Situational Approach
The focus of our pedagogical work is on the situational approach. In order to be able to work according to this pedagogical approach, we pick up on the children’s life situations. Their needs, questions, interests and problems are always taken into account.
There is a lot to discover on our large outdoor area. For example, the children find different insects, which we then look at together, identify, look at books on these topics and much more. In order to be able to include the needs of the children, we need to know, among other things, the social situation and the stage of development of each child. Therefore, we observe the children specifically in the group or individually in their playing and learning behaviour.
Learning for life also includes learning outside the home, e.g. through trips to the forest or to Lake Feldmoching.
3.2 Reggio pedagogy
In the Bauernhofkita you will find elements of the Reggio pedagogy which sees the child as the constructor of its development and its knowledge and skills. As an explorer and researcher, the child wants to understand the world and integrate it into a system of meaning and personal significance. At the same time, the child expands its everyday practical and social ability to act through experiments, trial and error. In Reggio pedagogy, the development of emotional identification with the object of interest is of central importance for educational processes: the child only learns if it is enthusiastic about something, inspired by it, “in love” with it. At the same time, communication and interaction with others (children as well as adults) is given a high priority in Reggio: children deal with the ideas of others and construct their own convictions in this process of discussion.
Through the continuous offer of natural materials, which can be found in our garden or in the surrounding area, the children are given a variety of objects in accordance with the respective season, which allow them to understand the world through exploration, feeling, smelling, tasting and creative activities.
3.3 Montessori education
At Child Care Company Centers, the basic tenets of Montessori education are also incorporated. ” Help me do it myself” is the foundation of promoting independence and a healthy self-esteem. To help the child develop his will by giving him room for free decision, helping him to think and act independently. For this purpose, we use the following materials, among others, such as exercise trays for pouring exercises, assignment material as well as number games or sound memories.
3.4 Working across groups in the farm day care centre
An important aspect of opening up is offers throughout the house, such as our very popular seasonal festivals. In addition, more inter-group projects are being introduced, such as the House of Little Scientists, garden group, handicraft group and art workshop. During the overarching project work, the children gradually get to know the entire pedagogical staff and thus build up a trusting relationship with them.
On the other hand, the care staff gets to know each child in the house, gains insight into their individual stage of development and their life situation and is thus able to seamlessly take over the replacement of a colleague, e.g. in case of illness.
3.5 Our project work
In our projects we generally work process-oriented and not result-oriented. First and foremost is discovery-based holistic learning and the search for new paths. The children try out and discard again and can gather their own experiences. They are not constrained by fixed outcomes or pre-packaged products.
The project work does not consider the abandonment of planning or impulses by the pedagogical professionals. Spatial and material offers are needed, e.g. for creative promotion. The range of projects is determined by the educators, who, however, decide on them together through continuous observation of the children.
Each project is taken to a conclusion that is recognisable to the child, these are also carried out within the group. Once a topic has been completed, there may also be a project-free period during which children and specialist staff can reorient themselves.
3.6 Language education and promotion
We are language role models for the children. In everyday life with the children we live appropriate forms of communication. Also among colleagues and in the In our educational partnership with parents, we are aware of our role model function. In our farm day care centre, we implement language support in the following ways, among others implemented:
- On Monday in the morning circle, the children have the opportunity to express themselves and tell about the weekend.
- In the children’s conference (once a month) the children can tell what moves them and what topics interest them.
- We create language stimuli with pictures and other materials
- Picture book viewing is used as a targeted pedagogical activity to promote language and listening skills.
- We work out rules together with the children
- Songs are sung daily, finger games and rhymes are performed and there is always a table saying before meals.
- Through the telling of fairy tales, the children’s imagination is stimulated and encourages them to tell stories freely.
