What is Aistear?

Aistear is a curriculum framework for children from birth to six years in Ireland. It describes the types of learning that are important for babies, toddlers and young children and we use this framework here in this service. It emphasises the importance of play in the lives of children and provides lots of ideas on how we can support children to become confident , independent and happy individuals.

Aistear uses four themes to describe what children learn during their early childhood. The themes are:

■ Well-being

■ Identity and Belonging

■ Communicating

■ Exploring and Thinking

How to find out more

The Aistear Toolkit which you will find at www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit has lots of resources to help you learn more about Aistear and to see how it might help you at home to support your child’s learning and development. For example, there are three tip sheets for parents on helping your child learn through play.

If your child is starting school in September here are a few practical tips to think about over the Summer Months

• Label your child’s belongings
• Fit the uniform on in advance so you know he/she will comfortable
• Provide an easy to carry bag and lunchbox he/she can open easily
• Prepare a healthy snack such as raisins or grapes during break time
• Prepare healthy food for lunch
• Have a drink ready in the outside pocket of his/her schoolbag
• Prepare everything the night before: shoes, socks, brush etc..
• Get up at least thirty minutes earlier than your usual routine to avoid being late
• Make sure you pick up on time to avoid overstaying in school, staying twenty minutes late in the classroom is already too long
• Inform your child you’re leaving but you’re coming back to collect him/her later
• It helps to talk to other parents during the first few days in school

June 21 is the Summer Solstice, and a great time to celebrate the season and open a discussion with your child on the topic. This is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere of Earth. Show your children a world globe or map and point out the northern hemisphere (above the equator) and the southern hemisphere (below the equator). Explain that the sun, the closest star to Earth, will be at its brightest and most powerful in the northern hemisphere, providing lots of light and warmth all summer long.

Remember that even though your young child may not fully understand the words and concepts you are using, just exposing them to new vocabulary and ideas sets the groundwork for further learning as they grow.

Immunisation can save your child’s life.  As a result of the advances in medicine your child can be protected from more diseases than before.  As a result of safe and effective vaccines some diseases such as polio have been eradicated.

Vaccinations are safe and effective. As a result of research and testing by scientists, doctors and healthcare professionals vaccines are given to babies and children.  Research has shown that, to date, there is no link between autism and vaccines

Remember immunisation protects those you care about and others in the community. Some babies and young children can’t be vaccinated as a result of allergies, illness, and weakened immune system or for other reasons.  In order to keep your child safe it is recommended that your child is vaccinated and immunised.  This will mean that your children are protected and it will also prevent the spread of diseases to the most vulnerable.

There are financial gains to be had in having children vaccinated.  Should your child present with a vaccine preventable disease they will have to stay away from the crèche/childcare service.  This might mean that you as their primary carer will have to take time off work and which might mean that you will incur financial pain.  However, remember vaccines are free and available from your GP or local health clinic.

Research has shown that immunization protects future generations.  An example of this is the fact that children have no longer to be vaccinated from smallpox due to the fact that this disease has been eliminated

Children’s early years is the time when they develop a lifelong love of reading and as parents you are no doubt aware of  how important it is to read to  your children.  The tips below are just some ways that you can support your children to become competent and confident readers and develop a love of reading. 

Choose Age Appropriate Books.

For very young children, choose hard board, cloth or vinyl books. The pictures in the book need to be bright and clear, the story line should be short and hold the child’s attention. Let your child select the book as this will support their interest in reading and show them that feeling of being important.

Pick a comfortable place to sit.

Get your child to snuggle up to you or sit on your lap. This supports a warm caring bond and makes it easier for children to see the pictures and the words. This will help your child to turn the pages.

Talk about the book before you start reading

Have your child look at the cover. Ask them to guess what the book is about? Who wrote it? Who drew the pictures? This will help get children excited about reading it.

Use your voice to make the book interesting and fun.

Start out in a gentle tone and change the tone as the story suggests for example use excited, scared, soft or loud  tones. With nursery rhymes and poems, make sure to highlight the rhythm of the lines.

Read the book at a relaxed pace

Reading at a slow pace will help your child to follow the story. Encourage them to ask questions or point out things in the pictures that interest them

Point to Images

Get your child to point to pictures and get them to name what they see this will help them learn new words. Ask questions like “what do you think is happening?” “What can you see?”.  As you read the story count the number of things in the pictures, name the colours, animals, people etc. that are in the pictures.

Encourage Predication

Ask your child “What do you think is going to happen now? This will help your child stay focussed and support the development of memory skills.

