Fruit Loop Maths

 

 

 

 

 

This week the children were given a glass of fruit loops to sort.  WE also had coloured strips cut up to match the colours of the fruit loops in the centre of the table.  The children had to sort the fruit loops onto the coloured strips.  They managed to sort the fruit loops in different ways.  Some children got one of each coloured strip from the beginning and sorted all the colours as they went.  Some children chose one colour and completed all that colour before going on to the next colour.  Both ways are efficient.  Teachers could have set this activity up for the children to complete, however it is better to provide the materials and let the children do the setting up for themselves.  The idea of ‘making the maths messy’ is so the children have to THINK about how they are going to tackle the task.

Autumn

 

 

 

 

It seems like we have been waiting a long time for Autumn to begin this year.  At last the leaves on our trees have turned red, yellow and brown and they have started to fall.  This means lots of raking and fun games in the fallen leaves.  We collected some leaves and laminated them for display and we have been sponge painting with leaf shapes and Autumn colours.

Gymnastics

 

 

 

 

 

We were invited to attend a gymnastics session in the stadium at school with the Playgroup Families.  WE got to use lots for the soft gym equipment and the balls.  Some of the children tried somersaults, we walked on planks and up and down stairs.  We went over, under and through.  We rolled in a cylinder.  Zoe taught us the Hello and Goodbye song and the actions.  Thank you for inviting us Playgroup.  We had a fun time.

Planting Food

 

 

 

 

 

Today we had a delivery of lots of edible seedlings.  We have planted Asian Greens, Kitchen Salads and Lettuce mix with a few onions.  We had to weed the garden beds and dig them all up.  When we were digging we found two worms.  After we planted the seedlings we had to water them in.  Now we need some more rain and sunshine to help them grow.  Thank you to Abbey and Haydn for preparing our garden beds for us with some new soil and mulch.

Reactive Painting

 

 

 

 

 

Following on with our work with pipettes when it rained we have used them for another artwork.  We painted with edicol dye, bi cab soda and water on water colour paper.  Then we added white vinegar in the pipette to the art and watched the colours mix and fizz.  What fun and look at the beautiful results.  We are talking a lot about colour mixing at the moment.

Emotions

Today we had a chat about emotions.  We need to teach the children to identify emotions on peoples faces in order to gauge how interactions are going.  WE used the DUPLO set to help the children identify emotions – they we each chose an emotion to build.  On each poster we had to identify why the face?  The children did a really good job.  We had a big talk about what makes us feel anxious.  We will follow up on the other emotions during the year.  Children need to learn strategies about how to deal with big emotions.

Bubble Painting

 

 

 

 

 

Last week Rory brought in some bubble mixture.  It was a breezy day and the children had fun chasing the bubbles outside.  This week we have extended this experience by adding bubble painting to the curriculum.  The children had to be careful to blow and not suck during this activity.  When the paint bubbles overlapped we made some new colours.

Authentic Dough – Names

 

 

 

 

 

Rory                                     Daniel                               Lilly                                 Hunter

We made our names with dough and baked them today.  This experience gave us a great opportunity to discuss letters of the alphabet.  WE have been singing the alphabet song on Mitchell’s game.  Now we will start the alphabet book and practice this each week.

Children are interested in their names because they represent who they are. They’re an important part of their identity and children are proud of them. Think of how often they’re asked, “What is your name?” and “How old are you?” It is important for children to hear their own names and see it written down because names are abstract. You can’t touch a name or hold it in your hands; children need lots of opportunities to make connections between themselves and the way their name sounds and looks.

A Weather Experiment

 

 

 

 

 

We are trying to demystifying the process of rain.  Our farming community are anxiously waiting for rain after a long dry spell.  Today as we watched the sky darken we did an experiments about how rain come out of clouds.  The children had fun adding the blue water to the cloud with a pipette and watching it seep through.  We also made cloud/rain pictures with the pipettes as well.  Let’s hope all this talk of rain brings it on!