References

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Docket, S., & Death, E. (2008). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4^th ed.) New South Wales: Harcourt Brace.

Greenfield, C. (2003). Outdoor play – the case of risks and challenges in children’s learning and development. Safekids News, 5

Greenfield, C. (2007). Outside is where we need to be: A guide to providing   optimal outdoor environments in early childhood settings. Manukau, New Zealand: Social Sciences Department, Manukau Institute of technology.

Isenberg, J.P., & Jalongo, M.R. (2003). Creative expression and play in early childhood (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersy: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G., (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (2^nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Addison Wesley Longman.

Mindes, G. (2006). Social studies in kindergarten. In D. F. Gullo (Ed.), K today teaching and learning in the  kindergarten year. (pp.107-115). Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki, he whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (1998). Quality in action: Te mahi whai hua. Wellington: Learning Media.

Santrock, J.W. (2008). Lifespan development (11^th ed., International).  Boston: McGraw Hill.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.

Talay-Ongan, A., & Ap, E.A. (Eds). (2005). Child development and teaching young children. Southbank, Victoria: Thompson Social Science Press

Entry Four

Taking into consideration children’s recent interests today as I was on the sandpit I arranged some planks for children to walk on apart from the usual spades, buckets, trucks and cooking utensils.  I put one plank raised about a meter high in the middle of the sandpit, one lower than that going up the steps and some big plastic blocks joined together with two tyres at the end on the concrete. I also placed the round stepping stones on the sandpit and a tunnel between the railings on the walkway leading out from the sandpit.

At once the children were exploring the different planks, the stepping stones and the tunnel but very soon it was evident that all these seemed very easy for the senior children as they were moving easily from one plank to the other. I therefore replaced the raised plank on the sandpit with a narrower one. According to Greenfield (2007) adults who extend the complexity of children’s play helps them increase their reflective thinking, creativity and extend their knowledge. Seeing me moving the plank, C asked if he could use it. I handed it to him and asked him what he wanted to do with it. C said he was going to put it across the tyres. After putting the plank C along with some other children soon got engaged in moving more things such as the stepping stones and the tunnel to create an obstacle course of their own.   Greenfield (2003) states that “the teachers role in promoting the outdoors as a positive learning environment includes providing equipment and challenges that remain static over time as well as equipment children can manipulate” p.5.

While making the obstacle course the children had to make a lot of decisions and problem solve such finding the best spot for putting two planks in a line; how to place them for example at first they were just using three tyres but when the planks kept falling off they brought in another tyre. I also encouraged them by questioning such as “I wonder why the plank keeps falling off?” and I believe this helped them to problem solve as well. According to MacNaughton and Williams (2004) open questions encourage the growth of children’s problem solving skills.

It was evident from this incident that children enjoy moving, arranging and creating things from the equipment available to them so I plan to provide this in different ways and at the same time trying to make it a bit complex each time. Greenfield (2007) states that one of the roles of an adult in the outdoors includes providing a balance between safety, supervision, challenges and risk taking.

Entry three

This morning I began mat time with the song "Its mat time kia ora, talofa......." and as I finished with "hello,good day, kei te pehia koe" one child continued with greetings in other languages such as Ni Hao and Bon jour.  This sparked the children's interest and we ended up discussing and identifying the different countries that each greeting was from. Our converstion then somehow turned towards which country each of us would prefer to visit if given a chance.  W shared that his parents were planning to go to Fiji during the holidays and that he knew the Fijian greeting, Bula.  As I am from Fiji, I saw this as an opportunity to share some information about Fiji with the children. We talked about how Fiji is a multicultural country (explained the meaning of multicultural) but there are two major cultures, Fijian and Indian.  I then shared the Indian way of greeting, ‘namaste’. From then on the children always greet me with ‘namaste’.  Mindes (2006) believes that including relevant holidays, special occasions and ethnic customs in curriculum promotes multicultural understanding in children.

During the afternoon mat time children again brought up this discussion so the next day I decided to extend on this.   I did a number song in English and then changed the numbers to Hindi, Fijian, Chinese (shared by another student teacher) and Maori. We sang:

Here is the bee hive                                            

Where are the bees?
Hiding underneath where no one sees

Out they come creeping, out of the hive’

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

and then replaced the numbers by

Hindi: Ek, Dor, Teen, Chār, Pānch;

Fijian: Dua, Rua, Tolu, Va, Lima;

Chinese: Yī, `er, sān, s`i, wǔ

Maori: Tahi, Rua, Toru, Wha, Rima

Here the children are hearing and learning different languages, about bi-culturism and being inclusive. Adult’s role modelling using other languages show the children that all the cultures are valued and accepted. They are also learning and making connections between people (languages) and places.  Te Whariki requires that "the environment should be rich in signs, symbols, words, numbers, song, dance, drama, and art that take account of and extend the children's different understandings and cultures" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.73)





Entry Two

Our centre has recently decided that we need to increase the use of Te reo with children and not limit it to story books. One of the ways that the teachers thought they could make children more aware of the language is through Māori songs.

