Nina Marni curious learners and their beautiful families. Welcome to our weekly blog.
“We all belong” in Harmony
This week we celebrate Harmony day on the 21st of March 2025. The week has been a bliss of harmony where we each appreciate our differences and strengthen our sense of belonging. Children have been collaborating with one another and their teachers in creating their own diverse crafts and valuing each other through a blend of joy and friendships. The children created a friendship flower for their learning space.
Learning Intention: 1
To challenge children’s construction skills by providing loose parts and STEM experiences.
Why:
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STEM education in early childhood allows children to begin to learn and retain a knowledge base that they can build on as they get older.
Loose Parts play encourages children to make, create, problem solve and hypothesize. Loose parts have no instructions and no predetermined rules.
The concept of ‘loose parts’ supports children to become critical thinkers as they use these open- ended materials to plan their work and create whatever they want to without an adult telling them what should be done. It helps children to be imaginative.
Loose parts give children the freedom to arrange and rearrange, essentially using the parts to create their own rules and designs, which allows the focus of the experience to be on the process rather than the product. Fine motor skills are developed and strengthened when children grasp and pick up small objects.
‘Children see possibilities in everything.’
loose parts play enhances and unleashes creativity and encourages problem-solving. We observe and understand that learning environments are enriched spaces where children can explore open-ended materials. There is joy in how children can take a seemingly disparate collection of found objects and create something incredible and amazing with just the power of their imagination.
Play dough, the log park and the sand pit have been some spaces of creativity that children have extended their constructivity and imagination.
| Learning Intention 2: To encourage children’s expression of ideas through collaborative arts-making experiences in Visual Arts and paints. Why Helps a child’s development enhancing creativity, fine motor coordination, self-expression, creates and builds on imagination, cognitive development, sensory and many more skills of social interactive and collaborative engagement and verbal communication. Explorations of a variety of colours and textures helps children develop their confidence, self-esteem and problem-solving skills. This learning intention will be a collaboration with learning intention 1 of mark making. |
” Paints and the the experience if the visual arts allow children to enter into a world of imagination“
Mark making combined with paints , shapes and within shapes creativity with patterns , colours and shadows using a variety of materials, help children build their critical thinking and are motivated to explore concepts and ideas. Texta’s , coloured shapes , flour and threading can provide children with the learning opportunities and skills they require to build their understanding of the arts.
| Learning Intention 3: Sacred symbols are special and important. Why? Doctrinal Insights from the Catholic Tradition that support this Enduring Understanding include:Sacred symbols remind us that God is close to us, and with us.In my Catholic learning environment, I can see many sacred symbols.Candle flames remind us that God is with us.The Bible reminds us of God’s love for us through special stories.The Cross reminds us of Jesus.Water is used for special blessingsSacred symbols are used in my school/ELC and in church celebrations, prayer and liturgy. (CCC1145)Other faith traditions also have sacred symbols The Sign of the Cross is a prayer to God.Doctrinal and Content Elaborations: Doctrinal Insights from the Catholic Tradition that support this Enduring Understanding include:The Sign of the Cross is a prayer with actions and words.The words remind us that God is called Father, Son and Holy Spirit.The actions represent the symbol of the Cross, and that prayer involves our head, heart and body. |
As we begin the second week in lent, children have begun their mornings by entering into prayer very fervently lining up with a flower and walking into prayer to the music of “come and join the circle”. Each day our prayer takes a change as some days the children sing their praise to Jesus with the five finger prayer song and the other days they give thanks to Jesus using their own words of praise. Each day the lit sacred candle is carried into prayer and placed on the prayer table, and when prayer is finished the candle is blown out. Children are a part of this daily ritual of placing the candle and blowing out the candle at the end of prayer as a mark of adoration to Jesus.
Reading nook and book making : Children have been visiting the library with a bit of a hop on and off the mushrooms and checking out some books for reading. We have been practicing our book making in a calmer space in the MUDLA where the children have requested to engage in some drawing and writing surrounded by our very precious living beings. We came up with some amazing markings of the turtles and the fish.
Predictable routines : Checking into our learning in the mornings. Children have become tuned into their daily routine and are always happy to begin their day by checking into their learning , whilst being aware of what to expect of now , next and then , throughout the day.
Our in-house dining experience has been a bliss to share this week as the children have been enjoying some quality time interacting with one another in a safe and secure learning space. Build your own burgher was one of our specialities on the menu.
Community walks around the school have been quite enthusiastic for our little learners as they have been engaged with their wonderings. The MUDLA has been one of our focus learning stations where the children have found some calm investigation and thought into our precious living beings.
Some specks of gold for this week
Hope you all have a relaxing weekend.