With this year’s Hallowe’en on a weekend, I am sure everyone had fun trick-or-treating.
Hallowe’en is one of my favourite events and I thoroughly enjoy it every year. The best part is seeing the children at the Nursery in costumes; this year too, I was smiling all day. We also had fun with carving pumpkins at the Nursery, and at home we carved a slightly more complicated design with the family.
Now that two months has past since the start of the new school year, and the children are getting used to their new lives at the Nursery school. Today I will just mention something that I noticed about them.
At our Nursery school, we ask all children to bring an “o-dougu bako”(Art box).
In Canada, usually the art materials such as markers, crayons and glues are supplied by the nursery schools and daycare, so some of you may not be familiar with the idea of children having their own “Art box”.
This “Art box” concept is typical of Japanese early childhood education; most nursery schools and kindergartens ask that the children keep one and would instruct them on how to maintain this Art box.
The idea behind having their own Art box is to have them learn to keep and manage their own belongings, as well as to learn to care for their belongings. Starting at an early age we hope that this will teach them to care for their belongings and to take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, we observe that there are many Art boxes with missing items that are left as is. Children require help of adults to properly maintain their Art boxes and to make sure that there no missing items in the Art box, and it is sometimes difficult for teachers to check each and every child’s Art box.
We ask that the families cooperate in helping the children learn to care for their Art boxes. We will have the children take the Art box home every month with a check list… Are markers all in good condition? Has the glue not dried out? Are there enough colours in the crayons? Please take time to go through each item at home with your children.
We realize everyone is busy and it may be time consuming but please think of it as a great opportunity to nurture their management skills. Thank you for your support and cooperation.
Yukari Ikebata, Principal
August 29, 2011