All posts by rightfromthestart

books, children, early education & play, parenting, Uncategorized

Top 5 Books for Children Under 5 as Chosen by my Children

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My competition to win 6 Picture Books has prompted some wonderful comments about reading with young children.  Lots of the comments suggested that parents were always keen to find new books to share with their children.  I have already written a post sharing my top books for under 5’s so I thought this time I would ask my children.

  The Elephant and the Bad Baby  by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs.

This was my 7 Year olds favourite book when she was 2.  We read it again and again and the repetitive text almost drove my husband bonkers.  When my middle child was 2 she latched onto it also and it became a firm favourite.  The first part of the book is repetitive and it is easy for the children to learn it by heart and join in with the story, especially the ‘rumpeta,rumpeta rumpeta as they go down the road.  The message behind the story is the importance of saying please and it does this in a charming and humourous manner.  Both my children have loved the page with the baker’s shop, looking at the cakes and deciding which one they like best.  I’m sure it is a book you will find your young children ‘reading’ by themselves before long even if they are unable to read.

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

This was my 3 year olds choice.  Her dad read it to her recently and said ‘What a lovely book, why haven’t I read this one before?’ (his other favourite is The Snail and the Whale  by the same authors).

Written by the authors of the Gruffalo , this rhyming book is about a Stickman who gets himself into situations because he keeps getting mistaken for a stick.  He is desperate to get back to his family and is losing hope when he meets Father Christmas who lends a helping hand.

You Choose by  Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt

This was one of the books from my 7 year olds Bookstart Treasure Chest.  This soon became the one book we read every evening until I became so sick of it and I would plead with her to choose something else.  She is still very fond of it and it is one of the few picture books she refuses to pass down to her younger sister.

Each page asks a question such as if you could have any house what sort of house would you choose?  Then you choose the one you like best from the illustrations.  Nick Sharratt’s illustrations are lovely and it is a great book to stimulate discussion but in our house it was a little over read!

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

This is not strictly for under 5’s, my 7 year old chose it and I’ve allowed it in the list because we first read it together when she was 4. Pippi Longstocking is a very witty and insightful book and you will get a lot out of it as an adult too (in a similar way to Winnie the Pooh).  There are a few books that stand the test of time and this is one of them.  My daughter’s copy has been so well read it is falling apart but when I offered to replace it with a new copy she declined my offer.

Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

There is a Charlie and Lola story about a library book that Lola is fixated with and takes home every time she visits.  This was the book that my 7 year old borrowed from the library time and again until finally the library sold it off because it had become too shabby.  We bought it for 30p.

It is a beautiful rhyming story about sharing and friendship and helping others.  We lost our copy a few years back after I used it at work .  My 3 year old found a copy at our doctors surgery, we read it together and I explained that it had been her sister’s favourite.  She loved it too.  When my 7 year old suggested this one she beamed and said’Oh I love that one’ running to her bookcase to get it.  I explained that we didn’t have it anymore.  Writing this has prompted me to buy a replacement copy and I will enjoy reading it to my 2 younger daughters.

early education & play, review, Uncategorized

Pat the Cat HD (Rhyme & Read) iPad App – A Review

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Colin and Jacqui Hawkins’ books with thier comical pictures and witty text are a great way to teach early readers about onset and rhyme.

Onset and rhyme is the ability to put together an initial letter sound with its rhyme to make a simple word.

The rhyme ‘og’ could be added to the onset ‘l’ to make log or ‘d’ to make dog and so on.

The iPad app created by Brightside takes this to a new level.  This interactive, fun way of learning essential phonic skills could be a great way of engaging reluctant readers. The simple rhyming text is great for introducing rhyme to young children and the little caterpillars that crawl across the screen as each page is turned, making daft comments, keep children engaged.

 

The story is narrated with charming voices and  the text changes colour as it is read so that children can follow the text. The characters then add comments and actions bringing the story to life. We loved the part where Nat the Rat eats his way out of Pat’s hat.

