ASiA – Aistear Siolta in Action, Clare

In this programme, we focus on the play-based, emergent curriculum. We put play, discussion and following through on children’s interests at the core of the curriculum. We use the Aistear Siolta Practice Guide, learning stories submitted to Early Childhood Ireland and exemplars from participating settings to support the learning.

This programme will be delivered as a series of 4 workshops and participants will have an opportunity to put their learning into practice and to share their stories. It will be followed by subsequent programmes (i) focusing on Exploring, Assessing and Sharing Children’s Learning and (ii) Developing the Curriculum through the Arts (art, music, literature etc.)  The programme is suitable for practitioners working with babies, toddlers and preschool children.

The programme begins with a series of 4 workshops:

1. Introducing children’s play stories – what are children playing in your service? The aim of this workshop is to support practitioners to understand and support children’s play. We provide examples of children developing togetherness and companionship, empathy, ideas, language and logic, negotiating skills, as they share their understanding of how the world works and develop their identities.
2. In this session, participants will share stories from their own practice and share their analysis. They will improve their noticing, recognising and responding skills. They will engage in professional conversations that will help them reflect on, analyse, articulate and improve their practice.
3. Participants learn about responding to and following through on children’s interests. What are the questions or lines of inquiry that emerge from children’s play and other experiences? How might we follow through? How can we help them to represent and develop their thinking?
4. What kind of environments support children’s exploring and thinking? How do we create environments that help to generate and extend play ideas? What materials support children’s ability to create their own activities and experiences? What works indoors and outdoors?

Dates: 18 January, 1 and 15 February, 1 March 2017

Times: 7.00-9.00pm each evening

Price: €40 Members/€60 Non Members

Venue: Clare County Childcare Committe Office, 1 Kilrush Road, Ennis, Co Clare

Bookings: https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/bookings/