Boronia Group Term 2 2024

An eventful Term 2 has been had by all the children. Exploring, investigating, building, creating, adventuring and learning through their play. The children returned to kindergarten this term, rested after the holiday break. As the term progressed, the children continued to establish peer connections within the group and sharing information with each other and their educators. The changing season and weather created a magical backyard.

It has been very exciting to introduce the Helping Hands for the day. This has provided the children with the opportunity to set out our “café tickets”, choose how we are going to transition from the mat to washing our hands and meal times.

Role play and dramatic play has been part of our weekly sessions, extending on the language development and imaginative play. We have explored camping, a puppet theatre, and a café – restaurant. Music and action movement songs have provided the opportunity for us to be active; learning to use the space around us and our voices. The group has been very intrigued and excited in building the various large floor puzzles. By building puzzles, children begin to look at the whole picture, breaking it apart and put it back together again. In spite of the cooler days, we have rugged up and embraced being outdoors.

The children continue to gain confidence in taking part in riskier play and giving it a go and a try outside on the obstacle courses, balancing blocks, whizzy dizzies, and manoeuvring their way through, under and over the stone creek, sandpit and mud pit. Using the large soft foam shaped blocks, various constructions have been built. Risky play allows for the children to gain not only self confidence in their own abilities and achievements but also allows for resilience skills, problem solving skills and social emotional skills to develop. Our yard filled up with the wonderful changing colours of the Autumn leaves. We took tomato find different colours and noticed how all the leaves are different – reds, yellows, oranges, greens and browns. No one leaf is the same. Incorporating the children’s interests in the leaves, many took their own initiative to collect leaves and stick them onto their outdoor easel paintings followed by threading pipe- cleaners into the leaves with holes made using hole punchers to emulate the holes made by caterpillars and other insects that munch on our leaves and plants.

As part of exploring and questioning during the term we have explored various sensory activities – shaving foam mixing in colours, making playdough as a group, melting items that have been frozen in ice, scooping and pouring activities using the dried lavender,, incorporating language and numeracy skills into our learning and play. By encouraging simple observations and discussions about the nature we find in our kinder yard, we begin to introduce the ideas of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to the children. Learning by giving it a go; that making a mistake is ok. We all learn from these.

During Term 2 we also welcomed some very special guests who joined us to celebrate Mother’s / Special Person’s Day. The children were thrilled to share their special kinder room spaces with their visitors – from reading books, to threading, drawing, playing playdough, puzzles, games and outdoor play. It was wonderful to observe the happy, chattering conversations between the children and their visitors.

We were delighted to have the incursion Wriggly Worm with Katie. The children on an adventure filled with movement, music, dance, role-play and dress up. Much fun and delight were had by all in the group.

A few housekeeping reminders as we continue through Term 2 and into Term 3:

Clothing: Layering is ideal. As the cooler become colder layering of clothing – assists with the differing temperatures. Please send a warm jacket or jumper, as we do go outside and play even when it is cold.
An adequate number of changes of clothes and a pair of shoes that are labelled for those days when we get extra messy or wet during play. Please put in a wet bag or a packet from home for the clothes
Illness – If your child is sick please keep them home until they are well to return to kinder.
Stay and play – if you would like to come and stay for a short play with your child during one session, please let me know.

If any of your contact details have changed, please let us know.We look forward to seeing you all again in Term 3.

Livingston Kindergarten | Quarterly Newsletter

Caring, Community, Connection

Issue 2 · 26 Jun 2024

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