Room updates / Curriculums
River Room
Welcome back to another year in the river room.
Firstly, we would like to welcome all new children and families, and we cannot wait to get to know you more and be on this wonderful journey with you.
Developing a sense of belonging:
We have had a great term 1. With lots of new children, we have been focusing on assisting the children in developing relationships with the educators to ensure a sense of belonging, comfort and security in their new environments. We have displayed many photos around the room and in the hall, including family photos on the family tree and individual photos displayed at their level to be able to look at throughout the day. Now we have come to end term 1, children have really settled within the room and are starting to develop these relationships both with their peers and educators and are engaging more in play and learning. If you haven’t sent through a family photo, could you please do so, this will be added to our room family tree.
Sensory play:
One of our main focuses in the river room is sensory play, whether that be rice play, water play, playdough, painting, sand play or sensory tubs full of shredded paper the children are always drawn to these experiences, and this is something we offer all year around in our room and daily. This year so far, the children have been exploring water play on a regular basis outside, they have really enjoyed rice play which has been set up on several occasions this year, play dough and have enjoyed shredded paper. There will be plenty more exciting sensory play experiences to look out for over the next few terms.
What to expect for term 2:
Inquiry project- Animals this is something that we will be focusing on and each term we will have a different focus. Term 2 inquiry focus is everything animals, from naming them, to their sounds to setting up related experiences and exploring them through group time books, songs, puppets and sensory play. If you have a photo of your child with an animal you might like to share, whether this be a pet or an animal at a farm or zoo please send them through to me and we can display them within the room.
Music and movement, we will continue our group times with music and movement and also enjoy having Karen in the room at times to offer her talent of singing some songs with the children while playing her guitar. Karen is a valued member of Haven whom works across all rooms. Karen is very passionate about her guitar and enjoys playing for the children in all the rooms across Haven, singing songs that are familiar to the children and songs which engaged the children are age appropriate. We look forward to have many more music sessions during the year.
Thank you from all of us in the river room, we look forward to another exciting year.
Sun Room
Here we are at the end of Term 1, let's share some highlights and special moments.
Sun Smart (Ann-Maree):
For Term 1 our Inquiry Project was SunSmart! Our goal was to support the children’s learning and to stimulate curiosity, understanding and awareness. Our focus questions were “Why do we wear hats and sunscreen when we play outside?" And “What is your favourite thing to do on a sunny day?” To enhance this learning we had fun and engaging experiences and provocations throughout our curriculum of play and learning. We even made a photo book using photos of the children out and about being SunSmart on a sunny day.
During our group time we learnt the song and actions to “You’ve gotta be SunSmart” by Jay Laga’aia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwa49vPr-3I which the children loved.
We also introduced Sammy and Sunny Sunshine. These soft toy suns went home with the children for a week to support our learning about Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide. The suns have been a great learning tool and a useful way to start a conversation about being SunSmart. The take home suns will end for now but recommence towards the end of Term 3 when the weather heats up again.
Big Chefs Help Little Chefs (Charlotte):
What a success our program ‘Big Chef, Little Chef’ has been this term!
We started the term by making vegetarian spring rolls to celebrate Chinese New Years! The children had so much fun rolling up the spring rolls. We then made some yummy shortbread hearts for Valentines Day. We were so fortunate and thankful to have Kieran’s mum to come in and help us make Irish Soda Bread for St Patrick’s Day. The children enjoyed learning this traditional recipe.
We are looking forward to ending Term 1 by making delicious chocolate crackles. This has been such a wonderful start to the year and the children have had so much fun making all of these yummy treats. Furthermore, it has been a great mentor program with the 4 year old kindergarten children assisting the toddlers in the cooking process. We look forward to next term!
Music and Movement (Jane):
This term I started the program “Music and Movement with Jane!”
I am very passionate about music and dancing and feel it’s such a valuable tool to support the children. Throughout this term we have done monthly sessions on a Friday.
In our very first session the children enjoyed shaking to the beat of the music with recycled plastic bottles that were filled with pasta. They also enjoyed dancing to music and shaking at the same time. It was a very energetic and enjoyable experience.
