Home Learning
Reading, Rhythm and Songs
At Shadwell Childcare we are always striving for ways to support the development of each child in as many fun and engaging ways as possible. There can be few things as powerful as regularly reading or singing to a young child. There are astonishing benefits for children: comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, relaxation, happiness and fun as well as learning opportunities.
It has been demonstrated that reading and nursery rhymes also lays the foundationto early language and reading skills.
Children who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 words more than children who are not read too. Young children who are read five books a day from birth will begin reception school having heard around 1.4 million more words than children who were never read to. At nursery we aim to read or sing throughout the day to provide the opportunity for all children. Over the coming weeks we will be focusing on specific areas within literacy, starting with rhyme.
Learning rhymes helps us develop an ear for our language. Rhyme and rhythm highlight the sounds and syllables in words. And understanding sounds and syllables helps children learn to read! Over the coming weeks we have devised a programme of reading and rhyme that will support families with activities that you can do at home to help your child's development. Initially the focus will be on Nursery Rhymes and Song.
Each week we will focus on a rhyme and practice singing in different ways, quiet, loud, fast, slow, with music, without, using instruments, adding movements, clapping out the beat. We will also share a song sheet with the words and a video will be added to the website of the rhyme being sang as an example for you to watch with your child. The link for this video is https://youtu.be/rTe9N6b9pb8
Please see an example of our weekly blog here», showing how we develop our language through rhymes and songs within the nursery.
Ready to join us?
As an established non-profit organisation, we use any additional finances available to enhance the setting allowing us to continually strive for excellence for all children, parents and staff. If you would like to join us, please return the session request form (available below in either WORD or PDF format) and we will contact you regarding a starting date and what sessions are available.
We are a very popular setting and you can use the session request form to add your details to the waiting list for future years. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to arrange a visit, we would love to show you around our wonderful early learning environment.