Around our Early Years Classes
Nature Play
Ruth Whelan from The Sustainability Centre has joined our Prep and Year 1 classes to Nature Play in Term Two. On our most recent trip, the students referred to flip charts to identify leaves, fungi and animal scat. They also remained focussed to identify and sketch natural things in the environment.
Early Learning Centre (ELC)
During the recent Reconciliation Week, our ELC students made prints of their hands and peeled paperbark from a melaleuca stump to glue onto a heart.
(This information is only relevant to families who receive CCS and attend Early Learning or OSHC programs).
Kinder
In Kinder, we engage in a Gross Motor Program, at least three times a week, to work our “big muscles”. Our Gross Motor Program supports our physical development and overall well-being.
We are building our strength, coordination and balance to effectively and safely perform everyday functions, such as walking, running, jumping, sitting upright and our eye-hand coordination skills. We are also learning to control our muscles that are necessary for larger movements.
We love being able to get active, work our big muscles and complete obstacle courses. We are becoming strong and active kinder students.
Prep
Prep students were excited to help write this article to share about our excursion.
In May, the Prep students went on a wonderful excursion. Our first stop was Fullers Bookstore. Our host, Sophie, talked to us about how a bookstore is different from a library. We learned that at the library we borrow a book and take it back after we have read it. However, at a bookstore we pay for the book and we get to keep it. Sophie read us a story then we got to pick a new book to take home and keep. We were very thankful to Fullers for letting us have a brand new book of our own.
After we finished at Fullers we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. We shared morning tea with some friendly ducks. We went for a walk the whole way around the gardens. On the way we found some leaves to play in. We went to the Japanese Garden and enjoyed walking around the pond. We visited the Antarctic room. It was very cold. Then we had lunch and a play. There were lots of ‘roly polys’ down the hill and sharing of our books under a tree. We had a lovely joyful day. Thank you for reading our article.
Year 1
During our Integrated Unit 'Push and Pull,' Year 1 students have been learning about forces. We learnt about pushed, pulls and twists. A push is a force to move something away from you. A pull moves something towards you. A twist is a combination of a push and a pull. We investigated lots of things we do in our everyday lives and realised that we are pushing, pulling and twisting all the time.
- like, when you turn a door handle and push a door open,
- when you twist the top of the milk bottle before pouring it on your cereal,
- when you push your feet into your school shoes to get dressed for school, and
- when you ride a bike and you push and pull your feet on the pedals to move forwards.
We brought toys from home to show how playing often uses pushing, pulling and twisting. Lastly, we learned about marionette puppets. They are puppets which are controlled from above with strings. The puppeteer moves it by pulling the strings and by pushing and pulling the frame at the top where the strings are attached. We watched videos of many different marionettes and learned how to make them. Then we designed and made marionettes of our own. We learnt so much and loved making our own marionettes.
Year 2
Year 2 students have been focusing on sentence construction in English. They had to unscramble sentences which reinforced learning in Mathematics. It was important to include correct punctuation and make sure the sentences were correct, making sense.