Our Visit to the MUDLA

This morning we visited the MUDLA (multi-disciplinary learning area) in the school.

The children explored and viewed the many different animals such as hopping mice, green tree frog, long-necked turtle, yabbies and a variety of fish.

Some children documented their observations through drawings.

Our friends in year 5/6 showed us Memphis, a bearded dragon. We had the opportunity to look closely at Memphis.

What can you see?

Aicha: I see his tail.

Omelia: and legs.

Will: It’s sticking to his body (the dragon was attached to Asher’s jumper)

Kanav: He’s stuck

Liam: His legs are moving.

Some of us then stroked and patted Memphis gently.

What does Memphis feel like?

Aicha: Spikey

Arabella: Bumpy

Hani: I don’t like lizards

Tavae: I didn’t touch it.

Kanav: Feeled good.

Olivia: I touched it on the back. It was spiked and rough at the back.

We love exploring our environments and learning more about animals.

EARLY YEARS LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.

  • Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners.

  • Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity
  • Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

 

 

 

 

Learning Program – Term 3 Week 2

Dear Families,

Please find a link to the learning program for the coming week. All learning intentions and provocations are informed by children’s interests expressed through their interactions and play as well as educator’s documentation and reflections.

Learning Intentions – Term 3 Week 2

If you have any feedback on the program or your child has any special interests, please feel free to speak to one of the educators at our centre.

Kind regards,

Nicole

 

Inquiry: Growing from Seed …… Continued

This week we have been observing and documenting the growth of the seeds we planted a few weeks ago. The children have been using magnifying glasses to look more closely at the changes and growth in their seed and documenting their observations through drawings.

Through shared reading experiences of non-fiction books such as ‘From Seed to Sunflower’ we have also been learning about the different parts of a plant (such as root, stem, leaf and flower) and stages of seed growth (e.g. root, shoot, seedling, plant).  This has helped children to develop and use the language and terminology to describe plants and their growth.

 

Our children have been in awe of the growth of some of our seeds, particularly the snow pea seeds which are almost ready for planting.

Throughout the week, our children have been taking care of our garden by watering our lettuce and herb plants. They are becoming more aware of the needs of plants such as sunlight and water to grow.

Early Years Learning Framework:

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.

  • Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners.

  • Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.

  • Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media

Who Am I? Developing an Identify of Self – Part 1

This term, children will be exploring their identities (such as physical, social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive). Our identities are shaped by our experiences and relationships. Therefore, we will be exploring important people, places, family and community in our lives through different provocations, experiences and reflections in order to build a culture of being and belonging in our Early Care and Learning Centre.

This week the children have been drawing their own self portraits. Using the mirrors, they have been looking closely at themselves, particularly their faces and the ways in which their expressions can change from a smile to frown to a silly face!  The children identified different parts of themselves such as their clothing and the features on their face such as their eyes, eyebrows, ears and nose. They then drew what they could see. These self portraits are an expression of what our children recognise in and about themselves. What a joy!

Early Years Learning Framework

Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity

  • Children develop knowledgeable and confident self identities

Visiting the Fish Farm and MUDLA- Thursday 25th July

We believe the learning environment plays a big part in children’s learning. A pillar at our school is Ecology and we are very fortunate to have many learning experiences offered at Kuyangani and the MUDLA room.  Today we started our morning by going to the MUDLA and Kuyangani with 5/6HS. With the help of the year 5/6’s, we explored and had a look at the different types of aqua life. Each child was then given the opportunity to feed the fish, engage in dialogue and investigate. We also enjoyed spotting the hopping mice, feeling the bearded dragon, touching the turtles and searching for the green tree frog.  The children used the character strength bravery and curiosity when feeding the fish.

EYLF

OUTCOME 1 : Children have a strong sense of identity.

OUTCOME 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.

OUTCOME 4: Children are confident and involved learners.

What was your Speck of Gold?

“My speck of gold was my mum put my bag away”- Arabella

“My speck of gold was playing hide and seek” – Kunal

“My speck of gold was patting the lizard” – Liam

“I was looking at the turtle” – Aicha

“Because my mum and dad put some bag in my locker” – Ellara

“My speck of gold is my mummy walking me into the school” – Oliva

“I love going to the playground and playing” – Aysha

“My speck of gold is going to the play ground and the Fish Farm and the MUDLA room” – Tesi

“My jumper”- Tavae

Positive Education

The wellbeing of our children and their families is a priority. Positive Education brings together the science of Positive Psychology, developed by Professor Martin Seligman with best practice teaching to encourage and support individuals, learning centres and communities to flourish. Flourishing is a combination of ‘feeling good and doing good.’ Positive Education focuses on specific skills that assist children to strengthen their relationships, build positive emotions, enhance personal resilience, promote mindfulness, and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

We have been focusing on developing the following strategies which, help to build positive emotion:

  • Bucket Filling – encourages positive behaviour as children see how rewarding it is to express daily kindness and gratitude. Bucket filling and dipping are effective metaphors for understanding the effects of our actions and words on the wellbeing of others and ourselves.
  • Specks of Gold – intentionally looking for, noticing and being grateful for the good things that happen in our day – the ‘specks of gold’.

