River

Hello River families! 

December is here, which means festive season is here! Celebrations with family and friends as we enjoy laughter, cheers, food and hot sunny days. Couldn’t believe how fast this year has gone, although there were some months with the brakes on to slow us down. But the important note is that we made it through this year. Yay! 

Reflecting over the past year these children have come along such a long way in their learning journey. They have grown into their individual self as they’ve kick goals of being independent. Each and every one has developed friendships with the educators and of course with their peers. It’s been an honour to be part of each child’s journey as they are a part of the Haven community. For our older River children moving up into Sun room, we wish you all the best as you proceed to grow and learn. Your loving River room educators will pop into the Sun room every now and then. We will definitely be waving hello through the fence. For our younger river children, we are excited to support your learning journey as you continue to grow into your individual self.  

Recycling week 

We included recycling week into our program to help introduce symbols for the children to make a connection as they continue when they are older, to understand in further details about recycling. We started off with the basics. The recycling symbols, small rubbish bins and shredded paper. Generally all paper is related to the recycling in any form of way.  

Caring for babies

The older River room children have shown an interest in caring for our baby dolls. They mimic the adults actions as they have observed how the younger river room children are taken care of. The children provide bottles, food, nappy changes, bathing and rest time for the baby dolls. Our baby dolls are in such good hands as the children take magnificent care of them. You can see the children have learnt empathy and compassion, responsibility (looking after someone else) and language skills, during this play. 

Building

The children have been focusing on building structures out of the materials that are in their environment. Such as sand, Lego, foam blocks and loose parts. Children have enjoyed creating their own building structure as they practice the basic skills of working together as a team while developing on their hand eye coordination. It’s a fun way to introduce math's concepts for the children as they begin to learn about height.  

Remembrance Day

On this day the children acknowledge Remembrance Day through sponge painting of some poppies. The children enjoyed dabbing with the sponge onto the poppies. Most of the children really enjoy filling the sponge up with loads of paint. We also played in our rice sensory tray that also had poppies in it and small containers for filling and pouring. In this play learning environment, the poppies are significant symbol for the children to begin to learn about the importance of WWI. However, since the river room children are too young to understand the meaning of Remembrance Day, we provide them a way to explore poppies. 

Water Play/Summer Fun

The children love water play! Any opportunities for them to splash, pour, squeeze or stir the water immediately brings a smile to their face. The cool water on a hot sunny day is such great fun for them too cool off. Water play develops on the children’s fine and gross motor skills and their hand-eye coordination. Water play allows children to explore substance and make discoveries about it. It’s an enjoyable way to introduce science and math's for the children. Such as our ice age, when our dinosaurs were frozen in time and using containers to fill and pour out.  

Thank you!

Thank you to all of our families who have been with us in the River Room 2021. We wish you all a joyful Christmas and a Happy and safe new year. Enjoy your time with family and friends. See you around Haven next year.

 Grace, Cate, Jess, Kayleigh and Tanika :)