Initiation into Early Childhood Education

As part of my role this year, I am spending a lot more time in classrooms. Nearly all the English as an Additional Language support will be in the classrooms, working with teachers to plan and teach lessons that allow the EAL students (most of EtonHouse!) to access the curriculum content. This week, I’ve had a ball taking each class while the class teacher assesses the students. I’m also in classes for a lot of PYP support, helping teachers to plan and teach inquiry lessons. Being in any class from Year 1 to 9, I can handle and really enjoy. But ....... Nursery, Reception?! Two year olds? Three year olds? Four year olds? They scare the hell out of me. So you can imagine my horror on Friday when their teacher, Belynda, was called away for a phone conference, and I was asked to step into the youngest class of the school! The class time went well (I sat and was fed carefully cooked plastic fruit and vegetables), it was lunch time where things went downhill. I am used to sitting with the kids, reminding them to eat their vegetables, not feeding them. One poor little girl was so tired she refused to eat and would only eat when I fed her. As I was concentrating on getting the food into her mouth, one of the two year olds decided to throw a tantrum and bang her head on the table, resulting in blood and a screaming child! How did this manage to happen on my watch?!! Needless to say, I was relieved when Belynda returned to her classroom. I definitely needed a drink last night!