Red Day, Rainbow Day, First Day boards - the small events that carry far more early-years learning than they look like they do.
Every few weeks the Pre-Primary corridor changes colour. Red Day, Yellow Day, Rainbow Day - the children arrive dressed in one colour, and every activity that day is built around it.
Why a colour day works
It looks like a photo opportunity, and it is one. But a colour day is also the easiest way to teach a colour so thoroughly that it sticks. Over a single morning a three-year-old will name red objects, sort red from not-red, eat something red at snack time, paint in red, and go home wearing it. That is five encounters with one concept in five different modes, which is roughly what early learning research says is needed.
More than a keepsake
The same goes for the First Day of School boards. A child holding a board with their class on it seems like a keepsake for the parents, and it is - but it is also the child's first experience of being formally welcomed somewhere, photographed, and told that this is now their place.
We schedule these days across the year rather than clustering them, and we keep the dress requirement loose. Anything red will do. Nobody needs to buy anything.
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