Good practices in early childhood education: looking ar early educators' perspectives in six european countries

Αthanasios Gregoriadis Evridiki Zachopoulou Vasilis Grammatikopoulos Jarmo Liukkonen Teresa Leal Ana Madalena Gamelas Manuela Pessanha Silvia Araujo de Barros Eleni Loizou Lise Sanders Olesen Claus Henriksen Laura Ciolan Αthanasios Gregoriadis Evridiki Zachopoulou Vasilis Grammatikopoulos Jarmo Liukkonen Teresa Leal Ana Madalena Gamelas Manuela Pessanha Silvia Araujo de Barros Eleni Loizou Lise Sanders Olesen Claus Henriksen Laura Ciolan GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] ISBN 978-960-8183-88-9 Αthanasios Gregoriadis Evridiki Zachopoulou Vasilis Grammatikopoulos Jarmo Liukkonen Teresa Leal Ana Madalena Gamelas Manuela Pessanha Silvia Araujo de Barros Eleni Loizou Lise Sanders Olesen Claus Henriksen Laura Ciolan GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] ◆ 5 ◆ Deep appreciation is expressed to all the educational districts, municipality directors and the 122 early childhood teachers and caregivers that participated in the project and made its completion possible. The educational district and the municipalities are the following: Municipality of Kalamaria (Greece) Eduational District of Primary Education of East Thessaloniki (Greece) Agrupamento Escolas do Valadares (Portugal) Agrupamento Escolas do Pinheiro (Portugal) City of Jyvaskyla (Finland) City of Kaajani (Finland) Guldborgsund Municipality (Denmark) Municipality of Bucharest-Sector I (Romania) Municipality of Bucharest-Sector II (Romania) Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus Special recognition is also given to all the early childhood teachers and caregivers that so graciously allowed our trained educators to observe their classes and record their good practices. Necessary permissions have been obtained when required (e.g. for publication of photographs that include images of people). The coordinator of Early Change project Professor Evridiki Zachopoulou Acknowledgements GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] GOOD PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: LOOKING AT EARLY EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVES IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES* Authors: Athanasios Gregoriadis, Evridiki Zachopoulou, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Jarmo Liukkonen, Teresa Leal, Ana Madalena Gamelas, Manuela Pessanha, Silvia Araujo de Barros, Eleni Loizou, Lise Sanders Olesen, Claus Henriksen, Laura Ciolan. *With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP) : Christodoulidi Publishers: K. Μelenikou 22, 54635 Thessaloniki, Greece Tel.+30 2310248486, Fax +30 2310248478, web page: xristodoulidi.gr, e-mail: [email protected] ◆ 6 ◆ Early-C Early Change project ECE Early Childhood Education ECERS-R Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised GPIF Good Practices Inventory Form ECEC Early Childhood Education and Care ERS Environment Rating Scales Acronyms ◆ 7 ◆ Introduction 1. Good Practices in Early Childhood Education ...................... 2. Brief description of the Early Change project...................... Part I 3. Early Childhood Education Quality among six European countries ............................................................................. 4. Reports from the participating countries: ........................... 4.1 The Greek experience ................................................... 4.2 The Portuguese experience ........................................... 4.3 The Finnish experience .................................................. 4.4 The Cypriot experience ................................................. 4.5 The Danish experience .................................................. 4.6 The Romanian experience ............................................. Part II 5. Categories of Good Practices ............................................. 5.1 Method ......................................................................... 5.2 Health & Safety: ............................................................ Good practices 112 ..................................................... 5.3 Activities/Play: .............................................................. Good practices 13-53 .................................................... 5.4 Interactions: ................................................................. Good practices 54-83 .................................................... 5.5 Classroom Management: ............................................. Good practices 84-102 .................................................. 5.6 Diversity/Inclusion: ....................................................... Good practices 103-113 ................................................ Part III 6. Epilogue .................................................................................. 7. References .............................................................................. Appendix 8. Good Practices Inventory Form .............................................. 9. Good Practices Kit .................................................................. Why Good Practices .............................................................. Theoretical & Pedagogical Content ....................................... Health & Safety..................................................................... Activities/Play ........................................................................ Interactions ........................................................................... Classroom Management ....................................................... Diversity/ Inclusion ................................................................ Practical Issues ...................................................................... CONTENTS 11 12 17 21 21 23 26 28 30 33 41 41 41 44 60 61 117 119 158 160 187 188 203 205 210 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 INTRODUCTION ◆ 17 ◆ An important method for examining and understanding the diversity and complexity of early childhood education in Europe is cross-national and cross-cultural studies among European countries. Despite the contextual differences, there are certain similarities in the early childhood programs and environments (Sheridan, Giota, Han, Kwon, 2009). One apparent commonality refers to the existence of widely accepted values that are crucial to children’s learning and wellbeing (UN, 1989). Comparative studies on a cross-national level highlight the importance of policy inputs, such as expenditure on children, policies for children’s wellbeing, inclusion and high quality learning environments. Valid comparable data are better provided with a common measure. Thus, in the current project it has been decided that all participating countries would use the Early Childhood Environment Rating ScaleRevision (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) for the evaluation of the ECE quality. ECERS-R is a widely used instrument with sound psychometric properties. It was developed in the USA in the early 1980s and since then it been used in more than 20 countries worldwide, gaining an extensive international reputation. The purpose of this chapter1 is to present the results of the ECE quality evaluation of the six participating countries (Greece, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania) in the project “Early Change.” This study examines (from a qualitative perspective) the scores of ECERS-R by presenting tendencies and not actual quantitative scores. Such results can spark a discussion about the differences and similarities in the provision of European ECE quality, and can promote crossnational efforts towards a more unified European Open Education. The participants of the current study were 546 early childhood classrooms from six European countries (Greece = 126, Cyprus = 52, Finland = 98, Denmark = 70, Romania = 128, & Portugal = 72). These classrooms were evaluated during the school year 2012-2013 and randomly selected by the municipalities and educational districts that were partners in the project “Early Change.” The total number of the evaluated classrooms was higher, yet for statistical reasons some of them were not incorporated in the final analysis. Instruments The Early Childhood Education Rating Scale-Revision (ECERS-R) was used as the evaluation instrument of the current study. ECERS-R 1 This chapter is based on the following publication which was made for dissemination purposes of the project: Grammatikopoulos, V., Gregoriadis, A., Liukkonen, J., Zachopoulou, E., Gamelas, A., Leal, T., Pessahna, M., Barros, S. (2014). Evaluation of early childhood education quality across Europe. Conference Proceedings of the International EIF / LINQ Conference “Changing the Trajectory: Quality for Opening up Education”, pp. 82-90. May 2014, Crete, Greece. 3. Early Childhood Education Quality Among Six European Countries Method Participants ◆ 18 ◆ (Harms et al., 2005) is an observation instrument widely used since the early 80s. It comprises 43 items and over 470 indicators and it is considered a valid and reliable measure to capturing the quality provided in ECE settings. The ECERS-R consists of 43 items, organized under seven subscales that include 470 indicators. In the current project, the seventh subscale (Parents & Staff) has not been used after the suggestion by the authors of the scale. For a detailed presentation of the six subscales and the 37 items of the ECERS-R see Table 1. Table 1. Subscales and items of the ECERS-R Subscales Items Space & furnishings 1. Indoor space 2. Furniture for routine care, play and learning 3. Furnishings for relaxation and comfort 4. Room arrangement for play 5. Space for privacy 6. Child-related display 7. Space for gross motor ability 8. Gross motor equipment Personal care routine 9. Greeting/departing 10. Meals/snacks 11. Nap/rest 12. Toileting/diapering 13. Health practices 14. Safety practices Language-Reasoning 15. Books and pictures 16. Encouraging children to communicate 17. Using language to develop reasoning skills 18. Informal use of language Activities 19. Fine motor 20. Art 21. Music/movement 22. Blocks 23. Sand/water 24. Dramatic play 25. Nature/science 26. Math /number 27. Use of TV, video, and/or computers 28. Promoting acceptance of diversity Interaction 29. Supervision of gross motor activities 30. General supervision of children (other than gross motor) 31. Discipline 32. Staff-child interactions 33. Interactions among children Program structure 34. Schedule 35. Free play 36. Group time 37. Provisions for children with disabilities ◆ 19 ◆ The trained observers evaluated the ECE classrooms between October 2012 and June 2013. They made day visits in the ECE centres and evaluated each classroom per day by observing the daily activities for at least three hours. Immediately after the completion of the observation in each ECE centre, they filled in the score sheet of the ECERS-R and concluded the evaluation. The assessors in each country followed the same procedure in every classroom. The results of the evaluation of the ECE classrooms from the six participating countries are presented in Table 2. A more “qualitative” procedure was adopted to present the evaluation results, as it was decided not to present mean scores due to limitations in training procedure. In all six European countries the subscale valued higher was the “Interaction” subscale. In five countries the subscale valued lower was the “Activities” subscale (in Romania was in the fourth place). The subscale “Language & Reasoning” was valued as the second best in two countries (Greece & Portugal), as the third and fifth best in one country (Denmark & Romania respectively), and as the fourth best in two countries (Cyprus & Finland). The subscale “Personal Care Routines” was valued as the third best in three countries (Greece, Finland, Romania), as the second best in Cyprus, as the fourth best in Denmark, and as the fifth in Portugal. The subscale “Program Structure” was valued as the fourth best in Greece and Portugal, in the fifth place in Cyprus and Denmark, in the last place in Romania, and surprisingly at the second best place in Finland. Finally, “Space & Furnishings” was rated in the second place in Denmark and Romania, in the third place in Cyprus and Portugal, and in the fifth place in Greece and Finland. Procedure Results Table 2. Ranking of the ECERS-R subscales from highest to lowest score in each country High to low Greece Cyprus Finland Denmark Romania Portugal 1Interaction Interaction Interaction Interaction Interaction Interaction 2Language & Reasoning Personal care routines Program structure Space & furnishings Space & furnishings Language & Reasoning 3Personal care routines Space & furnishings Personal care routines Language & Reasoning Personal care routines Space & furnishings 4Program structure Language & Reasoning Language & Reasoning Personal care routines Activities Program structure 5Space & furnishings Program structure Space & furnishings Program structure Language & Reasoning Personal care routines 6Activities Activities Activities Activities Program structure Activities ◆ 20 ◆ Some would argue that early educators might be biased because they had to evaluate their colleagues’ classrooms. Thus, instead of presenting quantitative scores and comparing means, we decided to proceed to a comparison of the ranking of the different subscales in the scores of each country. This was a way to overcome the “bias” issue. It was assumed that if an educator/assessor was biased, then he/she would be equally biased towards all the subscales and items. Thus, the internal ranking of the subscales in each country could be considered valid. Based on the results, the most interesting finding is that in all six countries the subscale “Interaction” was valued as the best, and that in five countries (except Romania) the “worst” subscale was “Activities.” The quality of classroom interactions with an emphasis on the teachers’ interactions with children has been shown to be a critical mechanism by which children develop (Pianta, Belsky, Houts, Morrison, & the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2007). Domains of classroom interactions (e.g. instructionally supportive interactions, organizational interactions, emotionally supportive interactions) have been positively related to children’s academic gains (Curby, Rimm-Kaufman, & Ponitz, 2009). A possible explanation on the highest ranking of “Interaction” in the six participating countries could be that interpersonal relationships, the socio-emotional support and development of children have traditionally been a basic element of the European culture. For example, the Nordic countries paradigm is focused much more on the socio-emotional development of children, their autonomy, their self-regulation and the development of their social skills in comparison with the Northern American early childhood education. An additional reason could also be attributed to the teachers’ higher level of education (bachelor degree), as many studies revealed the merit of having a bachelor degree for ECE educators (Boyd, Goldhaber, Lankford, & Wyckoff, 2007; Burchinal, Roberts, Riggins, Zeisel, Neebe, & Bryant, 2000; Croninger, Rice, Rathbun, & Nishio, 2007; Early, Bryan, Pianta, Clifford, Burchinal, Ritchie, Howes, & Barbarin, 2006). Another interesting finding was that in five out of six countries the “activities” subscale received the lowest scores comparing with the other subscales. A possible interpretation of this result could be based on the lack of specific “activities” in some countries. For example, in Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus there isn’t any provision for indoor or outdoor “sand/water” activities. An overall finding was also that “nature/science” and “promoting acceptance of diversity” activities were underdeveloped. Thus, the total scores for the subscale “activities” were the lowest in five out of six countries. However, these results were based on educators’ observations only and in order to draw firm conclusions further research will be needed. Generally, it can be argued that the diverse and low scores for the “activities” subscale reveal some differences between the US and European approach to ECE. Discussion ◆ 21 ◆ In this chapter the academic staff of the six participating countries (Greece, Portugal, Finland, Cyprus Denmark, Romania,) describe their experiences and thoughts from their participation in the project. Greece is a country that requires a four-year bachelor degree from the early childhood educators and kindergarten teachers. Despite this initial important investment in early childhood educators’ training, after graduation the notion of in-service early educators’ professional development and assessment is very limited if not absent. Also, till today there are no official evaluation procedures established in the Greek early childhood education system regarding the evaluation of early childhood environments or the evaluation of kindergarten teachers and caregivers. This gap along with the placement of early childhood education in the epicenter of attention in most European educational systems and policies were the spark for the preparation and implementation of a project like Early Change. The Greek participants in the Early-Change project were university staff (professors and assistant professors) from three different institutes and early childhood teachers and caregivers from public kindergarten schools and child care centers. The coordinating institute was the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki and the other two participating universities were the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Crete. The 20 kindergarten teachers and caregivers that participated in the project were from the Educational district of Eastern Thessaloniki and from the Municipality of Kalamaria. As coordinators the Greek academic staff organized all the phases of the project according to the initial work plan. In the beginning of the project the kick-off meeting was held in Thessaloniki where all the partners met and the timeline for the implementation of the project was set. The academic staff prepared all the training materials in preparation of the Training phase I. Prior to the beginning of the Training Phase I, the second meeting of the project occurred in Porto where all the partners prepared for the organization of the training seminars. The Greek and the Portuguese academic staff traveled in all partners’ countries (Denmark, Finland, Romania and Cyprus) and implemented the training seminars. In these seminars the participating early childhood teachers’ of each country were trained in using the ECERS-R. Apart from the training in the ECERS-R scale, the Training phase I included training in the Good Practices Inventory Form as well, an instrument that was developed by the Greek academic staff for the collection of good practices in early childhood centers in the six participating countries. In Greece, the Training phase I followed the general guidelines of 4. Reports from the Participating Countries 4.1 The Greek experience ◆ 22 ◆ the Early-C project and included both theoretical training and field observation in early childhood centers. The educators’ maternal language was used in the training seminar in Greece, while in the other countries the seminars were held in English. Twenty Greek early childhood teachers (12 kindergarten teachers from the educational district of eastern Thessaloniki and 8 caregivers from the Municipality of Kalamaria) participated in the training seminars. All the participants had a four-year university bachelor degree and were female. The Training Phase II commenced in the Spring of 2013 and ended in June of the same year. The Early-C project received a formal authorization from the Ministry of Education, the directors of the educational districts and the teachers themselves. In their first observation, every early childhood teacher was supervised by a trained observer (an academic staff) and after the observation a debriefing procedure followed discussing all the scored indicators. The 20 early childhood teachers and caregivers visited and evaluated in total 126 classrooms in public kindergarten classes and childcare centers. Additionally, the early childhood teachers that participated in the Early-C project implemented the Good Practice Inventory Form to record examples of good practices that they had observed or taught themselves. A total of 32 good practices was selected. The selection was based on the categories and the criteria dictated by the Good Practice Inventory Form and its manual. The collected good practices reflect, up to a point, the philosophy and the guidelines of the Greek national curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2002) for early childhood education that is implemented in the kindergarten classes. The Greek national curriculum called “Cross-Thematic Curriculum Framework (CTCF)” was designed to provide a cross-thematic approach to knowledge, promote the implementation of children’s projects, initiatives and discovery learning and empower child centered approaches and practices. Children are taught through hands on experiences; through play various subjects are approached in cross-thematic way and not as discrete domains. The CTCF promotes learning through play in domains like literacy, mathematics, science, arts and crafts and ICTs. The educators are free to design and implement organized activities that are based on children’s interests and individual needs (Doliopoulou, 2006). The good practices that are presented in the current e-book have not been tampered but depicted exactly as the teachers had recorded and selected them. In this way they reflect the teachers’ perspectives on what constitutes a good practice in the educational praxis and not the academic’s view, which on several occasions could be different. The Greek academic staff also organized the last meeting between the academic partners and the international workshop for the dissemination of the results of the Early-C project. The international workshop was held in Thessaloniki in January 2014 where international guests ◆ 23 ◆ from early childhood institutes and universities along with the academic staff of the project talked about the educational policies and the future of early childhood education in Europe. Moreover, academic staff from the Early-C project presented the results from the evaluations of the early childhood environments in the six countries and also discussed the cultural differences among the participating countries. The three Greek partner members that participated in the project improved their expertise in a multi-faceted way. The gained administrative experience was important because coordinating and training a large number of early childhood educators from six European countries and cooperating with the academic colleagues from so many countries was not an easy task. The smooth closure of the project and the completion of all the