Holy Family Catholic School Early Learning Blog LDC -4 (Term -2/Week 1)

Nina Marni, all our little learners and awsome families,

Welcome to our second term & week one blog.

Learning Intention:1

To re-establish expectations within our community and foster each child’s sense of ownership in being active, respectful, and involved participants in the long daycare-4 program.

Why:

All children are competent and capable and should have endless opportunities to apply their innate agency.
We have new members within our community (children, families and educators) who will require support in adapting to our rhythms and rituals.
In the approved learning frameworks, agency is defined as being able to make choices and decisions to influence events and to have an impact on one’s world.
Supporting children’s agency is about recognizing that children have a right to make choices and decisions and are capable of initiate their own learning.
Each stage with development comes with new interests, capabilities, and requirements. On reflection, educators believe that revisiting our expectations (developed with children in term 1) should be revisited and re-designed collaboratively.
On reflection, educators have re-designed some learning areas within preschool. Children will require some scaffolding to become familiar with new spaces and materials to ensure that they are maintained and used safely.

ILP’s: All children

Welcome our amazing children and precious families for Term 2 and week 1. This week we are littlebit slow in our daily routines. Children had a great easter holidays and two long weekends with their nearer and dearer family members so slowly slowly we are introoducing children to our ELC routines.

We regularly using our Visual reminders for hat, shoe, sunscreen and drink bottle storage. Inclusion of visual cues on staff lanyards and displayed around the room.

Invite children to patriciate in cleaning. (e.g. Wiping tables, sweeping floor). Organized and consistent physical space (Clear storage for activities etc.). Visual schedule displayed each day. Consistent and organized learning spaces. Establishing a sunscreen station. Organize visible water trolly.

Consistent support and rituals on arrival and departure by educators (unpack bags, water bottle on drink trolly etc.)
Facilitated discussions around the role we play in self-care practices by Role modelling.
Facilitated discussions about what children enjoy. Provide opportunities for all children to be the decision makers, driving our learning and experiences. (Choice for Mother’s Day cards & other activities).
A visual daily routine to be implemented and discussed during group time each day
Educators will actively discuss what is next in the routine with the children to help set a strong foundation for predictability and support the ease of transitions for children.
Embedding re-setting routine. Taking children with set space to reset before group times.
Establishing community helper roles e.g. Ask help for packing and cleaning Indoor/outdoor area.

Mothers day Braceletes and cards :-

Learning Intention:2
To encourage children to develop a love and curiosity for our natural world through inquiring about the seasonal changes taking place.
Why:

Aligning with the 3 Pillars of Holy Family Catholic School, we aim to foster an appreciation and preservation of God’s creations
Nature plays in our outdoor/extended community
Natural materials offer open ended opportunities to support children’s engagement, development and self-regulation through strengthening their sensory processing capabilities.
The brain and body need an abundance of sensory-motor experiences in the first years of life to strengthen this partnership and to provide children with lifelong sensory processing capabilities.
Facilitating inquiries, provide opportunities for children to become more confident and autonomous problem-solvers and thinkers. Linking this to our natural world supports children to develop respect and love for living things.

ILP’s: All Children.

We provide opportunity to children having a Various natural materials collected from our environment accessible to children for open-ended explorations. Introducing warm colors- visual art. Offered childrenWidening our perspectives through community visits. Materials for deeper investigations (light, magnifying glasses etc)

Facilitated discussions about the changes in our environment. Use of photos.
Documenting (iPad Photos) changes within our local environment.
Group time reading of “Big Rain Coming”.
Investigating Kaurna seasons-linking to the finding of insects in our outdoor environment.
Magnetic story table with leaves as provocation.

Outdoor group times – discussion about the sounds, colors, textures etc.

Playground fun:-

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.
o Candle flames remind us that God is with us.
o The Bible reminds us of God’s love for us through special stories.
o The Cross reminds us of Jesus.
o Water is used for special blessings
• Sacred symbols are used in my school/ELC and in church celebrations, prayer and liturgy. (CCC1145)
Other faith traditions also have sacred symbols

ILP’s: All Children.

The Sign of the Cross is a prayer to God.

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. T
he actions represent the symbol of the Cross, and that prayer involves our head, heart and body.

God has established prayer as a means for us to communicate with him. Through prayer, we can praise God, ask for forgiveness, thank God for all he’s done, and let our requests be made known to him. Prayer allows us to open our hearts to God and let him know our innermost thoughts and desires.