Today the children in Year 1 and 2 have been exploring emotions. The children discussed various emotions and situations where they might feel that way. We then looked at various stories and how the characters felt during various parts of the story. Finally we played an emotions board game. For this game the children had to give an example of a time where they had felt the emotion that they landed on.
Fair Trade – Thinking Hats
Today the children in Class 3 have been using thinking hats to explore a statement. It all started with the statement “We should only buy Fair Trade products”. The children then set to work with each group working with a different thinking hat. One group used the red hat to give their gut reaction to this statement with many of the children thinking this was a great idea. Another group looked at the downsides to this statement with some deciding that fair trade products are sometimes more expensive and not always available. The next group of children looked at the positives to this deciding that it was fairer for the people that make the produce. Finally in a whole class discussion the class discussed the alternatives ideas for this. Some ideas included buying fair trade for half of your shopping or making supermarkets sell only fair trade products.
Positives and Downsides – Yellow and Black Hat Thinking
Today Year 2 have been working with the yellow and black thinking hats. The yellow hat is all about positives whereas the green is about the downsides of a concept or idea. Given the recent weather, we looked at the good things and the downsides concerned with snow. At first many of the children could not think of any downsides to snowy weather but after some discussion they decided that it can cause disruption on the roads which might mean deliveries can’t get through. They also decided that snow can be dangerous for people that have mobility difficulties like the elderly. Superb thinking from our oldest children in the school!
Transport
The children have had a mini topic of transport. They have been making buses, trains and cars, writing tickets, playing with small world toys and making their own cars in the creative area. The children have also been building tracks and using a remote controlled car. They have displayed imagination, creativity, team-work and problem-solving!
Cookery Club – Year 2 (Spring 1st half term)
The children in year 2 have had the opportunity to join the Cookery Club this half term. They have been making some savoury snacks and some sweet snacks. Below you can see some photographs from one of the sessions.
Christmas Activities in Nursery
The children have been doing lots of lovely Christmas activities. They helped to decorate the classroom and the tree, they have made Christmas crispy cakes and biscuits and have practised wrapping presents and writing cards. The children are all very excited for Santa Claus to come on Christmas Eve.
Welcome
Welcome to our thinking skills blog. Here you will find our thoughts, reflections and most importantly actions relating to thinking skills at Cockton Hill Infants’.
Let us tell you about a journey so far…
For around a year we have been encouraging the children to have a growth mindset in their attitudes towards learning. This has proved fruitful and staff have noticed a greater resilience in children when faced with challenges. Children are also beginning to celebrate their mistakes as learning opportunities.
However, we want to take this further. To build on our work regarding growth mindset, the children will be participating in weekly sessions designed to encourage growth mindset behaviours and attitudes in addition to emotional intelligence. Much of this will be centred around team work and problem solving activities.
We are also developing other curriculum areas by incorporating “thinking hats” into our lessons. Thinking hats as a strategy encourages deeper thinking and understanding of the topics we teach. Throughout the year the children will be introduced to the various hats and then will have chance to utilise them within a variety of sessions.
Finally, the school staff have recently received training concerned with “three storey intellects”. This will enable staff to use questioning to draw out higher order thinking from the children. We have recently changed our planning documents to ensure the concept of three storey intellects is considered during lesson planning.
Squiggle while you Wiggle in Nursery
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxcE9IOGhmo?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0]
Dinosaurs
The children have Nursery have shown lots of interest in Dinosaurs so we have been learning all about them. We have been reading the story, ‘Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs’. The children were excited to come into Nursery and discover that all the dinosaurs had escaped! They had left a map which the children had to follow to find them again. The next day another message was left; this time the dinosaurs had left some eggs which the children opened and discovered baby dinosaurs! The children have had fun learning facts about dinosaurs, making binoculars, hot air balloons and boats just like in the story.
Volcanoes
The children in Nursery have been very interested in volcanoes since we read the book, ‘Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs’. They helped to make a volcano this week and were very excited to help add bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to it to make it erupt!