Planning in the Intercultural Centre

This is how the teachers plan for children's learning. 

 I like the way multiculturalism is always in the frame for discussion for planning. The children and teachers represent a diverse migrant population where the differences between countries come into the life of the centre. People from countries at war attend the centre side by side. Imagine what this must be like as an influence on the social relationships at the centre.

Planning is about domains or subjects for the most part as a framework for organising teachers thoughts.

See here how the teachers make note that new year happens at different times for different children. Evaluation is a tricky part of the planning process, inviting us to reflect on our own reflections about the quality of the teaching decisions. It takes a bit of practice to link evaluation and reflection to the activities and experiences - thinking about how good those ideas were to support children's learning.

Intercultural Daycare

This space is a renovated and then abandoned school. The early childhood centre operates in the basement level of this building and has a fully functional kitchen. They also have access to the gym for active play

Blogging to document children's learning

This centre uses blogger like you would not believe...I was so impressed with how they were using it I was asking Katrina for a few 'how to tips'. The children's learning is recorded through observation and published to their own individual blog. These are shared with families and the administration functions are shared with families so they can share the observations with the wider family and friends. You can see the tags/labels down the right hand side of the photo - the teachers tag each post entry so that if you wanted to track a particular series of learning areas or goals you could. I like that idea. All the informtion is there through the observations to write up a narrative assessment (learning story) over time. I really hope the centre takes this next step with assessment. 

When the new Alberta Curriculum comes out they could just add the principles and goals for learning to the labels/tags - makes life really easy.

Preparing for teaching and learning

Indoor spaces

The space is arranged to make the materials available to children and support the organisation of materials when children are ready to move on.

Baskets are attractive and things are clearly labeled

I thought these were interesting - I was not sure what they were at first and then I worked it out. 

The crayons indicate the number of people able to be in this space when things start to implode. Often the reason for conflict comes for space issues so if the children are unable to resolve the conflict and work it out, the they need to negotiate who is able to stay in the space - often having to identify someone to leave is enough for them to work it out.

Attention to detail

Around the other side of the centre is the pirate ship where all sorts of high sees adventures are had. I was not able to take photographs of the teachers and children, however I saw teachers and children interacting and discovering together. Children were racing trucks along the ground stopping (thankfully) within inches of our feet.

This is the gate through to the garden and view to the street. A parent at the centre made this gate. How is the for a sense of community?

Debra and I were having a lovely chat!! It was such a lovely day

The Castle

I have warned Ralph that there could be numerous requests for one of these from many NZ services. You gotta love this!!! It almost took my breath away - how cool to have one of these

 The children are able to go outside from early in the morning until they have had enough. This is the first time I have been in a centre in Canada where the children are able to be outside from early in the day and have access to water. To be fair the weather is improving.

This is the inside of the castle with spaces for children to be without all necessarily having to be involved in the same play. 

There are tables for social play and higher levels for the children to have an elevated perspective of the space. 

Even though it is quite big, there is still a lot of space for the children to play be involved.

 Keeping the theme of 'Lions Gate' going with the castle, there are two large lions guarding the entrance. Careful thought given to the detail and keeping the spaces connected through bridges and stones.

You want one too??

Kinder Campus - Lions Gate

This is the other early childhood centre owned by Debra and Ralph. They purchased this property and renovated it to make it an early learning environment. You might have noticed there is no sign on the property. Out of respect for the neighbours and the vision of keeping it as homely as possible, a sign does not exist for either centre. 

 Debra and Ralph paid a large amount of money for the iron fences rather than using cheaper resources out of respect for their neighbours and to enable the property to blend in to the street as much as possible. 

Paint exploration

I am grateful to Debra and the Kinder Campus community for allowing me to photograph the displays in the centre that have children's images and learning encounters. This is one way this centre makes children's experiences and thinking visible. 

The teachers have taken the time to articulate the preparation that went in to this experience, including having a look at renowned painters. You will see that the teachers were noticing, recognising and responding to children's curiosities in the experience. The children's comments are captured alongside the encounter. 

 "That's abstract art"

Indoor spaces

Creating rooms in the space for children to play

Using furniture to create boundaries - there are lots of toys and resources available to children.

Each room is self sufficient to enable teachers to engage in cultural activities like domestic responsibilities with children. The children scrape their plates and put them in the dishwasher and snacks are available. Food is provided and prepared in the kitchen - the kitchenette works well to keep the flow of spaces going and not take teachers away from children.

Humour with children

We saw this on the door of one of the rooms and I thought it was funny. These sorts of things bring humour to the team and interactions with families

The Library

In houses in Canada, there is often a basement under the house that is dug in. I still think it is weird that there are windows at ground level when you look at houses. In the basement level of this centre is a library where small groups of children retreat with a teacher to relax with literature.

This sign is on the door as you enter at children's level

There are wing back chairs for the children to sit at a listening post, just like a country club library. Seriously, there has been careful consideration to provide an environment that communicates to children that they are valued and respected.

The piano is there for a musical recital

Books....books...

and more books - built in shelves to house the library collection, creating spaces that the children are familiar with and invite a different kind of interaction. I have never seen a library like this in a centre before as a dedicated space and I think it is awesome!

Boxes of interest for the 'early risers'

The older children have indoor learning spaces in the basement of the house. It is a larger room and the children have lots of space. The children rest and for those that wake early, these interest boxes are available 'quiet' time while other children continue to sleep. A teacher stays in teh room with the sleeping children and updates the portfolio blogs - yes you read correctly - there is a blog for every child to share the learning experiences.

Conversations with children

Recording the children's predictions about the egg hatching

Hopeful thinking from the children - asking them for their opinions about colour - I am with Olivia Elizabeth - pink for sure.

Gotta love this one below - check out the biggest thing Quynn has ever seen :O)

Parents making life easier in the engine room

After seeing how much of a headache it was for Katrina (Debra and Ralph's daughter) to process attendance and staffing, he designed an app so now parents sign in using their child's name on the app and it automatically records the time the child arrives and departs. Staff also sign in when they arrive and this generates the staff timesheet. 

This is working together as a community and finding solutions to problems - this centre is so amazing in all of the layers of the centre operations from interactions with children through to administration and management.

Connections with families over time

This cabinet contains artefacts collected over time - some gifts from families.

A parent was recently in Afghanistan and bought back the camel

The book in the background is all about where Debra is from - a coastal area of Canada