This month I am able to start my report with some extremely exciting news. Our teacher Beck Cowley has recently had her baby, a beautiful little boy named Jasper Elliot Cowley. Beck and her family are all doing well and completely in love with their new little bundle!
I would like to say a huge thank-you to all our families who attended our very first Winter Solstice Festival. It received an overwhelming response and the attendance is a reflection of the amazing community that we have at Elonera. Thank-you all also for the wonderful feedback and emails the teaching team has received regarding the evening, we look forward to being able to make it an annual event. The idea of the festival emerged out of a discussion that the teaching team had regarding how we can actively provide opportunities for our families to connect and spend time together in a social environment. We are so grateful that our families embraced the concept and we all so enjoyed being able to share this magical experience with you all. The children loved being involved and engaged in the lead up to the event through singing, decorating lanterns, and cooking for their families. I would also like to say a HUGE thank-you to all of the teaching team for the enormous amount of planning, preparation and cooking that went into the event. They all willingly donated their time to decorate, shop, cook, set up, pack up and went above and beyond to support this event.
The Possum children have had another busy month and cooking continues to be a very engaging and popular experience for the children to explore. The children are now requesting particular foods to bake or cook and we look forward to being able to explore a variety of new foods. We enjoyed cooking both chicken and vegetable soup and a minestrone soup for the Winter Solstice. In order to support the children’s developing cooking skills and to support our philosophy regarding the children participating in real life experiences, we have also now purchased a set of ‘kiddikutter’ knives so the children are able to assist in the cutting and chopping of the ingredients. We also have introduced cooking on the open fire and the children loved having the opportunity to not only make damper but then they had the opportunity to cook it on the fire by themselves. Cooking is not only a ‘real life’ experience it also provides the children with opportunities to engage in a variety of learning dispositions and skills. While cooking we explore mathematical concepts such as weight and measurement, we explore science concepts as we observe cause and effect, trial and error and chemical reactions. As we sit together engaged in the experience we extend our observation skills, engage in cooperative learning and explore sharing and turn taking. We extend our verbal communication as we discuss what we are doing, but also as we just share our personal ideas and stories as we sit together. The children predict, hypothesis, observe and reflect – cooking is such a marvellous learning experience!
Planning is also now underway for parent teacher conversations in Term 3. We are looking to implement these around the third week of the term. The teaching team will set aside one night to offer interviews and also complete some during their non-contact time during the day. We will also send home an individual learning plan for parents to complete prior to the interviews to receive feedback on their child’s experiences at kinder and to support us for further planning in the next 6 months.
I have recently attended a Department of Education and Training ‘Transition to School’ course. The department are looking at extending and developing the ways schools and kindergartens support this transition for children. So far this year the children have enjoyed excursions to Parkdale Primary and St John Vianney’s and the teaching team will continue to look at ways we can strengthen these relationships. We also hope to be able to organise an excursion in the coming months to Parktone Primary so that we are developing relationships with all of our local feeder schools. Prior to commencing at Primary school each child is provided with a ‘Transition Statement’ that is written by the 4 year old teacher and sent to the school in order to provide them with information and strategies that can be used to support the individual child’s transition. For the first time in 2017 this will all be completed and submitted to your nominated school online along with a section completed with the child and a section completed by the family.
On a personal note I have recently been nominated onto the Australian Education Union Early Childhood sector council. This is a really exciting opportunity I have been presented with and I really look forward to being able to discuss the ‘behind scenes’ issues facing our sector. This role will require me to attend 8 sector council meetings and professional development sessions a year on a Friday. While it takes me away from the children I feel that having committed and active early childhood professionals leads to a stronger early childhood sector that works towards achieving the best outcomes for our children and families as well as our colleagues.
I hope that you all have a safe and happy holiday period and look forward to see all our wonderful children and families for an exciting Term 3!!
