Children as artists

Young children are artists. They use all sorts of materials to show what they have noticed about the world. They might draw the rain falling onto the tent during a family holiday, paint a giraffe seen at the zoo, model a fish from clay and press patterns into its body. What they make can say […]

Babies – learning starts from the first day

Taking care of a baby is tiring work, with a lot of feeding, nappies and broken nights. When you are exhausted, it can be harder to notice that a baby is really alert to what you do and say. It can be even harder if you have been told, “Babies don’t do anything” or “They’re […]

Teaching in the early years

by Cathy Gunning Teaching in the early years is not easily definable. Early teaching and learning is about the process, the journey and the unique child. It is everything concerning every child that makes up their context for effective play and and learning. It is everything the practitioner does or does not do. It is […]

Sustained shared thinking (SST)

Sustained shared thinking: An episode in which two or more individuals “work together” in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend. Siraj-Blatchford et al., REPEY, DfES 2002  “Sustained shared thinking” occurs when two […]

Settling children

Healthy settling for high wellbeing How can we best help children feel at ease so that they are secure and settled in their new provision? To hold children in mind and consider them as the person to put first means supporting their wellbeing as utmost priority. 10 pointers for healthy settling Children confidently leave their […]

Research on early years pedagogy

Early years pedagogy is the theory that informs the practice of teaching children in the early years. The pedagogical research has been carried out by academics and practitioners.  Please pick and choose from the links below to read at your leisure… All these links are accessible and on the public domain. This is by no […]

Reflective practice

by Cathy Gunning What is reflective practice? Reading a book by Donald Schon early on in my career as a teacher opened my eyes to the world of reflective practice. I think that I had always been a reflective person – self critical, questioning, re-thinking things about my teaching day. But this practice modelled and […]

Picture books

The power of picture books How wonderful it is to enjoy children’s picture books and escape into their imaginative worlds reading them aloud with children. They open up such worlds of fascinations, awe, wonder, surprise and awakening. How much feeling and emotion can be portrayed through the characters and story. How much can the characters […]

Messy play

Messy play provides so many explorative and investigative experiences, which promote so many of the characteristics of effective learning.  Some easy ideas to start you off Here are some easy ways you can enhance your continuous early years provision with messy, tactile, multi-sensory play. These ideas could be used large or small, inside or outside, […]

Maths

Teaching maths in early years What does maths in the early years look like and what does it mean to teach it? Cathy Gunning explores and aims to giving you some encouragement and impetus to explore more and discover a new love of maths teaching if you have not had that before. Open maths I […]