Red Group Report 17/06/2021

Term Two is nearly over, which means we are already halfway through the pre-kindy year. Playing/working with three-year old’s puts one into a wonderful world where play and being in the moment is a high priority.  The short afternoons we spend at Red Group are filled with rich learning experiences and social interactions which makes the time fly by.

Our little group of twelve children will be expanding in Term Three with several new children joining us.  We have such a beautiful group of children and I am sure they will welcome some new friends.

Looking through the many photos from the last month reminds me of all the learning that happens every afternoon at Red Group.  The children are developing their resilience and sense of self, which are evidenced by being open to new challenges and being able to co-operate and work collaboratively with others.  Some children love playing board games and are particularly good at taking turns and encouraging each other during play.

Another area that I see changes in during the year is their physical development and ability to engage in large and fine motor skill activities.  Movement is a must for this age group, and we like to encourage the children to climb, jump, balance and swing.    Some children started the year climbing and swinging independently, but others are working hard to learn those skills and Phoebe and I are there to support their attempts and encourage them to have a go.

We are also providing opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills.  With activities like- cutting with scissors, manipulating playdough and clay and threading large and small objects. 

 Many pre-kindy children came along to Family Fun Day and had a wonderful time getting their faces painted, playing with the baby animals and eating yummy food.  We are so lucky to have our wonderful social convener, Zoe, and her amazing helpers, put on a super Fun Day.  We would like to say thank you to Zoe and all the volunteers who helped on the day.

Phoebe and I hope all the Red Group families have a wonderful School Holiday break and enjoy the beautiful Brisbane winter weather.  Check out the Nature Play QLD website for some ideas for family fun outside.  

 natureplayqld.org.au

Red Group Report May 2021

Another typical Red Group afternoon is not a comment we make after a busy pre-kindy session.  Every day is different with three-year-old’s.  Sometimes there is a quiet hum of activity and other days the children race around with limitless energy.  I am sure all of you will know just what I mean.

At Red Group we celebrate their inquisitive minds and look for new ways to quench their need to move and create.  Climbing and balancing have been a focus this Term, with children taking chances and trying something challenging, with a little scaffolding from the teachers.  Just in case you think we are putting up scaffolding to keep the children safe, I was referring to the concept of scaffolding which means to support children whilst they learn a new skill.  Climbing and balancing improves strength and spatial awareness, just to name a few benefits. 

The children love to paint, and we have offered a variety of mediums.  We have used acrylic paints, water colours and wet chalk.  Using the chalk at the easel produced a beautiful result when the children painted water over the chalk drawing.  We have an amazing Art Show in September and we will be collecting some of your children’s art for that event.  We will be telling you more about the Art Show next Term, but please Save the Date in your diary now, Saturday 11th of September.

Most children are playing together in a very mature, cooperative play style.  They can take turns, share ideas and negotiate ideas for their play.  Some still prefer to play alone for part of the afternoon, but we are all keen to come to the mat for singing, games and stories.  They all come racing to the mat when we ring the bells and I encourage them to choose the story and songs for mat time to help them think about what they like and what interests them.

The children were so excited to make a gift and a card for their mums, I was amazed at how many helpers there were to make the sugar scrub.  Thank you all for coming to our Mother’s Day campfire, it was a wonderful day and I loved seeing all the children sharing the afternoon with their mum, grandma and some aunties.

Have you thought about coming to visit Red Group?  We love parents and grandparents to join us for the afternoon, just add your name to the Roster list.  Impromptu visits are fine also, we value all family connections at pre-kindy.  If you have an interest or skill you would like to share with everyone, please have a chat with me and we can work out a suitable time for you to share it with the group.

