Like many settings, we have a home corner which is a popular and effective part of our continuous provision and is enhanced regularly, but we also think of other ways to make links to home.
Enhancements from home can help parents to feel welcomed and that they are an important part of the nursery too. ‘Partnership with parents’ is one of the seven key features of effective practice in Development Matters.
HANDFUL OF BUTTONS
Last September, we added an ‘our families’ display near the children's coat pegs. This meant that when the children entered the classroom, they saw the familiar faces of members of their family. We put them in photo frames (purchased from charity shops or donated by staff) to show the parents and children that their photos were valued by us.
The display acted as a prompt for discussion – before the photos went on to the display we looked at them in small groups to develop speaking and listening skills, and children liked showing off their pictures. We used the photos for an adult-guided activity around the book A Handful of Buttons by Carmen Parents Luque. This book celebrates family diversity in that families come in all different forms, but are connected by an invisible thread of love. All of the people in the book have a button in place of a face, so this led us into an activity where we discussed our families and created a picture using buttons. Children glued a button onto paper to represent each person in their family and they drew arms, legs and hair if they wanted to. The adult scribed the names and any comments the children made.
These pictures were added around the ‘Our Families’ photo display and the parents enjoyed looking at them during stay-and-play sessions. Later in the term, the photos were put into the home corner to add to the comforting feel of the area and to add authenticity, as children see photos on their walls at home.
OUR STREET
Another enhancement to do with home was in the small-world area. We called it ‘our street’. Children sent in photos of their houses and we took photos of some local shops on the Magdalen Estate where our school is situated in Gorleston. These were laminated and children helped us to make a road by chalking white lines on black paper.
This was added to the wall panel where children often choose to play with the small-world toys. This offered exciting discussion when children first spotted their home or a shop they often go in, providing a relatable backdrop to deeply engage them in small-world play. Children built houses from wooden blocks and their ‘mini me’ toys to interact with their adventures on the street.
One day, two boys brought wooden superhero toys to the street. ‘Look, my superhero is flying over my house!’ said one, going on to get some dinosaurs and made them stomp down the street. The heroes rescued lots of people from the dinosaurs and the boys chatted and commented as they went along. Several other children joined in too.
HOME EVENTS
We added an ‘At home…’ display that celebrates the children's learning that takes place at home. On this display we added photos of ‘wow moments’ from home that we ask parents to send in along with written stars that detail what the children achieved. This could be related to any area of learning, for example, PSED: being helpful setting up the dinner table; PD: learning to ride a bike; EAD: creating a picture out of leaves after a nature walk.
Through our communications with parents, home learning tasks, ‘stay and play’ sessions and general discussions, we make it clear that their input at home has a significant impact on the children's learning. We emphasise the impact that talk can have on children's development and we often include a discussion together as part of the home learning that we regularly send out.
Amy Jackson is EYFS specialist leader of education and teacher at Ormiston Herman Academy, Gorleston