Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

Greeting our educators

We encourage the children and families to greet their educators upon arrival each morning. This is an essential practice that fosters a sense of respect, communication, and social connection to the Pre-school. By greeting their teachers, the children learn the importance of acknowledging and valuing the presence of others, thus contributing to a positive and inclusive learning environment.

We do role plays which serve as a powerful demonstration of these greeting skills. Through the role plays, children learn both the right and wrong ways to greet someone. In the first role play, a child ignored her teacher when greeted, highlighting the impact of disregarding social norms and the potential for misunderstandings or hurt feelings. In contrast, the second role play portrayed a scenario where a child’s parent facilitated the greeting, emphasising the role of caregivers in modelling and reinforcing positive pro-social behaviours. By inviting children to participate in these role plays, educators provided them with valuable opportunities to practice and to internalise the skill of greeting others respectfully, aligning with the principles of the EYLF v2. Through intentional teaching and hands-on experiences, children develop social competence and interpersonal skills that are essential for building positive relationships and thriving in their learning journey.

The children shared their thinking:

Jesse: “The first one was wrong. Chloe didn’t say hello and in the second one she did.”
Tamar: “You are being polite in the second one.”
Evie: “When Chloe came in, she didn’t say hello. She just went straight to do a drawing.”

Why do you think it is important to greet your teachers in the morning?

Edison: “So, they know you’re here.”
Neave: “So, they know you are coming to school, if you didn’t say hi, they won’t know.”

Fostering early literacy

Early literacy is crucial for young children as it lays the foundation for future academic success and lifelong learning. Here are some key reasons why early literacy is important:

Language development: Early exposure to books, stories, and language-rich environments helps children develop vocabulary, grammar, and communication skills, which are essential for effective verbal and written communication.
Cognitive development: Reading and engaging with literature, stimulates cognitive processes, such as memory, attention, and critical thinking, which are fundamental for problem-solving, decision-making, and academic achievement.
School readiness: Developing early literacy skills, such as phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and comprehension, prepares children for formal education and helps them succeed in reading, writing, and other academic subjects.
Imagination and creativity: Reading stories, exploring different genres, and engaging in creative writing activities fosters imagination, creativity, and a love for storytelling, which are essential for self-expression and personal growth.
Social-emotional development: Reading and discussing stories helps children understand emotions, builds empathy, and develops social skills through shared experiences and interactions with peers and adults, promoting emotional intelligence and positive relationships.

Overall, early literacy is important for young children as it not only enhances their academic skills but also nurtures their cognitive, social, emotional, and creative development, setting a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success.

In the Pre-school there are many ways we foster early literacy skills with the children.

Some of the ways we do this is by reading aloud to the children on a daily basis, offering a diverse selection of books in different genres and topics to encourage the children to explore different types of literature and expand their interests, incorporating literacy into daily activities, such as labelling objects in the classroom, creating a print-rich environment, and engaging in literacy-based games and activities, encouraging the children to create their own stories, draw pictures, and write letters or simple words to help them develop their imagination, creativity, and early writing skills. We also visit the Primary School Library weekly and collaborate with parents to promote literacy at home through reading together, discussing stories, and practising basic literacy skills to reinforce learning and creating a supportive literacy environment.

The Starfish and Dolphins have introduced the children’s name cards to each group. Each card has the written name and a photo of the child on it. The name cards are stored in a pink and green box next to each groups sign in table. On arrival in the morning, the children are encouraged to sign in on the sheet provided. Children are encouraged to look for their name card in the box and use it to copy their name onto the sign-in sheet. Children can also get their name card when copying their name onto their artwork, or to use as a label when they have built a construction in the block corner and want to show others, that the building belongs to them.

Fostering emotional literacy

We also spend time in Term 1, and during the year, identifying different emotions and fostering emotional literacy. We do this by discussing different feelings and emotions and how our face or our body language might look and how we feel at these times. We use the creative arts to support children to internalise these feelings and emotions through the language of drawing. It is important for children to be able to read each other’s cues and become aware of their expressions. Some of the feelings we explore are happy, sad, angry, frustrated and jealous.

We asked the children what makes them angry:

Daisy: “When someone says it is not true.”
Amelia S: “When Daniel doesn’t let me go into the car.”
Charlie: “A short time ago when me and my brother were hurting each other, and we needed to go into timeout.”
Amelia L: “When my brother bites me, I hurt.”
Itamar: “Today my little sister held my ear, and this made me ‘Ouchy’ and I felt cross. When my baby sister gets bigger, I will teach her the rules in my home.”
Henry: “When my sister doesn’t let me go to Frankie’s house.”
Leni: “When my brother sometimes does mean things.”
Laura: “When Bella doesn’t let me on the trampoline.”

We also explored other feelings:

Lulu: “I’m happy to see all my new friends.”
Tamar: “I feel a bit nervous and a bit happy.”
Jordan: “I was sad when I came here because I didn’t want Mum to leave. I am happy now because I can play with my friends.”
Liev: “I feel super good because I’m happy about Kornmehl.”

We also explore our emotional literacy through music, song, and dance. The Dolphins have learnt a new song:

Come and join us in our circle of friends
There’s always room for one more,
A circle that never ends
All you do is open up the door

This song teaches the concept of being inclusive, allowing children to join in the circle by shuffling back and making sure that no one is left out and feels sad.

Alfie: “It means the circle doesn’t have to have the people we want in the circle, some other persons can also join in.”
Evie: “The circle never ends; you just need to shuffle back so we can fit people in.”
Neave: “Opening up the door for friends and a circle that never ends is like a circle of friends and you have to shuffle back if someone is left out.”
Gabriella: “It keeps on going forever maybe.”
Samara: “Because when you shuffle back, there is room for more people.”