Director's Report March 2021

At Kindy we come together each morning and say our welcome: “Here is the land, the water and the sky, here are our friends, and here am I. Today I will go with Yindyamarra my heart”. Yindyamarra is a Wiradjuri word that means to go slowly with honour and respect, to care for yourself, others and the environment and to be observant and kind. We use the word in multiple contexts throughout the day, reminding ourselves to make choices that respect others, ourselves and the environment. We have been amazed at how the children in both groups have taken to the idea of Yindyamarra, using the word throughout the day to describe actions and behaviours. “My friend just found a caterpillar and put it back onto a leaf, that was really Yindyamarra”, reflected one friend. “Saying sorry is Yindyamarra”, thought another at a different moment. “Listening to your Mum and Dad is Yindyamarra”, offered another, wisely. “Throwing rocks is not Yindyamarra”, suggested another, “unless you’ve done a safety check”, he added. This early time of the year is when we all, staff and children, contribute to deciding on what our Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 2 of 8 expectations are in order to create a peaceful, happy kindergarten, and Yindyamarra has proved to be a wonderful, rounded concept to start that thinking and those conversations. We have been learning other indigenous words, mainly from our local Yuggerabul language, which the children find fun and interesting – as families you may have heard some of these words from your child and wondered about them. “Jippi” for bird, “Gadam” for rain, “Duram duram” for storm – we like to think of these as the first names of things in this place and it is respectful, Yindyamarra even, to learn and use them. Following are some examples of our play and learning recently: - Exploring ideas about Lunar New Year last month – Blue Group embarked upon an amazing project of creating our own enormous Dragon for a Dragon Dance. The dance was repeated many times over a couple of weeks and included a Pearl of Wisdom on a pole for the Dragon to chase, and musicians. All the ideas came from the children from their interest in the books we had read about Lunar New Year. - Playing lots of name games so that we can learn each other’s names and call out to our friends – this can take a while though! - The climbing tree has been a focal point so far this year as children develop their courage to find a way up and get down again. We have used these moments to discuss “safety checks” and making choices that are safe for yourself and others. - Going on the swings – we are impressed with how many children can swing themselves independently – this is quite unusual for this time of year! Perhaps it’s because of all those trips to the local park during COVID restrictions? - Sensory play and learning with play dough, clay, seeds and shaving cream. Sensory experiences provide opportunities for children to learn and think scientifically about their world and to develop their language as they describe textures, sights and smells. Sensory play can contribute to wellbeing and calm feelings for many children too. - Lots of spontaneous, self-directed play and exploration. We provide open-ended resources and big chunks of time for children to initiate their own projects – this encourages independence, curiosity, decision-making, creativity and social development, to name a few outcomes. We have really seen the children’s independence and perseverance growing.Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 3 of 8 - Investigations in Blue Group about dinosaurs and how fossils are made, and how the dinosaurs went extinct. This has been a fascinating topic for teachers and children alike. I posed the question at group time one morning – Why aren’t there dinosaurs stomping around outside today? “The dinosaurs all ate each other”, thought one friend. “They ate all the leaves on the trees and then they didn’t have any air”, said another. “They’re extinct and now they live on Mars because it’s hot and it has volcanoes”, thought a creative thinker. Afterwards we did find out the probable explanation for the dinosaurs’ demise – a massive meteor strike – but it was wonderful to hear their original thinking and to create the opportunity to teach them that ideas are valuable and that their ideas are valued. - Imaginary role play about animals, especially cats, tigers, games about families and rescue games. - Developing compassion and understanding through the discoveries we have made of a diverse range of insects and small creatures. - - Imagining we’re in the Rainforest with the Evergreen Children’s Theatre and meeting some beautiful native animal puppets. - We’ve been enjoying the rain and it has eased up enough for us to get out and play in the damp, fresh garden every day. In Yellow Group we observed the big umbrella steaming when the sun came out after a downpour – “It looks like the umbrella is on fire!” exclaimed a friend, which started a nice science discussion. - We’ve been really loving storytime and music time – you may have heard snippets of some of our songs like the Pirate Song and Boa Constrictor. - Yellow Group engaged in a big, long-running project about boats (in fact I think it’s still going!). Children were designing their own boats and working out how to make them move. - We’ve been re-enacting some of the stories from story time – Mr McGee is a favourite character who has many misadventures that are fun to re-enact. Recall, rhythm, rhyme and vocabulary are strong elements of learning in this type of experience. On Wednesday our staff had a very productive pupil free day. We completed our full First Aid course, held an offsite evacuation drill, reviewed our Philosophy, conducted our Annual Peer-toPeer Reviews, made plans for future projects and dealt with some policy and procedure updates. We are making plans and looking forward to our Bush Kindy program starting next term.Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 4 of 8 Thank you to our families who have come on roster, we’ve enjoyed your presence and appreciated your help. Thank you to our new committee members for taking on the roles, we appreciate your support and hope that you find it to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Red Group Report March 2021

Welcome to all the new and returning families to Chapel Hill Community Kindergarten.  Phoebe and hope that you and your child feel “at Home” at our Red Group pre-kindy.  Our program is short in length but very full of opportunities for your child.  Here is a short list of what happens each afternoon at Red Group – free play, creative arts, climbing, social interactions, stories, music, digging, games and so much more.

The children have settled in and are happy playing alone or parallel to other children.  Some have joined Red Group with a special friend and others are seeking to make new friends to play with.  Social interactions and learning how to get along in a group are important skills that we work on during the pre-kindy year.  For some children this is their first experience away from their family, so we like to spend time getting to know each other and building trust.

We see children as capable and competent; they already have a wealth of knowledge from their first educators; mum, dad and other family members.  Phoebe and I have really enjoyed the last eight weeks discovering what the children already know, what they want to do and how we can encourage them to try something new.  Resilience is one of my favourite words and I want every child to know they “can do it” and to help them build their self-confidence to try something new or challenging.

The children are enjoying all areas of the kindy, but the rain has stopped us from fully exploring the upper playground.  With the warm weather we have been having water play is a favourite with many of the children, especially running it down pipes and planks.  During water play children are improving their problem-solving skills and enhancing their social and language development.  Maths and science concepts are also explored during water-play, what an amazing activity filled with rich learning opportunities.

