The Wonder of Learning

One of the challenges for schools and parents is to get children interested in a school at a very young age. Schools have to put in processes that engage children. Pre-primary programs (a.k.a. Kinder-Garten)  is an educational approach traditionally based around playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Many schools in India at this level buzz with activity.

Some thoughts on how to organize the day in the life of a kindergarten child is my attempt in this blog. The day should typically open with a morning prayer. Children may not say it all, but they will register the value of a prayer. It can also be used as a greeting place for the morning.

After prayer – an ideal thing would be to start an activity. A dance is a very good activity that can shake them up and wake them from any slumber. They could also do pottery or some outdoor activity. Look for opportunities to get them to work as a team, help their friends i.e. make it a collective effort. Teach them the importance of seeking help and offering help. Ideally 30min is good for the outdoor activities.

As the sun comes up bring the children into their rooms for learning. Here I recommend that the learning start with verbal i.e. phonic sounds and then move into exploration with colours. Allocate 25-30min each for verbal and colours.

During the course of the day, children may be lead into discovering how alphabets can be made with pebbles, leaves, sea shells etc. This is a better way to recognize shapes than on a board and a book. Preferably do this activity outdoors.

Post the shape building exercises outdoors, children can learn drawing shapes – straight lines, curves etc. With my experience I have seen children remember shapes better as they do the outdoor activity with shells and pebbles. Dont worry about the writing. Focus on the start and end of strokes.

Finally use stories to end the sessions. Stories have to be told with pictures, cut-outs and toys and by moving them around – dramatize the scenes and use emotions and expressions well.

After story telling sessions another activity could be building blocks and shapes. Again this is an opportunity to work as teams, discuss, investigate, discover, play, get to know one another. The idea is to get children to respond to situations with friends, share and develop relationships and provide some real-life experiences with materials and stories.

To summarize – Each child’s work should comprise of three core components:

Expression:

A great deal of children’s work at this age should be expressive and we have to be creative to help them with their expressions and emotions.

 

Self and Social Learning:

Children should be introduced to social experiences. While they explore their independence, it is a great opportunity to build their relationships with others and establish bonds. As children grow up the concept of community should get a preference thus introducing them to responsibilities.

Teachers support children with “how to think” about their interactions with others and the need for sharing and acceptance.

Building Skills and Understanding:

There is an academic goal specific to help pre-school learners, albeit subtle. Teachers should support in building skills as they grow through this developmental phase balancing between all the learning needs.

In my next blog I will deal with specific skills. If you like this blog – please send me a note at (email)

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