designed tasks gave the academic partners valuable information and data to proceed to further analyses and future cooperation. The expertise gained from getting in contact with early childhood teachers from six European countries, training them, interacting with them, exchanging experiences and also taking the opportunity to observe and evaluate early childhood centers in all the countries can only be described as an extremely valuable experience. The acquired knowledge helped the academic staff to improve its awareness and expertise on teachers’ training and professional development and to further expand their horizons. The Greek early childhood teachers and caregivers who participated in the project were provided with the opportunity and the stimuli to improve their self-evaluation skills, empower their professional qualification and acquire important knowledge in order to improve their daily practices. In addition, the exchange of experiences and ideas with their colleagues from the other European countries provided valuable insight into various structural and process characteristics of a qualitative early childhood environment. In Portugal, several research groups have been studying early childhood environments, regarding their structural and process characteristics, as well as their influence on child outcomes (e.g., Abreu-Lima, Leal, Cadima, & Gamelas, 2013; Barros & Aguiar, 2010; Pessanha, Aguiar, & Bairrão, 2007; Pinto, Pessanha, & Aguiar, 2013). In many of these studies, overall quality has been measured with the broadly known Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales (e.g., Barros & Leal, 2011; Gamelas, 2003; Leal, Gamelas, Abreu-Lima, Cadima, & Peixoto, 2009). Results have shown relatively low or minimal quality in child care for infants and toddlers (e.g., Barros & Aguiar, 2010; Barros & Peixoto, 2012) and minimal conditions for preschoolers (Abreu-Lima et al., 2013; Leal et al., 2009). These studies point out the need to promote preschool teachers’ education and training. Thus, in Portugal, projects focusing Final comments 4.2 The Portuguese experience ◆ 24 ◆ on professional development in early childhood education are imperative. The Project “Promoting the Professional Development of Early Childhood Educators” (Early-Change Project) intended to combine the widely accepted need for the early childhood educators’ lifelong training and professional development with the implementation of Information & Communication Technologies. The Portuguese participants in the Early-Change Project were university members (researchers and professors from the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, School of Education, and the Porto University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences) and early childhood educators from two cooperating public school institutions (Agrupamento de Escolas do Pinheiro and Agrupamento de Escolas de Valadares). The Portuguese team participated in all the phases of the project, according to the initial plan. At the beginning of the project, the four academic members translated the materials needed for the Portuguese participation. They participated in the organization of the training seminars (Training Phase I), and actively participated in teachers’ training in Finland, Denmark, Romania, and Portugal. For this training phase, a video previously filmed in a Portuguese preschool was used (subtitles were included for the Early-Change project). In Portugal, the training followed the general guidelines of the Early-C project, the Portuguese video was completely analyzed and all the indicators were scored and discussed. Furthermore, trained observers supported this discussion. The educators’ maternal language was used. Another topic of the Training Phase I sessions was the presentation and discussion of the manual and the inventory form of Good practices. One example of a Good Practice was organized and provided to the educators by the team in Portuguese. Twenty-one Portuguese early childhood educators (14 from Agrupamento de Escolas do Pinheiro and 7 from Agrupamento de Escolas de Valadares) participated in the training seminars. All preschool teachers were female and had a bachelor degree in preschool education. The Training Phase II began in February 2013, after having received the formal authorization from the Ministry of Education, the school directors and from the teachers to be observed. Each of the 21 educators’ first observation was supervised by a trained observer (member of the academic team or researcher collaborator). This observation was followed by a debriefing session in order to discuss all the scored indicators. During the Training Phase II (i.e., data collection period), a collaborator monitored some additional observations to identify possible difficulties and misunderstandings, and clarify scoring procedures. A total of 71 classrooms, all from public centers, were observed. The abovementioned process allowed the team to identify the following difficulties during the Training Phase II (observation with the ECERS-R): due to professional constraints, educators had a very short period to observe and interview the teacher of the classroom; lack of ◆ 25 ◆ time to score indicators that were observable and lack of training to conduct a good interview that might have influenced the scoring of the indicators; in some cases, scores seemed to be influenced by previous information about the classroom and/or the knowledge about the leading teacher (sometimes observers and observed educators happened to be colleagues); and some educators reported discomfort with the evaluation role (i.e., they were assessing peers). In this process, inter-rater reliability was not controlled for. Therefore, data obtained with the ECERS-R, should be carefully used by the educators. Specifically, these data should not be compared to those collected by trained external observers. However, as all the indicators of the ECERSR were scored, a rich description of a wide range of practices was obtained. During this process the teachers collected Good Practices according to the Early-C Good Practice Collection Inventory. A total of 27 practices was selected. This selection illustrates the Good Practices Categories proposed by the Early C Project. Furthermore, and perhaps more important for Portuguese teachers in general, these descriptions are examples of the way Portuguese Curriculum Guidelines (Ministério da Educação, 1997) are implemented in our preschool classrooms. Portuguese Curriculum Guidelines are based on the greater questions that today’s society poses for preschool education: citizenship and democratic participation, interculturality, ecology, nonsexist approaches to education, access to technologies, motivation to use the instruments of reading and writing, aesthetic and cultural participation. These Curriculum Guidelines are organized in content areas: Personal and social development, Expression and communication (which includes mastering different forms of expression, language, an initial approach to writing and reading, and mathematics), and Knowledge of the world. They imply an organization of the educational environment (group, classroom space and time); organization of the educational setting, relations with parents and other partners. These guidelines also support an educational continuity and an educational intentionality that result from a process of reflecting on observation, planning, action and assessment (Vasconcelos, 1997, p. 10). In some descriptions, the connection between the Good practice and the content areas was clearly expressed by the educators; in other cases, that connection could be easily inferred by the reader. Some of the activities were embedded in Portuguese specific traditions. Additionally, preschool commitment to inclusion, and to family and community participation in the educational process, was present in several reports. The four academic members engaged in this project have improved their expertise on the assessment of early childhood environments through several tasks. We highlight the organization and participation Final comments ◆ 32 ◆ borgsund and how difficult it can be to carry through a project like this when other things have a great influence such as other projects, conflicts and challenges in the daily work. We have got an international network with which we plan to cooperate in the future. We have learned a lot about pedagogy and Social Education from the participating countries as well as the challenges they have faced during the time of the project. That has been of particular value. Thank you! We have learned that Danish Kindergartens are different from American kindergartens according to ECERS-R, in several ways. First of all we don`t have classrooms in kindergartens in Denmark. The children in kindergartens are expected to use more than one room and the Social Educators work together to observe the children and make sure they are all right and don`t get hurt. We use the outdoor playground a lot. We don’t wash hands so much and we don´t control the children all the time. It seems to us that this part (to be clean) is more important in ECERS –R than in Denmark. The Danish Social Educators are not teachers and the children are very often in the Kindergarten from early morning till late afternoon. On the other hand, there are a lot of issues that seem to be very much similar to ours. That goes for caretaking, the relations between Social Educators and children, the support of children’s joy Picture 2: Danish Kindergarten Cente Picture 3: Two of the participating social educators in Denmark ◆ 33 ◆ and play etc. and of course our desire for children to learn a lot. The participating Social Educators told us that they have learned a lot by having an opportunity to observe how other Social Educators worked. They have learned a lot about themselves by doing the evaluation and the way their colleagues work. They have noticed a lot of good ways to do pedagogical work. These are good practices. They told us about one pedagogue who was all alone with twenty children and did a fantastic job helping the children with their clothes, talking to them and so on. The children were happy and engaged and there was no yelling or shouting. They were impressed. They also told us that they were shocked or surprised at the big difference of how they work in the different institutions in Guldborgsund. They accepted like everybody in Denmark that there are differences and we value the differences, but they questioned if everything was ok. It seems to them that not every way of pedagogical work could be ok? That is a very good question. The answer might not be important but the discussion is very important in our view. The current social and informational context calls for a different approach to the educational process. One usually insists on the changes taking place in the learning mechanisms, the patterns of structuring the educational action, and the identification of the optimal combination of didactic strategies. Out of this entire context, the child/the subject of teaching is given little attention. The pedagogical discourse has to target an approach, which is closer to the individual needs and ambitions, and one’s capabilities towards one domain of development or another. Thus, the education of children in early stages must focus on a number of directions such as: the activation of the internal motivation for learning; the creation of contexts for the discovery/manifestation of abilities/talents; offering the children opportunities to be actively involved in the learning process; physical, mental, emotional, organizational and social safety and health; the dilution of social and economical discrepancies. At the level of early education, some of the most spectacular transformations can take place, transformations in which the effects on the personality of the child can be found. In order to have congruence with the goals, the learning process, the didactic efficiency, the support for the development/learning process and the kindergarten/school environment, the following characteristics need to be met: - to mirror a coherent didactical program (all the partners involved should promote the same values). Feedback from the pedagogues 4.6 The Romanian experience ◆ 34 ◆ - to hold a good organization and usage of material resources and space. - to insist on an effective style of relating and a positive attitude towards learning in the educational institutions. At the level of official documentation, a sizeable part of these directions can be found in the “Curriculum for the Early Education of Children from the Age of 3 to 6/7”. In accordance with the relevant studies in the respective domain and with other educational systems, the goals of the early education in Romania are: - “The full, harmonious and free development of the child’s personality, based on its own rhythm and needs, bolstering its autonomous and creative formation. - The development of the capacity to interact with other children, adults and the environment. - The discovery of a child’s own identity, autonomy and the development of a positive self-image by each and every child. - The support offered to the child regarding the accumulation of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes which are necessary when he/she goes to school.” (Curriculum, 2008, p. 9). All four directions of the early education curriculum can be placed within the integrated dimension of the child’s personality development as a response to the challenges of the contemporary world to which the child is exposed from the first years of his/her life. At an international level, two complex educational dimensions are attributed to this particular age: the child’s socialization and the ability to interact with peers and surroundings, as well as his/her preparation for school. Along with curricular modifications, one can notice an extended perspective of all the educational influences to which the child is exposed. Thus, one can find typical elements in the document: extension; equilibrium; relevance; differentiation (p. 11). The respective document has got a structure based on two age levels: the one regarding 3 to 5-year-old children which shows that the categories of activity held with children need mostly to emphasize the socialization of the child (collaboration, cooperation, negotiation) and the gaining of a personal autonomy, while the other level, referring to children 5 to 7-year-old children focuses on the formation of abilities and skills necessary for school learning. In the context of an education whose focal point is the child, heterogeneity and gradual elimination of establishing groups of children based on the chronological criterion are encouraged. An element of novelty and flexibility regarding the process of early education during kindergarten classes refers to its structuring in accordance with “experiential domains”. These represent “real integrated cognitive fields” which transcend the border between disciplines and which, placed within the context created by the current curriculum, bind with the traditional domains ◆ 35 ◆ of child development”. 1. The aesthetic and creative domain 1. The psychomotive domain 2. The human and society domain 2. The language domain 3.The language and communication domain 3. The social and emotional domain 4.The science domain 4. The cognitive domain 5.The psychomotive domain Experiential domains Child development domains The educational plan as well as the experiential domains presented above, grant an interdisciplinary and integrated covering of the learning content; the teacher possesses the pedagogical context created with flexibility regarding the outline and organization of the daily educational activity of the group of children. The kindergarten and school need to be preoccupied with: - ensuring the conditions for a normal physical development and the protection of the child’s health in cooperation with the family and with means of involving the doctor/psychologist in these actions. - outlining the activities schedule in accordance with the individual development, the development of the maintain concentration and not to abandon the effort. - social adaptation – one of the most important acquisitions and abilities typical for the individual, which need to be completed by enabling the child’s integration into the social group. - the formation of self-awareness – even from the first years of life, the child must develop a correct and positive image of his/her own personality in relation to others. - the identification of the real balance between the educational finalities and individuality, an action carried out through: the perfect combination of an excellent education at home and a “wonderful” kindergarten, self-confidence, the intimate understanding of the language – word and the formulation of the ability to take an intellectual risk to solve a new problem/situation. All these can ensure the premises for a successful start in school and the overall success in school throughout the period of formal education. The documents that govern the organization and function of early education in Romania are: - Education Law No. 1/2011 - MECTS (Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sport) Ordinance No. 3850/17.05.2010 “The standards regarding the teaching-learning material in early education” and “The normative ones ◆ 36 ◆ for minimal facilities of early educational services for 3 to 6/7-yearold children” - MECTS Ordinance No. 3851/17.05.2010 “The Basic Reference Frame in the Early Education and Development of the Child from Birth until the age of 7” - MECTS Ordinance No. 5233/01.09.2008 “The Curriculum for the early education of children between birth and the age of 6/7”. At the level of early education, numerous national and international projects have been held, whose purposes were the teachers’ instruction in pre-school education, the identification of the ways of implementing the new directions of individual and social evolution, and ensure the quality of educational actions. One of these projects was Comenius-Early Change: Promoting the Professional Development of Early Childhood Educators in which Romania was a partner through the participation of the University of Bucharest, which joined universities from Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Denmark and Finland. The purpose of the project was the evaluation of the development environment during early childhood and the identification of good practices in the child’s early education among the partner countries. The instrument used was the ECERS-R Evaluation Scale. Following the completion of the activities, one could notice a few particular aspects of the implementation of the project in Romania. Out of all these, we need only to mention the fact that every person taking part in the project as an expert has observed or evaluated the educational space of at least 8 groups of the selected classrooms/centers. Thus, a number of 33 charts could be selected regarding the examples of good practices which referred to activities, methods being used, the educational space used for the completion of goals and the work with children having special educational needs. Out of all these, the most relevant are: - Item 30 from the grid – the general supervision of children Activity in the experiential domain Human and Society, Practical Activity, Spring Scenery. One has noticed that the material given to the children is sufficient and in accordance with the type and the purpose of the activity; the laying-out of the available space for easy usage on behalf of the children; the exposition of the works done at the level of the children; and the staff that offers help, guidance and support in the fulfillment of the educational task. - Item 26 from the grid – Mathematics/Numbers Activities in the experiential domains, Mathematical Activity, the Consolidation of numbering within the limits of 1 – 7 (the expansion of the number) One has noticed a good child-educator relationship regarding communication, explanation and motivation; the work space is properly laid out to avoid physical constrictions; the educator puts forward ◆ 37 ◆ questions that encourage children to answer in order to find various solutions to solve the required tasks. The children’s predisposition to identify new answers and personalize their answers is encouraged and appreciated. - Item 22 from the grid – blocks/cubes Constructions: The Eskimos’ igloo. The most relevant observations refer to the variety of accessories made available to the children; these are some didactic materials made by the educator or purchased ones which are laid out, so that all the children can visualize and analyze them; they can easily reach the materials in order to accomplish the given task. - Item 9 from the grid – greeting/departing The morning greeting. Characters from stories. The most important aspect identified and observed was the educator’s and children’s attitude. This attitude is open, they are eager to play and take part in the activities of the respective day. The educator received them with great pleasure, he/she has a warm and pleasant tone of voice, the children share the experiences of the previous day as well as the intentions for the respective day. What one notices through the implementation of this project can surprise in a positive way, in relation to how well early education in Romania functions and is organized. The project brings forth elements of assessment, evaluation and improvability of the quality of the Romanian educational endeavor regarding the domain of preschool learning by placing the child in another position in relation to the adult and the personal needs of appreciation and relation to others. Another constructive dimension of early education is the one that refers to the successful integration of the children with special educational needs. Although the action has taken place in various areas in Bucharest, regarding children from various socio-economical background, children from disadvantaged social groups (Kindergarten no. 47 – 25 children in social protection) and not pertaining to this, an analysis of the educational standards can be carried out in relation to the groups and children to whom the project refers. The evaluators and the coordinators of the project have treated with great seriousness the issue under observation and the way the evaluation of the educational endeavor should be performed, both at the individual and group level. The national Curriculum allows the integrated teaching and the existence of points of interest to be carried out through the compartmentalization of the space with respect to the same coordinates as the ECERS-R Evaluation Grid. The teaching staff, most of which is qualified through university education, supports the development of every individual and follows an equal assessment/measurement way of the quality of the education, ◆ 38 ◆ the standards that establish this fact. The Romanian educational system concerning the preschool segment benefits from a