Banksia Group

At the beginning of this term, we saw the children’s collaborative play skills flourish. The children are now compromising, negotiating and working together in games and to complete tasks. They are creating ‘rules’ and narratives to their play and learning to be more flexible within their play. We noticed that the children are now playing and collaborating in larger groups of 3-5 children opposed to mostly playing one on one with a peer earlier in the year. The social skills they will continue to develop in the kinder environment will support them in their transition to school,  where they will be able to transfer these skills to form new relationships and friendships in there new school community.

We continued buddy time this term. In buddy time we pair up the children and support them to stay, play and talk with their partner. This has changed up the peer dynamics and supported the children’s social skills, communication, problem solving and negotiation skills.  We will continue buddy time once we return to face to face learning and intend to extend into small group project work.

A big event for the Banksia group this term was The Olympics. The children really got into the spirit of the games and we were able to explore them in a variety of ways. In our morning meetings we discussed the events which had occurred since our last session and we created and Australian metal tally where the children placed a star on the chart every time that Australia won a metal. As a group we explored flags from around the world and discussed the significance of the Olympic flag and what the rings represented. We were even able to watch a few events live with the swimming appearing to be a highlight for the children. Thanks to Natasha Charlize’s mum for the idea to write letters to the athletes who were back in Australia doing quarantine. The children loved this and the messages they wanted to write were full of encouragement and kindness. This experience really brought a sense of community to the project. We finished our inquiry into the Olympics with an Olympics day in Banksia group. The children dressed up and we created an Olympic circuit for them where they ‘competed’ in events including long jump, gymnastics, diving and basketball. These events supported the children’s gross and fine motor development, promoted turn taking, required them to follow instructions and encouraged them to support each other and praise each other’s efforts. At the end of our games all the children received a star for different accomplishments in the events. This was an amazing project and unfortunately, we were unable to continue it to explore the Paralympics fully as planed due to the lockdown.

This term we also introduced the children to the BeeBots we have at kinder. The children’s curiosity was sparked as soon as they saw these mini robots. We initially allowed the children to just explore them independently after a short demonstration on how they worked. After this initial play we then extended the children’s learning  by teaching them how to program the Beebots. We supported them to decode and encoded instructions for the Bots through instructions cards and Beebot mazes. Our Beebot project will continue once the children return to face to face learning.

For the first time this year we have closed for an extended period of time and therefore have made the shift to distance learning to support those families  who are staying at home due to the current restrictions. This has been an adjustment for everyone and we appreciate your patience with the quickly changing restrictions placed on your child’s education.  Our distance learning program is designed to support families while the kinder is closed but please do as much or as little as suits your family and children. It has been lovely seeing your children’s smiling faces over a computer screen as they have enthusiastically shared aspects of their home. The online meetings support your child to stay connected to the kindergarten community which will support their transition back to the kindergarten when restrictions ease. Just a reminder for when you come back to kindergarten please go through your child’s spare clothes in their bags and ensure they are weather appropriate for the new season and are also sun-smart (in particular that their tops and dresses cover their shoulders).

Lastly will have a new team member who has started at Livingston this term, Her name is Amy and when we return to face to face learning she will be a member of the Banksia group team. We look forward to all working together next term. We hopefully will see everyone back at kinder soon but until then stay safe. 

Emma, Shannyn and Amy