Nina Marni everyone and welcome to our weekly blog.
Learning Intention -1To know who Jesus is and understand that Jesus was part of a loving family (Continuation from the previous week)
Why?
Doctrinal Insights from the Catholic Tradition that support this Enduring Understanding include:Jesus was part of a family with Mary and Joseph who loved and cared for Jesus.This family is called the Holy Family.Families share love and forgiveness. 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 liturgyOther faith traditions also have sacred symbols The Sign of the Cross is a prayer to God.Why? 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.
ILP’s – All children
Learning Intention 2 : To support children to deepen their understanding of measurement through construction experiences, by encouraging the use of comparative language (tall/ short/ taller/ tallest/ shorter/ shortest/ heavy/ heavier/ light/ lighter/ big/ small/ bigger/ smaller etc)
Why?
Children have shown interest in sorting, and comparing sizes of the materials they use during their construction projects and open-ended play experiences (BC, YG)Children develop conceptual understandings, procedural fluency, and adaptive reasoning skills to facilitate transfer of their mathematical knowledge to contexts outside the mathematics classroom and this is supported when the mathematical ideas with which they interact are relevant and meaningfulTo support children’s understanding of measuring, estimating, sorting and noticing patternsUsing comparative language enhances children’s vocabulary, improves communication, and enables better understanding of measurement and attributes of things around them
ILPs – BC, YG, CB, LT, NS
Literacy intentions and Inquiry Project
To foster cognitive and social-emotional development, enhancing skills such as communication, problem-solving, cooperation, and empathy, by engaging in dramatic play experiences – ‘Hospital’ dramatic play set upILPs – AS, CK, BC, HM, HW, RG, SW, JL, AF, SU To understand the small chunks a word can be broken down to (Syllables) ILPs – All Children
Why? Literacy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use language in all its forms.Literacy incorporates a range of modes of communication including music, movement, dance, storytelling, visual arts, media and drama, as well as talking, signing, reading and writing.Dramatic play provides opportunities for children to learn to cooperate, negotiate, and share roles and resourcesChildren can experience different viewpoints by taking on various roles and learn to manage their emotions and actions within the context of a pretend situationDramatic play encourages creativity and imagination, problem-solving, and abstract thinking.
Children have shown a great interest in the bearded dragon which is in the MUDLA and have been inquiring about it’s movements, what it eats, drinks and does. Hence, we planned to initiate an inquiry project on bearded dragons.
As a first step, we arranged for an expert (Mr Gerry McCarthy) to speak to the children and provide us with more information about the bearded dragons. Children were very intrigued during this experience and learned many things. They also got the opportunity to feel the bearded dragon and hold it.
Inquiry Project
Bearded Dragon
During a group time discussion the children recalled the body parts of the bearded dragon from their previous visits. We then visited the MUDLA once more with a focus on identifying all the parts of a bearded dragon’s body.
This week, we will be watching a detailed video clip about bearded dragons to understand where bearded dragons prefer to live, what they usually eat and how they behave in different situations. We will also be engaging in puzzles to accurately form the parts of the bearded dragon’s body. https://www.google.com/search?q=bearded+dragon
Reconciliation Week 27 May -3rd June
Reconciliation week We have been speaking to the children about why we sing the Niina Marni song each morning during our group times. Some children thought it was part of a prayer and some did not know why we sang it at all. We discussed the lyrics of the song (Niina marni in Kaurna means ‘Are you good?’) and why we say ‘we are on Karuna land and under Kaurna sky’ (because they are the traditional custodians of the land we are on). We went on to discuss the need to be thankful to the Kaurna people for taking good care of this land and children shared their many thoughts and wonderings:
HW – we need to take care of our environment
BC – be kind to the earth
LW – No trying to break the earth
HaM – Need to be kind to our teachers, friends and everything
RG – Kaurna people took care of us
In lieu of National Reconciliation week, children will be provided with a variety of experiences to understand Kaurna culture and what reconciliation means in simple terms through our day-to-day activities, art and craft, and story times.
Some provocations/ experiences include:
- Recognising that our circle time is similar to the meeting place of Kaurna people (sitting around in a circle) and recreating it with children (circle and symbols of a ‘person’ drawn on wooden disks)
- Learning Kaurna greetings and responses (Niina Marni – Marni’ai/Yaku marni’ai)
- Participating in the creation of the ‘Sea of Hands’
- Reading books such as ‘Somebody’s Land’ and dreamtime stories
- Creating paper collages of the Kaurna flag and the Torres Strait Islander People’s flag while understanding what the colours and symbols on the flags mean
- Creating nature bracelets
Specks of gold for the week …..
Community walk always loved by all the preschool children.
Have a lovely weekend all…
Trajectories:
Next week we will be learning about the changes in weather
Working on new inquiry project as children have shown interest in insects during this week .