STRUCTURE

Regular Program

Our Tokyo preschool program is based on current research that tells us that play is the best medium for learning and development in the early years. We have developed a program that reflects and provides for different learning styles and different learning levels through the provision of open-ended experiences. We provide a rich, inquiry-based environment that has the potential to stimulate imagination, promote creativity, and enable holistic development. Our program has been developed with the following in mind:

Emerging Skills

One of the main priorities for the staff is to ensure that plans allow for the children’s different interests and skill level within all the emerging skills. These include; the child’s sense of self, the communicating child, the thinking child, the healthy, physical and active child, the social child, the feeling child, the creative child, and the spiritual and moral child. The level of skill that the children have within these areas depends very much upon the age of the children, their individual stage of development, and most importantly their motivation or interest to explore certain concepts. Because we believe that all children are individuals striving to discover the connections between their experiences and their environment and that their sense of self-worth/self-esteem are important, the program offers children an environment rich in opportunity for self discovery based upon their immediate interest areas.

Documentation

Documentation of children’s experiences is integral to our program because it records children’s progress and tells the story of the children’s learning journey. These visual, written and/or symbolic representations of children’s thinking help to inform families about the processes involved in children’s learning and learning outcomes.  It highlights the quality of the staff’s teaching and provides a strong record for children, staff and families to reflect upon, to discuss, to refer back to, and to build on from. Documentation, through Class Stories and Portfolios is also presented through CLASS DOJO which is our main portal for communicating with parents.

Observations

Staff use a range of methods to observe and record children’s learning. These can include anecdotal and running records, with a focus on recording interactions, relationships, conversations and thinking processes of children in small groups. Observations can also be voice or visual recordings. Samples of children’s drawings or a photo of a sand construction or diagrams of a problem to be solved, are also used. In all methods, the children are a part of the process and contribute their words and ideas and give feedback on what has been recorded.

CHILD FOCUS AND COLLATING INFORMATION

Class teachers are responsible for the overall review and planning for each team and group of children. Individual children may be focused on by way of rotation in order to develop a clearer picture of each child. Each child has an individual portfolio, which, as a work in progress, documents the child’s interests and progress while at preschool. Work samples, observations, scripts from recorded discussions, photos of children engaging in projects and stories written about and with children, provide a rich collection of information. In addition, the reflective commentary of staff goes from describing the events into interpreting and explaining the thinking and learning processes that children have been involved in.

Displaying Documentation

Displaying some of the children’s work within Ohana International School in Tokyo comes with the children’s support/approval and assistance. Much thought on the part of both staff and children goes into these displays, which themselves become part of the learning process, as opposed to being merely a task undertaken by staff to cover wall spaces. Displays are arranged aesthetically and respectfully and in places accessible to children and families. Most of us do not function well in environments with visual overload therefore sensitivity and care has been taken into how works are displayed in each classroom.

Using Documentation

Staff use documentation to reflect on their practices, on how they approach decision-making and how they think about subject matter across a range of situations. Staff analyze the purpose and meanings and learning outcomes for children. Children describe what is happening and reflect on some of their initial thoughts and ideas. Collaborative decisions are then made about what are the next steps to take, and how and where the documentation will be used.

Group Sizes

Our entire day consists of individual, small and large group activities, which vary according to the activities and needs of the children and the class as a whole. The basis of our programming system incorporates staff interacting with individual children, small groups of children or large groups in areas of interest to these children. This work is supported by planned experiences as well as the creation of a consistent environment within which children can interact. The whole group may gather to discuss or exchange information and plans, however a small group may do this as well. Grouping is often interest-based and when the classes are small enough, the interest of all the children can more readily be sustained, maintained, and developed.

Team Planning

We utilize team planning as we recognize that the staff have a wide range of skills that we want all the children to benefit from. We recognize the need for knowledge of child development and appropriate activities to stimulate specific development.

Special Additional Needs

All children have special needs; however some require more support than others and we endeavor to provide for these children and where possible find additional support.