modern curriculum, focusing on the child and the individual needs. However, there are some particular aspects of this process within the abovementioned international context. These particular aspects are, mainly, the by-product of medical and sanitary legislation at a national level which imposes some constrictions on the performance of activities concerning the groups of children. The following are taken into consideration: - the stuffed toys that are not recommended to large numbers for groups in order some forms of allergic reactions or diseases caused by these toys to be prevented. - the sandbox can be used only in the center for sand and water; it isn’t generally recommended to be placed in the playground, unless it is properly covered. - the buildings of kindergartens are old and have classes with double or triple functionality (playing/activities, meals, sleep); the construction of spaces fitted from the beginning with the conveniences for kindergartens is still a challenge to the Romanian preschool education. The aspects that can be improved at the level of the activities in the kindergarten refer especially to the interior and exterior dimensions and the endowments of the learning institution as well as to the partner’s personal disposition and effort involved in early education (teachers, parents, evaluators). Thus we exemplify with the following aspects: -the class space: the games of the children are hampered. Difficulty in arranging all the works of children. - the kindergarten yard: sometimes the space was too small and it didn’t allow a good observation of the child’s movement. - the parents: some reluctant to change. They are embarrassed to accept the idea of a child with CES. - the staff: sometimes reluctant to change, bringing only sketchy information. - the evaluator: lack of time because of other work duties. High costs for the multiplying of various material. - the evaluation procedure: it presupposes a lot of attention and objectivity. Activities that span way over the schedule for rigorous filling in. However, the staffs’ protection, hygiene and positive attitude in kindergartens allow an optimal fulfillment of early education in Romania. Part II ◆ 41 ◆ One of the basic objectives of the Early Change project was the collection of good practices from the early childhood classrooms of six European countries (Greece, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Cyprus, Romania). Early Change project collected good practices regarding five specific categories of the daily practices in early childhood education environments: (a) Health & Safety, (b) Activities/Play, (c) Interactions, (d) Classroom Management, and (e) Diversity/Inclusion. The good practices were collected by the participating early childhood teachers in the Early Change project. A total number of 122 teachers from the six countries-partners were trained in using the instruments Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERSR) and the Good Practice Inventory Form (GPIF). From October of 2012 to January of 2013 separate training seminars were conducted in each country. The good practices were collected from the regions of the educational districts and municipalities that were associated partners of the project. The Good Practices Inventory Form is semi-structured diary/inventory form for recording good practices from early childhood classrooms (see Appendix). It collects a wide range of information for each recorded good practice such as: (a) the number of children engaged in the good practice, (b) the duration of the good practice, (c) the category of the good practice, (d) the purpose of the good practice, (e) the teaching methods, (f) the materials and resources used, (g) the content and structure of the activity, and (h) the teacher and the children’s role in it. After their training during the training phase I (September 2012-January 2013), the 122 early childhood teachers of the project collected the good practices during the training phase II of the project, that lasted from January 2013 to June 2013. A total of 146 good practices were collected and 113 of them are included in this e-book. At this point it is important to mention that all the presented good practices have not been changed or tampered in any way from the academic staff of the Early Change project. The selected good practices are examples that the participating teachers of the project observed in early childhood education environments and represent the early childhood educators’ ideas from six countries about what constitutes a good practice and a qualitative early childhood education environment. The most important, among equals, criterion for a qualitative early childhood education environment is the health and safety of children. Children’s health and safety, encompasses children’s physical health and comfort, healthy eating and physical activity and children’s safety 5. CATEGORIES OF GOOD PRACTICES 5.1 Method Participants Instrument Procedure 5.2 Health & Safety ◆ 48 ◆ Additional comments-Highlights: This activity was organized to promote the knowledge and development of skills in the area of social and personal education. However, it was expanded to other curricular areas such as the knowledge of the world, math and language skills (expressive language). It provided the opportunity to learn about plants, the importance of water either in nature or to human life, to get to know new food and their derivatives, to learn about some animals’ life cycles and about the food chains. Children were also engaged in gardening activities and home composting. ◆ 49 ◆ Good Practice 3 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: Three afternoons (All day program) Number of children involved: The whole group (22 children) Purpose - Goals: To promote literacy but keeping as a central goal the purpose of promotion of healthy eating habits and dental hygiene. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The following practices were used: verbal guidance/instructions, searching and sharing materials. A play was read aloud. Searching and collecting images to depict the play. Images used to solve a problem. Puppets were made with the children to put the play together. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Theatre play: ‘Mr. Dentist’ (unknown author) Cardboard, colour pencils, glue, adhesive paper, sticks, grilling sticks Drawings searched, chosen and downloaded from the internet by the children. These were later used to illustrate the play and build the puppets. Content of the Activity: The theater play was read aloud to the whole group by the teacher. After reading, the teacher asked some questions about the events. The images, which had been previously collected, were used as clues to help identify the problem depicted in the play (what food is healthy/ less healthy?). The children made drawings of the problem and of its resolution individually. Puppets were made to perform the play. Teacher’s role: The teacher participated in this activity along with the children and provided support whenever necessary. Children’s role: In this activity, children participated as part of the whole group (listening to the play) and in smaller groups/individually (internet search and drawings). The children participated actively. The material was available during the rest of the school year and it could be used by individuals or by small groups. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity enabled its expansion across/to other areas: personal and social development, knowledge of the world and arts. ◆ 50 ◆ Good Practice 4 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One school year Number of children involved: The whole class Purpose - Goals: The purpose of this activity was to promote habits of oral hygiene. Therefore a dental hygienist was invited to explain to the children (in a playful way) the necessity of healthful habits/routines of dental hygiene, some features/characteristics of dentition and how to brush the teeth adequately. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The strategies that were used were based on modeling (the adult was the model) and verbal instructions/guidance. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): It was used a video of tooth brushing, Dental plate and a Toothbrush. Content of the Activity: After a first approach to the story ‘The mouth and the teeth’, the invited health professional gave verbal orientations/clues/instructions to explain the need for good dental hygiene. Using an artificial dental plate an explanation about the different types of teeth and their functions/uses was carried out in a playful way. Afterwards, a toothbrush was presented to the children and it was explained to them how they should brush their teeth by giving them specific orientations about the amount of necessary toothpaste, for how long they should brush, etc.. Hereby, children were motivated to brush their teeth and they were encouraged to do so every day – a routine which from that moment on started to be carried out in preschool. Teacher’s role: The role of the teacher was to approach this theme using stories and speaking with the children afterwards. After these activities the teacher contacted a health professional to demonstrate the adequate way of brushing the teeth. Finally, the teacher monitored tooth brushing on a daily basis, providing guidance and motivating the children to perform this task. Children’s role: The children participated in large numbers in the activity implemented by the health professional by interacting and answering various questions. Afterwards each child brushed the teeth individually. Additional comments-Highlights: This good practice was noted/written down to be an example of the Early C. project. This good practice was part of a health promotion project. ◆ 51 ◆ Good Practice 5 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Departure time, approximately 15 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class Purpose - Goals: To make sure that children leave the school with safety. To practice the routine of departing. To make sure that children and parents leave the school feeling happy and satisfied. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Practicing a daily routine. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Content of the Activity: Going home time: The children are sitting on their chairs, around the circle. The school assistant unlocks the door leading to the exit 5 minutes before the school bell rings for home time. She stays there, at the exit, making sure that no child leaves the schools without an adult escorting. The teachers open the classroom’s door and welcome the parents. They might also refer to specific incidences or information that they need to share with the parents at this point. Parents are also invited from time to time (usually Fridays) to the school and the children present something that they’ve learnt e.g. a new song, a poem, a dance. We never allow to a person that we don’t know to pick up a child without calling the parents and making sure that they are aware of the situation. Teacher’s role: The teacher is the one that needs to get the children ready for home time - it’s very important for each child to leave the school feeling happy and with a smile on its face. She is responsible to recognize all children’s parents and make sure that each child leaves with an adult – she is also responsible to call parents if a person that she doesn’t know came to pick up a child. She also participates in the presentations that the children do when their parents visit e.g. a song. Children’s role: The children know that their parents will come to pick them up and that they have to be ready. They also like it when the school invites their parents and they prepare something to present to them. These presentations make them feel proud for themselves and they all want to participate. The children are also aware that nobody is allowed to leave the school without an adult escorting. ◆ 52 ◆ Purpose - Goals: - Crisis prevention activity-Keeping safe and happy during routine transition time by having a creative and fun activity - Participation of all children The children will - hare own experiences - Build self esteem - Develop listening skills- - explore dance Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Discussion with children using observation and communication skills. Using the extracting method by making them searching in their selves and experiences, for their answers Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Table with list of days and children’s nametags(Calendar) - CD player/computer(internet) - CDs children bring from home - Chairs in circle(getting ready for circle time) Content of the Activity: Transition time between activities and especially the ones before having snack, after snack or coming inside from outdoor play, where every child has to wash hands, used to be very noisy and some time hazardous. That is because in the class there were 25 children and no helper present at transitional time. This was the situation in my class so the teacher and the children decided to have a discussion about what was happening at this particular period. At circle time, children stated the facts and expressed their feelings about the noise and some of the ‘negative behaviors’ that were demonstrated. When the teacher popped the question ‘what should we do about it’ and ‘How can this be accomplished’, children came up with ideas as: ‘Listen to music’, ‘read books’, ‘talk to each other’…All ideas were discussed and the children along with teacher continued with their discussion on a different lesson where in the end each child voted on the idea he/she preferred. Listening to music was voted for. The teacher then questioned how they were going to choose on the music they would like to listen. It took one more group time to decide how they were going to choose and who would provide the music and also what activity was going to take place at that time. Listening, singing, dancing were the options and they decided that they would do all three. Children would bring the music. On a five-day calendar, five children placed their names by each day. Each day a child was responsible to bring his/her music from home and choose a song or a piece of music for the activity. Any kind of muGood Practice 6 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Approximately 10 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 53 ◆ sic would be acceptable. Monday was the day that the teacher would choose the music. Every Friday new nametags were placed on the 5-day calendar.(All children participated in a month’s period). If a child forgot to bring a CD, or did not have a CD for the song he/she would choose, the teacher would help with providing the music. Every day the child would prepare for the transition time as soon the previous activity ended. Children will be at the circle area as the activity goes on. Children would listen to music, sing or dance. Teacher’s role: The teacher organized the group time activities (lessons) The teacher accepted all different opinions, led the discussion using extracting ideas and insight from the children. The teacher organized activities during playtime so children practiced their computer and CD player skills so they could use the devices when needed. The teacher provided the CD player and computer (devices needed) for the activity. The teacher would provide the music if a child forgot to bring it. The teacher would watch over children and secure their safety Children’s role:  Children felt confident about bringing their own thing to the class. Children were happy and proud about bringing their own music and ‘showing’ it to friends.  Children were eager to listen what would the new piece of music would be about.  Children put their own music to play (self confidence)  Children practiced their skills in music listening  Children danced in their own creative way  Children expressed their feelings through music and songs ◆ 54 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To prevent bacteria from spreading Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): A daily routine in children’s health practices Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): WC, sink, soap, disposable paper towels, pictures of how you should wash your hands, latex gloves, alcohol gel and inventory disinfection Content of the Activity: It is just before lunchtime, some of the children are still cleaning up the class room, and others are gathering at the WC to wash their hands. A social educator/kindergarten teacher is at the WC as well, helping the children and making sure that the washing is done properly. After the children have finished washing their hands, the social educator washes her own hands. When lunch is over, all the children wash their hands again. The Social educator wears latex gloves while helping going to the toilet, and cleans her hands with alcohol gel skin sanitizer between every child. When all the children are finished, she empties the garbage cans, opens a window to let in fresh air and sprays the sink with inventory disinfection. Teacher’s role: To help keep a good hygiene. Preventing the children and Social Educators from getting ill. Children’s role: Listen to the pedagogue and follow the instructions. Good Practice 7 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: Daily routine Number of children involved: The whole group of children (16 children) ◆ 55 ◆ Purpose - Goals: How to be safe in using the playground ( children from créche). Exercising motor skills and movement in order to ensure the safety of very young children outdoors. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): “Let’s see how you do it ”. Michael shows the children how to use the playground tower, and what possibilities there are. He smiles and laughs and finds it amusing. That inspires the children so they don’t feel unsafe. He quietly supports and helps the children up and down the tower so all children dares to be part of the activity Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Playground tower (outdoor play). Content of the Activity: Michael’s good humor inspires the children. Michael levels with the children and through encouragement and support, the children feel safe and dare to be in the game. The children lift themselves up on the bottom step of the ladder on the tower and jump laughingly down in the sand. A bit later all children have managed to crawl up 3 steps to a small platform and they are thrilled with the progress and give each other “high five” There is solidarity and happiness in the small group in a way that you want to participate. Teacher’s role: To initiate, supervise, encourage and support. Children’s role: To actively play and participate. Good Practice 8 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: Half an hour in t he morning (10 am) Number of children involved: A small group of children (6 children) 2-3 years old ◆ 56 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To empower children’s attitudes concerning healthy diet and eating habbits. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Discovery learning, experiment, hands on experience and cooperative learning. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Big jars, labels, markers, milk. Content of the Activity: The three classes of the specific early childhood center are visiting a Farming School & Institute that is located in a farm outside the city (Thessaloniki). There the children observe how the milk is collected and the procedure that is followed in order to transform fresh milk into yogurt. The staff explains to the children what they are doing and answer to children’s questions. The children are divided in small groups and are imitating the whole procedure of producing yogurt. In the Farming School they experiment with the milk and the transformation into yogurt. They also experiment with the way the ice cream is produced. The next day in their school the children discuss and write what they saw, what they learned and what they tried in their experiments. They taste their creations and discuss about the nutritional value of yogurt and milk. Teacher’s role: The teacher together with the staff from the Farming School support children’s experimentation. They help them form hypotheses and questions and encourage their discovery learning and their cooperative work. They also empower children’s critical thinking and reflection. Children’s role: To cooperate, to be actively engaged in the experiments, to observe the guided tour in the Farming school and reflect on their experiments and experiences. Additional comments-Highlights: Children were absolutely thrilled to visit the farm and observe the procedure of turning milk into yogurt, but also to produce and try their own yogurt. Good Practice 9 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: 2 days Number of children involved: Three classes (62 children) in an experiment. ◆ 57 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To train children into circulating in the city and to teach them to endorse safety practices as pedestrians. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Playful learning, experiential learning, active engagement. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): A field trip to the traffic safety park. Use of the equipment of the park and also a digital camera for photographs. Content of the Activity: Children are visiting a traffic safety park where they are taught basic safety rules for walking in the city and then they get to experiment with miniature electric cars and small bicycles. Their teachers each time supervise them and take photos with their digital camera in order to show to children their mistakes and discuss them. Teacher’s role: To supervise and encourage children’s practices. To scaffold their learning through open ended questions and support of children’s reflection. To use dialogue as a basic tool for realizing the importance of following the safety rules. Children’s role: To observe the presentations, to practice with the equipment of the traffic safety park, to cooperate in small groups and to reflect on their field trip. Good Practice 10 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: 1-week project Number of children involved: Two classes (40 children). ◆ 64 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Promote preschool-family partnership. Experience practices within the professions’ domain (learn to bake Easter Cake - “Folar da Páscoa”, traditional sweet bread with eggs). To develop skills and to promote the acquisition of knowledge on the following content areas: personal and social education, and expressions, especially in different literacy domains (“writing the recipe”, “phonology of few words”), motor expression at the level of fine motor skills (handling and modeling dough), and also in mathematics domain (such as “grouping, quantity, weight...”), and knowledge of the world (connected to the project “Pré Ciência”, fermentation of the dough). Literacy was worked out through in the acquisition of a specific lexicon, through work in the construction of phonological awareness, the (re)cognition of the written letters, and the emergence of writing. