Happy Friday everyone.
This morning we started our day with a variety of play in the outdoor environment. The children enjoyed drawing on the mini easels, riding bikes, playing in the sandpit, balancing along the obstacle course and swinging on the swing. We then moved inside for a delicious morning tea of custard, peaches, banana and toasted muesli to fuel our bodies for our morning of learning.
At group time we started with our usual good morning songs along with our roll call before moving into a discussion to revisit the information we learnt at the Ditto show yesterday. To jog the children’s memory I asked them if they could remember to feelings that Ditto talked about yesterday. Levii, was quick to show us the signals for both safe and unsafe feelings, great remembering Levii, all of us then practiced doing both of these actions. We then talked about how we might feel if we are having yes feelings. Layla and Levii both commented safe, Layla also commented protected and when someone gives us a hug. Moving on we talked about how we might feel if or what it might look like if we are having no feelings. Layla commented show our butt. I then asked what she would do if someone asked her to this and she confidently replied we say no and run tell a teacher. Well done Layla. We also talked about our private parts where I encouraged the children to identify what parts of our body are our private parts. The children did a great job at remembering what these are commenting our mouth, in between our legs, boobies, willy, our chest and our bottom.
Over the week we have been noticing quite a few of our friends with runny noses and coughs. We thought that it would be the perfect opportunity for us to talk about and teach the children how we can keep ourselves and our friends healthy when we have a runny nose and a cough. First we started off watching a story about Miles stiles nose, this was great as it talked about blowing our noses in a fun way like blowing our nose just like an elephant, like a whale or like a trumpet. The children then had an opportunity to put this into practice all having a practice at blowing their nose, putting the tissue in the bin and washing our hands. We also talked about the importance of coughing in to our elbow, to protect or friends from the germs. We will continue to practice this over the coming week, as blowing our nose in particular is quite a tricky task. Now it was time to move into our activities for the morning.
As mentioned yesterday the children have been showing a definite interest in expressing their creativity and imagination through art. Today’s inspiration for the children was Australian animals. I loved seeing the children’s individual creations of these creatures. They seem to be really understanding the concept of using the pictures we provide them for inspiration and creating their own unique twist. This afternoon the two children who would like to help set up the environment for next week will have the opportunity to choose what our inspiration will be for Monday. Some of the children also set up a second table where they could express their creativity and imagination through drawing. I am loving the children’s initiative to set up their own play environments, what responsible learners.
In home corner Layla and Hamilton yesterday set up a supermarket for their peers to engage and explore with. I loved seeing the children role playing selecting the items, placing them on the counter and the check out person scanning each of the items just like at the supermarket. Don’t forget we would love empty food boxes and containers that we could use in our shop next week.
In the construction area, the children were enjoying using their imagination, creativity and using their problem solving skills as they made a variety of creations. We had cars, trucks, Pac man, circles and some abstract pieces.
We had so much fun at music & dance today in the outdoor activities and learning centre, starting with a warm up working on flexibility doing a range of stretches targeting specific muscle groups accompanied by a series of cardo based exercises to get everyone activated and ready to dance! The class then participated in a number of coordination, creativity and confidence building group activities. Finishing the lesson with a super fun game of musical statues where the children had the opportunity to show off some of there favourite dance moves. The robot was certainly a crowd favourite today.
At our group time before lunch we talked about what we enjoyed about our morning here is what the children thought. Hamilton- “Racing the block car that I made. I went down the slide. Doing dancing.” Wynter- “Played with Austin, Harper and Hamilton. Drawing and the blocks.” Liam “Playing on the swing, going on the slide, playing with Austin and Sage.” Austin “Drawing and big game hide and seek with Wynter.” Emily “Going on the swing, draw, draw, draw.” Layla ” I like going swing. I like the slide. I like home corner.” Sage ” Playing on the slide, going on the swings, chasing Mr G, drawing the Australian animals.” Levii “Playing with drawing, a treasure map and a Koala from the animals.” Harper “Drawing those animal things.” Matthew ” I play down slide and swing. Build a Pac man.”
After our lunch we all found a comfortable spot to relax, unwind and recharged as we listened to two guided meditation stories, ready to engage in our play this afternoon.
Next week don’t forget we would love some show an tell for the children to share this could be on any day. Items that we love to see for show and tell are books (maybe your child could bring in a rhyming book to share with us), photos or natural items that they may have found on their weekend adventures. Feel free to send photos through if need be and I can print them off.
This week our lucky friend taking Hungry Jacks home for the weekend is our friend Sage. We look forward to seeing what adventures they get up too over the weekend when they return.
Have a safe and happy weekend everyone and we look forward to seeing you next week.