Our focus book for this term is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. As part of our hook for the book, the children ‘discovered’ some caterpillar eggs left in our classroom (real silkworm eggs).
We have been watching them closely, and just as this goes to print, the eggs have begun to hatch. We are now parenting baby silkworms! Baby silkworms eat only mulberry leaves and plenty of them as they grow.
In addition to this we have also started using the BeeBots. These are robots that help us learn some basic coding skills. Luckily, we don’t need to feed these little guys too!
NEWS FROM KINDY ROOM 18
We have had a fun-filled Term 2 in Room 18 with an integrated theme of Australia and Australian animals based around a book called Can You See Me? by Sue Briggs, Bev Harvey and Bronwyn Houston and NAIDOC week earlier in the term.
The Kindy children have made lots of amazing artwork that parents have missed out on seeing with restrictions in place. They have learnt many different art techniques. They have made air-dry clay echidnas, step by step drawings of possums (from Midnight Possum by Sally Morgan), observational still life drawings of a banksia (these were fantastic!), wattle art using different mediums, dot paintings and Aboriginal flags using stampers to name only a few! They have had sensory experiences with gum nuts, seed pods, wood and bark, played barrier games using an Aboriginal themed background and played in our camping dramatic play area that included a campfire and Australian animal puppets.
KINDY NEWS – ROOM 18
In Room 18 during Term 4, we have been very busy learning letter sounds, looking at numbers up to 20 and exploring our Talk for Writing Text.
Early in the term, we were amazed to receive a letter and package that contained an oar from ‘Mr. Peffer’. Looking for clues in the letter, everyone eagerly set out on a hunt around our school, and were surprised and excited to find Mr. Peffer’s boat in our playground! This exciting event led us to the book Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen. We learnt the book, retold the events and created our own stories focusing on beginning, middle and end.
Within this theme, we have had lots of fun making boats, learning about items that sink and float, and exploring the world under the sea. Mr. Peffer’s boat has also provided lots of opportunities for dramatic play in the classroom.
NEWS FROM OUR KINDY – ROOM 16
At the end of Term One, Mr Duncan from Child’s Play Music came and visited the Kindy children. With him he brought all of the instruments that he has made from recyclable goods. By far, the highlight was playing as an orchestra. During this experience we learnt to listen to each other and to watch the conductor, so we knew when to start and stop playing, when to be loud or quiet (forte and piano), when to get louder or softer (crescendo and diminuendo) or when to go fast or slow (allegro and adagio). Here is what some of the children had to say:
Tyra – I liked the drums.
Lizzie – I really liked the beautiful sounds we made.
Jack – I loved playing the thong-o-phone!
Grace M – I liked blowing in the balloon bassoon.
NEWS FROM ROOM 16
Did you know that Wednesday the 25th of July was our 100th day of school this year? The Kindergarten and Pre-Primary students in Room 16 certainly did.
During Maths this year, they have been counting their days to develop their ability to represent numbers using numerals, pop sticks and tallies. On Wednesday and Thursday to celebrate their 100th day of school, they engaged in a range of fun activities thinking about the number 100 and reflected on all they have learnt so far. The students explored counting to and from 100, using songs in the classroom, and by attempting to make necklaces with 100 beads. To explore how long 100 seconds is, they tested how many times they could clap, star jump or write their name in that amount of time.
Earlier this year in History the students looked at how they have grown since they were babies. Building on this knowledge the students thought about how people might change when they are 100 years old. To help the students learn what the number 100 looks like we iced biscuits, and decorated these with smarties. We were allowed to put as many smarties as, we are old, on each biscuit. Kindergarten students used this to practise counting collections to 15, while Pre-Primary students consolidated their knowledge of addition sums and equal groups.
In the week leading up to the 100th day of school, students were asked to make something using the number 100 at home with their parents, which they could bring to class and share with their peers. There was such a range of wonderful creations brought in by students, and we loved seeing how they were able to work with their families to explore what we have been learning at school. Take a look at some of the fun we got up to in our photos.
Reflecting on the growth we have shown so far this year, it has been a great experience and we all look forward to further developing our skills this Semester.
NEWS FROM KINDY GROUP 1 – ROOM 18
Welcome to Term 2! We cannot believe that we are only nine weeks away from being halfway through our first year of school. So far we have been really busy remembering all of the things that we CAN do at school. We CAN put our hand up if we want to share an idea or thought, we CAN share our classroom toys, we CAN put all of our belongings in their correct spots ready for the day ahead. These are just a few of the things that we can do now that we are Kindy children.
We have also been learning and sharing all of our knowledge and understanding in relation to our names and exactly what words are. To assist us with understanding language sounds and rhythms we had Mr Duncan visit us with all of his instruments that are made from recycled materials. We used a large variety of instruments to change speed and sounds just like we do when we talk. It was a super exciting morning and everyone had lots of fun.
This term we look forward to generating lots of rhyming words and tackling those bigger numbers like ten. Mrs Whitney also has a feeling that a very special delivery just may appear in our room. Stay tuned for that one…
Kindy and Pre-Primary Sports Day
On Thursday the 2017 North Perth Early Childhood Sports Carnival was a great success. It was very exciting to have our first running races and all students had a chance to participate in a variety of fun and physical activities ranging from water relays to disco dancing. We wore our Vincent, Woodville and Bolton faction shirts with pride and even the parents got involved wearing their colours.
Congratulations to all students for showing great sportsmanship and working together as a team to compete across the day. A very big THANK YOU to all the parents who volunteered (and those who volunteered to volunteer) we had such a great day because of you! The events cannot be run without your support and encouragement of all of our students and especially the way you role model getting involved, the parents races were jammed packed this year.
Also a massive thank you to the P&C for providing morning tea and lunch options for our families as well as raising money for our school – you are amazing.
Nicole Walker