I made the hats out of cardboard and attached sticks to them so the learners could use them in a fun, interactive way. Here is a photo of them:
As you can see they have the colour, name and a few key words on them to help the learners understand that the hat represents and how to use it to think about their thinking.
For my lesson, I started by explaining each hat and giving examples of how to use each one. We then sat in a circle and each learner had a turn to roll a story dice and use a hat to dive into their thinking about the specific object on the dice. Their class teacher and I were amazed with the responses. The one little girl who has had a very difficult time with her parents and has finally started living with her wonderful grandparents described the emotion of the picture of a house as, "a place that I can go to that makes me feel warm, safe and loved" (it put tears in our eyes). I then gave them unprepared oral topics and they had a minute to prepare their orals and then speak to the class using as many hats as they could. Unprepared orals are a challenging and intimidating aspect of language for many Grade 4s and I was blown away with the substance and maturity of the orals. What a wonderful lesson!!!
Sounds amazing! de Bono's hats provide amazing insight into our children (I've even used them in counselling). This will surely be a lesson that they will remember for a while to come - a hallmark of a good lesson, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Casey
Hi Dianne
ReplyDeleteI think you will find this article very interesting and I hope you can use it with your two children in your class. I am going to post it in sections, because I have difficulty otherwise.
Play with a purpose using polystyrene trays
Let’s get busy with our children and learners. Let’s expand our vision, use what we have at home and chose to have more fun. Let’s think out the box and go for it!
Much of our food is packaged in polystyrene trays. The trays come in a variety of size, depths and colours and are perfect for playing up a storm! Using a variety of tea trays will also keep your child interested and excited about learning. Using different size trays will encourage your child to make big movements when drawing, thus exploring the whole available space. It is important that a child use all that is available. We need to provide activities which encourage those movements. They need lots of practice to “master, get a feel’ for those big movements. The more control they have over these movements, the easier it will be for them to master the fine motor movements that are necessary for handwriting skills. Use a variety of different “layers” to encourage the child to get involve, get messy and be engaged in this tactile ,kinesthetic process. I have ever met a child who wasn’t keen to write his name in a thin layer of chocolate instant pudding! Other interesting layers include chocolate drinking powder, thin layer of custard, aqueous cream, icing sugar, flour, jelly powder, shaving cream , starch, Vaseline, rice. What do you have in your cupboard that would capture your child’s interest? Make sure your child Is sitting comfortably and with his feet firmly grounded on the floor.
Activities using trays include the following:
ReplyDelete• Collect a few trays and ask the child to sort the trays according to colour, size and shape before recycling.
• Trace around the inside of the tray with your left hand, right hand, pointer finger, etc.
• Starting at the top left and moving to the right, draw horizontal lines from the top of the tray to the bottom. The child can use his finger/a crayon /a piece of chalk. This is a good tracing exercise, we read from left to right. Our eyes need to practice moving from left to right.
• Starting at the top left corner of the tray, draw vertical lines from the top to the bottom of the tray. Use fingers/crayons/chalk, etc..
• Our eyes move from top to bottom.
• Turn the polystyrene tray over and trace around the tray, using the left hand’s Peter Pointer finger and the right hand’s Peter Pointer finger.
• Use the tray and provider a layer of the tray of your choice to draw pictures with a finger, boudoir biscuit, a chopstick, a toothpick, an ear bud etc.
• Use the trays with a thin layer of the hand cream to practice.
• Make up patterns like the shapes, crosses etc. Allow the child to copy a pattern you have set out. Make sure it is copied from left to right.
• Let the child set out a pattern for you to copy, make a mistake!
• On a piece of paper, drw a grid of 4Х4 dots. Connect a few of the dots. Allow the child to copy the pattern on his tray. This is an excellent visual motor integration exercise. The more the child practices this, the better he will get at doing it.
• A tray and hand lotion is a great way for the child to practice writing his name. No stress. If he makes a mistake, he can wipe the tray and starts again. If it is very difficult, then mom can write the name and he can trace over the letters, practice makes perfect. You want the child to have fun doing so!
• Ask the child to write down the answer to question like: How old were you last year? How old you will be next year? Practicing like this builds confidence, so if or when the child makes a mistake, they can just rub it out and start again. When the child is in grade 1 and takes part in a formal writing lesson, it is far easier for them to feel confident if they already played in this way.
• At around five years of age you can teach a child to play naughty and crosses .this is a fun game. Play it in hand lotion on the tray. It’s not threatening. He gets to practice till he can master the game. The child uses all the little muscles he will need when he starts writing in books.
• Once the child has the mastered naught and crosses, show him how to play using capital and lower case letters. Now you use the first letter of his name to play. They have to recognize their letter and to practice writing it. Every piece of work in grade R has to have their names on it, so what better way to practice and build confidence! You can then move on the other capital and low case letters, dots, numbers and numerals and even shapes. One can be the triangle; the other will be the circle. One can be the number 5, and the other will be the number 3.
ReplyDelete• Allow older children to practice their spelling list, sight words, sums, etc. on the trays. It’s a relaxing way to practice and the child will be more inclined to practice the words or sum, if he can practice them in a thin layer of yummy custard.
• Use the trays for punching exercises and then thread with old shoelaces. This is a great exercise for strengthening the muscle .you can talk about how many holes the child has punched. Compare it to how many holes they punched in another tray.
• Polystyrene trays make wonderful stencils. Turn the tray upside down. Provide the child with chalk and safe place to stencil, e.g. the yard ,and design a picture. You can also cut the trays into shapes if you like.
• Turn the tray upside down and using golf tees and a small hammer, give the child an opportunity to hammer away! This is a great exercise for eye hand coordination.
• Place elastic bands around the tops of the golf tees stuck in the tray to create pictures.
• Use the trays for construction.
• Place a marble on the tray and control the roll of the marble, all the time watching it as it moves from left to right and around the tray.
• Trace and cut out numerals and sounds for a tactile experience of both.
• Draw numbers or sounds on the tray. Cover with glue. Sprinkle sand onto the glue and you have created a tactile experience of the number or sound.
• Allow the child to break or tear the trays before recycling them. This will strengthen their fine-motor muscles.
• Cut the trays. They are stiff and firm, so this will help the younger child master the skill as opposed to trying to cut a floppy piece of paper. Cut into two pieces and fit them together. Next cut it into four pieces and fit it together and so on.
• Paste a picture on a tray and cut up into an age-appropriate number of pieces to make a puzzle.
• Write the child’s name on the polystyrene tray. Give him to a toothpick and allow him to prick out his name. The child gets a wonderful tactile experience as he runs his finger over the bumps which form the number or word.
• Use the polystyrene tray to grow seedlings.
Reference: Brand. M. April 2011. Play with a purpose. Edunews, 46-48
Blessings Chrissie
Hi Di
ReplyDeleteSho! well done for thinking this up! What an excellent way to facilitate an unprepared oral! I am definitely taking notes for when I have to facilitate one! Thanks.
Wow thank you Chrissie for adding that - even the most everyday items have educational value!
ReplyDelete