Aisha, Maryam, Khizer and Ali

Today when teacher Madiha was on non-contact time I came to under twos
classroom. I sat on the floor, they all came to me - Aisha, Maryam, Ali and Khizer and
sat around me. We played with the boxes Asha was making castles, putting one box
on top of other one and Khizer and Ali was pushing and smashing the castle, they
were all laughing, but Aisha was not very happy. So after a while Aisha moved away
and found some books. She picked up one and sat on the floor and started to look at
the pictures. Then Maryam came to her and made a brave attempt to get the book
from Aisha. Aisha has very strong personality, she wouldnt let Maryam to take her
book away. She pulled the book away from Maryam as if saying in an angry voice, This
is my book, you are not allowed to touch it. I could see how angry Aisha was! So
Maryam just let the book to Aisha to look at and sat there quietly.

So I came and sat with them and said, Lets read together. We sat and read The
baby animal book, and looked at the pictures together. It was a very interesting book,
full of animal pictures, they all loved looking at the pictures. After a while I left them
and stood away to observe. It was amazing to see how nicely they sat together,
sharing one book. Although it seems like Aisha was the teacher reading the book, and
Maryam and others are students sitting nicely, listening. Aisha was turning the pages
and showing the pictures to Maryam Khizer and Ali. She was pointing different
animals, like saying, This is a cow or This is a Horse etc. She even counting with
her finger how many animals are there.
In this age its very hard for the children to understand the concept of sharing. They
think .Everything is their own, if someone else touches it will be gone. Its our duty
to help them understand how to share, and co-operate and be nice to each other.
Whats Next?
We will provide opportunities for Aisha, Maryam, Ali and Khizer to do
activities together, so that they develop social skills, understand the
concept of sharing.
Provide more activities and let them to take turns and talk about turn
taking so that they get used to the idea of turn taking
Make sure that they have access to books to improve their pre-reading
skills e.g. Holding the book right way, turning pages from right to left etc.
In Te Whariki the National curriculum it stated in Contribution Goal 3, Children will
experience an environment in which opportunities to learn with and alongside
others are encouraged.

Written by Teacher Rosy, 9 October, 2014.