Kindergarten

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  Wow, CapnLance! I'm so happy that you stumbled on this wonderful documentary of your own kindergarten class! How precious to see your kindergarten classmates and Mrs. Sharp again. I am glad you wrote because I was curious if the children from the video would ever be able to find this priceless recording. Mrs. Sharp seemed like the best kindergarten teacher! I wish I had her.

  jlt, 19 Jun 2017

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  That story at the end is very sweet. I wonder if it is considered politically incorrect now to have a picture of the Queen in the classroom.

  sixam, 2 Jun 2015

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  I enjoyed watching this film for very selfish reasons. This is my kindergarten class and Mrs Sharp my kindergarten teacher. I'm not in this film because as I recall the day was split into two classes, but this is my 1962 kindergarten class. Seing Mrs.Sharp playing her piano brought shivers down my spine.

  CapnLance, 4 Jun 2012

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  I really enjoyed viewing this film. I trained as a Kindergtarten teacher in the Froebel method in the UK in the 1970s. Since then I have been a teacher of young children and college professor in early childhood subjects - in the UK and here in Canada. One of my interests is in observing children and I have written books on this subject. This film has many opportunities for teachers and learners to observe children and I will recommend it. Hopefully it will be accessible to readers of my text when I mention it in the next edition of Take a Look: Observation and Portfolio Assessment in Early Childhood 6th edition Pearson Canada. Athough some practices have changed since the making of this film and there is an interesting structure within the classroom, the children appear very confident and appreciate what is expected of them. It seems as though the children have play opportunities that we have denied our Kindergarten children in recent years. If only politicians and policy-makers could see what the children were learnign through this play they might see the value of reinforcing it in their curriculum documents. Having curriculum program standards or other requirements such as learning outcomes that must be achieved at the end of a program frightens teachers away from offering a play-based prpgram. If teachers were to trust in their children's natural ability to play, discover, explore and learn, they would then drop the prescriptive methods they clutch onto for fear that the standards will not be achieved. Watch the film, observe the children, and even if for only a few minutes, see how they learn! IT may be 1962 and the contexts, times and pressures may have changed but children remain fundamentally the same.

  smarti, 21 Aug 2011

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