Wk11, 18th to 22nd March 2019

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to our weekly highlights for week 11.

Our master chefs always cooking up a storm in our kitchen. They show case their developing knowledge of the appliances you would find in a kitchen, their correct use and we always wrap up our conversation with the best safety precautions we should take to avoid injuring ourselves and family.

There were numerous puzzles to challenge us cognitively. These puzzles were a little different than the traditional interlocking ones. These puzzles where all peg based and required shape recognition and spatial awareness to match the holes in the shapes with the position of the pegs. A lot of trial and error was experiences exercising and building our resolve and tenacity. At times we even lent a hand to our younger peers, demonstrating how to be a good friend.

As we continue to work on our emotional development puzzles were offered to assist with recognising and matching facial cues, providing eductor’s with a great Segway to explore what they should if they see someone displaying that facial expression.

To further extend and build on the children’s fine motor skills and creativity, sponge painting was organised as a craft activity. The children had to absorb the paint in the applicating sponge prior to transferring the paint by stamping the sponge applicator. So much to think about and so many movements to think about…..but many master pieces were created in the process.

Our avid dancers weren’t disappointed as they had numerous opportunities to showcase their dance moves.

Threading boards were offered to also assist the children develop their fine motor skills and their hand eye coordination.

Foam Blocks enabled children to keep challenging each other’s creativity and design whether it was building the tallest or widest structure. If there was a dispute regarding the winner of the design, the children where encouraged to count the blocks to determine who had the most blocks, declaring them the winner.

For the finer art of construction, the children enjoyed Mobilo and Lego. These resources require a more delicate hand and increased dexterity as they manipulate these smaller pieces. An increased level of creativity was seen by using pegs to construct items. This required a degree of lateral thinking to use a product designed for a specific purpose in a completely different way successfully. Well done!!

Mr Alf was roped into another game of Pictionary. The children are starting to develop increased vocabulary as the number of guesses are increasing. Pictionary is a fun way to build on our creativity and further develop our language and literacy. So much fun.

During our group times this week, we enjoyed listening to a variety of stories pertaining Harmony Day and sharing by discussion what the story means. We enjoyed Harmony Day craft, painting cut out people using cotton tips using a variety of colours to symbolise our different skin tones. Miss Nat also helped the children appreciate the different skin tones here in SK, by comparing the colour of our hands. As an extension of our cultural week, we enjoyed viewing a traditional Chinese costume, seeing how it differs from what we are wearing and enjoyed participating in a Chinese traditional dance.

We continued working on our letters of the week, learning to recognise the letters, their phonics and building on our vocabulary by recalling as many words as we can remember beginning with those letters. To assist us extend on our language and literacy we watch Letter Land Stories and practice our Ants in the Apple song with our guest Miss Elena.

We always have a quiet activity on offer for Children looking for a break from their robust and vigorous outdoor play. Drawing and Colouring never disappoints and always draws in willing participants.

Parachute Game is an excellent activity requiring teamwork to keep the ball ontop of the parachute. If one section stops shaking the parachute, the material sags to the floor and ball rolls out. During this game, no matter how tired you get, you keep going as you don’t want to disappoint your friends by being the reason the ball escaped.

Traffic lights help children recognise the difference between the three colours of Red, Orange and Green. This increased awareness is intended to assist the children with their understanding of road safety.

Sandpit continues to provide our maternal and paternal children with a source of babies, as they hold a T-Shirt full of sand as a baby……not sure how long this pregnancy theme will continue, but currently is an area of interest. Everyone else enjoy the digging experience and our visiting Dinasours.

Our active children are drawn to the challenges presented by the Slippery Dip, Monkey Bars, Rock wall and the increased risk presented by climbing our tree. Our children certain have an adventurous nature.

The children also enjoyed practicing their writing. We are still in our tracing phase to guide and assist the children with writing. There is significant improvement and increased control demonstrated by the accuracy of the tracing. Keep up the great work Butterflies.

Musical Chairs is a class favourite and a Mr Alf favourite. It is a great activity to help children play game applying rules and more importantly regulating their behaviour and controlling their emotions when they miss out on a seat. I love this game and so proud of the children’s emerging ability to regulate their emotions and behaviour.

The Tap Tap and Felt Board Stories allow the children to create and narrate their own stories. These activities assist the children to transform a mental concept into a tangible product which can be enjoyed with other peers and to verbally assist their peers navigate around the story. Obviously the tap tap activity requires an increased level of fine motor skills to manage those little pins and hammer….but the challenge also appears to be part of the attraction to this activity.

Dolls and Doll Houses indoors are never too far away. They seem to be a staple in our day’s activity choice voiced by the children. Still a terrific activity to engage multiple participants creating an environment conducive to develop our sharing, negotiating, conflict resolution and conversational skills.