A vivid account of the 3 year olds' journey and progress through a semester at L'avenir preschool - an example of a comprehensive evaluation integrating the subjective & objective realms of children's progress

1. L’avenir…
the future
an
integral
education
preschool
of
The
Gnostic
Centre
JOY GROUP-REPORT
(APRIL-SEPTEMBER 2015)
Our endeavour this term was a smooth transition of children from Smile to Joy group.
Since the children were familiar with the surroundings and Didis they felt secure and
connected with their group-mates. They freely explored around and with a little
curiosity settled well in the Joy group area. Our main aim for the group was to help the
children transit smoothly and integrate with the five new children and one new Didi who
had joined in this year. Once we felt that the children had bonded well with us we
decided on structured learning and we also focused on:
- Setting ground rules for children’s safety
- Developing children’s fine and gross motor skills
- Enabling the children to observe, experiment and explore
- Helping the children see beauty in everything they do
What we noticed was that the children were visibly happy in class, always ready to
share talks/stories, sing, dance and participate in all the activities as their energy was
channelized productively and positively. We felt that it was a good opportunity to work
with a particular theme.
ANIMALS
While working with the group in April we noticed that the children were showing
interest in recognizing and playing with different animal toys and listening to the
stories. They spoke a lot about the horses and wanted to visit and feed them every day.
Some children showed resistance and strong fear to touch the horses. We also figured
out that even though the group was settled, the children had not developed the sense
of working together in a group. Our aims for the Animals topic were:
- To develop group dynamics
- To help children become more sensitive towards animals and their surroundings
- To help children to know and identify the animals and their habitat
- To help children develop friendship with different animals and overcome the initial
fear
Since the children were already secure and connected with their group, they freely
interacted and explored in the class and participated in all activities with a lot of
enthusiasm.
Our approach during the first month was mainly focused on:
- Creating an atmosphere of calm in the classroom
- Being sensitive to the needs of the children by creating an atmosphere of love

2. 2
- Building trust and love and being a companion and playmate to them
The activities performed and the topic highlights were:
- Walk to the stable to feed the horses
- On another trip they were lucky to see the foals and the horses together
- On another occasion they saw the farrier fixing the horseshoe
- They were thrilled to see the horses being bathed
- A few of them loved the bulls and the bullock cart
- Seeing the puppies was a big treat for them
- On the way to the stable the scarecrow in the nearby farm was a fascinating sight
- The children heard stories and flash cards about animals were shown
- Animals and their sounds activity was done
- Animals and their young ones were covered through worksheets
- They made a farm and placed toy animals in it
- They learnt a number of rhymes on animals
The topic was a success; quite a few children had pets and spoke about them. We could
sense by seeing their involvement in animal related activities like making a kennel or a
shed that they were enjoying themselves thoroughly. They were quite curious to know
which one was the Papa Horse and which one the Mumma horse and they also questioned
where the Mumma of the puppies was. This topic helped the children to know how
nature has created a space for all living beings and how all live in perfect harmony.
WATER AND STRESS ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
In July, the children came after the two-month summer break and shared their
experiences of what they had done during that time. Since it was a rainy month and
they were talking about water and rain every day, asking us where the ‘Paani’ was going,
we decided to help them know more about water. Also, we noticed that they had missed
the physical activities at school the most. So our next topic was “Water and stress on
physical activities”. The broad aims were:
- To speak about water conservation
- To encourage and help children try the new challenges in physical
- To ensure each child is participating
- To ensure the safety of each child
For water conservation we used limited water to wash their hands.
- They also used limited water to wash hand towels
- They learnt about evaporation and put their handkerchiefs to dry in the sun
- Floating and sinking activity was performed individually
- They mixed oil in water to see the results
- A river was made on a plank and pieces of wood, stones, leaves etc. were placed and
water was poured to show what floats and what settles down
- Experiment on colour mixing was performed
- Children watered the plants regularly
- While discussing the usage of water they mopped and cleaned the class

3. 3
- They made sea animal mobiles
- They made lemonade, mango squash and rooh-afza
- Water cycle was explained to them in a simple manner
- They did experiment on pouring and volume of liquid
- They made jelly
The children were keen and enthusiastic, and participated in every activity related to
water. This topic helped the children in
- Widening their observation
- Developing their fine motor skills (while washing and pouring water)
- Enhancing their imagination
- Gaining exposure to a lot of information and listening to rhymes and stories
We provided the children enough time outdoors and they did not require a push for
this, they were willingly practising the physical apparatus enthusiastically.
While working consciously on the physical theme we observed that the children were
showing a lot of interest in trying the different challenging apparatus. The children
showed progress compared to their earlier performance and children who had shown
signs of fear earlier had overcome it to a great extent. We felt that the children still
wanted to try new challenges and perfect the ones they already could do, as we saw
them doing the same thing again and again. Therefore we decided to take forward the
previous week’s need i.e. physical, the following week as well along with fine motor skills.
The following were our aims:
- To develop a strong hand grip
- To help them develop their body movement, balance and stamina
- To inculcate in them the sense of safety while doing physical activities
- To help overcome fear (especially while jumping from a height)
The children showed progress in physical activities. All the children were willingly trying
the apparatus. Those children who were confident wanted to do it again and again to
perfect it and those who were not very confident were willing to work harder. The
children were following the safety instructions while outdoors.
The children had started following the broad daily routine (quiet time, physical, tiffin,
indoor activities, free play, quiet time, and wind up) that we follow in the group. We
provided them with different activities for fine motor growth. We felt that most of
the children needed more practice on the fine motor skills. We provided the children
with different activities as below:
Indoor Activities Outdoor activities
Painting (thin brush) Balancing (a glass of water on a tray)
Paper tearing Jumping from a height
Pasting Jungle gym
Pasting thermocol balls Physical apparatus
Play dough Sand pit

