Month: October 2023

By Teacher Ravisara When it’s time for parents / guardians  to send their child to school, they wish for their child to succeed and be happy. One of the keys to achieving this is through great communication and collaboration with their school. Having great parental involvement has proven to be beneficial as it shows a positive impact on their child’s academic, personal and social development.  Why Parent Involvement Matters? When a parent/parents are involved in their child’s education, they not only tend to perform better academically, they also tend to perform better socially and emotionally. Parental involvement results in better attendance, positive attitude, and a great environment for their child, which shapes their future personalities and knowledge. It develops their child’s skills, self-esteem and self discipline. When parents are involved they can work together with their teacher to reinforce behaviours, values and attitudes both at home and at school. Getting involved helps in creating a positive and welcoming environment for growth and learning.  Benefits of Parental Involvement For Parents Themselves? Parents benefit from being involved as well, not only students. When parents are involved in their child’s education, they learn more about their child’s development and are able to gain a better understanding of their childs needs. By being around the school and other parents, parents develop new skills and knowledge, they learn from each other, different ways to support their child in different situations and environments, They gain confidence and are empowered to do better for their child and themselves. When you know what is happening in school, you are in charge of building a stronger bond with your child.  Parent Involvement At Home: Approaches To Support Your Child  According to Marc Rosenthal, “Children learn best when the significant adults in their lives – parents, teachers, and other family and community members – work together to encourage and support them”.

As a teacher of toddler age children, I find that working with young children you need to consider their development level as you select story books for toddlers.  Young toddlers have short attention spans even when it comes to reading books.  Therefore, when selecting books for toddlers I would encourage parents to select books that are not too long with too many words.    If your child does like a particular book with many words, it will be best to name pictures. I  actually did find toddlers attracted to a wordy book with many  pictures of emergency vehicles.  When I asked the children to select a story book, this book became a popular choice.   I adjusted my reading to their level and understanding  by pointing and naming the vehicles and making a sound of what the emergency vehicles most likely sounded like.  I did say to select books to their level, however, if your child loves a particular book there is no reason to not read it  but adjust it to their level.     However, most books I choose and the children most enjoy are books with a very simple story such as ‘Good Night Gorilla’.  Part of the reason for this is that toddlers are developing  their language and we need to begin simple  with much repetition so be prepared to read the same story over and over again.   It is important that books selected are illustrated with pictures large enough to see.  The children are attracted to illustrations and will come to touch and point at pictures.  This is an opportunity to name pictures and increase your child’s vocabulary.  Children naturally enjoy participating in books with lift-up flaps to find what is hidden.   It is somewhat like playing  a peek-a-boo game.  I find our class enjoys the opportunity to open the flap and sometimes do not notice others who are standing waiting for a turn because they enjoy so much.  Other favorite books,  I would include books with chants or Nursery Rhymes such as ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear as  they capture the children’s attention and I find the children will sit through an entire story.   One last thing is to select books with hard board covers as they will last longer.  Enjoy your reading time with your child, before you know it he will be writing he/she own books.

Assigning classroom jobs to students encourages them to learn about responsibility and being part of a community. The entire class thrives when meaningful classroom jobs are given to students, and they are encouraged to be contributing members of the classroom. The benefits of effective classroom management extend to academic-related outcomes, including decreasing disruptive behaviour and increasing academic achievements.  Classroom jobs are a staple of the classroom, but are they really worthwhile? The answer is yes, for a number of reasons. Here are six reasons why classroom jobs are important.  1) It helps students take ownership of the classroom  a) Classroom jobs are important because it helps students take ownership of the classroom. By having classroom jobs students tend to respect each other, the environment, the teachers, and the school more than just following normal class rules and regulations. This is because they are given the chance to control the environment and take charge of a specific area. Giving them responsibility will make them feel important. It also shows them that this is not your class, but their class as well.  2) It teaches independence  a) As a teacher, we always encourage our students to be independent. Having a classroom job definitely helps them develop their independence. When our students take charge of their specific area in the classroom, they educate themselves on how to take up this responsibility carefully & they always make sure they give it their full attention to make sure that it is the best that they can do. Classroom jobs are just one way to allow students to develop their independence, but it sure is a great start!  3) It shows students that you trust them  a) A great teacher-student relationship starts off when the teacher initiates comfort to their students. If teachers want to build this relationship, they must show they trust their students. Students will trust their teachers once they know their teachers trust them. Allowing each student to have classroom jobs, shows them a level of trust. It’s the beginning, but an easy way to start to build trust amongst students and teachers.  4) It gives them voice and choice  a) When students have some voice and choice in the classroom they build relationships with everyone around them easily. When students feel heard, they’re better able to learn. So, here’s how we can use classroom jobs to give student’s voice and choice.  i) Give students the opportunity to pick their own jobs  ii) Let students help decide how often the class will change jobs iii) Allow students to tell you if they think of a new job that might be needed  5) Students enjoy having classroom jobs  a) Students feel in control and can do things independently. They love to be able to help and add value to the classroom.  Along with having classroom jobs, it’s always a good idea to give students roles and jobs at home or anywhere outside of school so they can build their relationships and show more independence with family and friends!

