From the Director of Early Learning
Dear Families
It is wonderful to be part of such a vibrant work environment where, as the term progresses, the Centre is gathering momentum! The inquiry across the rooms is rich and connected. Ferguson Park is being utilised on a daily basis as a valuable place for collaborative learning. In particular, there have been strong links made to our connection to the land and this is being extended as we approach Reconciliation Week.
The pathway has been another example of evidence where the children’s excitement and engagement has deepened. Christine has now completed sandblasting the images onto the slate and they have been positioned into the path ready for the final cementing. The children have been actively involved in the sequence of symbols according to the plan. They have also been engaged in the narrative of meaning behind each symbol, their relationships to each other and significance of choice from Ferguson Park to our path. It is important that the children feel they have been listened to and their images have been valued. It is, after all, their path – we, the adults, are just the co-constructors, alongside the artist and the children.
This buzz and increased momentum has brought more excitement and connection to each room across the Centre. We encourage you to engage your child in dialogue about their learning, to find time to pop in and see the path being constructed or to find out more about how we are sharing the Reconciliation Story in the Centre.
Kind regards
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Save the Date
28 May: Reconciliation Week
4 June: ELC New Parent Welcome Evening 7pm
4 June: Mid-Year Reception Transition Visits Commence
25 June: ELC Hat Ceremony
2 July: Vacation Care Commences
Introducing our new ELC Staff Member
It is with delight that we welcome Liam Blanden to the ELC. He has commenced his studies in a Certificate 3 in Early Childhood and is working once a week in the Hallett Room this term. We are so excited to have Liam in our Centre; he is already a valued friend to the ELC through his role in Property Services. Liam highlights the strength of the St Peter’s Girls’ community.
Mother’s Day Celebrations at ELC
We recently enjoyed a beautiful Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea to celebrate the important mothers, grandmothers and special friends in our lives.
The children loved sharing this occasion, eating delicious scones and creating herb pot plans with their visitors. They proudly showcased their special ELC!
A Message from Mrs Yu
亲爱的家长朋友们，
我希望你们度过一个愉快的周末。在此，非常感谢大家参与母亲节下午茶活动！非常的高兴能再次见到各位开心的面庞。在学习方面，本学期与上一学期带着很强的连贯性。例如，在Ferguson班，通过各种与Ferguson自然保护区的互动，小朋友们会继续培养他们的生态认知及定位。 换句话说，我们希望小朋友们逐步建立他们的同理心及成为这片土地的积极参与者。通过倾听他人的故事及对事物的解读，小朋友们会加深自己的见解。我们非常感谢您成为我们学习旅途的一员，也非常欢迎您的参与。
我的邮箱：syu@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Mrs Sophie Yu
News from the Stonyfell Room
Learning and Working Together
Over the past few weeks of Term 2, the children have been involved in many experiences which are supporting them to build their social skills as well as developing problem-solving skills.
One of these experiences has been making our own orange juice. This provides many challenges for our children. The process itself requires physical strength, persistence and hand-eye coordination. The children have been presented daily with hand juicers, cut oranges and cups. We are supporting the children to have a go juicing the orange and pouring their juice into their cup.
Some children have declared that they cannot juice an orange and they seek help. These requests for support have put us in an interesting position as the adults. If we help the children and don’t offer them the opportunity to persist, they cannot build on their skills and knowledge. So rather than taking over the experience, we have been supporting the children to ask each other for assistance. We want the children to know that their peers can offer support too.
Over the week, we have seen many of our children look to each other for support. We have seen children persist and develop new problem-solving skills. We have seen many children grow their skills and master this experience as well as build their social connections and relationships with each other.
Laura Reiters
News from the Bell Yett Room
“I can see green grass, last time there was dirt and bark.” – Rupert
Almost every day, the children in the Bell Yett Room are visiting Ferguson Park. We have several intentions for our visits which include:
• For the children to predict what they might see
• For the children to become aware of the changes in the park
• The use of photography to record our observations
Back in the Bell Yett Room, we are using the children’s photographs to develop:
• Their ability to observe carefully, noticing form, structure, similarities and differences
• Their graphic representations as they use a photograph model as support
• Their communication skills as they convey their observations and theories, both verbally and through mark-making, and listen to the ideas of others to construct new meanings
Many of the children have been particularly interested in the changes in the park. As Rupert captured above, it is certainly a different park from last term. The children have been sharing their knowledge and theories of why these changes have occurred and have come to a shared understanding that the rain has changed the park. However, their thinking continues . . .
