Our Learning Journey with the Sea Turtles (Pingins)
Just to bring you into the picture, i’ll take you back to the start of February, before i joined the Bright kids team.
Our learning journey in the Sea turtles started with our Educational Leader and interim Pre-Prep Teacher, Miss Alesdra.
Miss Alesdra set the ground work for me and layed the first foundations for your children.
Teaching your children new ways of creative play, writing abilities and fun numeracy and literacy activities.
Together we have developed a strong yet flexible daily routine which the children contributed to encompassing each stage of development.
Our program provides them with the opportunity to take control of their learning while feeling empowered to make decisions;
To achieve the best versions of themselves and prepare them for their Educational life in their Schooling future.
Exploring literacy in personally meaningful ways.
Children feel a strong sense of identity and connectedness when their ways of communicating are valued in the kindergarten environment. Communication is fundamental to children’s everyday lives, including their ability to express their ideas and feelings;
to question,
to learn,
and connect and interact with others.
The class has been exploring and engaging with literacy through;
- Shared reading;
- Identifying their name;
- The letters which make up their name;
- How individual letters sound;
- Exploring how letters look; and
- Using letters in their artwork.
They have explored a variety of different methods to create letters by writing in the sand tray, rolling letters out of playdough, using chalk to draw large letters on the outside chalk boards and painting the alphabet.
Exploring mathematical concepts in everyday life.
Measurement, time, shape and pattern are only a few of the mathematical concepts’ children explore daily.
The children have become familiar with the language of maths through a variety of rich learning experiences.
Exploring measurement by:
- Pouring and filling measuring cups and jugs at the water trough;
- Helping to measure ingredients to make playdough;
- Having an understanding of time by being aware of the sequence of events within their day;
- Being able to recall the days of the week in sequence; and
- Observing how the plants and trees have grown around the centre.
Becoming familiar with shapes and being able to count how many sides each shape has.
Using shapes in their art work and identifying which shapes make up an image.
Creating a pattern using a shape marker and identifying which part of the pattern is being repeated.
Incidental count plays an important part in the children’s day and it woven through all aspects of their learning.
The children count how many children are in class, how many bowls are needed at morning tea, how many pages are in a book and how many steps it is to the bathroom.
By using maths and mathematical language through the day the children have developed an awareness of a wide range of concepts.
Building a sense of autonomy
Our resilience program is embedded through our weekly program and is the primary focus on Tuesdays.
Through carefully chosen stories, meditation, breath work and yoga the children are guided through how to manage difficulty and complex situations.
They are developing the ability to connect their thoughts with their emotions and how to best react.
Pre-Prep children are known for acting with impulse. Dramatic play is a great stepping stone for learning to self-regulate their emotions and actions.
Dramatic play teaches and encourages expressive language and is often a very comfortable place for children to participate within a group.
The class has shown a budding interest in dramatic play and role play scenarios.
Over the past months home corner has been transformed into a hairdressers, make-up salon, supermarket and café.
Through the use of costumes and props the children act out scenarios they have observed and engaged with, in their everyday life.
The class uses dramatic play to practice important language and social skills;
including joining in, sharing and taking turns and negotiating roles.
Movement and Music
Each morning the class starts their day with an Acknowledge to Country followed by singing Tena Koe, a Maori hello song.
They also recite the Growth Mindset chant.
This structured morning session allows children to get ready for learning in a setting which is familiar.
They build up important skills such as ‘whole body listening’, increased concentration and active listening skills.
A portion of each day is also allocated to Music and Movement.
The children enjoy learning the actions to tradition songs and rhymes.
They have been learning the song Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in different languages.
By practicing coordinated movement to music, children develop parts of the brain that helps them to speak, read and write. We call this brain gym.
They have enjoyed learning through narrative storytime and songs; and creating their own songs.
The children have now assembled a repertoire of songs from around the globe and sing them with confidence.
Indigenous Program
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander perspectives are embedded through the Kindergarten curriculum and the main focus of learning each Thursday.
The class has engaged in a variety of experiences.
They have used traditional symbols to recreate “dreamtime stories”, identified animal tracks and researched the Yugambeh word for each animal.
They have used native bush food in a cooking experience and explored the colours of traditional indigenous art.
References:
Continual of learning and development, QLD studies authority
Our Pre-Prep program is guided by the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines.
It reflects the view that learning occurs as part of, and is shaped by; the social and cultural interactions between children, teachers, colleagues, families and the wider community.
Our program adopts a holistic perspective on learning.
Providing children with opportunities to learn through play and purposeful interactions.
Next quarter the class will be working on establishing the foundation skill needed during the few months of Prep.
That’s all from the Sea Turtles until next term.
Miss Patti and Miss Alesdra.
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