Hong Kong children nowadays are undergoing rapid changes in their development. What they experience and encounter in their childhood has profound influence on the development of their behaviours and psychological state of the minds. In this critical period of development, school years, primary school education in particular, form a prominent portion of their childhood. According to Dewey, schools provide the formal environment for learning and for children to assimilate the ways adults think and behave. Research has shown that the school is an important agent of socialization of children (Lau, S., Siu, K.K. and Chik, P.Y., 1988). What children experience and enjoy in schools should henceforth deserve great attention in the community – the policy makers and administrators, curriculum developers, parents, school principals and teachers. Given this, the paper outlines the experience and reflection of the writer on her two week of teaching junior primary pupils. The arrangements are part of the Lecturers' Attachment Scheme jointly organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Education and its partner schools. The aim is to enhance lecturers' understanding of primary classroom teaching contexts and children learning needs. The writer attempted to find out how theory and practice work in the learning of primary children in school environment. A short questionnaire administered to the pupils she taught examines the kind of learning environment children like most. The information collected was useful to substantiate the qualitative interpretive reflection of the writer herself. Implications will also be discussed.[Copyright © 2000 The Save the Children Fund (Hong Kong).]