Category: Explorers

Popcorn popping

9/1/2016

We have heaps of learning projects planned throughout the coming year and the start of 2016 has already seen lots mini projects emerging. One of these has been around cooking and creating in the kitchen.
Popcorn has been popping, pizzas created, fruit sliced and diced into salads and icecream made from scratch. Luca organised a shared lunch for us and wrote a beautiful invitation illustrating her wonderfully developing literacy skills.

Cooking at kindergarten provides amazing learning opportunities. Reading recipes, measuring and counting ingredients, as well as taking turns and developing relationships with others – some of the most important lifelong skills children can learn.

It’s the process not the product that matters!

One of the most important things to bear in mind when cooking with children at home or at kindergarten is that it’s the process that matters not the end-product.

By allowing children to cook, we are providing the opportunity for a rich learning experience. However, one of the pitfalls of cooking with children is the temptation for us to ‘help’ them too much. Adult guidance and support is a key part of the experience and we can add so much. Keeping children safe, providing information, supporting turn taking and asking open-ended questions that encourage children to think about what they are doing – ‘What’s the next step?’ ‘How does that work?’

However if adults take over the cooking process – out of a well-meaning desire to help or driven by our own need to ‘get it right’ – we can take away from the learning and reduce the child’s belief that they can do it! The cookies, muffins or pizza that are produced may not look ‘perfect’ but your child will feel very proud of what they have achieved.

Most importantly, when children are encouraged to do things for themselves, the experience builds their confidence in their own abilities and skills and helps them to develop the self-belief to tackle other new things in the future.

0 Comments

Literacy focus for 2016

30/12/2015

0 Comments

You will notice in the front foyer there is a children’s sign in register. If your child is interested please support them to write their name when they arrive at kindergarten. The first letter is a capital letter and subsequent letters are lower case. It’s okay if children don’t get it right in the beginning.

The process is important and our focus is to ensure children are holding the pencil correctly and developing an interest in literacy. Drawing and painting are excellent ways to introduce literacy to young learners.

As children are mastering the ‘tripod’ pencil grip, it’s also helpful to support their developing understanding around some simple literacy concepts:

We read and write from left to right. Whenever you read stories to your children, follow the words you read with your finger. This will help children to understand the one-to-one association between the written word and its sound. It will also get them used to the fact that we read and write from left to right.

Books go from front to back. Talk about how books work and give children the vocabulary associated with them (title, author, illustrator). Talk about the person who writes the words and the person who draws the picture.

As the children role play at shops, families, police, doctors or pets – provide writing and drawing materials and encourage them to write signs and lists or make maps, tickets and books.

Give children the opportunity to enjoy their emerging literacy skills and reward all their efforts with support and encouragement. They’ll soon be creating amazing things and adding ‘writing’ to their long list of skills!

0 Comments

Mathematics is fun!

8/10/2015

0 Comments

We love introducing mathematical concepts to preschoolers using challenging and fun games.

This year we will continue to invite children to play lots of matching games where they use their memories to find sets of two and count how many sets they have.

There are many wonderful games that you can purchase or you could make a matching game for home. It’s really important that we make numbers fun and exciting for our young mathematical learners.

Maths On The Run

Rather than taking the ‘sit down and teach’ approach when introducing your children to maths concepts at home, it’s much better, less stressful and more fun to do maths on the run. Here are some ideas.

Number Recognition

Mailbox maths – As you walk around your neighbourhood, look at the numbers on mail boxes. Talk about the number on your own house and then notice the numbers on the houses either side of you.

Car Rego Snap – look at car regos as you drive to the shops. See who can be first to spot two cars with the number 2 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9!) in their registration plates.

Handy Helpers - Ask your children to spot the house/shop/business number that you are looking for. Ask them to find the right number aisle in the supermarket. Ask them to fetch their t-shirt with the number 10 on – instead of referring to it by colour or design.

Understanding Numbers

Most children can rote count from 1-10 (and often much higher) by the time they go to school but they don’t necessarily understand that each number refers to a set amount or group of objects. Once your little one’s are happily spotting numbers without difficulty, start playing games that build up their understanding of the meaning behind numbers – often called ‘one to one correspondence’ (ie that the number one means 1 button and the number two means 2 buttons). This understanding is the basis for higher order calculations such as addition and subtraction.

