‘Living With Pets’ – Safety Talk

Our Philosophy:

We will provide and emergent and responsive curriculum for all children based from the philosophy of the service, provocations of educators and a child’s strength and interests as well as the interest of the group.

We will foster a sense of wonderment of the natural environment and resources as an integral part of children’s learning and support children to become ecologically conscious and to understand the interdependence of all living things.

On Wednesday afternoon a group of our children attended a safety talk with R/1TD and R/1GC in the school titled ‘Living Safely with Pets’.

As we continue to learn through our ‘growth’ inquiry, this talk was a wonderful opportunity for children to learn more about how to take care of living things – themselves and their pets.

We met a beautiful dog called Darcy whose owner taught us how to keep ourselves safe around dogs, including how to approach an unknown dog we would like to pat and what to do when faced with an angry dog.

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.

Growth Inquiry: Blossom Trees

Our Philosophy:

We will foster a sense of wonderment of the natural environment and resources as an integral part of children’s learning and support children to become ecologically conscious and to understand the interdependence of all living things.

We recognise the role of context and environment in children’s learning and therefore we will extend children’s learning experience into the wider community through connections with the school and wider school community.

We will provide an emergent and responsive curriculum for all children based on the philosophy of the service, provocations of educators and a child’s strength and interests as well as the interest of the group.

In the school, the children and educators have observed many trees beginning to grow flowers.

A group of children ventured with Nicole into the school to view the flowering trees more closely.

Nicole: What can you see?

Tesi: Flowers

Xavier: Pink flowers

Omelia: Leaves

Tesi: They have flower and also they got something in there

Arabella: The leaves

 

Nicole:What are they? Those creatures flying around the flowers?

Arabella: Bees

Tesi: I can see them but they camouflage 

 

Nicole: Why do you think the bees are flying around the flowers?

Arielle: It wants to fly

Omelia: It like to eat honey like us

Tesi: They want to collect nectar and bees make honey 

 

Nicole: Where is the nectar?

Tesi: Flowers. Bees look up in the trees and bees sip it up in their tail and then wee it and bees have queen bee.

Through this observation, the children demonstrated an awareness and understanding of the natural world. They made connections between what they already know about blossoms and bees and what they were observing. Through the group discussion, children shared knowledge and gained new understandings.

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

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

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners.

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.

 

Growth Inquiry: Living Eggs

Our Philosophy: We will foster a sense of wonderment of the natural environment and resources as an integral part of children’s learning and support children to become ecologically conscious and to understand the interdependence of all living things.

Today, we have spent much time observing our eggs. We were engaged in conversations with each other about what we were observing.

PIPPING AND HATCHING

We learnt that pipping is the term used when the baby chicks first cracks the shell.

And that hatching is when the baby chick breaks open the shell and emerges.

It was with great excitement that we saw two chicks hatch from their shells today.

Did you know that you can tell the gender of a baby chick by its colour?

Reflection of what we observed today:

William: They came out.
Omelia: They are two mummy chickens.
Ellara: I hope they are good luck.
Aicha: I think one boy and one girl.

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

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

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

 

Growth Inquiry: Living Eggs

Our Philosophy: We will foster a sense of wonderment of the natural environment and resources as an integral part of children’s learning and support children to become ecologically conscious and to understand the interdependence of all living things.

One of inquiry projects this term is ‘Growth’. We have been learning about how plants and animals grow. We have been particularly interested in birds and their life cycles after finding a nest in Grevillia Park.

Today we were very excited to receive ‘Living Eggs’.

Living Eggs is a two week comprehensive program providing us with all we need to successfully hatch chickens in our ELC.

Today we received:

Embryo eggs – we have 10 eggs. ready for hatching in  1-3 days.

An incubator – An electronic thermostat ensures accurate temperature control for a high hatch rate. The large viewing windows allow the children to see all stages of hatching.

A brooder box complete with heat light, bedding, feed and waterer is supplied which allows teachers and children easy observation and access to the chicks.

The children are very excited about our eggs and have been observing the eggs, sharing their knowledge and understandings, hypothesising and theorising about what will happen and asking lots of questions. What wonderful learning!

 

Nicole: What can you see?

Tavae: I see a flying thing (feather). That’s a chicken one. The wing is getting out. They going to cry.

Ellara: That egg can hatch. All the eggs can hatch.

Tavae: And then it can jump.

Arabella: They can’t jump.

Tavae: I can see a mummy one.

Arabella: They are baby ones.

Will: How do the feathers grow?

 

Nicole: What do you think will happen to the eggs?

Will: If that is too hot and they have to come out and I put them in my jacket so then they be all warm.

