Teaching

“In the early formative years, play is synonymous with life. It is second only to being nourished, protected and loved, it is a basic ingredient of physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth.”      
Ashley Montague

Teaching and assessment of learning is continuous at Funshine. We do this by noticing, recognising and responding in the following ways:

• noticing the many things that children do

• revisiting learning using slideshows, photos, portfolios and displays

• teachers question children, and children question teachers and other children to share, clarify, understand and develop meaning and knowledge

• teacher to teacher discussion about learning moments and significant events – weekly meetings to share progress and assessment of children's learning

• teacher discussion with parents/whānau to share and clarify understandings

• extend on children's ideas and contributions

• recognise children's ideas and contributions

• recognise children's self-assessment, that they are working towards their own goals and how they are going to achieve these goals

• encourage children to develop their thinking skills and dispositions

We document some of these the following ways:

• learning stories

• parent voice and child voice

• anecdotal observations

• display areas of children's interest and learning

• children's artwork and photos

• slideshow

Sometimes the documentation will be about your child as an individual, sometimes in the context of a group and how your child is working alongside other people, places and things.

Our planning process emerges from child assessments and also include staff initiated focus and the influences of the community and wider world.

Evaluation of teaching and learning can be found:

• in our planning folder

• in some of the learning stories

• developing in our teacher reflections

• review

• planning stories

The journey of learning is a never-ending one, in which we value communication and collaboration with children, family/whānau and teachers.

 

Learning Portfolio 

Every child has their own book at Funshine to document their journey of exploration and discovery, special interests and strengths. This is designed to celebrate your child's uniqueness and maps out their development.

Stories are used to document their learning, aligned with our early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, which has four principles, Empowerment, Family and Community, Holistic Development and Relationships.

We value your contribution to your child's portfolio.  You may want to capture something they say, write about something they are interested in, include photos of holidays, family and friends that are important to your child or add pictures that have been drawn at home. 

Your involvement and contribution is valuable to the Funshine team. We enjoy gaining insight into what is significant in your child's life outside the Centre.

You are welcome to look at your child's portfolio any time and take it home to share with family/whānau.