Topic “30-50m”  

Template of the child's name.

Cardboard

Sandpaper

Shiny paper

1. Cut out the letters of the child's name in crinkly cardboard/ sandpaper.

2. Match the letters you have cut out to a template of the child's name.

3. Praise the child for matching.

4. Help the child trace their name with their finger over the cardboard/sandpaper letters.

5. At the end say the whole name and point to it making sure the child is focused on the name.

Computer

Scissors

Stickers etc

Paper clips

Magnetic fishing rods

More computer printouts of the child's name.

Plain black and white printouts of a name that is much longer/shorter then the target child's name

Photos of the child doing things;

Plain paper book or paper to make one.

1. Print out the photos;
2. Stick in them into a book;
3. With the help of the child, write a simple sentence for each picture;
4. Use the chi
5. Take photos of the child doing things;
6. ld's name in all / most sentences e.g. "Abdul is eating chips";
7. Practice "reading" the story, encouraging the child to point to the text and find their own name.

Familiar picture story books - the story should involve at least two people/animals etc.

1. Read the book to the child - make sure they can see the pictures - (note this is NOT a reading activity - the child does not need to read the book);

2. As you go through the book, say what each person is doing and what they are going to do on the next page, for example "Daisy is wearing a hat", "Sam is going to put a hat on";

3. Next time round, ask questions like "who is wearing a hat?", "who is going to put a hat on": accept the child's answer, however if it is incorrect, you can say "I think Sam's going to wear the hat", then turn the page, and say something like "oh, yes, he put the hat on". If the child got it right, then you can say something like "Yes! Sam put the hat on!".

You can use purpose designed pictures, or you can make your own:

Make a set of pictures using a digital camera with at least two children you are working with. You could also use two soft toys such as a teddy and a doll.

Make a sequence of pictures showing the children doing various actions, such as putting on a hat, kicking a ball, drinking something, eating a cake.

First picture: show the two children;

Second picture: one child doing the action e.g. putting a hat on - and the other child waiting to do the action;

Third picture: the other child doing the action (the first child should also be in the picture having done the action - e.g. if they have just put a hat on, this picture should have them with the hat on).

Put the three pictures in this order in a book.

Stories could be taken from reading books, or from picture sequence cards. (For example 'And then' published by Schubi).

You could also use stories from "Language for Thinking" (Stephen Parsons and Anna Branagan). Initially don't show the pictures but instead read the stories from p136 to the children, before asking the suggested questions on them.

You could also find short animated stories on YouTube for example, so that you can show the child the story after you have narrated it and asked the child questions on it.

Read chunks of the story to the child, or tell the story from the sequence cards. The chunks should be around 50 words long (a paragraph) and/or contain between two and three things that happen. (Use shorter chunks if this is too long for the child).

Ask a question relevant to the key information in the story. For example, suppose this was part of the story: "Lucy rode her red bicycle down the hill. At the bottom she couldn't stop and fell straight into the fish pond..." Relevant questions would be 'What did Lucy do', 'What happened to Lucy at the bottom of the hill': avoid asking questions about details which aren't particularly relevant to the story such as 'What colour was Lucy's bike?';

Ask the child the question then re-read the part of the story which contains the answer to the question;

Show him/her part of the story using pictures.

Try to guide the child to recall the information with the minimum amount of prompts necessary. Try to avoid the situation where you need to say what the answer is. If you keep needing to do this then the story is probably too hard.

- 2 different soft toys

- 2 plates

- 2 boxes or baskets

- big/little food pictures - click here to print

2. Put the 2 soft toys in front of your child, and put a plate and box/basket in front of each one.

2. Select four or five pairs of pictures (i.e., big and small apple, big and small burger etc.) and spread them out - putting the big and small pictures next to each other. Say the name of each picture as you put them out.

3. Ask your child to put an item of food on the doll's or teddy's plate or basket (e.g. "put the big banana on teddy's plate").

- boy/girl figures - click here to print

- big/little everyday items - click here to print

PE equipment

Give sequences of one then two instructions, for example: 'Run to the post then turn around', 'Jump then run to the window', 'Throw the yellow ball', 'Jump three times then turn around'

Variations:

Have a fixed set of instructions, for example turn around, throw the ball, run to the post, jump in the hoop. Let the children take it in turns to be the teacher, giving the other children the instructions. It may be useful to have picture prompts for the instructions which the children can use.

No specific equipment

Paper, coloured pens, a barrier so that children can't see what each other is doing

Black sheet press have a range of ready made sheets for doing these activities.