Volume 29 Issue 22 31 Jul 2020 10 Av 5780

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

Welcome to Term 3 

The children have all arrived back at Pre-school very happy, settled and eager to learn and play with their friends.

Already, the classrooms are buzzing with activities, provocations, wonderings and ideas and lots of learning together with their friends and educators.

Sustainability 

This is an important part of our philosophy and curriculum. Practising sustainability empowers children to construct knowledge, explore values and develop an appreciation of the environment and its relationship to their worlds. This lays the foundations for an environmentally responsible adulthood.

Some of the ways we already teach, and involve the children in sustainable practices, include having a worm farm and compost bin to reduce food wastage. We also have recycling bins for paper and cardboard and invite children to use recycled materials in their learning such as box construction etc. We provide natural materials to use in open ended ways such as pattering and the learning of maths concepts. They are also used in the block area for props and stimulate imaginative and creative play. 

Over a period of time however, what we have noticed is the amount of paper/recycled paper the children are using and how much of this is being wasted. After some brainstorming and consideration of ways we could reduce the amount of paper going into our recycled bin, the idea of each child having their own scrapbook to draw/paint in was decided upon, as a way to promote an awareness of paper usage, recycling and sustainability. The children know, to find their own scrapbook for everyday drawing and to use this instead of wasting lots of pieces of paper. The idea is for them to be more thoughtful and purposeful in what they draw, but also to be able to revisit their work and add more details over time. 

At a program meeting staff came up with some ways to introduce the concept to the children. They formulated some questions to ask and included other strategies such as how each child would be given the opportunity to personalise their book e.g. literacy by writing their name, drawing a picture and telling the story behind this which the educator would scribe. 

The discussion started by doing a “See, Think, Wonder” routine. Placing some paper in the middle of the circle and inviting the children to tell us what they could see? What were some of the uses of paper?  Where does it come from? etc.

Here are some comments from the children:

Phoebe: We don’t want to keep using new paper.

Miles: We don’t want to hurt the trees.

Sam: We don’t want to waste it because we have to cut down the trees.

Ari: The trees won’t be able to live because they will be cut down.

Sam: If there’s no trees, the animals will die.

Cian: When there was a bushfire, all the trees got burnt.

Phoebe: If we cut down all the trees, we won’t have any oxygen.

Ari: It will pollute nature. Nature will get full of garbage and the trees and animals won’t be able to live.

Arlo: Paper comes from paper bark trees. People invented machines that make it thin and white. It’s easy to rip and very delicate.

Alice: You can decorate on paper.

Georgia: You can hang it.

Abby: It’s for cutting with scissors.

Josh: You can make stuff with it.

What very thoughtful, clever children we have. Teaching this generation of children to engage in sustainable practices is vital for the future of our planet. 

Buddy Reading

We were very excited to finally start Buddy Reading again this term. Mrs Esra came down with her Year 2 class to share some special time together. It’s always so lovely to reconnect with past Kornmehl children.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very Happy Birthday to Aby and Ella Marcus (5), Kaya and Georgia Fisher (4) and Alice Berkovic (4). We also wish a very Happy Birthday to our Educator, Heather Marshall. We hope you all had a beautiful day.