THE HANDOUT – PART ONE

Questions to discuss with your team - THE LUCKY SEVEN!

1. What are our aims and expectations?

2. Where do we see the children being and functioning by half term?

• To raise and keep our expectations high and have faith in the child - this is the hardest part.

• We need to have faith in those expectations right from the start and STICK TO THEM.

3. What are the essential Limits that will aid the children’s adaptation to the new school
year?
a) To respect the right to work

b) To respect the material

c) To complete the cycle of activity

• So few limits! – So many freedoms!

• Or should we see them as responsibilities rather than limits?

• Simply, this is what we all need to do together during the first six weeks of the school year
in order for the community life to function smoothly.

• The good of the whole comes before the good of the individual.

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4. What are our individual roles and responsibilities?
• Why do we have them?

• Are these roles important and why are they so crucial?

5. For the presenter: you need to think about your presentations and your role as a
presenter!
a) Do I have faith in my presentations?

b) Do I trust in the materials?

c) Do I trust without any doubt in the child’s capacity?

d) Are my presentations catching the children’s interest?

e) Are the children developing the ability to choose independently? If not – why not?

f) Am I consistent?

g) What are the silent, unsaid messages I am sending to the children?

6. Have we as a team done sufficient organisation and planning prior to the start of the
term to enable us to truly follow the child?

7. Do we ultimately encourage true independence and the development, and flourishing of

an independent community?

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 Programme for the First Six Weeks

Schedule for Week 1: (all times are approximate)

8.45 - 8.55 Children arrive and join the group
8.55 - 9.15 Group containing a variety of activities
9.15 - 9.30 Walking on the line
9.30 - 10.00 Independent work
10.0 - 10.20 Group for younger/new children (SD)
10.20 - 10.50 Independent work
10.50 - 11.10 Group for younger/new children
11.10 - 11.40 Independent work
11.40 - 12.00
• Older children directed to maintain class, each person is given a job to do (LG)
• 3 all-day children go to prepare the lunch tables (PSG)

• Younger children prepare to go home. The (ASG) is with them in the cloakroom
to help if necessary
12.00
• The (PSG) has lunch with the children
• The (ASG) finishes off in cloakroom and brings children in to join the group
• (LG) completes cloakroom and says goodbye to the children

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Schedule for Weeks 2-4:
8.45 - 9.20 Large group with all the children
9.20 - 9.40 Walking on the line
9.40 - 10.20 Independent work
10.20 - 10.40 Group for younger children (PSG)
10.40
• Younger children dismissed to class
• 10.50/11.00 New children to cloakroom with (PSG) to prepare to go home
10.40 - 11.20 Independent work
11.20 - 11.40 Group with younger children
11.40 - 12.00
• Older children directed to maintain class each person is given a job to do (LG)
• 3 all-day children go to prepare the lunch tables (PSG)

• Younger children prepare to go home. The (ASG) is with them in the cloakroom to
help if necessary
12.00
• The (PSG) has lunch with the children
• The (ASG) finishes off in cloakroom and brings children in to join the group
• (LG) completes cloakroom and says goodbye to the children

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Schedule for Week 5/6:
• The number of large groups in the morning start to decrease.
• Possible to start with a group on Monday, then alternate days.

• This depends very much on the functioning of your particular community and varies
depending on the needs of the children.
• When planning each day you still need to prepare to have two small groups but both might
not be required.
8.45 - 9.50 Independent work
9.50 - 10.10 Group for younger/new children (PSG)
10.10 - 11.00 Independent work
11.0 - 11.20 Group for younger
children 11.20- 11.45 Independent work
11.45
• Older children directed to maintain class, each person is given a job to do (LG)
• 3 all-day children go to prepare the lunch tables (PSG)
• Younger children prepare to go home. The (ASG) is with them in the cloakroom to
help if necessary
12.00
• The (PSG) has lunch with the children
• The (ASG) finishes off in cloakroom and brings children in to join the group
• The (LG) completes cloakroom and says goodbye to the children

Schedule for Week 6 and onwards

• The daily planning continues to change.
• You still might need to start with a large group occasionally.
• The period of work is gradually being extended by removing the small groups.
• Initially the 10.00-ish group will no longer be required and then slowly the second group.
• Observation is now fundamental - to follow the needs of the individual.

