News / Nunn Road / 2013 / March 2013

I am given the opportunity to watch the children mingle and learn to play with each other during planned activities in Nania everyday.

In Nania, the activities are planned to closely pattern the basic rhythm of our breathing, that is, ‘breathing in and breathing out’.  The artistic activities are the ‘breathing in’ activities. We do not hurry the children while they are doing them and we also try to be as quiet as possible during these times.  Even the more active children have been able to settle down and finish their activities during these times.  Hence there is a need for the children to come in punctually so that they can concentrate on what they are doing.  I can also then close the door and pay full attention to them.

‘Breathing out’ activities are when the children start their free and imaginative plays. There is very little need for intervention from us because they are full of imagination and they play well as they move freely around the classroom.  Whenever, I see children imitating cartoon characters, I try to steer them away from that play and get them started on more imaginative plays with blocks or some other objects.   

The quieter children need some encouragement to join in the play that their friends have started. But sometimes they rather sit quietly and fold origami.  

Through these daily rhythms, the children become more thoughtful and caring towards their friends.  If someone is crying, they will not laugh at him/her but quickly give him/her a hug and tissues to wipe away the tears.

If someone has a minor incident or anytime they hear someone or some heavy objects fall, they would ask ‘are you ok? are you alright?’ while they check to ensure that their friends are alright.

When the children have their ‘breathing out’ activities in the garden, they will run and laugh happily with their friends.  Some children step bravely into the sandpit and enjoy their time digging the sand.  They bake ‘cakes’ with the sand and decorate their cakes with ‘icing sugar’ i.e. the white dry sand that they gathered from the floor-bed outside the sandpit area.  The sight of any child who ventures to walk bare-foot for the first time in the garden gives me pleasure.  These children are like the ‘spring’ that brings freshness to all of us.

‘Spring’ has also come to Nania’s garden.  The sunbird has once again built a nest and laid eggs. The beans bear fruits i.e. the ‘edamame’. The rambutan tree is flowering and even the rabbits have babies again.
 
We are having a week break and I wish the children and you ‘Happy holidays’.
 
Teacher Nora