teamwork Archives - Early Learning Childhood Education

04/08/201605/08/2016

Your Guide to Celebrating the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

As we all know, the Olympics only comes around once every four years so it can be a novel event to celebrate in centres – not to mention a lot of fun! The Rio 2016 Olympic Games take place from August 5 – 21.

The Olympic Games provide early childhood educators (as well as educators at all levels) the opportunity to explore many different topics with children, but to make it simple for you we’ve narrowed it down:

1. What are the Olympic Games?

Start with a discussion of what the Olympic Games are. Keep it simple – pick from a few of the main features that children will find exciting. You could talk about the whole world working together, the teamwork, the sports, the Olympic torch and the medals.

Here are some leading questions to help you with your Olympics discussions:

What do you know about Olympic Games?
How often do the Olympic Games run?
Which countries participate in Olympic Games?
Where will Olympic Games run this year?
Which country is Rio de Janeiro the capital city of?
Do you like playing sport?
Which sport is your favourite?
Does your mummy or daddy play sport?
Why do people like to do sport?
Does playing sport make you healthy?
Why do we need to be healthy?

2. Get physical

Check out the full list of the sports featured at Rio 2016 here and adapt them to allow children to try at your centre. Children could line up chairs and row in an imagined kayak! Or get outside for one of the many ball games like basketball.

3. Get creative

Children can explore elements of the Olympics creatively using visual arts. Here are a few ideas:

-Colouring or creating Olympic rings is a classic Olympic activity for children. Here’s a printable, or try using plastic cups dipped in paint.

-Children can create their own Olympic medals using ribbon, cardboard, coloured paper, felt, foil – whatever else you can find!

-Roll up some paper into a cone shape, secure with glue or tape and stuff with orange and red tissue paper to create an Olympic torch!

4. Talk about teamwork

Children watching the Olympics and any sport will notice that in many cases teams need to work together and help one another. A simple parachute game of trying to keep a ball or balls on the parachute/sheet will help demonstrate the importance of teamwork to children! Observing and discussing uniforms can be fun too.

The Olympic Games are an exciting time all over the world, so above all keep it fun! If you have some amazing ideas to add, we would absolutely love to hear about them! Share with us on our Facebook page, or if you’re a Bonkers Beat member, share in our private group here. Parents, feel free to post in our private Facebook group for Bonkers Beat

02/06/201602/06/2016

The Importance of Leadership

Leadership – it’s a natural skill for some, can be learned by most and is so important for the effectiveness of any team.

I recently returned from the USA and attended the Leadership Connections – National Leadership Conference. This event, run by the McCormick Centre for Early Childhood Leadership, specialises in bringing together leaders in early childhood education to inspire one another and build skills in a variety of sessions. The conference inspired everyone to consider how important leadership is when it comes to the success of any team.

Positive, strong and inspiring leaders and management are crucial to overcome the challenges facing many directors and principals every day. The conference highlighted the importance of providing opportunities for leaders to learn, grow and network.

Let’s explore the three main ways that good leadership can benefit your team – we’re considering the information from an early childhood education perspective, but realistically this applies to any team.

Empower Your Team

Effective leaders will empower the team to have their say, work together and identify ways to make everything more efficient and effective.

Maintain Stability

Systems and procedures can make life a lot easier, and leaders can ensure they are put in place and help teams to utilise them to everyone’s advantage. Tension in teams can be avoided with a central leader to guide everyone. Stress can’t be entirely avoided, but is only exacerbated when we are lacking direction – stability keeps a team feeling confident and better equipped to achieve goals.

Stay Focussed on Goals

Leaders are essential for setting and tracking goals. Without leaders to monitor progress and work with feedback from the team, goals can be forgotten and sometimes never achieved. With a leader who is working with the team to set and then plot out the path to achieve goals, amazing things can be achieved.

These are just a few of the points carried from my time at the Leadership Connections. To the entire team at McCormick Centre for Early Childhood Leadership, thank you for the warm reception and congratulations to you all on an outstanding conference. The venue and expo were exceptional, and I absolutely loved the structure of the conference. Such a unique opportunity to connect, support one another and share knowledge – and these are things we can all benefit from doing more of.

Take a look at photos from the Leadership Connections Chicago event here on Facebook.

If you’re a director or owner and you’re ready to empower your team and your centre, learn about our breakthrough formula here.

17/09/201501/10/2015

TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More

The team at Bonkers Beat embarked on a weekend in the beautiful Mornington Peninsula to build on our relationships and to really enjoy the power of teamwork and team bonding. Building relationships and a passionate team of educators positively impacts the children in many ways. They see the strength and connection between colleagues and being role models, we show children how happy relationships and communication are created. They of course benefit from having happy educators and teachers who want the best out of them and support each other.

Everyone enjoyed the focus of the weekend, which was – Dare to Dream, Try, Grow & Have Fun Together! We all participated in yoga, partner yoga, a laughter session, meditation and of course lots of conversations about documentation and curriculum.

A highlight for all of us was the afternoon surprise of the Zipline flying fox at the Enchanted Adventure Garden. Many of us felt challenged by this activity, however with the entire team rallying around and offering cheers of support we all completed the course with big smiles on our faces. Without the support of each other many of us would not have finished this challenge, the support from each other created a sense of togetherness. Taking risks and pushing boundaries is healthy for all of us and the reward is feeling fulfilled and happy that you have conquered your fear.

Many of us were happily exhausted after the weekend and felt ready to take on the new week full of happy memories and closer friendships.

Team spirit is so important to us and that is why we would like to share with you this adorable clip from: – ‘Lessons from Geese’

To see the full range of photos from our weekend. Click here on our Facebook page: –

Bonkers Beat Staff Retreat 2015 – Dare to Dream, Try, Grow and Have Fun