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 Response Games

In all stages we start from simple commands moving towards more challenging ones.

▪ STAGE 1: The child does an action while sitting on his chair in the group

1. Miss Pearce Says:

‘Miss Pearce says stamp your feet, touch your nose, stroke your cheek, wiggle
your fingers’. Continue with as many actions as needed with all children in the
group by saying the name of the Directress/Director before the action.

2. Variation of Miss Pearce Says:

Children should only do an action when the Directress/Director’s name is
mentioned. Explain the game to the children and reinforce that listening is very
important for this game. E.g.: ‘Miss Pearce says rub your tummy, Miss Pearce
says stroke your thighs, Clap your hands (children should remain motionless),
Miss Pearce says place your little finger on your nose.’

3. Individual Action:
Give an individual response to a child and ask him to carry on doing the action
until you say stop. E.g.: ‘Ben, Can you clap your hands until I say Stop.’ Give
each child a different action.

4. Adverb Game:
E.g. ‘Miss Pearce says clap your hands quietly, rub quickly your fingers on your
knees, lift one knee slowly, tap quickly one finger on another finger?’

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▪ STAGE 2: The child does an action in the middle of the group

Introduce to the group how the game will work. It is up to us to have one or
more children at a time in the middle of the group. We can always give them a
Point of Consciousness. E.g. ‘I wonder if you can play this game without touching
any
friends. Let’s see. Ready.’ The child or children can have 3 different actions,
depending how they are playing and if they are confident with the game.

1. 1 Action + 1 Instrument:
a) The instrument and action related are introduced to the children. E.g.: ‘When
you here the tambourine this means march. When I stop playing the tambourine
then you need to stop marching. Ready.’
b) A child is asked to come to the middle of the group.
c) The tambourine is played and the child marches in the middle of the group until
the instrument stops playing.

2. Question Game (this game can be adapted with the other games in Stage 2 accordingly):
a) The instrument and action related are introduced to the children. When the
child stops the Directress/Director asks some questions. Example:
- ‘Ben, What did I ask you to do?’ ‘March.’
- ‘Did you march?’ ‘Yes’
- ‘What did you do when you heard the tambourine? ‘Stopped.’

3. 2 Actions + 2 Instruments:
a) Introduce both instruments (e.g. maraca and triangle).
b) Play both instruments and introduce the actions one at a time (e.g. maraca/jump
and triangle/tiptoe).
c) A child is invited to come to the middle of the group.

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 d) Play one instrument at a time. The child should remember the connection
between instrument/action. The child performs the action following the instrument.
e) The Directress/Director should use the element of surprise by always starting
with a different instrument for each child. All children do the same actions with
the same selected instruments.

4. 3 Actions + 3 Instruments:
a) Follow the same steps as described before with 2 Actions + 2 Instruments.
b) To increase the challenge, have the children looking away so they don’t
see which instrument will be played next.

5. Stop + Go sign:
Using different objects to represent the actions GO and STOP. E.g.: Red Flag:
STOP / Green Flag: GO. E.g.: ‘Can you crawl?’ Show the Green Flag. The
children start making the action. Show the Red Flag. The children then stop. Give
each child or group of children 3 different actions.

6. Body Sounds:
Each sound that we make with of your body will represent a different action. E.g.:
Clap Hands/Jump and Rub Hands Together/Slide. When we stop making the
sound the child has to stop.

7. Actions + Different Tunes made with Bells or Different Tunes played on the piano:
a) The Directress/Director selects some bells and places them on a table.
b) Play a different tune and tell the children this will tell them to do an action
(related to each tune played). E.g. skip / run / walk.
c) The tune is played and the children do the action following the tune. Change
the tune so the children can have three times, always changing the Tune/Action.

