9 October 2018. Written by T Liz.

Asalamo Alaikom Sulaiman. Over the last few weeks I have seen you playing with other children as you learn
more ways to be a friend. On the 18th September I saw you chasing Bushra as you played a ball game together.
Bushra was holding a ball so you ran up to her and waited for her to throw it. Eventually she threw it so you
both ran after it and Bushra reached it first so she grabbed it. You waited until she threw the ball again then
you both chased it. You repeated this lots of time. Each time the first one to reach it grabbed it. If Bushra
got the ball first you had to wait for her to throw or kick it again. If you got there first Bushra had to wait for
you to throw or kick it. Then you were off again running all over the playground chasing the ball.

At outside tidy up time on the 21st September you heard me call ‘Tidy up time; time to put the bikes away”. You
rode your bike over to the bike shed as I praised you for helping. Mohamed and Sarah heard me praising you so
they copied what you were doing. They each took a bike to the bike shed and put it away, just like you did.

Today you saw Ayah laying a long plank on the floor and decided to help her. You got a plank off the shelf and
laid it beside Ayah’s. You took turns to lay planks on the floor, all the way from the stage right down to the kai
tables. Other children wanted to join in too. I explained that “Ayah and Saloomi were leading this game and
they needed to follow your lead”. You walked over to Yasir and talked to him about what you were doing. You
watched Yasir put a car on the track and drive it along the ‘road’, so you copied him. After you had tested the
car on the road, you went back to building the road with Ayah. Yasir showed you how you could lay a plank at a
different angle to make a corner in the road by the kai tables. You carried on building the road until all the long
planks were used up.

What Learning Occurred?

Sulaiman’s new learning pathway for this term is developing more strategies to play with others (which is one of
our centre’s learning priorities for children). He is gaining confidence to play with other children apart from
his friend Bukhari. Sulaiman understands he is a valued member of our preschool whānau and can participate in
any activity in whatever way he wants to. His knowledge of social norms, such as turn taking and sharing
resources is growing as he plays with others. Sulaiman is also developing ways to share leadership, such as
putting the bikes away, when other children followed his lead. He pai tō mahi (good work) Sulaiman!

How can we Extend this Learning?

We can support Sulaiman as his friendship skills continue to grow by encouraging and praising his efforts when
he participates in group experiences.