Our hobby classes, conducted by teachers with extensive experience in working with mixed age groups in pre-school period, are facilitated by educators who do not pursue performance anxiety.
The days of our hobby classes are as follows:
Tuesday: Robotics Coding
Wednesday: Gymnastics Lesson
Thursday: ORFF Music
Our aim is to provide education that supports the child's development through art, without seeing children as future artists. Children are creative. Our job as educators is to guide them without touching their existing creativity. The duty of educators here is to provide the child with versatile materials and subjects. It is to make it easier for the child to give direction to materials and subjects, which they want to interpret. As long as we do not touch their creativity, they will continue to develop. Their perspectives will evolve. Their visual memory will develop. They will learn how to use materials and subjects for what purpose and how. They will establish relationships between proportions and begin to recognize their own capabilities. Sometimes we do this by painting a wall, sometimes by painting papers of different sizes, sometimes by making a portrait with clay, sometimes by making a portrait with leftover vegetables from the kitchen, sometimes by mixing paints, and sometimes by ourselves. We pour out everything we have on paper, on ceramics, etc. We have fun, we have a good time.
ORFF LESSON:
Preschool education ensures the intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development of children. It helps to develop language and creativity. All these are achieved with activities at school. At this point, branch lessons are of great importance. Of course, the importance of all branch lessons is great, but it is a fact that the necessity and importance of music lessons are indisputable.
We apply the Orff method in music lessons. The Orff method is music, rhythm, and movement education. It enables children to learn with all their senses. Sound work, movement and dance, playing musical instruments, they are all together. In other words, they can sing, dance, and play instruments at the same time. In lessons, musical instruments called Orff instruments, perceived by children as toys, are used. Because they are easy to play, children develop a sense of accomplishment in mastering music. Playing a musical instrument is a mental activity because it requires keeping the body balanced, working with both hands connected and balanced, and using all the senses. Playing Orff instruments together as a group to accompany songs develops harmony skills and teaches cooperation. It improves hand-eye coordination and perception and accelerates learning ability. It develops rhythm sense and singing ability. Rhythm means flow in Latin. Everything in the universe is orderly and in motion. Events like the rising and setting of the sun, night and day are consistent and rhythmic. The most important element of Orff, rhythm, gives children feelings that are directly aligned with nature. Consistency, balance, and harmony, etc. That's why rhythm exercises are relaxing. The rhythm sense that the child meets with his mother's heartbeats before birth should be developed with practical studies involving himself and his peers. The education he receives with these studies reflects on his movements by creating a balance between his mind and body. It is necessary to live the rhythm in the body first and then try it with instruments because children cannot perceive rhythm without feeling and turning their feelings into physical reaction. This is where another element of the Orff approach, dance and movement, comes into play. Every child is interested in dance because the body is in motion, which is natural for him. It contributes to increasing their physical powers and developing their movement. Improvisational Orff dances develop creativity and imagination. It helps in the development of attention and concentration. Concentration teaches the child to set goals and achieve them. The Orff method develops the ability to make independent decisions, the sense of responsibility, and teaches solidarity and cooperation.
Orff can be applied to individuals of all levels, ages, and abilities. It can be worked with every age group from 18-month-old babies to the elderly. It has been proven that children who receive music and rhythm education at an early age develop brain cells faster. Many options should be offered to the child in the preschool period. Opportunities should be provided for the development of their imagination and exploring what they enjoy. The achievements we aim for in music lessons:
DRAMA
Preschool education holds an important place in an individual's life. In order to raise children with desired behaviors, it is important for children to receive effective preschool education during this period. During the preschool years, physical, psychomotor, social-emotional, intellectual, and language development are largely completed. The developments during this period are highly influential in the years ahead and all development areas of children are supported with the education given before school. Drama activities are increasingly included in preschool education, or drama is used as a method. Drama is drawing attention as an area whose importance is increasing day by day. Nowadays, drama studies are carried out at all levels from preschool education to university and postgraduate education. According to Pinciotti (1993), drama is a learning tool that emerges in the spontaneous games of children, which increases the artistic sensitivity of the participants, increases their awareness of themselves, other people, and the world, and develops their imagination. The concept of drama sometimes appears as a method, sometimes as an area, and sometimes as a discipline. In recent years, it is noteworthy that its use as a method in educational programs has increased. Drama is an area that uses the power of play in education. From early childhood to all life stages, including adulthood, there is a tendency to play. The playful feature of drama draws attention to its suitability for creative actions and creative processes, and the use of drama in education comes into play.
GYMNASTICS
The support of sports to child development is very significant. Children need to engage in sports in order to develop positively both physically and socially. One of the periods where children's development is most comprehensive and rapid is between the ages of 3-7. The education received during this period and the habits to be acquired contribute to personality development. The preschool period is one of the ideal ages to start gymnastics sports. Gymnastics sports, which have benefits such as strengthening bone structures, muscles, improving nerve-muscle coordination, and speed for children during this period, are important for the child's development. Gymnastics is a basic sport that can be done before turning to any other branch of sports and serves as a foundation.
BENEFITS: