The Yellow Door Blog

The wonder of rhyme!

Why rhymes and songs are so important in the early years

Nursery rhymes and songs are wonderful! Not just because they are fun and engaging for young children, but because they can make a real difference to children’s language and literacy. Research suggests that children who have a good understanding of rhyme do better in their literacy than children who have poor skills in this area.

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Bringing in the Harvest!

In the villages around Cambridge – Yellow Door’s home, residents know harvest is happening when they hear tractors rumble by, see farmers putting their combine harvesters to work, and haystacks appearing in the fields. The fruit and vegetable stalls in the city market fill with autumnal produce: a celebration of hedgerows, orchards and fields.

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Sorting the forest (school) from the trees

Much has been said about the phenomenon of Forest School in recent years. Many practitioners, parents and children across the UK will probably be able to tell you about a nearby forest school or give examples of what a forest school session might include. However, the key question in the forest school community is:

In order to protect and nurture this inspirational movement, how do we define what Forest School really is?

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Getting Underway with Heuristic Play

Heuristic play for young children is based on open-ended resources that can be explored and investigated, and that encourage hypothesising (predicting what might happen). Such free exploration helps children to discovery things that make the world comprehensible, increases their cognitive development, supports their hand/eye co-ordination and helps them become resilient learners.

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What is a Schema?

A schema is …

  • … a pattern of repeated behaviour that can be observed through play and exploration.
  • … a child’s way of exploring meaning in what they are doing.
  • … the way in which a child is learning and making sense of the world.

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10 top tips for feeling well and staying well

As a teaching practitioner, you spend a huge amount of time giving out to others and, hopefully, getting a great deal of joy from this. Seeing children grow in all sorts of ways is incredibly fulfilling. In order to sustain this commitment, you need to keep well. With the summer offering a little space, here are 10 top tips to help you maintain your energy levels, motivation and health.

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Room for 2

Many two-year olds will spend more time with you in your setting than they do with their own parents, so it’s important to provide a caring and supportive environment where your children feel they belong. It needs to be thoughtfully laid out as well as practical.

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