Getting Ready for Book Week We chose to make a display for 'Going On a Bear Hunt' for Book Week. We have read the book and acted out the story many times, so now it was time to work together to make a mural to go on our display board. We used paint and sponges to create the background on three big pieces of card. We made sure we had all the 'scenes' - the grass, the river, the mud, the forest, the snowstorm and cave. We had to check if the pieces matched together, just like a jigsaw. Then we drew the characters on separate paper - Dad with Baby on his back, Big Sister, Little Sister, Brother and the Bear! Library Visit with our Buddies We visited the library with our Grade 3 Buddies last week. It was fun to read books with them! Three Billy Goats Gruff We have been acting out the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff. We are planning to share our play at the next ECC assembly. Observing who we are and what we look like We read 'The Colors of Us', a story about a girl who discovers that all her friends and neighbours have different shades of skin. She uses words such as 'chocolate', 'butterscotch', and 'pizza crust' to describe their skin colour. We tried to think of words to describe our own skin colour, then we looked at the different shades of pencils we had to see which one matched our skin. Some children chose to colour in their skin colour with pencil, while others mixed paint to try and get the right shade. We used wool to make our hair, and used the ipad to take photos of our eyes, nose and mouth to help us draw these the way we saw them. Jelly As part of our inquiry into the letter J this week, we explored jelly. Firstly, we put some tiny water beads into water. Soon, they started expanding and after a few hours, they had soaked up all the water and were really big! They were fun to play with and felt like jelly. Then, for our cooking this week, we made strawberry jelly. We used frozen strawberries, gelatine sheets and sugar. The gelatine sheets were interesting to observe as they became soft in cold water, and then disappeared in the warm water! When we mixed everything together is was liquid, but after some time in the fridge, we had strawberry jelly. We enjoyed it for our snack. Positional Language
To increase our exposure to positional language, we have been telling the story of the three Billy Goats Gruff. We have also read 'Going on a Bear Hunt' and it is our 'ringtime' that we act out each day. When our buddies visited last Tuesday, we spent some time in the playground showing them how we could go under, over, next to and between. Creative Play What a lot of busy and creative play there was last week! The children enjoyed having a few new items to explore and use to extend their play. They made homes with a teepee and frame, explored light and dark on the light table, made amazing structures and playscapes with the bamboo, and took their lego building to new heights (literally!). Have a look at the photos with your child and ask them to tell you what is happening. Mindfulness- Yoga We have been revisiting our yoga practice after a break. Now the children are taking turns to lead our session using the yoga cards. Happy Birthday Dea!
Dea turned 5 on Tuesday and we celebrated her birthday with her parents, who brought in a delicious chocolate cake. It was lucky that Panpan, Dea's grade 3 buddy, could also stay for the celebration. Happy Birthday Sasha! Student Led Conferences The children were so proud to show you what they are doing at school. I hope you enjoyed the day! Multicultural Day We had a lovely day on multicultural day, learning a little bit about each others cultures and countries. Cooper sang us the Australian national anthem, we did some Maori weaving from New Zealand and we coloured in our flags. We hope you enjoyed the afternoon's festivities and tried some delicious food! Thank you for all your support in making it a truly multicultural celebration! Journey to the Bird Park
We really enjoyed our trip to the Bird Park on Monday. We saw many beautiful birds as well as crocodiles, emu, ostrich and goats. We were amazed at our clever they were and discovered we didn't need to be frightened of them. ECC Assembly Our 2nd assembly was held last Tuesday, with Preschool O leading. The children did so well at remembering their lines and speaking clearly to the audience. It is great practice for them! Kindergarten shared with us two songs they have been learning to celebrate the 100th day of school this week. ECC Sports Day Enjoy looking at the photos with your children, what skills they have! Classroom Activities
There have been some amazing creations being built out of blocks lately! Our letter of the week was "Ll" and we made lion masks and lime juice. Classroom Activities Our letter of the week was 'Uu' and we learnt about going underneath umbrellas to eat our upside-down cake! We made umbrellas and also baked a yummy pineapple Paleo upside-down cake. It was delicious! We have also been painting and drawing our self-portraits and we made a graph of all the different types of transport we went on our holiday journeys. Nana's birthday Nana turned 4 last week and she celebrated with us, sharing some photos of her life so far, and her Mum brought in a yummy chocolate mousse cake for us to share. Happy Birthday Nana! Chinese New Year What a lovely day it was, the children all looked beautiful in their Chinese costumes and they all enjoyed making lanterns and dragons! Thank you to Sinnion (Karate's Mom), Christina and Maria (Renee's Mom and Aunty) who taught us how to make the crafts. We also heard the story of the Chinese zodiac and 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' in Mandarin. Journeys take us near and far We met up with our buddies this week and they helped us make a graph of the transport we used on our journeys. We have been sharing our journey posters with the class and we have swapped our train for a bus from Kru Caryl's class which we are enjoying playing in in the role play area. Classroom activities Our letter of the week was 'Oo' and we remembered all the living things that start with O, such as ostrich, otter, oranges and orchid (our class name). We learnt how to use a sharp knife safely and carefully to cut oranges in half and then squeeze them to make orange juice! We have been drawing our self portraits which provide a snapshot of our fine motor skills and self-perception. ECC Assembly The ECC had their first assembly this year, attended by students and teachers. Our class shared our morning song and acted out the '5 Little Ducks' song. The children did so well and were risk-takers even though they felt a little bit nervous! Shapes
We have been exploring different shapes this week; making pictures of transport and castles out of shapes, and as we walked to swimming, we had a look around us to see what shapes we could find in our environment. Activities in and outside the classroom We have enjoyed being back with our friends, old and new. We were amazed to see how much our plants have grown over the holidays. We have been learning about shapes and made shape pictures, and also made some bliss balls to eat. Journeys with Flat Stanley Here are a few of the journeys Flat Stanley went on over the holidays! Happy Birthday Cooper! It was Cooper's 5th birthday last Thursday and we all enjoyed the delicious racing car cupcakes. We loved seeing the photos of all the exciting things Cooper has done in his life! Happy Birthday Leo!
We celebrated Leo's 4th birthday in the last week of term. His mum made us some lovely cupcakes and we all enjoyed seeing how much he has grown since he was a baby! Every afternoon, after our quiet time, we play games and do puzzles, which extend our problem-solving skills, number knowledge and concepts. A new game for us this week was dominoes. Classroom Activities Our letter of the week was Dd. We sang the '5 Little Ducks song', also learning the numbers 1-5 in our classmates mother tongues. We made ducks out of a D, and also made bread doughnuts. As part of our Unit of Inquiry on Journeys, we have made a train out of cardboard boxes! We had a spare moment on Friday and went to the Pirate Ship for a fun play!
This week we made some Christmas decorations in preparation for the Christmas Fair. Letter sound of the week -Mm We practiced making the pattern that an 'm' makes, going up and down. We also made monsters and chocolate mousse. Creating artwork of living things with our Grade 3 buddies |
Reminders Archives
June 2017
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