Library Week
6th September to 7th October 2010
We had library week for a month approached by the librarian from our community library centre. This was a good opportunity for our children in my centre to explore with all kinds of books and languages. Every week we took our children to library where they had special programme like singing songs in different culture, learning new words for greetings, reading and sharing stories by the librarian and listening to music or story by playing in radio or CD where our children enjoyed so much. On our way to library they met different people in our community, they come across with their friends and relatives houses, saw animals like dogs, birds and cats, many kinds of transport which they talked about a lot and of course the letter boxes which the children decided to write letter for their friends and drop them to one letter box every week which was a very good and interesting idea and experience for the children and us to get in touch with our community (people) around us.
During our visit we discussed about the people in our community who provides the great help towards the setting for example, library is the great help for the early childhood setting where they invite and approach our children to learn and “build opportunities for social interaction with adults and other children and respects the achievements and aspirations of the child’s family and community” (Ministry of Education 1996, p.54).
Many children shared their learning while they were visiting to library and they were eager to visit every week because they used to explore the outside environment as well as exploring good time in library with books and fascinated by the librarian’s programme. According to Vygotsky, children’s cognition develops through the use of language and communication; interaction in social context is the driving forces for language development (Santrock). Piaget views that cognitive structure must exist in the individual before the development of language. “Language can be a part of all forms and types of play” (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008, p.86). Children’s action experiences are basic for the development of language skill; they need to experience the world by acting on it and to build up their cognitive structure before they can learn language (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008).
“The programme should provide opportunities for interactions with community groups and services, both by children visiting outside the home or centre and by people from the wider world being welcomed” (Ministry of Education 1996, p.55). Children develop an understanding of their wider world by people and discovering different experience, events from home, centre and community. Engaging the community as apart of our collaborative approach to planning children’s learning and development provides a diverse context for learning (Arthur et al, 2008).
I think the library week was very interesting and it provides children with social interaction. Children explore the physical environment while visiting to library. I really appreciate our people in the community who provides a good help for our children, centre, family and whanau.
It is quite amazing how a simple walk to the library can provide so much learning for young children. Your blog described many areas that could be extended on including animals, people, vehicles, books and of course the letter boxes that promted a weekly occurance of deliveries the children obviously enjoyed.Did any of the children get replies? I hope your month long weekly visits become more permenant as these visits DO enhance their learning and can infuence their interests.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carolyn. We as early childhood teachers sometimes tend to look for exciting things that we can provide for children but what we really need to do is look at all the learning that can happen even in simple things such as visiting the library. kia ora Pravina for choosing to write on this topic.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do received reply from three parents so far and one was from one of the grand parent who came over to our centre to see and talk to our children about himself and his family who had a Maori and Pacifica background. All our centre staff appreciated this grand parent on sharing about his family with children and we thanked him with a little present and card made by our children. We may start another library week in November so that will be another exciting journey for us.Thanks for making your comment girl's.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great learning experience related to the local community. Do you take children visit the library too?
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