East Enders take to Roly Poly

Heather Reid of Resources Plus sent in this report. We are a bit late in posting it given the event happened in January but better late than never as clearly it shows just how good primary solutions units are for immersion activities and flexibility. Heather writes...

On 24th January, as I drove through the snow to get to a school in Tower Hamlets, she prepared herself for depleted and distracted classes - only to find full attendance and children who quickly became absorbed in their tasks.

The school had two year 1 classes. The plan had been to run the Roly Poly activity with one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It had meant quite a bit of adapting for the activity to fit into the limited time but this activity is so flexible it was possible.

On arrival at the school, the plan changed when the teachers asked if it was possible to run the activity with all 60 children all day instead.

No problem!

The children had already been working on 'Ourselves' so the initial discussion about parts of the face and expressions went really well. After lots of face-pulling the children were asked to design two faces, each with a different expression. Happy, sad, angry, confused, upset and shocked - we had them all.

After completing their faces, the children listened to the roly poly poem, looked at different types of movement and decided which way their roly poly was going to move.

It was a busy day, with lots to think about and lots to do. The day produced lots of lovely designs, lively discussion and well-made finished products which the children enjoyed showing to everyone else.

Note that Resources Plus offers a range of courses. Details can be found at www.resourcesplus.co.uk