 Easel painting is offered most weeks, with a variety of colour combinations each day.   We also tried finger painting this week, which many children found very engaging.  The children are keen to use all the equipment on the stationary shelves, such as scissors, sticky tape, hold punches and a multitude of drawing materials.  Play dough is a favourite activity for some children, offering wonderful opportunities for creative expression.  We use scissors with the playdough for children to help develop their fine motor muscles and cutting skills.

We have been exploring climbing and jumping the last few weeks and working on how to safely climb and to bend out knees when we land.  The children are all at different stages of learning this skill, so we always meet children where they are and scaffold their progress as needed.

We get together as a group near the end of every session to sing, chat, play a game and read a story.  Phoebe and I are amazed at how keen and interactive the children are at Group Time, it is always a joyous time to share that special time together.  If any parent or family member have a special talent to share with us at Group Time please let me know, we would love you to come and visit. 

There are only two weeks of Red Group for Term One, then we have the April school holidays and Easter. In Week Ten we will have a mini Easter Egg Hunt on our last day of Term, which is Tuesday 30th of March.

Red Group Report 19/11/2020

The end of Pre-kindy is fast approaching, and your little children will be heading off to big Kindy next year.  They are all very ready for this next adventure and I am so happy to be in the lucky position to see them grow and develop through their Kindy year.  As most of you know, I am the Kindy Outdoor Educator and lead our Bush Kindy adventure in Terms two and three with Blue and Yellow Groups.

We have had many changes this year with Covid stopping Red Group for a few weeks and old friends leaving and new friends coming, but none of that has stopped the play and fun of pre-kindy.  The Red Group children have had a fabulous year playing, painting, swinging, imagining, digging, climbing and making new friends.  The children have matured and changed so much over the last ten months. 

It is so special to sit back and watch the children play co-operatively with their friends and to create their own play opportunities.  They are seeking out friends to play with and showing a developing social maturity.

Water play has been immensely popular the last few weeks, a great place to play on hot days.  So much learning occurs during water play, such as: providing opportunities for children to experiment with math and science concepts, strengthen their physical skills, advance their social and emotional skills, and enhance language development.  Play is how children learn about their world and is the reason kindy has a play-based curriculum.

  There are many end of year preparations in the next two weeks, such as - making cards and presents for our mums and dads.  This is a surprise present your child is making, so you will have to wait a few weeks to find out what it is.   We will also be cooking something yummy for our end of year party which will be on Tuesday the 8th of December from 12:00 pm till 1:30 pm.  Next week we will send home invitations and put out a food list for parents to select what they would like to bring to the party. 

We would like to thank all the parents who came on roster this year, to help or to come and play with your child, we loved having you come to Red Group.  Phoebe and I have had a wonderful year with your beautiful children, and we are looking forward to our last few weeks together.

I also want to thank all the wonderful parents on the Committee who give up so much time and energy to our kindy, you are all amazing!!  Our kindy is a very special place because you are all fabulous human beings. 😊

Director's Report November 2020

Anna Hutchings Directors Report 19 November 2020

How amazing that we have reached the end of the year, a spectacularly different year, but a wonderful one none the less full of growth and learning.

 My absence from Kindy due to ill health was keenly felt by me and I feel that I missed out on what is always the sweetest time of the year, when the children are so confident and are applying their full personalities and skill sets to creating and pursuing their own interests and learning.  I am so grateful to our amazing team of educators who kept kindy gliding along seamlessly - what a lot of thought and effort that took and the results speak for themselves - when I returned, I found two classes of children who were incredibly content and had moved further along with their development. I am glad to be back.

 So much has happened already this term and we have even more to come!  Amazing learning and exploration took place including:

-    rich show and tell sessions - a wonderful opportunity for children to share their experiences, to ask questions and to learn about one another and the world around them.

-    the establishment of a Vet’s Surgery - many animal ailments were treated and healed including Coronavirus, broken limbs, rashes and tummy aches.  This learning space provided fantastic opportunities for children to role play, share and develop their understandings, talk about and health worries and practice meaningful writing on medical charts.

-    a visit from Kevin and his Reef Experience Puppet Show.  He showed us many beautiful animals that live on the reef.

-    taking part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count - counting and identifying our local birds.  Developing our understanding of our place and empathy towards the creatures we share it with.

-    Bush Kindy at Kindy started up again and is being embraced by some children with lots of ideas including making a truck, a swing, doing some sawing, whittling, plaiting, drilling, discovering interesting warm-weather insects, making a fishing rod and even a slingshot (with safety checks in place).  We are currently building a sign for the mud kitchen which involves sawing, painting, pouring cement and writing words - a great real-life skill-building and literacy experience.

-    Our student teacher Lucy shared many wonderful ideas and created fabulous learning opportunities for the children.  We made our own story stones using indigenous story symbols, again strengthening the children’s connection and understanding of our place and its long indigenous history. She organised several experiments involving chemical reactions where we observed what happened when you mix bi-carb with water, and Coke with Mentos! We played games to test and hone our throwing skills such as throwing beanbags through a sheet of corflute with holes cut out.  Fun!

