Waratah Group

This Term we have continued to plan the program based on social/emotional skills, independence and autonomy as these are important developmental areas for a child to have to ensure a smooth transition to school. It is important to remember, particularly in our current climate, that schools provide environments that are flexible, adaptable, and responsive to individual children and their needs.

Thank you to the families in Waratah for their timely completion of the family sections of their child’s transition statement. All of the the statements for the children going to school in 2022 have been uploaded onto the system so that the Foundation teachers can access this information.

We have spoken to Primary School teachers, and they understand that the 2021-2022 transition will have a greater focus on the children’s social and emotional wellbeing. 

Social and emotional areas are the key areas of development that are most important for a child in regard to school readiness. This is in contrast to what many people believe – reading, writing and knowing colours or numbers are NOT readiness indicators – (Early Life Foundations)

The incursions for the 4 year old groups that couldn’t take place during the lockdown period have been rescheduled for this Term. The incursions are:

The Rabbit Rearing Program - Clarissa and her 4 babies are with us for 4 weeks,

Dreamer in Space - The performance is entirely puppetry and a technique known as blacklight is used. This style combines rod puppets in an enclosed booth where everything in the booth is lit by two fluorescent blacklight tubes. All puppets and props are in fluorescent colours which makes them glow under the blacklight. The puppeteers wear black velvet, making them invisible.

Holly’s Backyard Bees - Holly brings in her observation hive so that the children can see a real honey bee colony in action.  A demonstration of beekeeping tools and suit is provided along with a children’s sized suit and veil for the children to try on.  Of course, you couldn’t learn about bees without tasting some honey too!

Melbourne Museum Dinosaurs and Fossils - We will learn about dinosaurs and fossils, and find out some of the ways palaeontologists know what they know about the ancient world of dinosaurs!

Our last session for the year is on Tuesday 14th December and we will have a small party celebration with the children on this day.

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone for helping out at the kinder over the year with being on the Committee, washing, donations etc your help is really appreciated. 

It has been a great year and it is so wonderful to see the children leaving us ready to go to school. 

Thanks

Louise, Kath and Tina.