Welcome to Wednesday
This morning at group time we continued our inquiry and discovery learning about insects and bugs as we watched our video, which the children were introduced to yesterday which is about Facts about ten different bugs and insects. After watching the video the children then had the opportunity to share what they had learnt about bugs and insects from the video. This was a great opportunity for the children to share their knowledge, revisit/repetition which is very important for children to help them process information and consolidate their learning. Here is what the children learned from the video today. Jaxon: “The Grasshopper camouflaged.” Sage: “Flower ate the bug.” Graysen: “Spiders they spin their web.” Liam: The Fireflies, they light in the night. The body glows in the dark.” Austin: “Bees touch them”, I asked Austin what would happen if we touched the bees? “They hurt you.” Hamilton: “I learnt about ants. They dig holes. I asked why he thought they did holes. “For their home.” Emily: “What happens if we touch the fireflies?”, what a great question we will have to do some research to find out the answer to this question. I have r4eally been loving the children’s responses and their willingness to share their ideas and thoughts. Through engaging in this experience the children are not only learning new information about bugs and insects, as they share their ideas they are developing confidence to communicate in social situations, take turns in conversations and developing their language and communication skills. At group time today Liam was our special helper to transition us off into our activities singing bee, bee, bumble bee. I love how confident the children are to do this and they just love the opportunity to be the teacher. Tomorrow it will be another friends turn to be the teacher.
After group time the children then moved off into the variety of experiences we had on offer today as well as child initiated experiences.
At the tables today the children had the opportunity to further explore and investigate the bug discovery table. Today with an addition of another story about bugs and insects. Tomorrow we will add some clipboards, and pencils where the children can have the opportunity to draw some of the bugs and insects or do some writing. A big thank you to Hamilton for doing such a great job at setting up this table for us yesterday.
What bugs and insects can you make? For our creative and imaginative experience today the children had the opportunity to use a variety of collage materials to create insects and bugs of their choice, or simply explore their creativity and imagination. At the table there was a hive of conversation happening between the children about what they were creating. As I have mentioned before I am loving the enthusiasm, confidence and willingness the children are having to communicate and share what they are creating. Language is so important for children and I feel that we need to provide ample opportunities and time for children to have these conversations with us. Here is some of the children’s conversations and explanations from today. Sage: “I’m making a Butterfly with red and green mesh, and its powerful butterfly, it can walk, throw fireballs and flies.” Jaxon: “I’m making a Grasshopper using paddle pop sticks and lots of sticky tape. It’s going to jump, jump, jump.” Layla: “I’m making a Butterfly with sticks and a butt butt.” Wynter: ” I’m making a Butterfly, and his going to fly like dragonflies.” Austin: “I’m making a lady bug.”
At the play dough table the children had the opportunity to revisit the matchstick and play dough creations. Today the children continued the theme of bugs and insects as they used their imagination and creativity to create bugs and insects. Harper: “I’m making a Butterfly.” Liam “I’m making a firefly that’s scared of people and it’s so scary.” Sage: Miss Sarah I’m making a birthday cake come have a look.”
Just as I thought the children’s interest in our what can you build table had gone Hamilton and Austin had a wonderful time using the variety of construction materials to build tall towers. It was great to see the two children working independently and also collaboratively as they explored the building materials. It was great to hear some wonderful construction and numeracy related language happening as they talked about balancing, tall towers, big and small. As they built their towers I also encouraged the children to reflect on why they thought their towers fell over as they explored the concept of cause and effect.
This morning the children created some wonderful child initiated play. As the children had noticed that Matthew had brought in some special pictures from home to cut, they too wanted to engage in some cutting. To continue on with our bug/insect interest, the children had the opportunity to practice their scissor skills as they cut out different bugs and insects. This also provided the children to identify and talk about the different bugs and insects they could see. Layla, was very interested in showing us her ballet skills and caught the attention of a group of the children where she taught us some of the different dance moves and told us they dance to classic music which we put on for the children to dance too. Emily had a wonderful morning in home corner as she engaged and explored with the dolls house and invited her peers to join her on a trip to the beach.
It has been such a great day. Have a wonderful afternoon 🙂
Miss Emma and Miss Sarah