-    we created a giant spiders web across the kindy that could support the weight of several children, sparked by an ongoing fascination with arachnids.  This required much testing and utilising of rope tightening and tying skills developed over the Bush Kindy year.

-    NAIDOC Week inspired many wonderful threads of learning.  We looked at a map of Australia showing the approximately 250 indigenous language areas and found our own - Yuggera/Turrbal.  We listened to a story from Yawuru country which was about “Wanggarranggarra”, meaning “spider”, “spider-web” and “fishing net”.

-    We built cubbies and put on dance concerts - ballet and Frozen - learning about the rituals involved in performance and being an audience.

-    Developing our hammering skills with more complex creations and projects - another real-life skill that builds confidence and a sense of capability.

-    We created an outdoor “junk musical instrument” with suspended pots, pans and seed pods.  Fun, noisy, encouraging experimentation with different tones, timbre, volume, hand-eye co-ordination.  Moving body across the mid-line, an essential precursor to writing.

-    Learning about body parts, making “bones” out of salt-dough which we cooked and then used across multiple days to make skeletons.  Yellow Group is following on from this by making a bid chart with Yuggerabul body part names.  Combining body awareness and understanding with the cultural heritage of our place.

-    Aunty Sharon visited and shared more beautiful stories and music from Wiradjuri/Gamilaroi country.  We love Aunty Sharon - she makes us feel happy and connected and part of our long history and this place.

-    Jutta visited with her Butterfly Workshop, another fabulous, colourful and fun opportunity to build understandings about the local natural world, an essential component of taking responsibility for the environment.  The life cycle of a butterfly is a compelling story and works as a foundation fur understanding the cycle of life in general.

We are looking forward to our excursion to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens where we will learn more about two familiar yet very different trees - the eucalyptus and the lemon.  We will also soak up the wonderful sights, smells and sounds of this beautiful and oh-so-local place.  The educators there weave indigenous understandings into their teachings which dovetails so nicely with our program at kindy.

The Christmas Party is coming up - how wonderful that we can have it despite this crazy year!  The Committee, especially Sarah and Zoe, have done an amazing job in a very short space of time to get everything ready and checked off so that the children can enjoy the special occasion.  Thank you to John for your magical contribution to the day too - the children will be star-struck!

Thank you to everyone for this incredible year.  It has been like no other, but we made it.

Red Group Report 20/08/2020

It is amazing to think that in a little over five months all the Red Group children will be at Kindy, in Blue or Yellow group with their amazing teacher Anna to guide them.  As I reflect on the last six months, I am amazed at the changes in the children since starting pre-kindy.  Their ability to share with and socialize with each other has improved greatly, with some already making strong friendships. The complexity of their play, especially imaginative play has increased also.

It has been a remarkably busy Term with some old friends leaving and new friends joining our community.  Our new friends have settled in, and it feels like they have been with us all year. 

Most children have adjusted to the routines and structure of the pre-kindy afternoon, which will help them prepare for big kindy next year.  There are a multitude of benefits for the children who attend pre-kindy at Chapel Hill and I know the timing can be tricky for some families, but the positive outcomes make it all worthwhile.

So far this Term the Red Group children have been:  cooking up feasts and feeding the babies in home corner, painting- a lot, climbing the ladder tree, throwing balls, swinging,  riding the “horse”, building with blocks, enjoying story time and singing, having a go at tricky puzzles … and I could go on for pages.  Please feel free to have a look through all the amazing photos on the Ipad or flip through the pages of our Red Group Big Book to see what we do each week.

Mat time at Red Group gives us the opportunity to come together at the end of our session and share music and stories together.  We have recently introduced dancing to music when we first come to the mat, which is so much fun for the children and teachers alike.  The time spent on the mat fluctuates each day, depending on how long the tidy up takes. Most of the children come running to the mat as soon as we ring the bells, eager to join in with their friends.

With the imminent arrival of Father’s Day and Art Show, the children will be making surprise gifts for their daddies and creating beautiful works of art for the Art Show in September.  Just a note for parents, in case you were wondering why so few paintings have been coming home, we have been putting aside some art for the Art Show, so we can showcase Red Groups finest creations.   We are currently working out how Art Show will be presented this year, due to Covid restrictions, but however it is done your children’s artistic creations will be celebrated.

Director’s Report Kindergarten Anna Hutchings

We are enjoying the last days of winter at Kindy, soaking up the soft sunshine and deep blue skies before summer returns with its heat and promises of storms and rain.

Budding the beehive

Our beehive is going well, with many sightings of tickle bees gathering at the hive opening in the mornings.  “They’re waiting for it to be warm enough,” shares one knowledgeable friend. The magic number is 18 – 18 degrees before native bees will venture out of their warm home.  Some children have learned to sit and wait in front of the hive, to be rewarded by a gentle swarm settling on their skin, tickling as they land, walk around and then fly off in search of a better flower.  Rod, our resident advisor, thinks they’ll start working on constructing their new hive and filling it with brood when the weather warms up – we’re checking through the window and can’t wait to watch it develop.

