Riverstone Early Childhood Academy

Happy Birthday to our two sweet girls. Marking the 3rd year milestone with treats and gifts, the children celebrated their birthday to their heart content, closing with their dream Ba Ba Black Sheep, Elsa and a lovely day narrative.

Beyond academic achievements through exploration of the Montessori purposeful materials, intrinsic altruism is naturally fostered as an older child supported a younger child in her numeracy awareness as he asserted “zero is nothing, so you don’t put anything here.” The younger child then passed the older child some wooden rods as she stated, “I helped him.”

Through active collaboration, a shared narrative which demonstrates the children’s shared learning is enabled, showcasing compassion and kindness in a nurturing early childhood environment.

Beyond the classroom, the children embarked on a journey to Disneyland from France, Japan, America or China. Demonstrating flexible ways of thinking in an open-ended process art experience, knowledge was translated from factual realities to imaginary narratives. From the colours of rainbow, famous Jackson’s family, flags of Disneyland, to circles, multiple perspectives emerged, reflecting transformational ideas in a Disneyland laboratory that illustrated the children’s inner worlds.

“Ms Sandy, am I a Yoga master?”

Mindfully stretching and pushing their limits, the active learners playfully showcased their physical literacy abilities while immersing in self-control and self-regulation in a calm, supportive environment.

Outdoor play provides unlimited opportunities for sociodramatic interactions through child-initiated activities.

Playfully negotiating and directing in efforts to plant a tree, the children showcased their capabilities as mighty learners as they multitasked while informing one another their roles to fetch nature’s loose parts. By managing and implementating their play experiences to stabilise a newly planted tree, strong executive functioning skills are demonstrated through their meaningful collaborations.

A letter becomes a word, a word becomes a sentence, and a sentence becomes a story.

Beyond fostering early emerging literacy awareness, adult-child guidance cultivates secure attachment relationships and affirms self-efficacy and self-knowledge. Children’s brain development is significantly impacted in their early years through warm, nurturing environments. Through consistent serve-and-return interactions by listening to children’s needs, and meeting them where they are at, contact and connections are formed, strengthening self-management and self-awareness in their communication and understanding.

Collaboratively constructing a flower kingdom, insects were infused as the young creative minds articulated their narratives. “Why were they scared of a caterpillar? They turned into butterflies,” announced a child. “Where are you? I am right here,” responded another child who was holding up a centipede. “One day, I touched one of these crawling on my arms,” added another child. By adding onto one another’s playscripts, multiple perspectives were shared, demonstrating flexible ways of thinking and being.

Besides free unstructured sociodramatic play opportunities, one-on-one guided learning experience is fostered. Research has shown the importance of playful opportunities as platforms for the natural occurrences of multiple perspectives. Separate research articles have also shown the potential benefits of supporting children’s emergent writing and reading potential. Through an all rounded attachment focused environment with direct and indirect guidance, children are supported to develop their domains in a literacy and emotionally attuned early childhood environment.

Outdoor play: hearing the sounds of nature, hypotheses were playfully made as the young explorers imagined the roles of birds and the life of ducks. From making playful observations, dancing at the bridge, impersonating personalities at the river to climbing and sliding at the Caterpillar Park, self-agency is enriched, showcasing dimensions of cognitive processing and intrinsic altruistic motivation.

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, UNICEF asserted the important role of social interactions in outdoor play. Through accessibility of different parks during nature walk, the children become active contributors of their own thoughts, collaboratively participating in a prosocial environment. By enriching meaningful opportunities in interactive exchanges, relationships with others and the environment are strengthened, promoting their sense of belonging in early childhood pedagogies that showcase their unique perspectives.