It would be easy for you to enter my class, see my children making tissue paper rainbows and assume this is an activity with no real purpose. What you may not immediately realise is how many different areas of learning I am tackling through this activity. If you are interested in reading more about this specific activity, please head to my previous blog post: ⭐But…where is the learning?⭐
Each lesson that I taught in school and I teach now as a Private Tutor is developed in a specific way. Our learning and teaching is skill-based enabling transferrable skills to be taught for life and work.
When I was a student teacher, I dedicated much of my time to working in Nurture Rooms. A Nurture Room(NR) is a school-based intervention allowing for small groups of children to be supported in their developmental needs. These rooms provide a secure, predictable and caring environment where the focus is on social & emotional development and academic progress as a result.
One of the most common learning activities you will observe in a NR is the simple act of sitting down to eat together. This is not simply a case of space or timetable, this is a genuine learning experience developed for children to engage in.
Key learning areas when eating together:
⭐Social skills
⭐Fine motor skills (using cutlery)
⭐Talking and Listening through discussion with each other
⭐Healthy eating habits
⭐Co-existing with others/Sharing
⭐Team work
These are only a few of the key learning and teaching points that have gone into the planning behind sitting down for a meal together. It may not seem like a ‘relevant’ use of school time on the surface – and this is where I would urge you to challenge yourself to look a little deeper.
A good teacher teaches, a fantastic teacher instils enthusiasm for learning – and the later is only possible if the health and wellbeing of the child has been addressed first.
So here is my #butwhereisthelearning challenge for you! Where can you look a little deeper and spot the learning this week?
Lydia x