This isn’t just another version of an e-book as there is the added feature of recording the story in your own voice.  The character reads the text then the child taps a record button and repeats the text following the highlighted words. The character then reads the key rhyming word  ‘C’ (the sound)  – at –  Cat and the child again repeats and records.  They are then prompted to play the recordings back and the story is read in the child’s voice.  My 3 year old found some of the text a little difficult to remember but she loved recording the onset-rhyme and felt like she was ‘really reading’.

The importance of phonic skills in learning to read is well documented and this is a great, fun way to learn these skills.

The app is available from itunes for £1.99

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Butlins Mum Ambassadors

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For some time I have had a big, red Butlins Ambassador badge at the side of my blog and I am conscious that I haven’t yet explained what it is.

I have been chosen as 1 of 10 Butlins Mum Ambassadors.  My girls are so excited because this means that we get to spend 2  3-4 night breaks at any Butlins camp.  In return I blog/vlog about the breaks to share our experience with other mums.

Growing up in Barry (Formerly a Butlins town) means that I have a bit of a soft spot for Butlins.  I have fond memories of day trips to Barry and watching the Butlins cable cars travelling above Barry Island beach.  In the late 1980’s the Barry Island camp was sold but remained open for a number of years under the name Majestic Holiday Camp.  During this period I performed every Sunday evening in the Theatre of the camp with my local Theatre group, it was a great Summer.

I’m probably a bit of a frustrated Redcoat at heart, it’s definitely something I should have done when I was younger.

My other experience of Butlins came on a holiday to Skegness when I was 15 years old, with a friend and her family.  The freedom that Butlins gave 3 teenage girls meant that we had a wonderful time and I wanted to return the following year.  Finally I spent my hen weekend at an 80’s adult weekend at the Minehead camp.

It is almost 10 years since I last visited Butlins and a lot of investment has been put into the camps since then.  I am looking forward to seeing how much they have changed.  We are taking our first break at Christmas.  It will be great to have all the children’s entertainment laid on and to not have to shop for or cook a Christmas dinner.  It will be great to have a break where we can just focus on the family.

I was lucky enough to meet up with some of my fellow ambassadors Mari’s World and Jugglemum along with the ladies from Butlins this week in London.  We had a fabulous day, they went out of their way to make sure we got the most out of our time.  We were given some great advice about working with brands, interesting background to Butlins and lots of lovely food, drink and goodies.  Such a great group of people, I feel that I have made some real friends (although the picture does make me look a dwarf amongst giants!)

I’m looking forward to sharing our Butlins Christmas with you all and I’m hoping you will get to see a little of my 7 year olds fantastic commentating skills on the vlog.

review

Disney Universe – a Review

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It is quite a while since we used our Xbox 360 without the Kinect unit so I wasn’t sure how my 7 year old would react to a conventional game. However after playing Disney Universe for a few days she announced “I love this game”.

Disney Universe is a game for 1-4 players aimed at children aged 7-12. Players dress up as Disney characters and unlock further costumes as they progress.

I wasn’t sure whether a Disney game may be a little twee for the target audience. However the 6 Disney Worlds that the game moves through are suitably dark and adventurous. We have yet to progress from the Pirates of the Caribbean level, but there is plenty of action and problem solving to engage children.  It certainly isn’t girly and pretty.

Each level of Disney Universe has a mission to complete, puzzles to solve and enemies to defeat. As you move around the world, arrows and hints appear to instruct your mission. Some of these my 7 year old found quite challenging but we enjoyed being able to play the game together and work co-operatively to solve the puzzles.

The game works equally well with one or multiple players, it can be played collaboratively working together to solve the mission or competitively to see who can reach the highest score and collect the most gold coins.

I am looking forward to seeing some of the other worlds like Alice in Wonderland and Monsters Inc.

There is further downloadable content with Disney Universe that we haven’t had a chance to look at yet. I think that there is plenty to keep my daughter entertained for some time to come.

Disney Universe is also available for Wii and PS3 Consoles.

For the purpose of this review I received a promotional copy of the game . No fee was paid for writing this review.

early education & play, parenting, Uncategorized

Mobile Phones in Nursery

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Today I received my daughter’s Pre-School’s mobile phone policy.  I think it is fairly standard since the child abuse case at Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth.

