Kindergarten 2

Term Overview

The theme of the term was "About Me" and the children were learning about the people around them; specifically the community workers in the neighborhood.

The children discussed the roles of the community workers in their neighborhood and shared their observations of what the community workers does everyday.

To show appreciation to the community workers for their continuous hard works, the children folded a paper flower and gave it out to the community helpers during outdoor walk. Look at the smiles on their faces!

A group photo with our community helpers!

Adam giving out the flower he made to the community helper.

Lucy giving out the flower she made to the community helper

A group photo with our community helpers!

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Term 1: Community

Helpers

A group picture with Snowy the Dog!

The children sat down to draw their observations of Snow.

A group picture with Snowy the Dog!

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We read the book Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd as part of our Term 2 theme on Living Things. Jack's father had offered to bring their pet dog over to allow the children to ask any questions that they had and have an up-close experience with a dog.

Jack's father shared the conditions of being a dog owner, the types of foods they eat and their behaviors. At the end of the day, the children drew a portrait of Jack's dog and gave it to him as a gift!

Term 2: Dogs

During outdoor walk, the children had shown interest in the trees and plants in the environment, often asking the type of tree that they saw and compared the different appearances of the trees and plants around them.

The children planted their own plant to learn and observe the life cycle of a plant.

Through this, they learnt the different conditions that are needed for a plant to grow well and cultivated the value of compassion for their environment.

Teacher Amira briefed the Little Wizards on the different items needed to plant a seed and the recapped on the conditions needed for a plant to grow.

Teacher Amira introduced the first item needed to plant a seed, which was cotton wools.

Teacher Amira demonstrated the steps to plant the seeds to the Little Wizards.

Teacher Amira briefed the Little Wizards on the different items needed to plant a seed and the recapped on the conditions needed for a plant to grow.

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Term 3: My Plant!

Lesson Overview

The theme for Term 3 is on "Environment". The children had shown interest in the trees and plants around them during outdoor walk so to assist with their curiosity, Teacher Amira had planned a planting activity for the children.

The children worked together in groups to plant the beansprouts where they shared the equipment and took turns to carry out the steps.

Through the planting activity, the children discovered the different conditions and items required for a plant to grow, as well as developed a sense of responsibility as they would have to care for the plants' needs to ensure that their plants would grow well. By caring for their plants, the children also learnt to be appreciative and compassionate towards plants and their environment!

Children would be able to:

Plant their own seeds,
Learn the different conditions needed for a plant to grow well and,
Put the knowledge to use on their own plants.

Lesson objectives

GUIDANCE

Guidance is a classroom strategy where instead of punishing the children for their mistakes, educators assist the children in finding a solution to their problems to allow them to learn from their mistakes (Gartrell and Gallo, 2015).

An example of a guidance strategy is showing the child respect and that he/she is being guided, not punished. Rather than just scolding the child for doing something wrong, educators has to be kind but firm towards the child when guiding them through a problem/conflict. Being kind shows that we are respecting the children and being firm means that we are respecting ourselves and the needs of the situation (Nelson, n.d.).

In this video, Teacher Amira guided two of the children who were in a conflict by being kind but firm. She first listened to the story from both of the children’s perspective to get an idea of the situation. Afterwards, she gave her input after hearing the perspectives of the two children and suggested a solution for them.

Another example of a guidance strategy is providing understandable and logical rules (Fletcher, 2016). According to LearnWell (2017), setting rules and expectations for the children “determine what the classroom looks like, what type of behavior is acceptable and encouraged, and help students work towards a common goal”. It helps the children to be more focused on completing their tasks and deters any misbehavior.

Classroom Rules Checklist

Teacher Amira went through the rules with the children.

Classroom Rules Checklist

Teacher Amira went through the rules with the children.

Classroom Rules Checklist

Teacher Amira ticks the rules that the children followed.

Classroom Rules Checklist

Teacher Amira went through the rules with the children.

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In this video, Teacher Amira sets the rules and expectations in the classroom through a checklist. Let’s see if the children are following the rules!

Documenting

Documentations are essential in Reggio Emilia approach. Documenting aims at how and the things that children learns (The Compass School, 2018). It comes in the forms of pictures, videos and work pieces from the children.

According to Grow @ Beanstalk (2016), the importance of documentations includes "To catch and preserve details, to ensure reliability and validity and to remember".

When we document details from the lessons, it allows us to look back and analyse the children's thought and learning process at that moment. Lessons are usually fast paced so with documentations, it allows the teacher to remember parts of the lessons taught. Documenting also ensures that we have evidence to show to the children's families on what they have been learning and activities they have been doing in school.

Here are some photo documentations from Kindergarten 2's planting activity!