The Lighthouse - 5s
LIGHTHOUSE NEWS
Our unit of inquiry is all about how stories can be shared through pictures, sounds and actions. We have been exploring the form of a narrative, considering settings, characters, and of course problems, and solutions “to make it more interesting!” Thank you Elke.
We’ve also uncovered a mystery. We’re not sure if you know about this but… in Marilyn’s office there is a safe… and in the safe there is…. well, we don’t know for sure because there is no key!! But, we think there is the story about the Golden Eagle and Courage from which our school derives its Logo and Motto. We considered the Logo, and found out about Golden Eagles. We also considered what it is to be brave, and together we considered why Preshil would choose the Golden Eagle and Courage. As no one has the key, and no one remembers all the details of the story, what could it be about?
Can the Lighthouse Keepers use our
imagination to solve this problem? Yes we can!
We talked together and decided that the story must have characters including a Golden Eagle, a setting, and a problem which is solved. It also must have courage and bravery. We worked in groups to share our ideas and build our stories. These stories we turned into plays. Playmaking has long been a tradition at Preshil, and is the expression of children's play more than it is theatre.
Once the setting and characters have been chosen, and the story arc has been described, the children are free to play within this scenario, developing and changing elements so that the story comes to life, and is malleable - just like play. This liberates them from the expectation of performance, and allows them to play out their shared imaginations. We created costumes, built our sets with our big blocks, and performed our stories for our friends.
THE FIRE BRIGADE!
We met Firefighters Mitch, Sandy, Callen and Eugene from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade who came to teach us all about Fire Safety. They came twice, and on the second visit they brought the truck! We all got to climb aboard, look through the special infra red camera, see how the huge pliers work and of course, spray the hose!
On Transition Day we felt like proud parents as our Lighthouse Keepers flew like brave golden eagles up to the Loft Room to spend time with Talitha and Paul. It has been an amazing year being part of each child’s first year of school, such a privilege for us, and so bittersweet to come to the end of our time together.
Cressida Batterham-Wilson & Clinton Morgan
The Fives Classroom Teachers