3.7 Bilingual support
Language is our most important medium of communication. The acquisition of language is an autonomously constructive process in which the child is dependent on active stimulation. It is never complete and includes both language comprehension and speaking skills. Native speakers of English work in the groups. On the other hand, we offer German-speaking children the possibility of foreign language education through the ‘immersion method’. Immersion, which means language bath, is a modern and very successful method of language teaching. A central point is the mediation in context, the so-called ‘contextualization’. What is said is supported by actions and gestures and only by one specific person, the native speaker. Age-appropriate games in English and interaction with children of different languages provide additional support for language acquisition. This gives the children the chance to adopt a light-hearted and experimental attitude and to acquire a foreign language in normal daily interaction.
3.8 Importance of free play
During free play, the children experience themselves in the group, can make social contacts and assert their own place in the group structure. Free play is therefore an important instrument for the acquisition of social skills. Children need freedom to make decisions and have experiences. Only the child itself knows its respective need and should be allowed to express this in free play. An overabundance of activities as well as permanent control on the part of adults restrict the child’s experience. The aim is to give the children the confidence to explore their environment themselves and thus to strengthen the children’s sense of self-efficacy.
During this free time, the children learn to solve conflicts more independently, to share a wide variety of materials, to make their own decisions and to deal with group circumstances on their own. During the free play phase, the teachers have the opportunity to observe the children in the group process. This is of central importance to us, as it gives us clues about stamina and concentration, motor skills or interaction with other children. During this time, the teachers are contact persons, supporters or comforters, but not leaders or determiners of the game.
3.9 Importance of the Home Group
In the home group, the child experiences a sense of belonging and “we”, a bond that is a basic need of every human being. Through the fixed reference persons and the daily contacts with the other children, sustainable relationships are established and strengthened. This creates a feeling of safety and security.
The group work offers the educators the opportunity to observe individual children in a targeted manner, for example, in order to be able to regularly draw up a development sheet according to Beller in the crèche and Sismik/ Seldak and Perik in the kindergarten.
Beyond the settling-in period, the emotional relationship can be intensified in the home group, which is particularly important for babies, toddlers and kindergarten children.
3.10 Age-appropriate promotion
Since the groups at the Bauernhofkita are mixed in age, we consider targeted age-appropriate support to be very important. Each specialist and supplementary staff member therefore responds individually to each child, picks up the child where it stands and offers a space for the children to experience through pedagogical offers, projects or by offering a wide range of materials. Depending on the type of offer, care is taken not to exceed the group size. This means that the younger children are not overchallenged and the older children are not underchallenged. We are not bound to fixed times or a certain room, but can also integrate our contents accordingly in the garden, the animal pasture, with our beds or on walks to the forest or to the Feldmoching lake.
3.11 Ethical and religious education and upbringing
The Bauernhofkita is not bound to a denomination. Nevertheless, we work according to Christian values and celebrate traditional festivals such as Easter, St. Martin and Christmas. Many children of different cultures and nationalities are cared for here at the Bauernhofkita. In the initial interview, we talk with the parents about their wishes and attitudes. We take the parents’ values into account as much as possible and therefore, for example, completely avoid pork in our facility.
3.12 Musical education and upbringing
In our morning circle we sing current songs with the children every day. We specifically use Orff instruments for support and the children can try out different instruments. As a specific pedagogical offer we also like to use sound stories for musical promotion. We practice songs and small dances with the children and perform them for the parents at festivals and celebrations. In everyday life we often use music as an accompaniment, such as the “tidying up song” during tidying up in the group or in the garden. Copies of the current songs are always available in the farm nursery for parents to take home.
3.13 Information technology education, media literacy and education
At the farm daycare, we used an in-facility app “famly” to check kids in and out, upload photos and posts about daily activities/offers. In individual projects and activities, pictures or sounds are sometimes viewed or listened to on the tablet with the children. We would like to teach the children safe and careful handling of media, e.g. How do I handle a CD player or a digital camera? Books are also an important part of our facility and the children have access to a small in-house library. In the nursery and kindergarten there is a reading corner and the children learn how to handle books properly. We also regularly print out photos for portfolio work and stick them in the appropriate folders.
