate the names and help children to recall te names of the farm animals.
Term 2
During this term, children will learn about the different types of occupational transportation. children will learn to match the different vehicles using picture cards. Children will also go on a field trip to the neighbourhood fire station to have a closer look of the fire truck or fire engine. This will opportunity will build on their existing knowledge of occupational transportation.
Term 3
Children will be learning about the shapes and colours of fruits using real fruits. Some of the shapes that will be introduced are triangle, circle and oval. After learning the different shapes, children will get the opportunity to learn about taste by using expression graph to indicate sweet and sour. While learning about the taste and shapes, children will be filled in will colour activities for children to recognise the different colours of fruits. Children will also visit the supermarket as part of their fieldtrip too.
Term 4
After their visit to the school garden, the Nursery 1 were interested in flowers. This theme is suitable for the children as it is also based on their curiosity. N1 Sunny will be doing petal printing which will create prints of the petal veins. Children will also learn to sort the flower petals according to the colours. Children will also get the chance to paint their own flowers using different colour paints and paintbrush.
Match The Vehicles 🚗
In this lesson, children were given the opportunities to learn the names of 5 different occupational vehicles by recognising the picture cards and saying the name of the vehicle shown. Children were also able to do matching by putting two of the same cards together.
Rationale for Lesson:
The class was introduced to different toys and pictures of transportation. As our class was located near to the car park, children spotted vehicles and were able to verbalise some familiar words like car and van. During different occasion while the Nursery 1 goes for their outdoor walk around the neighbourhood, children were intrigued by the sound of police cars, ambulance and fire trucks. As children has shown strong interest, I have created a lesson integrating Language and Literacy and Numeracy, to familiarise the children with the names and recognise how the vehicles look like
Lesson Objectives
Children will be able to:
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Match the same transportation cards
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Name at least one occupational transportation
Listening
What is Listening?
According to Saricoban (1999), “listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying”. Listening brings an important meaning to the early childhood sector as it is important for educators to listen and meet the needs of the children.
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Why did I choose Listening?
To provide the needs of the children and understand their views and interest by encouraging verbal communication. Through listening, it also helps to enhance children’s confidence as their thoughts and ideas are appreciated.
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How did I Listen?
By modelling active listening so that other children learn listening to their peers and people around them and ensure that children are able to speak comfortably in their own ways like through drawings or gestures.
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(McNaughton and William, 2009)
Facilitating
What is Facilitating?
To provide children with the appropriate materials, organising learning environment like classroom and engaging children in constructive communication through verbal and non-verbal ways.
(McNaughton and Williams, 2009)
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Why did I choose Facilitating?
Planning an organised lesson will help to create a productive learning process for children as materials and lesson objectives are thought through meticulously for the children to gain beneficial experience and skills at the end of the day.
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How did I Facilitate?
By asking questions to keep children engaged through the lesson and provide age-appropriate materials for the children to facilitate their learning using clear photographs and/or concrete materials.
Scaffolding
What is Scaffolding?
A bridge that teachers create for children to build upon their existing knowledge. Prior to assisting children with scaffolding, teachers are needed to understand children’s overall development, understand their approach towards learning, creating realistic objectives and using appropriate strategies to children’s latest interest.
(Gillespie, 2017)
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Why did I choose Scaffolding?
I observe potential in children through their different approach towards learning. To accommodate to their learning needs, I am driven to provide materials that can build upon their existing knowledge and spark new ideas and stimulate their curiosity about the world around them.
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How did I scaffold?
I aim to extend their curiosity by encouraging children in verbal and non-verbal way like prompting question, using gestures and facial expressions and modelling activities and actions for the children.
Questioning
What is Questioning?
Through questioning children are encouraged to remember details, understand the topic of the conversation by describing and explain more, applying the knowledge by relating to another idea, analyse, and evaluate by expressing their views.
(Starsser, 2018)
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Why did I choose Questioning?
To encourage children to expand their thinking capabilities by engaging them in a complex conversation. Through questioning technique, I get to gauge children’s understanding of the lesson or topic and the technique can help to bring back children’s attention anytime they lose focus as they acquire short attention span.
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How did I use Questioning?
I used both open-ended and close-ended question to check children’s understanding as well as to support children’s thinking process.
Click on the video to watch the Nursery lesson!
Listening:
In the earlier part of the lesson, one of the children shared her experience taking an aeroplane with her family to Australia. I extend the conversation by rephrasing her sentence and asked questions like “Where did you go?” and “What did you do there?”
I acknowledged the child’s interest to share her stories by telling the child, “We shall talk about it more later.”
Time stamp: 00:38 -1:05
Facilitating:
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I facilitate the lesson by using picture cards to teach children matching concept. The picture cards were created big so that children are able to see form their own seats or places. The cards are also round-edged making it safe for children to hold on to. Before I invite children to try the activity, I carried out two examples. The examples were done to show the correct and wrong answers.
Timestamp: 9:42 - 11:03
Scaffolding:
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I invited some children to identify the matching cards and match them together by pasting the cards side by side on the board. One of the children was unable to give the correct answer in her first try, I invited the class to help her by asking, “Why is it wrong?”. With the other children’s answers, they helped her to find the correct answer.
Timestamp: 11:51 -13:12
Questioning:
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I encouraged children to remember from their personal experience by asking them questions related to the song. The first question that I asked was, “Do you see aeroplane flying around in Singapore?” to which the children responded “Yes”. I further extend the learning by asking, “Where (do) you usually see a lot of aeroplanes?” and one of the children answered “Changi Airport!”. The child was able to recall from her experience seeing many aeroplanes at the Airport.
Timestamp: 3:25 - 4:00
