Monday, August 17, 2009

First community building exercise




These are the pins for the "helping hands" ceremony where the returning older children will pin the heart on a new younger child and tell them "I'll give you my helping hand". The goal is to highlight the responsibility that returning older children have towards the newbies in our community.

3 comments:

P.S. Montessori said...

I love this idea and might steal it :) A few years ago, I went to a talk given by a (retired) Montessori teacher who had been trained by Maria herself. She said that she would create "families" in her classrooforAge began doing this to help the children in her class who had special needs. It was about 4 or 5 children per family, and they would help each other, especially the child with special needs. Isn't that lovely?

Gypsy said...

That is so sweet. I am just falling in love with your school Susanne!

The Davidson's said...

I saw this lovely idea when you first posted it and couldn't wait to try it! Repeating the ceremony again this year, I just had to tell you how much this simple, selfless act means to all the children. I use felt for the hearts and hands, then I make it into a necklace with extra soft yarn. The oldest, Kindergarten children, receive helping hands from me and my assistant. The K's then offer the hearts to their 4 year old friends. Finally, the new veterans offer their helping hands to our brand new friends. I get emotional just thinking about it. It's really quite powerful. Thank you for sharing and adding a beautiful tradition to our room!