Dear Mattingley families and friends,
The winter holiday program wrapped up nicely for our busy little friends in the Mattingley room. We spent a lot of our time exploring various
activities in and out of the classroom. We said goodbye to our classroom forest
and even helped our teachers throw the cut branches and leaves into the big
giant tip/bin. We also played some circle games out in the oval taking
advantage of the nice sunny weather.
On Wednesday, we had a visit from a police officer showing us many
ways they keep people safe. We learnt about the different kinds of uniforms
officers wear on the job and the special things they need to do their duties
like handcuffs, tasers, phones and cars. He even showed us his police car and
let us hear the sirens.
"Police officers are brave", says Felix
"They help catch baddies", adds Walter
"They drive cool cars", comments Paxton who even
volunteered to wear the handcuffs.
We also had a go at baking bread using a breadmaker after we read
the story of "Walter the Baker" by Eric Carl and from all the baking happening at
our playdough table.
"Oh, I can smell the bread", says Jason.
"We share the bread", said Audrey.
"It tastes good with jam. yum!", says Amelia.
We also spent some time playing alongside the Angwin children who
shared their room with us and ours to them. This is a great opportunity for the
children to gain confidence in interacting with their older peers and allows
for peer to peer learning in various areas. It's amazing to see how this can
extend children's interest and confidence.
But of course the highlight of our day is our Pyjama day where we
got to dress in our warm snuggly sleepwear to school and enjoy a cup of hot
chocolate drink with our afternoon tea. The children engaged in discussion on
how our dress up and the money they donated are going to help some children who
are less fortunate under the foster care system. Thank you so much for your
donation and for engaging your children in this important discussions that will
create empathy and social awareness at a very young age.
We are looking forward to seeing what the next Term brings:)
Cheers
Coney and Melissa
