Robina First | Bonjour July!

We have had a great month in Mabo Room. We have been doing lots of exciting learning and taking part in interesting experiences.

As educators, when planning experiences for our day, we take a lot from the adventures the children go on with their families on the weekend - which is why we all love parent input. Lately, we have been lucky enough to have lots of parent and family input for our program...so a big shout out to our wonderful families for their stories and suggestions!

This month, we investigated the ocean and discussed what sorts of animals live in the ocean. To compliment this investigation, the children participated in lots of art and craft experiences embodying our ocean focus. As the children were so interested in the small world play with the 'Ocean', we continued with our ocean exploration. 

We have been doing lots of recycling so we used our sustainability knowledge and recycled materials to create our art. We used paper plates, paint and green paper to create some swimming turtles and used our collage skills to make some fish with alfoil scales, to keep the turtles company. We also made our own 3D Dolphins out of recycled cardboard and hung them in our room.

Some of our friends have also developed an interest in insects and the natural world. We have found caterpillars and snails in the junior yard and the children have been saying good morning to them every day. We have been busy learning about some of the different insects and other garden animals. We have even created some of our own snails and caterpillars.

By participating in these learning experiences both inside the room and outside in the yard the children are rapidly developing skills such as cognition, hand eye coordination, independent thinking, language development and the children are also starting to be introduced to mathematical and scientific concepts.

Over the next few weeks in Mabo we will be focusing on colours and our ability to recognise and name various primary, secondary and tertiary colours, we will even investigate colour mixing and extend on our developing knowledge of scientific and mathematical concepts. We will also be very busy helping some of our new transitioning friends settle into the room and continue building our own relationships and developing our social skills with our friends and educators.

Miss Kylie, Miss Wei and Miss Shay

Over the last couple of months we have been very busy in Hollows learning about Sustainability. The children have contributed to many purposeful experiments during this time, and had discussions on how to keep our waterways clean from plastics or rubbish. We talked about the impact pollution and non-recyclable materials have on our environment. Most importantly how this impacts sea creatures. We have ensured that the children have had hands on experiences within this topic, therefore children can see the direct effects our actions make. We have had lots of art activities, such as "Reduce" "Reuse" "Recycle" collages, made from 100% recyclable materials. We made an example of dirty water and clean water for our fish to swim in and discussed which was better for the fish and the environment.  We made different animals such as turtles, fish and crabs. We then discussed what their environment must look like to be healthy and safe. Activities like this promote and extend on vocabulary and communication within children. They have opportunities to discover and develop different ways to be creative and expressive. If we start talking about sustainability from a young age future generations will continue on the message of how important it is to care for our world.

On June 2nd and in conjunction with reconciliation week we had a visit from "Uncle Boomerang". He talked to us about Aboriginal traditions, culture and language. He taught us some names and phrases in Aboriginal, as well as singing poems and chants relating to our land, environment and families. Children had opportunities to participate in activities such as face painting, hand prints and learning to throw a boomerang. Learning to throw a boomerang encourages things such as, working within a group, listening skills, coordination, language extensions and exposure to different culture. Following this visit we made boomerangs, dot paintings, and we made an amazing Finger painting mural on a canvas.

The feeling of belonging in the widest sense contributes to inner well being, security, and most importantly identity. Children should recognise that our Early Childhood Centre includes their culture and is part of a wider world. After this we continued with art and craft activities making boomerangs, paper bark paintings, and dot paintings. (Finger prints).

We are currently looking at a butterfly life cycle, and we have begun planting some beautiful sunflower seeds. We will continue this throughout the month of June/July. If you have anything you would like to contribute towards this we would love to hear it.

Ms Adriana, Ms Kerry, Ms Helene, Ms Tracey.

Firstly we would like to welcome all of the new families and their children into Chang. They have all settled in very nicely and started to make new friends. Thank you to our Chang friends for being so kind and welcoming to our new friends.

In the last few weeks the children have started to play together more. They have created their own games and played together. Small group games with memory and colours recognition, like "fruit orchard" and "mushroom soup" are very popular at the moment. Children also learned how to take turns and follow simple instructions. Many children are interested in the new construction toys such as, crazy force and small bricks with the special Eco cement. The amazing things that they made get displayed on our special stands everyday.

We have said our goodbyes to Miss Jaime and Ms. Jese, but they both promised to come and visit us whenever they can. Miss Megan will be with us until we have a new teacher.

We have been introducing the children to their 'special books' (their portfolios). They were so excited to see their photos and stories about themselves. We also display our documentation about the learning experiences on the wall, so please feel free to look through their learning journey with your children when you drop them off or pick them up.

We have had so much fun with our gardening and last week we harvested our kale and decided to cook kale chips! We picked them out of our vegetable patch, everyone loved it. It was a beautiful way to encourage children about their healthy food. Next week we plan to make fresh juice with Ms. Kimmy.

This week we have been practised writing our names using our nametags. Please support your child with their name recognition by reminding them to put their name tags on their lockers when they arrive. Please also assist your child in getting their hats before going into the yard and also let them place their hats back into their hat boxes before going home. This will provide additional opportunities for the children to practice name recognition.

We have been doing many activities to develop our pre-writing skills and pricaticed using scissors. We also have been practicing our phonics and numbers through brainstorms and art activities

Many children have displayed that they have became more aware of fairness. They recognised unfairness and bias and act with compassion and kindness towards others. They love to help others whenever they can, and are advocating for others when they believe they have been treated unfairly. Ms. Pishaya is very proud of everyone.

Links to the National Quality Standard:

NQS 2.1 each child's health is promoted

NQS 5.2.2 Each child is supported to manage their own behaviour, respond appropriately to the behaviour of others and communicate effectively to resolve conflicts

NQS 1.1.1 Curriculum decision making contributes to each child' s learning and development outcomes in relation to their identity, connection with community, wellbeing,confidence as learners and effectiveness as communicators.

What a busy month we have had in the Monash room. We have introduced some new friends up from the Hollows room. Welcome to you all and thank you to our Monash children for showing them our routine and helping them out when needed.

We have been focusing on our fine motor and cognitive development over the past month, by spending quality time focusing on certain phonics and having specific achievement based art projects. You are all welcome to come and have a little look around the room for your children's art pieces They are very proud of them.

The Monash children have been talking about how to care for each other and make everyone feel welcome. It is one of the best feelings, as a child, to make a friendship and feel included. Over the past month, we have noticed that the children in Monash and next door in Chang are working together to form goals as well, great team work!!!

Gross motor development is a very important aspect of the Monash day, they spend lots of time outside playing ball games, balance activities, climbing over different equipment and running races. These activities foster a child's growth and are extremely important for their motor progress. It is great to see how much they are all enjoying it too.

Did you notice our new name tags for this term? Our frogs are growing slowly throughout the year! Please don't forget to ask you child to collect their name tag of a morning and put it back in the pond of an afternoon. Also, please remember to bring a water bottle in and take it home every night. We do have cup if you forget however it is really important that you child learns to take responsibility for this as they will be required to do so at school. 

Our veggie garden is growing so well at the moment, a couple of weeks ago we even harvested our kale to make some healthy chips, we all tried them and they were a big hit!!

After a busy and eventful month, we can't wait for the next one and we reckon it will be just as fantastic!