Coronavirus arts project

Our Pandemic Art Project is finished and all artwork sent to the State Library for processing.  We will hear from Barbara if there is to be an exhibition and any special events associated with it.  We are very proud of our young artists, both those involved in this project and those who create just for themselves at Kindy.

Uni Students

Our uni student, Tom, starts on Monday next week and will spend 15 days with us.  As this is his first prac he is feeling excited and quite nervous, and is looking forward to building his understandings about how children learn through play.

Imaginative Play

Our children are so independent in their play these days, choosing what and where to play, accessing resources they need from the shed and natural objects from the garden and sharing ideas and negotiating roles with their friends.  Every day there’s so much imaginative play, some based on recurring themes and some that are purely of the moment. I enjoyed the band of friendly pirates, a game which quite quickly changed to a family of friendly parrots – that shows our bird-centric interests in Blue Group!  The parrot family shared responsibility for sitting on their eggs and feeding their babies nectar.  One entrepreneurial parrot had a sideline making lollypops using honey and twigs, the major selling point being “when you’re finished just throw it on the ground, there’s no rubbish for the bin!”. 

There’s been endless reworkings of “families” games (human and nonhuman), witches and wizards, pretend construction projects, camping make believe, doctors and patients, rubbish truck drivers, vets and teachers, and more.

Why is imaginative play so important? At the core of it is children making sense of their world, playing with ideas and roles, re-enacting stories and scenes and recombining them in new ways to understand them.  Imaginative play with peers adds extra complexity as they “experiment with and learn about the power of language” (pentagonplay.co.uk).  Sometimes things go wrong and so children have to problem-solve to continue playing.  This can involve negotiation, compromise and self-regulation, all vital social and emotional skills. Pretend play often involves lots of physical play and use of gross motor skills.  Imaginative play brings all the areas of development together in one fun context.  There is a fantastic article about imaginative play at www.pentagonplay.co.uk/news-and-info/why-pretend-play-is-important-to-child-development.

Free Discussion

We’ve enjoyed some amazing discussions and subsequent explorations about a wide range of subjects: jellyfish - how do they know where they’re going? And why it’s a problem that plastic bags look like jellyfish when they get into the ocean; a discussion about the concept of perspective - that the world to a dog may look very different to the world viewed by a mouse or a fish or a bee; wondering how the moon stays up, why air doesn’t get through our skin and how the clouds make rain; about how the earth makes different kinds of rocks. These free discussions are so important as they nurture a sense of wonder, the driver of curiosity and the desire to learn. They can learn to value ideas, to think independently, critically and creatively. They develop their language, vocabulary, their understandings about the world, and their sense of well-being as their ideas are validated by others.

Bush Kindy

Bush Kindy has been amazing, we loved our first site and we’re sorry to leave it behind, but our new location is twice as large and full of different, interesting areas for play and exploration. While the first site had the beloved bouncy vines the new place has the jungle AND the fig tree with giant buttress roots AND the mysterious rocky gully AND an area where you can dig for worms.... there’ll be plenty of happy learning and adventure in this place for sure. Big thank you to Tracy for her terrific leadership and for sharing what we’ve been doing each week via Facebook.

Thank you

To Julie and Tim Lewsey for obtaining our new drum water tanks via a Bunnings grant. These will be located next to the sandpit and will collect rainwater from the sandpit roof. Fitted out with a tap the children will be able to independently access water for play. The tanks can also be filled via the hose. We can’t wait to use them once installed!

To families who’ve volunteered at Bush Kindy - we appreciate the support and attention you give to the children’s learning there.

To our committee for keeping things running smoothly.

To our staff for going above and beyond on a daily basis to support our children and the Kindy.

Red Group Report 18/06/2020

Nearly half a year has come and gone, wow, time really does fly when you’re having fun.  Playing/working with three-year olds can put one into a wonderful world where play and being in the moment is a very high priority.  All children have a unique way of looking at and understanding their world, which makes our job of guiding them so rewarding.  We love the many opportunities available for Red Group Pre-Kindy children to practice their communication and social skills.   The world has changed dramatically this Term, but I feel the children, parents and staff at Chapel Hill Kindy have come through this difficult time with amazing resilience and a sunny disposition.

We have welcomed many of our Red Group friends back to Pre-Kindy in the last week and we have welcomed two new friends.  Welcome to Olen and Freya and their families.  They have both settled in very quickly, which is wonderful to see.  In Term Three, we will be joined by one more new child, which will take Red Group up to our capacity of 16.  We will certainly be a busy group then 😊

Looking through the many photos from the last month reminds me of all the learning that happens every afternoon at Red Group.  They are developing their resilience and sense of self, which are evidenced by being open to new challenges and being able to co-operate and work collaboratively with others.  One recent example of co-operation happened on the climbing A-frame.  Being considerate when our friends move at a different speed to us and waiting for a turn are big achievements for a young child. 

The children love playing up the top playground, near the cubby and climbing tree.  We have had a few weeks of making bird seed and feeding our friends, the “birds”.  This is a lovely example of cooperative and creative play.  The doctor’s office is also used every session, with children in full doctor costume and the patients covered in bandages and stretched out on the small doll beds.

