5 fabulous posters all about early learning.

Introducing the 'EYLF Outcomes' poster set.

These new resources would be of great use to teachers who are using the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF).  They are informative and visually appealing.  The 5 colourful  posters in the set are Identity; My World; Wellbeing; Learner; Communicator.
They are laminated, A3 size, Australian made posters valued at $45.00 but the wonderful news is you can WIN a whole set here.

Enter to Win a set of 5 posters
To enter please:

• Leave a comment here on this post.
• Leave your email so you can be notified if you win.

Rules:

• The give-away is for Australian residents only.
• The give-away will finish on Saturday, 31st August at 8 pm EST.
• The winners will be selected by Random Generator.
• The winners will be notified by email.
• You must leave a comment here on this post to enter.

Thanks to Bookoola Ink for this great give-away.

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Enter your email here to go in the give away and leave a comment below



Email:

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Thank you everyone for entering
Congratulation to our winner
Kristy (who has been contacted by email)

Thankyou to www.bookoola.com.au who make and sell these great resources. They have offered a $5 discount to everyone who entered! Just use the code 5OFFER, to receive $5 off any Bookoola Ink order. This discount code will be valid until the end of September.
 

Music crucial in early childhood years

PUT IN EARLY PLAY
There are many benefits to including an active music program in an early childhood curriculum. An active music program is one that involves melody, movement, rhythm and speech. It involves the whole child and is enthusiastic, motivated and inspiring. Music can bring joy, fun and a richness and fullness to any early childhood curriculum. Some of our favourite music experiences are: Singing,
Singing and playing musical games and un-tuned percussive instruments. Read full article by Rebecca Andrews and Fiz Halsey at Australian Teacher Magazine.

Don't forget to look at the MUSIC section here on EARLY PLAY AUSTRALIA for lots of practical music ideas. Many of our other bloggers include practical fun ideas on music too.

Thanks to play ideas for the shekere photo

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) service practice and training videos

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) has developed a collection of 12 mini videos that they call vignettes, and accompanying notes to be used to promote discussion and critical reflection among educators. 
The vignettes have been chosen to illustrate experiences occuring in early childhood settings that relate directly to ideas in the EYLF and the NQS. They have not been chosen to depict excellent practice but rather to provoke discussion and to support ‘a lively culture of professional inquiry’. This is a very important point—the aim is not to criticise, on the one hand, what the vignettes depict, or to see them as identifying ‘how things should be done’. 
The focus for discussion is on what and how children are learning and educators’ roles and contribution to
the learning.

Read more about this in their excellent information sheet.
View a summary of the 12 vignettes

Do you know these videos?
Have you used them in your meetings?

DIVERSITY IN PLAY THERAPY CONFERENCE

WHEN: 22nd/23rd August 2013 
WHERE: Sea World Resort, Gold Coast, Australia

The ‘Australasia Pacific Play Therapy Association’ will be holding their next conference on the Australian Gold Coast this coming August. See the flyer. 

Find out more at their site http://www.appta.org.au/ including What is play therapy?

How we learn

The art of teaching

New Working With Children Check in NSW

One-hour, free information sessions about the new Working With Children Check are held regularly at the Commission for Children and Young People in Surry Hills (100m from Central Station) as well as at Sydney suburban and regional locations. Find out the what, when, how and why of the new check ... and have your questions answered.

Current sessions are listed here

Re other states and the Northern Territory
There is no single national framework setting out the requirements for obtaining Working With Children Checks or Police Checks. Each state and territory has their own procedures and it is necessary to fulfil the requirements in the jurisdiction in which you are working. You can see the state and territory screening program at Australian Institute of Family Studies government site.

Awakening the natural mind

If you are looking for something a little more indepth, than a nice quote, try Awakening Children's Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference by Laura E. Berk. In addition to providing clear roles for parents and teachers, Berk also offers concrete suggestions for creating and evaluating quality educational environments--at home, in child care, in preschool, and in primary school--and addresses the unique challenges of helping children with special needs.

Parents, Berk writes, need a consistent way of thinking about their role in children's lives, one that can guide them in making effective child-rearing decisions. Awakening Children's Minds gives us the basic guidance we need to raise caring, thoughtful, intelligent children.

Anyone know a similar book by an Australian author?

Rattler AUTUMN edition — Out NOW

Rattler is the official publication of the Community Child Care Co-operative of NSW.
It is a quarterly publication with articles about social, economic, educational and political issues that affect the child care industry.

