What does your baby do? The lovely little bundle that you have just proudly brought home. Well you know he/she sleeps, you know he/she eats, you know he/she cries and of course they know how to fill a nappy.
But what are they learning from the beginning?
There is so much your baby can do from the very moment he is born. He knows how to suck, and to communicate his needs to others by crying. He has the ability to see faces and objects of different sizes and colours. He can even tell the difference between voices of his parents and others. That's already a lot...
OK, so what can you do to help?
You are so important - you and the other adults that surround your child. The growth of your babies brain is affected by the experiences he had and the care you provide.
YOU ARE YOUR CHILD'S FIRST TEACHER.
The first five years
Talking is Important
There are so many opportunities for learning at this time, but to do this learning they need stimulation. So how do you do this? It's not that difficult.
Talk to them from the very moment they are born. Whether you're at home or out and about just chatter away. Talk but also listen and respond to your baby as much as possible.
Play, sing, dance and encourage them as much as possible. (It doesn't matter if you are tone deaf or have two left feet, your baby will think your amazing.
Read aloud looking at the pages of a book together. Tell stories with your child as the main character.
Sing nursery rhymes or watch them together on YouTube. (There are lots of YouTube clips on nursery rhymes).
Opportunities for doing all these things will present themselves during everyday routines. When your feeding your child, talk about the food they are eating. When your dressing your child count their toes and fingers, nose and ears etc.
All of these everyday activities will help build the foundation for your child to learn.
The majority of brain development occurs in the first three years of a child’s life so when you play, sing or read to your child and give them time to respond, you will help them make the most of this opportunity.
Feeding time
Describe the food while feeding your baby
Count as you do things – like putting out plates
Allow your toddler to feed themselves as they get older – it helps build their co-ordination
At home
Talk to your baby about things, especially the things they show an interest in, like a favourite toy
Encourage your baby to reach for things
Turn tidying up into a sorting game – for example putting dolls or cars into different boxes
Bath time
Play pouring and emptying games with containers
Describe the toys in the water like the ‘quack’ of ducks
Outside
Let your child feel different shapes and textures outside – leaves, grass or sand
Talk about the things you see when you’re on the bus, in the car or walking to the shops
Listen together and name the sounds you hear around you. For example, if you both hear a car engine, say ‘That’s a car’
Bedtime
Share a book with your child and talk about the pictures
Count characters or animals in a picture book
Talk
Why am I doing this? By listening and speaking children develop the ability to think and understand experiences. As your child grows then their language develops and becomes more complex so they are able to have more complex thoughts and ideas. You and the family are the first source of language and learning. Your child will get better through listening and speaking. They need chance to practise words and to hear them.
How can I do more? Talk about the things you see around you and their colours. When you are out and about name the things you see. Explain new words, show shapes that you see around you. Talk about animals as you point them out in a book or if you see them out and about.
Just keep talking and listening.
EYFS
Just what is the EYFS?
EYFS stands for Early Years Foundation Stage.
All providers of childcare, including pre-school, nursery, reception and childminders follow the guidelines of the EYFS. It sets the standards for learning, development and care of your child.
By the end of the Reception year at school EYFS profiles are completed for every child.
Information from this profile is then passed onto the Year One teacher.
With this information, the teacher will have a better understanding of the needs of your child and how to help them progress further.
The profile measures your child performance in 17 areas of learning. These are known as the Early Learning Goals (ELG's).
You can use these guidelines to help you at home. By understanding what to look for in this profile you can help your child with their learning.
You can use this profile to help you know the next steps to take on their journey.
What to Expect When sees the learning from the child's point of view. It can be helpful as an indicator of where their at.
EYFS
Just what is the EYFS?
EYFS stands for Early Years Foundation Stage.
All providers of childcare, including pre-school, nursery, reception and childminders follow the guidelines of the EYFS. It sets the standards for learning, development and care of your child.
