We Are Learning to Be Ecologists!

The human being must be educated in the spirit of respect for the environment. That is why we are all responsible for building an educational environment that motivates the child in the process of protecting nature. Children's feelings and attitudes toward nature must be of respect and care, always holding the conviction that human beings are an integral part of nature and by no means superior to it. Nature has protected human beings since their appearance, providing them with what is necessary for existence.

The ecological crisis that is showing itself ever more strongly is a sign that the bond between the human being and Mother Earth has begun to erode. The balance in nature is starting to give way and in places to disappear. To survive, people need a stable existence in their appropriate environment.

For Răsărit Kindergarten, ecological education is one of the basic objectives, which is found throughout all the educational activity. Ecological education is not only a category of activity or a moment determined by an event, nor can it be identified in a single field of knowledge. It can be found at any moment of the day, interwoven with a variety of educational activities. This type of education has a pronounced moral/ethical aspect, not being limited only to human or environmental aspects. In our kindergarten ecology is approached in an interdisciplinary, holistic manner, since it has links of substance, more or less visible, with other categories of activity.

Interdisciplinarity gives us the possibility to present to our children objects and phenomena in a relationship of mutual conditioning and to make them understand the danger of natural imbalance caused by human influence. They are eyewitnesses to the transformations in social, cultural, economic and environmental life. All these aspects arouse the curiosity they show through the questions they ask us, and through the answers we give we lead them to understand the relationships between phenomena and their results.

In this regard Răsărit Kindergarten has taken on the responsibility of awakening children's interest in knowing, loving and protecting nature and of offering each one the possibility to show a personal, responsible attitude toward the environment in which they live. That is why it is necessary for the little ones to be helped to penetrate the secrets of nature in order to grasp the interdependence and causality of phenomena, as well as in forming an ecological conduct that leads them toward educating the love of nature, educating the capacity to protect and respect the environment and the desire to contribute to preserving the ecological balances that manifest in nature, by applying the principles of permaculture. Our kindergarten has developed and will develop ecological education programs with the aim of:

• Stimulating the child to carry out activities of an experimental and demonstrative character through which they contribute to preserving the health of the environment in which they live;
• Acquiring norms of ecological behavior specific to ensuring the balance between the health of the individual, of society and of the environment, and forming a disapproving attitude toward those who violate these norms;
• Stimulating imagination and creativity;
• Encouraging the child to express independently their own opinions and states of mind and to give reasons for them.

Educational Director,

Magda Zâmbet