Can you believe we are halfway through the year already? As much as it seems that time is flying by there is much evidence to show that children are indeed well into the Kindy year - their confidence, independence and myriad capabilities have grown dramatically. We are very proud of our young friends and all that they are and can do.
Bush Kindy
The rain and wind have interrupted our visits to Bush Kindy a few times but most of the time we have persevered, and the children are enjoying it more and more. They are becoming confident, independent and resilient – the children help to set out the tarp, we have lunch and then they are off with ideas and plans of their own.
At Bush Kindy children are practising and applying new skills - knot tying, lashing, palm drilling, sawing, testing, problem solving - as they play outdoors. We make all kinds of swings, shelters, zip lines, spider webs and unique creations. They are becoming increasingly independent in how they play, come up with ideas, use resources and assess risk.
The rain has come down a few times and we have built a large tarp shelter. Everything is a learning opportunity – sheltering for 10 minutes under a tarp is an opportunity to be resilient and patient. During a particularly heavy downpour last week Kupi Group children, teachers and parents practiced grit by singing “Rain, rain, go away” as loudly as we could while the parents ensured the tarp didn’t collapse under the weight of the deluge!
Anyway, our singing worked and the rain moved on and we resumed our play with the satisfying feeling that we’d conquered the weather. We will miss this site – Balimber Group have loved the long, horizontal branches which are so good for making swings, and Kupi Group will miss the giant fig tree that invites a challenging climb and a high view. We are looking forward to exploring our new Bush Kindy site in the forest next term.
Home Kindy Life
Back at kindy the children have been very busy with increasingly complex play and some special events. We have been engrossed in clay work, teacher Kim has a special interest in natural art and has been supporting the children to create 3D clay pieces.
The craft table continues to be a place where many children go to express their ideas (bug buses, commercial sized robot vacuums, ships with sails, laser arm bands…..) and to make props for play (cameras, binoculars, bug catchers, treasure boxes…). Thank you to all our parents who lug home arm-loads of box creations – through their craft they are building important skills and dispositions around planning, problem solving, communication, representational thinking, sharing, body planning and fine motor skills…it’s so worth it!
Because of the noticing circle and noticing book and our language around that the children are now tuned in to the idea of looking closely and sharing observations, so kindy is now a little hive of children making observations about all manner of things and sharing them with peers and teachers, for example, noticing moss growing on the rocks, that one of our bush turkeys has a limp and making a plan to erect signs to alert others to take care around our injured friend, noticing when peers are away for the day.
Noticing when a friend is approaching the climbing tree and calling out “watch out, I’m jumping down now!” before leaping onto the ground, noticing when a peer is missing their hat and running to give it to them. The fact that children are noticing more and communicating their growing awareness supports their developing social skills – they are tuning in to their peers’ body language and their ideas and consequently their play is becoming more language rich, more complex and longer lasting.
This week Balimber Group enjoyed a wonderful visit from Aunty Sharron’s daughter, Jess. Aunty Sharron taught us the wonderful word, Yindyamarra, which infuses our daily life at kindy. The children loved Jess’s stories about Aboriginal life in the long long time ago, before there were shops or cars. They joined in with kangaroo and emu dances explored the varying sounds clap sticks make from the wood of different trees.
Jess and the children had a great conversation about how to look after country, and to only take what you need, not what you greed. Aunty Sharron and her family are excellent educators for young children and we appreciate our connection with them very much. Kupi Group will have the Indigenous Insights experience next Friday.
In brief….
Learning more Yuggera words and some language from the Torres Strait Islands
Learning songs in different languages such as Spanish and Hebrew
Making pizzas
Lots of sewing and weaving experiences
Exploring more resource boxes borrowed from the Queensland Museum – one about Australian water animals and another about tools from the ocean
Playing transition games that build our skills with body planning, crossing the midline and core strength – like wheelbarrows, “spotscotch” and copying games.
Thank you
to our social team for a lovely Family Fun Day – it’s so nice to have time to catch up with food and music!
to everyone supporting us with kindy maintenance and upkeep, it’s a big job and it takes the community to care for it
to our volunteers at Bush Kindy – thank you for helping us to herd the flock, for hauling trolleys, for being imaginative and sharing your practical skills. We hope you have all enjoyed it too!