4. 4
Sand pasting Tree house
Segregating mixed pulses Yoga hall
Sponge painting
Sponge squeezing
Thread and beads
Thread and plastic Flower
CARE
We observed that the children were doing the physical apparatus with a lot of interest
and energy, in spite of the humidity. Their level of energy was also reflecting inside the
classroom. There was a lot of screaming and shouting inside the classroom. We felt that
we needed to work on this aspect and channelize this energy into something softer and
calmer. We decided to work on the theme “Care” – care for myself, care for friends,
care for plants, care for things etc. The following were our focus areas:
- To inculcate in the children a sense of care for self
- To care for things
- To care for others
- To care for the environment
- To continue the physical activities and fine motor skills
While doing the topic of Care of self and material around, besides doing stories we did
a lot of practical activities like mopping the table after having tiffin, washing hands
before eating, keeping the table and space neat and clean. Children have imbibed these
instructions and are following them voluntarily. In fact, they are telling each other to
take care while eating and not talk. This theme is appropriate for their age level and all
of them are taking care of self and their friends.
Since the children are doing meditation daily and like to watch the flame of diya in
silence and with concentration, we have really been able to bring up their concentration
level which is being reflected in their classroom activities.
INSECTS AROUND US
Due to the rainy season we could see many insects around. Many children were hurting
the insects by stepping on them and enjoying it; therefore we felt that we need to
develop sensitivity and care towards insects, and we took the topic “Insects Around us”.
We also worked on the individual aims along with the week’s theme .The following were
the main aims:
- To develop sensitivity and care towards insects
- To introduce insects’ names to the children
- To share facts about insects with the children
We did the following activities:
Indoor Activities Outdoor activities
Making a caterpillar Creating an insect world
Observation game Feeding the insects

5. 5
Pasting activity Nature walks
Play dough Physical (indoor or outdoor depending on the rain)
Puppet show Yoga Hall
Rhymes
Story
Thumb painting
Video
Worksheets
We went by the topic “Insects Around us” and did lots of stories, colouring, art and
craft work, Nature walks etc. We observed that by the end of the week the children
had become sensitive towards insects and enjoyed watching the insects but were not
harming them. They also learnt the names of a few more insects. We went for nature
walks and observed the bees suck nectar from the flowers, watched insect movements
(slug, snail, honey bee, dragon fly, centipede, fly, grass hopper, ants, beetle, bumble
bee, moth, earth worm, etc.), fed the ants, etc.
We took the topic further to the next week as the children were still curious to learn
more about insects and our main focus was:
- To let the children explore their curiosity
HEALTH AND HYGIENE
After their nature walks we noticed that the children would sit down to eat without
washing their hands and the parents too while dropping and picking up the children were
constantly talking about the children not eating fruits and healthy food, not brushing
their teeth, drinking directly from the bottle etc. So the need for the topic “Health
and Hygiene” arose.
While exploring the topic besides stories we did a lot of practical activities such as
cleaning and mopping the table after having tiffin, cleaning one’s face and washing hands
whenever they are dirty, wiping the children’s nose with tissues, keeping the space neat
and clean while eating tiffin. All these activities helped children acquire the basic
ground rules to maintain hygiene. The children really enjoyed and most of them learnt
to put the things back, to ask before going to the toilet and to keep their shoes on the
shoe rack. Further, to enhance this activity the children were asked to get a toilet kit
from home.
The children enjoyed brushing their teeth in school and washed themselves with soap
and applied moisturizer, they also enjoyed combing their hair and standing in front of
the mirror. The outcome of the above activities has been that everyone has started
getting fruit in their tiffin and the boys have started going for regular haircuts and a
few have started drinking milk from the glass. Besides exploring different themes, we
have also celebrated a few festivals in the school such as Rakhi, Janmashtami, Sri
Aurobindo’s birthday and Independence Day.

6. 6
During the month of September, we continued speaking to children during circle time
about healthy eating habits. We pasted a healthy body cut-out; we sang the rhyme
‘make my body very strong’, emphasized on a lot of physical activities, taught the
children to eat without dropping their food, to wash their hands and to clean their face
after meals. Through stories and sand play we emphasized on beauty and health and
hygiene. The topic went on successfully; the children have developed an interest in
tasting fruits and trying healthy food. They have also realized that they could
participate better in physical activities after having a healthy meal and vice versa.
Their levels of energy and concentration have gone up and they actively participate and
try to focus on their personal health and hygiene.
Your children must be happily reciting a number of new poems. The poems done till now
are:
- Roll, roll, roll your bobbin
- Naughty pussycat
- Open and shut them
- The scarecrow song
- The caterpillar song
- Elephants have wrinkles
- Make my body very strong
In Hindi, the rhymes done were:
- Ek haath mein paintbrush
- Doodh, wonderful doodh
- Lal peeli motor
- Suraj ki garmi se dekho
- Chhoti chhoti boondein
- Pari birthday song
We would like to sum up the group report with a small poem:
“It’s a joy to see
The Joy group children sing, dance and play
To cut with scissors
To knead the dough, and make clay
It’s a pleasure hearing their talk
And a bliss going out with them on nature walks
Everything they do touches our heart
In our daily lives, they are an important part
Our next six months we will treasure together
And our bond with each other will become stronger and better”
- Sangeeta and Mamata