Tavae: It’s going to lay down on my jumper and it’s going to do it on my hand.

Arabella:  They all go hatch.

Will: Are they going to hatch overnight?

Ellara: They can hatch.

 

Nicole: What does hatch mean?

Will: The eggs are breaking.

Ellara: Their shells are breaking

Tavae: And they eat the shell, the chicken. And it got that bit water in there (in the egg) and it going to crack out.

Liam: When there is a bruise they hatch.

 

Nicole: How do they hatch out?

Liam: They push themselves out.

Will: They push the egg and it breaks and then they come out

Tavae: They are going to get bigger when they eat they dinner

 

Nicole: Does anyone have any questions about the eggs, hatching and the chickens?

Liam: Why is there a feather on that egg?

Tavae: They don’t fly. Why they can’t?

William: How do the chicks squish themselves into the eggs?

 

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

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

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

 

 

Our Day – Monday 12th August 2019

We hope all families enjoyed a beautiful weekend. 

SEEDS AND PLANTING

During our morning group time, we explored a variety of seeds using our senses of sight, touch and smell. The seeds were of various shapes, colours and sizes.

This afternoon, Brianna worked with a small group of children to observe and analyse the seeds further.

Omelia: Beans. These are nice. This is pineapple
Joel: (smelt the seeds) cheese, it’s beautiful.
Xavier: pumpkin seeds
Ellara: These feel like sausages, I love sausages!
Omelia: They’re like lemon, lemon pumpkin!
Arabella: Lemon is yellow

This morning we had some friends from year 4 in the school help us plant some strawberry and flower seedlings in pots which we will sell at the Spring Fair in October.

We planted flowers and strawberries as the children decided a few weeks ago that this is what they would like to grow. We will also be growing some carrots from seed.

CONSTRUCTION WITH WOODEN BLOCKS

We have borrowed some construction blocks with pegs from our friends in the school. These blocks enabled some wonderful collaboration and creativity.

Joel, Liam and Will were building with the outdoor construction blocks.

Will: I know what way.

Liam: Well this is the engine right?

Will: What are you making?

Liam: An engine. You put a engine into your car.

Liam was rearranging the blocks, placing them on top, taking them off and manipulating them.

Liam: I don’t need this one.

Joel: Yes, you don’t need this one.

Liam: Come here! (he takes off another block and replaces it with another block).

Liam: A engine, I making a engine.

Joel: I love engine.

Liam: This engine is going to look cool.

Joel: Cool, super, super, cool.

Nicole: How are you going with your engine?

Liam: This engine makes stuff work.

Nicole: Tell me more about how it makes stuff work.

Liam: That’s the turn off button.

Nicole: What does the engine do?

Liam: It turns on and makes this sound ‘pish’.

PRAYER

Our prayer today was about caring for plants.

Children then shared their own special prayers.

 

SPECKS OF GOLD

OUTCOME 1: CHILDREN HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF IDENTITY
• Children feel safe, secure, and supported
• Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

OUTCOME 2: CHILDREN ARE CONNECTED WITH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR WORLD
• Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation
• Children become aware of fairness

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 resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

Our Day – Tuesday 6th August and Wednesday 7th August 2019

COLOUR EXPERIMENTS

We have been exploring colours and the colours of the rainbow. We conducted an experiment using different coloured water to see what colours could be made when mixed together. Paper towel is placed in the coloured water which then transfers into the adjacent cup.

Aicha: There’s yellow and blue and red.

Frankie: It’s (the colour) is going up and down.

Liam: You put yellow and blue make green

Will: Yellow and red make orange.

Ambrose: Red.

Arielle: Orange with yellow and red.

Tesi: Purple is blue and red.

COLOUR MIXING

Children have also been mixing primary colours to make secondary colours of orange, green and purple.

BIRDS AND NESTS

We watched the following video about the life cycle of birds. We had a discussion about this story.

Ellara: I found a bird with one eye with Uncle Mark and Lucy. I put it in my new shoe box
Will: birds to lay their eggs to keep them warm.
who would live in it?
Ellara: Birds when they want to get food they fly and get food
Tesi: they eat worms
Shruti: Birds are fly, in the sky.
Aicha : I had a bird at my old house.

Tesi: They eat worms.
Will: There were 6 eggs.
Joel: Then they hatched.

Tavae: The red bird is the daddy.
Liam: Why do birds lay eggs? How do they make eggs?
Will: Why do they have wings?

Some children have been using clay as a language to express their knowledge, understanding and experience of birds and their lifecycle.

Aicha: I make a worm because I need to feed the bird. I making the bird house. I squish, squish.