We introduced spray painting this week and everyone loved it.  The simple act of squeezing the spray bottle trigger and seeing a burst of colour o the paper is always magical.  With Art Show at the end of Term 3 we are starting to keep some works of art that your children have made in case you have been wondering why they are not bringing much home.

With restrictions easing we are welcoming back parents to join us on Roster, so please come along next Term.  We will put out next Terms sign up sheet out next week.  We will be asking the children to bring along a special soft toy to join us for a picnic on the last day of Term, Tuesday the 23rd of June.

Director’s Report 18 June 2020 Anna Hutchings

Now that the children are fully settled back into Kindy and feeling comfortable and secure in their familiar surroundings, we are seeing their thinking and learning really take off. The play has become more complex, and therefore their learning has become more complex, because their social skills have improved, they are able to communicate their ideas with each other more effectively, they know where and how to get to the resources they need for their play, they are able to regulate their emotions more affectively so they are getting along better, and their physical skills have improved so they are able to construct, create, and move their bodies in more complicated ways.

It is, unfortunately, a common trap for adults to think of children’s play as “just play” and to dismiss children’s thinking and behaviour as unimportant and immature. But from our perspective as professionals whose business it is to understand how young people learn, it is truly fascinating and gratifying to observe these very young people developing and expressing their thinking and understandings. It is amazing, for example, to hear someone for the first time reflecting on their learning – “I tried it that way but it didn’t work, so now I’m trying it this way”, or to acknowledge their social responsibility by organising their friends and themselves to take turns. These are not little things, they and the thousands of other developmental and learning milestones that we scaffold and witness every day complex behaviours that are fundamental to life as an active citizen.

Bush Kindy

Even though we haven’t been able to visit our Bush Kindy by the creek site this term, we have been able to enjoy some wonderful outdoor learning experiences with Tracy. Tuesdays and Thursdays have become times to really look forward to for the children - fun mornings when Tracy brings real tools, so we can learn new things and make stuff that is super cool – like ladders, a zip line, and spiderwebs that are strong enough to hold our weight. Through these wonderful outdoor experiences children are learning to stick at a task. Control their bodies in new and complex ways, plan and carryout a project, work together, share and take turns, assessing risk and build a strong sense of confidence and an attitude of “I can do it”. We are really looking forward to being able to walk down to Bush Kindy by the Creek next term, to really be in the bush, and to be self-reliant in that each child needs to carry everything that they need in their backpack. Tracy has some beautiful experiences planned for when we are there.

Arts project

We have been given the opportunity to participate in an exciting project run by Barbara Piscitelli a.m. Barbara has been collecting children’s art work since the 1990s and has an extensive collection in the Queensland State library. In this arts project, Barbara hopes to collect the perspectives of children in the COVID-19 pandemic through their paintings and drawings. Over the last few weeks, we have been having some interesting discussions with the children about coronavirus including what we think it looks like, how people can catch it, and how we can get rid of it. Their responses have been enthusiastic and extremely imaginative – Barbara has had a look at some of the work our children have done so far, and is very interested in their thinking. Children absorb so much from conversations, the news and what is happening around them. They can have very complex ideas about how/what/why things happen. Listening to and valuing children’s perspectives and understandings supports children to become confident, active citizens as they share, adapt and develop their view of the world.

Play from big book

In other play....

- Responding to some examples of aboriginal art during national reconciliation week

-     playing doctors and vets – Kev giving an medical rituals combined with imaginative role-play.

-     We have learned 30 Yuggerabul words so far. It is a time of day that many children look forward to and will keenly peek behind the board to see what words will be learning that day. We have been using a Yuggerabul words throughout the day – for example, on a really windy day a couple of weeks ago we referred to that cheeky “buran” that kept sending our paint pots, glue and all the collage swirling and wailing around the kindy, and making a bit of a mess! This led to a discussion about the wind and how we can tell where it’s coming from. “We could make a wind flag”. Where does the cold air come from? “New South Wales”, thought one friend, or maybe Antarctica.

-     This week we introduced the fire pit at Bush kindy time. Tracy discussed with the group the topic of “what’s good and useful about fire?” “It can heat you up”, “it’s good to cook things on”, “you can roast marshmallows”. Together we talked about how to stay safe around the fire – stay 1.2 m away Tracy showed them with a tape measure and they sat in a circle the safe distance. When you want to move away from the fire, walk away from the fire not towards it! What can we cook on our fire? Some children had some yummy and interesting suggestions – chicken, strawberries, sausages, popcorn copper apples with cinnamon, cow, cabbage leaves and Hulu me.

-     Taking a trip – bus and train play. Chairs were collected and carried to make a long bus which soon became a train. Tickets were sold, money was paid and you could even buy a coffee. Passengers happily got on and off, or simply stayed on to enjoy Relaxing journey with lots and lots of stops.

-     We’ve been having fun with our shadows in the winter sun, noticing how we can control them with our bodies movement. Humorous, fascinating and science.

