“Someone needs help!”
In the beginning of the year, as vehicles with sirens would come blaring down Foothill Blvd and pass the CEC, the children of the Koala room were filled with curiosity at the display of lights and loud noise. The Koala teachers would gently explain, “That means someone needs help!” As the year has progressed, just as cars on the road all stop to let emergency vehicles through, the children and teachers of the Koala room have developed their own ritual – when a child cries or falls, the children all pause, look around, and say, “Someone needs help!”
“When this happens, we encourage the children to consider, ‘Do we need to get an ice pack?’ ‘Do we need to get a teacher?’ ‘Do we need to move people away?’ ‘Do we need to give them a hug?’ We are fostering a sense of healthy interdependence and prompting them to care for one another just as much as they want to care for or do things by themselves.” says Master Lead Teacher, Denise.
W wanted to balance on the very narrow beam. S and L saw and offered him their hands, knowing it would help him with his balance.
Denise shared that developmentally, the children in the Koalas are exploring their sense of independence and that as teachers, they want to support the building of interdependence alongside this. “I can really see that they feel empowered, able, and proud that they can do things for themselves. We like to offer many opportunities for this throughout the day. At first, children may experience a little bit of a struggle, and then push themselves through with determination. Once they get to the other side and learn, ‘Look, I can do it!’, when they see another child struggling, they use what they’ve learned in order to offer help.”
Recently, Denise witnessed a beautiful display of this interdependence between two children arriving to the CEC at the same time one morning. W came proudly marching in with a toy broom he had brought that day from home. T saw the broom and was upset because he had the same broom at home and had not brought it that day. W was escorted to the Koalas, but when it was time for T’s turn, he refused to go in with the chaperone or his father. Seeing this, Denise went to W and said, “T is very sad today, he's not wanting to come because his broom, that is just like your broom, is at home. Would it be okay if you let T use your broom to come in this morning?” W agreed and walked out with the chaperone to hand T his broom and they all walked in together, with T proudly holding the borrowed broom. Once inside, W told T that he could borrow his broom and keep it with him that day.
A was helping readjust the box for W. The group was delivering packages and W's box kept falling. A saw this and said, "I can help you"
“This was possible because [W] has experienced that here at the CEC, reciprocity, or learning to give and receive, is a positive experience. He knows that he'll get his broom back at the end of the day, and that by sharing his broom, he's helping someone. He’s learned how good it feels to help someone in need.” said Denise.
“That is the heart of the community we are trying to create—a community that is caring, loving, and strong. One of the many ways we are doing this is by always acknowledging, ‘Oh, somebody is upset or has a challenge, let's see how we can help them. What do they need?’”