Edgerley

Dear Edgerley Parents,

This week, inspired by Isaac S’s description of “wild ramps” that can be found in nature, our investigation into ramps took another turn. We attempted to create our own wild ramps with ice and pipettes. We achieved success but progress was slow despite large groups of enthusiastic ramp makers clustering around the blocks of ice. Later in the week we discovered a new tool to help us. With syringes filled with warm water we were not only able to create ramps, but also pools and drops and began working towards making tunnels!!! It was very satisfying and there was no shortage of enthusiastic participants.

This week we also continued to work on our Chinese New Year movie, even adding credits to the end. After using puppets to tell the story of Nian the Beast and performing the story for the entire Early Learning Centre last week we are very enthusiastic about our latest way to tell a story. We have also pinned up the animals of the Chinese zodiac in our play kitchen. Come in and lift the flap to see what our zodiac animals are. Feel free to add your own name if you wish… and if you know your animal!!

Finally this week Friday children headed to the bottom oval for games only to discover that the previous nights windy weather had littered the ground with all sorts of things from up in the canopy. We decided that they were gifts from the wind that Isaac B described as “gifts falling down like rainfall” and that we would like to observe them more closely. We gathered up our gifts and took them back to our room. 

We wondered if others looking at our great pile would also appreciate their beauty? 

How could we help them see that they were special gifts? 

Xavier suggested that we put them on a special table. Karl suggested that we could sort them into groups and perhaps even hang some from the roof. We enthusiastically sorted our gifts and gave them their special table (aside from one small branch of leaves that went home with Sebi to feed his brothers stick insect!). We can’t wait to observe them even more closely next week.

We would like to remind all parents to remember to apply sunscreen before Kindergarten as the sun can become surprisingly strong during the day despite the overcast mornings. 

Also, as of next week Thursday children will require a library bag to borrow books from the Library. Please remember to bring a Library bag and the book from the previous week to avoid disappointment.

Have a lovely weekend

Mel, Emma and Chris

Cooper

Hi Cooper families,

This week we started our whole class visual art project. Over the week, we invited the children to create using water paints on a large canvas on the floor. Across the week, most children approached and engaged in the experience. We played relaxation music which had a calming effect on the classroom play. It has been wonderful to observe the children taking great care and pride in their work. Next week we will add another layer using different art tools on our whole class canvas.

With great love and care, the tadpoles are thriving in the classroom. We are feeding the tadpoles and cleaning their tank weekly. The children have been eagerly drawing illustrations of the tadpoles and frogs, demonstrating their knowledge of their lifecycle.

During the week we have been talking about how to keep our bodies safe as part of the Keeping Safe Curriculum that we are implementing in the classroom. On Thursday we traced around Ollie’s body to get a rough guide of a persons body shape and identified all of the main parts of our body.

Chen Chen – hands

Aleah – Feet

Archie – arms

Charlotte – legs

Yichen – head

Nash – fingers

Eddie – belly button

Poppy – nose

Lucy – eyes and neck

George – mouth

Sebastian – ears

Mason – legs

Nicholas – back

Angus - Knees

Ollie C – back, other side.

During our discussion we spoke about how everyone in the class have rights regarding their bodies and that they need to respect the rights of others not to be touched. Next week, we will collectively create a class essential agreement for our Cooper room.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Love Miss Gilbert and Miss C

Advanced Works Notice

As you are aware the New Boarding House project has commenced as well as the Adelaide 500 Road Closure restrictions. Please click on the link below for more information. 

Advanced Works Notice

Thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation as we go through this exciting time of redevelopment for the College.  

