A passion for making a positive difference for our Tamariki

with Andrea Ford & Carolynne Masson

Recently we had the privilege to chat with the founders of the organization Ready4Learning, Andrea Ford and Carolynne Masson.

 

Both nationally and internationally recognised, the Ready4Learning framework was developed to help equip our young tamariki with their foundation skills to best prepare them for the structured school curriculum.

 

What does it really mean to be ready for learning?

 

Passionate educators, Andrea & Carolynne created Ready4Learning after observing many children arriving at school and not being ready for the primary school curriculum. They wanted to educate both teachers and whanau about the skills including, moving, listening speaking, and seeing, which are essential to a child's development.

 

'We believe that there's a common misconception that children aged five are ready for school and ready for learning. However, there are many skills and dispositions that children need to access before they can thrive in a structured learning environment. Ready4Learning was born out of our passion for educating teachers and whanau about these essential skills and dispositions.'

We found it super interesting how they spoke about the key foundation of a child's cognitive ability being movement. The brain gives priority to movement so if a child has no core strength i.e. sitting up in a chair, the brain will have to switch its focus from what the child may be trying to do, to focusing on sitting up.

We all know screen time is not super beneficial for our children. But how bad can it really be?

 

Unfortunately, many studies do indicate that technology really does play a huge role in many children’s developmental delay.

 

I know sometimes giving your child a phone to distract them for 20 minutes, so you can survive the supermarket is a quick solution to prevent a tantrum but is this really benefiting our children long term?

 

Three practical tips we found super beneficial from our chat with Andrea and Carolynne were the importance of:

 

Playing with your children

 

Getting them outside swinging and climbing, anything to get them off devices. Cooking, baking and all the chores that you would normally do. Language and vocabulary in these daily tasks will really help them to advance developmentally.

 

Visual Guides, Books & Puzzles!

 

Playing with puzzles encourages children to look at pictures more carefully, and through doing these, children will notice visual similarities and differences. Puzzles also develop memory skills and are fantastic for visual discrimination when they start learning letters!

 

All about the early days

 

The girls emphasised the importance of rotating sides when feeding, as this will assist the development of balance. Talking to your baby when your pregnant is great. Tummy time is essential as promotes sensory integration, cognitive development, and spatial awareness. Fine motor skills that lead to handwriting and using utensils.

 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

Good Change Conversations

 

Good Change conversations with Kristy Hunter and Stine Smith is a seasonal podcast dedicated to equipping you with practical advice to do small, but good changes.

In each episode we interview people making good changes, who are experts in their field. If you are looking to make small changes, Stine & Kristy will give you the inspiration and action plan to do this, today.

Listen to our full Good Change Conversation with Brianne and explore more episodes

LISTEN HERE

Jess Wilson