Dear Families,
I thought I would share with you the children’s morning arrival and afternoon departure routine and ritual.
On saying goodbye to their family, children enter the verandah area and proceed to the children’s ‘belonging table’. The table is situated next to the studio door. At the belonging table children look for their locker name tag and ‘belonging stone’. The stone is a name recognition and identity tool for children, they seek to recognise their artwork on one side and their written name on other. The ‘belonging stones’ have an important role in the children’s morning meeting ritual.
After recognising and attaching their name tag on their locker choice, children place their food containers into the room refrigerator and their water bottle into the verandah esky.
Children then find their hat and wash and dry their hands. If their family member has not applied sunscreen, children with the support of an educator move to the sunscreen station.Children then continue with their preschool day!
Our morning meeting and acknowledging the land on which we play and learn;Our morning meeting ritual celebrates our ‘coming together’ for the day ahead, the children recognise when the when the song Bapa by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is played https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNLQGaFjdhA
We greet each other through our ‘Acknowledgment to Country’ practice. During our morning meeting we sing songs (attached), share news and choose our helpers for the day. Educators choose from the ‘belonging stones’, a weather monitor, two water and two energy savers and a soapy hero.
Each role has a very important task associated to it. Children chosen either monitor the turning off of the bathroom and outdoor tank water taps, the soapy hero wears a cape and promotes one pump of soap, the energy savers check the refrigerator doors and esky lid are closed. The weather monitor looks to the sky to report the weather and creates the weather artwork for all to see! Our helpers further support our preschool ecological steps towards sustainable policy and practice.
Our departure transition routine;Children recognise when it is time to pack their bags, find their shoes and socks and gather for Storytime when the music ‘Follow the Sun’ by Xavier Rudd is played https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E1bNmyPWww, children understand that their preschool day is coming to a close.
Our Storytime is a restful transition from preschool to home ritual, it is a time for children to gather and quietly reflect on their day with educators. Educators share a literacy experience while children rest on the lounge or floor cushions. It is a time to unwind.
On leaving the preschool, children wash and dry their hands and gather their bags to the heartfelt sounds of ‘goodbye’ and ‘see you soon’ from their peers and educators.
Leonie
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