Wk9, the week that was 4th to 8th March 2019

Dear Parents and Friend's,

Welcome to our weekly brief for week 9. We are excited to share with you highlights of our weekly experiences for the week.

Extending on the children's passion for construction, the children were offered the large wooden blocks. The children enjoyed numerous construction projects but none more than creating their tall towers. Deciding on what shaped blocks should be position where and how to maximise the height of their build. Many attempts were made and they had to overcome much adversity before success could be realised. The children displayed excellent hypothesis and tenacity through this activity. To further extend the children's fine motor skills through construction, mobilo and lego were offered to further develop the children's dexterity

Playdough, an old favourite which offer's many benefits associated with creativity and dexterity. We have witnessed it all from pies to shaped items based on the cookie cutter used. But never have we sampled playdough shish kababs skewers. Yum!!

The children were able to exercise ALL their big muscle groups as the conquered the Monkey-bars, Rock-wall, Cargo Net, Slippery Dip and Rope Wall. The children tested their strength, co-ordination and balance to overcome the challenges presented by each apparatus. The flying fox is still only challenge not mastered!!

The pot plants pots were used to stack for vertical shape and along the ground for horizontal shape. Many discussions were had regarding the placing of the pots exercising collaboration and respect for the views of others as we develop our confidence in communicating our ideas. It's tricky finding the correct language to use when negotiating and idea which only improves with practice and experience.

The children cooked up a storm in he sandpit. Moving sand into a variety of shaped vessels can be challenging and requires a steady hand to minimise spillage. The sandpit also provided a great canvas for our explorers to showcase their excavation skills and talent. We're lucky we still had a little sand left in our sandpit after the excavation. Our Maternal and Paternal children enjoyed pretending to be pregnant, using the sand to provide the sensation of nursing a baby in their stomachs.....mum / dad are you ready to provide your children with a baby sibling?

A variety of opportunities are provided for children to express themselves through Dramatic Play. A few of the weeks highlights was our retail environment, testing our children's understanding of the commercial world and customer service; Jurassic Park, a world which comprised of dinosaurs and foliage before humans walked our planet; and Dolls, an oldie but a goodie, where children are able to project what they know of the world through dolls. Makes for interesting conversation.

During our daily group times, the children enjoyed numerous stories, songs and dance. A few of the books read during the week were, The Terrible Plop, Leaves are Falling and Your Smile Counts

Our budding doctors enjoyed learning about our skeletal system. Working through the puzzle as they determine which bone belongs to what body part. The children had a number of attempts and would often take a step back to see whether the skeleton was in proportion as they experimented putting the skeletal system together.

To extend on our emerging fine motor skills and coordination a scissor cutting activity was offered. manipulating a page as you cut proved to be more challenging than initially thought. We will continue to offer cutting experiences throughout the year to assist with the development of this skill.

For our designers who love to experiment with cause and effect, the Marble Run is the go to activity. A variety of structures are created to see which one provides the furthest marble run. The children are starting to make the connection the higher the structure the further the marble will travel.....the why question still remains a mystery, well, at this stage.

As the children extend on their table based work, the children practiced their tracing, colouring in shapes, cutting out tiles and then sticking these tiles along the corresponding lines to maintain the correct pattern run sequence. To further extend their writing skills, they practiced writing letters on chalk board.

Straw Threading and Pegboards offered numerous opportunities for children to build on and further extend their fine motor skills essential for writing, buttoning up shirts, tying shoe laces etc etc etc

The children enjoyed challenging their peers by playing Pictionary. Expressing their creativity whilst engaging peers in a conversation to guess their creations. The children are learning to represent what they are thinking through illustration.

As always we are never short of enthusiastic Butterflies ready and willing to assist their teachers prepare our daily routines. We can see our Butterflies help set up beds for their younger peers.