BUCKET FILLING

The educators and children have been working together to embed the language of bucket filling in our early care and learning centre. We use this language to describe how we are feeling, to describe our actions and to describe the impact our words and actions are having on ourselves and others.

We have a bucket in our centre and each time we do or say something that fills our own or another person’s bucket, we add a stone to our bucket. It’s a visual way for children to identify with the concept of bucket filling. The children feel very proud when they add a stone to the bucket and love seeing it fill up each day with stones which symbolise the kindness they are showing to others.

We have also been reading many stories about bucket filling.

SPECKS OF GOLD

Each day during our afternoon group time, we share our ‘specks of gold’ from the day. The children love sharing the best part of their day both from home and their time at our ELC. Here are our specks of gold for the week so far.

The power of these positive education strategies lies in their language – they give children (and adults) the words to describe their learning, feelings and the complex social interactions they engage in.

You may like to use the language of bucket filling and specks of gold at home too.

If you would like any further information or resources about positive education, please feel free to come and have a chat.

Nicole 🙂

 

 

 

Prayer

Over the last few weeks, we have been establishing prayer in our daily routine. Prayer is an opportunity for us to connect and communicate with God. It is a sacred and reverent time.

We have set up a prayer table with some special and sacred religious symbols to the Catholic Faith such as a statue of the Holy Family (Mary, Jesus and Joseph) a cross, the bible and various prayer books. Our prayer table is currently covered in a green cloth to symbolise ordinary time in our liturgical calendar.

At the beginning of our prayer time, we sit in a circle and set up our prayer space. Children select items from the prayer table to place in the middle of our prayer circle. We then begin with the sign of the cross ‘In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen’.

We also begin every prayer session with the song ‘Join the Circle’ by Bernadette Farrell. We have been learning some actions to the song and love singing it as a sign that we are in prayer.

The focus of our prayer sessions has been ‘Creation’ including reading stories from the bible such as the Creation story, reading books such as ‘Whoever You Are’ by Mom Fox and singing songs such as ‘Rainbow’ by Michael Chinn.

We then make time to share our own special prayers. We have been focusing on gratitude prayers and developing our capacity for thanks and gratefulness for all we have.

Here are some of the prayers that the children have shared over the weeks. Aren’t they beautiful?!

Shylah: Dear God, thank you for learning to share. Amen.

Liam: Dear God, thank you for playing outside. Amen.

Arabella: Dear God, thank you for my mummy. Amen.

Kunal: Dear God, thank you for when I play outside. Amen.

Aicha: Dear God, thank you for mummy buying a jumper for me. Amen.

Omelia: Dear God, thank you for mummy bought me a present. Amen.

Aicha: Thank you God for cuddles. Amen.

Tesi: Dear God, thank you for helping children feel better. Amen.

Omelia: Dear God, thank you for the nice colours. Amen.

Williams: Dear God, thank you for my mum reads me stories. Amen.

Tesi: Thank you God for all the creatures and make them feel better. Amen.

Ellara: Thank you for saying hello. Amen.

Liam: Thank you for my mum. I love my mum. Amen.

Williams: Thank you for saying hello at the hello song. Amen.

Ivy: Thank you for the love heart. Amen.

Tesi:  Thank you my mum cooked eggs for me. Amen.

Aicha: Thank you because my mum take me to my sleep. Amen.

 

Liam’s Boat

Liam found a large cardboard box that he decided to paint red and blue.

Liam, with some help from Brianna created a boat with the box.

“It’s a boat and this is a propeller. This bit makes you go in the water and float. It spins. Me and Brianna put a lid here and this is the steering wheel to drive”.

What learning is happening here?

Liam demonstrated wonderful creativity when making his boat. He used his understanding and prior knowledge of boats to build different parts of the boat such as the propeller and steering wheel. He used a variety of materials and used his problem solving skills and collaboration to build the boat.

OUTCOME 4: Children are confident and involved learners

  • Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating.
  • Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

 

 

 

God’s Creation and Growing From Seed – Monday 1st July 2019

We continue to explore growth, specifically how seeds and plants grow.

Today, we placed a Dwarf Bean seed or Snow Pea seed in a container with moist cotton wool. We are very excited to see what will happen to them and how they will change and grow.

We spoke about how to care for our seeds.

Tesi: They need sun and we need to look after them so we need to wait for the sunshine to come out. They can grow and grow and be nice and healthy. We eat fruit and vegetable to be healthy.

Omelia: Needs sun and it needs some lovely sun and moon. We need to save the plants and have it safe and not tip it and everyone not touching the plants.

In group time, we discussed what seeds need to grow.

 

In prayer, we read the story of Creation. We talked about all that God created.

William: Moon

Tesi:  All the animals in the sea and in the jungle.

Ivy: Sun

We then said our own special prayers, thanking God for all God created for us.

Tesi: Thank you God for all the creatures and make them feel better.

Alexander: Dear God, thank you for the nature and the world and our houses and our teachers and our friends and our sisters and brothers.

Omelia: Thank you God for me.