Preschool Learning Reflection – Term 2, Week 8, 2023.

Niina Marni preschool children and families and welcome to the end of week 8!

This week saw the second and last transition for those commencing school mid-year and a whole lot of crazy weather!

Due to the weather this prompted a spontaneous child-led investigation into weather systems using data and weather radars on the BOM. Owen and Krishav showed off their weather presenter skills and revealed a sound understanding of how to interpret weather radars! Perhaps we have future meteorologists on our hands?

Learning Intention 1

Learning Intention: 
To nurture each child’s wellbeing as they begin their progression to reception in Term 3. 
 
Why:

As children approach the transition to school they may be experiencing certain feelings such as fear, uncertainty and nervousness.
Being aware of children’s developmental milestones, particularly emotional and social development, helps educators understand what to expect at different ages and stages in children’s lives.
The importance of a positive transition to school experience has been consistently emphasised in research around the world. 
A large body of evidence suggests a successful transition helps improve children’s educational and social outcomes.

ILP’S: AK, AF, AE, AS, BM, EM, F, FT, HP, JL, KJ, LB, LF, MG, OA, OW, RR, SH, SC, TO, YD, WL,

This weeks transition visit was so calm and engaging! All of the children, old and new, appeared comfortable to explore and engage in their new learning environments and appeared confident to interact and start to make connections with new peers! The day began with free exploratory play which then led into morning fruit time, followed by a visit to the playground (a highlight for many!) then packing bags ready for their parents to arrive.

Mid-year reception is such a special time for these children as they begin to immerse themselves into the new school routine, expectations and people. Mid-year reception is a mix of preschool and school, with children’s right to play being honoured. The focus is on wellbeing, routine, expectations, wellbeing and exposure to the curriculum, which they will have a strong foundation to dive deeper into next year when they have their full year of reception.

Unfortunately there aren’t many photos as they mostly had new children in there and we aren’t aware who has given permission for photos yet.

Learning Intention 2

To develop and embed sustainable practices as community, fostering a love and appreciation for God’s world

WHY

as part of the catholic ethos we aim to support children to develop a love, respect and appreciation for all of God’s creations.
Practicing sustainability empowers children to construct knowledge, explore values and develop an appreciation of the environment. This lays foundations for an environmentally responsible adulthood
Through hands on experiences and relevant educator pedagogies, children can explore and learn about their local contexts and environmental issues,
Children can develop the creativity and critical thinking skills necessary to make informed decisions for change, improving the quality of their lives and those of future generations.
Pre-school children have shows an interest in caring for living beings (worms and millipedes) they have also shown engagement and enjoyment in picking up rubbish and earth day discussions.

ILP’S: ALL

What a week to focus on God’s world and everything in it with all of the different types of weather we had! Every time the sunshine was out we took the opportunity to warm ourselves in the rays and appreciate being outside! Of course, on Thursday we were unable to go outside at all but this led to the great discussions about weather systems, a possible next inquiry project?

Bookmaking

Spotlight Term 2: Illustrators draw things on purpose

This week Elle and Laura met with Lisa Birman again and discussed the next spotlight for bookmaking. Next term the focus will be on ‘Books that teach’. Using information books supports children to make connections between genres and develop the understanding that not all books tell stories. Funnily enough, this week the children were engaging in information books already!

Inquiry project

This week we discussed starting up our worm farm again (hopefully with a little more success this time!). We had a relief educator kindly bring in some worm farm worms for us so the next step is to design the worm farm alongside the children and start discussing what they can eat, what they do for us and how this helps God’s world.

We are also focusing on recycling and the different ways we can do this.

“Why do we recycle?”:

Ewan: to look after the animals

Krishav: so it doesn’t go in the ocean

Leo; it looks better

“What can we recycle?”:

Anisa :paper

Livij: bottles

We learnt that you can recycle lots of different types of things. Most bins will have a picture of things that go into the bins. We discussed our yellow bins at home and if children recycle bottes and cans.

We are focussing on paper recycling at our centre. We looked at our blue bin and noticed it had a picture of paper and cardboard on it. We discussed how we could help the rest of our centre recycle paper.

How we practice sustainability in our room:

-Recycled boxes

-sensory materials

-natural light when sunny