Children helping children

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Children helping children.

description

Presentation from a Comenius Regio project

Transcript of Children helping children

Page 1: Children helping children

Children helping children.

Page 2: Children helping children

Overview

-Getting started!

-Children-Helping-Children by Viben.

-Children-Helping-Children by Tingkær-school.

-Future work.

-Conclusion and goals!

- Group activity.

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How to get there! Early in this project we had numerous ideas....

We had many professional discussions concerning kindergarten requirements. For example, do we spend sufficient resources teaching children basic skills like caring for each other and taking responsibility for their surroundings?

We were inspired by an earlier visit to Iceland.

We were inspired by a book called ”I can show you I care”. We liked the basic idea but the methods were too holy and healing for us. We decided to act as children helpers rather than children healers.

● One of our methodes is to encourage children to solve more conflicts on their own, but with the adults as a guide.

● This means that we need to be more present and give us time to help them, help each other.

● The challenge is not to be moral, but the children also helps to contribute with concrete actions. They can teach us a little about what they think is nice to be helped and help others with.

● The big challenge for the adults is hold back and let the children do the work.

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Methods.

One of our methods is to encourage children to solve conflicts on their own with guidance from adults if necessary.

As a consequence we need to be present more and have time to help them help each other.

The challenge for the adults is not to be judgmental, to hold back, listen to the children, and let them do the work. They can teach us

what they think is valuable to be helped and help others with.

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Children helping children by Tingkærschool.

To get the childrens view on how they would like to be helped, if they were sad or got hurt, we interviewed 9 children from 0.grade and 8 children from 1.grade just before summervacation. To our surprise most of the children from 0.grade wanted to get help from one of their friends and most of the children from 1.grade said that they wanted to get help from an adult.

That got us thinking, that maybe we influenced the children, so they learned that they had to fetch an adult if they wanted help.

Therefore we have chosen starting from the point of the adults way of approaching the children, when they are sad or got hurt.

video Laurits og William.

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Inclusion thoughts.

In this project we have been curious to learn if children with special needs can join the group and be active.

The children are able to relate to practical things such as a first aid kit and automatically help a child who is hurt.

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We kick started our project in week 45 with an intro for all 0, 1st and 2nd grade children. We performed a small play to illustrate the idea: Children-Helping-

Children.

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During this week we engaged the children with ideas such as massage and mindfulness, and we made cardboard hands and placed them all around the school. As a symbol we created a big banner with a print of all our hands. This banner will be hung in our hall to

remind us to help each other.

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Foot-massage in 0.grade

video.

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On Thursday in week 45 Viben (children and adults) visited us to show what they have been working with. They taught us a couple of songs about friendship that we now sing

frequently.

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We constantly evaluate the project in classes and during our gatherings and we still use massage and mindfulness. The children frequently tell us how they help each other

during the day.

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In March approximately 50 new children start in spring SFO. We plan on introducing and incorporating our project Children-Helping-Children immediately. Some children who are attending spring SFO come from Viben, so hopefully they

can show other children how to help each other.

● This is just the begining, we will continue the good work:)

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Evaluation

The project has been very successful :)

The children are good at interacting.

They can relate to a first aid kit.

They can comfort each other.

Together, they can solve minor conflicts.

Small groups of children now offer different kinds of games to others during breaks.

Staff opinions Do you think the project has had a positive effect on the children?

The children have become more aware of how they can help each other.

First aid kits have had a very positive effect. They are frequently used.

The children are able to act on their own.

When a child is hurt, onlookers have been transformed to helpers.

It is necessary to repeat the project every year on a smaller scale.

What do you think the project has taught the children?

Children have gained a greater awareness of their responsibility to help each other. They now know they are not alone in the world.

The staff daily observe children who help each other.

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Future work to do. Implementation of the project in child culture.

Every year the project will be repeated on a smaller scale.

We will share our project with interested parties.

We will make sure that more children have the opportunity to engage in a culture where children take responsibility for each other.

Every year the project will be repeated in the spring SFO to ensure that new children get familiar with the culture.

Continually refresh good thoughts about ”Children-Helping-Children”.

As a new activity we have ” play helpers” in the breaks. They offer play activities.

Time permitting, develop material explaining the project. We have lots of ideas to continue the work.

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Conclusion and what to do in the future!

The project has strengthened collaboration between Børnehuset and the school.

We have gained insight in each other’s way of thinking and working.

Mutual contact has improved.

Participation in the annual MGP celebration and circus performance.

School children enjoy interacting with their former caretakers.

Mutual inspiration.

Inspiring pedagogical discussions.

A PhD student has taken interest in the project and is currently including the findings in a thesis.

Børnehuset will continue the project: Children-Helping-Children.

The school will repeat the project every year and incorporate new ideas.

In the future, the school will visit Børnehuset’s forest and Børnehuset will visit the herb garden at the school. This neatly lines up with our efforts to emphasize outdoor activities.

The children will show each other their secret spots and thus build friendships across the gap between Børnehuset and the school.

The children will feel more comfortable leaving kindergarten since they already know the adults from school.

The staff can inspire each others work.

We will hand down our project experiences to others.