Friday 30th October

HANDS UP FOR LEARNING! WORLD TEACHERS DAY Friday 30 October

Teachers Matter!!!!

Gardeners Galore!

Wednesday 28 October

With Spring well underway it is time to get back into the garden and plant some vegetables and of course there are many enthusiastic young gardeners ready to help. With the soil already dug over and silver beet, cabbage, corn, lettuce, pumpkin and tomato plants purchased it's time to get to work. Holes are dug, plants put in, soil packed around them and pressed down firmly and finally they are watered. It's all quite straightforward . In fact the most challenging part with so many willing helpers is to avoid stepping on the plants and each other!

As well as working together co-operatively children achieve a real sense of pride as they watch their plants grow and thrive under their ongoing care, not to mention the 'yummy' vegetables they are able to share when they are ready. Part of our kindergarten culture is to strongly encourage healthy food at all times and through growing their own vegetables children are developing an understanding of being able to do this themselves - food does not just come from the supermarket.

Thursday 10th September

Following alongside our ‘sea theme’ I thought it would be fun to do some screen printing today with sea life cut-outs. The children really enjoyed this process and it is broken down as follows. (Also see slide show below for pictures). Step one involved the children selecting the sea creatures they wanted to print and arrange them on their page. Step two involved the children placing the screen over their page and then for the fun part.....adding the paint. You can see in the slide show pictures how the children spread the paint across the screen. Step three......once the screen is evenly covered in paint it is then lifted and the children carefully peel their page off the screen. Their print is then revealed and hung to dry. Step four, the last in the process involved the children washing the different cut-outs so they can be used again. The children worked together to wash and dry the cut-outs they used. Overall this was a great experience for all involved I must admit it took me back to some of the things I enjoyed doing as a young child. As you can see there was much skill involved in this process and it was great to see all of the children involved follow the process from beginning to end with minimal guidance from myself, I just had to try and keep up with the rapid pace in which they were producing their prints. Although the children worked independently on their pictures they had to work co-operatively sharing the paints, cut-outs and cleaning the cut-outs at the end and they all did this really well. The children explored with new and different media and produced some great prints!

Friday 4th September

Fun in the sun!

I thought it would be fun today to revisit a game the children really enjoy, 'duck, duck, goose'. It has been quite some time since we have played but the sun was shining in the outdoors today so what better time to play. I quickly ran over the instructions with the children and they were keen and eager to get started. Before I knew it they were running the show themselves, I stood back and become the observer. Check out the video!

Friday 28th August

Reviewing this past week... This week has been another busy week at kindergarten. There has been loads happening in the programme and the weather has been on our side so the children have made the most of the outdoors. Spring is definitely on its way!!! On Tuesday we had a family luncheon which we had a great turn out for. ‘Kat Anna Fiddle’ joined us for this luncheon and both children and parent’s enjoyed the production on healthy eating. We have put together a short slideshow of what some of the children have been doing this week.

Wednesday 26th August

Swinging with a difference....

Observing the children on the swing today took me back to my own childhood. I can remember I used to love my brother twisting the swing as I held on tight ready for the release and the spinning that was to follow. The children can often be found on the swing twisting one another as far as the swing will allow and then the unravelling follows. Today Coby and Sean were doing just that and Coby asked me if I would take some photos. As well as several photos I managed to take a short video clip of the boys having loads of fun. I must say I was even lining up for a turn.

Thursday 20th August

Spike & Friends Thursday seen more visitors at kindergarten...... Spike and his friends from Swim Station arrived just after morning tea. The children were very curious about these visitors as they made their way to the mat area. After a little preparation Spike and his friends emerged from the office and greeted the children on the mat. The focus of this session was water safety. The session was very interactive and the children discussed various things from safety around the pool area to what happens during swimming lessons. This video captures a snippet of the session with some of the children participating in lessons out of the water.

Tuesday 18th August

Belinda & Amby This week at kindergarten has been very busy and we have been lucky to have some special visitors. Belinda and Amby from St John visited on Tuesday and talked to the children about the different emergency services in our community. Particular emphasis was placed on St John and the role of paramedics and doctors. Belinda shared a story with the children about Amby the ambulance and the children were lucky enough to explore with some of the equipment that can be found in an ambulance. This was a great session that the children are still talking about.

Thursday 13th August

Everyday's a Birthday!

This week has been a week of birthday celebrations for Catie, Carly, Kyla and Nevaeh. It seems everyday is a birthday, I think we would all like it if this really was the case so long as we didn't have to turn another year older everyday. I'm guessing this week they have already celebrated a lifetime of birthdays and had loads of fun doing so, oh the joys of imaginary play. These girls have been busy in the sandpit all week making cakes and party food for each of their birthdays. Today again they were singing loudly and blowing out their candles together. This video captures their celebrations.

Tuesday 11th August

Rainy Day Fun The downpour outside this morning meant that the indoor environment was a hive of activity. Our children love sensory/messy exploration they are certainly not afraid to get their hands dirty. I managed to get some video footage of a small group of children at the paint table doing some finger painting. They enjoyed running their hands through the paint and making patterns on the table. Check it out!