Routines

Routines form an important part of the program, providing opportunity for small group participation or one-to-one opportunities. Children are given verbal notice prior to the need to move from one activity to another, though flexibility within the program can allow children to complete tasks that are of interest to them. Each child’s day will include an opportunity for quiet times and more energetic times, for group and individual play, for teacher directed and self-initiated activities. We recognize the need to provide opportunities for repetition, observation and exploration by the children. Children need the opportunity to control part of their environment and choose to be active or quiet. Children have the freedom to choose what toys they want to play with during free play.  During certain structured times of the day they are required to participate and “work” on an individual project or in the group.

Flexibility

There are many different theories about how children learn and what we as adults and teachers should be doing to best enhance this learning and development. At Ohana International School in Tokyo, we respect that children learn when their physical needs are met and they feel psychologically safe and secure. All children’s needs are different and we need a flexible program to allow us to cater for individuals.

We follow daily routines and weekly programs however we also recognize that flexibility is a very important part of our day. This flexibility includes both children and staff and expecting the unexpected is very much a part of life. We strive to empower the children to be able to make decisions for themselves, as we believe this is an important part of their future development. Learning to work as part of a team is a very important skill children learn in preschool. This goes hand in hand with making compromises and sometimes doing things that are not our first preference.

Family Involvement

At our Tokyo preschool, we welcome parents/family involvement. We realize that all families have different commitments and that the extent of involvement varies. All involvement is much appreciated and valued. Effective parent involvement enables us to work productively together to enhance the quality of care provided for the children and work in partnership.

Parent involvement promotes positive staff/parent relationships. From the child’s perspective it promotes a smoother transition between home and school as well as providing increased opportunities for parents to have a say in their child’s life outside of the home environment.

Parents can join our Ohana Parent and Teachers Organization (OPTO) by indicating their interest at either a committee or personal level. Alternatively, every day is open day at Ohana and families are welcome to come when it suits them to visit or show grandparents/ friends what a day is like at the preschool. This needs to be pre-planned in order to respect the teachers and the programme in the class for that day. Due to COVID-19, the option to come to school during school hours is not available.

Programming for Diversity

Children come from many diverse, colorful backgrounds and different family circumstances. We take all of this into consideration when we design our daily schedules and plan our environment. We believe that it is important to include this into our program. We like to reflect the different cultures and beliefs in the play areas we set up and the concepts we teach. Families are invited to participate in international month where they bring along items from their home countries, prepare foods and teach customs and songs to the children.

Communication

It is very important that all of our community — children, staff, and parents — communicate in an effective and successful manner. Staff are taught about conflict resolution and effective communication, which we then try to apply to all aspects of our day, with other staff, parents, and the children. The children are constantly learning about communication, and they experience it in all the different facets of their lives. In our program we are aiming to refine these skills and to make them effective and workable for the children themselves. Communication is a very important aspect of their personal and social development. Our ultimate goal is for the children to gradually build up an understanding and usage of effective communication strategies in their everyday lives. We do this by providing social play situations, and by encouraging them to express their feelings, both positive and negative and through appropriate modeling.

Social Responsibility

We believe that now is the time to teach children about social responsibility, when they are young. To be a good citizen of the world, we need many things e. g. take care of the planet, of nature, and be aware of our actions and that they impact others.

Responsibility means that people can depend on us, that we make good choices, and we are accountable for our actions. A responsible global citizen looks out for the well being of others and understands that we all have a part to play in making the world a better place.

Children need tangibles in order to be able to fully understand and act on these things. We can make them aware of our place in our community and what we can do to make it better; through being a good role model and having a sense of responsibility to and for the community which includes our family, our neighbourhood, our friends and our school, is a great easy first step.

These are examples of how we teach Social Responsibility at Ohana International School - through Zero Plastic Fridays when we can only bring reusable plastic to school, participating in Earth Day, separating garbage each day, picking up garbage in the neighbourhood and cleaning the park where we play, thanking community workers e. g. post office, police and fire fighters by visiting them and presenting them with a gift and then learning about what they do for our community, and more.

We recycle junk art materials; we reduce our garbage; we reuse, and we recycle.

We want children to learn empathy, kindness and compassion through their acts of social responsibility and understand that “you too can make a difference”.