News / Nunn Road / 2017 / December 2017

We will say goodbye to 2017 and welcome 2018 soon.  This year the teachers and the class children have had the opportunity to be acquainted with some new children.  They were quick to get over their separation anxieties and as time passed, became the best of friends with everyone in the class.  It also helped that some parents organized outdoor activities for the children after school. As a result, the children have bonded well thus many happy and warm moments had been created.

We have four 3-year-olds in the class and they joined us in the second half of the year.  They are all capable children who adapted quickly to the class rhythm and played imaginatively with their peers or the older children in the class.  With some help, they are becoming more independent at handling their own belongings, eating on their own during meals, sitting down for ring time and practising for festivals.  They also have started to help set up tables for lunch. 

Then, there are the four-year-old children.  They are the active ones in the class.  They play creatively and imaginatively and enjoy every moment of playing together.  They will ask for additional minutes to play even when it is already time to clear up so that we can move on to another activity.  They like to fold origami toys together, imitate each other during artistic activities and communicate by exchanging stories. After class dismissal, these children still want to play and often are reluctant to part with each other after school.

The 5-year-olds are able to organize games to play with the younger children.  They turn dividers into aeroplanes, cars or motorcycles, blocks into castles and zoos and flat boards into the vehicle tracks. They decorate their ‘houses’ built from dividers with cloths in rainbow colours and also use colourful yarn as drapes for the windows.  They are the ‘parents in the family’ during play and the ‘teachers in the class’ during their story sessions with the younger ones. They fold origami toys to share with their friends and their nimble fingers to have the capabilities to do simple hand knitting and spin (“guru-guru”)yarn into braided strings.

The five-year-olds are also very interested in the literacy development that the six-year-olds are undertaking in the afternoon.  They watch and absorb all that is going on. They look forward to be the big children in the class next ear.

The four six-year-olds have graduated and are ready to move on to the Primary School.  They are ready to face the challenges that their next phase of life journey brings.

Every day is a busy day as I watch all of them growing up at Nania. We structure our activities rhythmically to include artistic activities, creative plays, simple house chores, story-telling to enrich the soul and exciting yearly festivals to look forward to.  Children learn order and rhythm by adapting to these familiar routines till it is time for them to move on to primary school.

While playing together, children are bound to have some issues and misunderstanding.  We then call for group meetings to find solutions to the issues and once the children have accepted the guidance given by the teachers, they are kind and considerate enough to hug and make up. Forgiveness works like magic in their world.

Next year we welcome many new children to the class.  We know for sure that the present children will welcome them and another new class dynamic will once again be created under the roof of Nania.

The Christmas Celebration on the 14^th Dec (Thursday) will mark the last day of school for the year 2017. 

As part of our preparation, we have placed a “Star Window calendar” in the centre of the display corner.  Each day before lunch, the teachers will invite one child to open a calendar window while two others will each take out a gnome and a wooden animal and place them on the display table.  We have also decorated the ‘Christmas tree’ at the display corner with stars coloured by the children during the morning artistic activity. 

Please remember to bring their stars home after the day’s celebration.  We have tied each of the boys’ stars to a dark blue yarn while the girls’ stars are tied with a dark pink yarn for easy identification.

Every child will have a chance to perform this ceremony until all the windows are open.  When the last window is opened, it signifies that it is time to celebrate the Christmas festival at Nania. 

We are looking forward to seeing you and your family on 14^th December.

It’s not easy for me to finally say goodbye to Nania after 10 years here.  In many ways Nania has given me an opportunity to grow as a person. It has also opened up my eyes in the area of child minding.  I learned that child minding is not just about instructing and correcting what they do.