Enabling Environments: Visits and Visitors, part 4 - Helping others

Just days after the Haiti earthquake, at Welcome Time, several children raised their concerns about the disaster. As we discussed what we could do to help, it became clear that the children were aware of a real crisis happening in a faraway place, which had sparked a genuine interest among the group.

LEARNING CONTEXT

Following our original planned learning context, 'People Who Help Us', we had intended inviting into our setting key people from our local community who help us. However, the events in Haiti provided a new and global perspective on this theme - 'How we could help others'. So, with our original plans put on hold, we embarked on a project to understand more about the Haiti disaster and how we could help the earthquake survivors.

OBSERVATIONS

As we talked about the events in Haiti, several children offered to send their own money to buy food and new clothing for the victims. Over the following days we discussed how the Haitians and the children there, in particular, might be feeling and how we could best help.

It is not always easy to find relevant and engaging learning opportunities for Emotional Development, especially resources related to understanding the feelings, needs and views of others. Although there are published resources available to support Personal, Social and Emotional Development, many of the scenarios seem dull and unimaginative in comparison with the real-life drama unfolding in Haiti.

We carefully selected images from newspapers that were not too graphic. By studying the expressions on the faces of the people, we tried to imagine what they might be thinking, feeling and needing.

Sending money out to Haiti was the best-supported idea among the children. After brainstorming ideas on ways to raise money, the most popular choice was to hold a coffee morning for family and friends.

Exactly one month after the earthquake we held our fundraising coffee morning and invited parents, grandparents, family and friends into our Foundation Stage Unit 'cafe'.

In preparation for this event, we arranged various related activities to help the children understand the purpose of the coffee morning and how they could have a positive impact on the lives of others less fortunate than themselves. These activities included:

- using the Haitian national flag design to make bunting to decorate the cafe

- designing, making and writing invitations to send out to visitors, inviting them to attend our coffee morning

- researching images and film clips of the Haiti disaster on news websites to help our understanding of the earthquake and its effects

- studying newspaper reports and photographs about the earthquake

- role playing 'International Rescuers' by completing a number of obstacle courses where children had to climb, crawl, balance, slide and slither their way under, over and along various equipment to rescue trapped people (selection of dolls) from the rubble

- constructing model houses from multi-link cubes on a large sheet of card and then predicting which houses would collapse first when the cardboard ground was shaken to simulate an earthquake

- baking cakes and biscuits for the coffee morning

- designing and making posters to advertise the coffee morning

- making table-top decorations with mini Haiti flags for the cafe.

EVALUATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

During the coffee morning we asked the children to act as guides and take their visitors around the setting, showing them the work we had been doing over the past month related to the Haiti earthquake.

From observing the children and adults together as they looked at the work we had been doing, it was clear that the whole project had been hugely successful. Many visitors remarked on how knowledgeable their children were about the disaster and the fundraising coffee morning. One mother commented that her son had 'come home from nursery every day and told me everything about what he's been doing to help the people in Haiti.'

The Haiti Coffee Morning not only raised funds for the disaster; it also engaged the children in a real and memorable experience, with a clear message about helping others less fortunate than ourselves.

Inviting parents, grandparents, family and friends into our setting to attend the coffee morning had the added bonus of enabling the children to share the learning with their families, a process which further embedded and reinforced the experiences. It also provided staff with valuable feedback from parents on how the whole experience had impacted on the children's learning and development.

In all, we raised £185 and sent it to the Disasters Emergency Committee (see box).

Tessa Fenoughty is foundation stage teacher at Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary School, Co Durham

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning social skills required to talk to visiting adults to the setting

Responding to the Haiti disaster and showing a range of feelings and sensitivity to the needs, views and feelings of others

Understanding that people have different needs, views, culture and beliefs

Using talk in group discussions to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events related to the disaster and how to help

Role playing 'International Rescuers' and using language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences

Using their phonic knowledge to write simple invitations to coffee morning

Using everyday language to describe position of multilink cubes in the construction of houses

Developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems, such as 'how many blocks high is your tower?', 'which house will fall down first?', 'which house design is the most stable?'

Asking questions about why things happen and how things work

Showing an interest in the world in which they live, and the wider world

Begining to know about their own cultures and the culture of the people of Haiti

Moving with confidence, imagination and in safety

Travelling around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment in the role of International Rescuers

Expressing and communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings through role play and movement

Exploring colour and shape in two dimensions when designing and making the invitations, bunting and table top decorations

DONATING MONEY TO HAITI

The UK Government has advised people to donate money to the victims of the Haiti earthquake through the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal.

The DEC comprises 13 major UK aid agencies: Action Aid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children and Tearfund. Call 0370 6060 900, visit: www.dec.org.uk or send a cheque, made payable to DEC Haiti Earthquake, to DEC Haiti Earthquake, PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA.

Other organisations organising their own appeal include:

- The International Committee of the Red Cross, www.icrc.org

- The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, http://donate.ifrc.org/

- UNICEF, www.unicef.org.uk/

See also: 'How to donate to Haiti earthquake victims', www.timesonline.co.uk/ tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6987704.ece