-     Exploring police and working together in small groups with loose parts to make fabulous constructions such as wooden tents.

Red Pre-Kindy Group Report May 2020

I would like to start my report with a special word that sums up the amazing attitude of everyone in our kindy community, resilience.  One definition of resilience, from the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, is “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to change”.  The amazing resilience of the teaching staff, children, Committee and parents during this challenging time has been wonderful to witness.  We have also learnt news skills during this time as we transitioned to online learning.  Another positive result has been the great connections we were able to make with the children whilst staying physically apart.

Red Group has been back for two weeks this Term, with only half the group attending, so far.  I imagine more will return during the Term when they feel it is right for them.  Thank you to the Committee for allowing Red Group to be free from fees for Term Two.  I am sure all the pre-kindy families are grateful for that financial break.

We have a new friend at Red Group, her name is Brooke and she has quickly become part of our little pre-kindy family.  With a smaller group at present, Phoebe and I can spend more time with each child, which benefits all of us.

We encountered an injured Bush Turkey chick in the bushes on Monday and a few of the children were concerned.  We brought it some water and quietly watched it, sitting still so we didn’t frighten it.  Such kindness towards an injured animal was beautiful to witness and very much a part of the philosophy of Chapel Hill kindy.  The chick was taken to the vet on Tuesday and we all hope it has a speedy recovery.  The children hope it can come back to kindy when it’s all better.

The Doctors surgery in home corner has been immensely popular the last two weeks.  So many babies with broken limbs and children asking if we need an injection.  Sometimes there is also a receptionist answering the phone and doctors making notes on the patient care.   Dramatic play is a fabulous place for children’s creativity to blossom.

Have you thought about coming to visit Red Group?  We love parents and grandparents to join us for the afternoon, just add your name to the Roster list.  Impromptu visits are fine also, we value all family connections at pre-kindy.  If you have an interest or skill you would like to share with everyone, please have a chat with me or Phoebe and we can work out a suitable time for you to share it with the group.

Director's Report March 2020

 Directors report

Anna Hutchings 19 March 2020

In these unique times we are continuing our constant task, which is to put children first. Aside from implementing extra hygiene and distancing measures, this means creating a safe, predictable and happy environment for our children to learn and play. Our Kindy is a little sanctuary where life continues almost as normal, with the aim that any changes go undetected by children. The way that we talk about the current crisis in front of children is so important - we must be mindful of their young minds, their still developing ability to process complex information and their small-person emotions.

And anyway, there have been much more interesting things to talk about, such as, must this caterpillar eat brown leaves because it is brown? And, will I ever be able to touch the tree with my toes when I swing really high? Will I or the tree take longer to grow? These small things fill our days and we are joyful.

We begin each morning by saying our welcome:

“Here is the land, the water and the sky, here are our friends, and here am I. Today I will go with Yindyamarra my heart”. Yindyamarra is a Wiradjuri word that means to go slowly with honour and respect. We use the word in multiple contexts throughout the day, reminding ourselves to make choices that respect others, ourselves and the environment. I have been amazed and delighted with how children in both our Kindy groups have demonstrated Yindyamarra, how kind they are to each other how respectful they are. Obviously this comes from home.

Following are some examples of our play and learning recently

- Exploring balance and load, spontaneously in play by stacking cushions and walking along narrow beams, and through experimentation with a set of scales. These are fun opportunities to develop early mathematical thinking and language.

- Children are collaborating to build amazing structures and gadgets using a wide range and combination of open ended materials - a museum with a meditation area, houses with electricity cables, and an actual platform in the climbing tree.

- The climbing tree has been a focal point so far this year as children develop their courage to find a way up and make it out onto the little platform. We have used these moments to discuss “safety checks“ and making choices that are safe for yourself and others.

- Sensory play and learning with gorgeous goop, play dough, clay and playing in the rain one warm day.

- We have set up play experiences for children to explore the “connecting“ schema, where children experiment with different ways of joining things together, such as threading beads on to different kinds of materials, blocks and loose parts arranged in towers and snaking curves, giant twisty ties to connect larger resources together.

- Imaginary role play about animals, families and rescue games.

- Developing compassion and understanding through the discoveries we have made of a diverse range of insects and small creatures.

- Exploring ideas about the First Australians, meeting the beautiful Aunty Sharron and learning from her about some traditional indigenous dance, song, inventions and ideas and how we can all feel connected to the world around us.

- Imagining we’re in the Rainforest with the Evergreen Children’s Theatre and meeting some amazing native animal puppets.

- We’re learning about CHANGE by watching our Hawk Moth caterpillars go through their metamorphosis.

- We are exploring effective communication, listening strategies and literacy learning through our constant reading of books and through an ongoing game “teachers” where the children take turns sitting on my stool, reading a book and leading the other children in songs and games.

