General procedure

So... I'll get in touch again^^

After my last BBQ on September 24th, nothing really exciting happened until the following Friday, so I'll summarize it all in my kindergarten daily routine.

My work starts at 9 am and the children arrive with me, who are picked up from home by bus. As soon as I enter the kindergarten and take off my shoes and socks, the first children come to me and greet me. While I put away my jacket and bag, I take the opportunity to greet the teachers and some children. After that, I walk around the kindergarten for a while and briefly talk to the children or start playing with them.

At around 9:30, the toys are put away and the groups gather in their respective rooms. In the 5 or 6 year old group, three groups are together in one room. The children all sit down in their groups, in rows of two, separated by boys and girls. Since it is a Buddhist kindergarten, the children first say two prayers and then sing a song afterwards. It's a strange feeling to know that you are praying and somehow singing along, but you don't understand much of it... After that, the children greet the teachers again. To make sure that all children are present, each name is read out.

Depending on what is planned for the day, the individual groups separate and go to different rooms or go somewhere together. So far, I have mainly noticed that the groups go somewhere at least once a week, sometimes as a reward for particularly good participation in an exercise.

At around 11 am, the children have a chance to go outside and play on the playground in front of the kindergarten. Sometimes not all groups are outside, only individual age groups.

At 11:30, the groups prepare for lunch. The tables and chairs are set up and the children wait for the food while the teachers prepare the food distribution. Usually, the meal consists of a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, fish or meat as the main course with a small salad as a side dish and some fruit for dessert. The children are called up one by one in their groups and then come to the teachers at the tables. There they take the respective plates or bowls. This goes on until everyone has their food in front of them. While the teachers prepare their portions of food, the children say a phrase or a prayer of thanks, I haven't quite understood which one yet, and then start eating. The teachers then find a place with one of the children and eat together with them.

Gradually, the tables empty again as the children finish. The children then put away their chairs and the teachers fold up the tables again. At first, the children are only allowed to play in their own room, when enough children are finished, they are also allowed to go to the large hall. Later, the children are allowed to go outside again. This is the time when the children are free to play and are not really restricted.

At around 1:15 pm, the cleaning up begins. All children who are being picked up or taken home by bus are now separated from the children who will stay in the afternoon. The names are read out again and the groups of 4 to 6 year olds are brought together. After that, the children can play freely until they are picked up.

At 3 pm, there is a little something to eat again. More or less a sweet treat, usually cookies or pastries...

There's not much more to say about the daily routine... I also tried to keep it as short as possible and not to write it too boring ^^

Best regards from Japan

Janina