Big Step 3 - Relationships

Relationships

Having had to think about each child in my mentor group to write a comment I identified a group of children who I need to build or develop my relationship with. To help foster these relationships I had a group 6 and we played with the Beebots.

The session was great for getting to know these children better; some children were much more verbal than usual, showed great collaboration skills and perseverance, loved the hands on nature of the task whilst others didn’t want to play with them or make mistakes and struggled to verbalise.

When reflecting on the session I started recording their thoughts about the Beebots and the process when in fact the purpose (the why) of the session was to get to know the children better and how I can support their learning. So here are my observations, what I need to do and a goal for the children.

Child	Observations	How I can best support	Goal for the child
Boy 1	·      Loved the hands on nature, ·      Straight into it - didn’t need encouragement to play ·      Asked for explicit instructions ·      Persevered as found it hard to think about all the steps ·      Liked working with a partner	·      Make sure hands on tasks available ·      Start building on thinking through all steps needed ·      Make sure all instructions are clear and structured	Try before asking for help
Boy 2	·      Loved the hands on nature, ·      Needed encouragement to start playing ·      Struggled to verbalise thoughts, feelings and questions	·      Make sure hands on tasks available ·      Encourage to speak – don’t let others do his talking	Speak out, ask for help
Boy 3	·      Very enthusiastic and animated ·      Straight into it, playing and experimenting ·      Liked working with partner	·      Hands on tasks (especially in areas he finds hard) ·      Spark curiosity so always this engaged	Try hard in all areas
Boy 4	·      Loved hands on ·      Confident and happy to share ideas ·      Liked working with partner	·      Usually quiet in habitat so find ways to hear his voice – has lots to say	Share ideas during learning time
Girl 1	·      Enthusiastic participant ·      Happy to help partner ·      Persevered	·      Give ways of supporting peers without doing it for them	Challenge self to do harder things
Girl 2	·      Very reserved, especially when questioned ·      Gave it a go initially but then didn’t want to try	·      Find ways of letting her know it is OK to make mistakes, give things a go	Take risks, mistakes are part of learning