On Wednesday our staff had a very productive pupil free day. We completed our CPR refresher course, re-painted the outdoor bathroom, water blasted the cave, installed new worm towers for composting, worked on updating our MSDS, gave the mud kitchen a makeover, took to the front garden with needle and thread to make repairs to our crochet art and held a staff meeting to discuss, among other things, our response to the COVID-19 crisis.

In these unfamiliar times it is unclear what we should be looking forward to. Nevertheless we are making plans for our Bush Kindy program next term with some exciting new elements. We are looking forward to re-planting our veggie pod with winter plants.

Thank you to our families who have come on roster, we’ve enjoyed your presence and appreciated your help.

Red Group Report March 2020

Red Group Report

19/03/20

Welcome to all the children and families to Red Group.  This short afternoon program will provide many opportunities for your child to enjoy free play, social interactions with their peer group, creative arts, climbing, digging and much, much more.  For some of you this is your child’s first experience without you, which is a big step in a three year olds life and an emotional time for you too.  Some children at Red Group have watched their big sister/brother come to Blue and Yellow group and they are more than ready to have their own special time at kindy. Many children are happy playing alone or parallel to other children, whilst others are seeking out new friends to play with.  One thing for sure is that Red Group afternoons are filled with activity and opportunities for your inquisitive three year olds.

Term One is rushing by, only two more weeks until school holidays begin, and Red Group children are exploring their kindy environment with confidence.  The children are enjoying all areas of the kindy, from the home corner to the swings.  With the warm weather we’ve been having water play is a favourite with many of the children.  They especially love to use water in the sand pit, creating delicious cakes, focaccia and cups of tea. Moving water through pipes and buckets, wheelbarrows, anything that can hold water, has been a fascinating investigation recently.   During water play children are improving their problem-solving skills, physical development, social/emotional development and language development.  Maths and science concepts are also explored during water-play, what an amazing activity filled with rich learning opportunities. 

Easel painting is offered most weeks, with a variety of colour combinations each day.    The children are keen to use all the equipment on the stationary shelves, such as scissors, sticky tape, hold punches and a multitude of drawing materials.  Play dough is a favourite activity for some children, offering wonderful opportunities for creative expression.  We also painted on beautiful Leopard Tree bark this week, giving the children a new, three-dimensional, surface to paint on.

We have been busy with other activities too, such as: rolling balls down the hill on through the pipes, climbing, swinging really high, walking on stilts, balancing on the red boards and building towers, just to name a few.  How the children fit so much into ninety minutes is a real mystery. 

We get together as a group near the end of the session to sing, chat, play a game and read a story.  We are keeping group time fairly short at this stage with the plan to make it longer as the interest and maturity increases. 

To celebrate the end of Term One and the upcoming Easter Holiday we will be inviting families to join us on the last week of term for an Easter Egg Hunt with their children.  Invitations will be sent home next week.

Pre-Kindy November 2019 Report

Only three more weeks of pre-kindy for the year, time certainly does fly when you are having fun.  The Red Group children have had a fabulous year playing, building, swinging, imagining, digging, climbing and making new friends.  The children have matured and changed so much over the last ten months. 

They are seeking out their special friends, returning to favourite activities and trying new play provocations that we create every week.  We have noticed an increase in cooperative play this term, which is very exciting to observe as it shows a growing social maturity. 

The children all seem very ready for big Kindy next year.  We have been talking to the pre-kindy children about what they might do at Kindy next year, to help them feel ready for this big step.  The transition from Red Group into Blue or Yellow Group will be wonderful and exciting for the children and parents also.  I look forward to catching up with the Red Group children next year when they are in their new groups.  I love the opportunity to stay connected with the pre-kindy children next year as I help run the Bush Kindy program in Terms two and three.

Red Group has had a busy month; we celebrated many 4-year-old birthdays, carved a pumpkin, made playdough, washed dinosaurs and bravely leapt off a plank, just to name a few or the many experiences we’ve enjoyed recently.  Two weeks ago we had our annual visit to the creek to explore the local park.  It is always very exciting to be somewhere new, even if it’s only a few hundred metres from kindy!  We put on the hi-vis vests that the big kindy children wear, then went on a nature treasure hunt.  We found many treasures on our walk to the Bush Kindy site.  We used our treasures to create unique Bush creatures, using a piece of clay to attach them to a tree.  Thanks for all the wonderful parents who helped on the excursion, we couldn’t do it without you J

  There are many end of year preparations in the next two weeks, such as; making cards, wrapping paper and presents for our mums and dads.  This is a surprise present your child is making, so you will have to wait a few weeks to find out what it is.   We will also be cooking something yummy for our end of year party which will be on Tuesday the 10th of December from 1:00 pm till 2:30 pm.  Next week we will send home invitations and put out a food list for parents to select what they would like to bring to the party. 

We would like to thank all the parents who came on roster this year, to help or to come and play with your child, we love having you come to Red Group.  Phoebe, Cristina and I have had a wonderful year with your beautiful children, and we are looking forward to our last few weeks together.

I want to thank all the wonderful parents on the committee who give up so much time and energy to our kindy, you are all amazing!!  Our kindy is a very special place because you are all fabulous human beings. 😊