All those trains we drew when we were child… No locomotives without smoke! Curiously enough, steam locomotives were always the main protagonists even though we had never seen one. More surprisingly, most children can still draw those trains perfectly. For adults, trains are considered as a symbol of romance in literature and movies. For children,…
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Before the pomegranates leave the markets, and the weather gets cold, and our school’s cute member, kitchen stove can’t wait to get flames every passing day, and while we need so much peace, we organize Noah’s pudding (ashoura) festival to remember our “plurality” and diversity, to have days with flowers, colors and peace. Our…
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TO SHARE! It is a behavior we have taken over from ancient times, because it is a thing we need for the skill of living all together and be at peace with ourselves. We live with codes related to altruist behaviors, sharing is just so in our nature! However, as “social world” suppresses…
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We value that children, teachers and families share a living space all together which supports the culture of community as providing an opportunity to hear each other out, to get to know each other and to create together. We say good morning to each other as our tent flaps opened to remind ourselves that a…
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We care about understanding a stream. We believe that the stream’s fish, frog, the willow bending over the stream, its blackberry, pebbles and sand make us closer to the nature sensationally, with its sun and shadows, its energy driven by hitting the road, the flow, reaching, and rejoining. For that reason, streams are a…
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Today, chemical-free foods, sourdough breads, soft soap and dishes cleaned with wood ash have given way to industrialized products that usually ignore ecological balance. It has become a social issue to seek for clean, healthy and chemical-free food in a world in which urbanites overshade villagers, best-looking fruits overshade ugly and wormy ones and white…
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Arkadaş Okul considers the concept of ecology as a learning experience immanent in the school, which refers to the relationship between child development and pedagogy based on an ecological structure. In other words, ecology is the main motivation. It criticizes the perspective towards the interpretation of environmental degradation as ecophobia in learning programs and…
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Although we do not think that it is sustainable to involve children in early childhood in school council, in terms of their development, we can’t deny that certain decisions may directly affect them. So, we need to establish a bond between the decisions that may affect children and their needs as well as regarding them.…
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Because, it is too hard for people to be happy, be at peace with themselves and others or love themselves and others without having the right to speak within their community. It is not possible to carry out alternative education programs and to provide alternative learning environments with traditional organizational structures. The synergy, communication…
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Arkadaş School believes that all special days should be approached regarding children’s semantic and world knowledge. Unfortunately, since such special days are planned and organized according to adults’ wishes and interests in early childhood institutions, it leaves children defenseless against popular culture, political agenda and the market while exposing them to concepts which are way…
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