Molesworth Street Kindergarten

From Audrey Calonge, Early Childhood teacher

The Citrus Tasting Challenge

Extending on our investigation of our different senses before Term 2 ended, we explored our sense of taste and smell through a Citrus Tasting Challenge with the 4-year-old Red-capped Robin group. Many of the children were offered the opportunity to smell, taste, and compare a variety of citrus fruits such as lime, grapefruit, mandarin, cara cara orange, navel orange, and blood orange. As they tried each fruit, they shared their thoughts about the different flavours, scents and textures they noticed including the spelling of the words that they are attempting to read from their sheets.

We also wondered about the word 'grapefruit,' why was it called grapefruit when it does not look anything like the grapes that we often have in our lunchboxes? Why does blood orange have the word blood on it? Is there real blood? Which of the citrus fruits do you like the most? Which one do you like the least?

"Lime! That's my name but backwards." - Emil

"I love Cara Cara orange." - Aria C.

"I don't like fruit." - Charlie

"I think the lime is sweet." - Aria R.

"I like mandarin the most." - Ada

"I like the mandarin!" -Ivy

"I liked the grapefruit." -Mimi

By this experience, the children were supported to develop their sensory awareness, build new vocabulary and strengthen their observation skills. In sharing about what they could taste and smell in every citrus fruit they try, children were encouraged to express their ideas and make comparisons in a more hands-on approach.

They also learned that that the smell of citrus can help fight sadness and make us feel more energised, although not for the worms at our Kinder! Worms do not like citrus so we couldn't recycle our fruit peels in our worm farm.

When we served some of the remaining citrus fruits for afternoon tea, the the children immediately recognised them and confidently made specific requests "I want the blood orange," "Can I have one grapefruit, one mandarin, and cara cara orange?," "Do you have some lime?" . They were proudlydemonstrating their growing knowledge of different citrus fruits and their ability to identify and name them. We hope this would make a fun game at the shops on your future visits at the market!

Supporting your Child’s Transition to School

We are back for Term 4 with an online group presentation for families with CoHealth through the School Readiness Funding. On October 21st at 8:00-9:00pm, Harriet from CoHealth will run a session on Supporting Your Child’s Transition to School. The link will be sent out to your email inbox in Week 2 of Term 4. For those interested to attend, kindly speak to your child’s Kindergarten Teacher.