Stavroula Gaoutsi

Pop up basketball play in kindergarten

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“Let’s play basketball” someone said… And so, kindergarten kids just constructed a pop up basket from used tires!

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They arranged by themselves a shooting order and patiently waited for their turn. They were little puzzled about how to get the ball out of this basket and needed to come up with some original solutions.

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Through this spontaneous yard play, kindergarten children accomplished a bunch of educational milestones by themselves, just being based on pleasure and joy! Priceless….

(by Ioanna Eleftheriou & Stavroula Gaoutsi, teachers in our Athens kindergarten)

Dance has no rules in kindergarten

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Every Thursday, kindergarten kids can’t wait for the dance lesson with Olga!

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Based on improvisation, Olga gives the stimuli and children through experimentation, discover new ways of movement and expression.

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Dance has no rules, there is not right and wrong. Through movement and by the only use of objects, children explore their body.

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Familiarize with it, learn to control their movement.

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Take initiatives, trust themselves.

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Cooperate, feed their imagination.

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Express ideas, experiences and feelings.

During this dance class, children activate all their senses.

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(by Stavroula Gaoutsi, teacher in kindergarten class in Athens)

 

Henry from Taiwan in our kindergarten

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These days we have a visitor in our school. His name is Henry and he is a student from Taiwan. Henry will be with us for six weeks and so we have the opportunity to learn many things about his country and culture.

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Few days ago, he prepared a very interesting presentation, in order for our children to get to know Taiwan.

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We saw Taiwan on the map and he told us it looks like a leaf!  We saw its flag and photos of his city.

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After that, we tried together to speak Taiwanese! We translated many words from Greek to Taiwanese and he wrote the name of every children using Chinese ideograms.

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Our kids were excited and many of them proved to be quite talented in Chinese writing.

Henry thank you, you are most welcomed in our school !!

(by Stavroula Gaoutsi, kindergarten teacher in Athens)

Process-based learning

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Free play in class is an important part of the day, for any play-based preschool.

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Through play, children imagine, create, disagree, negotiate, learn to solve problems, explore materials – but also develop their relationship with other children.

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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.

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Children got divided into groups and began to work. First, paid a visit to the local carpenter to pick their wood.

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Then, returned to school and started to work….

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  • 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.

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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!

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(by Stavroula Gaoutsi, kindergarten teacher in Athens)