Free play in the yard for pre-K’s…
play-based
Sharing is a great thing
One day, Thanasis brought in toddlers’ class a book titled “This is mine!” Two friends who play together but find it too hard to share their toys…
“How easy is for us to share our toys?”, we asked children. Not so easy…
One small car in our class had the same problem. It was alone, because it could not share its toys. So, we decided to help it…
We became friends with the small car and drove it to the big “Luna Park of sharing”, the place where all children and cars share their toys.
Each one of as waited at his/ her own station, to drive the small car towards the next station and finally up to the end of the road, where the Luna park was. When the small car arrived there, it wasn’t alone anymore!
Kids played, cooperated, waited patiently for their turn, but most important helped the small car to understand that sharing is a great thing…
(by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)
Chasing Teacher Chrysa
(Video by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class)
Elections in preschool
One of the most beautiful life-derived projects we have performed in our school
Ophthalmology class in school bus!
Children always laugh when they see my eyes like this!
One day, kids asked me: “hey, what’s happening with your glasses and they can make your eyes so big? We want to know how you see”!
I told them eye-doctor says I have Hypermetropia. “And how does he know?” they further asked. So, I brought them printed papers with numbers and pictures, like the ones eye-doctors use.
They started examining themselves
and also asked to be examined by their friends.
Then, I gave them my glasses to understand “how I see”. Children tried them in many ways and said “Woooooow, everything looks bigger through your glasses!!!”.
They got really excited by all this. Now, they may decide to construct an eye-clinic in class, examine other children and prescript the right glasses!!!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)
Free Play
Free play emerges everywhere, you just need to let it happen.
Free play involves anything, you just need to have stuff around.
Free play can be more fascinating if you have a friend to mess with.
Free play can be relaxing, you just need to let yourself be.
Free play can be collaborative, you just need to share it with your friends.
Free play is natural, it’s play and it’s free!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class, in Athens)
The lady and the mechanic
Babies can do great things with just a taxi cab and a paint brush!
They instantly assign roles to themselves, no need to speak. The girl is the driver and the boy is the mechanic.
When job is done, he closes the door like a gentleman and waves goodbye!!
This is how no-talking babies communicate each other…
(by Anastasia Kouroubali, teacher in babies’ class, in Athens)
Process-based learning
Free play in class is an important part of the day, for any play-based preschool.
Through play, children imagine, create, disagree, negotiate, learn to solve problems, explore materials – but also develop their relationship with other children.
The decision of our kindergarten kids to construct a privacy box for their medical corner, gave them the opportunity to master all the above, plus to connect play with maths.
Children got divided into groups and began to work. First, paid a visit to the local carpenter to pick their wood.
Then, returned to school and started to work….
- grouped pieces of wood according to height, shape and size
- measured the length of the room and distances between the woods
- chose the proper pieces for their construction
- picked the rest of the staff needed, such as screws, nails and glue
- calculated the quantities
- chose the right tools.
While doing the above, class entered into assumptions, cooperation, testing, made mistakes and worked together to produce a certain result. But mostly, enjoyed the process!
(by Stavroula Gaoutsi, kindergarten teacher in Athens)
Dad of Philip helps children connect their hand-made antenna
Last year’s pre-K class worked on a project about communication (how we talk and listen one another, when away).
Under this concept, kids decided to create their own antenna to be able to listen to radio, in class. And so they did. But, then had to find a way to connect it to the radio.
So, they called in class Vasilis, dad of Philip, who is an engineer, to help them finish their project
With his assistance, children managed to connect the antenna….
Kindergarten kids set up their class
In our school children rights are much respected!
So, teachers do not arrange class for elder kids – children do! They come first day in school to find out a mess, waiting for them to sort it out…
Life-derived Learning 