Hello and welcome to our Tuesday blog for the Kindergarten classroom. This morning we were welcomed by the wonderful Miss Jess who had set up another awesome sensory experience of gloop (cornflour, water and food colouring) which the children loved. It gets a bit messy but lots of fun was had, including by the teachers.
We also had the pleasure of watching Mr Nick setting up the new water pump which I’m sure will be an absolute hit when it gets up and running. Reid and Mace quizzed him intensely about what he was up to and what all of his tools were. He is an awesome presence to have around the centre and the children are always drawn to him and his funny personality. After that we had our yummy morning tea while talking about our calendar and discussing the time using the play clock. Harper has become very perceptive towards the clock in the classroom and she often asks what time it is and with a little prompting is able to figure it out. We also practiced our favourite class songs which we might record and share for you when we can. Astrid has mastered all the words and actions to “Colours of Australia” and is a great role model for the others to follow.
Our activity focus for the day was ANZAC day so we sat together and watched a short video about what ANZAC day was about. It is important for children to have an understanding of the wider world and understand that the reason they have all the comforts that are afforded to them now, is because of the sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand soldiers a long time ago. Lest we forget. I was impressed at some of the questions that the children asked after the video so this could be something to further discuss at home to help them understand why ANZAC day is significant. We drew, cut out and glued our poppies together and will put them with our big display that we will develop later in the week.
After failing with the origami swans yesterday I thought we would tackle the skill of folding paper with a more simple creation; paper planes! After the first one was made there was so much giggling and laughter that it quickly attracted all the other children to come over and try and make one themselves. It took lots of persistence and coordination to get the folds just right so I commend their efforts and perseverance. Once they were all made and decorated we had a competition to see who’s would fly the furthest. It was amusing to see that plane design had little to do with how well it flew and our winner (Reid) used brute force to throw a huge 12 steps! (according to Mr Andrew’s gait).
Our fairytale stories continue to be one of the most popular activities and the children gather quickly when Mr Andrew announces story time. Today was the Three Billy Goats Gruff which was a new story for a lot of the children. They had some great guesses about how they story would unfold and the more we read stories the better their guesses are becoming. The children are beginning to understand the morals of the stories too and you can see that coming through in their play as the use words like “no teasing” which we talked about it the Ugly duckling story. After the story we took turns acting it out and this is a great opportunity for the teachers to step back a little and let the children take the lead. This is an important skill for the children to develop so that they are able to work with others and reach an end goal. Videos are harder to upload at the moment due to technical difficulties but hopefully we can get a few of these to you so you can witness them yourself.
Our afternoon activities will include some more reading time, puzzles and free play activities like the Lego or wooden blocks. We will also do a bingo activity with proper balls and prizes to keep up our activities relating to numbers (particularly counting to 20).
Thank you Kindergarten children for another wonderful day. Enjoy your sunny Tuesday everyone!
