With the recent introduction of an overhead projector to our classroom, many of the girls have been exploring concepts such as light and shadow. The girls have really enjoyed creating intricate patterns with tiny beads and buttons and seeing these projected onto the wall has really added to the experience. Here are some images of the girls at work:
We recently drew and then pressed some of our beautiful Pansies. We can't wait to see what they look like once they've been in the press for a little while!
"Flowers whisper 'Beauty' to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall. - Dr. SunWolf"
"The future will belong to the ‘nature-smart’
- those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop
a deeper understanding of the trans-formative power of the natural world
and who balance the virtual with the real.
The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need."
-Richard Louv
Nature is providing the girls with opportunities to build theories about their world, wonder about the beauty they are surrounded by and to think about their responsibility for safeguarding our precious natural resources.
The girls interest in Mt St John, and the flowers and trees around us, is proving to be a powerful catalyst for our learning in the Foundation Class. At a recent conference we attended, the keynote speakers from Reggio Emilia, talked about the importance of children having an emotional relationship with the topic of the project in order for them to engage deeply with it. This notion has intrigued us and we have been considering this idea as we have been noticing how the girls have wholeheartedly embraced our work centred around ‘all things of nature’.
The girls have been writing, reading, measuring, comparing, designing and having to think hard about the work they are doing. The pride they take in their work is commendable. We believe that learning in the early years is most effective when it is connected with things the children are able to be actively involved in. Things that capture their imagination - as the fairy letters do - gives valid reason for learning how to write letters and numbers correctly, form words and sentences. Giving meaning to learning brings so much joy!
“Children develop an understanding that symbols can be “read” by others and that thoughts, experiences, and ideas can be represented through words, pictures, print, numbers, sounds, shapes, models and photographs” - Te Whaariki; Early Childhood Curriculum. Goal 3 Communication
A few days ago as Chris was beginning to prepare the washing liquid ingredients with the girls, she posed a question:
“Why do you think we are making Rainbow washing liquid?”
The girls responses were as follows:
“So we can make lots of money for ice blocks."
“Cause we have the recipe.”
“Our mums want to buy it."
A little taken aback, she then asked “But do you remember what we discussed when we were talking about what the world would be like without Buttercups?”
“I know” responded Ishani, “cause it’s got chemicals in it that are good chemicals”.
“No that’s not right, some chemicals are good and some are bad,
but some are bad if they go into the sea." - Siena
“It’s about the environment... what’s good for the environment, isn’t it Mrs Bayes?” - Chicky
Since this discussion, the girls have busily worked to make washing liquid, design packaging and market their product to their parents. We sold heaps! Which meant, to the girls absolute delight, that we were able to purchase ice blocks with the profit. This went down a treat!
Here are some images of the girls busily producing the washing liquid.
It is definitely made with love.
Last week we were very lucky to have Siena's mum, Melissa, join us on our walk up Mt St John. Siena had a wonderful idea to construct a fairy swing, and Melissa worked with the girls to create a very beautiful swing indeed.
Thank you so much for joining us for our walk Melissa, we absolutely love our families joining in on our adventures.
Conversations have continued around the idea of there being 'boy' trees and 'girl' trees, and many times the girls have discussed what 'makes' a tree either a girl or a boy. The height of the trees seems to be a popular theory, however one girl has suggested it might be to do with whether the trunk is 'fat or not'.
In response to these discussions we invited the girls to take a closer look at the trees and to engage in a measuring experience relating to the circumferences of the trees. The girls have also been working to compare the sizes of the different leaves from the trees. Here are some images from their measuring experience:
“Participation in active enquiry develops children’s confidence in offering ideas and in understanding.”
- Te Whaariki: Links with Essential Learning Areas (Science)
Mrs Brewin often pops in to visit us. On Friday she was lucky enough to catch our music group. The girls showed their musical skills off beautifully. Waiting for their turn, resting their instruments at the end of the song and stopping and starting right on cue!
The girls are particularly proud of their ability to time joining in with 'Aie Chipanekas, aie, aie!' (sp). Ask your daughter if she can show you how it's done.
Last week Chicky wondered out loud, "Does a tree have a belly button?" The girls discussed this question and decided that they were uncertain as to the answer. We enabled the girls to go out and investigate, exploring the trees in our garden. The girls insisted on photographing a couple of their own belly buttons so that they knew what they were looking for. They soon found what they believe to be the 'trees belly button'.
Sydney shared a wonderful theory about the possibility of trees having belly buttons:
“Maybe...a tree has a bellybutton, just like we have a bellybutton because a tree is born out of a seed. The mommy tree, she drops her seed down if she wants to have a baby.”
- Sydney
...the beautiful portraits on canvas which our newest girls have completed?
Artist: Georgia G
"I paint self-portraits because I am the person I know best."
- Frida Kahlo
Watch this space.
The girls are busy designing, marketing and creating a washing liquid product which is good for us and good for our environment. We will be selling this to our families at $2 for two litres (an absolute bargain). The cost of the ingredients was $20 and so the girls are aware that if they make a profit they will be able to spend their hard earned money on ice blocks!
“There are apple trees and pear trees, mandarin trees and rose trees.”
- Chicky
“And...honey trees!” - Sydney
“Yeah, they have hives all around.” - Chicky
“Camellia trees.” - Victoria
“Bottle brush trees and peanut trees, even moving trees.” - Ishani
“There are mango trees. Mmmmm my dad loves mangos.” - Olivia
“There are banana trees, grapefruit trees...Christmas trees!” - Siena
“Oh, and FANCY TREES! I’ve seen a fancy tree before with a fancy ribbon around it.”
