Social Emotional Learning at Mairtown Kindergarten

Emotional competence includes understanding what we are feeling and why we are feeling it, as well as appreciating how others may be feeling and the impact of our actions on them. It also includes responding to our feelings and expressing them appropriately – and, when the feelings are strong or difficult to manage, in ways that help us calm down and feel better.(He Māpuna Te Tamaiti, 2019).

Emotional literacy is made up of 'the ability to understand emotions, the ability to listen to others constructively and the ability to express emotions productively. To be emotionally literate is to be able to handle emotions in a way that improves your personal power and improves the quality of life around you. Emotional literacy improves relationships, creates loving possibilities between people, makes co-operative work possible, and facilitates a feeling of community.

Emotional Literacy

At Mairtown kindergarten we have been looking at emotional literacy in its most simple forms, the skills of knowing what emotions are, being able to name them  and recognizing them in others and ourselves.

Throughout this year we have had a huge focus on this at kindergarten.

We set up an activity to support this learning. This involved rotating a selection of picture cards with faces expressing emotions on a table, along with mirrors and loose parts. Kaiako were available to share korero with tamariki whenever they took an interest or engaged with this activity.

Kaiako would ask “how do you think these children feel?”. And “how do you calm your body, if you’re feeling like this”? And “What do you do when you are feeling like this”?

Some of the responses we got were:

"This one has dribbles coming down his eyes" Laken.

“Na I'm ok I can just calm myself down, I don't need any help”. Leo.

“When Mum does funny things, that makes me happy. Cuddles make me happy. Bites, itchy bite cream, if we don't have any that makes me sad." Millen.

 "I can pull a big angry face watch me". Laken.

Talking and learning with tamariki about the emotions that go on inside their bodies is a great way to build their understanding of them. This knowledge allows tamariki to be able to name them and understand their experience of them. This also supports children to first recognize them and then know that this emotion will pass by and then they will return to a state of calm again.

Learning about emotions also assists tamariki to recognize different emotions  in others and allows opportunities to practice responding to them effectively.

Safe, stable and responsive environments support the development of self-worth, identity, confidence and enjoyment, together with emotional regulation and self-control. (Te Whāriki, 2017).

The Sensory Swings

As a team we discussed resources that could support our tamariki with Emotional Literacy and mindfulness practices. After research and investigation, we purchased two Lycra sensory swings. These swings improve motor coordination, strength, and praxis. Therapeutic swings offer vestibular stimulation to individuals with sensory processing disorders and other special needs. The back-and-forth motion helps calm overstimulated tamariki, improves balance, and develops important motor skills.

Everyone has been having an amazing time, spending time exploring how their bodies respond to this new resource. Some questions were asked around how the children feel when they are in the lycra swing.

"I feel a bit relaxed and calm". Kianu

"Calm is the wind, calm like the wind". Jackson.

“I just feel soo relaxed and calm". Laken

“Just count to 5 or 6 and I’m calm here". Lennox.

"Eat some chocolate sometimes to feel calm”. Maxwell

For children, talking about and understanding their emotions is the first step in understanding different feelings, knowing that these are ok, and taking positive next steps. This is a life long skill that will be so important later in life.

Using Mindfulness in daily lives can help children to become more aware of their thoughts and feelings, and help them to respond to trauma, conflict or irritation in a calmer manner, thus improving the quality of their lives, (Whitehead, n.d). 

Puppets

Another way we built upon the emotional literacy of tamariki, was the incorporation of puppets into our programme and environment. We started this off by Kaiako role modelling the use of puppets to tell stories about situations that may arise at kindergarten and play out potential next steps, with a big emphasis on emotional responses and feelings.

Puppets are a useful tool for supporting children’s prosocial development. Using puppets allows children to solve social problems without having to manage the emotions that can arise from peer conflict (He Māpuna Te Tamaiti, 2019).

Tamariki also had the opportunity to make their own puppets and use them in their own puppet shows, or use the ones that were available.

