Today was hopefully my final day at University. Great feeling and still a bit surreal that its over.
After handing my work I needed to relax and had a nice coffee and went to visit some lovely Vintage shops on Holloway Road.
I have to say that over last few years the street has changed a lot and more coffee shops, cafes and other places started to change the street.
Not mentioning the Arsenal Stadium, cinemas, Saturday’s Grafton School Market and the interesting and ugly architecture of some buildings.
Interesting fact is that Holloway Road Underground Station on the Piccadilly Line supposed to have the world’s first spiral escalators. Imagine that. However, the construction was abandoned, but some sections are still there.
What a nice coffee and smell of wood around. Great customer service too.
Shop without a name, but very good prices and plenty of choices.
Ooh-la-la! – the name of the shop described it all!
and of course something for big Vintage fans – Vivien of Holloway:
AAAAAAA – too many dresses!!! which one to choose? 1940’s, 1950’s, Day Dress, Pencil Dress … AAAAAA
As a busy student at the end of the degree it’s hard to leave a house and have a time out.
There are so many things to do in London and so many reasons why this city is so great.
I found an amazing list, created by students –101 reasons you need to live in London once – fromStudentBeansI decided to share some of them and add some of my own:
– When you understand the tube map you’ll realise how painfully simple it is
– Everyone knows someone who lives there
– The Natural History Museum is totally free
– As is the Science Museum
– And the British Musem
– And the Tate
– And the Tate Modern
– OK, naming all of them would probably be cheating – but there are a whole world of free galleries and museums
– There are 4500 pubs & bars
– Sitting in the park on a summer’s day
– It’s one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world
– Whatever type of food you want, you’ll find it
– Your commute will take you past some of the most famous landmarks in the world
– Markets. So many markets
– Every band who tours plays in London
– You can just hop on a train to Paris when you get bored
– You can never be bored with TimeOut telling you what to do
– Nightbuses. You can always get home thanks to nightbuses
– Stunning views from The Shard, The London Eye and Primrose Hill and Cable car
– You can always drink without worrying about how you’re going to get home. NO ONE drives
– When you watch the Apprentice you’ll be able to recognise everywhere they go
– Warehouse parties where no one looks twice if you enter wearing a horse’s head
– You’re always going to meet someone who is stranger than you
– Free gigs
– Sample sales
– Vintage markets
– Boris bikes
– Musicals
– Fringe theatre/ performance art
– When you live here, you can do all the tourist things during off-peak times
– There’s always a new street, a new park , a new pub to discover
– Love hipsters? East London is your Mecca
– There are outdoor swimming pools all over the city
– You can go out on any night of the week
– There is going to be a cat cafe in Tower Hamlets
More:
– There is always a piece of street art few feet away from you
– day London walks and tours, night London walks and tours – always something new to discover
– children aren’t bored in here
– quarter of the Premier League clubs are from London
My University project coming to an end! I was so happy to receive a book I was waiting for:
Understanding Schemas and Young Children From birth to three
by Frances Atherton and Cathy Nutbrown.
Finally a book, which concentrates on young children and their patterns of play.
It should be read by everyone, who plays with children!
Have you ever given a child a present and noticed she/he is more interested in the box, rather than the toy?
Have you ever noticed a child paint or draw a lovely picture, then cover it completely or folded it?
Have you ever noticed a child who can’t leave a house without a bag full of toys?
Have you ever wondered why children like to look at the spinning washing machine?
This book will help you to answer the question: Why do children doing things again and again?
It was great to see an article in this week Nursery World about how to support children and their patterns of play as play needs of two-year-olds are very different to those of three-year-olds!
It aims for practitioners to make sure that settings are offering sufficient opportunities and resources to provide for the common play patterns and schemas of two-year-old children.
However, I personally think that we should observe children’s patterns of play even when they are younger and provide some new challenging experiences for them. My project focuses on children from eights months up to twenty four months and I have plenty of evidence to demonstrate how smart those young children really are!
To provide a high quality childcare it’s great to look for those repeated patterns. We should ask parents what their children like doing at home, give children a space when they can throw things or roll things without causing a tensions between each other and to interact with them and at the same time extend their language by using a vocabulary, which fit with their schema.
Last tip: don’t look for new, expensive toys, visit a pound shop, you can find many treasures there to support your child’s play!
This is a bag I created for a child with containing schema – an interest when children are fascinated by spaces that contain objects, materials or people. More info about each schema you can find in my previous post: Schema by brickmum
Yesterday I attended a conference “Every Tower Hamlets Child a Talker (ECaT) 2013”.
It looked like everyone forgot about ECaT as this approach was initiated in 2008.
Every Child a Talker programme aimed to improve children’s early communication and language through actions, supporting practitioners and parents knowledge and skills.
This programme showed significant impact in every local authority in England, so great news that my borough still investing in this programme to train practitioners and support the developing communication of babies and young children.
Communication involves much more than talking and listening. For babies and young children non-verbal communication such as gestures, facial expressions are crucial. Communication provides the basis of thinking and interaction with others as babies are young scientists, it is your role to give them plenty of opportunities to explore that.
More tips for Talking and free resources to download: Talk to Your Baby
Do you know what your child is thinking when you are watching TV? Check this video:
brickmum 