SAIIER Annual Report 2014-2015: Aha Kindergarten
 About SAIIER sub-units |
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 Aikiyam School |
| Aha! Kindergarten | ||
Introduction
Entity::Aha! Kindergarten is a school for children of 3 to 7 years old. Our objective at Aha is to develop consciousness and the inner will to grow and progress. Children naturally possess the curiosity to know and learn, and this is to be nurtured consciously. It is by children’s free will that they grow into self-determining individuals, striving consciously towards excellence not only in studies but also physically, emotionally, esthetic and spiritually.
Activities of the year
At Aha Kindergarten children are in an environment where they can express, explore, interact, discover and develop their own skills and talents through activities throughout the day. It is a space where children experience freedom with responsibility.
The main activity is creating a learning atmosphere where each child can explore and experience her or his highest interest. We have created a few corners for e.g. puzzles, Legos, blocks, books, sand and water play, cycling, group games, gardening, painting, and clay work. Children move organically from one activity to another according to their inner interest. We often go for nature walks.
To feel the beauty of harmony and togetherness we sing songs and rhymes in English, Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, Oriya, and Telugu accompanied by musical instruments like harmonium, tabla, flute, mouth organ, and metallophone.
Outcomes
At Aha Kindergarten children are encouraged to strengthen their own abilities and talents, discover their own areas of interest and, finally, explore their inner self at their own pace.
In response to the environment at school many of our children know how to use the given freedom and they come up with their own ideas of work. (For example, in the morning a child wanted to celebrate his mother’s birthday, so he make some gifts for his mother. We gave space for the child to materialize his own creative ideas, rather than imposing an activity.)
Through this approach, children learn to be independent in handling things on their own. Children feel the beauty of working together in group as well as the joy of being with oneself.
We have mixed age groups, which result in bigger children taking care of younger ones.
We see prominent progress in the children’s physical capacities through cycling, long jump, high jump, tree climbing and running.
Reflections
We believe that the children are progressing over time toward the goals and objectives of the school. We notice that by giving them the right environment, and guidance when it is needed, they learn progressively how to be more independent and take responsibility for their own actions.
We see that children come up with wonderful work in which they develop their own creativity and ideas. By being able to chose their own activity they develop concentration as well. If there is interest there is concentration.
Another aspect which enriches our approach is the harmony we see building up among children of different ages. They learn how to understand each other’s nature and temperament. The older ones are naturally protective and have a caring attitude towards the younger ones; the whole group builds up together a beautiful sense of cooperation. When there are conflicts they are solved with the support of the facilitators in a way that the children gradually learn how to understand and respect each others needs. We see that many times they are able to solve their own conflicts as they have a natural sense of fairness.
Future direction
We plan for an extension of the existing structure to create more prominent learning corners and to accommodate more children.
Conclusion
The methodology of education used at Aha demands that a teacher become a student, facilitator and friend, instead of task manager. At Aha we aspire for soul-to-soul relations with the children. We aspire to respect individual rhythms of growth, as different parts of the being are gradually woven together, expressing themselves spontaneously in free and living movements.
| About SAIIER sub-units |
Aikiyam School |