Happy Monday everyone, I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend with your families.
What a wonderful day we have been having in the Kindergarten today with lots of wonderful learning occurring. This morning the children were treated to a wonderful ballet class out in the outdoor classroom, we learnt how to stretch and warm up our bodies before we learnt some new ballet moves. It was great to see some of the children having the willingness to step out of their comfort zones to try something new. After all that dancing the children had built up an appetite and we moved inside to have our morning tea. After morning tea we came together again on the group mat where the children had the opportunity to share what they got up to in the weekend, and as a part our daily routine the children shared what experiences they would like to be engaged in during the morning which involved a lot of artistic experiences, I also shared the experiences that I had planned for the children which was exploring the coloured rice which either involved scooping up the rice and transferring it into the bowl, exploring with animals or using tongs to pick up the letters and numbers that were in the rice.
Once we had transitioned off the mat the children eagerly engaged themselves in activities that were either set up in the room or setting up their own activities. The children really enjoyed exploring the rice activity. This provided the opportunity with the children to engage in cooperative play as they needed to either work together in their trays and using their turn taking skills. This also provided a great learning experience for me as I encouraged the children to communicate and negotiate with one another when they would like to have a turn at the activity and also with the variety of toys and instruments in the trays. Nearing the end of the morning the children were needing less support from me to communicate and negotiate with one another. The children also created a picnic in the home corner, which was a nice social experience for me to observe. I loved watching the children engage with one another as they used their communication skills, their imagination and role playing skills throughout. Another activity I had organised for the children was using a chopped up pool noodle. Here the children used their hand eye coordination to pick up a ping pong ball with a set of tongs and balance on top of the selected pool noodle. the children did such a great job controlling the tongs and concentrating ever so hard as they placed the ping pong ball on top. I also loved how the children incorporated numeracy as they counted the balls and pool noodles.
This afternoon we will be revisiting our emotions that we talked about last week in particular what makes them feel happy. We will also spend a large amount of our afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather as we engage in play outside.
Have a great afternoon everyone 
