Nurture Cards Feedback Form – 4-week Trial 10/10/2016
What age are the students: 4-5 yrs.
Location of your school:Brigden, Ontario, Canada
How often have you used Nurture Cards with the children each week? Once a day
How long have you used each card/ affirmation?
Used the deck daily for a month (but am continuing to use them)
A different affirmation card each day? Essentially, yes
Nurture Cards illustrations
How do you feel the children respond to the look/illustrations ?
They were quite intrigued with the illustrations. I initially encouraged them to think of ways the illustrations and the affirmations went together, giving ideas... but over time they started to give their own ideas and insights. They would relate characteristics such as colour, the scene/illustration itself, and various parts of the scene/illustration and how it related(relates) to the affirmation.
Nurture Cards Wording / affirmations
What is your observation on how children read and understand the affirmations?
Some struggled with wording (language delays), but others would help them sound out the words. Sometimes would need to repeat the affirmation a couple of times till it “flowed” easily before they would “feel” its meaning. As we progressed through the month this became easier and as a result more meaningful.
How do the children respond to saying the affirmations? _as stated above, some struggled with the words but would gain assistance from their friends. They would play with the wording/phrasing till it flowed easily and they could “feel” it’s meaning (for them). They looked forward to the daily activity, often “reminding” me that it was “time” to pick our cards (as if I was forgetting).
Do you feel that Nurture Cards have had a positive impact on the children?
MOST DEFINITELY YES. As stated above, they look forward to the daily activity and wouldn't let me “forget” it.
If so, in what ways? – Initially they weren't sure what they were supposed to “do” with/about the affirmations. My program is a before and after school program, so I see the group before classes begin, and then again after classes have ended for the day. I would (and continue to) have each child pick a card randomly from the deck and read it outloud to the group. This affirmation was then to be “used” throughout the day (positive self-talk) and then at the end of the day we would discuss how we used our affirmations throughout the day (and/or did we REMEMBER the affirmation, which initially they had trouble with, but over the first few days as it became routine, they started to remember them and used them throughout the day and would give examples of how they used them and how the affirmations actually helped them during some difficult moments in the day).
Do you think that the children are more engaged in learning/participation?
Prior to using the affirmation cards, I found this group to be rather disconnected--- As my “job” entails “group work” with children presenting a variety of social/emotional/behavioural issues, it is important to me that they “come together” as a group which is no easy task in and of itself. However, I found that within the first three days of using the affirmation cards, the “group” started coming together as a group, and becoming increasingly helpful with each other and “mindful” of each other’s feelings and experiences within the group and based on their conversations, during the school day as well. A couple of the older boys in deed pointed out how they also “reminded” others from our group of what their cards told them and would give each other ideas on how to use the affirmation in a given situation during the day.
Have you noticed any social changes in the children? --- see above response
In addition to the above, I am noticing an increased/improved level of consideration for each other as well as an improved level of self-reflection, and increased levels of self-confidence.
Do you feel the children are more confident and positive?Most definitely yes (see above response).
How have you implemented Nurture Cards in the classroom?
This has been a classroomactivity throughout. Our group meets twice daily. Before and after school time. We(the agency I work for) work on developing pro-social skills through a play to learn model. I however tweak it based on my own years of experience and training and start out our group sessions with more “structure” than our agency “prefers”. Given the issues these children face, I have personally found over the past couple of years that “our program” generally doesn't meet their needs as best it could because they come into the program daily and its simply “free” play to learn from the minute they walk in the door. This year, having received the affirmation cards before the program year started, and having had some time to familiarize myself with the cards- I decided to “start” our day a little differently... having a “community circle” to discuss the previous day (what we did, what we saw, what we thought about etc.) and what we “might do, might see, might think about” '...today...' and how yesterday might affect today, how we might have control over what happens etc. I started using the cards right in the beginning of this year first to give them a starting point “for the day” and how the card might be predictive of how the day will go... and it’s taken on a life of its own so to speak in that they have on their own not only used the affirmations as presented on their cards, but they've now started modifying the affirmations to suit their needs in a given situation (changing the wording, but always in a positive manner).
Are there any improvements that could be made to Nurture Cards?
I like them just as they are as they are working out beautifully with the group I currently have. As the year progresses, more children may be referred to our program, so it will be interesting to see how they adjust to using the affirmations, and if the use of the affirmations has an effect on how the current group accepts new members into the group, and how the affirmations may (hopefully) encourage connectedness between the current and new students.
Will you continue to use Nurture Cards in your classroom? OH FOR SURE!!!!!
I have thoroughly enjoyed using them. I have been encouraging the children to use them in a variety of ways (of their choosing) and they have been “showing” their use of the affirmations by drawing their own illustrations as they pertain to themselves, and also using the affirmations “during play” (during dramatic play for example, to incorporate the affirmations or similar affirmations within conversations between toy characters). Given the many MANY resources I have used/purchased over the years, I can't say that any have had quite the impact that these cards have had. I've been beyond impressed!!!!!