Early Childhood Education has proven to play a major role in a child’s transition to school, and here at Kids Academy, we have passionate Educators and Early Childhood Teachers who deliver a range of programs to extend children’s curiosity, growth, and independence. This article will explore a typical day in our preschool/Kindergarten rooms.
Key Learning Moments
Firstly, we will look at a few key moments in the day as a student in our School Readiness space.
- Drop–off and Pick-up times: Interactions between Educators and families during these times are extremely important. Drop-offs and Pick-ups are where information is shared about your child to support them best; Whether it be about their weekend, new milestones/interests or any accomplishments your child has achieved at the end of each day.
- Meal/snack time: Mealtimes are more than a transactional part of the day, as Educators role model positive eating habits, self-help skills and socialisation.
- Show and tell: "Show and tell" is a popular activity in our School Readiness rooms where children bring an item from home and share it with their friends. Show and tell helps develop communication skills, encourages children to express themselves and boosts confidence.
- Small group interactions: This allows Educators to facilitate learning and shared sustained thinking through small groups and allows children to share their thinking in a smaller group setting.
- Rest time: Rest time in the School Readiness space may look a little different to our younger age groups and are often growing out of their ‘napping’ stage; however, children are still given the option of napping or quiet activities, which allows them to be attuned to their body's needs.
- Outdoor exploration: Outdoor play is an opportunity for children to explore their natural world and experiment with their physical abilities. It is also an opportunity to delve deeper into their learning in a different environment.
Curriculum Highlights
The biggest focal point for School Readiness within an Affinity Education service is to support children’s development of key 21st-century school readiness skills through a range of programs and child-led enquiry-based projects.
Group times are an opportunity for Educators to extend on your child's learning, focusing on topics of interest that build upon our programs such as the Big Thinkers STEM program, Aussie Wildlife Champions, Positive Living Skills or simply a moment a child shared their life at home. An Educator's role in these group times could look different on a daily basis; it may be through facilitating conversations with their peers to spark curiosity, posing questions to challenge children’s thinking or simply observing and listening to children to form an extension of learning.
All age groups have a range of defined learning spaces; however, you may notice that they change slightly depending on their stage within the Lifelong Learning Curriculum. Often, families see our Literacy and Numeracy spaces as your typical ‘sit-down, template-based’ experience; however, in Early Childhood, it is more than that! Exploring Literacy, and Numeracy through play-based learning may look like tracing letters in the sand pit (Writing) or creating patterns using loose part items outdoors, such as sticks and stones (Math). On top of our Reading Eggs and Math seeds, the possibilities are endless.
Everyday Family Interactions
Your interactions with your child’s Educator are more valuable than you think! Whether you share changes to their routine at home, new interests, what you and your family got up to during the weekend or even any upcoming big moments, all these conversations can make a difference in how Educators plan for your child to facilitate and extend on all developmental areas.
That is our School Readiness room in a nutshell. For more information on our Lifelong Learning Curriculum, feel free to refer to our website.
https://lll.edu.au/ - Lifelong Learning Curriculum, Affinity Education.