“So cute!“, “What are they eating?”, “Where are the legs?”, “Where is mummy frog?” Questions upon questions as our K1 class children watches the tadpoles we caught three weeks ago. It should take at least six weeks until the first legs are visible but until then there is a lot to observe. For example, what tadpoles eat (we found out that they like fish food and small algae), how fast they swim, whether they prefer to stay on the water surface or dive to the bottom, and how rapidly the algae multiply in the container.  Why do we also need to observe the algae and not only our tadpoles’ behaviour? This is very important, because for the tadpoles to survive, there must be enough oxygen in the water. An overpopulation of algae ensures that this balance is quickly tipped, because the plants consume the oxygen in the water. Therefore, once a week we take fresh water from the fish pond and sort out some algae so that our tadpoles have a clean home where they can breathe well and have enough to eat. And maybe there is a tasty mosquito larva or two in the fresh water – a special treat for our tadpoles!  So our project in K1 started with discovering frogspawn and tadpoles during a walk on the school grounds. The children were immediately excited! Following the interest of the students, we came back with a container and collected a handful of tadpoles. At first it was just a small jar, but we have since cut open a large water jug and set up a new home for the tadpoles. Projects in kindergarten are particularly fun when they have a practical connection to the children’s environment and we can observe a development over the course of several weeks. The life cycle of frogs is ideal for this. The students can observe their growth and at the same time take responsibility for their care and develop empathy for other living creatures. They naturally learn the biological background and relationships, supported by learning materials in class. For instance, in Guided Reading Class and in Thai class, we read books about frogs in both languages, using small plastic figures to represent the different stages of frog development. But not only that – with the help of green paint, water, glue, and swelling chia seeds, we made our own frog spawn in Physical Science and displayed it for a few days in a Sensory Bin that we lined with rocks, twigs, and leaves. Almost like a real frog pond, right? The project is not over yet. We have just made individual frog ponds out of paper and recycled materials, to which we can gradually add parts of the frog life cycle. In doing so, we are guided by the actual development of our real tadpoles. Currently, the frog pond model includes water plants made of paper, frog eggs made of bubble wrap, and tadpoles with tails made of egg carton. We enjoy recycling materials and using them for our project because it is more sustainable and gives a new purpose and interesting shape to things that others only see as waste. It stimulates the imagination of the children who conjure up frog spawn from some bubble wrap or breathe the life of a tadpole into a piece of egg carton. Let’s see when the first little legs grow and we can finish our frog crafts, it remains exciting!

Our Toddler class is beginning a new stage of growth as they are having their first time at school without their parents or primary guardians.  The children are learning that separation is only temporary and we find the children feel anxious and upset when their parents or primary caregivers leave and are out of sight.   This indicates to us teachers that your child is developing healthy and has developed a strong bond with you which is important in his future social skills with others.  I have observed how parents treat separation positively.  In one situation, I noticed how one parent will always assure her child of the reason she needs to go and then confirm that she will be returning  and ask her child if she understands.  In this situation the child has been able to separation with little or no anxiety separation. The parent shows compassion and understanding.  Each child may respond differently but from experience it is important to convey trust that your child can do this.  Another helpful way that I feel that has had a positive effect on easing anxiety separation has been to allow parents in the classroom during the first few weeks.  This has been helpful to the children in getting acquainted with the teachers and school environment.  This has given the child an opportunity to know their teachers and not feel like she is a stranger.  Children are learning to develop trust in adults outside of people in their own family circle.   The children are becoming more independent, some may take longer than others but all will eventually reach the goal.  We work with each child individually.  Some children may be comforted in different ways such as by being held, or holding to a comfort toy, others prefer space.  But all have the same basic needs to feel loved, compassion and understanding.    We are working closely with each child and parent, once they know the routine.  We encourage parents to say good-bye quickly and to remain calm and positive as the child will take the clues from the parent that all is well.  You can trust the teacher, you can trust I will be back in time, you can trust that it will be fun.  You can do it!  by Teacher Nancy