Hello Bloggers!
As you know I went to London on the 5th-6th February 2015 to go to the Nursery World Show (NWS). This focuses on Early Years teaching and how we can make our practice the best it can be, to fit the needs of the children. I found this experience to be so helpful and enriching, being able to talk to skilled practitioners in the profession as well as listening to inspiring speakers who gave us vital information and advice. For me this show has helped me confirm what age I want to work with. Early Years is such an interesting age range for me that I cannot see myself anywhere else at this time. Of course to gain more experience I would teach in other years, however I am glad I am specialising in Early Years.
I enjoyed every single one of my seminars and found them to be particularly useful. I just wish that I could have gone to more of them! The seminars gave me lots of advice to put in to practice when I start teaching in Reception and has also given me more confidence. Everyone I met there reassured me that I would be brilliant when I started teaching. I also met two teachers from a nursery in Leeds who invited me to come and see how they work. What I forgot is that events like this allow you to network with professionals who can help you. I know that the contacts I made there will help me grow into the teacher I want to be, the best kind to help my class achieve their potential.
The NWS had plenty of different stalls selling lots of different resources, however one that I was particularly intrigued by was the Actiphons Stall. This made phonics so much more fun and engaging. I find that some children (mainly boys) struggle to be engaged by phonics because it doesn't interest them. This programme integrates phonics and physical activity. This is important in Reception and I think if used correctly it could work well in most classrooms. Actiphons works with many different phonics approaches so even if you were using Read, Write, Inc it can still be incorporated with this. I really liked their ethos and I would seek to use this if I had a class of my own.
You can find their website here: http://actiphons.com
You can also follow them on twitter: @actiphons
If you're a trainee teacher/qualified teacher check their website out and let me know what you think!
The NWS will be running again next year and I would advise any Early Years Professionals to sign up and go. It was worth every penny I spent just to get the experience and advice from the professionals. They have lots of stalls and live demos going on so there is definitely never a quiet minute!
If you want to know more about my experience you can message me using my links below!
"The rest is still unwritten"
Megan
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