Learning Through Play

The Early Years Learning Framework is a play based program which enables the children to organize  and make sense of their social worlds as they engaged actively with people, objects and representation. 

In my class we play different games which provide the children with an opportunity to learn while having fun. Children enjoy all sort of games such as board games, group games, small group games, team building games and much more. 

I spy Letters Game 

My children actually helped in making this game and putting it together. I asked them if they can collect cartoon boxes of their favorite cereal, crackers or anything the like. They came next day with heaps of them. We all sat down and they cut the labels out and stuck them onto the board using the BluTak. 
During our group time the children are asked to find one word that is starts with cretin letter and  try to pronounce the word if they can.

In this game we play what is the missing number. I arrange the cards on table and hide a number and ask the children to tell the missing number ..

This is one of their favorites.
In the next post I will post more games.

Hope you find this helpful :)

Hugs  

The 3 Bs :)

All children experience learning that is engaging and builds success for life

Fundamental to the framework is a view of children's lives as characterized by Belonging, Being & Becoming .

I have been thinking about an easy activity that can help me to discuss this concept with my children. Just one easy activity that can help the children to identify their strengths and think about their future and would they like to do or be and finally I came across this fantastic puzzle piece activity on TPT which allows each child to write their names, decorate little person that represent the child,  think about things they are good at, things they would like to do this year  and think about what they like to be or do in the future. Unfortunately I have not saved the link to this puzzle piece but I'm looking for it and once I find it I will update the post by adding the link .

My children absolutely enjoyed this activity. After they had time to write their names and think about all these things and by assistance from myself and my wonderful assistant Hannah they were able to complete the puzzle piece. 

Then we laminated each piece and played a game at our morning group time. The game was each child had to put his puzzle piece next to one of his best friend's piece. Slowly we found out that we are all one big group  which is our class and  all belong to one big family which is our big center despite being from different backgrounds and different cultures. 

We put the puzzle pieces in big container on display on the shelf and the children were able to access it to use it as big floor puzzle then we decided to put it on display.

It was a great pleasure to see and watch the parents standing in front of the board and talking to their children about their  interests and see who are their child's best friends. 

Being, Belonging and Becoming 

If you would like more information about the EYLF Framework  and The Being, Belonging & Becoming Click Here

Cheers 

Azma :)

Access to more resources

Hi :)

It has been a couple of months since my last post. My center has been going through assessment and I was flooded with paper work & yeah finally I'm back. 

Also be a first time blogger is not an easy task as I thought. I believe I still have a lot to learn but I am sure I will get eventually  :) 

In my class I have all art and craft supplies displayed on the art trolley so children can choose what they need for their art project.Of course this is plus all the displayed activities on the shelves in the different centers. 

However I have many other stored activities which children can not access.

In order to make every thing accessible in my class I made this board called( Today I would like to play with...). I have photos of everything that is available in the store room displayed on this board. Children can easily point to a photo to request any piece of equipment they would like to play with.

I think this is a great way to make sure children have access to all the resources to maximize their learning. 

This idea will be great for all age groups, toddlers up to preschoolers. Being able to choose what they want to play with will develop confidence, efficacy and self-discipline. It gives their work meaning and they therefore become more engaged as the drive to complete the task has come from within. 

Today I would like to play with ....

Check my boards on Pinterest for more ideas :)

Follow me on Pinterest

 Hope you like this idea.

Azma :)

NAIDOC Week

Few weeks ago we celebrated NAIDOC week.

During our morning group time we watched some dream time stories. We watched (How the kangaroo got its pouch and How the tiger got its strips. My kiddos really loved the stories, then we had a long discussion about writing stories and how writers use their imagination skills to create stories and write books.

Then we decided to write our own story. So each of them sat down , drew what he wanted and made a story about it.

My children really loved this activity. They were very creative with their drawing and their stories. I enjoyed watching them telling their parents about their stories at the pick up time in the afternoon.
Here are some of their beautiful drawing along with some interesting stories :)

For information about NAIDOC week please  Click Here

Hi there :)

As we all know there are different types of learners in our classroom. Teachers should aim to appeal to all different types of learners during planning lessons.

For children at reading age , flash cards can be used with conjunction with words to make children familiar with simple words which helps them to become confident readers.

Free Alphabet Flash Cards

If you would like this FREE Alphabet Flash Cards you can find them on my TPT shop 

Click Here

Enjoy :)

My classroom

I consider myself very lucky as I had the opportunity to work in different countries which helped me to gain more experience. I was a Kindergarten School Teacher in Egypt which is my home country for about 9 years, and then I moved to England to study at Exeter University. Currently I am working in a beautiful Early Learning Centre in Brisbane, Australia.

Here is a panoramic picture of my classroom.

This is our home corner. As you can see there are some posters up on the wall.Some of them were made by children while others were made by myself to educate the parents about all the different activities that we doing our class.

  The purple one is (I love my Pet) board. Each child brought photos of their pets and we put them together to make this board.

The big green one on the left hand side is (My Family Board). Again children brought pictures of their families. They stuck them onto coloured paper and decorated it then we put them all together.

This is our group time area where we have our morning and afternoon group time. 

Book Corner & Quiet Area

This is our writing table. On the door I have an area where children can put things up themselves by sticking it with BluTack onto the plastic board.

 This is our fish tank along with our science & nature table.

Blocks Corner and Learning Through Blocks Poster which educates parents about how children learn through spending time playing with blocks.

Play dough table and again I have Learning Through Play Dough Poster  which educates parents about how children learn through play dough.

If you would like a closer look at Learning Through Play Posters Click Here

Hi everyone :)

Hi everyone & welcome to my blog :) 

My name is Asmaa Belal. I have been a kindergarten teacher for over 15 years. I have my bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education and a Diploma in Human Resources. 

On Stress Free Kindergarten I will share my passion for teaching with all the wonderful teachers out there. I will share resources, activities, lesson plans and much more.