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
This morning, Tesi bought a book from the prayer table to Nicole and asked if Nicole could read it to her. A small group of children listened to the story ‘What is God’s Name?’ by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.
Nicole spoke to the children about God and how God can be many things to many people. For example, when painting God can be ‘artist’ or when we are sad and lonely, God can be ‘friend’.
Nicole asked the children, what name do you have for God?
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.
Simon was building 3D shapes with the magnetic shapes
Tarun building with blocks and wooden people
Who’s hiding?
It’s Shruti!
“It’s a magic show”
Imaginative play
Kanish lining up the diggers.
Xavier “I Superman with a mask”
Building a road
Tavae: Stacking the blocks “It’s a rainbow”
Playing hide and seek
Omelia found Frankie
Playing musical statues
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
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
We have had a wonderful week of fun, adventure, curiosity, friendship and learning.
PLAYGROUND
We moved our bodies and had lots of fun on the playground.
MUSIC AND DANCE
We love to move, dance and sing! This week we have been exploring movement to music through games and improvisation. The children loved playing musical statues, singing nursery rhymes, playing musical chairs and moving like different animals to the music.
Ambrose is a bird
Ellara and Shruti are rabbits
Xavier is a T-Rex
Xavier is a dinosaur
Shruti is a kangaroo
Omelia is a penguin
Elephants!
Musical chairs
Musical chairs
Playing musical statues
Musical statues
Musical statues
PAINTING, DRAWING AND EXPRESSION
Children share lots about their experiences, understandings and interests through drawing, painting and expression. They communicate their understanding of the world and their curiosities. Educators use this knowledge to plan and program provocations that will engage children and contribute to their development as learners and citizens.
Simon enjoys painting
Simon is using different colours
Simon is painting his dad
Hani is learning to write her name
Hani knows the letters in her name
Frankie is painting a bird’s nest “birdy’s eat the worm and fly”
Liam is drawing a self portrait.
Liam explored different expressions in the mirror.
Liam is happy
Liam is sad.
Liam is excited
Liam is surprised
Liam is worried
SEEDS
Brianna has been saving seeds from different vegetables when cooking. We used our senses to learn more about pumpkin and capsicum seeds. The ELC is contributing to the Spring Fair which will be held at the school in October. We are going to grow some plants to sell at the Spring Fair. We had a discussion about what we should grow and in the end decided on carrots, flowers and strawberries.
SPECKS OF GOLD
Each afternoon, we share our specks of gold. These are the best things about our day. This helps to build an ‘attitude of gratitude’ and a positive mindset.
MINDFULNESS AND PRAYER
During prayer, we have continued to learn the sign of the cross. We have read stories from the bible and prayers from ‘Pray with Me’. We have shared our own prayers of gratitude and sung songs.
In mindfulness, we have continued to practice our ‘rainbow breathing’ and relaxation.
FRIENDSHIP
It is so heart warming to see the many relationships and friendships that are being established between children, thus developing strong emotional and social wellbeing.
Ellara and Frankie
Smiles
Laughter
Humour
Sharing
COUNTING
Children have been exploring number to 10 this week, including:
recognising numbers
ordering numbers
counting collections of objects
matching numerals to collections of objects
Will is matching the number stone to the number card
Will recognises written numbers
Will is ordering the numbers
Will is able to count to 30
Will is proud of his counting
Thanks for sharing our learning with us. Please leave a comment for your child if you wish. Happy weekend and we look forward to next week’s learning and wonder.
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.
TEs
Omelia identifying the roots of her seedling
Omelia observing with care her seedling. She identified the shoot.
Aicha with her growing snow pea
Aicha is observing the growth of her seed, using the information from the book.
Aicha is identifying the different parts of her plant.
Aicha drew her seedling and identified its various parts.
Xavier observing his seed’s growth.
Xavier: Wow! It has grown lots.
Ellara is interested in how the seed has grown.
Tesi and Omelia observe how their seeds are growing
Arabella is using a magnifying glass to inspect the seed’s growth
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.
Stage 1: Root
Stage 2: Shoot
Stage 3: Leaf and Stem growth
Stage 4: Seedling
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.
Ellara enjoys caring for our garden.
Krisha is taking care of the lettuce.
Max is taking care of our garden by watering the herbs
Simon and Ellara are watering the plants.
Simon is taking care of our lettuce plants by watering them.
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
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.