The policy states that anyone working/helping at the pre-school must keep their mobile phones in a locker.  Also that parents must not use a mobile phone on the premises and have to leave the pre-school room if they wish to answer the phone.

I clearly understand why such policies have become commonplace and agree that we need to protect children from harm.  However, there is a big part of me that feels that the world is going mad.  Of course I wouldn’t want lots of photographs of my child on a personal phone, but what is the likelihood that a nursery worker would take inappropriate photos? In my experience taking photographs of children is an important part of sharing with parents what their children are doing and in documenting their learning.

My eldest daughter went to a different childminder for a day when she was 2. When I arrived to collect her the childminder presented me with a sheet of photographs of all the things she had done that day.  This was so reassuring for me as she had been in an unfamiliar place.  How much better would that have been had she been able to send me pictures throughout the day?

I agree that there need to be clear guidelines about how photographs of children are used but wouldn’t it be better to have one pre-school/nursery phone that can be used in this way under the supervision of senior staff?

It could be argued that on modern mobile phones it is very easy to post photographs on the internet, something most parents wouldn’t be comfortable with.  However isn’t this also true if we go to any public place with our children?  There will always be other parents taking photographs of their children and our own children may incidentally appear within them.  Those photographs could very easily appear on the internet, so will mobile phone photography be banned in public places in the future?

I am not saying that we shouldn’t be making childcare provision as safe as possible for children.  We do however need to look at the whole picture.  As mobile technology evolves there may be a whole manner of benefits and experiences that children and their childcare settings will miss out on if they are banned completely.  Safety is a huge consideration but is the only option banning it completely?

I’d be interested to know what others think from both a childcare and parental perspective.

children, early education & play, imagination, parenting, Uncategorized

Add to the Magic this Hallowe’en with a Talking Pumpkin

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When I worked in a nursery we displayed a Hallowe’en Pumpkin in our entrance hall.  It was placed on a table covered with a table-cloth.  Under the table-cloth we put a tape recording of the pumpkin’s voice that we would play when it was lit.  The children would be mesmerised.

I taught a wonderfully imaginative little boy who particularly loved the pumpkin.  He went on to school and told his teacher all about the talking pumpkin, his belief that it really talked was genuine.  Rather than stimulating his natural imagination she told him, ‘ Of course it doesn’t talk , it was just the teachers making the voice’.  I was so sad when I heard this story, talk about shattering a child’s illusions .

early education & play, parenting, Special Educational Needs, Uncategorized

‘I’m Not Going Cross Eyed Now’ – Children Wearing Glasses.

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My 3 year old has just been given glasses.

Firstly how would you know that a 3 year old is struggling to see properly? The simple answer is I didn’t.

A while ago I noticed that my daughter could go cross-eyed. I’ve never been able to do this so just thought that she had discovered a new skill. However this became more and more frequent and it became clear that it wasn’t intentional. I decided to take her for an eye test.

How do you test a 3 year olds eyes?  Firstly the optician projected pictures onto the wall. The pictures were butterflies, rabbits, planes and fish. The optician asked her what she could see. The only one that she mentioned with any conviction was the butterfly but I couldn’t be sure whether she couldn’t see what they were or was simply being shy. For checking how well she could see close up, the optician had cards with hidden pictures on and she asked my daughter what she could see. She gave her glasses with inter-changeable lenses and shone a light into her eyes. It was quite a long and thorough process and it turns out that she is long-sighted and that wearing glasses should correct the turn in her eye.

We had fun trying on lots of different glasses and eventually chose a Little Miss Sunshine pair.  We picked up the glasses last week and so far I have been surprised at how well she has adjusted.  She is happy to wear them and rarely takes them off.  I have given her a special place on her dressing table to keep the case and when she takes them off she is always careful to put them back in the right place.  We have talked about the importance of not touching the glass as it makes them dirty and she won’t be able to see properly.  She enjoys using the cloth to help me clean them.

We have made a big fuss about how lovely she looks in them and I think her big sister is a little envious as she keeps asking if she can have her eyes tested.  It’s certainly a far cry from the stigma of wearing glasses when I was a child.

