Transcribing and transformers

A group of children are sitting with the practitioner, the oldest boy (five years) is telling a story. The practitioner listens, writes it down and then reads out what has been transcribed. The rest of the group listen to the story.

Good for looking at

• Early literacy
• Story telling
• Mixed age group
• Social learning
• Adult initiated activity
• Effective adult support

A group of children are sitting with the practitioner, the oldest boy (five years) is telling a story. The practitioner listens, writes it down and then reads out what has been transcribed. The rest of the group listen to the story.

Notice

• How are the children learning? Which areas of development, engagement and characteristics of learning can you observe?
• In what ways does the adult support the children’s learning?

Reflect

What are your thoughts about:

• How and what the children are learning learning?
• The children’s level of involvement?
• The role of the adults in this interaction – how did he support the children?
• The value of this type of activity for each of the children in this mixed aged group?
• What role did the outdoor environment play in this interaction?

Respond

What would you do to:

• Support the different ages in the group?
• Inspire further story telling ideas?
• Extend the children’s learning?

What next:

• Do you need to encourage more of this kind of learning in nature and the outdoors for the children in your setting? Do you have writing materials at hand for the children in lots of different situations? Could you also use this technique indoors?