This week, the children participated in their final Nature Play incursion with Cameron. The session opened with a story called ‘The Colour Monsters’ which showed how certain feelings and emotions can be represented through colour. The children then had the opportunity to select their very own natural material/item to create their own colour friend based up the concepts explored in the story.

Ojasvi – “Green is calm, relaxing.”

Imogen – “I’m making a black scared. But yellow means happy.”

Frankie – “I’m making it bedtime.” (chose green and black which represented night time in the story)

Blaise – “His name is called Hoodia because he is the best.”

Mishka – “I made a chocolate.” (using brown crayon to colour her friend)

The children were then given the provocation to create homes for their new colour friends using the natural materials. Here are some of their wonderful ideas…

Daniel – “Mine is a wolf and a fire – the Little Pigs”

Kabir – “Mine is a bigger and bigger house, and it works.”

Andreas – “I am building a stick fort. A house.”

Avelyn – ““My idea is to put rocks on the side of the house and a bedroom with a table. There is bricks there which the wolf can’t blow down.”

Joel – “I’m making a factory house. I have a hammer, hammer, hammer. I got a screw driver and (picked up semi circle piece) it’s a window.

The children have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the series of Nature Play incursions. These incursions have promoted a growing appreciation and care for natural and constructed environments. Therefore making valuable contributions to our learning inquiry for term 2.

This week the children have used their developing knowledge of natural and man-made/ built environments to observe changes occurring within the ELC. In doing so, they have made connections between they prior learning to transfer and adapt the relevant knowledge between a range of different experiences. The children have been encouraged to use play, reflection and investigation as authentic opportunities for making predictions, generalisations and applying reflective thinking to consider how and why things change.

The children have used the creative arts such as mark-making through drawing, painting and writing to express their ideas and make meaning of what is happening to their beans.

Some children shared their observations:

Daniel – “I put water in it. There is roots.”

Tesi – “Mine has roots and a stem and leaves on the top. And half of it is a bean. Half of it is green and the other one is lots of yellow. It has big beans and little beans.

Joel – “It has roots. I can see roots and beans.”

These responses show the children’s developing understanding of the parts of a plant as informed by our shared learning experiences and ongoing investigation.

Later in the week, some construction works have been undertaken in the ELC. This has included workers removing the large garden bed in the outdoor environment and are replacing it with pavers to increase the usability of the space for children’s play. The children were eager to observe the process.

Some children shared their observations:

Eva – “He is taking the bricks and digging.”

Leo – “He is digging the bricks.”

Avelyn – “I can see the tractor. He is building a house.”

Mishka – “That floor is slippery. It is dangerous. He is finding treasure.”

The children participated in a shared reflection during group time to sort and categorise certain things as natural or man-made:

Joel – “Natural is like nature with wood and leaves and seeds.”

Aria – “Man-made is when it is in a factory.”

Tesi – “Man-made means it is built by people.”

We are very impressed by the children’s learning over the course of this term!

A few weeks ago, the children were given the opportunity to plant their own black beans. They followed the simple process of filling a clear cup with cotton wool balls, placing individual beans inside using one finger, and using the water sprayer to moisten the wool. The children then placed their bean cups onto a windowsill that catches sunlight throughout the day.

They children were curious to find out what they might become.

Some children suggested:

Kabir – “It is beans, it will grow into flowers.”

Blaise – “It will turn into a new body inside.”

Agam – “A turtle.”

The children have continued to document the changes,using their developing observation abilities to monitor the life cycle from bean to plant.

Ojasvi – “It’s going to crack out, then it’s growing some arms.”

Xavier – “It’s like a baby blueberry.”

Kanish – “It’s turning into a zig-zag. We have to grow it!”

The children have consistently watered their beans and ensured they have sunlight exposure to support their growth.

We have also read several books about seeds and growth, with children beginning to use relevant language and vocabulary within their responses.

Olivia – “There is the stem and maybe a leaf coming.”

Kunal – “The rain is cold, the sun comes out and it’s turns to a flower.”

Edward – “I can see the seeds they are going to grow.”

Imogen – “I can see it growing to a plant.”

In the coming weeks, we look forward to extending children’s learning about plants through the integration of key literacy terms and biology concepts, specifically what living things need to grow and survive. This has been a wonderful learning journey so far!

‘Reconciliation’ is a journey for all Australians – as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation. At the heart of this journey are relationships between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As a Nation, we strive towards equity, unity and mutual respect as we come together and connect with one another. The theme for 2020’s Reconciliation Week is all Australians are ‘In This Together’ and signifies that every one of us has a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories and cultures.

Last Tuesday was National Sorry Day. On this day, the children listened to the story ‘Sorry Day’ by Coral Vass (2018), which delicately uncovers the truths about the stolen generations. This sparked authentic learning conversations about our countries past and why it is so important we all participate in National Sorry Day on May 26. Some children shared…

• “They sad cause they not with their family.” – Blaise
•  “That is not a good choice.” – Immi
•  “That makes me sad too.” – Aria
•  “We say sorry to them Aboriginal people.” – Olivia
•  “We can help them to be happy again, and fill buckets.” – Ellara

Furthermore, over the past fortnight, the children have continually been exposed to a range of experiences that represent Indigenous peoples culture’s and their unique contributions to Australian society. This has included sharing a range of Dreaming stories, such as ‘Welcome to Country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy & Lisa Kenedy (2016), learning to sing ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes/ Mukarta, Kartaka, Mampa, Tidna’ in the Kaurna language [the local language of the Adelaide region], as well as participating in several visual arts experiences based on traditional patterns, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags as well as the dreaming story ‘the Rainbow Serpent’. Interestingly, during Andreas’ visit to the library he noticed the story ‘Welcome to Country’ and chose this to borrow this to take him to his family. Thus, making excellent connections to his learning in his class.

On Friday this week, the whole ELC celebrated ‘World Environment Day’ with a shared Prayer time about God’s creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Later on we re-visited the story ‘Welcome to Country’ which explores the connections between Indigenous peoples and the land. The children made some clear associations between their Indigenous learning and the natural environment, which has been a focus on inquiry so far this term.

• “Like the environment” – Blaise
•  “The people have land and we land together.” – Tesi
•  “We can do natural things.” – Joel
•  “We can grow things in the ground.” – Mason

We look forward to continuing this learning as we make further connections with and understandings about our First Peoples in the future.