Early Learning
Echidnas
Since our exciting treasure map making experience, the children’s interest in maps has extended to maps of local areas, and the symbols and landmarks we can find on them. They have learned that a landmark is a building or place that is easily recognised, and we spent a large part of Term 3 collating a list of landmarks in our area.
Some were suggested by the children, such as the local Library, the Maccas golden arches, and two of the Churches they attend. Some intentional teaching was undertaken as we learned about the local figures painted on the water towers at the Friendly Societies Park, what the Silver Ball is, and where the War Memorial is. The children made maps using an upcycled Melways Book found in a museum (haha) and pasted a bus on the front with photos of the friends they would like to take on a trip with them.
They pasted in fifteen local landmarks, and then approached our ever-obliging bus driver, Mr Haworth, about a Landmark Trail Excursion. He was in like Flynn, and we worked with him to map our route, then we numbered our landmarks, and finally embarked on a two-hour bus trip that had more surprises than a centipede has legs!
We worked secretly with parents, and balloons were tied around the fences of some of the children’s homes, and chocolate frogs and lollipops were found in their letterboxes. The children’s heads nearly fell off when they realised we were stopping at their home! Mr Haworth literally backed up the truck (well, his bus) into the Gateway ALDI loading bay, and much to the surprise of the children and parents on the bus, the ALDI Area Manager brought us out a tray of fruit! Coincidently, he just happens to be one of our Kinder parents!
Mrs McLeod appeared from the Presbyterian Church with trays of Fairy Bread that two lovely fairies had dropped in for us, and Colonel Sanders came out of KFC with a bucket of... wait for it... stickers for all the children! The Colonel also told Harvey’s dad, Mr Snook, that he was one of the best Chicken cooks they ever had at the KFC store, and then he followed up the schmoozing by saying that Mrs Missen was the prettiest teacher on the bus!
If you think this all sounds exciting, brace yourselves, when we stopped to admire the wombat painted onto the bridge, Jimmi Buscombe drove by and noticed Mrs Missen flapping her arms at the wombat painting so all the children could see it from the bus. Jimmi is our local famous artist who painted the wombat and other amazing pictures Australia wide. He stopped his car, jumped out, and came to say hello to us all on the bus. Now that was unexpected!
The educators often reflect that the children love riding on the bus more than the excursion destination, and I am happy to report that, for two hours, the children were able to enjoy the bus ride in conjunction with all fifteen destinations!
All in all, it was a successful journey in landmark learning. A big thank you goes out to Mr Haworth whose tour guiding skills are gold standard. I would also like to thank the local businesses and parents who supported, collaborated, and rode the bus with us on Wednesday. A super special thanks to Colonel Sanders – did I mention that he said I was the prettiest teacher on the bus?!
Judi Missen
Early Learning Educator
Koalas
The Koala Group have finished off Term 3 with some of their favourite things: Fairytales and Football!
Their interest in classic fairytales has endured all term, with lots of requests for The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and The Gingerbread Man to name just a few.
We've harnessed this interest to practice speaking, listening and sequencing as we retell these stories in different ways: feltboard pictures, story mats, a Three Bears dollhouse, and the children made their own Three Little Pigs puppet theatre props (with just a little help).
As the children were drawing some story scenes and characters in our program diary, their conversation turned to wondering "what if the Big Bad Wolf had caught the pigs in the story?" They offered various scenarios and alternatives to the classic story of the three little pigs and the wolf. This gave them lots to consider and also gave them a feeling of empowerment over the story and the outcomes for each character. Foxes get chickens and lambs on their farms, some children reflected, so why couldn't the wolf be successful in his schemes?
It may sound like a scary thought for three and four year-olds, but the children were using common sense (which two of the Little Pigs didn't have much of!), to reason that straw and sticks were no match for a big wolf, and so it was quite likely the story could have had a very different ending. The children were giggling as they offered ideas in their discussion. They agreed to make some houses of straw, sticks and bricks and try out their theories via puppetry and drama.
The following day, the children told and re-told the story over and over again with one another, swapping characters and changing the story to create humour and fun... but in the end the children were mainly sticking to the original script, and the wily wolf kept scalding his tail in a pot of soup down the chimney. So the Three Little Pigs gleefully got the better of the wolf after all!
Sometimes it can be fun and exciting to think on things from different angles, and our ideas can safely remain in our imaginations. Jesus liked to tell some great stories, which we call parables, to help us to understand a concept. We've been reading Jesus' parables at Kinder and the Koala Group love listening to them.
We sing some songs about the parables, such as the wise and foolish men who built their homes on rock and sand. The Koalas know quite a lot about rock and sand, because they use these daily in their learning. We talked about Jesus being like that strong rock, and that it's always the wisest and safest idea to seek His will in our lives; this is like building a house on a high rock. Even when things go wrong, Jesus' truth and love help us to remain strong!
Our last day of Term 3 was Footy Colours Day, and we could also wear any colours or represent any sport we wanted to. We shared some handball target practice in the gym with Mrs Limbong, and we learnt some key things about Aussie rules Football. We ate mini meat pies and sauce at lunchtime, made our own streamers, and we replicated AFL team colours and patterns as we painted Footy uniforms. What a fun day to wrap up the third term of Kinder! Have a happy and safe break everyone!
Sian Duggan
Early Learning Educator
Wombats
At Kinder, the children from the Wombat group have been enjoying listening to a fun audiobook called The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson. We made cool masks and enjoyed reading the story together.
In the story, the Highway Rat had a sweet tooth and he took all the other animals' food. After reading the book, we had discussions on what food is all-the-time food and what food is sometimes food.
The children had shown interest in cooking in the dramatic play area. We were really thankful for Fletcher's mum to come to Kinder and teach the children how to cook a nut-free healthy muesli slice.
Anna Chen
Early Learning Educator