Terry Aizen – Director, Kornmehl Pre-school

Drumming circle

Last week, we all enjoyed a dynamic and creative drumming workshop with Lance and Maxine from the Drum Circle. They engaged the children in an extraordinary drumming and creative/imaginative experience. The ‘drum circle’ used non-verbal communication and encouraged active listening. Each child was taught how to play the various rhythms and beats on their bongo drum whilst realising his or her own importance within the greater whole of the group. 

Their attention was also directed to the vibrations that the drums make. The children put their hand to one end of the drum whilst hitting the drum with the other hand, allowing them to feel the vibrations. Maxine spoke to the children about music and sound and how music moves through sound waves called vibrations.

“I can feel the sound….” (Jordan)

What a wonderful morning! How lucky the children are to have had such a special cultural experience. 

I loved the drumming.  The man drummed so much … I just danced. It was the best.

Some of the benefits of the drumming workshop included:

• Group bonding
• Non-verbal communication
• Stress release
• Hand, eye and ear co-ordination
• Building self-esteem
• Co-operative rather than competitive
• Left and right brain integration
• Promoting socialisation
• A multi-cultural experience

Parent/teacher interviews

The Dolphin and Starfish groups 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 a very busy year to a close and we value this important time to reflect and chat to parents.

More parent survey comments

The children at Kornmehl are very wise and honest and we wanted to share a few more comments from them about Pre-school:

Liam: At Kornmehl we have a slide. My three teachers are good because they teach us stuff. They look after me and help me solve problems. I like playing on the slide, playing on the Pirate ship. I’ve learnt to write my name.

Sri: I like doing Shabbat at Bush School because you get to have nature while you’re having Shabbat. And you’re sitting in a nature place with everyone, not just in a normal place. So Shabbat is very special. I’ve learnt that you have to listen to each other because if the other person doesn’t listen to you, its dipping in your bucket. But if you want to fill the other person’s bucket you can say “Are you ok?” Give a cuddle and listen to each other. And in that way, both buckets are filled. 

Jack: Kornmehl is a place to be safe because your teachers and the guards keep you safe. You get to make friends. You learn about lots of things, like sport, hammering, crystals and science. I like playing outside with my friends.

Jessica: Kornmehl is a safe place because there are lovely teachers. I like to play with the girls. At Morning Meeting we can sit and relax and we can ask some questions. I’ve learnt how to let mummy go without crying.

Sol: Kornmehl is a Pre-school and you get to play. I like to play Hide and Seek. My favourite activity is ‘Making’. I make things out of recycling materials. I like Morning Meeting because we talk. We talk about insects and starting school. 

Nava: I like that we have Rosh Hashanah and that we got to have apples dipped in honey. I like having the Challah and the wine when I was on the Shabbat table. I like singing “I’ve got a Shabbat feeling”.

Seussical

The Pre-school children were very privileged to be the guests-of-honour at Friday’s rehearsal of the Primary School musical, Seussical. The children sat mesmerised and engaged with all the wonderful costumes, singing, music and story line. We thank Emma Buzo and Susan Longney for inviting us and wish them all a big Kol Hakavod on an amazing job so well done.

Concerts

All three groups have been practising for their concerts next week. They are all very excited to share this special time with their mums and dads.

The Seashells concert is on Wednesday 7 December at 9.30 am in the Pre-school. This is for parents only. Morning tea will be served after the concert and the event will conclude at 10.30 am.

The Dolphins and Starfish will have their concert and graduation on Thursday 8 December at 6 pm in the MPH. Parents and older siblings are invited to join us to celebrate this special time together. Dinner will be served for the children after the concert and light snacks for the parents. The evening will conclude at 8 pm.

Bush School family picnic

We invite all Kornmehl families to join us down at Centennial Park on Friday 9 December for our final Bush School experience of the year. This will take place from drop off until about 11 am. Please bring some snacks and drinks and join us to experience the wonders of nature with your children.

What is school readiness?

School readiness involves engaging in activities on a daily basis to ensure that a child develops the appropriate skills required to aid optimal learning when they start school. While learning is an important aspect to be ready for, so too is the readiness to play and socialise with a range of children. The development of these foundation skills allows teachers at school to expand and further develop a child’s skills in the specific areas of social interaction, play, language, emotional development, physical skills, literacy and fine motor skills.  

Building blocks necessary to develop school readiness include:

• Self-regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation
• Sensory processing: Accurate processing of sensory stimulation in the environment as well as in one’s own body
• Receptive language (understanding): Comprehension of spoken language. Your child will need to be able to follow instructions and understand what teachers are saying
• Expressive language (using language): Producing speech or language that can be understood by others and being able to communicate what they know, want and need to teachers and peers.
• Articulation: The ability to clearly pronounce individual sounds in words
• Executive functioning: Higher order reasoning and thinking skills
• Emotional development/concentration: The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and regulate emotions. Your child also needs to be able to deal with the structured nature of a classroom and be able to focus on tasks, follow directions from teachers and cope with transitions from one activity to another.
• Social skills: Determined by the ability to engage in reciprocal interaction with others (either verbally or non-verbally), to compromise with others and to be able to recognise and follow social norms
• Planning and sequencing: The sequential multi-step task/activity performance to achieve a well-defined result
• Social maturity and independence: This includes going to the toilet by themselves, dressing and being able to follow a structured classroom routine. Your child will need to be able to deal with challenges like not always being the winner and complying with what a teacher asks of them, even if they do not want to.
• Motor co-ordination: Your child will need well-developed co-ordination skills to dress and undress, unwrap lunch, use a pencil and scissors and participate confidently in learning activities that require eye-hand and motor co-ordination.

Some points to consider:

• Does your child get easily frustrated when expectations are placed upon them?
• Does your child struggle to follow instructions in daily activities?
• Does your child rely on you to do self-care tasks such as dressing?
• Is your child toilet trained?
• Does your child have poor receptive and expressive language skills?
• Does your child have difficulty understanding consequences for their behaviours?
• Is your child interested in looking at books and/or doing sit-down activities?
• Can they make an independent decision and follow through on this?
• Do they separate well from their carer?
• Do they interact with other children?
• Can they recognise and express their feelings and needs?
• Can they concentrate on a task?
• How do they deal with frustration?

Taken from Kids Sense Child Development

Mazal tov

We wish a hearty mazal tov to Terry Aizen on the birth of a second beautiful grandson, born last week.