Juliet, you've done it again - great post. I remember that poem from school too! And funnily enought the 'It's not a stick book' was all over my page last week. I think you are right if the youngest childrne are given the free reign with loose parts they will be much better at writing ideas when the time comes. The new curriculum in N.I had the aim to get children talking long before they have to write their stories etc.
What a fabulous way to come at metaphors - I find them tricky to explain but this slant is so practical and SENSIBLE!!! WOW! Thank you. We do forest schools and I LOVE your blog! http://middlehampri2.posterous.com Mrs M & A Room with a View
Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure why "Not a stick" has taken so long to be discovered in the UK. I thought I had put it in my EY Forest School list mania on Amazon, but have discovered I didn't! LOL!
Good point about the Kennings - I think that would add interest too . Thanks Kath.
A kindergarten class I work with read this wonderful book in preparation for building small mouse homes in the forest at their school. Many children drew their own representation of the ideas from, Not a Stick, in their journals. I felt it gave them a great primer for creative play with sticks and many more examples than the typical gun play that happens with sticks. Thanks Juliet for sharing!
You are right - books like this are great as a springboard into stick play. Have you heard of "Stick Man" by Julia Donaldson? It's also full of ideas and has a happy ending!
I know this posting was a while ago, but i was looking for inspiration for one of my Fridays a couple of weeks ago.. and that is exactly what this posting did! First thing we watched a short clip of winnie the pooh - playing pooh sticks! We thought and talked about sticks for a while and then i read the It's not a stick to the whole class ( how great is Amazon.. after reading your blog I ordered the book and had it in 3 days!) I then shared about what we were going to do and one child piped up that we really should make some clear rules - about the sticks! So we did that together on the white board ( and very sensible rules they were too!) then we went out side. We are attached to a huge playing field.. so I let them go for half an hour to choose their stick. Not one broken rule for the whole time! Eventually we all came back into a large circle and then went round the circle.. "it's not a stick its a......" (OH MY WORD!!!) olympic torch, flag, pole vault, witches broom, wand, fishing rod... on and on.. Once we had done all of that ( and I had recovered from such great thoughts!) we went back inside where they then used a comic board template to write a short story about their stick. Wonderful session - thank you so much for the inspiration and ideas!
7 comments:
Juliet, you've done it again - great post. I remember that poem from school too! And funnily enought the 'It's not a stick book' was all over my page last week. I think you are right if the youngest childrne are given the free reign with loose parts they will be much better at writing ideas when the time comes. The new curriculum in N.I had the aim to get children talking long before they have to write their stories etc.
makes me think of 'kennings' ...like in Norse, where the sea becomes 'the whale's road'
What a fabulous way to come at metaphors - I find them tricky to explain but this slant is so practical and SENSIBLE!!! WOW! Thank you. We do forest schools and I LOVE your blog!
http://middlehampri2.posterous.com
Mrs M & A Room with a View
Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure why "Not a stick" has taken so long to be discovered in the UK. I thought I had put it in my EY Forest School list mania on Amazon, but have discovered I didn't! LOL!
Good point about the Kennings - I think that would add interest too . Thanks Kath.
Mrs Monaghan - thanks for your kind feedback.
A kindergarten class I work with read this wonderful book in preparation for building small mouse homes in the forest at their school. Many children drew their own representation of the ideas from, Not a Stick, in their journals. I felt it gave them a great primer for creative play with sticks and many more examples than the typical gun play that happens with sticks.
Thanks Juliet for sharing!
-Amy Butler
Hi Amy
You are right - books like this are great as a springboard into stick play. Have you heard of "Stick Man" by Julia Donaldson? It's also full of ideas and has a happy ending!
Best wishes
Juliet
I know this posting was a while ago, but i was looking for inspiration for one of my Fridays a couple of weeks ago.. and that is exactly what this posting did! First thing we watched a short clip of winnie the pooh - playing pooh sticks! We thought and talked about sticks for a while and then i read the It's not a stick to the whole class ( how great is Amazon.. after reading your blog I ordered the book and had it in 3 days!) I then shared about what we were going to do and one child piped up that we really should make some clear rules - about the sticks! So we did that together on the white board ( and very sensible rules they were too!) then we went out side. We are attached to a huge playing field.. so I let them go for half an hour to choose their stick. Not one broken rule for the whole time! Eventually we all came back into a large circle and then went round the circle.. "it's not a stick its a......" (OH MY WORD!!!) olympic torch, flag, pole vault, witches broom, wand, fishing rod... on and on.. Once we had done all of that ( and I had recovered from such great thoughts!) we went back inside where they then used a comic board template to write a short story about their stick.
Wonderful session - thank you so much for the inspiration and ideas!
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