“The unknown energy that can help humanity is that which lies hidden in the child.”
- Maria Montessori
Earlier on I wrote about the
start of our journey of creating a natural outdoor environment at
Little Earth, our new preschool. This journey is part of a bigger journey as we are working towards becoming a more sustainable preschool community. Here are the steps of the process we have been following at
Little Earth.
Create a team of highfliers
Start with creating a team that beliefs, a team of teachers and parents who are excited, enthusiastic and passionate for whatever it is that you as a preschool stand for. At both
Tawa Montessori Preschool and
Little Earth we have an amazing team of enthusiastic teachers and parents who embrace
our philosophy and are keen on making it embedded in every aspect of our preschool life.
Create a tribe
Community engagement adds to enactment. Make use of the skills and knowledge of your parent community. Encourage participation and acknowledge each others strengths. At both our preschools we actively encourage parent participation, a very rewarding and enriching experience for all involved. At a more wider level, both our preschools are a member of
Enviroschools. We network, attend workshops, hui, and cluster meetings with like minded schools, we are part of a bigger tribe.
Involve the children
The children are the active participants and leaders in your journey. They are capable, willing and enthusiastic, they are your stakeholders. Challenge their thinking. Engage your children in experiencing the natural environment and share and celebrate.
Get out your compass
Use your community to do some brainstorming and mindmapping. Think about what you want and how you want to go about it. What external help have you got available and what internal resources do you have? Get out your compass. Which way do you want to go? At
Little Earth our compass is pointing towards becoming a more sustainable preschool.
Create a vision map
The purpose of the vision map is to plan your future programme and actions. To make sure it gets acted on it is crucial your vision map is incorporated into your strategic plan. At
Little Earth we created a vision map for our outdoor environment as part of a more sustainable preschool community. It is a list of all the things we want for our outdoor area. This map will be used for our annual goal setting.
Set realistic goals
Following your vision map, set goals. Keep them realistic. We have several goals, but at both our preschools we have a goal for education for sustainability to be embedded into the whole curriculum.
Implement tangible and small projects
Projects are implemented one step at a time as it is important that all aspects of your philosophy and your sustainability goals are implemented. This includes the frame of mind that is necessary for the project to fully meet its goals. Start with something small and tangible that you can celebrate with the children and that you can maintain. Make sure your practices are embedded. It is not how much, but how good you do these practices. Over the last few months we have implemented several
outdoor projects at
Little Earth.
Develop strategies, policies and procedures
This is the core. Develop policies, an enviro care code, a sustainability statement and strategies that support environmentally friendly and sustainable practices and embed these in your strategic planning and blue print. Look beyond your classroom practices, beyond your recycling and wormbin.
Keep the process going
Reflection is an integral part and helps you giving direction for the journey ahead. Investigate the impact and quality of your actions. Listen to your children, watch them, observe them, see what they do and want and need. Ask them. At our preschools we constantly ask ourselves is this what we want, is this the best we can do for our children?
Celebrate
Celebrate the achievements. Celebrate when children take on ideas and pro actively manage the sustainable practices. Celebrate when your environment is a rich source for learning and growing, a living space. Celebrate when your older children are peer tutoring the younger children and you have a genuine community of life long learners. Celebrate when you have an integrated curriculum, a living curriculum in and outside.And celebrate when you have a community of self-directed and motivated care takers, children helping each other, and the animals and plants in their environment. At our preschools we have plenty of reasons to celebrate!
Our journey is taking us to places undiscovered, unimagined, and unexpected. We have challenges and obstacles, achievements and highlights. By sharing our journey I hope you get some ideas and inspiration to help or to start you on your own journey. Please feel welcome to leave comments or share ideas.
“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping”
- Chinese proverb
- Anja
Links:
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Our journey at Little Earth (1) - The start
