1.1 Explain The Importance Of The Environment In Supporting Learning And Development

All Early Years settings have a requirement to follow frameworks to support the learning and development of children’s Literacy and Mathematical skills. Practitioners and professionals working with young children will follow The Early Years Foundation Stage which is a statutory requirement. The Early Years Matters expresses that “The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning”. http://www.earlyyearsmatters.co.uk/our-services/school-and-nursery-improvement-partner/enabling-environments/ (Accessed 18/04/2018) since the children are in the setting all day it is important that the room meets the requirements of the EYFS with regards to literacy and mathematical development. This will allow the
children to receive the best support and guidance through the setting to enable them to learn and develop in all their areas of learning. To do this as a practitioner we work together with professionals to ensure the building is designed appropriate for the children with safe equipment from baby room through to toddler room.
To ensure the room is encourages emergent literacy it is important that we ensure the room is language rich as according to (Tassoni 2014: p227) “A language-rich environment is one that prompts children to talk and communicate”. We do this by creating wall displays which show the concepts of different print using letters and words for instance hanging the letters of the alphabet on the wall. Book corners which provide the children with a wide range of vocabulary that can help with their speech and language and having an understanding that all words have a meaning. Stories allow the children to acknowledge that we read from left to right. The children’s learning environment should also include a writing area where children are able to sit down and use a variety of writing tools and materials such as pens, pencils, crayons, paper, glue etc. Writing is another way in which children can communicate in through their expressive ideas, thoughts and feelings. Activities can be planned to encourage the children to use this area such as making Christmas cards, letters or
stories. The Early years practitioner has a role to plan daily literacy activities for the children to help develop their language, communication and writing skills, for example in my placement the children play a descriptive game where the practitioner will have a bag with a random item inside. This bag is passed around the circle where the child will close their eyes to put their hand in the bag to feel the item. The child will then think of words that best describe that item. In the previous game that I took part of there was a pinecone in the bag and the children had described it as ‘scratchy’, ‘bumpy’ and ‘hard’.
The environment should also promote and encourage mathematical development. Play is influenced and encouraged by all practitioners and professionals within the setting. It is our role that we provide the equipment and resources to fulfil their needs. As a practitioner it’s important that we support and extend children’s learning through a variety of mathematical activities such as counting, singing number rhymes and playing number bingo. There are also other large sand and water trays in early years setting as they can develop children’s mathematical language such as ‘heavy, light, empty and full’. My placement use play dough to support the children’s understanding in shapes and dimensions for example making 3D and 2D shapes. Physical development can also have an impact on mathematical development by tidying up toys matching and sorting out the toys into the correct places.
The learning and development of each child in the setting will be different as all children are unique individuals. Meaning all children learn and understand things in different ways which is why it’s important that practitioners asses each child to find out their needs in order for the child to meet their learning goals. Practitioners can use The Development Matters which shows the patterns of development babies and children go through for each age range of the child. There are many biological and environmental factors which can have a major effect in the child’s learning and development such as hear impairments and Cleft lip palate. Children with Cleft lip palate may have a huge delay in communication and language. The child will be reported for sessions with a speech therapist to help them get back on track with their progress in development.
Assessments should be taken on children regularly in Literacy and Mathematics to ensure they’re meeting the early learning goals.
Practitioners will follow the observation cycle to observe, assess and plan to improve the child’s skills and knowledge. Observations can be taken to find out their individual needs, to see if there are any areas the child is struggling in and find out if the child has any additional needs that needs to be supported. The observations are done at early stages so that practitioners can identify any concerns about a child at an early age so that it can be sorted quickly and the child gets the support they need to help them meet their needs. If I observed a child during a literacy activity by reading a story and I found that the child has difficulties in hearing for example when making loud sounds to imitate the story such as “BANG!” the other children had all jumped unexpectedly whereas the other child didn’t, he seemed to have no reaction to the loud noises I had made. The child also had no response to my voice when asking child some questions. I also noticed that the child paid very little attention to the story as he was messing around with random items he found on the floor around him. I had wrote down all of my points on a note pad for me to assess the situation and make decisions of what to do next with the information I have received. When the child’s parent came to the setting I had explained to them about the observation and some of the
concerns I had for the child. I explained to the mother that I would advise her too take him to the doctors to check up on his ears where the doctor may refer the child to an audiologist. The practitioners in the setting will then all work together to help plan ways to help the parent and the child by taking the child to lip-reading or sign language sessions or listening and speech therapy.