Today was a very hot day which meant our outdoor time was limited. The children engaged in water play and water paint activities outside in the morning, then moved into Home 2 a little earlier to avoid the peak UV and participate in some indoor activities.
In Home 2, they were engaged in a variety of provocations based on their interests. Children were busy doing activities such as book reading, light table, dinosaurs, puzzles, home corner and block play.
We also celebrated Xavier’s 4th Birthday today with some dancing and a birthday cake for afternoon tea.
Our Prayer
Xavier: Thank you god for playing with Omelia.
Kunal: Thank you God for playing with Liam and Jasmeh.
Arabella: Thank you God for playing outside with the bars.
Krisha: Playing with Liam.
Omelia: Thank you god for playing with Olivia.
Link To EYLF
Outcome 1:Children have a strong sense of identity
1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported.
1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 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.
Arabella’s observation of a turtle
Xavier noticed animals in the water
Ambrose drew a fish
Aicha’s drawing
Frankie identified the different parts of a Yabby
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
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