“Here there is no grass. The tree was here and the rain can’t come here.” – Lucie
“There is a lot of grass there. There are no trees there. This is a flower grass, this is not grass.” – Sophie
The children have noticed patches of familiar grass growing alongside masses of soursob weeds. But they are puzzled, is this grass too? Using the children’s photographs as a reference, we have compared the two plants. Through opportunities to create their own graphic representations, we have begun to develop a shared understanding of the differences between the two and a theory as to what the second plant might be.
“It’s green. Green grass. It’s lots of grass. It lives here.” – Erica
“It’s like a flower because it’s round.” – Angela
“It’s long.” – Emily
“It’s not grass, it has leaves.” Eva
“They are both green.” – Tamara
“Grass is long and spikey. This isn’t.” – Rupert
“It looks like a star.” – Audrey B
“It’s a flower.” – Lana
“It is grass. It is flower grass.” – Aubrey
“Is it a weed?” – Thomas
We invite you to follow our learning as we construct this shared narrative of the park. You can find out more on our Bell Yett Canvas page.
Leanne Williams and Nell Tierney
News from the Ferguson Room
“The only thing that is constant is change.” – Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher, 500 B.C.
This term, the Ferguson children are investigating the concept of transformation. This concept is so broad that we can find many opportunities which offer the children experiences to support their growing awareness that change is part of our daily lives.
For example, our beautiful Ferguson Park is a different place to what it was at the end of Term 1. As autumn is now upon us, the change in the weather has become more distinct. The children are aware that conditions are different and that this affects the inner life of the park:
“All of the world of Ferguson Park is different.” – Florence
“It’s different – the grass has grown, and the weeds.” – Victoria
“The rain made the grass.” – Elijah
“There are no birds because it’s windy. When it’s windy they can’t fly.” – Eric
“The path is wet and muddy now but before it was too dusty.” – Lucy
We encourage the children to express their hypotheses and theories in our small group work. Children love to be listened to and have their ideas considered and valued. Creating the conditions for these kinds of conversations is part of our responsibility – to support the children in collaborating and listening to one another, and to maintaining an open mind. These are the skills needed by children and adults alike in order to function successfully in all areas of life.
We have also provided opportunities for children to explore transformation through working with recycled materials. Simple items such as a tissue box or a plastic lid from a yogurt pouch have been given new life:
“I have transformed this into a bag.” – Ella H.
“I have changed this into a building.” – Jonathan
“I have made a cat toy for my cat.” – Elise
Yet another transformation that is happening before our very eyes is the installation of our new path in the ELC. Images of Ferguson Park, drawn by the children and offered to local artist Christine Cholewa, have been transferred onto pieces of slate and laid in the ground by our wonderful Property Services staff Liam, Dom and Ned. The children have been captivated by the changes they see each day and have had many questions about this process.
It is exciting to be the ones who are creating this chapter in the history of the ELC and to leave our footprint on this place long after the children have transformed into school students, taking with them the memories of this precious time in their young lives.
Mel Angel
News from the Hallett Room
Over the past three weeks, the children in the Hallett Room have begun choosing the different ways we can share the Reconciliation Story with others. They’ve organised themselves into groups: the dance group, the movie-making group, those who would like to draw the story and the group who would like to use Tamaru’s family for our re-telling of the story. The ideas for these groups were formed by the children and they all now have their section to work on, and we invite you to see which group your child is in by looking at the documentation on the wall in the Hallett Room.
As we begin the task of creating the story, educators take detailed observations in order to form our next possibilities for the inquiry. It was during this process that we took particular notice of many of the drawings of the Kaurna and white people. With Miss Caterina’s assistance, we were able to reflect on the need to intentionally scaffold the techniques for drawing people in detail.
We have then begun the Hallett Room Human Figure Project that Miss Caterina will work on throughout the term. It is through this project that we aim to see a growth in children’s abilities to draw the human figure, where we can enhance their observation skills and the way they translate this onto paper. By scaffolding the children throughout this process, they will be encouraged to:
– Self-assess their own work and that of their peers
– Increase their perseverance skills and take time to improve their own work
– Develop their resilience skills when things don’t go to plan.
We look forward to sharing this progress with you. Please keep an eye out in the Atelier where you will start to see some documentation of the drawings.
Pam Reid