Kindergarten 

Wow what a memorable year we have had. It honestly felt like it was never going to end and now here we are writing about the year that was. 

Where do we start, firstly thank you for all your continued support through such an uncertain time, we all played our part in keeping the community safe, which has allowed us to come together and see out term four. Secondly a massive thank you to the children who showed resilience throughout the whole pandemic, which provided us with the much-needed distraction. Nevertheless, Covid provided us with opportunities to explore different avenues of teaching, for not only Kelly and I but the children as well.  On brighter note we were so excited to have everyone back for term four. Lastly I would like to thank Kelly for all her support over the year but, especially over this term. I couldn't of done it without her and the children and I are very lucky to of had her with us this year in the kindergarten room. We are very grateful for her :) 

Take a look at what we got up to: 

Show and tell

Well, I’m sure we can all agree that the children loved this program. From a teacher’s point of view there was nothing more special than to watch the children’s confidence grow as each week passed. The children stood in front of their peers to discuss the fortnightly topic and encouraged to ask and answer relatable questions. You could tell the excitement on each child’s face when it was there day and time to present.  Show and tell has many benefits to further support and extend on children’s skills, such as: 

• Extend and encourage self-esteem and pride
• Support and extend on their oral and social skills
• Support and build on their confidence skills
• Assisting the children with active listening skills
• Supporting and allowing children to think of relatable questions

School readiness 

Term four we have had a large focus on school readiness. As much as we didn’t want to believe it was that time of year we looked at ways to further support the children before they entered a new journey in their little lives. As the kindergarten program allows children to explore learning through play they were exposed to such topics through: 

• Setting the dramatic corner into a school classroom with uniforms
• Literacy table experiences
• Maths exploration
• Self help experiences everyday
• Lunch box week
• Fine and gross motor
• Reading stories about school
• Discussions

Graduation 

In no way did we ever think that an online graduation is how we would end our kindergarten year in 2020 but, wow what a success. The funded children took this new way of life in 2020 (haha) to perform in front of a camera. We practiced every week and this showed as they put on the best performance for all their families to watch at a later date.  Kelly and I cannot believe that this year kindergarten group is coming to an end. We will miss them all terribly and can’t wait to hear all about their time at primary school.  Seeing them in the graduation gown showed us how much they have grown over the year and certainly made us two very proud teachers. Congratulations to our 2020 graduates.

Christmas 

What an exciting time of year Christmas is. Each year it always comes around so quickly. The children have eagerly been counting down the days and enjoying Christmas festivities. Kelly and the children came up with a different idea of having a room Christmas tree. Instead, they all painted some boxes that were provided to us from family’s green. Once these had dried they stuck the boxes on top of each other from biggest to smallest to give it that Christmas tree effect. The children made baubles to decorate the tree and wrapped tinsel around it. Oh, and of course we all put a star on top. You can’t have a Christmas tree without a star. We have explored Christmas in a range of other ways but the children’s favourite activity was participating in writing letters to Mr Claus himself. Much to their surprise, Santa wrote a letter back. Their little faces lit up and you couldn’t wipe the smiles away.  The children also practiced a song that they performed behind a camera of course haha. They did an amazing job and loved getting involved with this.

Kelly and I would again like to thank you all for a wonderful year. Thank you for allowing us to be apart of your children’s final year here in kindergarten. It has been a pleasure watching them grow and it will be sad to see them go. We are so excited for them to embark on their new journey next year and can’t wait to see them in their uniforms. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!