We read the Charlie and Lola book about getting glasses, although I was a little disappointed to find that Lola doesn’t end up having glasses in the book. I’m still on the lookout for others.  If anyone has any suggestions for good children’s books about wearing glasses please add a comment. Or perhaps I should write one….

parenting, Random Thoughts & Life Stories, Uncategorized

Grooving Mums – Shopping and the Little Black Dress

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I have recently been joining Kate on Thin Ice in her Grooving Mums feature.  This is a way of sharing stories of how mums are doing things for themselves.  I’m trying to see myself as more than just a mum and stop seeing  doing things for myself as self-indulgence.  This week I focused on shopping.

Before I had children clothes shopping used to be something I loved.  Being slim I was lucky to be able to wear most things and I knew exactly what suited me.  This began to change when I fell pregnant with my eldest daughter.  After the initial excitement of buying maternity clothes for the first time, I soon came to the conclusion that everything I tried on made me look like the ballet dancing hippos from Fantasia.

After  she was born I hadn’t considered that my shape would stay changed for such a long time.  I had to go out and buy new tops because my chest had expanded from an A cup to a DD.  Having always been flat chested I had no idea what suited a full breasted figure, and of course anything I wore had to be easily accessible for breastfeeding.  Gone were my days of wearing pretty summer dresses and I would wander around the shops looking with envy at all the pretty feminine clothes that I used to wear.

Over time shopping became a chore.  I could never find clothes that I thought would suit me, I would try things on and come out deflated and disappointed.  I hated looking at my shape in the changing room mirror and would come home frustrated and empty-handed.  It wasn’t that I was overweight but my shape had changed and I had no idea what to wear to flatter that shape.

Those of you who have been following my story so far will know that since the birth of my 3rd child I have taken up running.  As a result I am now happier with my figure than I have been in a very long time.  I noticed that many of the clothes I have been wearing over the past few years are looking baggy and old.  I decided to do a wardrobe purge and throw out anything that was too big or had lost its shape and start afresh.

A large proportion of my clothes I’d had for a very long time, some were bought on my honeymoon 9 years ago and a few things were even older.  A lot of the other things came from charity shops or cheap shops, a sign of my belief that spending money on myself is self indulgent. On the plus side there were many things in my wardrobe that I had given up hope of ever fitting into again and they all went on with ease.

I made a decision to go out and buy a few things that were modern, fitted properly and made me feel good.  I had my 3 girls in tow and almost abandoned the attempt but instead plumped for sticking to one shop, finding some things I liked and trying them on.  My 7 year old helped me pick things and I explained the styles that just don’t work on me.  I was pleased to find a number of things I like ( a good start) and took them to try on.  As I was going in I spotted a girl with a little black dress, I loved it and it reminded me of exactly the style of clothes I used to wear, so I vowed to find it when I came out. I chose a few things that I was happy with and went to find the dress.  On my way I spotted a lady carrying a pair of shoes that I also loved, I added them to my collection.  When I eventually found the dress they didn’t have my size but I checked the changing rooms to see whether the other girl had bought the dress.  Fortunately she hadn’t and it was in my size.  By this point I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to the changing rooms with my 3 year old rolling around the floor so I bought it without trying it on.

Later that evening I put on the dress with the new shoes and stood back to look in the mirror.  It was like looking at the old me, the young single me who always wore dresses, dressed up and felt good. I looked at myself and it almost brought tears to my eyes ‘hello you, I haven’t seen you in a long time’.

I haven’t had occasion to wear the dress yet but I think a big girls night out might be in order – it would be a shame to just let it sit in the wardrobe.

play, pre schoolers, review, sesame street, technology

Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster on Kinect – A Review

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I have been so excited about the forthcoming release of this game for a number of reasons.

  1. I am a huge Sesame Street fan and think it is the best in pre-school entertainment
  2. I have been waiting for a game that my 3 year old can play easily on Kinect.
  3. It is billed as a co-operative game and I would love to find  a game that my children won’t argue over.
  4. I am interested in evaluating its educational merit and whether or not it could be used in a pre-school classroom.

