To tie in with Book Week, this week the children were shown a page from a book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The children spoke about what they could see, what they thought, and what they wondered. This See, Think, Wonder thinking routine helps to engage students and encourages deeper thinking and higher order questioning. After this, the children constructed a coconut tree with the following criteria: each tree could only use 2 sheets of newspaper, it had to stand on its own and it had to be able to hold some letters, just like the book. Afterwards, the children reflected upon what they found challenging, how they overcame these challenges and what worked for them. Take a look at their coconut trees below.
Thank you to those who were able to come along to the Book Week Parade. There were some very creative costumes relating to some awesome books!
Our Science Unit this term is 'Living Things'. We started by investigating the differences between living and non-living things. We have looked at the needs of plants and classified plants that we eat according to food groups. We investigated which part of the plant we eat and discovered sometimes it is the root, sometimes the stem, sometimes the leaves, sometimes the fruit and sometimes the seeds.
We got 'arty' and made some vegetable mosiacs to add to the wall facing our vegetable garden. They should look great when they are finished. This week we are investigating the different ways seeds can be spread.
This week Kindergarten have been investigating seed dispersal. Their challenge this week during STEM challenge time was to work together in small groups to design a device that would simulate how plants spread their seeds in nature. Check out their amazing creations and investigation in the photos below...
All Kindergarten and Year One students thoroughly enjoyed their trip to St Mary's auditorium to watch Tap Stars last Tuesday. Tap Star was a superhero (da-da, da-daaaaa) who taught Oscar Waste and Nanna how to save water in their homes. Ask your child if they can remember some of these ways. Tap Star and his friends were very funny - we all laughed a lot!
Tap Star advised us to be water saving super heroes to by:
- Turning the tap off when you are cleaning your teeth
- Having a 3 minute shower
- Cleaning the driveway with a broom or a rake instead of the hose
- Only using the washing machine when you have a full load (and use a front loader if possible)
As part of our Living Things unit... we decided to have a carrot day last Friday! We used carrots as a theme in our mathematics, literacy, science, fine motor, mindfulness, and art activities. We used carrot number lines to count-on, made carrots to take-away, practised writing our numbers on carrot stencils, made carrots by winding wool, ate carrot sticks mindfully, made and tried carrot juice, and used the pulp to made carrot mini muffins. In STEM, we designed a way to transport 6 carrots using only paper and one hand!
From looking at our school garden, exploring what happens above and below the ground, reading books, and watching some videos; students made quite a lot of connections and shared their knowledge about carrots.
"Carrots help your vision"
"Carrots have tap roots"
"Carrots are an actual root"
"Carrots grow under the ground, and the stem grows above the ground"
"You can make lots of things with carrots"
"Carrot juice is very healthy for your body"
"Carrots help you to see in the dark"
"Carrots are very good for you - they make you strong"
"They are sometimes bent"
"Carrot soup is really good for your cold"
"Carrots give you lots of energy"
"They have lots of nutrients"
"When we cut a carrot, it has lines inside"
"Carrots make a crunchy noise when you eat them"
"They feel a bit bumpy on the outside"
"You can make lots of things out of carrots. Carrot cake is yummy!"
Our challenge this week was a little different to those we have had in the past. In keeping with our unit of inquiry into living things, we firstly took a good look at the school garden beds. We talked about what we could see above the soil, then discussed what might be below the soil. The children expressed their knowledge and made connections with their responses: "There are roots for the plants to eat nutrients and drink water", "there are worms that make food for the plants", "the roots squiggle around and loosen up the soil so that the plants can grow better". We then moved garden beds to where the carrots were growing. It was here that the children consolidated that some vegetables grow under the surface: "the carrots have tap roots - a big root with lots of little roots coming off it", "the carrot is actually one of the roots and it grows bigger".
We then moved inside where the children were briefed on their challenge for the session: to express their knowledge of what happens above and below the ground with plants.
We were very impressed with how the children tackled this challenge, with confidence and creativity. Take a look at the videos below to see what they did...
Mrs Cathy West, Mrs Clare Dunn and Mrs Natalie Fairweather enjoy sharing learning from the Kindergarten day with you. Please comment so that we know we are reaching you :o)