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The following strategies were used: - Invite a baker to go to the classroom (one of the children’s grandfather). - Involve children in gathering all the necessary ingredients, and invite them to bring some of the ingredients from home (articulating with families); - Organize the group according to the phase and development of the activity; - Bake Easter Cake.- In this activity the adult acted as a model (modeling), providing verbal directions and involving children in the observation of processes. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Ingredients and utensils for making the Easter Cake - Easter Cake dough, baking tray, kitchen ovens, dishes for the final product. - Classroom: (re)arrange the space, in order to have space for everyone around the table. Content of the Activity: - The group was very excited when rearranging the classroom for the activity and when distributing tasks. - The ingredients were mixed up, while the teacher intentionally talked with the children in order to discuss with them their previous knowledge and experiences on this issue. The group folded the dough, which should be very well mixed, with the support of the adults (grandfather and educator). The teacher managed the time and the intervention of each child, while supervised and encouraged all children’s participation, including two children with special education needs (who also had the help of an auxiliary teacher). - The dough had to be left to rest, according to the grandfather’s teachings. The teacher raised questions about the dough, such as what would happen to it while sleeping, and took photos. Good Practice 14 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One day Number of children involved: Whole class, small groups (23 children). ◆ 65 ◆ - While waiting, other routines were developed. Children were very curious about what was going on with the cake dough. - In right time, the dough was uncovered and it was “very large”! The grandfather had prepared more dough at home, and brought to preschool to have enough Easter Cake for everyone. So, the group decided that they would share the cake with the other classrooms’ children and teachers. - At the time of extending the Cake dough, children could use their imagination to decide its shape and to decorate it. - Children were very happy! - They also helped to put the cakes in the pan for baking and in the oven, with adults’ supervision. Then, it was lunchtime. - In the afternoon, the grandfather returned to share the afternoon snack with all the preschool children. Children were encouraged to make the registration of the recipe, or a drawing of this activity. - The “go between” strategy was used to elicit family participation. Teacher’s role: - The teacher acted as a proactive mediator, leaving for the children the main role; she supervised and intervened when necessary only, in order to assure the conversations and actions allowed children to acquire the ideas and concepts involved in several preschool curriculum areas. She facilitated processes and prepared materials (e.g., decided with the baker and the school cook the best days for the activity). - The teacher adequately managed the time and children, and developed the activity with the children, always paying attention to their abilities, in order to work different concepts and learning contents, revealing much competence. - She encouraged children to make registers of the activity. Embedded in the activity, she worked language skills, such as the articulation of words and phonological awareness. Children’s role: Children were very excited with the activity, and had an adequate performance throughout the process. They actively participated in all tasks, helped each other and respected their/others’ turn. Revealed high engagement levels and enthusiasm, and were happy to share the product of this activity (Easter Cake) with other children and teachers. Additional comments-Highlights: This Activity was included in the Preschool Annual Plan, in the context of Traditional Festivities (Easter in this case). It was a very enriching activity, not only by the possibility of integrating various curriculum areas, such as personal and social education, knowledge of the world, and expressions, but also (a) by the connection with the family, through the participation of a grandfather who shared his experience and talked about “past times”, and (b) by sharing the final product with all the Preschool. ◆ 66 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote language development and to approach the written language - increase the vocabulary - improve words’ articulation - promote the development of phonological awareness To provide children (especially those who have language or speech difficulties and other problems) with diverse materials, which motivate them to overcome these difficulties. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The strategies were: - Identification of words; - Searching for images, with teacher mediation; - Printing the image(s) and writing the word and its symbol; - Protecting the material (laminate the paper materials); - Working with children in a playful way, repeating the words that match the pictures, slowly articulating them and respecting the syllabic division; - Using the material to play games that develop the visual memory. - Using the language box to motivate and support children with Special Educational Needs (especially in the language domain). Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Paper, computer connected to the internet, laminating machine... - Working in small groups requires an adequate arrangement of the classroom (tables and chairs organized for small groups) and supervision of the whole group. Content of the Activity: - Children are involved in intentional conversations, according to the subjects that are being worked in the classroom, and in keywords identification on the same subjects. - The Educator and the kids use the internet to search for and to select some images related to those subjects. The corresponding word is written underneath the picture, with a symbol that indicates the number of syllables in each word. This symbol also corresponds to an instruction (such as clapping the number of times corresponding to syllabic division). These images and other material are protected in order to be handled without damaging it. - This material is built throughout the year and is made available to children; they can explore it whenever they want to. It is also used by the educator for planned activities. - The images’ box included subjects such as: animals, plants, food, seasons, transportation facilities, traditional holidays / festivities. Literacy skills are also worked through the acquisition of specific voGood Practice 15 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One day. Number of children involved: Whole class and small groups. ◆ 67 ◆ cabulary, working on the construction of phonological awareness, and the identification of written letters. - Teacher has begun the activity by articulating and repeating words during the (online) search for images. - The image’s box elicits talking about several subjects and playing with words: associating ideas, searching for same family word, developing dialogues and looking for rhymes… Children were highly engaged when playing with words. Teacher’s role: - The teacher is proactive, motivating children, and taking advantage of spontaneous conversations, involving children in activities to promote the development of language and an approach to writing. The teacher tries to develop skills and to promote learning related to the knowledge of the world (a content area included in the National Curriculum Guidelines for Preschool), through intentional conversations about this material, such as about the animals, what they eat, or their natural habitat. - Time management depends on children’s engagement and on the type of structure: individual work, small group or whole group. Children’s role: - Children were motivated and had fun. Children were very excited about the online research. Sometimes they had difficulties in choosing the image that they wanted to print. - Their behavior was appropriate during the whole process. - Because the material for the language box is built throughout the year, children can play with it whenever they want to (free play) and while it is being built. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity emerges from the need of motivating children with some language difficulties. It is a very rich and enriching activity that allows children to develop language, communication and reasoning skills. ◆ 68 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Promoting literacy using the story ‘Stem/Branch, the boy from the village’. This goal generally approached: - language - the emergence/appearance of writing - knowledge about the world Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The strategies that were employed were: - making puppets - sharing materials - drawing Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The book ‘Stem, the boy from the village’ written by “Luís Carvalho and Patrícia Ferreira, pencils, paper, puppets and a puppet stage. Content of the Activity: This story was presented by two teachers who did not belong to the school to the preschool and primary school children. Puppets were used. After a brief introduction to the book, the teachers presented the story using puppets. The children paid attention and showed interest, as the story was attractive. In the end, the children answered several questions about the plot. Afterwards, the children were allowed to play with the puppets and retell the story using their own words. In the activities room children explored the images of the book, registered the story in pictures and built some puppets. Teacher’s role: In this activity, back in the activities room, the teacher got involved in the activity dynamically by reading and exploring the story with the children once again, providing material for the children to explore the story in their own way. Children’s role: The children participated in a large group (preschool and elementary school) when the story was presented to them using puppets. They also engaged in the activity individually drawing and creating some puppets. Good Practice 16 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One Day Number of children involved: Whole class and small groups (20 children) ◆ 69 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote knowledge about the production of honey and to teach respect for nature. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The method used was to invite a beekeeper into class who then explained the process of producing honey to the children. The beekeeper brought the tools related to his activity, too. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Material related to the activity of beekeeping/apiculture, pencil, paper. Content of the Activity: The beekeeper came to class and reported how the bees live in their beehives, showing them the necessary tools for producing honey. The children asked questions and the teacher clarified some issues. At the end the children were allowed to taste the honey directly from the honeycomb. Afterwards we assessed how much the children had really learned. Then the children painted pictures portraying the production of honey and those pictures were transformed into a book which was placed in the library. Teacher’s role: The teacher participated in the activity with the children, encouraging them to preserve and respect nature. Children’s role: The children participated in the broader group when listening to the presentation carried out by the beekeeper and the participated individually when drawing/painting and making the book. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity enabled the expansion of different areas: personal and social development, knowledge of the world, approaching oral and written language and arts. Good Practice 17 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: Two weeks. Number of children involved: Whole class and small groups. ◆ 70 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote different areas of development combining the domain of personal and social development, the domain of expression and communication, especially the domain of oral/verbal and written language and the domain of mathematics and world knowledge. Thanks to the Interchange project with the primary cycle ‘Playing with science we learn as well’ several experiences were carried out / performed. All children collaborated and different themes were addressed using various materials. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Several experiences were conducted which led the students to ask questions and draw different conclusions. The children considered different hypotheses and then checked their conclusions after the experience was conducted – they could see what was wrong and the reason why it was wrong. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): According to the experience, different materials were used. Materials related to nature – flowers, plants, and fruit. Materials related to waste – wooden sticks, cork, lids, and nails. Materials that were bought – vinegar, sodium bicarbonate, and eggs. Other materials – balloons, and press-studs. The children took notes about their predictions and afterwards about the conclusions. Content of the Activity: This project has been initiated a year ago and has been maintained due to the big interest all children demonstrate. Each month a challenge is suggested to the children and material and research are requested. Afterwards the problem is presented to the children and they all say what they think is going to happen. If we proceed like this, what is likely to happen? And if we do it like that, what is probably going to happen? Then the experience is carried out with the help of an adult and the results are registered next to the initial predictions. The results were «discussed» and explanations were found. Finally, the group of older children makes a written description of the experience and the younger group draws what they have witnessed. All the children have the opportunity to express their ideas. Good Practice 18 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: Two-year longitudinal project Number of children involved: 98 students from primary school and 50 children from kindergarten. ◆ 71 ◆ A table with two columns is always made – the first column has the question «What do you think is going to happen?» and the second column «What has happened?» Each child can express what he/she thinks. Teacher’s role: The teacher actively enrolled in the activity by asking questions and encouraging the children to find out the results of the experiences. The teacher also guided the children so they would ask themselves why things occurred that way and not differently. Children’s role: Children participate by bringing the materials for the experiences, doing searches and asking their parents about the causes of the results. Children are given the opportunity to carry out the experiences themselves and confirm the results. For a better understanding of the experiments there is always a description/ an account of the procedure that can be examined and enables repeating the experience. The materials and results of the experience are left in the classroom for the children to observe/examine them and for them to replicate the experience if they wish to. If new questions arise they can ask them and try to find answers/solutions. Additional comments-Highlights: The project «Learning when playing with science» is being carried out jointly with primary school for already two years now and the results have been very positive – children participate enthusiastically and show very much interest. Therefore we will maintain it in the next school year. This activity develops all developmental areas. ◆ 72 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote tools and resources at the level of experimental sciences and scientific literacy taking into consideration experiments that take place in the child’s daily routine. The aim is to motivate them and to enable new ways of learning, never forgetting the playful nature of those learning opportunities. To be able to foster and engage the ones less involved and to guide the group to focus and to reach the desired conclusions and concepts. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The following strategies were used: introducing the song ‘A little boat was floating fast…’ Exploring the song. Placing a little boat in a water basin/bowl letting children observe and comment. Using the comments as a starting point to identify the main question – Can other objects flow as well? Making predictions/ register the predictions. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): CD player, CD, water, basin, potato, doe, nail, wood, apple, cork, boat. Children’s drawings. Content of the Activity: The activity is introduced with the help of the song on the boat. Later, the boat is placed in the water. For a brief period of time, children can explore this situation for themselves. While this happens, the teacher pays attention to the comments that emerge. Other objects are selected to assess how they behave in the water. Before resuming the experience, children make a prediction about what is going to happen – this is registered in a table. Then, the experience is conducted and the children can observe if the object does or does not float – this is registered in a table, too. In the end, the two tables are compared and conclusions drawn. The teacher then registers these conclusions. Teacher’s role: The teacher dynamically enrolled in the activity along with the children, providing them support whenever necessary. Children’s role: In this activity there have been moments when the whole group participated (song, conducting the experiment) and others when participation was held in a small group/individual (table registration). Children enrolled enthusiastically because they were the ones manipulating the objects and actively participating in what was happening. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity enabled expanding knowledge across different areas: knowledge about the world, plastic and musical expression. Good Practice 19 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: 1-2 learning activities Number of children involved: Whole class or small groups. ◆ 73 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To develop a sense of respect and caring for the natural environment. Through the development of the project “Tampinhas” (“Bottle Caps”), we encouraged children to collect, separate and contribute to recycle materials, and to be involved in social causes (such as the support to people with disabilities). Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Informal talking between children and adults. Encouraging children to collect bottle plastic caps. Building things with recyclable / reusable materials. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Cardboard, sticker paper, adhesive tape, markers, crayons, glue, inks and plastic bottles. Content of the Activity: We raised children’s and parents’ awareness for the importance of recycling and waste separation, through dialogues with children and families, through building ecopoint systems involving art activities and other environmental awareness actions. With this project, another project was developed: helping a child with our collection of plastic bottle caps (trade plastic bottle caps for equipment or treatments). In this school year, in this project, with the committed and solidary help of all, this preschool has raised an average of 800 5l-bottles full of caps. This contributed to help a child with the Norrie syndrome to benefit from expensive rehabilitation treatments, thus providing a better quality of life. Teacher’s role: Teachers, children, parents, teachers’ assistants participated in the activities, revealing enthusiastic and supportive attitudes. Children’s role: In this activity, there were moments of involvement in large and small groups as well as individual tasks. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity enabled the development of different content areas from the national curricular guidelines for preschool education: personal and social education; language and communication; and the understanding of the world. Good Practice 20 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One school year Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 80 ◆ Purpose - Goals: For the children to - express their creativity - express positive and negative feelings - materialize creative ideas - build on each other’s idea Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Group discussion, Problem solving Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Broken chair Decorative materials (string, feathers, paper, wool, stickers etc) Glue Scissors Paint Musical instruments Content of the Activity: It is Monday morning. On Saturday evening there was a community feast in the school yard with food, music, traditional, dances. Every family attended as well as the teacher. On Monday morning a community worker cleaned the yard and collected tables and chairs. The teacher walks into class holding a dirty plastic chair with three legs (one is broken). She tells the children that the man collecting the chairs outside left this one behind. Teacher “why do you think this happened?” The children explain that the chair is broken and this is why it was left behind. It is useless now. Teacher “how do you feel when you look at this chair?” The children express negative feeling about the chair Teacher “I want to feel good when I look at this chair. How can we make this possible?” Ch1 “we have to clean it, it is dirty” The teacher asks a group of children to clean the chair Ch2 “it is better now, but I still feel sad when I look at the chair” Teacher “so what else can we do?” Ch3 “we can make it pretty” Teacher “how?” “Ch4 “by decorating it” Teacher “with what?” The children suggest different ideas Teacher “Let’s all go into our store room and see what we can find. Each of you can chose what they think we will need to decorate the chair” The teacher and the children go into the store room and gather difGood Practice 25 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Approximately two hours. Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 81 ◆ ferent materials. They return to the classroom and start decorating the chair. The teacher encourages the children to talk about their ideas and build on each other’s idea. She also encourages suggestions (while a child is busy with an idea another child makes an elaborative suggestion) When all children are finished with their work the teacher asks “how do you feel when you look at the chair now?” The children express their positive feelings. A child starts singing a nursery song about a butterfly Teacher “how about we change the words of this song and make it talk about our chair?” The children respond enthusiastically and begin creating lyrics for their song. When the song is ready they all sing it together. The teacher hand out musical instruments and the children accompany their song with sound. The teacher sums up the lesson with the following questions “what did you like most about today?”/ “how do you feel now?” /“what can we do when we have a negative feeling?”/ “what did we learn today?” Teacher’s role: The teacher encourages all children to express themselves, talk about their experiences and scaffolds children’s answers with open ended questions. Children’s role: Children are expected to participate, answer questions and talk about their experiences and feelings from the Saturday feast. Additional comments-Highlights: After the lesson the children suggested that the chair is placed in the classroom so it reminds them that negative feelings can be turned into positive feelings. Another child suggested we place the chair where everyone can see it and write its story on a piece of paper. The teacher discussed the idea with the children and found a spot in the school entrance area to place the chair (so that everyone can see it when entering the school building). The children dictate a text explaining the story of the chair and its symbolism. The teacher writes the text on a piece of paper and sticks it on the wall behind the chair. ◆ 82 ◆ Purpose - Goals: For children to get to know the daily schedule of the school through picture cards and titles which they display each time an activity changes. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Cooperative learning Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): • Clothboard • Small basket with cards that represent the daily schedule of the school (for example Music, Story time, Breakfast ext) Content of the Activity: The children are the helpers of the preschool teacher and between other responsibilities they are in charged to display on the clothboard the card that represents the activity or period that their class has on that particular time of day. For instance at 9:45 in the morning they have their breakfast, at 10:45 it is story time, at 12:05 they have their break ext. Teacher’s role: To encourage the children, to remind them if they need any assistance, to reward them or help them learn the schedule of their school through trying but also through their mistakes. Children’s role: The children were happy to cooperate in this activity and help each other. In this way they have stability in their schedule and they feel safety since they know what has been done and what is going to follow. Good Practice 26 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Daily routine Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 83 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To practice words from the English language. English as a second language - vocabulary Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Stations – children in groups moving from one station/activity to the other Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The tables are arranged in a way that gives space to children to work around them. On each table there is a different activity-game. 1) Computer 2)Small Booklet 3) Bingo with colours 4) Dices 5) Memory game Content of the Activity: On each table there is a different activity for a group o f children in regard to vocabulary that they have already been taught – e.g. the colours. On the floor there are arrows that show the course that the children need to follow. Each group works on a table and with the sound of the signal that the teacher gives, the groups move to the next table. Teacher’s role: She observes the children and she makes sure that all the children participate. She also helps the children if they encounter any difficulties and encourages them. Children’s role: The children need to follow the course of the activities so that 2 groups will not pump onto each other. This is a good chance for children to work together and communicate. Additional comments-Highlights: A good practice that helps children remember what they have learnt and helps the children evaluate children’s learning. Good Practice 27 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Approximately 40 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class (25 children) ◆ 84 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Development of children’s epistemological readiness – For children to be able to change their own conclusion when having new data. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): First in a circle and then work in groups - tables Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Big cardboards, magnets, things made of metal Content of the Activity: The teacher reminds to children the previous lesson when they arrived at the conclusion that magnets attract all metals and asks children if they are sure about this conclusion. She then presents the classrooms mascot that insists that the magnet doesn’t attract his metal. The children are then divided into their groups and go to their groups’ tables to experiment with the different metal that they have their, including the one of their mascot’s. They realize that the mascot doesn’t attract all metals after all. Teacher’s role: She supports and encourages the children without giving ready answers. She also need to be aware of what is going in the class and everything that the children say and discuss in their groups to be able to guide them properly. Children’s role: They need to understand the controversy and the need to experiment and come to the correct results. Only then they will be able to understand why they have to change their previous conclusion. Good Practice 28 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: Approximately 40 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class (25 children) ◆ 85 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To collaborate together with their parents for modulating their schoolyard. To create art by interfacing in their schoolyard Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): • Play • Collaboration with parents • Project: Our Schoolyard • Curriculum Subject: Visual Art Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Tent, bags of plastic, natural materials, glue, water-paints, colour markers, magnetic board, photographs, glue-tapes, special paints for outside spaces. Content of the Activity: In the context of the project “Our Schoolyard” we invited the parents to reform together with the children and by using artistic activities the schoolyard. Activities: • Weaving with plastic bags on the schoolyards balusters. • Experimentalism/games in the tent using the sense of touch on materials collected from our schoolyard. • Paint our schoolyard on a big piece of cloth. • Creating on the magnetic board or in the sandbox a small representation of our schoolyard the way we would like it to be. • Paint our schoolyard staircase. • Create a garden with fake flowers. • Painting together with the parents something that characterizes our selves and placing it on our “School Identity Tree”. Teacher’s role: Coordinator, team player, collaborator. Children’s role: They had an active role, they played together with their parents, they were creative, and they used movements, expressed their feelings and co-decided together with their parents. Good Practice 29 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: 1 hour Number of children involved: The whole school (two classes -49 children) ◆ 86 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To collaborate with an artist. • To experiment with innovate techniques of using a specific kind of paper. • To collaborate for making a group creation. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Collaboration with the community (an artist) in the context of developing a project. Project: Storybooks Curriculum Subject: Visual Art Theme: Paper Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Water-paints, paper, wax-pencils Content of the Activity: The children had already experimented with different kinds of paper as well as a variety of techniques in relation to paper. The artist Vaso Sergiou visited our school for one hour and worked with the children. In the beginning she brought and displayed to the children different kinds of paper followed by a brief discussion and game with the materials. Afterwards the artist laid down, together with the children, a large piece of paper that covered the entire length of schoolyard. The children with the artist generated a group creation. Teacher’s role: The role of the preschool teacher was mainly as a coordinator but also participated in the game/artistic creation of the children, as a team player. Children’s role: The children had an active role in the whole procedure. The interaction with the artist as well as with the educators and the children was continuous and freely. Participation, movement, expression of feelings. Good Practice 30 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: 1 hour Number of children involved: The whole class (25 children) ◆ 87 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To teach the children about numbers and to count. To make the children aware of each other. To teach the children that even if two children have different numbers, the result can be quite different. To teach them to begin the meal with a little ritual and that there should be quiet before the meal can begin. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): A routine before an everyday activity is used to teach the children numbers and to count. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Glasses and plates. Content of the Activity: A group of children (class) is going to have a lunch break. In order to eat at the same time and have lunch together and to make sure that the children are ready, the pedagogue asks the children to be completely quiet. The two children who have set the table with glasses and plates are called to say a number between 1 and 10, each of them. Jonas says 2 and Magda says 4. The pedagogue asks if any of the children knows how much 2 + 4 is? 2 and 4 is shown with her fingers – 2 on one hand and 4 on the other hand. A few children put up their finger to show that they know the answer and one child is allowed to answer. Afterwards all of them count to 6 and the pedagogue says go ahead and eat. The meal can begin. If the numbers are big that is 6 and 8, the pedagogue lends some fingers from a child sitting next to her. Teacher’s role: The pedagogue is asking the questions, coordinating and making the process be like a flow. She is recognizing and encouraging the children to feel that the numbers they chose are good numbers. She is creating an expectation that it is exiting to add numbers. This expectation is due for the meal too. Children’s role: All of the children are listening and waiting to hear which number is chosen and they have an opportunity to give an answer to the question. As it is a ritual every day the children know the “rules”. Additional comments-Highlights: The children have contributed with a number individually and that number has an influence on the result = the common number: double contingence Good Practice 31 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: 5 minutes Number of children involved: Two children who set the table and afterwards the whole group ◆ 88 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To talk about themselves and their lives. Main theme for the activity: Where do you live. It includes the street, the town the island and country Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Trips to see where the children live. Taking photos of the child at the front door of his/her home. Display the photos in the kindergarten for a period of time (small insight in society). Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): PC, google street view, projector. Note! In the time where the project had been planned it rained a lot. It was hard for the children to find pleasure in doing the trips so their engagement was dropping seriously. Content of the Activity: The group had gathered together to put up the pictures from the previous days visit and to prepare next visit. Who was next in line. That involved a bus schedule, and after a meeting the day before the PC was on with the projector, so that the children could see the schedule on the wall. The children found it very amusing to see the schedule, so the social educator grabbed the situation and said that today they should visit everybody’s. The children however agreed that that was not possible crazy, crazy Ylva ( the social educator) But they could. Ylva presented the children for Google street view so the children could see their house projected up on the wall. That became the start of a new project where the children used the pc to see their house, street and country in quite a different way. Teacher’s role: To initiate the activity, to help with the ICTs and to ask questions. Children’s role: The children thought it was fantastic to see their house on the screen, they could enter the house and recognize their house and homely environment. Good Practice 32 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: 45 minutes Number of children involved: A whole group of children (20 children) ◆ 89 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Close to ort kindergarten is a small forest around 2-3 hectares. We can get there without having to be in the traffic, and when we are in the forest, there is hardly any need for adult supervision, because it is a known area for the children, and they know the frames and rules for the activities, because we come there regularly. The goals of this activity are: Contact with nature in different ways. Experience that the forest and the nature that surrounds it contains a lot of interesting things that can be explored, in many different ways. Practicing in climbing (trees). Challenging the motor skills training in a free environment with lots of challenges. Experience of success. Follow the season changes and the influence of the forest Recreation for children and adults. Meta reflection: If you learn to care for the forest and surrounding nature, you are more motivated to care for it and possibly choose to live environmentally aware as an adult. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): “Learning by doing”. The child meets nature on own premises and gets time to become absorbed, because we come here every week. The child wonders at a higher level due to the routine the activity contains qua repetition, though children and adults experience new things every time. There is a wide possibility in following your own mode and in that way, inclusion of children with particular needs becomes easier. It is our experience that when there is more physical room, the mental room expands as well. Conflicts are rare and there are great possibilities in forming friendships. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Good outdoor clothes that are suitable for the season. Friendly parents with washing machines. It is important that the children meet in good time. Content of the Activity: The children do always like to come to the forest. They are now so trained in dressing themselves that they don’t think about it anymore. We quickly get out of the gate and over the field after the social educator that has the front position. You can run as fast as you can to the stone hill if you want, but you have to wait for the others at the stone hill. When the others have arrived you can run as fast as you can to the “boogie tree”, where you can hide and scare the others a little when they come. Everybody laughs. Inside the forest it is a bit darker than outside and in summer when the trees have leaves it is almost completely dark. In autumn there are chestnuts and hazelnuts. You should Good Practice 33 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: A few hours Number of children involved: A whole group of children (17 children) ◆ 96 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Practicing in speaking grammatically correct; Consolidating the abilities of dividing words into syllables Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explanation, demonstration, exercise, problem-solving, pyramid. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Cards displaying different images for jobs, 2 four-layered pyramids, 2 envelopes with pictures of tools used for different jobs. Content of the Activity: The children are divided into two groups (teams). As an extension to the game the interactive method of the pyramid is used. Each group receives an envelope. The envelope contains images that show tools used in the jobs they have learned about. The teacher explains the rules of the game. The children pay attention to what they are told. Teacher’s role: The teacher explains that the two teams have 5 minutes to sort the images and to place them on the pyramid according to the number of the syllables in each word ( 4, 3, 2, 1 ) -She encourages the shy toddlers. - She asks the children in the other team to clap their hands for each correct answer. - She praises the way in which the children cooperate. - She gives rewards to the children in the form of diplomas for their favourite job Children’s role: The children in each team sort the pictures and decide together how to place the words on the pyramid correctly according to the number of the syllables in each word (at the basis there are words which are formed of four syllables, then the ones formed of three syllables, two syllables and one syllable). E.g. : centimetre, scissors, thread, pin, buttons, thimble, pot, spoon, ladle, whisk, robot, trencher etc Additional comments-Highlights: Using an interactive method (the pyramid method) activates all the children. They participate in the activity and develop their cooperation skills and team spirit. In this activity the method was used to complicate the game and to ensure the reaching of the goal. Good Practice 39 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 20-25 minutes. Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 97 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Developing the children’s ability to correctly sing a song in a choir, in a group and individually staying in tune, following the melody, respecting the singing partners and to perform different movements suggested by the lyrics, developing the artistic sense, their love for music. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Exercise, conversation, observation, explanation, and demonstration. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Puppet (Spring Fairy), musical instrument (electronic organ), Power Point presentation of the song, a negative soundtrack, badges, pictures that represent the theme of the song. Content of the Activity: The teacher presents the materials as a surprise using the puppet. The Spring Fairy brings a basket that contains spring flowers (snow-drops, tulips, lily-of-the-valley) – observation. The teacher announces the theme of the activity: Today we will learn a song called “The Voice of Flowers”. The teacher presents some voice warming exercises through a set of breathing exercises such as: - smell the flower (repeat three times); - blow dandelions (repeat three times); - mimic the sounds made by a goose (repeat three times) In order to teach the new song the teacher will enhance the perceptive preparation of the melody by demonstrating a couple of fragments from the song. The children will do some vocal exercises to warm up the sound emission system. The teacher will use the musical instrument to produce some sounds that the toddlers have to sing. Teacher’s role: The teacher coordinates the way in which the children perform the voice homogenization exercises. She provides general instructions (keep your back straight, push your chest forward, breathe deeply and fill your diaphragm with air). The teacher sings the song that will be taught (“The Voice of Flowers”) and then presents it in Power Point format. The teacher explains the unknown words. Children’s role: The children talk about the spring flowers they received from the Spring Fairy - conversation. The children perform the voice homogenization exercises - exercise method. The toddlers are pleased with the spring flowers because at the end of the activity each child will receive the flower that he/she wants and that he has to take care of (the flowers are in pots). Additional comments-Highlights: The children liked the song that they learned because it gave them the opportunity to take part in the Spring Festival organized by the kindergarten, where they won the 3rd place. Good Practice 40 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 30-35 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 98 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Developing the ability to use verbal and non-verbal means to solve the given tasks; developing thinking and imagination by solving problem situations; educating the ability to relate with others. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Narration, conversation, explanation, stellar method. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Computer, a board representing the content of the story, a big star and five little stars for the Stellar Explosion method. Content of the Activity: After listening to the story (“The Story of an Autumn Leaf”) that has been accompanied by images on the computer screen, the content of the story is being systematized by the use of the active method of stellar explosion. The children ask questions related to the content of the story using the questions related to this method (“What, Who, When, Where, Why?). A big star is placed on a board and in each of its corners the teacher puts the five small stars, one by one, each containing one of the questions used by the method. The teacher points to each little star and the children make up questions using the question word in the star. Teacher’s role: The teacher places, one by one, the little stars that bear questions in the corners of the big star and asks the children to make-up questions starting from the indicated little star. (What? Who? When? Where? Why?) The teacher: - helps the formulation of questions, aiding their flow of expression; - encourages the children and praises them every time they ask the right questions; - emphasizes the most interesting questions and praises team work; - offers the children a star for each correctly formulated question. Children’s role: The children formulate questions related to the content of the story. What story have you listened? What characters are part of the story? What advice did the tree-king give to the leaves? Who was guarding the passes? Who stopped the little leaf? Good Practice 41 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 25-30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 99 ◆ When does the story take place? When do the passers-by stop in the tree shadow? When did the little leaf come back? Where did the little leaf go? Where do leaves sit once they fall off the tree? Why do leaves fall ? Why did the little leaf got scared? Why did the tree remained upset? Additional comments-Highlights: Using the Stellar Explosion method activated the children, making them use their thinking and imagination in formulating the questions on the basis of the content of the story they have listened. ◆ 100 ◆ Purpose - Goals: TEACHING GAME - THE SYLLABLE GAME Developing the ability to specify what object is draw on the token. Developing the ability to break up words into syllables correctly. Developing the ability to specify the numbers of syllables of the word correctly. Developing the ability to place the token in the correct basket that corresponds to the number of the word syllables. