Kindergarten News

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Moore Room

Both Budja and Gawarn groups have enjoyed their busy week! They have noticed the sunflower in the garden bed and some had discussed the shape of the petals and how big it is. Jo bought in some from her garden and we set up a drawing area to capture this interest. This supports the children to continue to express wonder and interest in their world through other mediums.

The children are also really keen on group games which enhances turn taking, demonstrates co-operation, confidence and feelings of being valued members of the group. These attributes are also evident in our outdoors area with eagerness to engage others in water play, cooking in the sandpit and mud pit whilst also taking some quiet moments to enjoy each other whilst reading as they exchange information about their book.

Both groups have also extended on their learning of colours in Mandarin through a colour mixing experience. Through this visual and hands on process the children are engaging in inquiry based learning with cause and effect in motion.

Budja group made some salt dough and then used this to make some doughnuts, breads and other treats. They added these to the bakery in the home corner after they had painted them to extend on their interest from making breads and donuts previously in the sandpit. This encourages the children to use play to experiment with cause and effect and liquids to solids.

Some of the children from Gawarn group drew some pictures, placed them on a mirror and pretended they were watching a movie. Others joined with some ‘remotes’ and then decided to all make some ‘scenes from Frozen’ to change the movie. This is a great demonstration of using language and play to imagine and create roles, scripts and ideas.

Have a wonderful week!

Kelly-Anne, Treesje, Julie and Jo

Dickins Room

We had a wonderful week with our Wimbi class. The children have been very excited in our group learning moments! We participated in some more songs, using props to turn take and extend the children’s leadership and confidence. The children have been excited and curious to see what is in store each morning.

Some of the children found a cockroach outside, they caught it in a pot and then we explored it using our digital mediums- unpacking shape, size, colour and pattern to discover what it was. The children tried to ‘look after’ the cockroach also.. giving it a nice drink of water at one point.. this became a teachable moment in talking about what living things need in order to live.. There’s never a dull moment in our sessions at the moment.

Painting has been another popular area of the program, with children desperate to have their turn and explore the medium. This has allowed the Teachers to support turn taking and patience as well as the ability to engage delayed gratification skills.

Marram.

Our Marram class has truly settled into the swing of the long days, developing peer relationships and their sense of inquiry and wonder. This was highlighted when we went to the garden this week, the children became fascinated with exploring the different insects under the logs and stumps. Through scaffolding and our inquiry learning the children discovered what insects were safe, and what weren’t, they also expressed their ideas and formative knowledge through discussions around the pictures we took of each insect. Their ideas were that ‘slugs are just snails that lose their shells’, that millipedes ‘might be baby snakes’ and that the beetle we found ‘might be a hippo beetle’. Whilst you never quite know what direction the children will take the conversation, being able to interpret where their thinking and knowledge has been drawn for to make these inferences is quite incredible to be a part of.

We spent time this week engaging in some music with instruments- following the actions along with the beat. There was such an excited buzz from all of the children and their listening and self regulation was amazing too. This comfort and connection as a class is occurring in all areas of the program as the children participate and interact with one another.

We are looking forward to another great week of Kinder to come.

Al and Mardi