Forest Room

Hello families, can you believe yet another term of learning has passed by and we are now half way through the year. Of course this term hasn't been without little hiccups with Covid-19 always keeping us on our toes but we are grateful to keep our space here at Haven as safe and normal for all the children. Within the Forest room each day the children surprise us with their learning capabilities and love of activities and the relationships they are building with their peers. It is a truly special privilege to be alongside all your children when they are learning and helping to expand and guide their development. 

With the colder months now well and truly upon us can we please ensure children are coming to Haven with appropriate clothing and footwear to engage in play outdoors as we will still be continuing to have moments of outdoor play. You are more than welcome to leaver a jacket or gum boots in the Forest room for the week if this suits families.

Staffing in Term 3 is a little different to the beginning of the year with educators in the room being: 

-Bronwyn, Lead Educator 5 days (with Mon/Fri in office)

- Lena, 5 Days

 -Demmi, 5 Days

- Kristyn, 3 Days (Mon,Thur,Fri)

- Trish 4 Days (Tue-Fri)

-Annalise, (casual) Mostly Wed-Fri. 

Upcoming Events

Term 3 brings many exciting events including: (we will confirm dates closer )

July

-Pyjama Day and Special persons morning tea 

23rd of July

-Crazy Hair Day 26th July 

August

-Dental Health Week

-National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day

-Jeans for Genes

-National Science Week

-Book Week

-Daffodil Day

September

-Educators Day

-Indigenous literacy day

-Fathers day afternoon tea

-R U OK Day

-Footy Colours Day 

Acknowledgment of Country 

Every morning the children say a welcome to country where we acknowledge the traditional owners of this land and say welcome and thankyou to the Wurunjedi people for letting us share, learn and play on their land. We have now introduced to children to the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag to recognise the cultures on our land and discover the meanings behind the colours on the flags and symbols represented on each flag. This will be something we will continue to acknowledge every morning and will further upon in play, craft and stories.

Emotions 

Following up with our emotions from last term next came the emotions of scared and angry.

Scared

Children will all have varying things that they are scared of and at different times will be scared of new things or moments. with scared our focus was to allow children to recognise this emotion is ok, we all get scared but there is ways in which we can express being scared.

-Scared Poster, Children were able to quickly pick up that the child was scared with the hands up to his face and mouth being wide open.

-When I am feeling scared, Children quickly picked up the emotion of scared being able to identify the mouth wide open and hands up to the face as scared.

Angry 

One of the biggest emotions for children and will be something they are learning to identify, regulate and express over many years. Our focus is to help children identify signs of anger and that we know how we can express this emotion without hurting others.

-Angry poster , again children were quick to state 'Angry' and identify the signs of red cheeks, frowning, fists and stomping feet.

-When I am feeling angry, this story had some good statements inside the book such as 'feeling like you are going to explode' and 'its not ok to hurt my friends'.

The children have struggled to fully understand this emotion so this will be a continued topic into term 3 and we will bring all the emotions together in group discussions.

Construction Play

This term a huge play interest for the children has been all sorts of construction play. This ranging from magnetic tiles, trains, wooden blocks, marble runs and recycled materials. Construction play provides children with so many opportunities for learning including:

-Social Play, children have opportunities to play individually, in small and large groups where they are building skills to cooperate, share ideas, resources and assist each other.

-Problem solving, creating building masterpieces children are discovering where/when and how to place the pieces so that they are able to achieve their goal without their construction falling over or not being to their idea.

-Imagination and Creativity, construction play offers a vast opportunity to build upon imagination making children's ideas come to life and expanding creativity with their peers. 

-Motor skills, in manipulating small, large and different shaped pieces children are developing gross motor skills to lift/place and balance pieces while expanding fine motor skills when manipulating and stacking little pieces such as lego.

A look back on the term events

Some events we have had over this term have included:

-Anzac Day 

Children created poppies and at group times we read the story 'Lest we Forget'

-Library Visit 

We were visited by Michelle from Rowville Library who engaged with the children reading fun and exciting stories such as

-Mother's Day

We were finally able to invite people back into the service and enjoy in some morning tea together.

-National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week

Events to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, sharing the message with children that 'we walk together' and no matter who you are 'you matter'

-Nutrition Week

The children engaged in conversations around 'healthy foods and sometimes foods' and reflecting this in art,play and the story 'Which food will you choose'.

-NAIDOC Week

During this week, the children have engaged in a painting experience where they painted the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Straight Islander flag using their fingers. We have also been reading the dreamtime story "The Rainbow serpent" and having discussions around the meaning of Naidoc week.

Important Documents

Could I please ask that all families return a 'Photo Permission Form' and an 'Excursion form'. Term 3 we would love to start heading out to the park and sharing photos of our program. These have been posted onto Storypark however hard copies are also available in the room. Do not hesitate to contact if you have any questions :)