Welcome to Nursery 1
Nursery 1
Age: 3 Years old
Theme: Plants around ME !
Topic: Garden in our classroom project
At Little explorers, we believe in a rich and complex environment that provides wealthy sensory experiences to support children’s growth and understanding. (Thornton & Brunton, 2015). This lesson involves children in an outdoor “Leaf walk” and later create their own “Plant play dough” using the collected leaves. Through this lesson, children will be able to identify and differentiate the various shapes, colours and textures of leaves. Children also express their ideas through make-believe play.
Garden in our classroom project
Activity name: My Plant Play Dough
Activity objectives:
Sensorial experiences
Constructing own knowledge
Activity flow:
Children will head outdoor to the garden. They will then collect leaves and thin stems on the ground.
Children will use the dough and materials prepared by teacher to create their "Plant play dough".
Children will share about their creations.
Teaching Techniques
Guidance - Positive discipline that involves setting clear, consistent limits that have reasons. It help supports children’s self-esteem and help develop respectful behaviours in the classroom (Beaty, 2012).
Grouping - It is a number of persons or things located close together. Positive grouping promotes equality and build social relationships in the classroom (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).
Video 1: Tune in [Outdoor to the garden]
Tune in:
In video 1, the N1 was involved in Garden in our classroom project. To promote children’s sensory development, Teacher Jessie brought the children to the garden to explore the various types of leaves. To enhance children’s cognitive skills and better understand their interest, Teacher asked the children “What kind of leaves do you like?” and “What kind of texture do your feel from them?”. Teacher Jessie then introduced the types of leaves and explained their differences such as rough, smooth, green, brown, big and small.
Guidance
To guide the children’s safety, Teacher Jessie discussed the rules and set boundaries together with the children. The class agreed on only picking leaves on the floor instead of plucking off and no one should cross beyond the white lines drawn on the floor. When children are involved and have a role in deciding what is expected of them, it results in better behaviours and they will be more cooperative in complying with the rules
(Beaty, 2012).
Video 2: Main [Plant play dough activity]
Main:
In video 2, the children were back in the classroom. They used the materials (Dough, stickers, ice-cream sticks) provided by Teacher Jessie, as well as the leaves collected from the garden to create their very own “Plant play dough”.
Guidance
Teacher Jessie introduced the activity, “Plant play dough” to the children. To guide positive behaviours, she once again discussed the rules and regulations with them. The class then agreed on 1) No talking among themselves when others are speaking and 2) Share materials with friends. Afterwards, teacher Jessie realised that child A was not focusing but singing and talking. To guide Child A to behave appropriately, Teacher Jessie paused, make verbal and non-verbal message by giving eye contact, placed her palm at her ears and reminded “listening ears”. Furthermore, Teacher was firm yet consistent in ensuring that she only talks after child A gets ready and listens. She than thank her after child listens.
In the midst of the activity, Child B and C were seen arguing as child B destroyed C’s artwork. To guide children in solving interpersonal conflicts, teacher Jessie approached the children personally, tapped on their shoulders gently, gave eye contact and ask what happened. Teacher Jessie showed child B respect that she was being guided and not punished by accepting the child’s explanation. In addition, she supported children’s understanding and awareness of how others feel. She then guided the children to shake hands and praised them afterwards. By doing this, teacher Jessie encourage behaviours that she would like children to adopt rather than punishing the behaviours she do not wish to see (NAEYC, 2013). In addition, positive guidance methods like these prevent overstimulation, assist children to develop self-control, remain calm and verbalize their feelings (Beaty, 2012).
Video 3: Closure [Sharing session]
Closure:
In video 3, children cleaned their hands, took turns to talk and share their ideas on their individual play dough.
Guidance
Teacher Jessie guided the children’s social emotional development by concentrating and listened attentively to child’s interests and temperaments during their sharing session. Furthermore, she used humor to further enhance children’s cognitive skills. For instance, she pretended that child A’s creation was sailing in the sea. By using effective guidance in a classroom, teacher gain understanding on the individual's needs and later better support them in their growth (NAEYC, 2013). Additionally, by nurturing children’s creative expression, it shows how the educators values the individual ideas and uniqueness of connecting to the world (Thornton & Brunton, 2015).
Grouping
Teacher Jessie adopts heterogeneous grouping teaching technique during the activity where the learning table consist:
From Left to right:
1) Indian - Malay - Chinese
2) Girl - Boy - Girl
When children works in heterogeneous groupings, it is a key strategy to reduce bias and prejudice between specific groups of children, supports social emotional development where they learn to resolve problems and have the opportunity to share their ideas with each other . It also aid children to build a sense of belonging over time (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).
Activity Gallery
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