Sainbury's Vouchers

Hope you are all enjoying the break!
Now Sainsbury's have stopped giving these out in store, please gather them up and bring them in to us. Search all your pockets and bags, ask all your friends and family. The more vouchers we collect, the more equipment we can order!
Thank you for all the vouchers you have collected so far.

Educational Books

For those of you with children due to start school in Spetember or with siblings already there, Kids Dreams in Shoreham will shortly be getting a full range of educational boooks from "Leap Ahead" and "Gold Stars" and I will post more details when the full range is here. We have received a few of the titles this week that include....

These all have a RRP of £3.99, but we are able to offer them at £2.95 which is over 25% off!!

If you want any then please let Zoe know and she will arrange for some to come to Baby Ducks

Makaton Signs

This week the Makaton sign's we have been looking at are the sign's for good and very good which are ...

which we have been using with the words sitting and listening ...

What do the children like to do?

We have been looking at the activities and equipment that we offer a Baby Ducks on a daily basis. To help us with this we have been asking the children what there favourite things are, both inside and out.

If your child tells you about something they really like or even something that they don't then please let us know.

Six Steps to Conflict Resolution

We have been looking at our Behaviour Policy in the last couple of weeks using some of the best practice information to come out of Zoe's university course. We have decided to add the six steps of conflict resolution from the High Scope Organisation.

The full policy will be on our website in a few days, but we thought you might like to have a look at the six steps as they might be of interest to you when resolving conflict at home.


Six Steps in Conflict Resolution

Children are encouraged to work through conflict with another child. To enable them to do this the staff will use the following 6 steps to resolve a conflict between two or more children.

• Approach calmly, stopping any hurtful actions. Place themselves between the children, on their level; use a calm voice and gentle touch; remain neutral rather than take sides.
• Acknowledge children's feelings. Say something simple such as “You look really upset;” letting the children know that they need to hold any object in question.
• Gather information. Ask “What's the problem?” and not ask “why” questions as young children focus on that what the problem is rather than understanding the reasons behind it.
• Restate the problem: Staff will use phrases such as “So the problem is...” Using and extend the children’s vocabulary, substituting neutral words for hurtful or judgmental ones if needed.
• Ask for solutions and choose one together. Staff are encouraged to ask “What can we do to solve this problem?” and to encourage children to think of a solution but offer options if the children are unable to at first.
• Be prepared to give follow-up support. Staff will acknowledge children’s accomplishments, e.g., “You solved the problem!” and stay nearby in case anyone is not happy with the solution and the process needs repeating.

There is a video available which shows there steps being used to resolve an incident of a child hitting another child, if you would like to see if then please use this link : http://youtu.be/Fbawu6taGj4

Our Garden

Now that the weather is finally getting a bit brighter, we have made a start on the garden. The children have been helping us to create three new raised beds that we hope to use to grow some vegetables that the children will be able to bring home and eat at snack times.

We have also got a new water butt that the children will use to water the plants which will help them understand about recycling rain water as well as being much easier than bring water from the kitchen.

The children have been very excited about the planting we have done so far and hopefully we will have some crops before we break up for the summer.

If you have any seeds, plants, old gardening tools or anything that may be of use to the children then these would greatly received.