- Siena
“A fancy tree would have a bow tie don’t you think? - Ishani
“Did you know there are girl trees and boy trees!” - Ishani
“Do you girls agree with Ishani that there are girl trees and boy trees?” - Mrs Smith
“Yes, yes...yes!” - All of the girls agree
“Girl trees have long hair and boy trees have short hair.” - Siena
“The leaves are their hair. The boy trees are the biggest trees and the girl trees are the smaller ones.” - Ishani
“Annnnnd, have you ever heard of a ‘lovely’ tree?” - Olivia
Stemming from the girls work around the buttercups, a focus for this term has developed around ecological thinking and caring for our beautiful world.
We based a recent morning meeting discussion around the ways in which we can work to take care of our world and the girls spoke passionately about what they believed they needed to do to make a difference. It was lovely to hear words such as care and responsibility coming through.
“We need to take care of the world.” - Olivia
“Our world.” - Mia
“We need to pick up rubbish.” - Sydney
“We need to take responsibility...for our gardens.” - Chicky
“If we throw stuff on the beach, we need to throw it in the bin afterwards.” - Victoria
“Petrol is not good for the air. My mummy is waiting for a car that doesn’t use any petrol.” - Siena
“I need to water my plants.” - Katie
“We want no rainy days though.” - Mia
“But we need rainy days! We need rain so that the plants can grow, so that my vegetables can grow.” - Siena
“If you don’t have rain my tomatoes won’t grow.” - Katie
As a wonderful coincidence, Reverend Moss happened to be talking about caring for our beautiful earth and respecting God’s creation in chapel a few days later. On our walk back from the chapel the girls considered God’s creation. They talked about the flowers they could see, the sky and the trees...
On Friday we celebrated Katie's fifth birthday. Here's a great action shot of Katie blowing out her candles. We would like to say a huge thank you to Katie's lovely family for the delicious cake which we all enjoyed!
When we take the time to look deeply at ourselves and rediscover who we are, we sometimes see a person who we did not yet know. We have begun a project with our newest girls around portraiture, and have been working with these girls to really ‘see’ themselves again. We initially invited the girls to draw their eyes, as well as a self portrait without any dialogue and without the use of our mirrors. Following on from this we engaged in a rich discussion about the way we looked, the different features which made up our faces and the beauty of diversity. Something which we really try to foster in our classroom is celebrating difference and the girls seemed to really enjoy examining themselves as well as their friends, contrasting and comparing in a really positive manner. Next we invited the girls to re-draw their eyes and also draw another portrait, with use of the mirrors.
This work will be going on display in our classroom this coming week so make sure you have a look and observe the differences in the girls initial drawings compared to their later ones.
Here are some of the girls second drawings of their eyes:
Artist: Mila
Artist: Vanessa
Artist: Emma
Artist: Georgia J
Artist: Sara
“Eyes are shaped like lemons.” - Emma
“Eyes help us to see!” - Mila
“How do you think they help us to see?” - Mrs Smith
“They work...by opening and by closing. If you open them up then you see all of the things, but if you close them then you must be going to sleep. Then you can’t see.” - Katie
“If I close them, I can see darkness.” - Zara
“Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning I have sleep in my eyes. It’s yellow and crunchy stuff.”
- Emma
A conversation about eyes:
"Eyes are shaped like lemons." - Emma
"Eyes help us to see!" - Mila
"How do you think they help us to see?" - Mrs Smith
"They work...by opening and closing. If you open them up then you see all of the things, but if you close them then you must be going to sleep. Then you can't see." - Katie
"If I close them, I can see darkness." - Zara
"Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning I have sleep in my eyes. It's yellow and crunchy stuff." - Emma
We've recently begun a project around portraiture with our newest girls, who have been busy exploring their facial features with mirrors, engaging in dialogue about the purpose of the different features, and beginning to draw their eyes etc.
Here are some
On our first journey up Mt St John for the term, we noticed that the girls were particularly captivated by the buttercups. The striking yellow flowers were a huge talking point and many of the girls insisted on filling their hats with them to bring back to our classroom. There were beautiful encounters where the girls reflected the yellow from the flowers underneath their friends chins to find out whether they 'liked butter or not' and several of the girls commented on how the colour would sometimes rub off onto their fingers.
When we arrived back at the classroom the girls were invited to draw the buttercups which they had picked in black. Later we added yellow dye and also narrated and wrote short stories about buttercups. Here are some images of our encounters with the buttercups:
We would like to say a huge welcome to our newest additions to the Foundation Class, and their wonderful families. We have had a lovely first week together and look forward to getting to know you all much better and growing and learning alongside you.
On our last day of term three we farewelled five of our very special friends, as they moved off to begin a new journey in year 0 with the lovely Mrs Burson.
Harriet, Ella, Victoria, Priya and Alice, it has brought us so much joy working and learning alongside you all and we will miss you very much. We look forward to you coming to visit us and hearing all about your school days.
Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere karohirohi i mua i tou huarahi.
May calm be spread around you, may the sea glisten like greenstone and the shimmer of summer dance across your path.
The girls had loads of fun pushing each other in our makeshift swing during the last week of term. The laughter could be heard for miles! Here are some great images which seem to really capture the joy of the occasion:
During the last week of term we were so captivated by the sunshine that rather than baking something as we would usually do on a Friday, we decided to make our very own ice cream instead. The girls worked busily alongside our lovely Robin to make two batches, one of which was chocolate and one which was strawberry. We had the pleasure of eating the ice cream on Friday afternoon as part of our farewell ceremony for the girls who are moving up to year 0 and it was really delicious!
