Kornmehl
Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl
Purim Explorations
This week we have immersed ourselves in the joyous festival of Purim. The children are enjoying the story with all its colourful characters. The best way for young children to internalise the details of the story is through interactive role plays and bringing the story alive with props and puppets. The story has all the components of a spellbinding saga – there is a villain, a heroine, who is also a beautiful queen and a king whose actions ensure a happy ending for all. The mark of a good story is when you see the children re-enacting it later during the day. Purim lends itself to lots of creativity. The themes of the festival can be expressed through making masks, crowns, shakers, Mishloach Manot and through each of the characters, as well as baking delicious Hamentashen. There is a sense of glitz and glamour about Purim, that just begs for glitter and bright colours.
We asked the Starfish children what they knew about Purim.
Sapphira – Purim we have Matzah (Hamentashen) and you have stuff in the middle.
Katya – You put masks on at Purim.
Jack – Purim is when you dress up in masks and hats.
Educator – Why do we dress up?
Sapphira – Because it is a special idea.
After our discussion, we had fun dressing up with wigs, hats, masks, beads and glasses. We learnt a song “Leitzan katan nechmad” (little clown). It’s a delightful song about a little clown. Wearing a wig, hat and tie we pretended to be the little clown, skipping and dancing around in a circle, then choosing a friend to dance with again skipping and dancing with lots of laughter and joy too.
We invite parents to join us on Thursday 21 March for a festive and fun morning celebrating Purim at Kornmehl. The festivities will kick off from drop-off time and continue until 11am. We have our parade at 9.30am followed by exchanging of Mishloach Manot and a magician show scheduled for 10am. Please all wear your favourite costume (children and adults).
Play-based learning
The following article was featured in ‘the conversation.com’ and provides interesting information about play-based learning, that lines itself closely with our philosophy at Kornmehl.
“Research shows that play based learning enhances children’s academic and developmental learning outcomes.
Children are naturally motivated to play. A play-based program builds on this motivation, using play as a context for learning. In this context, children can explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways.
A play-based approach involves both child-initiated and educator-supported learning. The educator encourages children’s learning and inquiry through interactions that aim to stretch their thinking to higher levels e.g. while children are playing with blocks, an educator can pose questions that encourage problem solving, prediction and hypothesising. They can also bring the child’s awareness towards mathematics, science and literacy concepts, allowing them to engage with such concepts through hands-on learning.
Play-based early years programs are focused on teaching and learning. In such programs, play can be in the form of free play (activity that is spontaneous and directed by the child), and guided play (also child-directed, but the educator is involved in the activity as a co-player) with intentional teaching. Both have benefits for children’s learning. To capitalise on these benefits, an optimum play-based program will provide opportunities for both free play and guided play.
Educators take an active role in guiding children’s interactions in the play. Children are supported in developing social skills such as cooperation, sharing and responding to ideas, negotiating, and resolving conflicts.
Educators can also use children’s motivation and interests to explore concepts and ideas. In this way, children acquire and practice important academic skills and learning in a playful context. For example, research indicates the increased complexity of language and learning processes used by children in play-based programs is linked to important literacy skills. Research shows play-based programs for young children can provide a strong basis for later success at school. They support the development of socially competent learners, able to face challenges and create solutions.”
