Learning Across the ELC

Preschool

Our preschool children have been collaborating and creating together as part of our 'We are all storytellers' inquiry. By each adding one word, or part at a time, the children have been able to improvise through their strengths and interests. Some were illustrators and some creative narrators, using their descriptive language and artistic skills to build characters, settings, and storylines. They have been developing phonemic and phonological awareness by sounding out the words and names of the characters, adding sounds and rhyming elements to the stories and characters too. There was a role for everyone, and the children were keen to add more and create new stories and characters too. We even started animating some of the characters that we created together. Their creativity was fantastic, and we were blown away by their collaborative skills, sharing ideas, listening to, and building on ideas with more detail. The children were respectful of ideas and drawings, and they negotiated space to draw and create together.

Ms Lauder and Ms Cocca

Preschool Teachers

Banksia 

In week 7, the Banksia friends engaged with a story called "10 Terrible Dinosaurs" by Paul Stickland. Using picture books and props to teach counting offers numerous educational benefits, particularly for young learners. This experience allowed the children to visualise numerical concepts and make connections between numbers and real-life objects. By incorporating props and allowing individual children to take a dinosaur from the display as the story was read, created an interactive and multisensory learning experience. 

After reading the story, a play table with dinosaurs was set up to encourage the children to re-enact the story. By engaging in imaginative play, children build on their oral language skills as they narrate and recreate the story, enhancing their vocabulary and communication skills. This hands-on experience fostered creativity and critical thinking as they invented scenarios and problem-solved within their pretend world. The social interaction also promoted cooperation and teamwork, as the friends shared their ideas and collaborated with their peers. This approach to learning enriched their cognitive, linguistic, and social skills in a fun and engaging way. 

Ms Alicia Carr

Early Childhood Teacher