There’s been a lot of creativity and excitement now that we’re in the final term in Prep. The children have become much more confident writers, mathematicians and are all so capable of explaining their ideas and interests to those around them. We’ve had a number of discussions about what’s to come in the year ahead and while many have indicated a preference to stay in Prep, they recognise that they will soon be the ‘bigger kids’ when next year’s Foundation students come on board. In fact, they did a beautiful job of welcoming the incoming students and parents when they sang our ‘I Wonder Why’ pirate song in the gymnasium on Thursday.
Speaking of pirates, our ongoing inquiry with Connie’s band of seafaring sailors has shifted focus with Greybeard and company blasting off into space. This has prompted some interest in astronauts, rockets, and our solar system. Lately, we’ve been looking at the planets that revolve around the Sun, discussing some of the similarities and differences between them and Earth. The children have been using materials to build a Moon Colony in the construction space; sharing their designs and concepts with others in the class before handing the job off for others to modify, alter, or improve. This has necessitated quite a bit of negotiation as diverse groups tackle the project and need to adapt others’ ideas into their layouts. At one stage the Moon Base was inhabited primarily with farm animals (for company) and only three astronauts. We decided that maybe the animals would be happier back on Earth.
In the studio we’ve been making ‘alien’ landscapes using kinetic sand and have imagined a whole host of otherworldly creatures through a mixture of collage and drawing. The focus here has been on adding detail and refining our work by asking ‘is there more I could add to make it better?’ We’ve also been improving our fine motor skills by making articulating characters and machines with cardboard and split-pins.
Through a mathematics lens, we’ve been designing rockets and robots using Unifix cubes. Once built, they can be counted in columns and added up to find a total. This can involve a range of strategies including: counting all, counting on from the larger number, making groups of ten, as well as multiplication.
Our writing has been connected to wellbeing sessions and we’ve been thinking about kind things we could say to one another to make us all feel good. The children’s attention was directed towards using the dotted thirds to carefully form their letters before publishing a finished piece that will be used for a game of ‘Kindness Ball’ in the coming week.
Of course, we can forget to mention the enthusiasm around our AusBicycle incursion. We’ve got quite a few very confident cyclists, but everyone was very encouraging and supportive of peers who were still getting comfortable riding on two wheels. In spite of ability, everyone had a chance to ride a bike! Thank you to those parents who were able to bring a spare bike for those without one. Check in with your little riders to see if they remember the ABCs (air, brakes, and chain) that were shared by our instructor, Mitch.