So when I was offered a copy to review I jumped at the chance.

The game centres around a story book ‘ Once Upon a Monster’ that Elmo and Cookie Monster jump into to embark on adventures.  As each chapter unfolds they encounter monster friends both new and familiar (Grover and Oscar) and help them to solve problems through a number of fun tasks.  The graphics and the story behind the game are captivating and we were all excited to see what would happen next.

The game is designed with drop in/ out co-operative play.  It can be played solo or with the help of an adult or sibling, if you decide to join in half way through a small monster appears in the corner of the screen and directs you to wave. This is great for young children as they often decide to wander off in the middle of a game but it doesn’t spoil the game for the other child. The game is only suitable for 2 children which means that it probably wouldn’t be suitable for use in pre-school unless you wanted to use it as an exercise in turn taking. I would like to see it adapted for 3 children, partly because I have 3 children and it would avoid one being left out and partly so that siblings could play with a parent to help if necessary.

With Kinect games I have found that my 3 year old has struggled to keep within the sensor.  There is a helpful built in feature with this game in that if the child  steps outside of the sensors limits a monster pops up and points in the direction that they need to move.

I had high hopes for this game as a controllorless game that my 3 year old would be able to use easily.  However I encountered a few problems which meant that she couldn’t play it independently.  To get inside the page of a book the monsters ask you to bring both arms together.  This worked really well when my 7 year old or myself did it but it didn’t seem to work for my 3 year old or her friend, even though they were making the correct movements. The other problem is that if you go too close to the sensor (or my one year old runs in the way) a menu pops up .  You need to wave on the back button to go back to the game.  My girls became frustrated because the sensor found it difficult to pick up which player was trying to direct it.

So far we have played the first of 6 chapters.  This centres on cheering up Marco the monster and helping him get to a birthday party.  The tasks along the way include running through the woods collecting objects and avoiding obstacles, flying to the tree tops to collect fruit with Grover, choosing outfits for Seamus the monster, drumming and my personal favourite disco dancing with Grover.

The usual response from my 7 year old when playing Kinect is to moan at her younger sister for getting in the way.  When she tried to join in yesterday my 7 year old complained and I told her that it was meant to be for 2 players.  The mood soon changed  to a lovely picture as my 3 year old watched her sister intently and copied her every move.  It is certainly fulfilling some of the games aim to foster a social and emotional curriculum in our household.

There could be a few tweaks to make it easier for young children to play but the game is engaging and  fun and my high expectations were not disappointed. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the other chapters have in store.

Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster is released on 14th October

 

boys, early education & play, education, motivation, teaching, technology

Why Use Technology in Education? Professor Tanya Byron

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In the above video from Tanya Byron’s keynote speech at the 2011 FOSI conference, she explains her response to the government when faced with this question.  She speaks with such passion and conviction and I found myself nodding with excitement all the way through.

I think there are 2 key points to this argument.  Firstly that education needs to be made more relevant to children’s everyday experience. Children live in a multimedia world and are excited by it.  Bringing this multimedia world into their education will make learning more exciting and when learning is exciting we achieve better results.

My 7 year old often says school is boring and she hates writing.  She is one of the brightest children in her class, if she finds it boring imagine how the least able children feel. Which brings me to the second point.  Education in this country is about whether or not you are academic, if you are academic you are clever , otherwise you are not and pushed down a seemingly less important vocational route. This notion of what ‘clever’ is forms from the very beginning of school and unfortunately it is often boys who are not academic and would prefer to do something more active. Unsurprisingly the gap between boys and girls widens.

When children lack motivation they misbehave and eventually give up on school altogether ( as happened with my younger brother). Technology has so much promise as a way of engaging children and raising standards.  It is relevant to their lives and gives them skills for their future.  My own daughter’s teacher recognised that children of this generation will be unlikely to use pen and paper as a main source of writing in the future.  Yet there is still fear about doing something different and worries that they have insufficient equipment .

This is why we need inspirational leaders, with ideas, energy and enthusiasm to show teachers what can be done. If enough influential people share this message, perhaps one day we will be heard.