From the Kitchen

Silvia and I are often asked for recipes to try at home. Here is one of the children's favourites:  

Moroccan Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

chicken thigh cut into stir fry pieces

chickpeas  x 1 tin drained

chunky crushed tomatoes

moroccan seasoning

red onion chopped finely

celery stems x 3 chopped finely

shredded carrot x 2

chicken stock

crushed garlic clove x 1

crushed ginger x 1 teaspoon

long grain rice

Method:

stir fry chicken with celery and onion

add seasoning, garlic and ginger

add tomatoes and stock

add chickpeas and carrot

cook rice

serve and enjoy

Regards 

Kim and Silvia

Langley

Dear Langley family and friends,

This week we have been focusing on developing our relationships with one another. Our newer students are beginning to reach out to their peers and enjoy sharing their play experiences. It has been wonderful to overhear conversations between the children as they hopped in and out of our school bus, built with the Duplo and played in our shop.

We are encouraging small group play activities through collaborative projects like planting our broad bean seeds and creating large art works. These activities require the children to take turns, share materials and to keep their personal space. They also encourage the children to manipulate equipment and develop fine motor skills.

The Langley friends are very keen to care for our garden and watering and planting continue to be very popular tasks. They are also very inquisitive about our stick insect and how to care for it. Next week we will be welcoming another animal into our class and we look forward to sharing this experience with you and the children.

We continue to enjoy opportunities for dancing and singing in class on a daily basis and more children now recall lyrics and actions. Dancify continues on a weekly basis and again serves to allow for yet another form of creative expression for our children.

Could we please remind parents that if your child comes home wearing items of clothing that belong to the ELC due to accidents of just messy play, please return these as we always need spares.

Many thanks and have a wonderful week.

Miss Olly, Miss Georgia, Miss Nicole and Miss Chelsea

Mead

Dear Mead families,

At the sensory table this week, we have been exploring number - searching, identify and matching numbers from 0 to 9. Spontaneously, the children have been grouping them together and counting how many they have in each group. 

Over the coming weeks, we will explore the concept of one to one correspondence further, creating groups of different objects. 

Outside and in PE we have continued to explore and extend our gross motor capabilities, climbing up ladders, sliding down firemen’s poles, balancing on stilts, manipulating our bodies through a range of obstacles and engaging in running races. 

We have some keen nature lovers in our classroom also, exploring the garden and discovering muddy puddles, small creatures in the plants, finding fruit in our orchard, collecting the chickens eggs and looking after our Spiny Leaf Insects.

Best wishes for the weekend

Coney and Jess

Angwin

Dear Angwin Familles,

We have had another involved week in the Angwin Room, enjoying some wonderful water play, engaging with each other and learning more about our friends.

This week we have welcomed Thomas D and Josef to our room for visits. They will be joining us next week.

As the children have been playing we have spoken to them about their friends and what makes them special. This will be an ongoing reflection as we build our learning community. Here are a few of their reflections…

Stirling: Leonardo is special because we like the same toys and we build together. We come on the same day.

Ethan: Jaiyen is special because we play with each other in the block corner

Riani: Alannah is special because she draws with me and we play in the sand together.

Parker: Lola is special because she loves animals just like me

Billy: Sidney is special because we have been friends for a while

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kind regards,

Pip and Liana

Chapple

We finished last week with a wonderful celebration of Chinese New Year. The children made lanterns and lucky red parcels and were then treated to a performance of the Lion Dance by some of Prince Alfred College senior international students.

Our seeds have grown very quickly and we have planted them outside and we are looking forward to a bountiful crop. We will look to sow some more seeds in the next few weeks as it was an activity that the children enjoyed. 

We have started our focus on number, now that the children have settled into the routine of the Chapple Room. We are focusing on number recognition, order and conservation of number, namely that quantity does not change with physical rearrangement. We are looking to move the children on from simple rote repetition of number. We assist the children in the counting by getting them to physical touch an object to count it. This helps them to count what is actually there as they tend to “run away" in their counting, particularly in the tricky teens.

The children have been captivated by the Numberjacks and went on a walk looking for a “number to land on.” We are sure you will hear all about it over the next few weeks.

Dancify continued this week and continues to be as popular as ever with the children.