Who can believe that we are already into our fourth week of term one. The initial weeks of kindergarten have been full of excitement, discovery and curiosity in the Koala group. The staggered sessions within the first week were a great opportunity for children to settle into their environment and allowed us as Educators to really get to know each individual child. We are finding out children’s interests with many of the Koala’s gravitating toward the Art experiences wanting to paint, draw and collage! We have also seen great collaborative creations within the block area, where children have been working together to construct differing structures and then enjoying this as smaller groups. The children are also loving their outdoor play environment and the multitude of affordances offered in our beautiful grounds.
During first term we will be focusing on developing relationships within the group, educators developing relationships with children and children developing relationships with their peers. Last week we explored with children what a community is, and how communities are groups of people who look after and care for one another. We discussed that we can be part of differing communities and that Elonera Preschool and the Koala group is a community that we all belong too. In Koala’s we want children to know that not only do we as educators look after and care for them but they care for one another too. Being part of a community can support children’s sense of safety and security within the environment and provide children with a happy and safe environment to learn in.
One of the sessions we had a whole group discussion recapping what a community was and also looking at how we can make the koala group a happy community. Using this as the guiding question, with support the children were able to explore elements needed for respectful relationships and interactions. The children highlighted key elements for positive relationships such as “Caring” “working together” “taking turns”. In koala group we will support children to engage in these behaviours. Through learning experiences in the coming weeks we will build upon and extend this learning and look more closely at friendships and community. This learning experience directly links to the Victorian Early Years Learning Framework outcome Community where children are supported to “ develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active civic participation”.
Ellie and Jo
