Learning Across the ELC
Happy Healthy Humans
As part of our Banksia Gold ‘Happy Healthy Humans’ inquiry, we have been exploring feelings and unpacking what Happy, Sad, Angry, Calm, Scared and Brave, look, sound and feel like for ourselves and others. We also connected our feelings to our heat rates talking about when our heart pumps faster and how we can slow it down. Each day we engaged in new breathing techniques to add to our self-regulation tool kits and read a range of books that we linked back to the context of children’s own lives to better support their understanding. We have been using music as a catalyst to evoke feelings and the ‘self-control’ song helped children understand that we can control our bodies by stopping, slowing down, taking a breath and listening.
‘The Dark Dark Tale’ improvised story enabled children to see how sound effects can make a situation seem scarier than it is, and that we have the power to change a narrative. Our main focus was to empower children with the knowledge that all feelings are valid and it’s ok to feel how you feel. We also connected our learning to the child protection curriculum, supporting children to understand that they are the boss of their own bodies and that their feelings and voices are powerful tools in keeping them safe. Children were talking about the people and places that help them feel safe and also about the experiences they have had with all feelings, drawing representations of what it looks like to them. Together we created a book to share our thoughts and voices with our families.
Ollie Lauder
ELC Teacher
Planting in the Garden Beds - Banksia Blue
What a great time the children had, getting their hands dirty while planting vegetables and fruit in our garden beds. The children were offered and encouraged to wear gardening gloves, before picking up a shovel to start pouring and spreading out the garden soil. Then it was onto digging the holes. Once the holes were formed, the seedlings were carefully placed down, where the children began to fill the hole with soil. Next, it was time to water our new additions to the garden. We discussed as a group, what the vegetables needed to grow. This wasn’t the first time the children had participated in gardening, as they all knew sun and water was the best recipe for growth! The children LOVED independently using the hose to water the garden. It gave them an opportunity to strengthen their fine motor and gross motor skills to manoeuvre around the obstacles that the hose brought. This learning experience encouraged sensory exploration, responsibility when caring for the environment, promote healthy eating and introducing science and maths. Basic concepts of science and maths included counting the seedlings and measuring the soil.
Bird Seed - Banksia Blue
To continue to encourage the children's interest in birds and to foster the learning of caring for our environment, we made bird feeders!
The children were offered the opportunity to mix a potion of seeds to create bird seed, which they then transferred into rainbow bird feeders. This activity, similar to gardening, included the same components of building basic math and science concepts while fostering discovery and investigation.
The recipe to our bird seed included scoops of:
-Sun flower seeds (white and black)
-Polenta
-Sultanas
-Dried apple
-Pumpkin seeds
-Popcorn
-Flax seeds
Ms Gemma Francis
ELC Educator
Celebrating Harmony Week
Harmony Day is where we celebrate diversity and inclusivity. On Tuesday, some of the children and staff wore orange to show their support for the day. In the Wattle room, the children participated in a variety of activities designed to promote cultural awareness, including reading books about different cultures and engaging in a hand and feet painting experience.
The Wattle children celebrated diversity and inclusivity in their own special way.
This week-long celebration included various activities such as hand and feet painting using bright orange and white colour paints. The children thoroughly enjoyed engaging in this fun-filled experience, which promoted a sense of autonomy and achievement. As part of the celebration, we also invited the Gumnut children to join us in the nature garden and participate in the painting experience. It was a great opportunity for both the Gumnut and Wattle children to collaborate and share in this unique experience. It was a wonderful week of learning, sharing, and celebrating diversity for the children.
Ms Manasi Kewlani
ELC Team Leader