What happens during first few days/week(s) of school?

Children feel jittery as they have to adapt to the new environment (classroom, teachers, classmates).  Their social-emotional aspect needs to be taken care of by the teacher. It is taken care of by establishing routines.

Children are just like most adults, who feel comfortable with the familiar and not very keen in surprises. Routines are important because they will know what they are expected to do, this gives them the sense of security because they feel that they are being control.

Routines such as

• being greeted at the door by their teachers
• knowing what to do when they step into class (water bottles, bag storage) 
• helper of the day (weather, help with tasks) 
• what will be the next activity
• what to do during transition to another location/activity 
• what to do during toilet/snack time 
• what to do when it is time to go home 

I will be teaching them about respect to places, things, people (friends, adults such as family, teachers, cook, cleaner, all people).

Reference
http://www.teachpreschool.org/2013/08/classroom-management-on-the-first-day-of-school/

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni

The random blobs of paint on the front cover made me pause to read the content.  I then realise it was written from a child's perspective. Those different sizes of paint blobs are the parents and the child !

This book is about:

little blue and little yellow, who each lived with their parents (same colour but different size as the child) living inside a house (made up of a big random brown blob). One day, the children came out from their house to meet each other and play. While playing, they realised they can become the coloured green. The parents could not recognise their children! 

Interesting aspects of the book: 

• Invoke child's interest that more colours can be created when two different colours are mixed ! 
• What seems to be random irregular blobs of art could mean something to the person who create/paints/draws it.

Young children may lack the maturity to draw or verbalise their knowledge and thoughts. However, they are still learning and internalising, through ways that they can understand. The methods that they deploy may seem strange and difficult to understand for us as adults. Remember, our level of thinking is not the same as young children. When teaching children, we should take the lead from them, not getting them to understand how we think/process our information. 

For:

• toddlers beginning to notice pictures on books. 
• Older toddlers are beginning to name and recognise colours
• preschoolers to encourage them to make their own stories through art

Round trip by Ann Jonas

I think this book should be also known as the story that keeps you TURNING back for more!

This is an instant favourite for me, I had to take in a deep breath after reading this book because it was simply mesmerizing! It also builts on the mood of going on a trip happily and slowly winding the day by going back home.

This book is about:

The scenery, places and things seen along a trip.

Interesting aspects of the book:

After reading the book in the usual reading position, the reader will again be greeted by another set of captivating scenery once the book is being turned upside down. Wonderful "optical illusions" which comprises of different strokes, shapes and lines.The simple sentence on each page adds to the joyful "ride" experience.

"We followed the shore past marshy inlets and summer cottages"

Turn the book over...

"We saw fireworks and stopped to watch"

 

Inspiration for:

• toddlers who simply likes to be read to
• encouraging preschoolers to look out for things during a trip
• preschoolers exploring shadows for art making
• preschoolers exploring optical illusions

Cultivating intrinsic motivation (Age 3-5 years old)

Intrinsic motivation:
A child's own motivation to complete a task, not motivation generated from rewards like snacks.

1. Appropriate use of rewards is extremely important in this age
2. If rewards are given (items/praises), it should be on the child's effort for the task, not the quality of the completed task. By focusing on accomplishment, the absence of reward in later tasks can lead the child to feel inadequate. Child may focus on comparing self with others.
3. Reward when necessary. If they are rewarded on task that they are interested, they will perceive that doing tasks are for rewards and not because the activity is fun.
4. Activities provided for children should have the correct amount of challenge and to engage curiosity.
5. Appropriate activities: Different sizes items, toys of items around children, fit-in pieces, more complex puzzles, puppets, picture bingo, matching games, climbing structures, realistic ride-on toys 

Source:
http://winslerlab.gmu.edu/pubs/CarltonWinsler98.pdf

Language and Literacy

There are 4 stages of learning a language.

• Listening 
• talking/speaking
• reading
• writing 

 are all parts of early literacy learning.

On the road to becoming readers and writers,

1. young children need many opportunities to hear and understand spoken language. This helps them become aware of the different sounds of language. 
2. They also need to learn about print—letters and words seen in books and all around them at home and in their community. 
3. Young children need reading to help them learn about writing, and vice versa, they need writing to help them learn about reading.

However, they need to talk and listen before learning to read and write.

First of all they need to be aware of specific types of marks/prints are words and that it corresponds with spoken words.

Here is a blogpost on how we can use the children's name as the first step in getting them to recognise words.
Stages of learning names 


Here are two articles from NAEYC, National Association for the Education of Young Children (a large nonprofit association in the United States. It is a professional organization which promotes excellence in early childhood education, by providing information for educators and parents).

1. Detailed explanation on of what goes on behind learning the English language. Read from Page 3 "The beginning years (Birth through Preschool)" here
2. Ways to support your child's language development here

Welcome to my page!

Welcome Parents/Guardians,

I am Monica and I will be your child/ward's teacher. As I am currently pursuing my Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education with an Australian University, I thought I create this blog so that I can share the knowledge I learn from school with all of you, parents and guardians.

In this blog, I will post:

• Some pictures of classroom activities and its rationale behind it (for privacy purpose, no child will appear on any pictures)
• Sharing of online/printed articles on Education and Care.

For a start, I have enclosed some links that might be of interest for you.


NEL: Nurturing Early Learner's framework
Ministry of Education (MOE)'s framework talks about the Curriculum taught in Kindergartens in Singapore.

ECDA: Early Childhood Development agency
The Early Childhood agency in Singapore.
Also check out their Beanstalk magazine

Schoolbag.sg 
Formerly known as Parents in Education, this is a website developed by MOE that provides resources to help parents better support the education and development of their children.

Zero to Three
America's non-profit organization's website on educating and caring for babies and toddlers. 

National Association for the Education of Young Children
America's non-profit organization's website on educating and caring for children from 0 to 8 years old. 

I think that partnership between home and school is important. It allows exchange of information such as hobbies, interests of the child. This will help both parents and the school to think of ways together to customise education strategies for the child and maximise his/her potential.

Please feel free to talk to me in school or drop a note in your child's communication book. I look forward to working with you.

Yours sincerely
Miss Monica.