Link the Story to Real Life

Stories about things like going to the doctor, a new school, a new baby might help your child to get used to the idea of a new event which is going to happen for them. Stories are a great way to encourage a child to talk about things that are worrying them, or things that they are looking forward to.

Point to words as you say them

This helps your child understand that words have meaning and that the written word is spoken. With young children point out letters that might they might be familiar with – for example the letters in their names.

Reading should be fun

The more fun that your child has when you are reading together – the more they will love books and want to hear stories read to them. Make sure that the time you pick to read with your child is a time when your child is able to pay attention and that it is a good time for you.  If your child looses attention do not worry, just take a break and go back to reading the story another time. It is important that reading becomes part of the child’s daily routine reading a story just before bed is often a great way to help a child calm down for sleep.

Aistear is a curriculum framework for children from birth to six years in Ireland. It describes the types of learning that are important for babies, toddlers and young children and we use this framework here in this service. It emphasises the importance of play in the lives of children and provides lots of ideas on how we can support children to become confident , independent and happy individuals.

 Aistear uses four themes to describe what children learn during their early childhood. The themes are:

■ Well-being

■ Identity and Belonging

■ Communicating

■ Exploring and Thinking

Aistear will provides children with lots of learning opportunities to support the above themes and help children develop holistically and reach their potential. This is done through a range of fun ideas and activities.

How to find out more

The Aistear Toolkit which you will find at www.ncca.ie/aisteartoolkit has lots of resources to help you learn more about Aistear and to see how it might help you at home to support your child’s learning and development. For example, there are three tip sheets for parents on helping your child learn through play.

Read the story to yourself and then to the children in your service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQrzCBlz3w

Take a look at the you tube clip and reflect on what you see.  Consider  your responsibility as a child care practitioner.  No doubt resulting from observing positive  role modelling children in your service will themselves become positive role models i.e.  ‘pass it on’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_suNBT6qUYc#!

How children feel about themselves, their self-worth, can be a challenge a for child care practitioners.  It is also one of the key responsibilities for those working with young children.

As we are aware this self-concept begins at a young age with babies learning at a young age how others respond to them and how others see them.  By 18 months , a child has a clear notion that they have a separate and specific identity.

CanavanByrne believe that childcare practitioners can assist those in their care in feeling good about them by recognizing the unique qualities that each child possesses.  Practitioners must remember to recognise each child’s temperamental pattern so that their expectations for that child truly fit their personality.

Children will be able to work cooperatively with others and embrace problem solving and challenges as a result of their self-confidence and the feeling of internal self worth.

For children who don’t develop self-confidence, their main focus is on failure instead of their success.  They see problems instead of challenges, and obstacles instead of possibilities.  As we are aware there is no single solution to enhance self-esteem, but one way is to show children “unconditional positive regard.”  Through “unconditional positive regard children will know that others care for them accept and approve of them. For the childcare practitioner this can be a challenge when boundaries are being set or when a child is acting in a way which is inappropriate.  Remember the challenge for the childcare practitioner is how to learn to accept the child as an individual even when their behaviour is inappropriate.

Some Ways to support children build positive self-esteem

• Offer honest recognition and praise.  Offer specific praise for example ‘you really worked well with the sand and the buckets’ or “thanks for helping at tidy up time”.  This specific praise will mean more to a child than a general remark such as “well done”

• Share the child’s achievements with the child’s parents. Offer children appropriate choices and be prepared for their decision.  Respect and abide the child’s decisions once it has been made. This will support decision making and contribute towards building the child’s self esteem .  .
• Explain the rationale behind adult decisions and rules rather than “Because I said so”.
• If you are discussing  the child in front of them make sure that they are included in the conversation.
• Support children gain competence by encouraging them to be
  • Independent
  • Provide a variety of ways that children can succeed
  • Ensure that there are opportunities that the children find challenging but that are not too difficult
  • Avoid reinforcing stereotypical activities and what is appropriate play for either boys and girls

Remember when working with children with additional needs the childcare practitioner must remember that they no different from other children.  Be mindful that your focus is not primarily safety thus removing opportunities and experiences that would have been enjoyed.  Use the same process of building self esteem that you use with the other children with the focus on what the child can do not what they can’t.

We at Canavan Byrne recommend that you check out the following podcast available on the Aistear website about sharing information with parents about how their children play.

Check out the link

http://vimeo.com/ncca/review/52970607/38c64835b7

Please feel free to contact our team at reception@canavanbyrne.ie  in relation to any support you might require  in the developing of policies which support  quality partnerships between parents and services  or any other topic .