Forest Room Term 2 Newsletter 

Hello Families,

Well what a whirlwind term 2 has been, we are so grateful that all our families, children and educators have remained safe, happy and healthy. 

We have loved seeing all of our families and children come back with smiling faces and everyone has made smooth transitions back into the Forest Room and our daily routines.

Unfortunately, we still find ourselves in a very uncertain period but know we have such a strong community behind us here at Haven Early Learning and look forward to seeing 

what term 3 holds. As always if you have any questions, queries, concerns or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. 

Thankyou Bronwyn, Demmi, Kristyn and Nina

Winter has certainly now set in with the cold, dark mornings, wind and rain. As we move into the colder months we will be continuing to implement our indoor/ outdoor program and having the children engage in our outdoor yard and excursions to the park. 

With this could we please ask that all children come in the appropriate clothing including jackets, vests, rain coats, gloves and beanies. You are also welcome to bring in gumboots that can be left in the Forest Room for children to use outdoors.

Along with this just a reminder to please label everything that is brought into the Forest Room, could we please also ask that children are not encouraged to bring toys into the centre.

Upcoming Events

Some events coming up in Term 3 include:

*17th July National Pyjama Day (Please feel free to wear your pyjamas all week)

August

*3rd-7th Dental Health Week

*7th Friday- Jeans for Genes Day, wear denim

*14th Friday- Red Nose Day, wear red

*15th-23rd Science Week

*22-28th Book Week

September

*TBA- Father’s Day/Special Person’s Day

*2nd Wednesday- Early Childhood Educator’s Day

*21st Monday- Talk Like a Pirate Day, dress up day

Group Time- Focus Topic of Emotions

This term we have continued to focus on topic of emotions at group times along with bringing in discussions around building positive relationships with our peers and ‘kind and friendly’ actions.

Angry was the next emotion for children to learn about.

Looking at the poster of an angry boy, children were able to state he looks ‘angry’ because:

• His hands are in a fist
• He is stomping his feet
• He is red and angry eyes

Asking children what makes them angry some responses included:

• When mum/dad yell at me
• When a friend hurts me or take my toys
• When friends don’t play with me

The topic of angry is a large emotion to explain to children to which we incorporated a variety of topics and perspectives. These included:

The Very Cranky Bear

Reading the story of the Very Cranky Bear children were able to pick up on signs of the bear being anrgy

This included:

• His hands are up
• He roars when he is angry
• The bear grumpy and has angry face

When I’m Feeling Angry 

Children responded well to this story and liked to relate to the statements made in the story. This included lines such as ‘when I’m angry I feel like I’m going to explode’ and the comparison of ‘when your angry you feel all hot, red and boiling up inside’ This story also incorporates strategies that children can use to calm themselves down from anger such as taking deep breaths and finding a quiet spot or someone to talk to.

Tucker Turtle Takes Time to Tuck and Think

Tucker was the next step in our Anger journey. The children were all so excited to meet Tucker the puppet and immediately immersed in what he had to say. Children loved being able to show Tucker their kind and gentle touches by giving him a hug and discussions and relating to the story. Tucker takes the children through a story of what he used to do that made his friends angry/sad, to what he now does to keep his friends feeling happy and safe and the strategies he uses to calm his body. Tucker takes 4 steps to calm his body, these being:

• Tucker Stops and keep hands to himself and takes time to recognize his emotions
• He Tucks inside his shell
• Tucker Take 3 big deep breaths
• Tucker comes out when he is calm and thinks of a solution.

This was a great story for children to explore their feelings of anger, actions that may cause themselves or others to be angry, steps they can take to calm their bodies and then further solutions to help such as speaking to educators or friends. 

Further Encompassing Emotions and Feelings, other stories read included:

• When I’m feeling Kind
• When I’m feeling Lonely
• Things I love about my friends
• Things I love about playtime

Incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture

This Term included National Reconciliation Week, with this we had a goal of including and teaching children more around the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. This is something we will continue to promote throughout the year building children’s cultural competency. 

Beginning with National Reconciliation week the theme was ‘In this together’. For this we set up an interest table which included Aboriginal Art puzzles, Australian animals, Aboriginal Art, World Flags, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. This Interest table was created to encourage curiosity and cultural learning for the children. The children would look at the different Flags and ask where they came from along with this explore the different faces of the culturally diverse dolls. This table was a great teaching moment for children to help understand our multicultural country and build their knowledge of cultures while playing.

As I’m sure you are aware and have heard the singing each morning at our group times the children engage in 3 songs incorporating themes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. As group time starts we do an Acknowledgement of Country Chant. We use this Acknowledgement song as an opportunity to ask the children about the traditional custodians of the land, who they are and why we acknowledge them. The children are enthusiastic about getting involved and answering questions, they will often answer “the traditional owners of this land” and “the First people here” At the moment we are trying to master the word ‘Wurundjeri’ being the traditional owners of the land here in Rowville. 

Following this We introduced two songs being ‘Taba Naba’ a Torres Strait Islander song about going down to the reef and ‘I am Australian’ incorporating the themes that we are all different and share many cultures but we all come together as one being Australian. The children have taken to these songs so quickly and absolutely love doing the actions and singing aloud. 

Construction Play

This term the children have been so heavily involved in construction play creating large scale masterpieces individually and in groups. As this is a huge interest for the children we have ensured there is always some form of construction play out in the room including wooden blocks of many shapes/sizes and varieties, train tracks, loose parts, magnetic tiles, small lego and mobilio.

Construction play helps children build their skills, knowledge and development in a variety of ways including:

• Gross motor skills, these are the large muscles in children’s legs, arms and body to lift, manipulate and place the blocks. Children also build their hand eye coordination in stacking the joining the pieces
• Social and language skills. Building in groups children develop these skills as they are learning to use their social skills in play such as cooperation, negotiation and turn taking. Along with this they are listening to the opinions and ideas of their peers and taking on different play roles. Playing in groups, conversing with their peers and educators children will expand their vocabulary and communication skills.
• Math concepts. Building with a variety of resources children are exploring different shapes, sizes, colours, weights and lengths. Along with this children are discovering how to balance, stack and create their structures without falling incorporating their problem solving skills in deciding where the pieces will go.
• Creative Thinking and Self Esteem. During constructive play children are in the driver’s seat as to having the freedom to create what they desire, coming up with a goal, choosing the materials and deciding the best way to achieve this.  The sense of total control gives children the chance for the imaginations to run wild and enjoy positive feelings of themselves.

Art Corner

This term the children have been busy creating many beautiful pieces in the art corner relating to events and also being free to allow their creative sides to shine. A big thanks to Demmi and Kristyn who have the creativity side within the room and love setting out these experiences for children to explore and create.

Earth Day 22nd April

Children enjoyed creating ‘earths’ with water colours

Anzac Day 25th April

Children built their knowledge around the traditions and symbols of this day creating poppies and reading the story ‘My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day

Beanie Day 28th May

Wearing our favourite beanies on this day children also created beanies with paint and poms poms.

Autumn Pastings and Winter Paintings

Bringing nature into our artwork, the children created leaf pastings.

We asked the children what they think about winter with their responses being ‘rain, wind and storms’

Easel Paintings

Allowing children to freely paint on the easel, they created some beautiful paintings including ‘their family, animals and incorporated songs’

Mosaic Pastings

For this we have the children some pictures of inspiration being a sun and a flower. They then used their creative imagination to create their own versions using the small coloured squares