Going to school is the starting point of a child’s socialization process. It is the point when they establish contact with others in an environment completely different from their home. This new place that will be an essential part of their life – the school – is where the child will achieve autonomy, independence, understanding of collectivity, and expand their knowledge about themselves and the world.
At be.Living, we understand that a healthy and powerful learning process relies on affection, safety, and guidance from competent adults so that the individual entering this new and collective universe feels fully supported by those who are experienced and capable of organizing the multiple experiences that can be lived in the school environment. Establishing a routine is fundamental for children in this sense.
“The school routine is the organization of time and space for childhood. It structures children’s lives during the time they are at school, promoting safety and authorship. By establishing a routine, the child feels safe in the learning environment, since they come to know this environment, understand how it works, and what they will have to do there. Over time, they will take ownership of this understanding and begin to develop their authorship, because when they know what will happen, they can plan for it. And when we say that they will plan, we are not only talking about the materials needed to perform an activity, but also about their emotional and cognition processes. The routine helps the child understand themselves as the author of their knowledge process.” – explains Gabriela Fernandes, Elementary School coordinator at be.Living.
Gabriela states that the feeling of safety is essential for the children to be able to challenge themselves and face the challenges proposed by the school – whether social or cognitive. “The child needs to feel safe both in relation to the environment and in relation to adults. The routine also benefits the construction of knowledge. For children to be able to develop knowledge, it’s essential for them to be able to plan and anticipate.”
According to the coordinator, when children understand a routine, they can anticipate certain feelings and skills that can be experienced in certain situations or proposed activities. “Planning and anticipation give the child a chance for greater creativity, because if they are secure, they understand where they are and what they have to do.”
Camila Maia, coordinator of Early Childhood Education at be.Living, adds that in addition to contributing to the organization of children’s time and promoting safety and autonomy, the school routine is also a call for the child to see themselves as part of a group. “The routine gives children the perception that they are part of a collective context. Individual desires are always taken into consideration. From listening, we make decisions about what will happen in the group. In this collective environment, we build the social rules of coexistence. It’s not something imposed, but rather something built.”
Camila says that the routine for children in Early Childhood Education starts the moment they greet the doormen Elias and Cícero when they arrive at school, extending throughout the day, in every activity and experience proposed for the groups. “All classes start with “Corners” – which are the corners of the room organized daily by the teachers with toys and inviting proposals to welcome the children and awaken their curiosity, desire to play, and the possibility of interacting with each other. Each group then participates in their “Circle” – a time when the teachers present the day’s routine, review the calendar, and take attendance. It is also a time to explore different languages and projects. From the circle, the groups set off on their own routine of activities and experiences. Part of this routine is fixed, according to a previously established timetable – such as the Studio, music class, Coisas D’Aqui class, the Reading Room – and other moments of the routine happen according to each teacher’s planning.”
In Elementary School, the routine is also present in different learning processes, such as writing, as coordinator Gabriela Fernandes explains: “When we work on writing a text, the first thing we do is give the children a strong repertoire about the textual genre we’re going to work on. We showed them what this text is like, what its characteristics and structure are, what the stories in this genre are like, how they begin and how they end.” From there, the child plans their own text, writes it, then revises it and changes what they need to change. So, see how this process of building writing knowledge is related to routine.”
Gabriela says that, over time, children can even interfere in the routine proposed by educators, expressing their wishes and opening up their dialog-building processes for this to happen. “When the children arrive at school, we tell them what the day is going to be like. As they go through the routine, we open up discussion processes about what they have understood and thought of the routine, through the Assemblies. They can look at the routine in a critical manner and rethink it, just as they revise their texts and make the changes they think need to be made.”
According to the Elementary School coordinator, the possibility of looking critically at the routine together with the teachers is important and necessary for the development of the children’s authorship and autonomy. “This exchange with adults in the school environment provides security for the child, enabling them to build meaningful learning. A meaningful learning process is built by the child when they play a leading role in establishing relationships with adults and other children, with the environment and with knowledge. From there, they develop their personal representation of each of the processes experiences and build their knowledge. Routine is essential for a powerful and healthy knowledge-building process.”
