Introduction

The bilingual Green Woodpecker group has now been running for five months and we currently have 14 children on the register aged 3 and 4 years.

The English programme has been incorporated into the Early Years education to enhance the children’s understanding of the English language and to develop their verbal skills to include both spoken English and German into their daily lives.

Children have access to the English Language in a number of forms including songs, nursery rhymes, books, interactive whiteboard and planned activities throughout the Kindergarten day. English is also spoken as a matter of course and includes every day words and phrases that encourage the children to understand the language and use it themselves.

What we have done so far

We have covered the following areas since we opened on 1st August 2013 and continue to reinforce and support the learning by revisiting them on a regular basis:

• Colours – Red, blue, orange, white, purple, black, green and yellow. Colours also used during activities to test the children’s knowledge to ensure they are both learning their colours and are able to say the colour in English.
  
  
• Calendar - done every morning during circle time. Includes days of the week, months of the year, the weather and the date. All said in German and English.
  
  
• Manners – children are prompted (in German and English) with please, thank you and excuse me at appropriate times throughout the day (at mealtimes for example)
  
  
• Greetings – At the beginning and end of the day – good morning, goodbye, Hello, how are you? Spoken in German and English.
  
  
• Nursery Rhymes – A variety of nursery rhymes (German and English) sung during circle time and at the end of the session. The whiteboard is also used for children to select their favourites and sing along with actions!
  
  
• Shapes – Square, circle, rectangle, oval, cross and star. Shapes also reinforced during activities and children are now able to recognise those which are familiar to them and also ask what other shapes are called.
  
  
• Playdough – A very popular activity and the children use a variety of objects to experience different ways to play. They pretend to cook and roll, cut and manipulate the playdough using their imagination and creativity. Use of language is active throughout and expressive words are used like squashing, rolling and pressing.
  
  
• Painting – the children love painting and we use a number of ways to encourage the children to create their pictures, these include using our hands and feet, brushes and stamps to help the children appreciate the different forms painting can take if these use different objects during the activity. A variety of colours are used and staff support the children by not only supervising the activity but to also talk to them about the colours they are using and the pictures they are creating.
  
  
• Physical play – indoors and outside. The children are actively encouraged to make good use of the physical environment and we have access to the school sports hall twice a month and also a separate play room to support the development of gross motor skills and to encourage the children to play together. The outdoor environment is a wooded, grassed natural place including a sandpit and swing. Children have freedom of movement and are also able to play on bikes and scooters. Inside, the room is open plan, but strategically zoned into the following areas: construction, creative/messy play, role play and quiet corner.
  The room laid out in this manner gives the children opportunities to play in small groups or individually and to make independent decisions on how they wish to explore the play and learning area. Language in German and English is actively encouraged by asking the children what they are playing, ensuring they are playing nicely with one another and using appropriate language with each other to form positive relationships.
  
  
• Self registration - After the morning circle, the children move to the registration board and transfer their picture to the ‘I’m at Kindergarten today’ board. They then wash their hands and we have breakfast. This encourages the children to have self-awareness and responsibility for their day.
  
  
• Visual timetable - A visual timetable is now in place in the room. Pictures and words (in English) tell the children what time it is. Staff explained what the timetable was about and how we use it. Staff place the appropriate picture on the view sheet and children are then directed to the area to let them know what they should be doing and where they should be.

What we are going to do…

The start of 2014 means we are now ready to introduce new topics. Over the next 3-6 months, we will be introducing the five senses, the alphabet, numbers 1 to 10 and teaching the children to recognise and write their names. A few children have already begun their names so we will be building on this for the whole group.

Activities and wall mounted learning aids will be a visual point for the children to explore and discover both individually and as part of the group.

Planning and assessment will continue as we provide for learning and play and assess children’s development as we move into Spring.

Green Woodpecker Group

English Programme

January to April 2014

Introduction

Welcome to our second report for the Green Woodpecker group.

