The children settled back into their first few weeks of term 4 with ease and we have had the opportunity to make the most of some sunshine and the new outside renovations. Many of the children acknowledging and noticing the changes!
At the beginning of last term and continuing into this term, children will have the chance to take home Nellie and Lou, the koala group mascots. The children have been patient in waiting for their turn, as this has been a progressive process over the weeks. The children are able to take Nellie and Lou home for a week and experience each child’s home environment. The children then can share with the whole group what they did with Nellie and Lou at a mat time. Those children who have taken Nellie and Lou home have shown confidence in sharing in front of their peers and also thoroughly enjoyed this experience. This also acted as an extension to the “Me Bag” learning experience that we did in term one. Nellie and Lou as a learning experience supports the children to;
- Demonstrate their sense of belonging and comfort in their environments.
- Engage in enjoyable reciprocal interactions using verbal and non-verbal language.
- Contribute their experiences in large group discussions.
- Are independent communicators who initiate Standard Australian English and home language conversations, and demonstrate the ability to meet the listener’s needs.
Last week the Koala children attended their first big excursion to the Melbourne Museum. The day started with a lot of excitement as we all jumped onto the bus to head into the city. Whilst at the museum we had the opportunity to explore the Bugs exhibition, the dinosaur walk, the forest walk and the marine life exhibition. Following these self guided tours we spent some time outside in the sunshine as a whole group enjoying our lunch and a play on the playground. We finished the day off with a structured program run by the Museum “Bugs, Bugs, Bugs”. The children enjoyed the interactive nature of this program. This excursion to the Museum supported children to;
- Explore another community environment outside of Parkdale, and to support children to show respect for differing settings.
- The children over the year have shown an interest in bugs and insects so this worked toward supporting and extending their learning and interest in this area.
- Children were able to build on their real life experiences of developing an understanding of how to be safe outside of the Elonera Preschool Environment.
- The Museum allowed children to explore independently and therefore the children were being supported to develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, inquiry, investigating, enthusiasm and imagination.
- This excursion was as a whole group, with the assistance of children’s families. This worked toward building children’s sense of belonging to our community group.