Next, we did a session using the colourful breathing balls. The children enjoyed breathing in and out, relaxing and listening to their bodies and music. It was such a peaceful way for them to express themselves. Today, my talented daughter Monika brought in her clarinet and Ukulele and played for the children. We played their favourites - Wheels on the bus and Baby Shark. They enjoyed singing along and doing the actions at the same time. They were also very interested in seeing the instruments.
Looking forward to continuing this program next term!
Forest (3-year-old Kindergarten)
What a Term! I can’t believe it has gone so fast. We have been very busy in Forest Room, settling in, learning a new routine, and getting to know everyone.
We have been mainly focusing on a sense of belonging and feeling comfortable within their environment. However, we have touched on a few aspects, including:
- First Nation Perspectives: We have been busy learning how lucky we are to have 3 flags here in Australia! Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian Flag. We have learnt the different colours and meanings and identified the similarities of each flag. An info sheet has been added to our bookshelf about our flags, who made it and when it was first flown! The children have also been involved in creating our flag with their handprints.
- Colours: We revisited colours this term. We spent a group time listening to a colour song and then going on a ‘Colour hunt’ where we ended up creating a book of ‘Colours in Forest Room’. This has also been added to our bookshelf for children to continue to refer to.
- Self-portraits: Children have had the opportunity to draw a representation of themselves using a marker and water colour paints. We have then stuck it on our walls for children to continue to refer to during the day. They loved seeing their photo on the wall alongside their peers.
Songs: Forest Room children have loved learning through songs this term. Our most requested songs played daily are, Boundary Song, I Love Me, I Can Sing a Rainbow, and One Little Finger.
- Calming our bodies: We have learnt different ways to calm our bodies, including waterfalls, candle breathing, and tensing and relaxing our hands.
- Self-serve: Here in Forest Room, the children serve their own lunch! We have a dedicated self-serve table where children grab a bowl, scoop up their lunch, collect a fork and sit down at the table with their friends. They are also responsible for cleaning their dishes and the space they are sitting in, making sure it is all clean for the next person. We have noticed a huge rise in their sense of agency and eating habits! It continues to promote children's independence and boosts their self-esteem and confidence in trying new things.
We have also had many incursions, including learning about worms, African drumming, butterfly adventures, and reptile encounters. We have been able to head to the park a few times for a play and to extend our learning, including learning about Autumn and Clean Up Australia Day.
Field (4-Year-old Kindergarten)
Let's have a look at what unfolded for the kindergarten children in term 1.
The children have supported their own toolboxes with so much learning this term. We have supported their learning with the program of PALS which looks at the complex skills of social skills and all the concepts to further support the children. The learning intentions around this program was to allow children to use their voice within their learning environment and engage with their peers and having the foundations to do so. Building on the children’s foundations then allowed them to adapt what they had learnt and transfer it to another situation.
The children gained further understanding around being sun smart and why it is important. Each day they are able to identify if the UV is above 3 they need sun screen. Through this learning we have noticed all children looking out for each other and making sure we all have sunscreen, hats and our shoulders covered.
As the children entered a new learning environment, they learnt about their new routine and our kinder rules. We focused on group time rules (sitting, listening, empty hands, eyes on the teachers and putting your hand up to speak, voice levels and the class environment (people stations, walking feet inside) Being kind and friendly is a big theme in the kindergarten room. We focused on this almost all of term one.
We looked at how everyone is different through a range of stories. We identified people look different, celebrate different holidays and have different family dynamics. The biggest take away was that everyone is different and that is okay, however we all have a heart and we need to be kind and friendly to everyone!
Arts has been a huge interest amongst the kindergarten children, this has many benefits around fine motor skills, creativity, imagination, hand-eye coordination and social skills. The children have certainly been leaders in this learning.
We had a lot of incursions (responsible pets, Swimland, African drumming, library visit, police visit, Harold the giraffe, Big chefs help little chefs) and even went to the park on an excursion. Term 1 was full of so much fun and learning, we look forward to how much more we can do in term 2!