All About Me
A great deal of care is taken to settle our Kindergarten children when they start at Eversfield. During these first few weeks, there are so many new routines to learn and different people to meet. At the same time, important friendships are formed, and the teachers begin to gain an understanding of the way in which individual children learn. In normal times, Mrs Eades would visit new pupils in their own homes. Since home visits have not been possible this year, she has provided the children with extra opportunities to bring their home life into school and to share their special possessions with their classmates.
Harlow brought her own My Little Pony into school. This pony is known as Pinky Pie, and Harlow was excited to show everyone how high it can kick its leg into the air. In order to learn effectively, we need our children to feel comfortable about talking in school, and it is much easier to talk and respond to questions about something very familiar. Moving into Middle School, children are still given a dedicated time to talk about important and relevant things they have brought from home. Even higher up the school, form teachers are happy to share an item of particular significance. I personally remember some years ago a child in Upper School brought in a fully functional tenor recorder that had been created by a 3D printer. A great deal of excited and thought-provoking discussion resulted.
At the heart of this half term’s topic in Kindergarten is the All About Me display. Not only does it feature a photograph of the special items brought in by the children from home, there is also a self-portrait of each child. The children love producing these, and always take a good look in the mirror before they get to work. The teachers encourage them to examine their eye colour carefully and to make sure they know how many mouths, noses and ears they have. After all, if you’re going to do a self-portrait, it’s important to make it flattering!
Continuing with the theme of starting with what the children know best, Mrs Eades talks to everyone about their favourite food. It’s interesting to note how different everyone is, even though there are some firm favourites like pizza and ice cream. The next step is to find pictures of the food in magazines, cut them out and add them to the display.
The Kindergarten friendship book is yet another piece in the jigsaw. Inside are pictures of all the children and their teachers. Mrs Eades finds time to look at the book every day to help the children recognise each other and learn each other’s names. The same photographs are displayed on the wall, and the children love looking at them. It reinforces the feeling of belonging, not just to their home and family, but to their new school as well.