Through this learning tamariki are developing social skills that enable them to establish and maintain friendships and participate reciprocally in whanaungatanga relationships (Te Whāriki, 2017).

Yoga

Another activity we have been exploring with at Mairtown Kindergarten has been Yoga.

“Yoga helps children manage their anxiety. It improves children’s emotional regulation and boosts their self-esteem. Yoga increases children’s body awareness and mindfulness, It enhances children’s concentration and memory. Yoga develops children’s strength and flexibility”. (Seedling Yoga, 2019).

The beauty of yoga at Kindergarten is that it can be done anywhere by anyone. We have been doing yoga outside, under a tree, on the mat and with the support of Cosmic Kinds Yoga. We find a place to lie down wherever we feel is right at the time. We all practiced some breathing together to slow down and focus our attention. We then go around the circle picking a pose that we like and everyone copies that person.

Allowing tamariki to pick their own move allows them to have ownership over the experience. Tamariki feel empowered, as they have the opportunity to contribute to running our programme and leading the experience in their own way, practicing taking ownership of a situation.

When the session is coming to an end, we lay down, close our eyes and listen, asking “Can you tell me what you hear?" We then move onto prompting them to consider what they can see, feel, smell and taste. This is a great opportunity to think about what is going on inside their bodies and just take time out to be in the moment. It also helps them to understand different emotions and feelings that they have, acknowledging them and letting them pass on through. Only by practising being present and calm can tamariki learn how to take their bodies to that state.

Deep breathing and using our senses to see the world are both great mindfulness techniques. They are great skills to practice and can become important later, when you find yourself in a state of heightened emotion. This leads into self-regulation and this is a skill everyone needs.

“Both social emotional teaching and mindfulness practises can support tamariki to develop mindfulness capabilities and social emotional competencies that result in a positive outcome now and in the future”. (Waters,M.B., Thompson, K., Hosie, T., Bargh, K., Berry, S., McLaughlin & Wray,L, n.d).

With the support of information from the Ministry Document, Te Māpuna Te Tamaiti, there has been a big change to teaching and learning at Mairtown Kindergarten this year. Teachers are able to name and describe the teaching strategies they are using to support tamariki develop and strengthen their social emotional competency. Throughout this learning, tamariki are able to make connections to how they are feeling and the feelings of others. Tamariki have become more aware of the implications of their actions and the effects of those actions on the feeling of others. We are now hearing them using emotional literacy vocabulary with Kaiako, whānau and through interaction at kindergaren. Tamariki are now more able to respond instinctively to what is seen, heard or felt.

Our Garden Project - Growing our skills and knowledge

At Mairtown Kindergarten "the enviro-schools kaupapa guides our teaching, and we uphold Papatūānuku as an important kaiako; in nature herself the possibilities to learn and grow have no limits. We value and utilise the expertise within our wider community regularly in our teachings. Respect for each other, our environment, our community and resources are both encouraged and promoted, and our teaching team sensitively scaffold and role-model these expectations" (Mairtown Philosophy, 2020). 

 In March we decided to create a mud kitchen space where our vegetable garden was situated, with the intention of creating a new garden space or spaces. As a team we began brain storming ideas on where we could create a new vegetable garden within our outside environment. 

After some research we decided on creating movable garden beds using old wine barrels, with drain holes added and wheels attached to the base. Once our barrels were sourced, and modified thanks to our amazing maintenance team, we lined them and began to fill them with our dirt. We reused the soil from our old vegetable garden and added some new potting mix. 

"Gardens and children need the same things - patience, love and someone who will never give up on them." -Nicolette Sowder

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature." - Alfred Austin

It was now time to add some vegetable plants. We had fun researching with the tamariki, discovering what vegetable plants we could plant for the month and then had even more fun planting them. We also sourced information from whānau who shared their passion for gardening. 

The tamariki took turns watering and taking care of our vegetable plants, checking for bugs and new growth. This soon became a daily ritual. During this process the tamariki began to develop a real sense of ownership and a passion for looking after the environment. 