The latest issue Autumn Rattler has a focus on children’s rights and details about new Community Child Care campaigns for 2013. See contents of the issue.

Become a member to access all issues of Rattler, 

or purchase this issue for $10 from the online shop.

Nominate an amazing teacher now

The ASG NEiTA Awards for Inspirational Educators is the only national community-centred teaching awards program that gives parents, secondary students, early childhood and school communities the opportunity to formally thank their hard-working and inspirational educators and leaders.

It was started in 1994 when the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) formed the National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEiTA) Foundation to promote public recognition of inspirational educators and leaders in Australian and New Zealand schools and early childhood centres.

Nominations are now open for the ASG NEiTA Awards for Inspirational Educators! You can nominate online, or click here to print a nomination form.

Contact NEiTA on 1800 624 487.  Nominations close 31 July 2013.

How we learn.

A teacher is a teacher

''A teacher is a teacher, no matter which sector they teach in," said Australian Education Union* branch secretary Gillian Robertson. "Whether they be in early childhood, at a TAFE or at a school, they should have parity in their professional terms and conditions." Read more at The Age.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says the average weekly total cash earnings in mid-2012 for early childhood teachers were $837, giving an approximate annual income of $43,000.

According to the article in The Age "TAFE teachers currently earn $50,856 at graduate level compared with $56,958 for school teachers."

To be fair to these statistics, the ABS information is about an average of all of Australia (this is another issue) and the info from The Age was probably about Melbourne teachers.

*The Australian Education Union has a membership of over 180,000 educators who work in public schools, colleges, early childhood and vocational settings in all states and territories of Australia.

teach them to long for...

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


LINKED UP AT:
Create with Joy

Not hundreds but thousands of free play ideas

 

 

I wanted to share some great play ideas from some friend's sites.
Right here you can get so many play ideas for young children from so many great Aussie bloggers. On their sites you will find a multitude of play ideas.
Just click on the links below to get you started:

• ABC
• Australian Animal crafts
• Baby water tray
• Baking a cake
• Bath Play 
• Bush walk with the family
• Butterfly painting
• Collage: easter egg shapes
• Dinosaurs - 10 activities
• Excursion planning
• Finger plays
• Garden Journal
• Labrynth Maths
• Matching game with aboriginal theme
• Memory games
• Mud pies
• Musical Instrument Making
• Music outside
• Nature play - 18 ideas
• outdoor play 
• Papier Mache
• Parachute Games
• Peg doll craft
• Playing Libraries
• Play with conkers
• Pretend Play
• Reading Tent
• Snap painting
• Science experiment with food colouring
• Scoop ball - DIY
• Slimy spaghetti
• Spray painting
• Toy free play - 15 tips

All of these wonderful blogs are on EARLY PLAY AUSTRALIA on facebook

MORE PLAY IDEAS AND THEORY 

Everything You Need To Know To Be A Good Teaching Assistant

Being a teaching assistant can sometimes be difficult. You need to be able to support a teacher in a range of different ways, from providing individual help to children with special educational needs, through to being able to step in and lead a lesson if needed. In this way, a teaching assistant is expected to cover a range of different duties, and has to be flexible and ready to work as part of a team. The diversity of the role is underpinned by a number of qualification requirements, as well as a willingness to work in full time, part time and temporary roles.

1 - Education and Qualification

Teaching assistants can come from a range of backgrounds. While they are generally expected to be 18 and over, they don’t require the same degree level education and PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) skill set as full time teachers. Teaching assistants can also be part time, and can return to the job after a significant period out of it. A general education is, however, recommended, as is the ability to pass basic numeracy, literacy and information skill tests. Induction programmes for teaching assistants are also available, as are BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) and Diplomas for more advanced roles.

A Higher Level Teaching Assistant can step in and teach lessons if needed. Other teaching assistants can improve their employability and skill sets by completing CSCHE Level 2 Certificates for Teaching Assistants, as well as NVQs in Early Year care and Education. Level 2 City and Guild qualifications in Support Work and Skills, and Level 3 Diplomas in Specialist Support for Teaching and Learning are also available. Any prospective teaching assistant should sign up for an agency, and should expect to receive a Criminal Records check.

