Settling Snakes

I have just finished the on-line PD on sensory integration called “The Traffic Jam in my Brain”  By Gen Jereb.  It was very thought provoking.  Today I decided that we would make snakes from long socks and wheat.  This idea of theses snakes is to use them in play and circle time for ‘heavy work’.  Heavy work is one of the strategies we use to regulate our ‘engines’ so that we are at the right place for the task at hand.

The children love their snakes.  They played with them all afternoon.  They will be able to take them home at the end of the year.

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Rubbish at Bush Kinder

If you have been following our BLOG you will have noticed that we have been finding lots of household rubbish being dumped in and around our Bush Kinder site.

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We printed off the pictures A4 size and asked the children to talk about it.

Here is what they said:

Tay: It’s just rude.  They throw rubbish all around.

 

Cooper:  It’s just littering.

 

Jayda:  It’s not nice.

 

Ruby:  It’s naughty to throw rubbish around.

 

Anders:  It’s just junk.

 

Mrs Grant:  It spoils our Bush Kinder.

 

Provocation: What can we do about it?

The rubbish was too much for us to clean up – so we wrote a letter to the Swan Hill Shire to ask the council workers if they could come and help us.

November 6th 2013

 

Dear Swan Hill Shire Workers,

 

In October we go to Bush Kinder at Lake Lulla Reserve.

When we were at Bush Kinder we saw lots and lots of rubbish.  We can’t pick it up because it is too big, there is too much and it might be dangerous for us.

It is all junk and it is not meant to be there.  It makes our Bush Kinder look like a tip.

Can you please come and help us clean it up?  You will need to bring a big trailer, shovels and special gloves.

 

From

 

Children at Manangatang Pre School

 

We added photos and our thoughts about rubbish dumping.  The children then talked about how the Shire workers fix the roads.  They brainstormed all the other jobs they do for us in the community:  Mow the lawns at the park and around Pre School, empty the rubbish bins and clean the toilets.  Great job Shire workers!

The children will sign this letter and it will go in the post next week.  This is important learning for children about their role in keeping our community beautiful and safe.  We have learned how actions have consequences for other people.  Hopefully they will never become the people who dump rubbish once this real life learning experience is complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Habitats

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Our learning about habitats from Bush Kinder extended into the classroom as Tay, Cheyenne and Kyle got out the small native animals and made houses from branches sourced from outside.  They proped them up on tubs and the animals were having ‘sleep overs’ at each other’s houses.  There were ‘rules’ to this game and anyone else who tried to join in didn’t last long as they couldn’t ‘follow the rules’!

Bush Kinder 4

Today was the last day of Bush Kinder for 2013.  It was hot and sticky and every fly in Australia must have been there to greet us!  Today was about just enjoying revisiting all the things we have done in the past four weeks.

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We did some more climbing, ran through the dry channel bed again and went for a walk.

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Tay showed me another hut that he and Mrs Gayle had built.  Lachlan found a stick.  He showed me the smooth bark and then what it looked like on the inside.

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Everyone agreed to come home from Bush Kinder early today.  When we got home Mrs Grant drew us a map of Bush Kinder.  Then we all had a go at making our own maps.  After we made our maps we presented them to the group.

Here is Coopers and Anders’ Map and this is what they said.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA  This is our bus and that’s the toilet behind the bus.  This is the channel and this ‘x’ is where the rubbish is.  This is the hare that we saw running across the road.  This is is the bumpy road.  That one’s a camel and that’s a baby rabbit.  This is the lake.  These are the bushes.  This is the cubby.  That’s the bird nest.

 

Many children included their footprints on their maps.  All the children’s maps and stories are in their portfolios if parents would like to have a look before the holidays.

 

Bush Kinder 3

Yesterday was our third day at Bush Kinder.  We were blessed with a beautiful warm and non-windy day.  We chose today to do a walk around part of Lake Lulla.  It is a salt lake and it is a very beautiful part of our environment.

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On our walk we found another pile of of dumped rubbish.

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We walked in the sand until it became mud.  “I’m sinking”  “It’s quicksand,”said Hailee.  The children loved the contrast between the white, crusty salt on the top and the black, oozy (stinky!) mud underneath.  They tasted the salt crystals.  Some layed on the mud flats.  We drew letters and symbols in the mud with our fingers.  We were very very dirty.  We paddled and washed off in the lake.  Some noticed that the salt water made their legs itch and there sores sting.

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We found more animal bones.  We spotted kangaroo prints and followed them through the mud.  William (Koorie Educator) showed us what emu prints would look like and how to make a baby footprint.

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We were very hungry when we got back to base camp and we ate our snacks and most of our lunch.  Some ate in their cubbies.  Our cubbies were looking worst for wear after two weeks of high wind.  “Our cubbies are destroyed!” said Hailee.

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Then William showed us how to paint on bark.  We used brushes to make the backgrounds and then sticks to paint animal tracks.

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Then there was some time for quiet contemplation.

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