Feelings of excitement and anxiety sprouted as children watched and waited days for the seeds to germinate and grow. This was the perfect opportunity to encourage and instill important dispositions and values such as perseverance, patience and trustworthiness in children.
Getting children to understand that things take time and to move away from instant gratification to delayed gratification is key. Through weeks of watching and caring for the plants, they have displayed perseverance, teamwork and responsibility as they followed the care roster and took on different roles to show kindness toward the plants.
Furthermore, to deepen children’s learning, they recorded and consolidated their learning in the forms of plant journals and growth charts. Children engaged in the documentation process of their learning by measuring and monitoring plant growth, drawing their observations and taking pictures of their plants weekly. The teachers used children’s documentation works to guide them in reflecting on their learning experiences and provoke interesting conversations and questions.
As we inch toward the end of our Start Small Dream Big project, we realise that this is not the end but this is the end of the beginning as Winston Churchill once said. Moving forward with our Small Start, we want to continue to Dream Big and groom Little Gardeners along the way as we build up our Kindness Garden to a greater height. 🌻
