Early Learning Centre

3-Year-Old Kinder

This week was National Reconciliation Week, and using the social puppets “Abbie” and “Jojo” we talked about the meaning of the word reconciliation, and how it means making friends again after a disagreement. The social puppets modelled how to say sorry and forgive one another. We talked about how God sent His Son Jesus, to reconcile the world to Himself. 

The children were invited to create works of art inspired by Bundjalung artist Bronwyn Bancroft’s paintings, and Indigenous artist Sally Morgan’s artworks. The children experimented with creating brightly coloured paintings using little brushes, using sticks to make dot paintings, and using pastels to pattern and colour Australian animals. The children worked together on a collaborative project, to decorate several boomerangs to display in the ELC. They used a variety of techniques to make strokes, dots and patterns with black, red, yellow, blue, green and white paint. 

Mrs Alyssa Cairns, ELC Teacher

4-Year-Old Kinder

Transitioning 

The children have had a very busy and productive week in the ELC 4, learning about having a new teacher in the room, the slightly different routines of our days with the help of visual cards and new relationships and bonds seen happening.  Thank you to all our wonderful staff in the ELC and the families/parents and caregivers for supporting and reassuring the children during this transition period.  It wouldn’t have been so smooth without your involvement.  

Henny Penny Program

The week started off with a bit of a surprise when the children walked in, seeing the chickens hatching out of their eggs and some other eggs still kept warm in the incubator.  The children watched with excitement and curiosity.  Everyday, the children came in to see how many more of the chickens had hatched.  They counted, they watched, they touched and patted using their gentle hands.  

The learning about chickens continued in week 6, where the life cycle was more closely looked at.  The four main stages of a chicken’s life were carefully explained; egg, hatching, chick and growing into either a hen or a rooster.  We have learnt that the chickens do not hatch out of their eggs until the egg is 20-21 days old and once it hatches into a chick, it will take another 15-20 weeks before they grow into adult hen or rooster. 

Sensory Play

Following on from the children's interest in cutting and fine motor extension, the children gathered around the table and participated in making different coloured slime.  From there, we allowed the children to place the sticky slime onto plastic racks where they observed how the slime dribbled down the holes of the racks slowly and consistently.  This was a big hit amongst the children.  The sensory, the visual effect and the sense of achievement to cut the slime before they got down to the very bottom was very satisfying.  The children showed respect and patience as they waited for their turn.

Library Excursion

Thank you to Mrs Champion for inviting the ELC to the library for the  National simultaneous story time.  The ELC had a fantastic time, demonstrating self awareness, safety and following of instructions.  We have been very proud of them as they sat through the entire story read by Mrs Martin.  We will be planning a few more excursions this year around the College.  

Dramatic Play

The police station role play in the outdoor area continued to happen.  Some police were dressed in shirts and hats, working in the policeman's office typing away and taking down notes, while other police officers were on the road, catching, helping and rescuing people or animals in need.  We will be extending the children's understanding and perception around police officers and their roles in a positive way, and not just 'catching baddies all day.'  We will invite local police officers to visit the ELC (hopefully before the end of term 2).  We will also be focusing more on road safety which will tie in well with an incursion already booked in a couple of weeks' time.  

Self-Regulation

We have been introducing the 'volume scale' to the children and explaining to them what volume to use when inside, when eating on the tables, when speaking in front of the class or when playing outside.  Everyone knows that we only use volume number 5 when there is an EMERGENCY!

Mrs Amy Hu, ELC Director