We do so many wonderful things through the year but how can we remember it all and call on our prior learning when we need it? Here are a few of the ways we do this in Reception:
We keep a “Learning Journey” on the wall so that we can remind the children of all the great things we have done each half term.
At the end of the term we make the timeline into a book that the children can look back through. They enjoy doing this and it helps to bring these experiences back to the front of their minds so they can draw on them in other learning activities.
When storytelling the children use the puppet theatre in the classroom, the stage area outside and they take character masks and puppets to different areas during Child Intiated Learning. In the storytelling area are story boxes with story stones, puppets or story maps inside that the children can use to retell stories they are familiar with. This keeps the stories familiar and allows them to use the story language in their play and when they come to inventing their own stories.
We learn a Nursery Rhyme a week. That is quite a lot of rhymes to remember. We have Nursery bags in our music area with props to help us recall the words. We love using these as part of continuous provision in Reception as they help us with rhythm and intonation.
Being asked lots of questions about prior learning also helps to keep it in our minds!