Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

Yom Ha’atzmaut

The children spent time with Yigal Nisell from the JNF on Wednesday. He brought a huge map of Israel that helped give the children a visual perspective of all the cities in Israel and where they are on the map. The activities that he shared with the children were interactive and fun. Each child received a cardboard bluebook to decorate, a map of Israel and a photo frame to take home. The children enjoyed the workshop very much. A big thank you to Yigal for coming to share his love of Israel with us all.

What a wonderful day we had celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Day of Independence on Thursday. We discussed how Israel is turning 74 years old.

Yigal Nisell

The children engaged in many blue and white activities to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut. We also virtually flew to Israel on our pretend aeroplane and shopped for yummy goodies at the Kornmehl Shuk. We gathered outside on the oval and sang, danced, waved our flags and ate yummy blue and white cake. The cake was baked by Kornmehl dad – Rick Lawton. Thank you very much for your help. We blew out the candles and sang happy birthday to Israel.

At morning tea, we all enjoyed pita bread and Israeli salad. We had a happy and beautiful time.

Family Day Breakfast

We have been working hard this week to prepare for our Family Day Breakfast on Monday morning. At Kornmehl, we are inclusive of all family types and embrace diversity and equity for all. We acknowledge all our special Mum’s and wish you all a beautiful Mother’s Day on Sunday. The children have been very busy creating cards, bags and presents for their special person. Our breakfast on Monday morning will start at 8.00 am and finish at 9.15 am.

Image of the Child

Deeply embedded into our Kornmehl philosophy are our beliefs on the image of the child:

We view the child as being capable, competent, creative, responsible, resourceful and resilient. We believe that children learn in many different ways. They are experimenters, scientists, researchers, artists, collaborators, explorers and observers, each with 100 languages and more to explore. We value and encourage all of their learning styles, processes and contributions in their quest to make sense of their world.

Our pedagogical approach is underpinned by the theorists Malaguzzi, Dewey, Piaget and Vygotsky who have transformed the perspective of and practice in early childhood education.

We nurture each child’s innate sense of curiosity and wonder, using these attributes to foster a lifelong love of learning. We provide a foundation for children to become responsible social citizens of the world. (Kornmehl Philosophy, 2022)

At Kornmehl, we view children as competent, capable and co-constructors of their own learning in relationship with others. We offer children a variety of ‘intelligent materials’ such as clay, wire, paper, wood, collage, and loose part to help them explore their thinking and ideas as they experiment and create.

The image of the child as competent and capable is demonstrated when educators invite children daily to be directly involved in research about the world around them. Recognising children as researchers means acknowledging the vital role they play in co-constructing their own knowledge, ideas and understanding over time.

Our image of the child shapes everything that we do with children. We aim to develop deep relationships with each child, to slow down, listen attentively, question and make meaning together. This allows visibility, an in-depth respect for children and an opportunity for thoughtful work, reflection, meaningful conversations, and observations during the day.

This mapping of the landscape will inform our practice with children so that they can reach their potential. It’s the foundation for everything that we do and allows us to give children multiple ways of seeing and knowing.

We work in small groups and really listen deeply to children and support children’s experiences to become more complex and for them to have multiple views of the world around them.