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 d) All children do the same actions following the same tunes.

8. Preposition Game:
Give each child a different action and a different preposition. Always after the
child has completed the game, do the Question Game.
a) 1 Action + 1 Preposition: ‘Jane can you twirl 3 times in front of Kate.’
Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do? And then ‘Where did I ask you to
twirl?’.
b) 2 Actions + 1 Preposition: ‘Jane can you slide your feet and jump behind Kate
6 times.’ Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do? ‘What else did you do?’ And
then ‘Where did I ask you to jump?’.
c) 2 Action + 2 Preposition: ‘Jane can you skip on the spot 3 times and jump 5
times beside Kate.’ Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do first? Where?’ and
‘What did I ask to do afterwards? Where?’.

9. Adverb Game:
Give each child a different action and a different adverb. Always after the child
has completed the game, do the Question Game.
a) 1 Action + 1 Adverb: ‘Jane can you walk quickly.’ Question Game: ‘What did I
ask you to do? And then ‘How did I ask you to walk?’.
b) 2 Actions + 2 Adverbs: ‘Jane can you dance gracefully and march proudly.’
Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do first? And then ‘How did I ask you to
dance?’. ‘What else did you do?’ And then ‘How did I ask you to march?’.

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▪ STAGE 3: The child does an action away from the group

Introduce to the group how the game will work. At this stage the children can listen.
- It can be practiced in the Garden.
- It can be played with one or two children at a time in the middle of the group. We
can always give them a Point of Consciousness. E.g. ‘Today we are going to play a
game that cooperation is very important. We are going to work together. Can you hold
hands with Jane and walk together at her pace? Let’s see. Ready.’

1. 1 Action + 1 Place:
E.g.: ‘Jane can you Skip to the Piano and come back.’ Question Game: ‘What did
I ask you to do?’ ‘Skip’ And then ‘Where did I ask you to go?’ ‘To the piano’.

2. 2 Actions + 1 Place:
E.g.: ‘Jane can you Jump 3 times, Dance to the Book Corner and come
back.’ Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do?’ ‘Jump.’ ‘What else did
you do?’ ‘Dance.’ And then ‘Where did I ask you to go?’ ‘To the book
corner’.

3. 2 Action + 2 Places:
E.g.: ‘Jane can you hop to the Pink Tower, run to the Button Frame and come
back.’ Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do?’ ‘Hop.’ And then ‘Where did I
ask you to Hop to?’ ‘To the Pink Tower ‘What else did you do?’ ‘Run.’ And then
‘Where did I ask you to Run to?’ ‘To the Button Frame’.

4. 1 Action + 1 Place + 1 Action:

E.g.: ‘Jane can you Jump 5 times, March to the Painting Easel and come back.’
Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do?’ ‘Jump.’ ‘What else did you do?’
‘March.’ And then ‘Where did I ask you to March to?’ ‘To the Painting Easel.

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5. Preposition Game :
a) 1 Action + 1 Place + 1 Action + 1 Preposition: ‘Jane can you Tiptoe to the Red
Rods and Jump 2 times beside them and come back.’ Question Game: ‘What did I
ask you to do?’ ‘Tiptoe.’ ‘Where did I ask you to go?’ ‘To the Red Rods.’ And
then ‘What else did you do?’ ‘Jump.’ ‘Where did I ask you to Jump?’ ‘Beside the
Red Rods’.
b) Increase the challenge to the children as they get more experienced with
the game.

6. Adverb Game:
Give each child a different action and a different adverb. Always after the child
has completed the game, do the Question Game.
a) 1 Action + 1 Adverb + 1 Place: ‘Jane can you walk slowly to the Milk Table
and come back.’ Question Game: ‘What did I ask you to do? Where? And then
‘How did I ask you to walk?’.
b) Increase the challenge to the children as they get more experienced with
the game.

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