Having a sense of Identity and Belonging is an important part of a child’s social and emotional development. We all need a sense of who we are and where we come from.
The children in Grasshopper room have taken the theme of ‘where we live’ and thought about all the elements of living in Nenagh, the purpose of some of its features and the people who live there.
It all started with a postcard from Lithuania!
A child who had left the centre to return home sent a postcard to the children telling them about his new school. The children thought about what they would tell children about where they live and their school.
We made contact with Anabla Preschool in Killarney and the children wrote letters and drew pictures for the children. They went to the post office each bought a stamp and posted their letters. There was great excitement when they received postcards in return.
When we looked at people in the community who help us, the children spoke about the doggy doctor – someone we had not expected to be important to them. Catherine the vet came for a visit and bandaged my dog Betty much to the entertainment of the children. She also brought Twitch a jack Russel with her, who only has one eye. The children were really interested, and amazingly almost everyone in Nenagh has a dog with only one eye!
Even the plants we gave our mammies on Mother’s Day came from a visit to the Community Gardens, one of the places identified by the children. The children saw what had been planted, talked about growing things and came back to the Centre to grow pansies in pots.
The best thing about this project is the children are driving it themselves. They are choosing what interests them, who they would like to visit, where they would like to go. I watched the children make a post office in the home area, folding paper to fit in different sized envelops, discovering which paper made the best stamps and how to stick them – all spontaneous learning opportunities instigated by the children.
So, when they come home and tell you they did nothing………