Houses and Homes

1 Independence & interdependence

The beginning of the schoolyear requires learners to get used to, and gradually also take part in, the routines of the class and the school. In addition they need to respect the rules (such as we keep our hands and feet to ourself) and carry out their responsibilities (tidy up, sort their work in their drawers, pack their belongings, help friends or the teacher, etc.) We emphasised acceptable behaviour, our personal value respect and taking responsibility for your own actions when learning and playing alongside or with others.
Within our IPC unit we looked at houses and homes in our vicinity as well as across cultures and time. We also celebrated our diversity by looking at buildings learners have visited across the globe as well as world landmarks. Our visit to our friend’s home as well as to homes from the past made everything more concrete.

2 Communication

Our learning was represented in different forms. Many children made their own book about the 3 little pigs, some made collages about the rooms in the house whilst others drew plans of their dream home. We worked with different materials including salt dough, pencils and crayons, different types of glue and paper. We also created a big cardboard home, build with milk cartons and did a lot of roleplaying.

Language & Literacy

Learning about houses and homes included practicing a lot of vocabulary: the furniture and rooms in a house, the building process and materials used, architectural elements, animal homes, etc. We enjoyed both fact books as well as a range of fiction, including the traditional tale of the 3 little pigs and Hansel and Gretel. The learners enjoyed different versions of the same tales as well as guessing the rhyming words and of course also saying along the repeated phrases.

In literacy the blue learners focussed on recognizing ‘home sounds’ and describing objects and animals sounds. They choose a favourite sound, came up with rhythms made with their bodies or shakers. They clapped to their name, distinguished loud and soft sounds and gave examples of onomatopoeias. In addition they listened to stories and enjoyed singing action songs. They are starting to work on recognising rhyming words.

Numeracy

We looked at numbers related to homes, the learners counting items at home and made comparisons in class afterwards. Some ordered house numbers and others added the corresponding number of pigs to each home. We also measured the ingredients for our salt dough and gingerbread house.

3 Exploring

Learners were encouraged to try out a range of more independent activities. There was a lot of practice of fine motor skills and hand eye coordination such as cutting colouring, tracing or stamping brick patterns and roof tiles,
There was a lot of huffing and puffing and learners found out which materials they could move with their breath, some even took notes about their discoveries.

4 Healthy living

Learners are supported to take responsibility for themselves and for their learning. Beyond that they are encouraged to pay attention during our group circle time before they need to choose which more independent activity they want to focus on.