It's been our immense pleasure to witness human development unfold before our eyes as we've interacted and watched baby Cleveland grow and develop over the past year. Through our observations and discussions together we've learnt so much, it truly has been an incredible journey!
Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti arahia ō tātau māhi
Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work
(Maori proverb)
We extend our heartfelt gratitude and aroha to Jackie and Walter for their generosity of spirit, love and commitment shown towards us throughout this journey. Sharing their precious baby boy with us was no small thing! We simply couldn't have achieved all that we did without their belief, support and dedication to a programme such as this.
Jackie you were simply amazing, thank you so much for making this happen each week, our honorary teacher, we are in awe of you!
To baby Cleveland who will one day be grown, we thank you too...what a difference you have made to our lives.
Because of you Cleveland our compassion and empathy for each other has grown, our knowledge of human development has increased and our understanding of 'how we learn' has been strengthened. These things impact for life and that's huge!
Measuring Cleveland became a regular feature...we used the stripes on his blanket as a way for us to see how much he'd grown. As Cleveland got older it became pretty tricky to keep his legs still for measuring!
Here is Abby showing us that he's almost as long as her!
One of our goals as teachers was to build children's understanding of how learning happens.
When we asked the children "What do good learners do?" Their replies warmed our hearts...
Good learners...
"Do thinking stuff...do thinking, maybe think about things...try....try lot's of times, like 5 times...100 times...maybe if you are a good learner you have to think about that thing and try, try, try"
This understanding in children took time to nurture and happened in a number of ways...observation of Cleveland, discussion and question time, and through hands on engagement in art. Often teachers would observe children revisiting 'Baby watching' within role play and this provided further opportunities for learning.
Tracking changes...tamariki record their observations
through art.
And there were many changes!
Here is Cleveland when he had mastered rolling over...
and crawling!
No stopping him now! Under furniture, over furniture...
Cheeky monkey!
Words of aroha and gratitude for Cleveland...
"I love him cause he's cute"
"I think he growed up"
"He ate a lot of food. He learned how to crawl cause they (Mum and brother) just crawled and he did it too"
"Baby watching, he walked like this (demonstrating walking!)"
"The baby drinks food, he gets changed, he goes to bed, he drinks warm milk when he goes to bed"
"When they get grown up they can walk"
"He's kind cause he shares his toys"
"Him get happy, him a little baby. Him like come kindy"
"hello to baby"
"He can come to my house because he wants me to see what he's doing"
"I love you Cleveland"
"He learned to walk, he learned how to talk a tiny bit"
"He's just so cute"
"I love him"
"I hope he had a good time at kindy"
"I liked him doing things. I liked him to do crazy things like walking. I love to see how he's crawling and he's really cute as. He was born a baby and we love him because he's really special"
"I love him how he crawls. I like him how he plays so much. I like him how he likes singing, I like singing too"
"I love him because he's nice, he plays with me, it makes me happy"
"I love him. I liked him when he was little because he's so cute"
"He's my best friend, he makes my heart glow"
We will be forever grateful to you Cleveland, our youngest teacher. We enjoyed spending time with you, getting to know you and hope that even though you may not remember our times together, you'll one day look back on captured photographs and conversations, enjoy reminiscing with whānau these special times, and feel fondness and a sense of pride for what we achieved together.
Cleveland you are amazing!
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