3.14 Science and technology education
We regularly carry out experiments in the kindergarten and in the crèche (simplified). Our themes are very much based on the annual cycle and nature.
Some examples of experiments include:
- What floats, what sinks? (stones, sticks, corks, leaves, etc.)
- Light and shadow
- states of matter (how does snow change when it is warm, freezing and thawingwater, etc.)
In the morning circle, we also talk about the current weather and weather phenomena every day. A very popular project is our fire pit in the garden area. The children learn a lot in advance about fire and how to behave and deal with it. The kids love to watch the fire, grill sausages and stick bread, or sit around the campfire and sing. Beforehand, the children always diligently collect firewood and are great helpers. In the nursery, the offers are very much oriented to the season. We observe nature together with the children, collect leaves in autumn, press them, print with them and much more. Nature inherently offers us an infinite treasure and variety here.
3.15 Mathematics education
In the kindergarten and in the crèche, a lot of mathematics takes place in everyday life. In the morning circle, the children count who is there. During the tidying up song, the children (nursery and kindergarten) all sing the song “One, two, three, playtime is over, four, five, six, tidy up now…”. The children in the nursery have rule games, matching games and puzzles at their disposal. The focus is on shapes, colours, sorting and matching objects and logical thinking. For children from the age of five, preschool also takes place twice a week. Above all, traffic education has a high priority with us, how to behave on excursions, pedestrian crossings, etc.. In the nursery the children use simplified puzzles. Here you can lay simple geometric shapes such as circle, square, triangle and rectangle. The stacking boxes and the Montessori rainbow are also very popular. The nursery children also love to pour water into different containers and mud in the sandbox.
3.16 Health education
The topic of health is very important to us and is very important to us. It starts with the food. Our is 100% organic and we pay attention to seasonal and regional food. All meals are freshly prepared daily by our cook and the children “love” him very much.
The topic of nutrition and nutritional offers have a fixed place in our week. In the kindergarten and in the crèche, we bake, cook, chop, etc. once a week. We also like to use our own produce, which the children have previously harvested. Harvesting plums and apricots is particularly popular, and we make jam or bake a cake from them.
Since we also have animals in our daycare center, the topic of hygiene also plays a big role. The children learn very early the rules of conduct and also how important it is to wash their hands. We wash our hands before all meals, after using the toilet, after visiting animals and the garden, and when necessary. Dental prophylaxis comes at least. twice a year and treats the subject of dental hygiene in a very playful way. The children in the kindergarten brush their teeth after lunch, the crèche children after breakfast. Since we are outside a lot with the children, the topic of clothing is very important. Good basic equipment (mud pants, rain jacket, rubber boots) and seasonally appropriate clothing are required. In the morning circle we always look at the weather and discuss what we need to wear outside. The topic of illness and appropriate behaviour is also discussed.
3.17 Gender-sensitive promotion
In our farm day care center, we pay attention to gender-neutral room and play equipment. We consciously use male educators as permanent reference persons in our facility.
We invite both parents to parent-teacher conferences and parent-teacher meetings and strive for a good educational partnership with the parents.
We have a neutral attitude towards both sexes, e.g. boys can cry and girls can play football.
3.18 Support for children with disabilities and those at risk of becoming disabled
We work closely with curative education specialists in our facility. We live inclusion in our daily group life with the children and promote integration children specifically according to their needs.
There is a regular and open exchange with the parents and all involved persons (e.g. specialists, curative teachers, parents).
In our regular team meetings we have the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss current cases.
We are in cooperation with the Pfennigparade Pony Plantation Feldmoching. An
Small group goes horseback riding once a week.
- Sponsorship, location of the Kita & social environment
- Educational ideas and goals
- Pedagogical working approaches
- Contents of the pedagogical work