Working in the Kindergarten

Kindergarten B at play in their 'new' play area. It was good to come back to Hle Bee this year to find that the nursery staff had taken on board a lot of what was discussed at last year's training; they have adopted a more active approach to their teaching, and have been working in small groups. We had done a bit of fund raising to buy more toys for the nursery and I was pleased to find that the school had received some lovely toys from another source...which immediately got me going to set up a 'freeflow' play area. The idea of children playing independently is a bit of a scary concept for the staff, especially as each class holds up to 60 children with only one or two teachers. So we are working each morning this week to 'train' the children up in playing independently (with a teacher present) so that next week they can try working in three groups, with a group playing on their own. You might remember that one class was working under the house...now this space is empty, so we set up the play house in a cosy space under the house - a perfect size for the wee ones to play! We've also done some lovely work on 'Feelings' as the teachers are keen to see some Emotional Literacy lessons in practice.

Kindergarten B's mind map on 'Homes'...

...following a 'think, pair, share' session

Kindergarten A are the older class - more like a Primary 1, so I thought I'd try a bit of critical thinking! The initial session went really well but we did get to a point where it was really hard for the children to think due to the noise of rote learning coming from the two Grade 1 classes, each with 40+ children in the class... So 150 children are sharing one building with just a screen to separate each class - it's a bit of a racket!!

Meanwhile, across the sandy building site in the new Grade 5/6 building, Irvine was having a wee scottish moment making kilts (Linda Martin eat your heart out!) ... in preparation for a spot of Ceilidh dancing at the end of the day - you can imagine the sweat coming off us after an hour of Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeant, St Bernard's Waltz and a Strip the Willow to finish!!!
What fast learners these children are and what a great way to finish the day!