River Room Curriculum

Welcome to the river room for term 2. This term we have welcomed many new children to our room and we look forward to getting to know you and your families. We have been very busy with a variety of experiences and activities and our main inquiry focus has been exploring colours.

Term 2 inquiry focus- Exploring colours:

This term our inqiry focus has been exploring colours, each few weeks exploring a different colour. We have explored colours in a variety of ways including the light box, blocks, pasting, painting and art and craft, play dough and pictures around the room. We had a library visit and Michelle from the Rowville library read some books exploring colours. Our main focus has been the 4 primary colours, blue, red, green and yellow and we have also used this focus during our group times, singing songs and reading books related to the focus colour. 

ABC Phonics

ABC Phonics has been a huge focus and a very popular song with the children since last term and we have continued this interest with the children this term. We have introduced ABC Phonics flash cards which we use during our group time and have now introduced our phonics bean bags. The bean bags are a group focus activity, which we get out to support the children when they are arriving in the morning or when the children need some support with regulating their emotions and having a reset. We sit down all together and one by one i take a bean bag out of the bag, we speak about the letter they see and then I turn it around for tem to tell me what they see. Some of the older children are now saying A is for apple, A, A, Apple or I will say B is for and straight away they say ball. When I say who wants to do phonics the children are beginning to go and sit down on a mat, excited and ready. Everyday the excitement is still there, they are so engaged and focus on the experience, both with the song and with the bean bags, it has been a huge part of our learning and focus this term. Moving forward we will continue the ABC phonics song and using the bean bags but extend this interest and learning focus with more pictures around the room, incorporate some more alphabet songs and books into group time and incorporate it more in to our daily experiences and activities.

Fine Motor play:

Fine motor play is an important aspect of our program and we have been ecouraging and supporting the children with these skills through different aspects of play. We have been enjoying puzzles, the magnet board, holding crayons and manouevering them on their paper to draw, sensory trays, scooping up rice using spoons and pouring into cups, bead frames and a variety of matching velcro picture activities. Building these skills will give your children the skills, confidence and coordination they need moving foward. We will have plenty more fine motor activities moving forward to continue to support the childrens fine motor and coordination skills.

Spending time with Forest room:

As a way to become more involved and engaged with the other rooms and olders peers and siblings, we have started spending some more time with them.

• Yarning circle and morning tea- Some of the children went up to the forest room where they were able to have a play, we sat down and engaged in their grouptime where they read some books and sang some songs. The forest room children demonstrated such a gentle caring nature towards the younger children, sitting with them, engaging in conversations with them and really supporting them in feeling comfortable and welcomed. We had morning tea in the room with the older children, sitting at the table to enjoy our fruit and then had a play exploring all the experiences in the forest room. This was such a special moment for all our friends.
• Forest room room joining us for our group time- We were lucky enough to have some special visitors from the forest room come and join us for our daily group time and we all sat down on the mat.

Show and share book program: 

This term we introduced the river room to a show and share book program where the children on their allocated day would bring in a special book from home to share with their peers at group time. This has been running really well and the majority of the children have had a turn. If your child has yet to have a turn, please dont worry we are going to continue this in term 3. This has been supporting the children with their sense of belonging and comfort within the room, developing their confidence and social skills, giving the children the opportunity to share something special from home.

We are connected to our land:

Over the last term we have been engaging and supporting the children in becoming more connected to the land, giving the children opportunities to explore the land in a variety of ways including collecting leaves from our garden and then using these to do pasting, going on walks around the local community and exploring nature and wildlife. Watering the plants in Haven's front garden and participating in the little sprouts program where they learnt all about plants, and even got to pot their own plant to take home. The children have been engaging in the Aboriginal symbols matching game which they have been really enjoying and recently we have also received some beautiful Indigenous pillows which the children enjoy looking at and exploring.

We are looking forward to seeing what term 3 brings, here is a snapshot on what we will be working on over the term.

• Our journey through Australia is a great opportunity for the children to learn and explore Australian landmarks and places, Australian animals and Australian culture and foods. The children will participate and engage in a variety of different experiences and activities throughout the term including, painting paper plates to represent animals, pasting, making play dough echidnas, books, songs, group times, sensory tubs and much more.
• We would love if you have any photos of you or your family travelling through Australia, landmarks or photos with Australian animals that you would like to share, we would love to display them within the room.

Thank you from all of us in the river room, Danni, Nicole, Chethi, Kayleigh