Tag Archives: Ellara

Our day Full of fun at Alive today

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We love encouraging kids to play, be it indoor or outdoor play.  Today the ELC children engaged in some water play activities. We filled up the baby baths with warm soapy water where the children had the opportunity to engage in scooping, pouring, soaking and squeezing, using measuring cups, pots and sponges. Children benefit from the relaxing and repetitive nature of scooping, pouring and running their hands through the water. They develop crucial social skills when they are working with just one other child or a whole group. It is a great way for children to learn to share and take turns as they share the physical space and the play items in the water.

Water play offers many opportunities for children to problem solve, question, explore and experiment. They are investigating water science, finding out what floats and sinks, or how water moves in different shapes, when we pour it in different container. Children learn and use the language of mathematical terms like “more than” or “less than, full or half  full half empty etc.

In the afternoon we experimented with a sink or float activity. The children placed various item into the water after discussing whether it would sink or float.

We first talked about what it meant to sink and float. Tesi said “It go to the bottom” for sink. We all agreed that sink meant it would go under the water and if it floated it would stay on top of the water.

WILL IT SINK OR FLOAT?

Each child picked an item from the basket then told the group whether it would sink of float and then dropped the item into the water. I then asked them what happened.

Ellara (Bracelet): Float! It sinked in!

Omelia (Wooden Spoon): Into the water. It floats!

Joel (3D Magnet): It will float! Yes it did. Oh, it sinked.

Tesi (Wooden Block): Um, I don’t know, maybe under. It floats!

Tavae (log): Sink. Yes it sink. Brianna: Are you sure? Joel: It float.

Tarun (Rock): Under

Xavier (Small truck): Float.  It float!

Ellara (Pine cone): Float. Yes, it did!

 

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Early this morning some of the children were talking about their firework painting they had done yesterday. Liam and Deanna were able to explain what they had done, using card board strips and the paints, and direct how to set that up again for those children who were not here yesterday.

There are some more photos of our day at centre.

Specks of Gold 

Tesi: My speck of gold is float and sink

Krisha: Play with Liam

Ellara: Playing with Deanna

Deanna: Playing with Ellara

Omelia: My specks of gold is playing with Tesi

Xavier: My speck of gold is playing with Omelia

Liam: Making a camera

Tarun: Spraying Tavae

Link to EYLF

Outcome 2. children are connected with and contribute to their world
2.3-Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment
Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
3.1. Children become strong in their social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing
Outcome 4: Children are involved and confident learners
4.1. Children develop dispositions for learning such as cooperation, creativity, persistence and reflexivity

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

 

Growth Inquiry: Living Eggs

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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

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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

 

 

CLARA Learning Powers – Belonging

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This week, we began to introduce the CLARA (Crick Learning for Resilient Agency) learning powers to the children. The CLARA learning powers describe the qualities, skills and dispositions of a lifelong learner. These learning powers are not fixed or static and like a muscle, we can grow and develop them with practice.

The learning powers also give children a language to describe and discuss their learning and themselves as learners.

We had a new friend join us at ELC this week – Tamoo. Tamoo’s super learning power is belonging. We all have this power too and Tamoo is here to teach and guide us on how to grow our belonging learning power individually and as a group.

We loved meeting Tamoo!

We discussed the people that love and help us and during our play investigations, some children chose to draw the people that support them most in their lives.

BELONGING AND THE EARLY YEARS LEARNING FRAMEWORK

BELONGING
Experiencing belonging – knowing where and with whom you belong – is integral to human existence. Children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. Belonging acknowledges children’s interdependence with others and the basis of relationships in defining identities. In early childhood, and throughout life, relationships are crucial to a sense of belonging. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become.

 

 

 

Rainbows and Colour

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Our inquiry learning over the last couple of days has focused on colour and rainbows as per our learning program and intentions.

We have been singing some songs about colours and the rainbow during morning group time.

RAINBOW EXPERIMENT

We also went to Home 2 with some friends from the school set up a rainbow experiment for us to do.  We lined up skittles around a plate, added some water and waited and observed.

Liam: It will make a rainbow because all the colours will come out.

Arielle: It will be rainbow colours because I saw it on my iPad.

Tarvae: It’s a circle.

Alana: It’s yellow.

Krisha: Rainbow

Simon: Rainbow. The colours came out.

COLOUR MIXING AND PAINTING

PRAYER

In prayer, we sang our favourite song ‘Rainbow’ by Michael Chinn. We then shared our own special prayers about rainbows.

SPECKS OF GOLD

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Day – Monday 12th August 2019

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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

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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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Week in the Life – Alive Catholic Early Care and Learning Parafield Gardens

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inquiry: Growing from Seed …… Continued

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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