Visit to Taronga Zoo

The Starfish visited Taronga Zoo this week. The build-up to the excursion consisted of discussions, sharing of ideas and thoughts about what we might see and do.

The children and teachers travelled on the Emanuel School bus, which was a huge highlight of the trip. The children coped very well with walking around and many opportunities to rest and eat were given to keep their energy levels going.

We went to the seal show. The children loved every minute. We also got to ride on the sky safari – another highlight!

Many thanks to all our fabulous parent helpers – Mrs Paola Freund, Mrs Niva Burke, Mrs Ilana Bonimovich, Mrs Vicky Lazarus and Mr Robert Sandy.

Children’s comments:

Giddy: I loved the Sky Safari. It was so bumpy. I went two times. I saw the giraffe and the elephants from up high. The seal was going “oh oh” and jumping in the water. SPLASH!

Saphira: I loved it when the seals did funny tricks. They jumped so high, but they didn’t splash us. It tried to splash us, but it missed.

Eve: The seal pretended to be a shark. It made a shark noise. The giraffe was eating leaves. Up high because they have long necks.

Kayla: I liked when the seals were barking. They were saying hello. I saw the elephants. They was one baby elephant.

Joel: I liked the night animals. I saw bats, spiders and owls I saw pigs sleeping in the mud. It’s like a bed of chocolate. We saw giraffes and they were eating leaves. Its tongue is so long. I saw lizards that were camouflaged. They were hiding!

Eliana: I loved the seals because they did amazing tricks. I saw a daddy elephant, a giraffe and a meerkat. I saw kangaroos too.

Amalia: I loved the sky safari. I went with Lindi, Sam and Kayla and Ari. It was not scary. We went down to the bottom and back up to the top again.

Halle: I liked the seal show because every time a new seal came it showed us its special tricks and they were so amazing. They flipped over and did a backward flip in the air. I liked the sky safari. I looked out the window and I only saw elephant poop!

Succah By the Sea

Succah by the Sea was developed by Shalom, a Sydney Jewish cultural organisation and inspired by Reboot’s New York project SukkahCity. Artistic Directors Office Feuerman, a Sydney-based design and research studio, selected six emerging architectural practices to reimagine the sukkah with a 21^st century lens. Together they form a sukkah village – a space for people to gather, congregate and contemplate the themes of this ancient ritual and its relevance to our world today.

A sukkah, has a roof made from leaves or sticks, and impermanent walls. The philosophical ideas of the festival are ideas that modern Australian society are currently discussing – environmentalism, displacement, home and community.

The Seashells, Starfish and Dolphins visited the installations at Marks Park in Bondi on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The exposure of the children to this exhibition, together with the notion of taking them out into the community to see a Jewish project of this nature, in itself was priceless and an opportunity not to be missed. The children were able to connect their learning and projects about the festival of Sukkot over the past two weeks to visiting Succah by the Sea. It enabled them to see Jewish art, connect it to their heritage and come back to Pre-school and represent their thinking visually through the creative arts. Each child will have viewed the exhibition differently and gained insight in many different ways. We hope these meaningful connections will stay with them for many years to come.

Here are some comments from the children about Succoth:

Does anyone have a sukkah at home?

Hannah – I ate in our sukkah. It’s made out of a tent. The roof is a bamboo mat. It has a wide space, so if people are holding hands, they can all walk in. You can see the stars at night. You can have guests. I want some friends there, all my friends. Mummy and daddy can invite them and take pictures of it and send them on Educa. 

On Monday we engaged in a discussion about the upcoming excursion to Succah by the Sea. But first, we wanted to know what the children already knew about Sculptures… Some of the questions we posed were:

Have you heard about Sculptures by the Sea?

What do you know about it?

Have you ever been to Sculptures by the Sea?

What did you see?

What is a sculpture?

Who made the sculptures?

The children made their thinking visible…

Leo – It’s happening and I’m going to see it.

Stevie –  It’s when you make these sculptures of a sukkah.

Tom – I have been and seen a giant head and a house. 

Sierra – I saw a big baby. 

Bowie – I saw a big baby. I have been with grandma and grandad and with mum and dad and Alfie. 

Levi – When I finished Nippers, my mum showed me where they will be. 

Hannah – I saw stick igloos at Sculptures by the Sea and also a big baby.

Sebi – I saw a lot of sculptures at Bondi Beach.

Who created the sculptures?

Zach – The Aboriginal People.

Bowie – Scientists. 

Leo – Builders. 

Talia – Architects. 

Stevie – My daddy is a builder and he makes buildings. 

There’s an exhibition coming up called Succah by the Sea. What do you think, wonder, imagine it will be about?

Levi – There is a sukkah by the sea. 

Hannah – A sukkah on the sand by the sea.

Bowie – One sukkah by the sea.

Sierra – Lots of sukkot on the sand.

Jasper – Is a sukkah a tent? Like a tent we go into when we are angry…

Aboriginal connections

On Wednesday, I visited Poets Corner in Redfern to meet the children and Director and witness some of our amazing Care Packs that we collected earlier this year, being handed out to the children. To be able to see their delight and joy made this annual project so meaningful and worthwhile. Thank you to all the families that gave so generously to this project. Your support and generosity was truly appreciated by the children who received the Care Packs.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Liam Hochroth (4) and Joshua Kaplan (5). We hope you both had a great birthday. We also wish Happy Birthday to our special educator Lindi Bloch.