The children enjoy the songs and actions and very soon a lot of them had been noticed humming the songs on their own and even doing the actions. Like most of the other children W (three year old) had also been noticed to be singing and doing the actions on his own but for the last few times I saw that his song and actions were different to what we were doing at our centre. Upon observing closely I found that he was doing the haka, repeating the first line over and over again. Being a shy child W would not reply when I commented that it was really nice to see him doing the haka and asked him where he had learnt it from.

I shared this with the other teachers and some of them said they had also noticed him singing “kamate kamate, kiaora kiaora”.  I asked the teachers if any of them knew the words and actions to the haka but none of them did.  I decided that I will do some research on my own and try to find a CD and if possible learn the actions as required by DOP 1(d) ‘that educators should enhance children’s learning and development through planning the environment in response to children’s interests, abilities and dispositions’ (MOE,1998, p.23).

In the afternoon when W’s mum came to pick him up I shared this observation with her and she informed me that since we had started with the Māori action songs at our centre, W had been doing it at home as well. Because none of the family members were familiar with the songs that we were doing, W’s elder brother usually showed him how to do the haka.

I also shared with her what I was planning for. Although W’s mum had not mentioned it earlier, the next morning she brought in a CD and told us that her elder son has offered to come in after school (3.30pm) and demonstrate the haka actions to the children.

I informed the centre manager about this and she said this would be a learning opportunity for all the children at the centre and the teachers as well.

I am glad because of the centres decision and as required by Te Whāriki that the ‘curriculum should include opportunities to learn and use the Māori language through social interaction’(MOE, 1996, p.43) the children are learning and enjoying Māori waiata. Isenberg and Jalongo (2003) state that music and movement provide a common vehicle for children to know about, understand, appreciate and preserve cultural traditions.

By sharing information with W’s mum we learnt about his interest in haka and they were able to contribute to the children’s as well as the teachers learning. According to Arthur et al (2008) effective partnerships between home and educational settings allows families and educators to exchange information and develop shared understandings of experiences and knowledge networks which can be included in the curriculum.  This incident also supports Vygotsky’s sociocultural and cognitive theory which states that children actively construct knowledge from social interactions, Santrock (2008).

 



Entry One

Children in our centre have always been interested in transport specially the boys.  Whenever they see trucks, the postman on his motorbike and even the rubbish truck passing by, they call out to their friends and they all stand by the fence to watch them pass by.  They would then excitedly discuss the various sounds, the size and the wheels of the vehicles they see.  One morning as I was on the playground I again saw a group of children calling out to their friends.  "Look said A, It is a blue one but it's not the rubbish truck".  Z added " Its carrying something at the back".  The children's excitement grew as they saw the truck stop right in front of our centre and when some people got off and started unloading things from it.  As they eagerly watched on, the children  tried to figure out what these men were doing.  "What are they doing here, Z asked me?"  "I don't know at the moment but I see they they have got some spades, cones, a wheelbarrow and some other tools," I replied.  A added, "I know, its the men who fix the roads".  The children decide to wait and see what these men were going to do and from then on kept reporting back to me and other children as the men set to work on the footpath.  By afternoon the men had dug out part of the footpath and had started putting new concrete on it.  When we returned to the playground after lunch the men were still working.  By now the children were eager to know why these men were 'fixing' part of the footpath when it was not 'broken'.

Since the children had been following this progress so keenly and were eager to know why the workmen were fixing a good footpath, I discussed this with my superviser and asked if I could take a group of children to see what was happening.  Te Whariki requires that adults "plan activities, resources and events which build upon and extend children's interests" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.83).  Soon I with another teacher and a group of children went over to have a closer look.  The children quickly pointed out that the men were putting some yellow thing like tiles on the footpath.  Upon asking the men informed us that they were putting kerb ramps on footpaths for wheelchair and baby pram access.  They also told us that they will be putting one on the other side of the road as well. 

Upon returning to our center the children wanted to find out how the kerb ramps will help people using wheelchairs and baby prams on the road so we decided to look up the internet.   According to Talay-Ongan & Ap (2005) with appropriate support and supervision from adults, the use of websites as a medium for exploration can promote effective learning for children.  The children seemed to understand better when we saw images of lots of wheelchair ramps.  We also found out that these ramps were also helpful for cyclists and pedestrians specially people with low vision and that they indicate and provide a good crossing place.  In this experience not only did children make use of the technology that they are most aware of (that is the computer) but they also learnt about another form of technology being used in their environment. Smorti (1999) states that "technology is about helping people and solving problems" (p.5).