Style File - Placement Day 6

Shirt Cotton On $10.00

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Pants Target Essential $10.00

Necklace Dotti $2.50

Shoes Novo Shoes $11.25 

Miss Tracy xx

Off the Shelf - A Call for a New Alphabet

Hello!

This week's book to be featured is 'A Call for a New Alphabet' by Jef Czekaj. I was originally expected a run of the mill alphabet book in which the letter 'X' plays some form of commentary but I was so thankfully surprised.

I bought the book at Booktopia's Moving Sale, for $1.95, a total steal! You can view the book trailer below...

The story focuses on a class vote to change the order of the alphabet after X expressed his disdain for his placement. Along the way we learn about grammatical rules and spelling patterns while listening to how other letters feel about their place in the alphabet. The resolution of the story explains why our alphabet looks the way it does.

The book begins as a traditional picture book however transforms to take the appearance of a comic book, or graphic novel. The 'blended narrative' style of the book asks the reader to use their multi-literacy skills to interpret the dialogue on which the story rests. 

 

I absolutely loved the book and the way it incorporated the standard rules and conventions of language in a funny and relative way for children. I'm so disappointing that this will just fly over the kindergartner's heads but this is definitely one to share with your class after they have grasped the concept of alphabetical order, grammar and spelling rules and patterns. 

Outside a read aloud, the book continues to have merit with creating your own alphabet character, reordering the alphabet yourself and descriptions of what you would like to be among some of them.  This is one book to hold onto for when I start my primary school placements and one to add to your growing collection!

Grab it from Booktopia, Book Depository or Amazon!

Miss Tracy xx   

Style File - Placement Day 5

Dress Valleygirl $19.95

Blazer Kmart $20.00

Necklace Colette by Colette Hayman $9.95 for 4

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Miss Tracy xx 

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 1

Dinosaur Fossils 

The children in the kindergarten room absolutely love dinosaurs at the moment! We were lucky enough to have an incursion from Dinosaur Diggers (will hear more in a future post!) which has only served to increase their interest and so my associate teacher included the following environment to the room. By adding the sifter and the plastic fossils, the children are now able to dig for their own fossil but I thought we could peak their interest just a little bit further.

I read this post while perusing Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to implement in the afternoon. The children love to bake cakes and cupcakes so experiencing these concepts with the idea of dinosaur fossils worked really well. I followed the recipe for the salt dough featured on RainyDayMum:

Salt Dough

1/2 Cup of Salt

1/2 Cup of water

1 Cup all purpose (plain Flour)

Mix the above ingredients together and knead to a smooth dough and leave in a cool place for around 15 minutes. This will make it easier to roll and create a good imprint in the dough. To cure and harden the dough, bake for one hour at 100 degrees Celsius.

Following us making the dough together, we rolled the dough and pressed our fossils imprints in. After labeling and wrapping the dough, I took it home to bake. It turned out great; the brown colour and grainy texture has them looking like real fossils, straight out of the ground!

I haven't decided yet whether we should paint them due to the unique texture and colour but following the return to their creators, we will see what they want to do. 

This was such a fun experience which had so many different forms of learning and play happening that I hope you choose to share this with the children in your care.

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - First Aid Training

Top Valleygirl $14.95

Pullover Forcast $11.70

Jacket Forever New $89.95

Bag Equip $19.95

Miss Tracy xx

Professional Learning in South East Melbourne

Hi all,

As most of you know, last year I attended a professional learning workshop set up by my local council, Glen Eira. Following that event, I have kept my eye open on what events have been coming up and was surprised to see the following list for 2014:

This year includes a lot of interesting and relevant workshops for parents and guardians and I have already attended the Austism Spectrum Disorder seminar held in last week. These are primarily marketed to parents but do have value for those working in the early childhood sector.

These workshops have proven extremely informative for me as a student and are an invaluable. The way that content is delivered is so direct and straightforward that it leaves no room for misinterpretation or confusion. If you do have questions, the presenters has shown themselves as willing and approachable, including staying back far beyond the finishing time to take individual questions and concerns.

From those I have experienced, the presenters are qualified and knowledgeable in their fields and in this environment, bring a lot more context and quality to their words than if I had heard it in a lecture hall. If you do have the luck to be in a seminar with other professionals, the dynamic of the presentation completely changes. The questions asked are more insightful and relevant to the early childhood workplace and are often focused towards the application of theory rather than its origin.

As a student I cannot recommend these sessions enough and for $6-7 a session, it is much more affordable than attending say a conference or an exhibition. Since they don't usually last more than 2 hours and are later at night, they are also easy to schedule around work and study commitments.

When I do fill in the feedback forms, the only suggestions I have had is that Power Points and notes be provided in a take home pack and that there be a period where parents and/or educators get a chance to speak with other and network before and/or after the workshop.  

Glen Eira Town Hall - where majority of the sessions take place 

While those listed and discussed are only those featured in the Glen Eira and Stonnington Council areas, I am sure if you look a little a little deeper into your council website, you will be able to find something similiar.

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 4

Shirt Dotti $9.95

Leggings Cotton On Body Active $10.00

Gumboots Big W $25.00

Miss Tracy xx

Off the Shelf - I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Hi all!

Due to one of my more recent assignments, I have had to peruse the shelves for good quality children's literature. After reading the good, the bad, and the never-to-be-shared, I decided that it was only fair to share my discoveries with you. So this new section was born: Off The Shelf!

The book I ended up choosing for the said assignment was 'I Want My Hat Back', by Jon Klassen. This book was first brought to my attention during a lecture in relation to picture book series', as it is the predecessor to the Caldecott winner by the same author, 'This Is Not My Hat'.

Above is the book trailer and summarises the book perfectly; a bear has lost his precious hat and resorts to asking his friends if they have seen it. Little does he know that one of his friends may have taken it to begin with!

The book has the overarching message of lying and theft but uses timing, suspense and inference to present its key messages. The text is structured like a conversation but who is speaking is differentiated using colours rather than quotation marks.

The illustrations are beautiful to look at and add to the meaning of the text; the last 4-5 pages of the text is wordless so it is through the images that we see how the bear's story ends.


I have used this book with kindergarten aged children but it can be utilized with older children as well. Be sure to ask the children for their end responses; if you had some like mine, they will really shock you!

No spoilers but the ending is great! I would definitely be hanging on to this book for years to come.

Check your local or school library to see if they have a copy or grab one off Book Depository or Amazon.

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 3

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00 

Dress Dotti $29.95

Handbag Colette by Colette Hayman $49.95

Necklace Diva $10for3items 

Miss Tracy xx