Welcome to Big School

We have had a wonderful morning during our kindergarten transition session. The children laughed their way through the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Mrs Downes does amazing voices!). They then rotated through activities based on the story. In STEM the children created chairs and beds for Goldilocks that wouldn't break . . .


In maths, WALT the puppet explained that We Are Learning To measure, so we can find out what size something is. The children measured themselves with some string and then compared their measurements to Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. . .

 The children created delicious teddy bear biscuits . . .

And you probably noticed lots of children wearing grumpy Papa bear masks!

Then we all ate morning tea together in one of the Big School playgrounds. 

We hope the parents found the session enjoyable and informative. The children are ready for 'Big School'! Are you? 

Halloween

Many children entered the class this morning wishing each other a "happy Halloween!" They shared discussions about their Halloween plans as they did puzzles and settled down on the mat waiting for their friends to arrive. I heard one little boy say "my family doesn't celebrate Halloween." So I felt it was something worth discussing with the children.

First I asked several children to explain what Halloween was.
"It's trick or treat."
"We dress up scary."
"It doesn't have to be scary. My sister is dressing up as a unicorn."
"No, you have to dress up scary."
"We go around getting sweets."

We talked about how important it was to make sure that they would be going around with a grown up that they know and that we should never go to meet new people or take treats from them without a grown up that we know with us.

I then asked the children if some of them were not going to be doing Halloween. A few of them said they wouldn't be. We discussed how different families celebrate different things. Some families do not celebrate Christmas. Some families celebrate Hanukkah. Some families celebrate Ramadan. Some families celebrate birthdays. We have had a role pretend birthday party in the role play area this week.

I explained that some families may not celebrate Halloween because it isn't Australian, but came from another country. Some families may not celebrate Halloween because they do not like to celebrate scary things. Some families do like to celebrate Halloween because it is nice to 'meet and 'treat' your neighbours.

In our Devotions time over the last few weeks we have been reading about Jesus dying on the cross and coming to life again, to rescue us from sin so that we can be friends with God. This morning I talked to the children about how Halloween reminds me that Jesus is the boss of everything, even the scary things. He showed us when He came alive again that He is the boss of sin, which is the biggest, scariest, yuckiest thing ever because it stops us being friends with God.

In the next few weeks we will be exploring people who are Australian and it would wonderful to hear about aspects of different cultures within our families, including different ways you celebrate together.
For News for the remainder of the year, I will be encouraging the children to bring in pictures, artefacts, or talk about celebrations they share with their family, or other aspects of their culture. If your family speaks a different language at home, we would love for you to teach us how to count from 1-10 in your langugeg. You can write it down, or come and teach the class yourself! We also have a song that we sing as a prayer of thanks for our food that I would love to have translated into your home languages as well, if you are comfortable with that.

My Place - Australia

At the beginning of term we introduced a new project exploring 'Being Australian'. The children worked in small groups sharing their ideas about things that are Australian. I loved Jacob's response: "doing little athletics!" 

Our Monday class had a great time on their excursion to the Australian Botanic Gardens where they were able to discover and explore plants that are Australian...

They took photographs and drew some observations. 

We are looking forward to our Thursday class going this week (if the rain can stay away!). 

Following up the excursion, some of the children enjoyed creating beautiful artworks of some Australian plants. We even fond some in our schoo. 

Today Charlize brought some native flowers she found near her home and showed the class during News. 

I have been questioning the students about why it might be important to have Australian plants in Australia and some of the children shared their observation that rainbow lorikeets like bottle brush trees. We also talked about koalas living in eucalyptus trees and that they only like to eat certain kinds of eucalyptus plants. Some of the children came to the conclusion that without those kinds of plants, the koalas and rainbow lorikeets would die. 

Learning Outcome:

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.

• Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment.  

The Circus Is In Town

Last week, particularly during morning group time, many students had been sharing about their experiences with the circus which is in town. We decided to set up a role play circus during outdoor play for this week. Today some of the children were keen to be involved in the circus and put on different shows for their friends and dressed up as clowns.