Hi, a warm welcome to the site. If you have this
EYE book sustained shared thinking and the strategies or opportunities you might recognise that your setting has in place is examined across a few subject areas.
P.411 explains sustained shared thinking as ' An interaction between adult and child that allows for the development of ideas'
Page 231 and supporting children's
emergent literacy skills
Strategies/opportunities
Sustained shared thinking is the process by which, through talk, we explore a topic or problem with a child. In terms of emergent literacy, early years settings will do this when adults share a book with a child and also when supporting children's mark-making. Sustained shared thinking is also used when listening to children read once they are in school.
Strategies and opportunities that you might be familiar with in your setting:
- Sharing books with children (Strategy: Book corner area)
- Supporting mark-making: (planned mark-making activities using tools that children can use to scribe - paintbrushes & paint/water, crayons, pencils, chalk ..) Sustaining a shared thinking about the activity in hand requires talking about the marks children have made. Doing this helps children make connections between whay they want and write and the letter sounds and shaped needed.
- Supporting children's reading: (strategy: area suitable for reading ie. quiet, warm, comfortable) P.231 When children first start to read, they need a lot of adult input. This is a ime when sustained shared thinking can be used to help children solve some of the problems they encounter as they read. An adult might ask them to look back at the same word they have already read or talk about possible meaning.
Page 246 of the EYE book explores sustained shared thinking when supporting children's
emergent mathematical skills.
Defiinition of sustained shared thinking: Supporting children to solve problems and to apply new learning to their mathematical development.
Does your setting have a policy that guides what it provides for children's mathematical/numeracy development? You might find the setting has a programme in place eg. Numberblocks. Number and counting rhymes.
Examples of sustained shared thinking are activities in which children work together on real-life problems and use what they know to solve them. These can be carries out both indoors and outdoors and children should be encouraged to ask questions and talk about the problem-solving activities. - Bring in a tray of assorted animals, five of each type, with one animal missing. Ask the children how they will find the missing animal.
- Share food between two soft toy animals - for example six dog biscuits between two dogs. Then add a third dog. Ask the children what happens now.
- Tell the children that, for example, Sarah has two sisters. Ask them how many children her parents have. Give different scenarios for the children to work out.
Often the best problem solving activities occur as part of the day-to-day running of the setting:- Our soft toy/football is stuck in a tree/on a roof.
- What is the best waay to get it down?
- I have 25 bananas and 30 children and everyone wants a banana, what should I do?
Childrens thinking - NRICH
Explain a range of strategies that can be used to extend children’s thinking including sustained shared thinking
Page 287+ looks at being able to implement a learning experience which supports the development of
sustained shared thinking in children's cognitive skills
Strategies will be planning activities that take children's age and stage of development into consideration. Having practitioners lead experiences to support the development of sustained shared thinking (
page 290) and having a variety of activities on offer that children find interesting.
Do you remember trying to build or make something with the support of an adult? Or perhaps you did soome cooking with an adult and explored together the textures and tastes. Experiences and activities with adults can help children to gain further knowledge and understanding. This way of working is sometimes called sustained shared thinking.
Sustained shared thinking is about creating opportunities to explore ideas and concepts which allow children to learn from an activity or something that they have seen.
0-1 year 11 months- Shakers and rattles: babies and toddlers explore different sounds. Learning through their movements that they can make different sounds.
- Books - picture books that show objects that are familiar to them, babies and toddlers can connect the objects they see and what they have experienced. They may for example point to the same item they see in the picture.
- Knock down play - Babies and toddlers enjoy his play. They can learn that a swiping movement causes the bricks to fall. They can also see the taller the tower the more bricks fall.
- Pop-up toys - working with an adult, children can learn that certain movements can cause a toy to 'pop up'. They can also learn that itms that are hidden are still there (object permanence Piaget's first sensorimotor stage)
- Mirrors - it takes a while for childrne to learn the reflection in the mirror is themselves. Mirrors are interesting to children and can be used as a way of helping children to look more closely at the human face and body. Adults can help by naming parts of the body.
Children aged 2-2years 11 months- Gloop - exploring the mixture of cornflour and watr is pleasurable for children. Cornflour changes from solid to liquid depending on whether is is being squeezed or poured.
- Outing - an outing to a local shop or play park helps children's cognitive development as the adult and child can focus on what they see.
- Books - books Ht reflect children's own experiences are useful e.g. a book about pets or a book about being messy. By looking at books, children can think about their own experiences and make connections between what they have done and what they see.Homemade books can be used for this.
- Where's Teddy - activities that encourage children to search for things can promote thinking. Where to look, with adults helping to guide them by asking questions.
- Making shakers - an activity such as making shakers helps children problem solving but also helps them to explore the link between sounds and materials.
Activities that support children's sustained shared thinking aged 3-5 years- Sorting eg. button box - help children to group objects together, find matches and pairs. Button boxes are also ideal for children to make connections about where buttons come from.
- Nature walk with magnifying glasses - taking children outdoors to look closely at what there is in the garden or outdoor area can support sustained shared thinking. Children can talk to each other about wht they find and adults can encourage children to make connections about what they have found.
- Cooking - children can learn about size, shape and also how, through heating or mixing, ingredients can change. Children can also make connections between cooking activity, home and also their own food preferences.
- Activities linked to the weather e.g. making windmills - activitie that link to the weather can help children's thinking. If they make winbdmills, they can make connections between the speed at which the windmill turns and the strength of the wind. If they look at puddles after it has rained they may make the connection between the speed at which puddl;es disappear and the sun shining ( 10 little raindrops - condensation /evaporation activity printables )
- Making models - through model making using, for example, junk modelling or materials such as clay, children are able to express ideas based on their experiences. Adults can use this as an opportunity to explore children's ideas further. Modelling also requires problem solving and so this helps children's thinking.
I hope this helps a little
Explain a range of strategies that can be used to extend children’s thinking including sustained shared thinking?
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