From the Director of Early Learning
Dear Families,
Is it Christmas already? I have been listening to the children practise their Christmas songs and observing them learning their special moves with Ms Patton and Miss Sims, and I have had to ask myself the big question: is it Christmas? Are we ready for this time of year?
To be honest, my answer is no – I am not ready! I don’t want to think about finishing up on the key learning inquiries nor do I want to consider the wind-down approach. Every day is precious and our days are becoming more precious than ever with the significant learning that is happening, the way in which the children have actioned having a voice, leading their inquiry in a deep and meaningful manner. Why would I want this to stop?
My better judgement thankfully comes in to play here. Even though I do not want to stop the incredible momentum that is happening across the Centre, I am very aware that we have done an extraordinary job this year in equipping the children with the skill sets to know how to enact their curiosities no matter where they move on to in 2018. What is happening now won’t stop, but rather it will be transferred, enhanced, adapted and reflected upon. It is, after all, forming a key part of each child’s foundation in becoming independent thinkers, collaborators and inquirers.
So with this in mind, yes, we are ready for Christmas as we begin to imagine 2018, where we might be, who will be with us and what steps we need to travel to get there. My message is, don’t fight it, and embrace it as it is a time to reflect, celebrate and share who we are and the many languages of expression we have acquired throughout the past year.
As we hear the familiar tunes of Christmas and see the decorations appear, think of these as symbols of celebration and reflection. There will be much to rejoice in at our ELC Christmas Concert which will be held at 5pm on Friday 24 November; we hope you will join us for this special occasion.
Kind regards
Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning
Celebrating Our Learning
This week was a very proud week for us. At the ReImagining Childhood Conference, Caterina and Kate presented the amazing work being done in the ELC in front of several hundred participants. The international visitors included Professor Carla Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia.
We also hosted wonderful tours on Sunday and Tuesday evening for interstate and international visitors who were very keen to see our Centre first hand.
Thank you to Caterina and Kirsty for their incredible support with the conference and to the staff of the ELC for their hard work in presenting the Centre so superbly. The additional benefits included several of the team being able to attend this big international conference at the Convention Centre.
ELC Christmas Concert
New Website
St Peter’s Girls’ School recently launched a new-look website. Following the successful introduction of the myLink Parent Portal for internal communications, the public site now focuses on showcasing all aspects of our wonderful School and ELC, giving the wider community a window into life at Saints Girls. Be sure to check it out, simply click this link.
Here’s a snippet from our Junior School:
A Letter from Ms Qian
尊敬的家长：
最近您在接送孩子上学的时候应该能够看到签到台旁边有tea towel（茶巾）的样本，那是ELC小朋友们集体制作的专属茶巾，上面有您家孩子的手印或者是绘画作品，因此非常有纪念意义。这款茶巾是ELC筹集资金的一个项目，因此您可以看到在茶巾样品旁边有订购单，这款茶巾既可以自己使用或者留作纪念，也可以作为即将到来的圣诞节礼物赠送亲戚朋友，如果您还没有订购，请抓紧时间填写订购单哦！
ELC一年一度的圣诞音乐会将于本月底进行，目前各个班级已经开始了圣诞合唱的排练，音乐会的具体日期为11月24日（星期五）下午5点，地点在Chiverton Lawns，欢迎所有的家庭携带亲戚朋友来参加！
祝大家春安！
Ms Qian
News from the Stonyfell Room
What can you hear?
Shifting our gaze skywards…
Miss Veitch: “What can you hear?”
Emily: “Birdies, Miss Veitch.”
Miss Veitch: “How do you know?”
Emily: “I don’t know?”
Miss Veitch: “Can you see them?”
Emily: “No! But I know they say ‘cheep cheep’.”
Over the year, we have spent countless hours at our fence line peering into Ferguson Park and have been rewarded with the songs of the abundant birdlife that inhabits the park. These birds are often elusive and we may only capture a glimmer of a tail or the flap of a wing. They are fast moving and by the time we may have spotted a rainbow lorikeet or magpie, they are gone. Our children have found this challenging as they have been keen to know who lives in the park and have wanted to be able to see the creatures for themselves. We have, however, been learning that there is another way in which we can know the birds are around and that is by being able to hear them.
The Stonyfell children have been developing their observational skills over the past two terms through the support of our inquiry. From our observations, we have been able to see how the children’s skills have developed and many are now observing the park through listening. We have been asking the children what they can hear and we have discovered that the common response has revolved around the songs of the birds.
This interest has continued through the weeks and we have been able to help the children deepen their listening skills with the support of our technology. Our room has been filled with recordings of bird songs and our light room has images of birds throughout the day. We are encouraging the children to shift their gaze upwards into the branches of the trees and into the sky. We invite you to take the time over the coming weeks to find a place at your home that offers the opportunity to listen and deepen your listening.