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explication, the exercise, and demonstration. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The activity runs in a semicircle but is divided into two teams: the red team the blue team Materials: tokens with different images, objects, animals, fruit, vegetables, clothes; colored bowlines; colored magnets; 2 blackboards; white cardboard. The materials are well chosen, accessible to children, attractive and stimulating. Content of the Activity: The activity runs in a semicircle but is divided into two teams: the red team and the blue team. The teacher announces the theme and the objectives that the children can understand what they must do to accomplish all the tasks that the teacher asks. The tasks are: One children named by the teacher from a team comes in front of the class where the table with the materials is arranged, takes one token, says what is drawn on the token, breaks the word into syllables, specifies the number of syllables and after that the child is going to put the token into a basket. There are 5 baskets numbered with numbers from 1 to 5. The children must put the token into the basket that corresponds with the numbers of syllables. If all the tasks are made correctly the respective team will receive one point (a red or blue bowlines. After that is coming another child from the other one team named by the teacher. If the respective child doesn’t accomplish a task and needs help, one member of his team can help him. The winning team is the team that has more points. Only the teacher names the children. If the tasks aren’t made correctly the team doesn’t receive any point. After the teaching game ends and the wining team is announced the children go to their tables to complete a worksheet where they have to break up word into syllaGood Practice 42 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class (25 children) ◆ 101 ◆ bles from the images drawn on the sheet and to write as many horizontally dashes as many syllables has the word. After that they can color the images and to circle the ones that start with the sound “c”. At the end of the activity the children are singing the song “IF YOU’RE HAPPY”. Teacher’s role: The teaching style and the teacher strategies and behaviors maintain a healthy balance in the interactions with the children. The teacher tone of voice is calm, appropriate for the children, she directs the behaviors to prioritize the work and tasks accomplished, but also she adds some fun and competition to class, things that show a human and friendly side of the teacher. The teacher’s attitude is a positive one. The teachers also respect the rhythm of working of any child, making a balance between the general tasks and the individual particularities of the children. The tasks required by the teacher have a frequent appropriate comprehension and check to ensure no one is left behind. The teacher encourages all the children. Children’s role: The children perform the tasks required by the teacher manifesting interest and implication. The children have much knowledge, skills and abilities. The skills of working in a team are very well developed because in many activities they work and study like this. They also live with big emotions the satisfaction of success and the perseverance of finding original and good solutions for achievements of the tasks required by the teacher. ◆ 102 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To learn and understand the environment and to stimulate the curiosity for its investigation. Additional objectives are: to choose and to group the autumn fruit after shape and color; to paint an apple and a grape using the adequate colors; to build boxes for the autumn fruit using big and small pieces of Lego and plastic cubes (combinations and assembly). Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explication, the exercise, and demonstration. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The activity is executed divided into three centers of interest: the science, arts and building areas. The children are choosing the center of the interest according to a color. Red for science, blue for arts, and green for buildings. The required materials are: autumn fruit (natural and made of plastic); baskets; white sheets, watercolors, brushes, glasses with water, napkins, color palette; pieces of lego, and plastic cubes. The materials are well chosen, accessible to children, attractive and stimulating Content of the Activity: The activity is executed divided into three activity areas. The teacher asks the children to choose a color bowline from a basket to find out at what center of interest they will work. After the children are choosing the colors they follow the symbol of the color that indicates the center of interest. The teacher announces the theme and the objectives that the children can understand what they must do to accomplish all the tasks that the teacher asks. The tasks are: SCIENCE: CHOOSE AND GROUP THE AUTUMN FRUIT AFTER SHAPE AND COLOR. The children have to choose and to group the autumn fruits after them shape and color. ARTS: PAINTING “THE APPLE AND THE GRAPE” The children have to paint the appropriate appearance of the apple and the grape using the technique of painting and the adequate colors. BUILDINGS: “CASKETS FOR THE AUTUMN FRUIT” The children have to build (to combine and to assemble) small and big pieces of leggo and plastic cubes resulting casket for autumn fruit. After the activity on the centers of interest end the teacher evaluates the work of the children and they are singing the song “NOW IS AUTUMN”. Teacher’s role: The teaching style and the teacher strategies and behaviors mainGood Practice 43 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class (25 children) ◆ 103 ◆ tain a healthy balance in the interactions with the children. The teacher tone of voice is calm, appropriate for the children, she directs the behaviors to prioritize the work and tasks accomplished, but also she adds some fun and competition to class, things that show a human and friendly side of the teacher. The teacher’s attitude is a positive one. The teachers also respect the rhythm of working of any child, making a balance between the general tasks and the individual particularities of the children. The teacher encourages all the children. Children’s role: The children perform the tasks required by the teacher manifesting interest and implication. The skills of working in a team are very well developed because in many activities they work and study like this. They also live with big emotions the satisfaction of success and the perseverance of finding original and good solutions for achievements of the tasks required by the teacher. ◆ 104 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To strengthen the children’s knowledge about the fairy tale “Queen Cards for stories; to develop creativity and expressiveness in written and oral language. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, demonstration, exercise, teamwork, and problem solving. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Sheets maze, maze game, dice, magnetic boards, magnetic letters and puzzle stories. Content of the Activity: Activity takes place in the activities areas. The theme of the group activity is “Queen Cards for stories”. The hero of the activity a “Queen card” presents to the children the tour they will take each activity center. The group starts at the library area where they play the game „magic letters write wonderful words” with magnetic letters. Then they stop at the Science area where they play the Maze. In this game various fiction characters help to reach the destination, drawing the right way. Next is the Table - Puzzle game : „We play with the stories” where the group assembles puzzle pieces with scenes from stories; Children play in the areas in small groups. The educator supervises the children at each center helping those who are having difficulties. The time limit for the completion of the work will be announced by the sound of the bell. Afterwards the group goes to each center to assess its work. Teacher’s role: Teacher ensures an enriched environment, close to the age, interests and possibilities of children; Stimulates children teamwork, encourage and help those who are doing difficult; Participate with children to achieve the objectives. Children’s role: Perform the tasks given, showing interest and involvement; Children teamwork skills, their interventions are subordinate group rules; live the excitement satisfaction success. Good Practice 44 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 105 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Check strengthening and systematizing knowledge about spring season. Verbal creativity and communication by formulating answers. Develop the ability of children to describe images. Educating an oral expressions grammatically correct: phonetic, lexical and syntactic. Strengthen the specific practical skills development level motor, stimulate interactivity and cooperation. Verification of specific skills and abilities work (drawing, coloring, to assemble, to combine, practical skillshousehold). Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, observation and narrations. Explanation, working individually and in small groups Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Pens, crayons, pencils; Kit: For the housewife, natural flowers, Tiplic tinted flowers wrapped raffia; Kit: LEGO, ARCO, shapes; Panel, rewards, medallions, “surprise box” letter of spring, “magic wand” badges tulips and daffodils, envelopes tasks didactic game tokens with spring flowers, a panel and red dots; Colored circles in various colors - ALA II; White and colored cardboard, paper and corrugated glass, scissors, glue sticks (soda straw); Watercolor, brushes, towels, jars of water, drawing sheets. Content of the Activity: A. ART: We play the game “fingerprint / flowers sisters realize” that is a game of painting by pressing and fingerprinting. At this center you have to take a picture of flowers by fingerprinting and one sister pressed flowers - each as desired. When we print color flowers on a flower and then place it on the sheet and leave her mark. To make flower sheet half sisters doubt, paint a tulip, use different color on the right side of the sheet and then put the other side pressed. The completed works will be exhibited and will be our “gallery tour”. B. CONSTRUCTION: “ Castle Spring “- construction of various materials. - « Flower Garden Spring» of geometric “ The center will have to show how well you have learned to build the geometric garden with spring flower beds and her castle. C. ROLE PLAY - “ For the Floraresele “ The center will have to divide roles seller and buyer , to use the correct formulas of courtesy that is used in a store , ask your favorite flowers , wrap them nicely and pay correctly. I supervise the activity , intervening only when necessary or if you have requested . D. LIBRARY : “The Gifts of Spring “ Good Practice 45 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good ractice: A whole day Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 112 ◆ according to each one’s developmental level. Children’s role: The children have specific knowledge according to the moment of the school year and that they also apply them in working tasks. The presented activity succeeds in turning on the interest of all children them all implying body and soul, giving answers and asking appropriate questions. The children’s behavior shows their total implication in the activity and the emotion that they feel at every new working task. ◆ 113 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To learn what recycling is and to understand its utility. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Experiential learning, dialogue, children hands on experience, cooperative learning. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Various kinds and colors of fabrics, temperas, glue, cardboards, fake hair, brushes, and color markers. Also various materials from recycling like plastic bottles, milk paper boxes, plastic caps from water bottles, etc. Content of the Activity: In the first phase of the activity the children collect from their houses the materials they are going to use in the construction of a miniature city model from recycled materials. In the second phase of the activity children are creating groups and they are planning the construction of the miniature city. In two learning activities throughout the day the groups construct the city model. One group of children creates the “ground” of the city. They highlight in the big white cardboard with grey markers the roads of the city. Another group paints the milk boxes and cuts holes in them to make them look like houses. A third group creates cars from the plastic bottles and the plastic caps as wheels. A group of children is responsible for the styling and decoration of the miniature recycled city. They paint the houses, they create paper trees and add the fake woolen hair for leafs and use the old fabrics for decoration of the city. When the construction of the city is finished, the children discuss with their teacher about the importance of recycling in the city. How they used the recycled materials they brought to the class and how the recycled materials are used in real life. Teacher’s role: The teacher encourages the children to actively participate in the collection of recycled materials. She implements cooperative teaching and supports children initiatives throughout the planning of the miniature city. During the construction of the city she intervenes only when necessary to scaffold children’s ideas and learning. Finally, she encourages children’s reflection about their activities and the content of their discussions. Children’s role: Children are called to work cooperatively, to experiment in the usage of the recycled materials and to discuss with their teacher about the value of recycling. Good Practice 50 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: First phase: two days. Second phase: two learning activities - 45 minutes each Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 114 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To develop linguistic skills Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Experiential learning, hands on experience, Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Temperas, brushes, white paperboards. Content of the Activity: Children are called to draw a personal story from the summer. Something they did, experienced, played, visited, etc. After they finish, the teacher changes the classroom seating and places the chairs in a half cycle format. Then she explains to the children that they have to create a fairy tale. The children have to present their drawing and talk to the other children about their stories. Then they have to create a fairy tale based on their narrations for the summer. Together with the teacher they accompany the story with various child songs about the summer. Teacher’s role: The teacher helps the children to express themselves and encourages them to talk about their drawings. Then she orchestrates the story building about the summer and she poses constructivist questions to help children think and talk more. Children’s role: Draw a summer painting based on their experiences and the talk about it. Discuss with the other children and create a summer fairytale. Good Practice 51 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: 30-35 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 115 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To empower children’s reading literacy. To practice in oral fluency, in creating stories and in narrating stories. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Project method, cooperative learning. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): A wide variety of books, temperas, colored markers, fabrics, clothes for dramatic play. Content of the Activity: The project included a series of activities throughout the year. Children interviewed their parents about the books they are reading. In another activity, children read books and experienced the stories using their bodies and the space. Children chose various classic fairy tales and stories and experimented in changing their endings. Some activities focused in drawing the paintings and pictures of child literature. Some workshops made in the classroom focused in creating soft books and cloth books. Children practiced in creating stories with specific heroes and narrating their adventures to the other children. Every second week they chose to read a book with their parents and talk about them in class with the other children. Teacher’s role: Support children to participate and experiment. Encourage cooperation and help them to love books and reading. Children’s role: To discover, experiment and learn new things and new experiences. Good Practice 52 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: Throughout the year Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 116 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To practice the art of asking questions, to practice their oral skills. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Questions, dialogue, brainstorming. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): A computer, a digital camera. Content of the Activity: The teacher invites a journalist in the class to talk to the children. The children have prepared the previous day, after brainstorming and extended discussion what kind of questions they have. After the visit, the children propose that they play the journalists and that they direct interviews with each other. They decide to record the interviews with the digital camera of the class. They are organized in small groups to create the scenarios, the topics and the questions that will be asked. The next day they execute the interviews, and complete the recording of the interviews with the cameras. The fifth and final day the teacher asks the children to evaluate the whole procedure and discuss on what they learned and what they would improve if they could do it again. Teacher’s role: To pose questions that promote children’s creativity and critical thinking, to encourage creativity, experimentation and communication. Children’s role: Active engagement, brainstorming, cooperation and experimentation. Good Practice 53 Country of origin: Greece Duration of good practice: Five days Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 117 ◆ In early childhood settings, each moment that teachers and children interact with one another is an opportunity to develop positive relationships. Teachers can use a variety of strategies to build positive relationships with children. Teacher behaviors such as listening to children, making eye contact with them, and engaging in many one-toone, face-to-face interactions with young children promote secure teacher-child relationships. Talking to children using pleasant, calm voices and simple language, and greeting children warmly when they arrive in the classroom with their parents or from the buses help establish secure relationships between teachers and children (CSEFEL, 2012). Research has suggested that teacher-child relationships play a significant role in influencing young children’s social and emotional development (Baker, 2006; Gregoriadis, & Grammatikopoulos, 2014; Jerome, Hamre, & Pianta, 2009). In studies of teacher-child relationships, children who had a secure relationship with their preschool and kindergarten teachers demonstrated good peer interactions and positive relationships with teachers and peers in elementary school. On the other hand, children who had insecure relationships with teachers had more difficulty interacting with peers and engaged in more conflict with their teachers. In addition, research has shown that teachers’ interaction styles with children help children build positive and emotionally secure relationships with adults. For instance, teachers’ smiling behaviors, affectionate words, and appropriate physical contact help promote children’s positive responses toward teachers. Also, children whose teachers showed warmth and respect toward them (e.g., teachers who listened when children talked to them, made eye contact, treated children fairly) developed positive and competent peer relationships. Moreover, children who had secure relationships with their teachers demonstrated lower levels of challenging behaviors and higher levels of competence in school. Research has suggested that teacher-child relationships play a significant role in influencing young children’s social and emotional development. In addition, other studies have shown that the use of positive social skills with peers early on can lead to the development of positive peer relationships, acceptance, and friendships (e.g Kupersmidt, & Dodge, 2004). Although many children develop these positive social skills naturally, some children do not. Children who are withdrawn as well as young children with mental retardation, autism, conduct problems, and emotional disturbances often have difficulty interacting appropriately with their peers and are thus at risk for later social problems. By teaching children appropriate social skills, providing them with willing and accepting peers to use the skills with, and creating opportunities for children to practice these skills, teachers can improve all children’s social behaviors, potentially for a lifetime. Systematically embedding additional planned social interactions 5.4 INTERACTIONS ◆ 118 ◆ throughout the classroom day provides increased opportunities for learning positive social behaviors. It is important for teachers to use developmentally and individually appropriate strategies that take into consideration children’s differing needs, interests, styles, and abilities. For example, with infants and toddlers, teachers respond to their cries or other signs of distress. Teachers let children know they care about them through warm, responsive, physical contact such as giving pats on the back, hugging, and holding young children in their laps. For preschool children, teachers encourage mutual respect between children and adults by waiting until children finish asking questions before answering them, and by encouraging children to listen when others speak. In addition, teachers’ use of positive guidance techniques (e.g., modeling and encouraging appropriate behavior, redirecting children to more acceptable activities, setting clear limits) helps children develop trusting relationships with their teachers. In sum, the Early Change project strongly believes that the quality of teacher-child relationships is the cornerstone of a child’s social and academic adjustment and success to school. The academic trajectory of a child can be completely different if this child forms a positive relationship with the teacher or if it doesn’t. This is the reason that interactions occupy a discrete position on the good practices inventory form, in an effort to collect examples of positive classroom climates and warm and safe relationships. ◆ 119 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote an articulated approach to different domains of personal and social development, to the area of expression and communication and knowledge about the world. Using the story ‘Rafa and the professions’ as a resource we started a project on professions. This activity was extended to the parents and hereby professions were introduced in a practical approach. The parents came to kindergarten to explain and give examples of what their work consisted of. