WHAT HAVE WE BEEN LEARNING?

 THE DOLPHINS

Educators recognise that diversity contributes to the richness of our society and provides a valid evidence base about ways of knowing. For Australia, it also includes promoting greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being.              

(EYLF 2012)

Discussing important issues with five year olds shows us the deep understanding they have and how empathetic they are towards their fellow humans. Honestly, children should be sitting in parliament.

The children discussed a few facts about Uluru, such as it is 600 million years old. It is owned by the Anangu People but it was only returned to them in 1985. Despite this, tourists have been allowed to climb this sacred rock. Uluru used to be under water. Most of Uluru is under the ground. The Aboriginal People have asked tourists not to climb the rock as it is a sacred site but people are welcome to walk around the base. It takes 3.5 hours to walk around Uluru.

First impressions of Uluru

Ethan: Ooh! The big rock!                         

Nathan S: It’s so big!

Ethan: It’s the biggest rock.

Henry: It changes colour with the light.

Toby: There’s water falls.

Ryan: It’s orange.

Jordan: I know all about this rock. Everybody climbs on it. People just want to destroy the rock. It belongs to the Aboriginal People.

Alfie: The big rock is precious to them. It’s sacred.

We looked at some pictures of people climbing Uluru. We saw the metal bars that had been hammered into the sacred rock and we saw the metal chains attached to the bars.

Ryan: They’re climbing, the white people. They (Aboriginal People) never climb their precious rock cause they would need holes for that.

Noam: The people hammered all the chains for security, but that means they put holes in it.

Eli: It’s very precious to the Aboriginal people. So, the white people didn’t like them so they didn’t respect the rock, so they made holes in the rock and they didn’t care.

Henry: I’ll just take out all the chains.

Jordan: We are white persons. Why would we climb the rock? We respect the rock.

Maddy: The Aboriginal People must be very sad about the White People nailing the chains into the rock. That’s why they were putting up signs.

 Using the language of sculpture and drawing, we represented Uluru.

The children’s 3-D creations and drawings were incredible and showed a deep understanding of this current issue.

THE SEASHELLS – TIKKUN OLAM (repairing our world)

On our way back to Kornmehl from the Primary library on Tuesday, the children noticed rubbish on the ground and bent down immediately without being asked to pick the rubbish up. This awareness of rubbish around the environment sparked the group to instinctively begin to clean up the space. In fact, there was so much rubbish, we had to go and get a large container to carry it all in.

Luca: We need to tell the children not to put all the rubbish on the floor.

The children then noticed that there were no bins and wondered if that was why the rubbish was on the floor.

The children have requested that we send a letter to the big school and show the teachers and children the photos or take the rubbish to the school to show them.

This collecting sparked lovely conversation and discussion.

Luca: Please children stop throwing rubbish on the floor because the birds are going to die. You need to buy a bin to put all your rubbish in, so the birds don’t die. If you leave your rubbish outside and there is wind it blows all your rubbish down to Kornmehl.

Joshua K: Please put your rubbish in the bin and not on the floor.

Alicia: Please use containers to put your lunch and snack in, don’t use plastic and paper packets and tell your mums to please go to the shops and buy you a lunch box or container. If you carry on putting all the rubbish on the floor we will not have a world, it will turn into a rubbish world and we will have no more birds.

Jonathan L: We can’t buy a new world so we have to look after it.

Nadav: We got all hot and tired cleaning up all your rubbish and it took a long time.

Hannah: We found straws and lots of plastic packets.

Sam: So much rubbish at the big school.

Tali: More and more and more rubbish

We observed that the Seashells have an awareness of where rubbish belongs and also an understanding of why we put rubbish in a bin. It was clear to us that the Seashells can reflect on what we can do to eliminate rubbish and they can express their ideas and understanding through small group conversation, listening to each other’s ideas and sharing their thoughts. 

THE STARFISH

This week, we have started learning about Chanukah.  At morning meeting we presented a poster to the group and used this to do a “See Think Wonder” routine with the group. The idea and intention of doing this routine were to gain insight and information into the children’s knowledge and understanding of this festival.

After our discussion, the children were invited to the table, where some different Chanukiot were positioned for the children to look at and observe closely.   

Black textas were provided for the children to draw and add detail. Water colours were provided to add colour.

As the children engaged in this creative experience, they talked about their work, including the process and a description and explanation. We used a variety of materials to represent our thinking and understanding. We also used the overhead projector and our collection of tea bags to visually represent a Chanukiah.

The Starfish were enthralled with the Chanukah story. They were fascinated to learn about the history around the Chanukiah.

Iliana: The king wanted the Jewish people to stop thinking about Hashem.

Amy: He said, don’t listen to Hashem. He knocked down the building. The Jewish people built it back again and they saw there was the thingy banged up. It wasn’t lighting so they needed to find oil because it wasn’t enough.

Isaac: The special light was the Chanukiah. They needed oil. There was only enough oil for every day.

Maayan: The bad guy knocked down the house. They had to build it all again.

Happy 50^th birthday – JCA

We talked to the children about the JCA celebrating their 50th birthday. We talked about some of the things the JCA does to help the Jewish community, such as looking after schools, the Jewish museum, helping older people and families in need through Jewish Care. As part of the celebrations gold threads were given to each child. These could be worn as bracelets, attached to clothes or pieces of jewellery.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

The Dolphin and Starfish have now completed all their parent/teacher meetings. We hope that the parents found the time productive and meaningful. It is a lovely way to bring closure to a very busy year for your children and we value this important time to reflect and chat to parents.

Playball

Playball this term has continued to provide the children with many different gross-motor activities and ball skills. The coaches Al and Jenny are able to really challenge the children physically and extend their skills. The children look forward to Playball on a Monday and enjoy their time very much. This term the parents were invited to an open session of Playball, to see first-hand what their children have been learning this year. We know the parents were impressed with how far the children have come with their gross-motor and ball skills, as well as their ability to listen and follow directions.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Ariella Mervis (4). We hope you had a special birthday.