Introduction
Young children going to school for the first time undergo a lot of adjustments coming from a warm and cozy home environment. That is why preschools and day care centres should be designed in the same warm and welcoming atmosphere to ease children’s adjustment to their wider social circle.
Spring Brainy Kidz Pte Ltd. is a place where children discover, grow and learn in a warm home environment. The centre offers a relaxing, fun and nurturing atmosphere which motivates children to learn and makes learning fun. The school believes that setting up an ideal place where children can explore and progress at their own pace will result in a positive attitude towards learning.
Spring Brainy Kidz is a 1 storey childcare center located at Spring Estate which is a safe area away from busy streets. The centre has a large gate at the entrance to enclose the centre and a medium sized fenced play yard with a sand pit and a small garden for gardening activities of the children. An office welcomes visitors before any entry to the main centre. From this area, safety and cleanliness can be observed, as things are well-organized in shelves and wall charts. Eyes will not be too overwhelmed with too-busy areas and clutter, as objects are well-arranged in a spacious environment.
Rationale
Reception area or Living Room
The reception area is appropriately used as a meeting area for teachers, parents, and other visitors for discussion. The tables, shelves and computer are allocated space there for different purposes. Teachers’ belongings are securely kept in the teachers’ shelves. The resources cupboard are for teachers to keep teaching aids. The lower shelving of the computer shelf is allocated for teachers’ research materials. The computer is also used by children of the Kindergarten level whenever necessary, with teacher’s guidance. This reception area has been designed for flexibility of use.
Classroom A
Classroom A is located next to the reception area and used by the Kindergarten class during the A.M. session for lessons and then as a common area for children during breakfast, lunch and going home time.
There is a shelf against the wall for teachers and children to place their learning sheets, resources and stationery. Within the classroom, there are enough tables and chairs arranged for having lessons. The easel board stand is used to support the teaching aids of the teacher.
This is an ideal area to conduct common activities with the children as the space is much bigger when the table and chairs are moved aside.
Classroom B
Classroom B measures 3.95m by 3.95m which is slightly wider than room C and D with an attached toilet near it. In this room, all shelves and cubbyholes are placed against the wall at one side of the classroom for more floor space. There are two tables and enough chairs to cater to 10 four year old children of Nursery 2 level. There are two openings, one leads to the toilet and one is the main entrance in / out of the class.
As this room is slightly wider than the other room and much concealed, it also functions as an assembly area for teachers to conduct morning assembly with the children once they finish their breakfast in classroom A.
Classroom C
Classroom C measures 3.65m by 3.95m. There are two entrance / exit ways for this room. This classroom has a 5 tier shelf which is used to put teacher’s aids, learning sheets, stationery, children’s manipulative materials, toys, baskets of pencils and crayons, a book shelf at the cozy library corner for children to read books in when they finish their lesson. One cubby is placed between classrooms C and D to close up the opening and to minimize noise and also to create just one entrance for classroom C. A whiteboard is mounted as a teaching tool for teacher to write information during the lessons and also as a backing for the flannel board during story time. There are 2 tables with 11 chairs in this room. This Nursery classroom cozily caters to a total of 10 children who spend 2 half-days and 8 full days(please clarify number of school days here) in the centre. The teacher conducts daily teaching and arranges the tables and chairs according to their needs.
Classroom D
Classroom D measures 3.65m by 3.64m. The room consists of many wall charts at child’s eye level, 1 cubby for children to place their bags and belongings such as mattress covers and bolsters. A 5-tier shelf is placed against the wall for teacher to place their teaching aids, stationery and learning sheets, while the lower portion is used for children’s manipulative materials and toys so that children can reach and choose their own materials to work with. A rack with a TV is available in the classroom for use as a multimedia tool for children to watch the Brainy Program in their spare time. One movable whiteboard is placed in the classroom for the teacher to use when necessary. It could be used during lesson time or when telling story with a felt board. There are 1 small square table with 3 chairs and 1 round table with 4 chairs to cater to the different sizes of the children in the class. Children have the choice to sit on the smaller chairs or the bigger chairs which are age appropriate and safe. The arrangement in this classroom maximizes space and minimizes obstruction for children to move freely, as safety is a priority especially for the younger ones who are always on the move.
In general, the physical environment should reflect the goals and expectations of the teacher. It will also dictate somehow to the children how they will behave in the classroom (Brewer, 2001). Being so, space allocation reflects the priorities of the curriculum. At Spring Brainy Kidz, space is sufficient enough to include all the essential areas for a school which includes the well-equipped classrooms, an office, a kitchen, toilets, storage areas and an outdoor play area.
According to Boulton-Lewis & Catherwoods (1995), when the quality of the physical environment declined, teacher restriction and control increased, the teacher’s behavior became less friendly, the students became less interested and involved, classroom rules increased, and conflict among children increased. Likewise, Kepler (1995) observed that the learning environment influences, and directly contributes to, children’s behavior and levels of learning. It seems teachers at Spring Brainy Kidz are well aware of this, as they have structured the physical environment in such a way that children feel free to be themselves.
