Bush Kinder – Week 4

This week it was just the Pre Schoolers at Bush Kinder. We had a visit from Aunty Rose (Jaice and Brock’s Great Grandmother and Koorie Elder from Robinvale) Heidi and Jaice came along for the day too. We went on a long walk through the channel to the road. We saw foxes holes and had fun running up and down the steep banks. On the way back we went through the bush to the track, We followed a rabbit path. Some children questioned whether we were lost! Once we got the track there was some good dirt for drawing. So we all got some drawing sticks and drew a picture. Mrs Gayle wrote our names. The children were very excited to see the bus in the distance as we got close to base camp!
When we got back to camp we ate our morning tea. We couldn’t have a fire today because it was hot and windy. While we were eating morning tea, Aunty Rose told us a story about a naughty boy who turned into a koala and why koalas cry like babies. Lily said, “What else can you tell us?” Aunty Rose told us a story about a naughty girl who was picked up by an eagle and dropped into a nest!
Then it was free play in the cubbies. The girls played ‘schools’ and the boys played ‘badies’. After lunch we went back to Pre School to do our picture plates. See you next year Bush Kinder.

Farewell

In addition to our planned Playgroup Play session, we also held a farewell to Robyn our Maternal Child Health Nurse. Robyn has worked with our community closely for two years and we will miss her Thursday visits. We had a morning tea and a play outside with the Pre School and Playgroup Families to say thank you.

Daisies

We have a field of daisies around the Pre School. The children love to pick daisies on our walks around town. They keep them to give to Mum’s at pick up time.

Bush Kinder – Week 2

This week we took the Year Prep/One children to Bush Kinder with us. We went to Lake Lulla first. We had a big walk and we played on the muddy flats of the lake. The children looked for footprints and drew on the mud with sticks. The lake is very high this year due to the amount of rain we have had. This meant that the salt was all covered over. There were some trees and a few hills to climb at the lake.

After a walk at the lake we went back to our Ridley Rd camp site to have morning tea. Then it was off around the boundary again before the children went to play in our cubbies. One of the cubbies had been destroyed – so a group dismantled it and re built it. Another group made the big cubby even bigger with an extension.

Mrs Gayle helped us cook sausages and marshmallows on the fire. Then we ate some lunch. After lunch the children had a choice. They could go for a walk with Mrs Grant or stay at the campsite with Mrs Gayle. The children who went for a walk went to the dry channel to run up and down. There was illegally dumped rubbish in the channel. There was crime scene tape and the rubbish was covered with black plastic. This dumping is under investigation. It will be interesting to see what happens with this.

Bush Kinder – Rubbish

Someone has dumped rubbish in the dry channel bed at Bush Kinder. The rubbish has been covered with black plastic (because of potential asbestos contamination). The rubbish is roped off because it is under investigation by Parks Victoria. This started a great discussion on disposing of waste responsibly and what might happen to the people caught dumping the rubbish. This relates to a sign we saw at Sea Lake Bush Kinder warning people of a fine if they left rubbish behind. Learning about recycling and being responsible for our waste is a lesson learned at Bush Kinder. We also ensure that children return any rubbish from their lunch boxes back in their boxes to dispose of at home to keep our Bush Kinder site clean and safe for us and the animals.

Bush Kinder – Week 3

Most of the children found the arrival of the Year 2/3 children overwhelming this week and found their own places to play. While we were playing we were noticing how the Year 2/3 children were interacting with our Bush Kinder space. This will inspire our play for our last week. New cubbies were built at lightening speed. The children were inspired to decorate their cubbies with wild flowers. We cooked damper on a stick over the fire.

Sensory Snow Play

Mrs Grant brought some snow back from Mt Hotham this week. We put it in the clam shell to play with. The children got to touch and taste it. They could feel the air around the shell getting colder. They used animals who live in the snow and vehicles for moving snow in their pretend play. We watched the snow start to melt during the day. They children wanted to save it for the next day. They suggested keeping the windows open overnight so the room was cold. They put all the snow in a pile and in the morning there was still some left. When their hands got too cold they went and played something else for a while.

Bush Kinder Painting

Inspired by the surrounds of Bush Kinder last week, the children did some paintings of what they remembered. We also talked about the colours we would need to use. Great Paintings everyone!

Visual Discrimination

Activities that train our eyes to visually discriminate help us when we start to read at school. This week we tried some of these activities in the afternoon.

Star Pictures

Following on from our Star Gazing night at Green Lake, we read some stories about stars. Zoo in the Sky, Catch me a Star and Draw me a Star are some star books we enjoy. Then we made some star pictures with black paper and star stickers, sequins and cardboard stars. We needed to explain to the children the perspective of the pictures and we showed them how the black paper is the sky and that we are looking up at the sky. We know that stars can only be seen at night, they are different colours and sizes and that they are a long way away.
Then the teachers set up the dark tent and we put a star projector into the tent for some fun star gazing.