The Kindergarten has places for 22 nursery children and 75 kindergarten children. This average standard means that at times there may be fewer children. The children are divided into three kindergarten groups and one nursery group.

Lærkereden (The Lark’s Nest) is for nursery children from six months to 3 years, Musvitstuen (The Mosvit Room) and Svalestuen (The Swallows’ Room) are for children aged 3-4 and Ørneborgen (The Eagle’s Castle) is for our 5-6 year-olds. Children from Musvitstuen, Svalestuen and Ørneborgen work in their rooms from 7.30 to 12.00 and then we all gather on the large playground from 12.00 – 13.30. In the afternoons we all get together again, and there’s an opportunity to play in all the rooms. The Lark’s Nest has its own rhythm.

Our work and the context we enter into takes the current group of children as the starting point. Therefore, we reserve the right to make changes because we are dealing with children.

In the kindergarten, we have one departmental head, one deputy head, eight teachers, four teaching assistants, four helpers, one woman in the kitchen and two cleaners. In addition, we also have a caretaker on the staff. We have, at times, employed other helpers in fixed-term positions during periods when, for example, there are many children in the building.

We are open each day:

Monday:               6.30 to 17.00

Tuesday:               6.30 to 17.00

Wednesday:         6.30 to 17.00

Thursday:             6.30 to 17.00

Friday:                   6.30 to 16.30

Anticipated moments and recognition are key elements in the kindergarten day since these moments  foster security and energy. We have a fixed structure for the day, but the content varies. Children can navigate more easily in a day where there are elements about which they know.

We say hello and goodbye with a handshake, and we look at each other in the eyes. We do this to be polite, to see everyone, and to make good contact.

Hello: We want mum/dad to provide information that may have an impact on the child’s day in the building and to know who is to pick them up if it’s not their parents.

When the child has to say goodbye to their mother or father, we assess whether the child can say goodbye himself/herself or whether an adult should assist. Please ask for help.

Goodbye: At the end of the day, the staff will pass on the ‘star moments’ or the day’s challenges for the child. This relationship creates a partnership so that we can jointly foster the well-being and development of the child.

Daily, the staff try to let the children know what the day will bring, by using the information boards in all the rooms, so that you, as parents, can talk to your child about the experiences of that day.

Farvel: Ved dagens slutning vil personalet viderebringe ”stjernestunder” eller dagens udfordringer for barnet. Dette skaber et samarbejde om barnet, så vi fælles kan skabe trivsel og udvikling for barnet.

Personalet bestræber sig dagligt på at informere om dagens indhold på infotavlen på alle stuerne, så I som forældre kan tale med jeres barn om dagens oplevelser.

We open up the Lark’s Nest. This service provides a means that your child can be handed over between 6.30 – 7.15.

Breakfast is available from 6.30 – 7.30. We serve porridge with purée and butter, oatmeal, or cornflakes.

The day begins with quiet play in the rooms, considering each other and allowing everyone to have a good start to the day. It allows the children to ‘zoom in on each other’. There must be a place for the start of the day in a way that the child needs. At 7.15, the kindergarten children go to the swallows room. At 7.30 all the rooms open up.

Our morning assembly is from 9.00 to 9.30. We expect children to be dropped off before  9-00 or after 9.30 because it provides the best possible learning space so that the children and adults who are involved in the assembly are not disturbed.

We start at 9.00 and this  time frame is set so that your child gets the best possible start to the day, with adults having time to say goodbye at the handover and to foster quietness and depth for the morning assembly. So, if you need help regarding dropping off your child, it’s a good idea to arrive at approximately 8.45.

For the morning assembly, a child chosen for that day to help to light candles and to choose a song.  Together we say “The Little Prayer,” Our Father, singing and playing. We talk about the date, the season, and the weather. Everyone gets a slice of rye bread with butter. The adults introduce the days’ activities. The children practise participating in the discussion by putting up their hand.

The focus for the morning assembly:

• Awareness of each other and the experience of togetherness
• Freedom from bullying
• Respect for each other
• Recognition and an assembled start to the day
• Show consideration and wait for your turn
• Practice being focused and developing personally
• Understand numbers, dates and letters
• Practice being quiet and listening to each other
• Guide the children in their social relationships and the rules of play

The Monday and Friday morning assemblies are in the hall and are for children from every room. We come together at 9.00 to say ”The Little Prayer,” Our Father, and sing. We end with a joint activity, for example, a singing game. So that the child feels that they are part of a wider community and that we share in a common experience. Appropriate children from The Lark’s Nest also take part.

After the morning assembly, the day’s activities start. During the year, we ensure that we cover all the curricular themes through different theme weeks. Information is provided on the notice boards in the rooms.

The focus for the activities:

• To have children experience adult-led activities with a focus on specific learning
• To ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate in various activities
• To expand the children’s opportunities for learning in different areas
• To strengthen children’s concentration
• To strengthen children’s understanding of shared messages
• To guide the children in their social relationships and the rules of play

The day’s activities help to inspire the children during their free play. We emphasize  alternating between adult-controlled activities and free play.