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The parents came to kindergarten and brought with them what they thought was necessary to explain what their work consisted of. The parents also brought tasks to complete with the children and interact with them, which was a way of them to meet their children’s friends and the environment they spend their days in. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The book with the story used to start the project. Material for explaining and showing examples about each profession. For the pastry baker: flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate, bowl, electric mixer, baking tray For the gardener: plants, flowers, fertilizer, hoe For the journalist: computer/laptop and photo camera For the carpenter: wood panels/boards, glue, hammer, nails Content of the Activity: After the theme was introduced with the help of a story, the parents were invited to come to the kindergarten and explain and –whenever possibledemonstrate what they do at work so that the children would understand this subject. We had several parents coming to kindergarten. A pastry baker baked a cake with the children, a gardener helped with our small kitchen garden and gave us some advice on how to take care of it, a journalist who prepared a piece of news with the children and a carpenter who the children helped building a piece of furniture (a small cupboard) he then offered the kindergarten. Before accomplishing their task, all the necessary materials were shown to the children and a short conversation was held about the advantages and disadvantages of the profession. This way, children understood what the different professions consisted of. Teacher’s role: In this case the teacher worked as a moderator and actively participated in the activity also learning and discovering advantages and disGood Practice 54 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One month (project) Number of children involved: 50 children from two kindergarten classes ◆ 120 ◆ advantages of different professions. Children’s role: The children actively enrolled in the activity helping the parents carry out the tasks and asking numerous questions. Afterwards the preferences of the children were noted as well as their concerns about the different professions. Additional comments-Highlights: This good practice was the manner the teacher considered the children would learn about different professions in a playful and dynamic way. Children did not only get to know the names of the professions but also the materials required , if they are easy or difficult to learn and if they are lucrative. ◆ 121 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote the collaboration with families. To experience cultural practices such as “Mother’s Day Celebration”. These goals were operationalized and made intentional in a comprehensive way, contributing to work the following areas: personal and social education, and expressions, especially in different areas of arts and literacy (to make a gift and a song for the mother) and also the knowledge of world. In this activity some art work was developed by reusing materials. Literacy was worked writing a song: language, phonological awareness, the concept of poetry, recognizing and learning letters, emergence of writing. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The following strategies were used: - Sharing ideas; large, small group and individual work ; - Writing a song; - Making gifts for mothers. - To go shopping; - Baking biscuits; - To work in the garden. The teacher has the role of mediator and manages relationships and communication among children; summarizes children’s ideas, positively reinforce them, and boosts and facilitates the processes, making possible the implementation of children’s ideas. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Ingredients and utensils for baking cakes/biscuits. Room preparation: reorganize the space; decorate tables with vases of carnations (painted with the colored water they consume) and postcards made by children; folded napkins with simple origami. Containers for cakes and tea. Carnations “painted” in the classroom. Plants: cabbage, lettuce and courgette. Fertilizer and agricultural equipment Content of the Activity: Everyone was excited before the arrival of the mothers. Everything had been planned days before and the children gave signs that they knew what they had to do today. In the meeting, teacher and children formed groups. The teacher recalled and explained to children - naming some of them – that in this morning only some of the mothers would be present, because some, given the constraints of working hours, would only come in the afternoon; the teacher explained that they would repeat everything that time. In that classroom, children had already negotiated in organized groups, for this kind of situation; groups were recorded and displayed on the wall: “group of friends”; “group of the monsters”, “ group of friendship “ and “group of arrangers”. Good Practice 55 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: Whole day Number of children involved: The whole class (23 children) ◆ 128 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To promote family involvement and participation through an event: an autumn fair; To give parents the opportunity to share knowledge and traditions with their children. With this activity the children had the opportunity to cook, they made jam and marmalade with products that parents sent (quinces, apples, pears, pumpkin, ...). In addition they developed concepts such as weight, quantity and money. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The strategies used were: verbal guidance, sharing of incoming goods and confection of jams and marmalade. Families offered the products from their own garden and the children, with the help of the preschool teacher, weighed and placed it in small bags with the label they made. It was the children who sold the products at the fair. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Vegetables and fruits parents sent to school, as well as the jam and marmalade children made with the teacher. Schoolyard Tables Cardboard, markers, colored pencils Scales for weighing Cash register toy Content of the Activity: The autumn fair was held outside the kindergarten and the population actively participated buying the jelly and the marmalade that children made as well as the fruit and the vegetables. After this activity with the community children made a poster with drawings and photographs about it. Teacher’s role: The teacher participated in activities encouraging and motivating the children. She promoted creativity but also the development of responsibility. Children’s role: In this activity there were moments of participation in large group, especially when they were cooking marmalade, jam and jellies. Children actively cut small pieces of quince and pumpkin. Older children weighed and counted the jam pots and marmalade cups. They developed mathematical concepts and cooking skills. At the end each child made his own record of the activity. Additional comments-Highlights: This activity promoted the acquisition of different skills, which crossed all areas of the curriculum guidelines for preschool education Good Practice 59 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: 5-6 days (including days for the preparation) Number of children involved: Two classes (in total 44 preschool children) ◆ 129 ◆ Purpose - Goals: With this action we intent to promote the participation of the whole community in the school. The proposal was to make Christmas handcrafts to send to project comenius partners. The subject was the “angel cradle”. In this activity, we promote the development of arts, in a collaboration between parents and children at school. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): All materials were in the tables in each classroom and children with parents or grandparents’ support were free to create what they want related with the subject. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Different materials were used: boxes, bottles, cardboard, markers, colored pencils, different kind of papers, special Christmas papers, glue, clothing buttons, different kinds of ink, … Content of the Activity: The workshop was held, within the Comenius Project “Lullabies, the universal language of love”. This workshop involved preparing cards and Christmas ornaments to send to the partners involved in the project. The whole preschool children took part in this activity. A big exhibition was prepared before sending some of the products to the partners. Teacher’s role: The preschool teacher managed the activity, empowering parents and children in the development of each work, supporting and explaining some details about the specificity of this activity in the project. Children’s role: In this activity children were involved actively, “advising” their parents about some materials they could use. They built incredible art pieces. Good Practice 60 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One morning Number of children involved: Two classes (45 children: 20 + 25) and some parents and grandparents. ◆ 130 ◆ Purpose - Goals: This project started from the narrative of the story “The boy did not like soup” of Manuela Mota Ribeiro, teachers and children made a doll called “João”. “João” was experiencing different activities and projects in kindergartens. This project belongs to the preschool department of a group of kindergartens and schools. The teachers want with this project to make a curricular articulation between departments, to articulate and make activities all together, to work the sharing and affective relationship, competences of the project “Growing up playing” (self-control, self-esteem,…), to work health and healthcare, in an interdisciplinary way. The teachers work with children in various project, namely “João and sciences”, “João and friends”, “João and books”, “João and games”. They want to fight the neglecting and indiscipline, to promote coordination and sequentially, to promote the participation of the families in school life, to articulate between cycles inter and intra departments, to improve educational outcomes, to interact with other children,… Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): During the school Year “João” visited all kindergartens and did what the children do inside their classrooms, being one more child between them. He passed from kindergarten to kindergarten and worked with all children of preschool department. The children worked with “João” in an interdisciplinary way, the sciences, books and shared affections, feelings and emotions with him. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Books, didactic games, team games, sciences materials, paintings, drawings, paints, scissors, glue, waste and recycle material, cardboard, plastic, tables, chairs, … Content of the Activity: “João” started the activities and projects inside each kindergarten and grew up until the end of the year and now he was entered in primary school because he is 6 years old and he’s going to integrate the project “Growing up playing” that works the social competences in children and is a project supported by the city council. He has a 3-year-old sister and she’s going to attend kindergarten since now. In one of the kindergartens related to “João and friends” he worked with children the correspondence between kindergartens, he visited the post office and they worked the profession of postman and at the end he carried a suitcase where there are all the activities that were being made in each kindergarten. In another kindergarten related to “João and games” the teacher and children made a snail race and studied the behavior of the snails. Good Practice 61 Country of origin: Portugal Duration of good practice: One school year Number of children involved: A number of classes in cooperation with the preschool department. ◆ 131 ◆ The teachers made a blog called “Reguila” and have Facebook address related all the activities to this idea of a project. Teacher’s role: The teachers thought that the only negative aspect was the transport, they don’t have enough money, time and bus to make the articulation that they want with “João” and make all the activities all together. The positive aspects were the friendship established between children and teachers, the exchange of activities that lets work all the curricular areas, allows the joint curriculum because it encourages children to carry out different activities and projects and this project encouraged the articulation with special education and with the project “Live Science”. Children’s role: The children participated in all activities with enthusiasm, they made a friendship relation to “João” and they showed emotions and feelings. They developed relations skills and shared experiences between them. This project will continue with another friend “Joana” in kindergartens and “João” in Primary schools. Additional comments-Highlights: “Good practice” done to be an example to the project Early Change Project. Activity that has interdisciplinary and cross-curricular themes and that offer stimulation for a wide range of subjects. The children develop best when they have secure consistent relationships with responsive adults and opportunities for positive relationships with peers. Practices that encourage children in social interaction and plays with others. ◆ 132 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To track those students that peers consider “star” of the class, the “black sheep” of the class, as well as children who are neither and are identified from peers as “neutral”. To prevent negative attitudes towards children that are considered to be the “black sheep of the class” and help these children join the group as well as help the rest of the class to accept them. Identify “neutral” children and help them join the group. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Application of the sociometric method. The sociogram takes the form of an individual interview with each child individually Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): An A3 size paper glued on pictures of children all around, Voice recorder, markers of 2 different colors, computer for results’ analysis. The area used was the teachers’ office in order to have a personal interview with the child. Content of the Activity: I used an A3 paper where I glued pictures of all the children of the class (pic.) so that children could see their classmates and provide their answers. I also used a voice recorder to record the interviews. I then Invited each child to the teachers’ office. Each child was requested to answer the following hypothetical questions: “If your mom wanted you to throw a party at your house and you can only invite 2 of your classmates, who would you invite?”. When children answered this question I used the blue marker to mark children’s answer on the A3 paper. The next question was “Are there any children that you wouldn’t want to invite if you could invite the whole class?” When children answered this question I used the red marker to mark children’s answer on the A3 paper. Where the sympathy or antipathy was mutually recorded I used both blue and red. With the completion of the interviews and the analysis of the data I extracted the results shown on the Photo below. My assumption was that some children are considered to be more famous than others was true. What I did not expect was that a specific child would not get any positive voted and that 2 specific children would be defined as neutral. The results were challenging and I started thinking of how I could these specific children ... Teacher’s role: I tried to address clear questions and ensure that all children understood the question, especially foreign children who knew little Greek. Good Practice 62 Country of origin: Cyprus Duration of good practice: 3 activities, 40 minutes each. Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 133 ◆ During the children’s answers I did not expressed my opinion in any way, I simply encouraged them to say their opinion. Children’s role: The children most often answered the questions without any hesitation. Some children did not want to give negative vote at all and I respected that. Additional comments-Highlights: I will briefly mention an idea that I applied to help the child that was identified as the less famous one – the black sheep of the class to become more accepted by the others. The following week we were planning to have elections in the classroom. I thought that I if the specific child was part of the class committee he would push himself to behave more responsibly so that others would see that and change their perception about him. When recording the results of the election’s voting (which we did in class with “polls” and lists where there were photos of all children) I confess that I did an electoral fraud and I added extra votes n the specific child’s name to so that he would be elected ad a member of the committee. I believe that this action along with many others greatly helped the specific child. It would be better I did a second sociogram in the middle of second quarter and another one at the end of the school year. Although I was planning to do that I didn’t manage to do so since the school where I work is on a quite big one and I didn’t find the necessary time to do so because I had to do so many other things. ◆ 134 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To help a child feel comfortable with herself and assure good relations with adults and children. To prevent some children to be mad at one child because she was intruding their play and try to make the situation a learning process for all the children on how to solve problems and how to play. To decide together with the children about the accepted regulations for playing. What are the possibilities to play and how to play together and to avoid having your play disturbed? The purpose is to stop a child from disturbing other children in a inclusive way so that the child learns how to be a part of other children’s play and the other children are comfortable with the child. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Dialogue, communication and “hands on” guiding. The children argue for their solutions and needs. The pedagogues act as mediators, ask questions, explain rules, hold the one child’s hands and are very close to prevent violence among the children. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): It is a daily routine in children’s play. Content of the Activity: 2 children have arranged 10-12 chairs in a circle so they can walk on them. They have great fun. Another child is interested and takes a chair away, so that the circle is broken and they cannot walk around in a circle. The other children tell her to stop doing that and one pedagogue is very close, watching the play and tells the child that she should let the chairs be as they are, so that the children don’t fall. The child gets upset and keeps on taking the chairs away. A pedagogue takes her nice and calmly away from the group. In a little while the child is coming back to the chairs and 4 pedagogues come to the scene. The child walks like the other children on the chairs and the pedagogues say a lot of words like: “Everybody can play along” When one of the children says that the teasing child is stupid, the pedagogue says: “If you cannot say anything nice, then you shall not say anything”. The (teasing) child begins to walk backwards on the chairs and one of the teachers is away of the situation and says: “It looks dangerous so I will hold your hand”. The child smiles and takes the hand. Shortly after this the pedagogue says to the children that everybody should out to play in the playground. The children ran to the wardrobe, but the pedagogue told them to clean up first. The came all back and all of them helped cleaning up. The pedagogue participated too. Teacher’s role: The pedagogues were asking questions to the child and reflecting with all the children about how the playing they had goGood Practice 63 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: Morning 8-10 AM Number of children involved: A small group of children ◆ 135 ◆ ing. They were nice but firm and they used their hands (holding hands) to make sure no hard was done. Observing, close to the situation, and guiding, intervening. Children’s role: The children were playing and were involved in the little crisis that was about to happen, and they were very much aware of the situation and discussing it in a very calm and competent way. They were engaged and they understood what the problem was about. The child in focus was also happy and would go on to the playground with the other children. Reflecting, playing and arguing. They are upset and having an argument. But they take part and seem sure that the teachers will help them solve the problems. ◆ 136 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Communication. Wait for turn and listen Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): The children are encouraged to communicate during lunch. They have a dialogue Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Sitting around the table Content of the Activity: Adult – child relation. Positive interaction where the children await their turn to tell their stories and everybody gets heard Teacher’s role: The Social Educator has the overall view, answers the children when asked, shows understanding and asks into the children’s stories Children’s role: Listening to each other’s stories and also telling stories. Additional comments-Highlights: The children were so engaged in the conversation and had great attention towards the other children’s stories. Good Practice 64 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: 10-15 minutes Number of children involved: A small group of children ◆ 137 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To make the children aware of social rules Inspire the childrens fantasy Get a ”friend” who is always funny and always tells stories, being good humored Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Drama play -dialogues with a doll (they only use this once in a while). Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): A hand puppet. Here is used an animal version, that none of the children have at home. When the puppet is not used they can see “her” all the time, because “Juliane” is sitting on top of a shelf. Content of the Activity: A group of children (a class) are going to have lunch. But before they start the pedagogue asks them if they can wee who is visiting them. The children answers: “Juliane” and some of them says “Hej”. The pedagogue takes Juliane down from the shelf and asks her how she is? Then Juliane asks the children how they are. The children answers and slowly the conversation will deal with how to take care for each other. The children are telling some nasty experiences they have had on the playground. Some have been beaten with a shovel, has got sand in their mouth, been kicked etc. After the children have told about their experiences the conversation is turning to what to do? Juliane gives them a good advice. They can tell it to a pedagogue. Or they can say to the other child to stop by holding up the tumb = it is ok or down with the tomb = it is not ok. They sing a song together and Juliane is leading the song. The conversation is turning again and they are talking about what to do in the following weekend. Many tells that they are going to the circus in town. At last the conversation is going back to Juliane who says thanks for today and tells the children that they are going outdoor to play. The pedagogue is acting with the doll and making sure the words and gestures match each other. Making sure that there is a flow in the conversation between the questions and the answers the children gives. It is the pedagogue who is saying what Juliane is saying. She makes sure not to use the puppet too often because it must be special. It shall not be too instructive but more reflecting and positive. The pedagogue is becoming another when she is Juliane. Teacher’s role: To help children play out the dramatic play. Children’s role: The children are involved in the dialog and they dont ”see” that it is the pedagogue speaking. They play along very eagerly. Additional comments-Highlights: Some parents heard about Juliane and thought that she was a child. Good Practice 65 Country of origin: Denmark Duration of good practice: 10-15 minutes Number of children involved: 20 children ◆ 144 ◆ Purpose - Goals: The goal is to provide children with more private spaces where they can play with their friends. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): A very large cardboard box. Glue and red wallpaper, black and whit cardboards and pillows and a small stool. Content of the Activity: Obtained a very large cardboard box that a firm was about to recycle. The flaps of the box became a roof (a small hole was left where the adult can see in if needed). A door and windows, which could also be closed, were cut off on the sides of the box. Children helped to spread the paste when red wallpaper, which was leftover from a child’s home, was placed around the house. The house was finished with white window frames, black tile roof (pieces of cardboard that the children cut off) and a mailbox. Pillows were placed inside as seating and a small stool as a table. The house became very popular place to play. Because it is made of such a strong cardboard, it has been good for already a year. Teacher’s role: To guide the children into constructing the card board house for their private play and to explain to them how to use it. Children’s role: To cooperate in the construction of the card board house and to listen to the teacher’s directions. Good Practice 72 Country of origin: Finland Duration of good practice: Daily practice Number of children involved: Children in pairs ◆ 145 ◆ Purpose - Goals: - Enriching children’s knowledge about the life of domestic animals, as well as some aspects related to the feeding and care of them; Deepening social behaviors and adapt to different situations. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Observation, conversation, explanation, demonstration, exercise. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Farm environment with all that it includes stables, yard and facilities necessary for such activities. Content of the Activity: The teacher has already prepared this activity talking to children about pets, life, food and the benefits derived from them. Children watched several videos, read files and have puzzles to consolidate knowledge about animals. For the preparation of the visit the teacher has trained children how to behave at the farm (what to do and what not around animals), what is allowed and what is not in the farm. During the visit, the teacher spent the time among kids and they answered all the questions they addressed (except explanations farm representative): - Whenever I feed daily? - Where do I get the fan animal farm? - What happens with sick animals? etc. Some of the children observed where the bottles are being filled with milk, other observe milking cows and other were walking some pony horses. They visited all the places where livestock lives and after that kids started coloring sheets and about animals; they folded paper with origami-engineering making animals and poultry, sang and recited poems and songs animals for staff working on the farm. The day ended in an atmosphere of joy and the children were back in kindergarten more relaxed and with more experiences that relate to domestic animals. Teacher’s role: Teacher proves creativity is close to children, creating an atmosphere conducive to the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Children are encouraged and assisted in solving tasks, they respond with calm, explain in detail each child misunderstood things; - In relation to children promotes a climate conducive to communication, both between teachers and children, and between them. Encourage the free expression of the interaction of children with both the teacher and among themselves and with the staff at the farm. Children’s role: Children are relaxed around the teacher, manifest freely, naturally uninhibited. They have to show interest and perform the duties with pleasure. They have to observe and pose questions that are relevant to their field trip. Children are transmitted emotions and express them positively to animals visited. Children relate freely both between themselves and with the staff caring animals. Good Practice 73 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: One day Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 146 ◆ Purpose - Goals: The objectives of this activity are: to name the presented materials; to use the previously used techniques (riping, crumpling, glueing); to combine the given materials to fulfill the given task; to cooperate with the colleagues all throughout the activity; Also to build by joining and combining The Palace of Santa Claus; to cooperate in order to fulfill the task; to sort the images showing the wanted gift; to compose a letter to Santa; Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explanation, individual work, working in pairs, in small groups, gallery touring. Art ’’Decorations for the Christmas tree’’ cutting, riping, crumpling, glueing. Construction: ’’The Palace of Santa Claus’’ – building by joining and combining. Science: ”A Letter to Santa Claus” – sorting images with objects (gifts) that the children would like to receive from Santa Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): The classroom is arranged on the basis of the two areas of interest, where children will perform their activity during the day. The materials that are being used are: cards representing different objects, coloured cards, scissors, glue, natural and synthetic materials, pictures with gifts for children. Content of the Activity: Singing the carol the children visit the sectors where they are shown the materials they are going to work with and are explained how to accomplish their tasks. In the Science area the children have to sort pictures of the gifts that they want and glue them in a letter to Santa. In the Constructions area they will put together the pieces to build the palace of Santa Claus. In the Art area the children will manufacture decorations for the Christmas tree. The teacher presents the materials in these areas, the children should name them. At the end of the activity the products in each area are evaluated, displays are organised in the classroom and the children are rewarded with surprises. Teacher’s role: The teacher explains the work rules, she suggests the area where they will work. The teacher smiles, looks at the children, is warm and affectionate and encourages them using all forms of verbal and nonverbal communication Children’s role: They explain in words the actions that they are doing, they make up sentences about how they built the castle. They also build Santa’s sleigh and talk about other gifts they would like to receive from Santa Additional comments-Highlights: In each area the teacher evaluates the works and the children evaluate their own technique. The children get rewards. Good Practice 74 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 20-30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 147 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Consolidating the abilities to use correctly the singular and the plural of nouns, as well as the ability to integrate them correctly in short or longer sentences, observing the concord between the subject and the predicate Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explanation, demonstration, exercise, problem-solving, Venn diagram Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Cards with different pictures representing one or more objects, 2 boards with Venn diagram, 2 envelopes with images related to autumn and winter and cards with elements specific for each season. Content of the Activity: The children are dived into two groups. As an extension to the game the interactive method of Venn diagram is used. Each group gets an envelope. In one of the envelopes the children can find a specific autumn image and cards displaying one or more elements attributable to this season, and in the other envelope cards displaying one or more elements attributable to winter as well as a specific winter image. The teacher explains the new rules and asks the children to place in the red circle the cards that signal the singular, and in the green circle the cards that signal the plural. At the junction the common element (two trees) is places. Each group solves its task, then checking is performed, followed by an eventual correction and an evaluation of the fulfilment of the task. The children, helped by the teacher, perform the check. Teacher’s role: The teacher praises the children when they correctly name the noun in the picture and its plural or singular form. She encourages the shy toddlers. She asks the children in the other team to clap their hands for each correct answer. The teacher evaluates the way in which the children have cooperated. She gives the children rewards, images with pictures that are specific for autumn. Children’s role: The children in each team cooperate to solve the task. While they work, they name the picture and where it could be placed in the diagram. Some children place the cards without asking their colleagues. The children place in the red circle the cards that signal the singular, and the green circle the ones that signal the plural. At the junction the common element is placed. At the junction of the two circles two trees are placed, common elements found for winter and for autumn as well. Additional comments-Highlights: Using an interactive method engages all children, they participate actively in the activity, and strengthens the cooperation between toddlers. The interactive method has also complicated the game and ensured a good memorization. Good Practice 75 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 20-25 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 148 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Developing the ability to interact with other children and adults in order to gain new knowledge, abilities and behaviours. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation, explanation, game. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Biscuits, milk, Turkish delight, rum flavor, tin foil, plates, glasses, lemons, honey, aprons, caps. Content of the Activity: Symbolic game with everyday life theme “ Being Bakers”. The participants are wearing specific clothes: gowns, caps, aprons, gloves. The teacher asks the children to name the materials they will work with to be “little bakers”. The children are grouped into three teams. One team breaks the biscuits and mixes them with milk, another team cuts the delicacy and packs the biscuit salami. The third team prepares the lemonade. Teacher’s role: Encourages perseverance, teamwork and provides positive reinforcement for the children’s efforts. Children’s role: During the activity the children talk using specific expressions. They encounter all sorts of problems that they try to solve (the milk is too hot, the biscuits are too crisp or the lemons are not ripe enough and they cannot be easily squeezed). During the activity the children switch roles. Additional comments-Highlights: This type of activity has a great impact on the children because it puts them in familiar situations that they experience at home as well. A lot of the children help their mothers in the kitchen. The toddlers were proud of the results and at the end of the day we organized a mock fair with their products. Thus, the children realized that their work could be priced. Good Practice 76 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 25-30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 149 ◆ Purpose - Goals: To work cooperatively. Instructing the children in handling correctly simple natural or synthetic materials. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Traditional methods: Conversation, explanation, demonstration, briefing and exercise. Modern methods: brainstorming and gallery touring. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Individual demonstrative materials: • Coloured cardboards • Coloured seeds • Coloured pastes of different shapes and sizes • Mohair threads • Crepe paper Content of the Activity: For the organizational stage, the teacher takes special care in arranging the furniture so that the children can work in teams, thus enforcing the learning through cooperation and the team spirit. Capturing the children’s attention stage is a special moment in the development of the lesson as the teacher, using the brainstorming, encourages the children to put forth their emotional and artistic sense. They are challenged to make various comparisons between what they notice in nature and the emotions they feel, e.g How do you perceive the sun? The sun is yellow and bright, it is like joy. The green grass is like hope etc. At this stage the teacher consolidates the children’s information about spring. In a calm and patient manner the teacher explains to the toddlers the working technique and the way of utilizing the working instruments. At the children’s additional questions the teacher reiterates the explanations and demonstrates the working technique, presenting some model works. The toddlers are asked to repeat the working rules in order to consolidate the information about them. While the children are working, the teacher repeats the explanations and helps the toddlers who are experiencing difficulties. After the finalization of the works the teacher makes individual and collective assessments. Teacher’s role: Explains and consolidates the working rules. Coordinates and manages the entire activity. Helps the children in realizing their works, whenever they experience difficulties. Develops the children’s creativity and their artistic and affective Good Practice 77 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 25-30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 150 ◆ manifestations. Encourages learning by cooperation. Children’s role: Active involvement of the children during the activity. Concentration and attention all throughout the activity. Helping colleagues who experience difficulties in realizing their works. Objective verbal assessments on the works realized by other colleagues. ◆ 151 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Solving the conflicts that appear during the activity and developing positive feelings in toddlers. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Explanation and collective discussion. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Content of the Activity: During individually chosen activities of the daily schedule, at the art centre area in the classroom, a conflict arouse between the children that were painting: one of the toddlers took another colleague’s painting brush without asking for it first. The latter, in a fit, spilled the water he was using on the former’s painting. A row emerged. On this occasion, the teacher intervened calmly and patiently: she helped the child whose painting and table was wet to clean them up and asked all the children to take a short break and join a collective discussion on what has just happened The teacher asked the children to imagine what would have happened if the incident had not taken place (all the children would have finished their works, a display would have been organized in the hallway where everybody could have admired them, the parents could have bought these works and the money thus raised would have been donated to the needy children). Emphasizing all these positive aspects and events that could have taken place if the incident had not degenerated, the children learn that this kind of reactions are to be avoided and the two toddlers involved in the conflict evaluate for themselves their own behaviour without being reprimanded and apologise to each other. Teacher’s role: Coordinates and manages the collective discussion. Encourages the children to express their opinion on the incident that occurred. Develops the children’s positive attitudes and behaviour towards the others. Makes the children feel responsible for their own actions. Children’s role: Participate actively in the discussion. Express their opinion on the situation that arose. Manifest empathy. Good Practice 78 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 10-15 minutes. Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 152 ◆ Purpose - Goals: Meeting the children when they arrive at the kindergarten in a welcoming, affectionate manner. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Conversation. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): - Content of the Activity: When each child arrives at the kindergarten the teacher shows a warm, welcoming attitude, displaying patience towards the toddlers as well as their parents. The toddlers are greeted warmly; they are asked if they feel well, if everything is all right, what they would like to do that day in class, they are told that there are special activities prepared for them. Each parent is also asked if everything is alright, if there has been any issue that could affect the child when performing the daily activities, if the child has any special needs for that day. Teacher’s role: Displaying a warm, welcoming attitude when greeting the children and parents at kindergarten. Identifying possible problems or needs that could affect the children. Motivating the toddlers for the activities that will be performed that day. Children’s role: Participating actively in the discussion. Expressing ideas and wishes for the daily schedule. Mentioning the possible needs or problems for the respective day. Good Practice 79 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 30 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class ◆ 153 ◆ Purpose - Goals: The development of positive friendship relations among children and using of nature as a calendar. Teaching methods - Practices (if any are used): Explanation, conversation. Materials (equipment, materials, devices, room arrangement etc.): Badges with pole animals, nature calendar, toy train. Content of the Activity: Greeting: When children arrive at kindergarten each of them receive a badge with pole animals: polar bear, walrus, polar rabbit. Using interactive methods Interior circle, exterior circle and Mix, froze, form pairs, children will say “hello” to each other. Two circles are being formed one inside the other. The pedagogue together with children will say these verse: The morning came/All children arrived In circle to be together And nice say ‘’HELLO ‘’ It begins a new day/Good morning,children! On their turn,children from the interior circle will come back and they will say hello those on their back from the exterior circle. The next greeting will happen through Mix, froze, form pairs method. At the teacher’s sign ‘’Mix”, children walk free at the sign “Froze”they stop, they are motionless, and at the signal “Form pairs” they will form pairs with the closest child, which they will say “hello” by shaking hands. The game repeats three times in order to give children the possibility to say hello to many classmates. In order to seat children in semicircle will sing together the song “Big and beautiful circle”. Nature’s calendar: I will tell children that we will complete nature’s calendar on the toy train because today will make a trip. Children will complete nature’s calendar. -What season we are in? - How is the weather today? - What is the name of the month we are in? After being complete the calendar will be read by all children. Teacher’s role: The pedagogue guides the action, showing calm behaviour and attitude. She encourages children by face express and guide game unfolding using questions. Children’s role: Children are prepared in the unfolding activity by giving answers at pedagogue’s questions. They show team spirit and their reactions show the joy experienced. Good Practice 80 Country of origin: Romania Duration of good practice: 15-20 minutes Number of children involved: The whole class