2 - Expected Tasks

Teaching assistants can expect to support classroom activities by helping children with completing tasks, as well as focusing on particular needs for literacy and numeracy. They may also need to work in a special needs environment, whereby they will provide additional tutoring or classroom management. In primary schools, a teaching assistant may have to help out with stories and activities, while working as part of a team for school trips and sports days.

3 - Preparation and Skills

If working as part of a specific subject or task, a teaching assistant can make their role more productive by developing a portfolio of lesson plans, and media examples for students to use. These examples can range from everything from magazine cuttings to video clips and online sources. A good teaching assistant should also acquaint themselves with classroom management skills, while also knowing how to deal with any difficult students and abuse.

4 - Team Work

Teaching assistants need to be able to follow a lead teacher’s direction without feeling like they are being given the less attractive jobs, such as dealing with difficult children. Work can be time consuming and quite stressful, so it is important that a clear relationship is established within a set of teachers over what roles are realistically expected to be completed. 

Teaching assistants also need to understand the chain of command within a school, and need to know who they speak to about any problems. Perhaps most importantly, a good teaching assistant is one that does n’t get take advantage of with extra tasks.

5 - Rewards

As with any teaching role, an assistant can benefit from extended school holidays, as well as the ability to get to know and help children on a one to one basis. The need for teaching assistants to help special needs and individual children’s skills can also provide significant job satisfaction. Remuneration typically falls within the £10,000-15,000 category, with options for further qualifications to be able to lead lessons.

Author Bio

Emily Steves is a secondary school teacher.  She found her current post via London teacher agency GSL Education, and enjoys inspiring young minds, and the challenges her job presents.  In her spare time Emily can be found blogging about her experiences and what they have taught her.

We are Aussies: a fine selection of Aussie stuff for preschoolers

Dot and the Kangaroo - an Australian story book

• Australian Easter Bilby at playfulljoy
• Easy Coconut Ice Eggs at Designing Early Childhood Australia
• 10 Aussie Activities for Kids! at Happy Whimsical Hearts
• Recipe for gumnut potpourri at Caro & Co
• 4 Australian kidsongs
• Australian Picture Books to read
• How to enjoy the bush without fearing snakes at little eco footprints
• Lavendilly Story Time: Grandmother Cassia
• ANZAC Day and preschoolers at Males in Early Childhood 
• An Aboriginal inclusion story and activities for NAIDOC week at aunt annie's childcare

Nature Benefits for Children

Dr Karen Martin from the University of Western Australia has conducted research into the benefits for children from contact with nature. She found that today’s children are spending less time outside than previous generations despite clear benefits relating to children’s health, behaviour and learning.
Read the Nature Benefits for Children information brochure.
Here are just some of our bloggers who appreciate and blog about connecting children with nature:

Baby bee's house: children learning about bees
Bowerbird Blue: all about environmental education
Caro & Co: connecting kids to the wonders of outdoors...
earth sky sea child: Learning Love of the Environment
little eco footprints: know nature
Mummy Musings and Mayhem: outdoor play ideas
playfulljoy: camping and rock stacks

But, I bet if you visited any of the blogs at left you would be hard pressed to not find posts about the fun and importance and ideas for getting kids outdoors.
Here at EARLY PLAY AUSTRALIA we love and cherish the wonderful outdoor environment we live in, do you? Let us know by leaving a comment here.

Starting well?

Starting well: Benchmarking early education across the world, is an Economist Intelligence Unit  research programme which ranks the preschool environments in 45 countries. You can read the report here. Scroll down to the end to see Australia's ranking. You may be shocked to see we are 28 out of 45! Here is one reason why:

Many high-income countries rank poorly, despite
wealth being a major factor in a country’s ability
to deliver preschool services. Australia, Canada,
Singapore and the US, for example, are all listed
in the lower half of the Index, despite having
high average per-capita incomes.
This is not to
suggest that quality preschool programmes are
lacking in these countries. But such schemes are
not available or affordable to all strands of society,
while minimum quality standards vary widely.

Child Development from a Steiner Perspective

WORKSHOP - Back to Basics
Child Development from a Steiner Perspective Saturday 19th January 2013, 10 am - 12 noon

Facilitator Liz Blomkamp, who provides parent workshops for Noosa Pengari Steiner School.

COST: Gold coin donation
VENUE: Beachmere Community Hall, 3 Progress Ave, Beachmere 4510
More details

Explore and rejuvenate

children require long, uniterrupted periods of play and exploration:  Piaget.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday.
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves otherwise we harden: Goethe