Count the cars – arm your children with a notebook and pencil. Take a crayon and make a block of that colour (say, blue) then ask the children to make a mark on the paper every time they see a blue car during your journey (great for short trips). When you stop, count the number of marks with them (or let them do it, if they are able) and write down the appropriate number beside the marks.

Numbers are everywhere. Playing number games with your children improves their basic maths knowledge, entertains children on journeys and can also be a lot of fun.

Remember - When children lose interest, stop and do something else. We have to respect their attention span and interest if we want to keep it fun. Maths done little and often will add to children’s understanding of the way the world works and help to create lifelong learners with open eyes and minds.

0 Comments

Christmas fun in nature

5/12/2014

0 Comments

Does your child suffer from Nature's Deficit Disorder?

12/1/2012

0 Comments

Do you remember the days when we really connected with nature? As a child, my brother, cousins and I were always outdoors. So were our neighbour’s kids and the kids from the rest of our community. We were keen explorers, always investigating the boundaries of our properties and well beyond.

My own favourite memories include climbing the largest tree in our neighbourhood and making a tree hut which consisted of an old door, Dad’s beer crates and any other scraps of wood we could find. Up in our tree hut I felt like the queen of the world and anything was possible. School holidays were abuzz with eeling expeditions at the local creek, bush walks with Mum and star-gazing in the backyard under the cover of our own home-made tent.

My husband’s favourite memory is playing with his trucks and cars in the dirt. He used to make mines and roads and spend hours in this richly imaginative play. It’s interesting to note that my husband is now a heavy diesel mechanic. Play is a child’s work and it’s through play that a child interprets the world and works out where he or she fits within it. My husband also enjoyed diving and swimming in the local rivers with friends and spending every second weekend at his dad’s place beside the beach. We can all recall our childhood affinity and connection with nature.

It felt so great connecting with the simpler things in life. Depression rates were lower, prescriptions to ADHD and depression medications were limited. There was a greater understanding of children who were ‘Huckleberry Finns’ – they were seen as children who thrived on being busy outdoors rather than being regarded as a problem to ‘fix’.

You can test the power of nature the next time your toddler or child is irritable or upset. Invite them to spend time with you in the backyard or in a local grassy area. Give them the chance to connect with the earth. Do whatever feels right, so long as you don’t rush. Be silent and see what unfolds or talk about the birds, flowers, insects and trees. If it’s raining, put on a coat and boots and observe how rain drops collect on leaves, watch birds take a bath in drainpipes or in the puddles that form. I guarantee your child will re-centre him or herself and any irritable feelings or upset will be forgotten.

Over recent years, the time children spend outside experiencing nature has diminished – and for some it hardly exists at all. Researchers have come to call this Nature’s Deficit Disorder. At first I didn’t believe there would be enough research to result in this phenomenon being classified as a disorder but unfortunately there is – in ground swelling abundance.

Nature time has been replaced with screen time – TV, computers, cell phones, texting, social media, PSP’s, PS1, 2 and 3 and many others! I am by no means anti-technology, but as parents there is a need for us to become more aware of how we enabling or disabling our children’s connection with the planet.

Perhaps you could plan ‘nature’ time into your day and take some time away from the hum and buzz of traffic and technology. If your child attends childcare or kindergarten choose a place that has an affinity with nature with real trees, real grass, wooden toys, plants, less plastic, less technology and a more authentic learning environment for your children. Ensure your child will be able to flow between inside and outside learning areas at their own pace. Gardening, growing fruit and vegetables and learning how to recycle are fabulous learning opportunities and should be part of the core curriculum for early childhood centres and schools.

Not only will you have a happier, more balanced child but these steps will also create what some call ‘earthing’ children who appreciate, value and protect what is left of our beautiful natural environment.

0 Comments

Popcorn popping

Literacy focus for 2016

Mathematics is fun!

Christmas fun in nature

Does your child suffer from Nature's Deficit Disorder?

Archives

Categories

QUICK LINKS