By the end of the Reception year at school EYFS profiles are completed for every child. Information from this profile is then passed onto the Year One teacher.
With this information, the teacher will have a better understanding of the needs of your child and how to help them progress further.
The profile measures your child performance in 17 areas of learning. These are known as the Early Learning Goals (ELG's).
By understanding what the child-care professionals are looking for in this profile you can help your child be ready for learning.
You can use this profile at home to help you know the next steps to take in learning.
What to expect, when? Guidance to your child’s learning and development in the early years foundation stage
https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2015/03/4Children_ParentsGuide_2015_WEB.pdf
Early Learning Goals (ELGs)
Communication, Language and Literacy Development
Listening and Attention
Understanding (following instructions, responding to questions
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Communication, Language and Literacy.
Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation.
Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language, and readily turn it in their play and learning.
Sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard by relevant comments, questions or actions.
Listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems and make up their own stories, songs, rhymes and poems.
Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words.
Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener, for example by their use of conventions such as greetings, 'please' and 'thank you'.
Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences.
Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events
Hear and say initial and final sounds in words, and short vowel sounds within words.
Link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet.
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words.
Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts.
Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories.
Read a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences independently.
Know that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom.
Show an understanding of the elements of stories, such as main character, sequence of events, and openings, and how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer questions about where, who, why and how.
Attempt writing for various purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions.
Write their own names and other things such as labels and captions and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation.
Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
Physical Development
Moving and handling
Health and Self Care
Physical Development
Move with confidence, imagination and in safety.
Move with control and coordination.
Travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment.
Show awareness of space, of themselves and of others.
Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this.
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active.
Use a range of small and large equipment.
handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials Safely and with increasing control.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Self confidence and self awareness
Managing feelings and behaviour
Making relationships
Personal Social & Emotional Development
Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn.
Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group.
Maintain attention, concentrate, and sit quietly when appropriate.
Respond to significant experiences, showing a range of feelings when appropriate.
Have a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings, and be sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others.
Have a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.
Form good relationships with adults and peers.
Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously.
Understand what is right, what is wrong and why.
Consider the consequences of their words and actions for themselves and others.
Dress and undress independently and manage their own personal hygiene.
Select and use activities and resources independently.
Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, that need to be treated with respect.
Understand that they can expect others to treat their needs, views, cultures and beliefs with respect.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Numbers
Shape, space and measures
Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Say and use number names in order in familiar contexts.
Count reliably up to ten everyday objects.
Recognise numerals 1 to 9.
Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.
In practical activities and discussion, begin to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting.
Use language such as 'more' or 'less' to compare two numbers.
Find one more or one less than a number from 1 to 10.
Begin to relate addition to combining two groups of objects and subtraction to 'taking away'.
Use language such as 'greater', 'smaller', 'heavier' or 'lighter' to compare quantities.
Talk about, recognise and recreate simple patterns.
Use language such as 'circle' or 'bigger' to describe the shape and size of solids and flat shapes.
Use everyday words to describe position.
Knowledge and understanding of the World
People and communities
The world
Technology
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Investigate objects and materials by using all of their senses as appropriate.
Find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe.
Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change.
Ask questions about why things happen and how things work.
Build and construct with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources and adapting their work where necessary.
Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join materials they are using.
Find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use information and communication technology and programmable toys to support their learning.
Find out about past and present events in their own lives, and in those of their families and other people they know.
Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world.
Find out about their environment, and talk about those features they like and dislike.
Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.
Creative Development
Exploring using media and materials
Being imaginative
Creative Development
Respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel.
Express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings by using a widening range of materials, suitable tools, imaginative and role-play, movement, designing and making, and a variety of songs and musical instruments.
Explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions.
Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music.
Use their imagination in art and design, music, dance, imaginative and role-play and stories
In each of these areas the ELGs set out what the average child is expected to be able to do by the age of five. Playing and exploring
Active Learning
Creating and thinking critically