What a difference a month makes!
At the start of the year the children were often complaining about all the work they had to do now that they are in year 1, which as you know, is a more formal learning environment. We would often hear them ask, “when is it time to play?”
A month later and we are noticing that our little children are blossoming into learners! Now, when the children finish their task in English/Math and we happily proclaim, “you can play now!” We are regularly hearing the children ask, “can I not do more work/another task?”
Yes!
It’s true!
I’m not lying to you!
This is because children are starting to see their own progress and notice the benefits that learning has. They are starting to notice letters and words all around them and they are realising that they can now start to recognise and read these words. Daily, children run up to me, point at a word on a jacket or jumper and say, “watch Miss Robyn” and then use their arm to sound it out to me.
However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t give children the time to play, on the contrary, we know the importance of children using play as a learning tool. Therefore, in English and Math we have been using fun, play activities as a way of consolidating learning. For example, in English we played a game I named “Who Can Cross the River?”
The children had to jump across three stepping stones to avoid being eaten by the hungry crocodiles by spelling out a CVC word as they jumped.
to learn actively through games like this are so important. Equally, in math, the children enjoyed a brilliant game of bowling. But of course, they had to count how many pins they had knocked over and show the numeral to the class.
As we progress through in year 1, we will continue to mix formal, independent activities with opportunities for the children to learn through active play. So, as you can see, learning can be a lot of fun in year 1!