One of the kaupapa of te Tiriti o Waitangi is kaitiakitanga, meaning protection, guardianship and and preservation. It is a way of respecting and caring for the environment, based on a traditional Māori worldview.  

"Kaiako support mokopuna to engage respectfully with, and to have aroha for, Papatūānuku. They encourage an understanding of kaitiakitanga and the responsibilities of being a kaitiaki by, for example, caring for rivers, native forest, and birds" (Te Whāriki, page 33).

Kaitiakitanga is based on traditional Māori views and incorporates a strong connection between spirituality, people, and the natural world. Māori believe that the tangata whenua/people of the land, have a responsibility towards the protection or guardianship of Papatūānuku. The basic meaning of ‘tiaki’ is to guard, but depending on the context in which it is used, it also means to preserve, keep, conserve, nurture, protect and watch over. The prefix ‘kai’ with the verb ‘tiaki’ denotes the agent of the action of ‘tiaki’. Therefore, a kaitiaki is a guardian, keeper, preserver, conservator or protector. The addition of ‘tanga’ denotes preservation, conservation and protection." 

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2544-understanding-kaitiakitanga

In September we decided to register for 'Keep New Zealand Beautiful' week. During this week tamariki went on an excursion, cleaning up our local streets. We then sorted the rubbish into categories. This experience supported tamariki, whānau, and kaiako to develop the attitudes and dispositions to think and act as kaitiaki within our community.

 

Tamariki were then recognised for all their hard work with a certificate. The underlying intention is to build on an awareness of respect for Papatūānuku and how we can take care to nurture and preserve our natural environment.

"Respect is shown for Māori views of the world, the natural environment, and the child's connection through time to whenua, atua Māori and tipuna." 

(Ministry of Education, p.31, 2017).

During this garden project we also took the opportunity to plant seeds using a variety of repurposed resources such as cardboard egg trays and milk bottles, creating little green houses. This in itself was a great science experiment. During this process we realised that the clear milk bottles worked best allowing enough light to grow our seeds into seedlings. 

Wilson (2012) outlines how the early childhood years are fundamental in developing “environmental attitudes and a commitment to caring for the Earth” (p. 87).

"The child learns through active exploration of the environment" (Te Whariki, 2017, p. 48).

Throughout this process tamariki are learning where food comes from. It helps them connect with nature and supports wonder, curiosity, patience, fine motor skills, thinking and communication skills, while also providing opportunities to work with and alongside others. 

 

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments," -Janet Kilburn Phillips

 

Gardening in early childhood also teaches tamariki from a very young age about the environment. Tamariki also learn responsibility, love of nature, discovery, reasoning, cooperation, creativity, understanding, and even about nutrition from growing a garden in their early childhood program.

https://littlesproutslearning.co/benefits-of-gardening-in-early-childhood-settings/

After a few months our plants were then ready to harvest. This experience offered our tamariki more skills to acquire and knowledge to learn. We used our vegetables to stock our pataka kai for whānau and our community, used our kale in cooking activities, making smoothies and kale chips and we also used some of our celery and kale in our Matariki feast. 

Here is just some of the kai our whānau made at home with the celery we grew in our gardens at Mairtown Kindergarten.

It was now time to replant and the process began again. 

We were lucky to receive a box of little gardens from our local New World in Regent, Whangarei. 

"Tell me and I'll forget. Teach me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll learn." - Benjamin Franklin

Now with all our seedlings sprouting we are now finding alternative spaces to expand and create more vegetable gardens. 

 

Our end of year gift for whānau which began last year is 'potatoes in a bucket'. We have been busy getting these ready and tamariki have been able to use their skills and knowledge learnt over our many gardening projects throughout this time. Planted with aroha and manaaki we hope that this small offering brings a sense of kotahitanga. 

We plan on expanding our gardens next year and we can't wait to share this process with you all. 

Ko te whenua te waiu mo nga uri whakatipu-

The land will provide sustenance for future generations

 

Nga mihi

Emma Quigg