Early Learning

Kinder Picnic at School

On Tuesday this week, we enjoyed a picnic at our school's Junior School play area, with many of our Early Learning families coming along. We thank God for the beautiful weather we had. It was lovely to see older siblings who used to come to Kinder, and to catch up with families for a longer chat than we usually get time for. It was great to see children making some social connections in a different environment, as they explored the different playgrounds on offer.

This year we were so grateful to have the support of the PTFA, providing a delicious BBQ dinner and drinks, as well as setting up tables and chairs with fresh flowers from a former Kinder parent! We had many comments about how beautifully things were set up, and want to acknowledge all the amazing work the PTFA does.

Thank you also to our Junior School students who stayed back to help and welcomed people at the gate, and to our awesome Kinder families for coming along and making it a great evening!

Beth Bennett

Head of Early Learning

Koalas

This fortnight we have extended the Koala Group's interest in puppets by adding a puppet theatre, learning some new finger puppet songs and making our own emotions puppets from spoons. While creating many puppets, the children chose various emotion faces to paste onto their puppets, and talked about why their puppet was feeling happy, sad, worried or angry. The spoon puppets supported the children to view all emotions as valid, acknowledged, and helped them identify different facial expressions and think about why their puppet was experiencing an emotion. It was great that several children said their puppets were feeling happy because they were at Kinder! This shows that the children are enjoying being at Kinder and have settled in during their first month of sessions.

The Koala Group's favourite story of The Three Little Pigs has been told and re-told by the children with felt board stories. The children have been using our books to guide them through the sequence of the story as they add felt characters and houses to the felt boards. They are also learning how to hold a book the right way up and which is the front of a book as they handle books.

Two other key things the children have been choosing to do at Kinder have been lots of water play, and mixing colours to make new ones. A waterplay station has been available each day for them to indulge in both these interests; we have had two different coloured tubs of water with regular water in between them each session this week, with pipes, scoops and turkey basters for the children to transfer and pour water between the tubs. They have carefully squeezed, released, poured and tipped, exercising their finger muscles and developing hand-eye coordination (although it's all just play to them!). After a while they realised that the tub of regular water was beginning to change colour! They have then excitedly worked together to create green, orange and purple water from blends of primary colours.

We have been learning about prepositions together as a group. We use the smartboard for a big playground scene and we place magnets on, under, in, beside, on top, at the bottom and half way on different points of the playground scenes. Everyone has been learning to take turns, listen to a direction and then show their thinking by placing their magnet where they think is the correct spot on the playground scene. Lots of fun and lots of language and auditory processing skills coming into play!

It was fun watching through the fence as the big cement mixer poured wet cement for the path beside the new undercover sports courts. Big trucks and machinery are always exciting additions to our outdoor play. The cement truck inspired the children to do some wheelbarrow work around the Kinder yard; children took turns to roll balls down half pipes into wheelbarrows, and used rakes like the workmen to create paths on the ground. Playing out real-life scenarios as we watch them unfold helps us understand the community we live in.

And while they spend their time enjoying activities that arise from their own interests and ideas, the children are developing trust and confidence, building relationships and have increased their independence. Well done, Koala Group!

Sian Duggan

Early Learning Educator