Learning Across the ELC

Fostering Connections in Banksia

Children develop a sense of belonging when they feel accepted, develop attachments and trust those that care for them. As children are developing their sense of identity, they explore different aspects of it (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and cognitive), through their play and their relationships. When children feel safe, secure and supported they grow in confidence to explore and learn.

As it is the beginning of a new term, we have welcomed new friends from the Wattle room. To support the children with feeling confident, safe and secure in their new environment, we are encouraging caring interactions and relationships. We have set up the environment to include all children's interests and to help settle with the new transition.

We have discussed the importance of team work, belonging, and being kind friends, by lending a helping hand if someone needs assistance. We are seeing beautiful friendships blossom and new friendships being created among the group. We encouraged children to help each other and create opportunities to learn and play together to develop children’s sense of belonging. Here are some snapshots that we have captured when they are engaged in learning together!  

Ms Gemma Francis and Ms Ollie Lauder

Who Sank the Boat - Sink and Float

We began the experience by reading 'Who Sank the Boat' by Pamela Allen and introducing the concepts of sinking and floating. This opened up about the discussion of size and capacity, and at what stage an item would sink or float. The children collected items from around the room to trial this experiment with. Oliver had brought in two lemons and a pomegranate from his trees at home, and we watched as they were placed in the water. One by one, the children were encouraged to grab and item and place it in the water, sharing their observations. 

Jackson - "Look Gemma, Its sinking"

Oliver - "The banana is floating…That’s my lemon from home"

Matilda V - "Its floating at the top"

Hunter - "Blue water"

Ms Gemma Francis and Ms Ollie Lauder

We Are Storytellers

In Banksia Gold we have been learning how to bring our own drawings to life by thinking about what parts of our body we can move. The children have been taking photos of their drawings of people and checking that the animation dots line up with the eyes, ears, legs (knees, ankles, hips) and arms (wrists, elbows, shoulders). Then they were able to select what movements they wanted their drawing to do by looking at the reference animations. Some children chose to make their drawing dance, jump, walk or run. We have been sharing the children’s animations at yarning time and are combining them to make a video for our families. 

We have also been reading Michael Rosen’s ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ story, adding sound effects to enhance the story, engaging in small world play and recreating elements of the story in our own Banksia outdoor spaces. Exploring concepts of mapping, scenes/settings, and sound effects. We have also been connecting this story to ‘We’re going on a Croc Hunt’ and ‘We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt’ to notice similarities and differences in speech patterns, sounds, settings and characters.