Thursday 29 September 2016

Spanish families opinion 2015-2016


  • Mathematics for life



These were some of the family comments:

- You can see the enthusiasm they greet you with, their insatiable curiosity, their desire to learn, to try things out, to prove that they can do it themselves, their order in chaos, their gratitude when they make a purchase… And I am happy to know that my son, who is now still a baby, will be able to enjoy experiences like this at this school.

- I felt integrated and welcomed by the teachers and the pupils. I particularly liked the horizontal approach of the teaching team and towards the families and their personal treatment.

- I think the action was an intense experience for the children and it helped them to internalise the idea of using money, its value, how to count it… etc. We could perhaps improve it by introducing the concept of “services”

- A great activity where everything was really well organised and where I felt comfortable both with the other parents, and with the teachers and, of course, the children, with which it is always a pleasure to deal.

- Personally, I now have a trusting relationship with many kids who have got to know me through the different activities I took part in. In this action, what stood out for me was how smoothly it all went, which really allowed us to enjoy it properly. To reinforce the learning, we should perhaps carry out the workshop on a regular basis.

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  • Weaving togheter

As I wrote elsewhere, writing “doing crochet” on a piece of paper ended up having charming, exciting and unexpected consequences. It drew out creative ideas from the whole team that got involved and things arose as we went along and we weaved them into shape as carefully and respectfully as we could, so we could put them into practice with the children at Zaleo.

This activity benefited from: team work, the spontaneous incorporation of families, the willingness of the teaching staff and the time allotted to the workshop, because the fact that it was always the same day at the same time gave it more continuity and ensured greater commitment to the task.

The space provided for the school was also very appropriate. Aspects to be improved: knowing sufficiently in advance how many grown- ups will be there on the day of the workshop to be able to divide up the children and ensure they get the necessary attention to carry out the task. Evaluate the need to specify certain aims or goals to ensure proper planning.

Things that fascinated me: the enthusiasm of the children for this kind of weaving, the participation of families and teachers, the smiles and skills of the children and above all, what they showed us. Indeed, so much so that the crocheting ability of one of the Zaleo pupils helped us to teach the technique to the other children. All the work, time, enthusiasm and excitement were worthwhile as it has been a very moving, pleasurable and a learning experience. Thanks to everyone who made it possible. (Sara, Julia's mum (Colasa Giraffe class)

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  • Sign Languaje
I felt a bit nervous before I started the activity, as I didn’t know how I would get on standing up in front of the children and I wanted them to enjoy it. My nerves began to fade as we carried out the activity and the youngsters made us feel great and we had the general feeling that they love having their families working with them in class. I don’t know if it was so much about learnings as about some of the kids starting to realise that diversity exists. I think it is an issue of such significance that it needs to be worked on continuously so that the children can focus on it from different perspectives. Working on these issues from an early age can prevent situations of bullying, intolerance etc., and empower students who feel in some way different or diverse.

The relationship with the teachers and the school was a good one and they were both willing and available whenever necessary.

I think it is essential to implement this kind of action with families at school. Progressing towards a more democratic and inclusive school, open to the community and their needs, and towards an integral educational model, where curricular aspects do not take priority over everything else (values, social participation...), inevitably involves the participation of the families, community and pupils at school, and has a very positive impact on children’s learning and results.

Thank you for giving us this opportunity for mutual enrichment and learning. (Cristina, Amaia's Mum - Marcelina cow class)

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  • Sitting in cindy´s chair 
My experience with this activity was very satisfactory. The children showed me that when they saw and handled the wheelchair, they didn’t see a disability, but quite the opposite, they were amazed by how disabled people could get around and more than seeing them as ‘dis’-abled, they saw them as ‘super’-abled.

The time allotted for the activity was sufficient although a couple more sessions would have been good to have a little assembly with questions from the boys and girls.

The school’s teachers were like “children” who also wanted to learn about wheelchair basketball and were very receptive.

What I learned from this activity was the naturalness, as well as the amazement shown by the children when they got into the chair and not seeing it as a substitute for basketball on foot.

It would be a good activity to have in the school, although not only with the pupils but also with the parents so they can discover the different abilities of the “disabled”.(Sebas, Samuel´s dad - Meliton dragon class)

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  • Robotics 
 I learned a lot. I had never taken a workshop with 5-year-olds before and I was impressed by how capable they were. Right from the start, , I was surprised by their questions which showed how much they knew about robotics. The autonomy they showed in building the robots was also incredible, looking for the pieces and above all putting them in the right places. I was also struck that they stayed attentive right throughout the hour. They looked very motivated, their faces were very excited when, after assembling the robot they connected it to the computer, executed the program and it worked. That all meant this workshop was worth doing. I have also learned a lot about teaching and pedagogy from Mariano and I love working with them. It was excellent the way they facilitated access to resources. When I arrived, everything was perfectly prepared. I am very grateful for the help of their teacher Mariano and the dad who was there throughout the workshop. Thanks to that it all turned out perfectly. (Lidia, Julia's aunt - Colasa giraffe class)

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  • An introduction to braille

From the start, I thought the idea was very interesting, because I felt that working on empathy to increase sensitivity towards certain groups in the school setting was essential. The idea was to make use of certain experiences as a small group (recognising musical instruments without seeing them, as well as other objects from daily life, writing their name, walking around) and introduce the dynamics of braille into a larger group using a matrix made from an egg box and six ping pong balls so they could handle these more easily when it came to setting out their name. Afterwards, the big group was once again shown how to use the pattern and the awl so they could how braille is written manually. Finally, they were shown individually how to use the Perkins Brailler so they could see how braille is written mechanically. The workshop was very gratifying right from the beginning when setting-up with the teacher, preparing materials and implementation. I think it was a very interesting experience, both for me, the form teacher and the pupils. It would certainly be worth repeating. (Sonia, Nora's and Leo's Mum)

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  • School yard and garden

This workshop was carried on by families together with children (from 3 to 6 years old) throughout last year.

Performed activities: Starting up of a vegetable garden in the schoolyard by installing a prefabricated containers (by families), decorating them with mosaics (by Dragon Meliton´s pupils), planting vegetables, watering and caring for them (by Jirafa Colasa, Mono Pepe and Dragon Meliton´s pupils) as installing an irrigation drip (by families).

The most interesting thing for me has been trying to involve classroom pupils at all stages of creating the vegetable garden. Children have participated in the transformation of playground area by decorating the containers, filling with soil and planting vegetables for them.

The activity has been completed with a weekly routine that consisted of caring and watering plants, by assigning one group of plants to each group of pupils. It has allowed them to observe the transformation of the plants and their growth.

The process has been long and slow, but the hardest work has been done. I believe that it is very important to plant seasonal vegetables throughout the year; moreover, this activity should be included in annual school scheduling.

I think that we need to improve coordination between families and teachers, so it will allow us to include this resource (vegetable garden activity) within the programming of each 3-to-6 year old school classroom. (Jesús, Julia´s father - Colasa Giraffe class)

Activity report

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