GEKA Bentleigh East

Every Child has the Potential.  They only need an Open Sky to Fly 

Maitri Dodia, Educator at GEKA Bentleigh East Kindergarten

Children are full of imagination, they can draw a picture of what they like to see. If they like the sky yellow, they can paint it yellow! All you need to give them is limitless opportunities, no boundaries  and no restrictions. 

Today I want to share with you a story of a 4 year old boy named “Adam“. 

During the time Adam was at home during the COVID restrictions, he made up a story. But, it was not a one or two line story, he actually made up a very detailed story with people and different  places. Although he only mentioned what the message of the story was a little bit, when we read the story to the children, they could easily find what the story conveyed and the meaning behind it. It touched the hearts of all the children and everyone could identify with the meaning of the story in their own way.  In this time of uncertainty, the story's message was something all the children felt they could relate to. 

I want to share with you Adam's recollection of his story:

“It is a story about a woman! When she was at home, she was bored! She tried to go to sleep, but she was bored!  Then she thought, “I will get out of the house and go and help people. “ She went looking for people to help. She helped everyone she could find. She was happy, she found happy!”

It was through Adam’s story that we decided to make our own big book together as a Kindergarten group and share the pages. Children  wanted to write about what makes them happy and positive. Suddenly the thoughts shifted  from all the things we can’t do to all the things we will soon be able to do. This shift in mood and thought was magical. 

Adam reminds us how children easily find ways to feel happy in difficult times, they live for the moment. As adults, we can lose some of this focus due to the demands of daily life and it’s routines. As simplistic as it may be , Adam reminds us to remember “when you can’t think , just take a breath and think of your childhood and try to think what is important for you to be happy.” 

This story  also teaches us  that you need to keep learning and to keep an open  mind. It  does not matter from whom you learn, It could be anyone! Even a simple story made by a child might just change your mindset. 

As professionals teaching young children, we try to relay to the world about our belief on the potential of young children and their heightened ability to understand exactly what is happening around them. Especially in the current time, we want to be at the forefront in respecting  the fact that children are extremely perceptive and we as adults can learn a lot about their ability to see the world in a positive way. We want to be able to encourage this positivity and extend it. Sometimes I wish we could just “ bottle it!” These times have confronted us with many challenges and the experience over the last few months has meant something different for everyone , both financially and mentally.  Sometimes to see it from your child’s perspective may seem simple but it might be all we need to pick ourselves up and see the “bright light peeping out “ through the other end of the tunnel.  The power  of “positive!”

Term 2 Reflection

Leanne Clements, Bentleigh East Kindergarten Educator

Everyone is going to remember the year 2020.  It was the year the words COVID-19, Coronavirus, self-isolation, social distancing and remote learning entered our vocabulary.  It started towards the end of January and became a huge part of our world in the middle of March.

At Kindergarten we had discussions about the importance of our usual routines of hand washing, covering our mouths when we sneezed or coughed and what exactly did the words COVID-19 and Coronavirus mean? 

All of a sudden some of our Kindergarten friends stopped coming to Kindergarten.  THEN we all weren’t coming to Kindergarten.  Our term 1 school holidays started early and finished later than normal.  Everybody was at home together. We weren’t allowed to go anywhere – our family couldn’t go to work, we couldn’t go to the park or playground, the movies, out for dinner, we couldn’t even go and see our Grandparents. We had to do this so we didn’t spread the virus.

As the weeks went by, more and more children returned to Kindergarten and we were thrilled to see their smiling faces.  Last week (Tuesday 16th June) we had a chance to sit and talk to the children about how they felt about being at home and at Kindergarten.

We talked about how some children were feeling sad that couldn’t see their family or friends.  They were feeling sad and a bit frustrated that they couldn’t go to the park and play on the playground, or go to things like swimming lessons, play centres or for sleepovers.

However, the children also talked about the positives of being at home.  They loved riding their bikes or scooters with mum/dad, they loved playing games and cooking and even doing “Kindergarten” activities with their family.  It seems the children relished in just being children at home without the pressures and busyness of everyday life.

Jack summed up; I think the way we all feel about what has happened and is still happening – 

“It has changed my life”

(Jack aged 4)