The physical environment should be one that is open and stimulating in order to encourage children to participate, explore, and learn. A stimulating environment provides the teacher with many opportunities to observe where a child’s interests lie as well as those areas the child may be tentative in exploring (Danoff, Breitbart & Barr, 1977). The environment should also be flexible and spontaneous to accommodate children’s play which is essential in a preschool classroom. This implies that teachers should allow for adequate space and an array of creative materials. Furniture should be child-sized, durable, comfortable, and organized in such a way that would be easy to rearrange depending on varying classroom needs. Basic classroom furniture includes tables and chairs, shelves, cubbies or similar storage units, sofas, and pillows. These have all been observed in the Spring Brainy Kidz Centre.
The classrooms at Spring Brainy Kidz have wide open spaces with storage shelving set aside against the walls. Child-sized tables and chairs are situated near these shelves which house the toys and educational materials. Such tables and chairs may easily be pushed aside should the class need a bigger space for music and movement activities, active games, etc. All the classrooms are designed this way, flexible enough for whatever activity planned by the teacher or the routines the children go through each day. “Routines are the backbone of classroom life. They facilitate teaching and learning” (Shalaway, 1997, p. 25). It structures the activities and help students know what to expect and how to behave during transitions. Hence, the physical environment should support the routines of each class.
Although it is a good idea to have wide open spaces in the classrooms, the disadvantage may be too much freedom for movement encouraged in the children so they have the tendency to run around. The lack (or absence) of partitions in the wide classrooms opens their perspective to the idea of extending their large motor muscles through running, jumping, skipping, etc. However, they have the outdoor play area for that. Inside the classroom, they can do more activities with their small-motor muscles. Large-muscle activities may be limited to music and movement activities facilitated by the teacher.
The other facilities such as the kitchen, toilets and storage areas are permanently located in convenient spaces and are serving their functions as expected. They are way off the traffic of movement from one classroom to another, although they are still accessible to the children. The reception area is also a convenient and flexible space which may be used in a variety of ways by the teachers, children, parents and visitors.
Recommended Improvements
The National Association for the Education of Yong Children (NAEYC) advocates for the use of learning centers in classrooms. These learning centers may include a dramatic play area, a small library or reading corner (which Spring Brainy Kidz has), a manipulatives area for fine motor activities, a block area, a math and science area, an art area etc. These learning areas are set up in the classroom in such a way that children may go to one learning area after another to work and play with the materials provided in each area. Having learning areas in classrooms provides the following benefits for children:
- Children develop social skills as they interact cooperatively with others, share materials and teach each other.
- Centers encourage communication because children can talk and verbalize freely.
- Children can move and be active, so there will be fewer discipline problems and disruptions.
- Learning centers involve a greater use of the senses.
- Centers encourage children to learn in ways that are natural to them.
- They allow children to work independently, in small groups, or one-on-one with the teacher.
- Centers provide for a wide range of abilities and interests because children can progress at their own rate.
- Creativity, curiosity and experimentation are fostered.
- Centers encourage children to be independent, make decisions and solve problems.
- Learning centers are a better use of children’s time and classroom space and materials.
- Centers offer diversity and flexibility in terms of materials and learning activities.
- With learning centers, children can repeat an activity for pleasure or for reinforcement. (Brewer, 2001; NAEYC, 1997)
Spring Brainy Kidz may be achieving a lot of their goals for the total development of the children under their care, however, installation of learning centers in their classrooms may further improve their program in optimizing children’s learning and the development of their potentials. It is important to remember to use age-appropriate materials in each classroom, with bigger and more of the same items for toddlers and more variety and challenge for older preschoolers. Younger children still learn mostly through their senses, so they have the tendency to put things in their mouths, so larger toys should be available to them to avoid swallowing and choking on smaller pieces. Also, since they are more egocentric, sharing is not yet ingrained in their systems, so more pieces of the same toys should be available to avoid conflicts. Older children need more challenging learning materials to sharpen their growing cognitive and fine motor skills.
The number of children per classroom conforms to the standard adult-child ration proposed by NAEYC, so developmentally-appropriate practices seem to be in place at Spring Brainy Kidz Centre. Having a small class size would make it more efficient for the teacher to implement her curriculum and arrange the physical environment in such a way as to provide for her class’ developmental and individual needs.
Safety & Security
The design of the centre revolves around the safety and security of the children. Sturdy furniture and equipment were made with the safety of the children in mind. The windows and doors are conveniently sliding or foldable, but adults need to be extra careful with opening and closing them, as little fingers might be in the way. The openings at the front and back of the school provide easy access in and out of the classrooms, which comes in handy in times of emergencies. Contingency measures such as the traffic flow and emergency procedures are in place for all the adults to refer to.
Spring Brainy Kidz is off to a good start, and has much potential to be the ideal learning place for very young children.
References
Boulton-Lewis, G., and Catherwood, D., eds. (1995). The early years. London: Pitman Publishing.
Brewer, J. (2001) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Allyn and Bacon.
Danoff, J., Breitbart, B., and Barr, E. (1977). Open children: for those interested in early childhood education. New York: McGraw Hill Co.
Kepler, L. (1995). Quick-and-easy learning centers: science. New York: Scholastic Inc.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (1997).
Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8: a position statement of the national association for the education of young children. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Shalaway, L. (1997) Learning to Teach…not just for Beginners. Scholastic Professional Books.