We ask you, “Can you hear the birds, too?”
Laura Reiters
News from the Bell Yett Room
“Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?” – Kermit the Frog
What is it about rainbows that fascinates us? Their appeal to children is evident in the ELC. A rainbow is often one of the first drawings mastered by the children. While sharing their stories from when they have observed this illusion, they watch and learn from each other and represent the magic on paper.
As the children have explored the park, the idea of the rainbow has been surfacing in their thinking. Last term, Hannah asked for all of the colours of the rainbow to paint her tree and Eric said, “There are lots of leaves in Ferguson Park. Real ones. Leaves are like rainbows.” This term, inspired by the book ‘One Thousand Trees’, some of the children have begun calling our Best Friend Tree, The Rainbow Best Friend Tree.
It is our challenge to create connections between the children’s passions, in this case, the rainbow, with the knowledge, skills and attitudes we want to develop in our young learners.
Together, we are wondering:
• Can trees be a rainbow?
• Do trees have leaves all the same colour?
• Are leaves only one colour?
• How can we find out?
The children have begun expressing their wonderings through the language of painting which in turn supports them to verbalise their thinking.
Kermit expressed his thoughts in his famous song:
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
We believe we found our rainbow connection when one of our three year olds expressed her thinking…
“When people go to sleep, when there is rain and sun and rainbow,
that’s when they grow, when the rainbow trees grow.
When we wake up, they stay up when it’s morning light.”
Do you think a tree can be a rainbow?
Watch below to see the creation of our rainbow trees in action:
You can keep up-to-date with our investigations on our Canvas Page by clicking here.
Leanne Williams and Nell Tierney
News from the Ferguson Room
What do birds need?
Asking the children to think more deeply about a topic requires framing the right questions. Questions that are open and allow for many possibilities. Questions that don’t give away too much of the answer, or are too obviously looking for a ‘right’ answer. If we want children to be confident, competent learners, then we must support their enormous capacity for research, wonderings and hypotheses with careful questioning and respectful responses.
Our inquiry into birdlife in our local area has really captured the children’s imagination and curiosity in recent weeks. A walk around our classroom will reveal the many ways in which children have expressed their thinking and understanding of different birds and their needs. We have explored their colours and patterns through observational drawings, nests of all shapes and sizes in our work with clay, and are now venturing into the way in which birds move. We will explore this in our dance classes as well as researching though video clips, photographs and reference books.
During our walks in Ferguson Park and around the School, we have discovered many feathers on the ground. This has led to us thinking deeply into why this might be.
Why do we keep finding feathers at school and at home? Why do birds lose their feathers?
“Maybe they are old birds.” – Mikayla
“The tiny birdies were growing and got old and then lost their feathers.” – Delilah
“They are like grandpas and grandmas.” – Dorothy
“A magpie might take feathers from other birds because sometimes magpies get angry.” – Elodie
Why do birds have feathers?
“To keep them nice and warm.” – Dorothy
“To help them fly, they fly up to the trees.” – Mikayla
Having these discussions enables children to co-construct meaning and share their knowledge with one another.
Thank you for your support in sending feathers and photographs to school, and for having conversations with your child about birds you have observed at home. We invite you to come into our room and explore the documentation of the children’s learning.
Mel Angel
News from the Hallett Room
Niina Marni,
We thank the Kaurna people for our land
We welcome you to play with us
At the ELC and Ferguson Park, sharing the land and the plants
We will look after everything on the land, the people and the animals.
This is our Acknowledgment that we say every morning in the Hallett Room. Putting focus on our thank you, not only at the start of the day, but during spontaneous moments, has shone a light on some of the children’s understandings and what it looks like in practice.
“You can’t squash the stink bug!”
“You are breaking our thank you!”
“We say we will look after everything on the land…we can’t hurt animals.”
“Or people.”
“It will make the Kaurna people sad.”
“We can add things to our Essential Agreement.”
“What about the other rooms in the ELC – do they know the thank you?”
“We need to teach them.”
The children’s connection to the Acknowledgement has led them to show an increased interest in the Kaurna people and what their connection is to the Australian land. The children have begun to explore our history through the Reconciliation Story. It is helping to build the foundations to their understandings but we realise this is an ongoing process and that children need the opportunity to be exposed to honest and real information on a regular basis for them to reflect, question and investigate further. For the older children in the Hallett Room, it is a poignant moment not only hearing them express their understandings, but their desire to share this information with others. A recent idea from the children is to put on a performance retelling the Reconciliation Story. In this way, we hope to expose the children to a clearer understanding that people can express their thinking in different ways. Already, the children have communicated that some of the friends will love to be on stage while others would prefer to make a movie, perhaps in Ferguson Park. The main idea for this performance however is to share our message – “the Kaurna people were here first.”
Pam Reid