St Luke's Innovative Resources Newsletter

Hi All,
Just had a thought as I read through the most recent newsletter from St Luke's Innovative Resources in terms of 'wouldn't this be good to share with other PB People'. Those of you who have attended PB training will have probably seen some of their resources like The Bear Cards (old & new), Stones have feelings too, Koala Cards etc. The link below will take you to the latest edition of the newsletter and will hopefully leave you feeling 'Seriously Optimistic' too
www.innovativeresources.org/Pages/News/2...4/SOON_Issue_56.aspx
PS I love the quotes at the bottom of each page especially the one in this edition about children and cement.

I use The Bear Cards loads - a real staple in my PB "treasure box" of top resources.

I used them today with 3-4 year olds to extend their vocabulary of 'F-words' and explore in a one step removed way when they might experience different feelings. It was great fun and they were more than able to think on the hop. I did a 'sorting' activity to pair them up randomly then put a Bear Card face down in front of each pair of children. I then explained that we would turn over the cards, choose a word to describe how that Bear might be feeling, then we could all make a face as if we felt like that too, and then the pair could tell a story about what happened to the bear. The children engaged brilliantly. One little boy who speaks English as an additional language had a Bear who looked confused and despaired. He described the feeling as "Feeling happy and now all gone!" Lovely!! The stories about the bears came quickly to the children. I would ask simply "What happened? What happened that the bear feels like that?" Answers were really creative and often reflective of children's experiences, a natural one-step removed response. They included "Someone took his toy", "It's her birthday!", "He wants his Mummy."

The activity worked successfully to practice PBs with under 5s as well as a really quick assessment as a teacher to see how much awareness the children have with regards to feelings and how situations can elicit different feelings for them (or The Bears, in this case).

The Bear Cards are one of the most versatile resources I have and can be used all ages (I also used them this week with a very 'cool' and street-wise 9 year old who seemed to enjoy herself).

Absolutely agree with all of this Judith and a wonderful example of how PBs can be intuitive with children. I'm aware that there are people who think the PB process is not accessible to children below 'school age' and now conclude that this is only the case if 'grown ups' restrict access to PBs. Thank you for sharing your experiences which mirror so many of mine. When will people start to listen to the voice of the child?
Persistence, persistence, persistence ...... x