Easy communication with parents

Because we have recently changed the carrier of our online profile books, as soon as we post an entry, the parents get an email informing them. When I wrote the farewell page for Isaac, I was really pleased to get a response from his mum. I found it up lifting, knowing that she does look at the entries put on. You can't help but wonder sometimes if all your hard work is even seen. Now I know - it is.

This is evidence of dimension #19. communicates with families, whanau and caregivers. It is also evidence of dimension #20. contributes to the life of the learning centre, as our centre functions best when there is communication that happens both ways between the parents and the staff - especially the primary caregiver.

Change of primary care for a transitioning child

One of my primary care children is transitioning to nursery 2. When he first began in nursery one, he was a very sensitive boy. He had trouble settling down to sleep, refused to eat, and unless I was with him, was very unsettled. During our time together he has grown in confidence, would call out to anyone just to get them to look at him so that he would laugh and wave at them. The changes in him were amazing.

Now that he has moved over to nursery 2, I can see those personality traits returning. I have discussed with his new primary caregiver how this young boy was when he first began with me, and techniques she could try with him, but above all, how much he requires patience, care, and to be listened to. When I went outside today (September 28th), I was able to model for her what I meant. She mentioned that she found it easier to just let him be and to give him space. I agreed that, yes, he does require space, but he also needs clear boundaries. An example of this was when he left the sandpit, he carried the spade with him and then began to walk inside with it. His new caregiver seemed as if she wasn't sure how she should respond to this behaviour. I repeated to her that as well as allowing him space, he does need to learn the expected boundaries. I then modelled to her my explaining to the young boy that the spade stays in the sand pit, and that he needed to take it back. This was happily done. I reminded my colleague that because I was the former primary caregiver, we had formed a friendship. All it would take was for her to be consistent, to listen to him, and just a little bit of time and she would have the same with him. And if she's ever not sure of what to do, to just listen to him and he would tell her in his own way. Through this interaction, I was demonstration how I lead and support other teachers, dimension #25.

Documenting planning

As a team, the nursery one staff discussed our planning wall and the next steps (and the possibility of changing our approach to displaying it). One suggestion I had made was to implement a new format to the way we documented our group activities. It was an example I had seen in action when I worked at a nursery school in London, and I felt that it worked really well for getting information and observational notes written down quickly and efficiently. At the top of the front page we could write what the intended learning outcome is, and at the bottom, we evaluate the session and write what the next step is. The form was designed in A4, and was four pages as it was intended to use over four sessions. This way, the activity was able to be either continued over four consecutive days, or else extended over the four days. I sometimes find that we set up an activity one day, but the next it has gone and something else has replaced it. I am of the opinion that if we introduce something (a resource, a set of skills required, a game, etc) then we also need to provide plenty of opportunities for those skills to be rehearsed over and over).

I will look through my storage boxes at home for an example of it, otherwise I will recreate the form to introduce to my team, see what they think, and alter it to best meet our needs.

Being with babies

An excert about interactions with babies-in particular the pikler and RIE approaches.

Babies have a marvelous affect on us. They enchant us. They touch us very profoundly.... And yet... many times it happens that in the important moments of being together we do not really pay attention to them, because we are preoccupied with the tasks relating to them: putting on their shirts, wiping their bottoms, adjusting their diapers. We touch them, move them around, and sometimes fail to notice the expectation in their gaze as they look at us." This view is expressed by Anna Tardos from the Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary, in her Exchange article, "Being with Babies." She continues...

"We don’t think about how happy they would be ‘to help’ if we had a discussion with them in the meantime, and if we told them what we were up to:

"'Now, I am going to take off your diaper to see if there is anything in it. I am going to wipe your skin, lift your bottom. Will you allow me to do that? Now, I am going to put this coat on you. You see how pretty it is? Your grandmother made it for you. First I am pulling up on one arm, then the other. I have to lift you up a little bit. It’s not very easy, but we have made it.'

"Would they help? Yes. The baby would pay attention to what we are doing, would relax his arms, and, at the age of only a few months, he would reach his arms towards us when we show him the shirt. A real conversation can be formed this way between the adult and the baby. In this way, the hasty and careless movements that often cast a shadow on the joint activity during times spent together could be avoided: legs lifted too high, too swiftly being turned on the side, the baby&rsqu o;s arm getting stuck in the sleeve, or legs stuck in the zippered (not very practical) overalls. This can be a very unpleasant experience for the baby. And it also happens that, instead of a rich and meaningful dialogue realized in the course of the pleasure of being together, the adult must dress a crying and protesting baby. At this time, the adult would try to calm the baby down: 'I can see that you are tired. Alright, I am going to hurry, and we’re going to be done real soon.' Meanwhile, the movements become even faster, and quite often overhasty, thus even more unpleasant for the child. It’s a shame. Why? Because the activity of getting dressed or changed, repeated several times a day, can also be a joyful encounter of being together!"


Joann