In the free play, the children have the chance to process and test the learning they encounter, and the opportunity to use their imagination and be part of various smaller groupings. We also work with the learning that takes place in the day’s other involvements, such as going to the toilet, setting the table and the culture of eating together.

We have a workshop that each room uses in turn. Here the children  can do all kinds of creative activities.

We regularly make use of our hall with the children; there are many  possibilities here. We use the hall for, among other things, movement activities,  motor skills, dance, rhythm, massage, physical activities, as well as joint play. At other times it is used, for example, for theatre, morning assembly and events that include the parents. In the hall, we have a wide variety of equipment related to movement that can also be used.

Our outdoors Tarzan track allows many children to be up and running at the same time and playing many different  games. It is comprised of fun and challenging play equipment that provides the children with varied motor-skills  training.

In the morning that we work on language. We focus on language in our assembly together but we have the opportunity to work more intensively and individually with language in different activities. It could be a small group of children doing mouth movements or a group that’s reading and talking about a particular book. It may be some children that are playing together or reading some rhymes and word forms.

We do language tests with preschoolers and organize activities that work with the challenges that the test presents. Good parental cooperation is important so that you also work on language at home.

When children are out in nature, their body and their senses develop, and their curiosity and emotions are challenged. The children develop a respect for  and understanding of nature. They become familiar nature  and experience joy. Therefore, we are out in all kinds of weather, and the children experience getting dirty, exploring and acquiring new knowledge.

All the rooms meet in the large playground after lunch, where among other things there is an opportunity to climb, dig, cycle and play with natural materials such as sticks, stones, leaves, soil, snow, water, etc.

We have a large playground offering many possibilities  like  trees, a sensory garden, a campfire, a toboggan run, a bike and moon car track, playhouses and more.

By each room, there is a small playground where children play in the morning. We also arrange off-site trips so that children can encounter the natural world in different places.

Children must also have the opportunity to experience art and culture. We do this learning, among other things, by playing, reshaping and experimenting with different forms of expression.

It’s also about awareness of different cultures and traditions, about family structures, institutional culture, children’s culture and adult culture. Through meeting with others and their culture, the child develops his own cultural forms of expression.

On trips away from the building we can, among other things, allow children to experience theatre and dance performances, concerts, exhibitions and museums. Of course, we also have our very own culture and traditions that both you and the children will take part in throughout your time in the kindergarten.

Before lunch, we all wash our hands, and we practice standing in line and waiting for our turn. We focus on getting together in the room and creating calm before we eat. We do this task by reading out loud, singing, massage, and chatting about the day so far. Meanwhile, one or more children help to set the table.

The child/children of the day present the food and drink and choose a mealtime prayer. Then one child says. “Please sit down”, and we eat. We sit in small groups at the tables, and each child has a fixed place, to foster recognition and security at mealtimes.

We focus on the following:

• The dialogue between child/adult and child/child
• Expressing their own needs and desires, asking what the child needs
• Practising fine motor skills with cutlery
• Taking food and pouring water or milk into a glass by yourself
• Passing food to each other
• Practising how we taste food

We mind our table manners and wait for each other. We say, ”Thank you for the food” and ask permission to leave the table. Everyone cleans up after themselves. The whole meal takes place with guided participation from the adults.

When we have eaten, we go out to the large playground, and some children take a nap.

The fact that we are out every day creates greater well-being among the children. The playground is large, and the child is allowed to play throughout the different rooms and to participate in new groupings. The children learn to show consideration and care for one another, e.g. by comforting or calling an adult. The Lark’s Nest makes their own plans for the children in the nursery crèche.

Time in the play area is a space where children can:

• Show who they are
• Play
• ”Hide” – be in a place where adults can’t see you
• Be in other social relationships
• Practice resolving conflicts
• Use their bodies
• Be challenged
• Learn about nature
• Challenge their sensory-motor skills
• Practice paying attention to the weather conditions so that their clothing is suitable

Når vi har spist, går vi på den store legeplads og nogen skal sove.

Det, at vi er ude hver dag, skaber større trivsel blandt børnene. Legepladsen er stor, og barnet får her mulighed for at lege på tværs af stuerne og skabe nye fællesskaber. Børnene lærer at vise hensyn og omsorg for hinanden f.eks. ved at trøste eller hente en voksen. Lærkereden planlægger for vuggestuebarnet.

Tiden på legepladsen er et rum, hvor børnene kan:

• Udfolde sig
• Lege
• ”Gemme sig” – være et sted, hvor de voksne ikke kan se én
• Være i andre sociale relationer
• Øve sig i at løse konflikter
• Bruge kroppen
• Blive udfordret
• Lære om naturen
• Udfordres sansemotorisk
• Øve sig i at være opmærksom på vejrforholdene, så overtøjet passer til vejret