There is nothing more heartwarming for a new teacher or classroom teacher than to see children making friends in early childhood. These friendships may change from day to day, week to week, or may be long term. Parents are often at pains to know from you if their child is mixing well and if they [...]

Cooking with children or students can be lots of fun! It’s all that stirring, baking and licking the cooking spoon, right? However it is also perfect for turning a fun time into a learning experience. The following ‘rules’ are necessary to follow when cooking with children or you’re your students in any learning setting: The [...]

It is not always easy to come up with effective communication strategies for dealing with parents. Parents can be very critical of your teaching style, and they may have their own set ideas about learning and the way in which they perceive their child’s progress at school. At the beginning of the year you need [...]

Express Feelings – Helping Learners Understand Did you know that it can be challenging for a teacher to help learners express feelings, in a healthy and positive way? There is a fine balance between dealing with acceptable and unacceptable behavior being demonstrated by learners, but it’s about learning where to draw the line. Helping learners [...]

In every class there will be the quiet one. Let’s call her Amy. You worry that she’s not engaging enough, not participating as fully as the others. She lacks the confidence of her peers and you are concerned that her low esteem might be holding her back. Then there is the over-confident, noisy one. Let’s call [...]

The midline is an imaginary line down the centre of the body dividing it into left and right. Crossing the midline is developmental and usually occurs at around 3 – 4 years of age. At a younger age encouragement is given by adults for a child to reach across their body to take objects offered [...]

From the moment we are born we are surrounded by language. At first we rely on tone of voice and familiarity of people around us for our security. Language begins as a  form of security for us. As teachers of children, whether that be parent, carer or teacher, we are responsible for using language in a [...]

For new teachers and even experienced classroom teachers providing a sound basis in Mathematical concepts is essential if learners are to progress through the mathematical learning process. Learners who have problems understanding Maths concepts often have a poor foundation on which to build new concepts. If the foundation area is weak then Maths will be a [...]

It is important for the classroom teacher as part of their teachers’ professional development to gain an understanding of the role that play takes in socialisation in the early childhood setting. As adults we work and socialise to involve ourselves in society. Children’s play is their work and the more they play the more they learn to [...]

There is an art to communicating with parents. Start by asking a few questions and writing honest answers. What is my past experience with parents? Am I afraid of what parents say about my teaching style? Am I open and approachable. Am I welcoming no matter if I like the parent or not? Do I [...]