Niina Marni beautiful learners and their wonderful families. Welcome to the Week 3 blog.
Learning Intention 1:
To refine and establish a daily routine that supports consistency and predictability for children and educators yet remains responsive to the needs of the community.(continuing from week 2)
Children have been responding well to the Preschool routine and getting accustomed to the daily activities. Children are becoming more and more aware about what is happening at that moment and what might happen next.
We have made a small but a special addition to our morning routine where we have displayed the children’s names on wooden discs and they move them to a different tray to show they are present that day. This not only promotes a greater sense of belonging but allows children to recognise their name and the letters that make it.
Learning Intention 2:
To support the implementation and understanding of positive education practices and introduce the concept and language of ‘bucket filling’ and ‘specks of gold’.
Why?
Positive education is an approach that draws on positive psychology’s emphasis of individual strengths and personal motivation to promote learning.
The fundamental goal of positive education is to promote flourishing or positive mental health within the school community.
Positive education improves mental health and life satisfaction, reduces depression and anxiety and improves academic success and creative thinking.
This week, we discussed about making thumbs-up choices and how each time we make a thumbs-up choice, we fill a bucket. We also read the book ‘Have you Filled a Bucket Today?’ to introduce the idea of an invisible bucket and how good things we do can fill someone’s bucket and our own too. We plan to reinforce this concept throughout the year to promote positive practices in our preschool room.
Children have also been sharing so beautifully about their ‘speck of gold’ for the day. Through this activity, children learn to reflect on their day and think of a positive experience to share with their friends. Additionally, it supports children in their language development and encourages them to be more expressive within a safe space.
Learning Intention 3:
To understand that the Sign of the Cross is a prayer to God and sacred symbols are special and important.
We continue to sing our ‘Five Fingers’ prayer song each morning as we start our morning group time.
Literacy Intention:
Build connections to picture books.
- Read aloud to children as many times during the day
- Name the author and illustrator (show a photo of them talk about things in the illustrations as well as reading the words
- talk about what the book is about (eg: this book taught us lots of things about cats; this book was all about a grumpy bear etc.)
The Library is the best place to read books quietly and peacefully, and therefore we made our way to the library this week too. We read books and talked about them. We discussed what our expectations are and how to put the books back where they belong? It’s fascinating each time, how many questions our curious little learners have about the stories that are being read to them.
Bentley – So what happened to the shark? Did the cars escape?
Nirman – This is a zoo book
Innayat – Where’s C? It goes there (pointing to the book)
Singing rhymes with visual aids and the jolly phonics songs where we try to identify the sound that corresponds with each letter, help develop children’s phonological awareness which is fundamental to reading success.
We have also been extending our literacy focus on mark-making through a variety of activities including making cards for their loved ones, book-making, drawing, painting and tracing their names.
Community Walks
Our visit to the log park, Mudla and the fish farm are always a hit. Children love balancing on logs, looking at the fish , observing their behaviour and counting them.
At the log park:
Calvin – I’m strong, I can carry it.
Bentley – I want to collect insects in this (showing a plastic bottle)
Winnifred – Meow, meow (pretending to be a sitting cat)
MUDLA and the Fish Farm
Children show great interest in the fish, turtles and frogs we see in the MUDLA and fish farm, and have many interesting questions about them.
Nirman – Oh, I like this but where’s the turtle? (while at the fish farm)
Innayat – It looks like a crab but it’s not.
Winnifred – It goes clack, clack, clack (making claws-like shapes with her hands)
Lena – 1,2,3,4,5 (counting the fish in a tank)
Visit to the playground
Indoor Play
Group games
Group games not only encourage children to work together towards a common goal, promoting teamwork and collaboration, but also require children to communicate with each other, helping them develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Group games and activities also provide opportunities for children to interact socially, fostering the development of social skills such as sharing, taking turns, and cooperating. Hence, we encouraged children to engage in playing the games ‘Doggy, Doggy’ and ‘Duck, duck, goose’. We also had a wonderful time dancing and moving to our favourite songs as a whole group.
Outdoor play
Children love riding the bikes which not only helps the development of their gross motor skills but also social skills such as sharing, taking turns and waiting for their turn.
The children have also been really enjoying the outdoor space during the pleasant weather we experienced after a couple of very hot days.
Buddy Visit
We had buddies from the ‘big school’ visit us this week and the children had a wonderful time playing the game ‘Duck, duck, goose’ with them. Our preschool children were so excited to have this opportunity to play with their ‘big buddies’ where they get to interact, play, negotiate and learn from them, enhancing their sense of belonging to the Holy Family community.
Learning Trajectories:
Construction play, as children have shown a great interest in this
Self-regulation strategies to help navigate difficult emotions and celebrate happy moments
Continue our community walks following children’s fascination with the fish in MUDLA
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week.