Kinder

Letter name recognition

As we keep building on the children's literacy skills and their interest, we have made up activities that consist in children recognising their name in different media text such as books, newspaper or magazines. We are building on forming our letters whether lower or upper cases and the Kinders have been enjoying these activities so far. We are learning about applying visual and written together, For example, the kinders talked about eating ice-cream so we then learnt how to write it and spell it. 

What was more inviting for them, was to find the letters of their name in text, cutting them and glueing them. Lots of learning in one activity where their fine-motor skills, eye-hand coordination, letter recognition awareness and persistence are being engaged.

Acknowledgment  Of Country

In our Kinder room, we find it valuable to contribute to our community in a respectful and engaging manner. We have therefore extended on our reconciliation week by embedding some experiences in our daily routines. For example, the kinders have been learning their Acknowledgment to country and have been demonstrating amazing remembering skills and enthusiasm to be respectful to the land they live on. We keep engaging in some of our Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander activities such as clapping sticks during group time or rock and bark painting in our Nature and Exploration area. 

Types of houses and buildings

After we had engaged in our three little pigs show and making the different houses, the children decided they wanted to take it a step further and asked if we could make a real house. After conversations, the Kinders decided to use rocks and bark for the base and asked their teachers to cut some bamboo to fix the roof. After some hours, the children decided that they had the base, a roof and tyres as their chairs. They all demonstrated amazing cooperative play by engaging in conversations between peers, holding the sheet and cooking food/drinks for their friends. The Kinders demonstrated knowledge in brick houses and explained that they were stronger because the wind would break the houses made out of sticks, ''just like the bamboo'', they explained. Throughout the week, children made stone steps for the river walk and tyre house to hide from monsters. How imaginative and creative!!

Bunjil and Crow project- continued

Our project is shaping quite nicely as we engaged more kinder friends in the making of our Bunjil and Wa. We have displayed it on the wall and the children have been engaging in conversation during meal times about the wings and painting more hands to add to our project. The children discuss the size of the Crow and compare it to the ones they usually see outside in the yard. More photos will be added to our newsletter as we keep building on our project.

Art and Craft

We value the importance of Art and Craft in our Kinder and we have noticed how much it can help children self-regulate and soothe their feelings. We value Art as it engages their sense of creativity, imagination, resilience, persistence and increases their self-esteem. We have allowed some children to build on their creative side by engaging in a range of Art activities such as hand painting, chalk drawing outdoor, painting indoor/outdoor, making books by drawing pictures, rock painting or animal crafts making. At the moment, we are exploring more about spiders as children keep noticing them in corners of the room, at home or in the garden.

Winter reminders

We would like to remind our families that as the days get colder, we strongly encourage you to put warm clothes in their bag. For example, we have noticed that the children are wearing light jumpers or no spare clothes in the bag. YMCA programming and policies underlines the importance of indoor/outdoor play at any time of the year and the children really enjoy their outdoor play too. As a result, we would be grateful if our families would include; Padded jackets, warm trackies, socks as well as gumboots for messy play!

We have included some photos to help you get an idea of the types of jackets or clothes that would keep them warm and away from coughs and sneezes! We enjoy seeing our little friends healthy and happy !

Healthy reminders

We strongly encourage our families to keep the children at home if they are showing any signs/symptoms of cold. For example, sneezing, coughing or sore throat. We are trying to minimise the spreading of germs and trying to keep everyone healthy and safe in our kinder, children as well as staffs. As pure precaution, we ask you to be considerate about the safety of the children as well as yours. We appreciate your understanding.

Thank you for reading the Kinder team- Mayani, Candice, Simmer and Sandrine