We have now been open for nine months and the children are making great progress in all aspects of their development.

We have fifteen children on the register and they all have lots of fun learning and playing during Kindergarten. Friendships have been made and all the children are happy and comfortable with the Kindergarten daily routine.

What we have done so far

The first four months of 2014 has been a very busy one. In February we celebrated Fasching and the children dressed in colourful costumes and we enjoyed ourselves all day.

We were also visited by The Fire Service and everyone was able to look around a fire engine, get inside the appliance and talk to the firemen !

We have continued to support the children during their learning and development by planning and carrying out many activities ensuring the areas of social, emotional, physical, language and creative development were always considered.

Social and emotional development

Here, we have been focusing on learning about our emotions, talking to each other to resolve problems, working and playing together, sharing and recognising that we all have individual needs and wishes.

We have also been allowing the children to become more independent by encouraging them to dress/undress themselves, helping others who need support and being independent at mealtimes. Allowing the children to think about how to look after themselves has enabled them to think about what they need to be doing and how to solve problems by themselves and by talking to each other.

During the last few weeks we have also started to play more group games where children are required to learn the game, choose partners and participate in their own role during the activity. This has been an excellent opportunity to see how they can work together and their favourite game at the moment is ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf !’

Physical development

We continue to go to the sports hall every two weeks and now the better weather is here we are able to make the most of being outside. We regularly visit the play park and we recently had our breakfast there which was great fun.

We have also been developing our throwing and catching skills by using balls and bean bags to throw to each other and also into a box. This enables the children to control their movements, estimate how far and hard they need to throw the object, work together and also establish which hand they prefer to use.

Going to the sports hall allows us to use other equipment to develop the children’s balancing skills (by using balancing beams) and hand-eye coordination (by using racquets and shuttle cocks) which is proving very popular.

Creative development

Our children love to paint, stick and get messy !! We have carried out many activities in this area and the children are always very enthusiastic and eager to create a picture or make an object !

We use a variety of resources including paper, card, paint, glue, playdough, boxes, tubes, wool, cotton wool, wax crayons and colouring pencils.

Our projects continue to go well and the children loved being pirates with Sibby and Nadia! To celebrate Easter, Sabrina decorated egg shells using different coloured paint and made Easter Chick pictures with the children.

Language development

The children continue to develop both their English and German language skills. We have introduced the Alphabet, initially focusing on the children’s letters in their names, the days of the week and the months of the year. The children are learning how to recognise the shape and sounds of letters which we will continue throughout the English programme of our Bi-lingual group.

Songs sung in both English and German also feature throughout the Kindergarten day in a variety of situations, and the children can often be heard singing them amongst themselves which is lovely !

We also have music days regularly throughout each month with musical instruments and Sabrina on the guitar. This gives all the children the opportunity to hear music and sing songs in a different context and to take part individually and as part of a group.

Maths and Knowledge and Understanding of the World

• Numbers and counting

We continue to count both in English and German during activities throughout the day, starting with the calendar. Here we count up to what the date is, so by the end of the month we are counting up to 30 or 31. Songs which include counting and numbers also feature during the learning and children are able to sing and count along.
We have also recently begun introducing numbers 1 to 10 written down in order for the children to understand that each number looks different and has it’s own value.

• Knowledge and Understanding of the World

The children are learning and appreciating their outdoor environment by regularly playing outdoors and taking notice of their changing surroundings. They are learning the importance of living things through activities like visits to the park and planting flowers and food to eat.

We have also introduced a map of the world and encouraging families to take part by sending postcards when they visit new places and bring back photographs of where they have been. This is an ongoing project and it is hoped that the children will learn to understand that the world is a big place ready to be explored!

As we progress through these last three months before the Summer break, we will be busy baking, being creative and enjoying the outdoors. The English programme will continue to develop and the children will go on holiday in August having completed a fun and busy year.