Early Learning
All Creatures Great and Small
The Echidna Group had their annual Community Concert on Wednesday, and once again they showed consummate professionalism, excellent stage etiquette, and honestly, were very excited eager beavers about showcasing all their skills of singing, dancing, and generally just owning the stage!
Father Abraham and his wife sang about their many children, and we mourned the loss of the unicorns when they missed the boat… or the ark.
There were five green and speckled frogs eating delicious bugs, a crocodile sat buy the riverside and ate a warthog, a parrot, a hippo, and few other creatures then belched unceremoniously because his tummy was so full!
We sang that Jesus was indeed King of the Jungle, and parents were invited (or dragged?) without notice onstage to help us with songs such as ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’, and some scarf waving with ‘All the Fish’. They were such good sports!
The Archie Graham Out-and-About bus joined us again, the Year 9 community students cheered the children on, and we had parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, friends and neighbours all there to celebrate the beautiful children we have in our care! It really does take a village, and our village turned up to join in the universal language of music!
I think I’ll let the photos tell the story, and I hope that we never forget to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, the great creator of music!
Judi Missen
Early Learning Teacher
Possums
This fortnight, the Possum children got their passports ready again as Possum Airlines flew to China! We watched a comprehensive safety demonstration from our wonderful flight attendant Mrs Perry, then looked out of the window to see the clouds below us! We stayed calm through a bit of turbulence, and the flight was over before we knew it.
During our time in China, the children explored a range of experiences including writing Chinese numerals on special water paper, painting maps of China and the Great Wall, making paper lanterns and fans, and practising using chopsticks with pom-poms.
We were delighted to welcome Liam's mum, Lina, who showed us how to make mochi. The children were very interested in watching the cooking process before enjoying mochi and a delicious blueberry cake together. We also welcomed Phoebe's mum, Ying, who shared about the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, showed us dragon boat toys and zongzi, and introduced us to Chinese flower tea.
A big thank you to Lina and Ying for sharing their time, knowledge and culture with us.
Children have been continuing to talk about things they've learned about China and England and are looking forward to travelling to more countries next term! Through these experiences, we are reminded of the beautiful diversity of God's world and the many peoples and nations He has made (Acts 17:26).
Beth Bennett
Head of Early Learning
Koalas
We celebrated a terrific Term 2 with a cosy Pyjama Day. Our teddies came to join in the fun. There were even more requests for our favourite books than usual; perhaps this was due to the wintery weather or because we were all dressed in our comfy PJ's!
We were treated to a visit from the big Year 1s, who used AUSLAN and their beautiful singing voices to perform "Five Little Speckled Frogs" for us. They also performed the rainbow colours song, which we have also been singing using sign language and our voices in the Koala Group this term!
We love animals of all kinds, so we enjoyed seeing each Year 1 student teach us how to sign different animal names. This is something we will continue to learn next term.
Thank you, Year 1, for sharing your signing - and singing! - skills with us.
Have a safe and cosy break, everybody.
Sian Duggan
Early Learning Educator