Early Learning Centre
The end of the year is fast approaching, and we just want to let our families know of a few special dates coming up.
Piccolo
Our last Piccolo session is on Wednesday 7 December. This will be PARTY DAY! The children are welcome to dress in their favourite Christmas colours, hats, headbands – there are no limits. We will have a Party Food List at the sign in book next week for families to choose what they would like to bring in for our shared party lunch. Families are welcome to join us from 2:30pm and join in the festivities on our last day.
Piccino
On Monday 5 December we will be taking the College bus down to Port Fairy and joining Tania Moroney from Nurture by Nature for a Beach Kinder experience at Pea Soup. This experience will take place on the shore. We will have some lunch and a play at The Lions Club all abilities playground. Family members are invited to attend this fun day however you must have a valid Working With Children’s Check to attend and unfortunately we are unable to accommodate younger siblings. Please speak with Frances if you would like to join us.
Tuesday 6 December is the Piccino to Year Two Nativity at the Uniting Church in Hamilton. We ask children to wear plain white t-shirts with light colour shorts or skirts, or white dresses. We will make some halos for the children to wear.
Monday 12 December will be Piccino Water Play Fun Day at the Early Learning Centre. A Party Food List and more details will be available soon. Our final Piccino day is Tuesday 13 December and we finish at the usual time of 3:15pm. There will be no after school care on this day.
Conversations and Questions
The conversations that have the greatest impact on language and literacy development for young children are those which relate to concepts outside of the child’s immediate here and now. They encourage children to draw on their background knowledge and experience, and imagine things like what might happen next, or why a character behaved in a particular way.
One of the best ways to actively engage children during book reading is to ask questions. However, not all questions are created equal! An overemphasis on yes/no questions, or simple, concrete questions like, “What is he doing?”, “What colour is his hat?” or “How many monkeys are jumping on the bed?” can limit conversation as children may feel like their answers are a test, or they do not provide very elaborate responses.
We can promote the use of more sophisticated language by moving beyond literal questions, where the answers can be found in the text and illustrations, to asking open-ended questions, where there is no clear right answer. An example of this is “What do you think he’s going to do?” or “Why do you think he did that?”
When reading the Three Little Pigs, you could say:
- “Uh-oh! The little pig’s house blew down. How could he fix it?” (problem-solving)
- “How do you think the pigs are feeling now that they’re in the brick house?” (drawing on emotions)
- “What could the pig do to fix his house?” (projecting, problem solving)
- “Why didn’t the brick house blow down?” (explaining)
You may also like to relate questions to your child’s personal experiences. For example:
- "Have you ever had to fix something that broke at home?”
- “What could you do if it were really windy outside, and you felt like you were going to blow over?"
Decontextualised conversations develop vocabulary for thinking, analysing, problem solving and imagining – the very language skills necessary for future learning success.
Try open-ended questions with your children and you might be surprised by their thinking.
Have a great week.
FRANCES O’BRIEN
Director Early Learning Centre