Environmental appreciation and conservation. We believe that the children’s and our families’ healthy relationship to and appreciation of the natural world is essential to our planet’s and global society’s future. The school strives to be plastic-free, and use only natural materials. Instead of relying on recycling and reuse of materials that are dangerous to the environment, our school teaches children how to use alternative natural materials and live without plastics and dangerous materials from a young age, helping establish the foundation for responsible adults who make creative use of natural resources to solve problems in ways that are healthy for themselves and the planet.
Gecko Garden prepares children to attend any school in the world.
Literacy
Pre-literacy skills are developed through storytelling and circle time stories, which use rich vocabulary and imagery, and are rooted not in popular culture but in long tradition. This establishes a fundamental love for and curiosity about literature and stories. Additionally, the school’s library is full of books which have been selected for their beauty and cultural diversity. This experience cultivating the love and curiosity for stories and literature strongly supports the academics of learning to read when the child enters primary school.
Numeracy
The children are introduced to the idea of numbers and math concepts, from counting items as they are painted, to folding cloth in different shapes, to using liquid and solid measures in cooking projects. This experience of mathematical concepts within practical day-to-day activities supports the academic learning of numbers and math in primary school and beyond.
Scientific literacy
The children experience the physical realities of the world through their play. For example, creating a tall stack of blocks may mean that it comes tumbling down. Children are invited to self-direct their explorations – perhaps stacking the blocks in a pyramid will have a different effect? Or a square? Using sticks to build a house may require stacking wood or other objects at a certain angle for it to stand upright. They are also given time for outdoor play and a chance to explore the natural world. Experiencing these realities supports the later academic work of naming and describing the scientific principles at work.
Cultural and civic literacy
Through our international school community and body of teachers, the children have unique and nearly unparalleled exposure to a variety of cultures, traditions and languages. Khmer and international festivals representing the traditions of our diverse student body are celebrated. This experience provides a foundation of global awareness and cross cultural skills that will serve the children as they embark on more academic studies later in school.
Financial literacy
As part of imitating the world around them, children replicate everyday situations in their play, such as setting up shops or restaurants. Children are encouraged to use their imaginations and should their play include money, they use buttons or shells or other materials as currency, and transact as they see fit.
Information communication technology literacy
Instead of teaching technology, GGS places emphasis and value on learning to think, and integrating experience and practical skills to be a flexible, creative, capable and socially confident human beings who will thrive in themselves no matter what direction technology takes in the future.
Our school does not encourage the use of information communication technology between the ages of birth and seven years old. Although an important skill, Gecko Garden School feels it is critical to build a solid foundation in imagination, creativity, social, and communication skills at this age. All forms of information technology are recommended to be introduced later in the child’s life. As such, there is no information technology used with the children at our school.
Critical thinking
The children are invited to observe and interact with the world around them in nature, their classrooms, and their peers; finding their own questions and challenges to be solved through their play. Teachers observe them and create the space for them to solve their problems themselves, or in collaboration with their peers whenever possible. This experience helps children build self-sufficiency, self-confidence and problem solving skills which will serve them their whole lives.
Creativity
The children are invited to experience creativity in a variety of different ways. During indoor and outdoor play, the children are invited to use their imagination and open-ended objects and materials to create the toys and props required by their play and stories. Additionally, the children are introduced to watercolor painting, beeswax modelling, and a variety of artistic pursuits. Their learning includes fine and gross motor skills requiring hand eye coordination, e.g. scissors, needles, and crayons, which will be relevant in creative pursuits and in learning to write.
Communication
As children under the age of seven learn best through imitation, the school strives to provide examples of excellent communication for the children to imitate. Communication within the school community is modelled by the teachers, administrators, parents, and other students. We seek to use positive and constructive communication techniques at all times when communicating on the school grounds. This helps the children develop a strong foundation of social and emotional intelligence, including being able to socialize confidently, and adapt their behavior appropriately to different occasions.
Collaboration
The children work independently and cooperatively within large and small groups to play, prepare their daily snack, and prepare their space for different activities throughout the morning. They develop a sense of community and of collaborating to meet the community’s needs, which is a critical foundation for nearly all academic, professional, and social activities they will undertake in their lives.
GGS is an international school, with families who routinely come from and return to school systems with a variety of pedagogical approaches around the world. Children who attend our school are fully prepared to transition to any school system.
The World Economic Forum and other international organizations have identified a number of key “21st century skills” as essential to today’s children’s success in their future academic programs, careers and lives. GGS’s curriculum provides children with a sound foundation in these skills and prepares them for any school worldwide.
WEF 21st Century Skills: Foundational Literacies
WEF 21st Century Skills: Competencies
Curiosity
The children learn through imitation in the early years. Small children are inherently curious about the world around them and especially the adults in their environment. Our teachers provide the children with a wide variety of interesting, creative and useful tasks to imitate and participate in. Teachers also seek to create the space for children to explore what they are curious about. This sense of curiosity and discovery through the act of doing builds the foundations for strong curiosity throughout the child’s future studies and life.
Initiative
The children’s day is built around a gentle, healthy rhythm that allows them to feel confident that they know what is coming next, and to initiate the next activities. They are taught how to do a variety of tasks which supports them in being confident to take initiative the next time. Children are given the space and freedom to choose their play.
Persistence/grit
The playground, classrooms and classroom activities are carefully and thoughtfully designed to provide the children with some areas of easy success to give them a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence, and some areas providing greater challenge, encouraging them to stretch themselves intellectually and physically to meet the challenge. This helps the children build self-confidence, take reasonable risks, persevere, and feel willing to try new things. Teachers thoughtfully observe and support students’ development by inviting them to join in activities.
Adaptability
The children learn through occasional changes in their rhythm or class due to holidays, other special events, new students, or the changes in their experience associated with their own developmental growth, to adjust their expectations to meet the new or temporary need of the community, and then re-establish their rhythm in a healthy, adjusted way. Additionally, the teachers do a number of physical activities with the children to help them develop both sides of their brain equally, including midline-crossing exercises and art activities, which promote flexibility and adaptability in thought as the child develops.
Leadership
The children are situated in mixed-age classes, which allow opportunities for the older children to care for the younger ones. This provides children with a sense of responsibility for caring for those in their community who cannot yet do for themselves. Older children are given opportunities to lead story time and puppet shows and other activities according to their interests, providing them with the self-confidence and self-view as leaders in appropriate situations.
Social and cultural awareness
Instead of changing classes and teachers each year, children work together in their established class groupings for multiple years with the same teachers. This arrangement enables the students to develop deep relationships with their peers and their teachers, truly understanding the depth of social interaction required to heal rifts, overcome obstacles, and move on with joy and collaboration. Because of the diverse cultures represented by our families from Cambodia and around the world, a great deal of cultural awareness is brought through exposure to the children’s languages, customs, and families.
WEF 21st Century Skills: Character Qualities
All underscored by lifelong learning.
Waldorf education is famous for providing children with the foundation for a love of lifelong learning. This is achieved in a vast variety of ways, from the love and personal relationships established with the teachers; to the creative, artistic and beautiful presentation of the curriculum; to the joy and curiosity brought by the teachers, the families and the children themselves. Every activity is designed and conveyed in a manner to help the children feel a strong sense that the world is a good and magical place, which is worth knowing about, participating in, and protecting to the extent they possibly can throughout their life.