Glen Education Orrong Road

Our children’s insights shape their learning experience.

By Helen Song, Early Childhood Teacher

Glen Orrong Road Kindergarten is adjacent to Elsternwick Library. Respect and thinking skills are a significant part of our team philosophy and they guide our educational team to value our children’s voices in daily learning experiences. 

We collect children’s thoughts at Yarning Circle, and we take meaningful notes from daily observations to inform us of children’s interests and strengths. Children's insights significantly contribute to educators’ program planning and shape their own learning experience.  

Documenting a child's voice is an important practice in early childhood education as it allows educators to capture and reflect children's thoughts, interests, feelings, and ideas. Here are several effective and creative methods for educators at Orrong Road Kindergarten to document children’s voices: 

Mind Maps:  we have mind maps at the beginning of each term with questions - what do you want to do at kinder this term? What do you want to learn at kinder this term? Educators draw the mind maps of children’s ideas, and we present on the curriculum book as a reference for program planning. 

Observation Notes:  educators observe and jot down direct quotes, behaviors, and interactions during activities. These notes capture spontaneous expressions and actions that reflect children's thoughts and feelings. 

Photographs and Videos:  using a camera to capture moments where children are engaged in activities or expressing themselves. Videos can record conversations, storytelling, or group discussions. 

Artwork and Drawings:  children's drawings and artwork can be used to express their ideas, emotions, and understanding. These pieces can be accompanied by the child's verbal explanation. Some artworks are displayed on the wall in the classroom, some are filed in their individual portfolio. 

Portfolios:  a collection of a child's work, including artwork, writing, photos, and observations. Portfolios can include reflections from both children and educators. And it helps educators to track and extend their learning based on family goals and our team philosophy.

There are endless intentional programs and spontaneous learning experiences that include children’s voices at Glen Orrong Road Kindergarten:

Bubble play was inspired by observing some children who poured water from a jar in a watercolour paint set, added gumnuts, and played with bubbles with their friends. They were very interested in the bubbles on the gumnuts. The bubbles appeared because one of the children hadn’t completely rinsed off handwash after using the bathroom. As some water splashed onto the floor, the teacher decided to set up a water tray outside so the children could make bubbles in their own way.

Volcano project.  Our volcano project was based on the children's interest and curiosity in building volcano in the sandpit. 

“I want to show you something really cool, come and check our volcano!”

“Where is the water? it disappeared!”

The handmade volcano set was a result of teamwork among our children. This is an extended learning experience that sparks children’s natural curiosity about the world around them. This encourages them to ask questions and seek answers, fostering a love for learning. It also introduces our children to basic scientific concepts such as chemical reactions (baking soda and vinegar), states of matter (solid, liquid, gas), and cause and effect relationships. Most importantly, through hands-on participation, it enhances their problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they analyse the outcomes.

We Are Making Pizzas.       

Making pizza is one of children’s favourite activities both at home and at kindergarten. By playing with play dough and wooden pizza toys, children have been practicing relevant skills  for quite some time, including fine motor skills (handling utensils such as, rollers, pizza cutters), mathematical skills (learning about concepts such as fractions, cutting a pizza in half or in quarters), vocabulary expansion (following recipes and discussing ingredients), and creativity and imagination (choosing and experimenting with different resources and ingredients) etc. 

To connect children's pretend play with real-life experience, we’ve decided to take our children to Coles to get basic ingredients so they can make their own pizzas. Everyone has done a wonderful job making their own pizza and we all get to enjoy the delicious pizzas at lunch time!

Celebration of diverse culture.

We have beautiful diverse culture in our learning community, children bring their unique family culture into our kindergarten from day to day.

“What’s in your lunch box, is it sushi?”

“Yijun’s dress is special, where is she from?”

“Do you know that I can actually speak another language, my dad taught me French.”

Continuous culture week aims to bring us together and promotes inclusivity and respect. Exposure to different cultures helps children understand and appreciate diversity, teaching them to respect and accept others regardless of their background. 

For children from minority backgrounds, celebrating multiculturalism can boost pride in their heritage, fostering confidence and a positive self-image. We invite parents to join us and children propose different forms of activities, namely cooking experience, show and tell of traditional clothes, dance, music, artwork, and related sensory play.

The Glen Orrong Road Kindergarten educational team will continue to work with family and children to bring the best for individual development and holistic learning.