Kindergarten
Online Learning
Online Learning is a new experience to us all and we have been working to develop the programme so that children can be more independent, whilst building our families knowledge around the subtleties of children’s decisions and skill development. This week it is clear that the children are showing more independence and adaptability. This is seen in online meetings where children are more expressive and more prepared to listen to others. We are also seeing this expression through the videos, pictures of work and the stories from families. We are observing that children are empowered and responsive to their learning.
Allowing the children to have more agency in how they explore ideas and learn supports them in having more voice and ownership. From this they take more action; selecting a book that connects to what they have been learning, drawing an additional picture or bringing a certain toy to a Zoom meeting. This action is an important part of the PYP (Primary Years Programme). Action is encouraged across all programmes right through to Diploma (Grade 12) and beyond as citizens of the world. In the Early Years action is small and any child-initiated idea is the starting point. It is simple and tends to be centred around themselves. However, as they develop in age, action becomes more about those we love, connections to our immediate community and then into how we can contribute to the world at large as “…inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world…” (IB Mission Statement)
It is important we recognise and nurture action as this supports children in valuing their ideas, is evidence of the connections they make between themselves and the many past experiences they have, and most importantly that they see themselves as being able to make choices and contribute to their world and beyond. Action shows their initiative and the ways in which they can extend their learning and use it to contribute further in the world around them.
We have been so impressed that children learning at home, and the children attending kindergarten on site are engaged and empowered to share their own thinking, their own solutions, their own ideas to show the connections they make and that they WANT to contribute to the conversation, the solutions and the creations. Action in young learners shows their response to experiences that are personally meaningful. Preshil greatly values what children bring to their learning and have always valued the action children take to empower themselves, others, to support the community and to understand the environment.
* The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/mission/
Lara Ronalds, Poppy Woodhouse
& Courtney Booth
Kindergarten Teachers
lara.ronalds@preshil.vic.edu.au