Our theme for the month, 'Back to School,' is all about embracing growth and change. From books that celebrate the excitement of returning to school to stories that gently address the anxieties of starting fresh, our curation is designed to support young minds through this important transition.

Our expert of the month, Principal Lisa says ”Over the 34 years I have worked with parents and their children, I have learnt that all families are doing the best they can with the skills they have at that time. Parenting requires the capacity to cope with unpredictable and chaotic circumstances, often with very little sleep. My role is to come alongside families and provide them with new skills to help them thrive and parent with confidence.’’

Generic Learning Plan: Suitable for any topic and applicable to children aged 2 and up. The aim is to extend your child's knowledge on a chosen topic and support a shared learning experience together.

Introducing a learning topic to a child is like launching a rocket... sparks could fly or the mission could fail and you need to abort.

Not all topics will interest your child. However, the way you set the scene for potential learning will have a big impact on how it lands for your little learner.

Start point: Find out what your child already knows about the chosen topic, this is your base and can help you to track progress.

How: Use Post-it notes and write down any of their ideas or knowledge and make a simple display of what they know already on the fridge. Now you know what they know you can build on it, extend what they understand and increase their vocabulary.

How: Plan some activities that are fun, interactive and involve a variety of senses and learning styles. Such as feeling, listening and doing. Not all activities should be table-based. There is a big world out there. Take learning outside and on location.

Tip Tip: Remember if you set up any activity try to make it low effort so you don’t feel disappointed if they don’t engage. Aim for a 5-minute set-up time. Keep it simple.
Set it up before they enter the room and leave it for your child to explore.

Maybe sit and do the activity quietly by yourself, this might naturally ignite interest. Please try not to use your best teacher voice and shout ‘’activity time” as your child will know you are invested in the outcome. This is an interest killer for children.

For Example: Let's say you want to introduce the topic of space to your child, maybe you have just found the most amazing book. I have always found space and dinosaurs a winner for young children. They love to impress you with the number of planets they know and they appeal to a child's natural sense of order as they line them up.

How:

• Start with a short YouTube clip about space to give some context to the topic and watch together as you narrate what you see.
• Create a list of keywords such as rocket, spaceman, and planets and this can form your learning goal.
• Start collecting all the items in your house which have some links to the topic and put them on a table and create a space table or a dinosaur station. Involve your child in gathering these items. Maybe you can ask friends, family neighbours to join the fun by letting them know you are dino explorers for example.