Olivia: Mine is really squishy. I’m a little bird. Birds eats the worms and they actually lay eggs and they fly and play like that stuff and one I’m a little bird, I like being with the other bird’s.

Aicha: And now I’m going to squish and make a house. The nest. Im going to make a lot of eggs inside and then they crash, I look after them. Nicole, you know at my old house I had a bird but it died.

Olivia: I making a cloud because the birds flies to the cloud.

Aicha: Nicole, this (nest) is like this, a circle.

We watched another video, of a bird hatching. We recorded the children’s comments as they watched the bird.

Tavae: It’s making a door to come out
Krisha: It’s a bird
Will: When it’s in its egg it doesn’t have its feathers yet
Frankie: The eggs wobbles
Aicha: The bird is wobbing the egg to go out
Frankie: It’s getting out
Omelia: A crack
Kanal: Crack
Frankie: It’s hatching
Aicha: It’s getting out.
Xavier: It’s getting out.
Ambrose: A egg.
Olivia: It looks like chicken trying to get out the egg

Tavae: The bird is coming out.
Frankie: It’s a girl.
Aicha: The head has come out.
Liam: It try to crack and it used its beak so it can get out the egg.
Frankie: It stuck
Tavae: It like a monster. The bird got a foot.
Will: The bottom still stck
Aicha: It don’t fly
Frankie: And the feathers make it fly.

NAMES

Some children have been working in small groups with Nicole in Home 2 on identifying and writing their names.

PLAY BASED LEARNING

Using their skills of creativity, curiosity and imagination, our children have engaged with different materials and resources in their play.

PRAYER

SPECKS OF GOLD

EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

OUTCOME 1: CHILDREN HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF IDENTITY
• Children feel safe, secure, and supported
• Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

OUTCOME 1: CHILDREN HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF IDENTITY
• Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

OUTCOME 2: CHILDREN ARE CONNECTED WITH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR WORLD
• Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation

OUTCOME 2: CHILDREN ARE CONNECTED WITH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR WORLD
• Children become aware of fairness

OUTCOME 2: CHILDREN ARE CONNECTED WITH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR WORLD
• Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation

OUTCOME THREE: CHILDREN HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF WELLBEING
• Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing

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

OUTCOME 4: CHILDREN ARE CONFIDENT AND INVOLVED LEARNERS.

  • Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

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

OUTCOME 5: CHILDREN ARE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS
• Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Day – Monday 5th August 2019

Today we enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and engaged in a variety of provocations that have all been designed around children’s interests and curiosities.

BIRD’S NEST PROVOCATION

A few weeks ago, the children found an abandoned bird’s nest in the park adjacent to the ELC (Grevilia Park). This morning, we took some time to observe the nest and share our knowledge, understandings and theories about the it.

What is it?

Liam: Nest

Omelia: Mud

What is it made of?

Joel: Dirt

Will: Sticks and grass and mud and dirt

Tesi: Plastic

Arabella: mud

Arielle: rubbish

What do you think is it used for?

Will: Birds to lay their eggs

Joel: Chickens make eggs and cows make eggs

Is it a bird’s nest?

Liam: Yes

What makes you think so?
Will: I see feathers so it’s a bird’s nest
Tesi: Feathers

What do you think it’s used for?
Will: For eggs to keep them all warm.
Tesi: So they can lay chicks, birdy chicks. So the mama chick put one of the little birdy chick and then she can fly.
Simon: Birds
Xavier: Bird lay the egg

Where do you think the birds are now?
Arabella: Flying
Tesi: In the trees

TARUN – BUILDING WITH BLOCKS

Nicole and Tarun spent lots of time building a garage for Tarun’s cars. He used different length blocks and manipulated them by stacking them and balancing them to build his structure. He also used different coloured window blocks and mirrored blocks. Tarun was able to name the different coloured blocks and shared the blocks with Nicole and gave directions as to where he would like the blocks placed. Tarun did a magnificent job!

PLAYING INSTRUMENTS, SINGING AND DANCING

We borrowed a box of instruments from the school including tambourines, castanets, maracas and clapping sticks. Outside, we enjoyed singing songs and learning the ‘1-2’ beat. We played our instruments and enjoyed moving to the music we were making.

PRAYER

During prayer, we set up our prayer circle and sang ‘Come Join the Circle’. We then each chose an instrument and created a ‘rainbow of sound’ as we sung our prayer song ‘Beautiful Rainbow’.

SPECKS OF GOLD

EARLY YEARS LEARNING OUTCOMES

OUTCOME 2: CHILDREN ARE CONNECTED WITH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR WORLD
• Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation

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, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

OUTCOME 5: CHILDREN ARE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS
• Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media