Dear Mattingley
families and friends,
This week was a
bittersweet week as we said farewell to Marcel and his family wishing
them the best of luck on their move interstate. But we have also
happily welcome Alina, who settling well with the help of your caring
Mattingley friends.
Our explorations
on creepy crawlies continues to take off as we now have more spiny leaf insects
in our classroom to observe and interact with. We even have boy ones which
excited the children immensely. We know it is a boy because it doesn't have
spikes on his back and he has got one set of false wings and one set of big
wings. We also know that the baby ones are called nymphs and that they
look like spiders and scorpions to scare off other insects and avoid being
eaten. We also now know that they have exoskeletons that they shed out as
they grow. Bet you didn't know that! We have noticed that there are so
many brave children in the Mattingley not afraid to get close to these
fascinating creatures.
They tickle my
skin!- Lochlann
He is crawling on
me! Look!- Paxton
The boy one looks
like it wants to fight!- Felix
No, they are just
saying hello to each other!- Samuel
Do the other ones
know he is a boy?- Eloise
I'm not scared to
touch but only the little one- Daniel
I can hold the
leaves but I don't want to hold it- Jason
Look! his spikes
are green!- Ashton
I really like the
baby- Laila
Another current
interest is gravel and rock collection which is slowly taking shape. The children have
been so keen to share about the little rocks and gravel pieces they have been
finding and placing in their treasure glass jars that we have now displayed for
others to see. This experience builds on children's curiosity and exploration
of Science related concepts which enhances their vocabulary and confidence
in their language as they describe and analyze their collection and those of
others. Watch this space. We
have also looked at rock and crystal samples acquired from the Science lab. We can't wait to
see how far these explorations will go which makes it all the more exciting.
Indoors we have
been playing lots of circle games that test our memory skills, resilience and
ability to ask for help. We played "What's
missing" and "bug
in the rug" where children have to guess what or who has been
hidden and ask for help when they have difficulty. It's also hard not to be
upset if you don't get to have a turn but we are getting much better at it. We
just need to play more and longer. These games along with duck, duck, goose and what's the time Mr Wolf?
extend outside which enables children to interact with other class or age
groups widening their circle of peers and share their competencies with each
other.
Friday saw us
soaking the lovely 24 degree sunshine that went well with our fun sausage
sizzle picnic time with the Mead and Cooper children with Mr Ty being our King
of the Grill! Couldn't get any better than that!
We are looking
forward to having Ms Mason back on Monday and see what Term 4 has in store as
our last term being Mattingley children.
Till next time,
Coney and Melissa
