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Hello and happy St Patrick’s Day to those of Irish descent!! This morning during group time we talked about Ireland, looked at a map of Ireland and its flag, discussed leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold and four-leaf clovers. We also watched some Irish dancing jigs on the computer, then attempted our own Irish jig. Arlo, Maia, Ellie, Lily, Ollie and Marlie really enjoyed Irish dancing. They did lots of leg kicks and some very fancy footwork. It was a lot of fun!

At the craft table we made paper chains with different types of Irish motifs on them. Ellie and Harley quickly caught on to the process of weaving and pasting paper to make an ongoing chain. Lily, Zahra, Indi and Ivy also had a very good attempt.

Following on from our Acknowledgement of Country at group time, we practised our new song entitled “Hello to all the children of the world”. This song provides a good opportunity to learn to say/sing “hello” in many different languages.

Harmony Day takes place on March 21. The key theme is that “everyone belongs” (celebrating cultural diversity). Learning more about cultural similarities and differences and embedding such practices into our Pre-Kindy program aligns with Learning Outcome 2 of the Early years Learning Framework: Children are connected with and contribute to their world. Under Sub-Outcome 2.2, this becomes evident when children respond to diversity with respect, they begin to show concern for others, they listen to others’ ideas and respect differences, or they notice and react in different ways to similarities and differences among people.

In our room, we learn about similarities and differences every week through stories, songs, role play, conversation and art/craft activities. If you have something you would like to share with us about your child’s or your own cultural background, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Today our friends also engaged with the following play-based learning experiences:

  • Asher and Indi played very cooperatively together to construct a series of wooden railway tracks, bridges, and track side scenery for their trains to ride along
  • Kaylee did a fantastic painting of herself at the easel with acrylic paints and medium brushes. Ivy, Zahra, Maia, Harley and William also had lots of fun painting in the bold, bright colours. Ellie enjoyed painting her hands instead, and thought that it tickled when she painted her fingers
  • The playdough table was a very busy place to be today. Zander made several stars from cookie cutters, and the letter “R”. Lily made lollipops. Arlo made a thick caterpillar, and William made a delicious cheese pizza
  • Kaylee and Indi played alongside each other at the “loose parts” station where they used a combination of small wooden pegs, slimy dinosaurs/reptiles, golden eggs and cardboard cylinders to make a special farm for their pet dinosaurs. Wonderful imaginations girls!

Such a lovely St Patrick’s Day! Please enjoy the blog and pictures of your child’s day. Have a wonderful evening everyone. Love from Miss Donna and Miss Livia XX