Back to Basics

In a busy world where more and more of us are relying on technology to simplify our workloads and even carry out every-day tasks like shopping and banking, it has become all too easy to overlook the importance of basic educational skills and who could blame us?

When our children know their way around a mobile phone better than we do and you need a degree to transfer all your stored data from one device to another, is it time to question whether the fundamentals of reading and writing have now become obsolete?

At Elmore Kindergarten, we believe that knowing how to download an app or reset your username and password, may be important skills to attain for the future but without having the basics under your belt that future may prove much harder to deal with. Our ethos involves learning through play and engaging the children by showing them that learning can be fun.

Recently, our nursery children have been getting involved with The Big Garden Birdwatch. By counting and recording the different types of birds they’ve been able to spot on their trips out in the local community, they have been improving their numeracy, literacy and observational skills in a way that excites and sparks their interest.

This type of learning also focusses on other areas of development, such as social skills. By working as part of a team the children have had the opportunity to interact with their peers and discuss what they’ve seen and learned.

Elmore Kindergarten are also proud to have been involved in National Story Telling Week, a project that was originally the brainchild of the Society of Storytelling. The Society aims to teach children the difference between reading and storytelling by helping them to reduce their stories to a few key words and moments and how to add emphasis by putting expression into their voices as they read.

We have been embracing this idea whole heartedly and have been encouraging our children to develop a love of reading with the aim of building their confidence and inspiring their imaginations.

Even our nursery owner, Richard Marshall, has been getting involved and has volunteered to host a session at each of our nurseries in the coming weeks. Perhaps, ‘Reading with Richard,’ will take off and our hope is that other staff, parents, carers and grandparents, will take the plunge and give the story corner a go!

Basics does not mean boring; basics can be brilliant and we love watching our children blossom as they realise there’s so much out there to learn and experience.