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Programme Planning – Preschool Merivale

Date: 19/-09 – 23/09/2016

Monday

AM: Bobbie (away taken by Kim) – Where do these animals live?

Linked to the current topic “Our World” the children will identify where the animals most likely live:
In our homes, on a farm, in the jungle, in the forest. The children will identify which animals live in each habitat, we may extend this to talking about why they live there, and what country this is likely in (depending on level of understanding)

Lesson Planned
Print out of pictures of each habitat: Home, Farm, Jungle, Forest. The children will choose a plastic animal from the box and will be asked to identify where that animal lives (and why it lives there, depending on level of understanding).

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Both groups were interested in taking part in this activity that Bobbie had planned. Her pre printed pictures were able t be easily recognised as different environments so the children were able to take on the challenge with clear guidelines in mind. The younger group got through this faster( had quite a bit of discussion with the older group) so we had some songs as well with the younger group ” I went to visit a farm” and ” Old McDonald”, most of the group maintained interest in this as well. I also used the sound book resource so the younger group could  ‘hear’ the environments too :)

PM: Kim – 5 senses (Touch)

Link to current planning ‘Our World’ . I am continuing to take the children on a learning journey around their 5 senses, today I will unpack the sense of touch. I hope they learn that we don’t always need a eyes to figure out what something is, and also use their imaginations for this game.

Lesson Planned
I am going to provide a pillowcase with items in.. i’d like the children just to use their sense of touch to figure out what it in there, and tell the group what they think they have

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
A game is something that always draws the children in, so I had full attention while I explained the rules. They were keen to begin and were able to follow the instructions about not looking, but using their hands to figure out what was in the pillowcase. It was valuable to be able to explore the concepts of soft..hard..flat..bumpy..square etc with a real life experience. The children also enjoy hearing about Pete the cat who wears glasses.. this was able to lead into a conversation about why people wear glasses..and briefly touching on blindness/impaired eye sight.

Tuesday

AM: Angela – Shapes, Maths

Linking to our current planning – Shapes in the world around us. I hope the children will recognise shapes and I can then extend on what they already know by introducing new shapes to them.

Lesson Planned
I will hold up shapes to see if they are able to recognise these. We will then go on a shapes hunt around the preschool to find different shaped objects that can then be recognised as the shape we are finding. We can then trace around our favourite shapes and talk about these at the table.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children took a great interest in this activity today showing me that they can name many of the shapes without any help.  We learnt some new shapes today, Trapezoid and Parallelogram where the older children were able to tell me this shape without help once revisited at the end of our group time. They showed a lot of interest also in finding lots of different shapes around the preschool today showing me and telling me that shape that they had found.

PM: Zinzi – Baking

We got a lot of banana left over and I saved some of it in the freezer. The children can decide if they would like to make banana cake or muffins or pancakes!

Lesson Planned
Children will use the utensils and measure the ingredients in the bowl. They will also pour the batter in electric frying pan.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Wow! We had so much fun! The children were really patient in adding the ingredients and mixing it. They all were very patient and watched everyone have a go at stirring and mixing the ingredients. They knew every ingredient that they added in except the rolled oats. One of the children thought it was honey puffs. It does look like that, but the learned that some porridge is made out of oats. We added it along with bananas. Mashing it together were fun! The best bit was when everyone got a turn to pour in the batter on the frying pan. We all watched it cook and I was able to help them flip it up side down.  At afternoon kai time we all enjoyed our banana oatmeal pancake.YUM!

Wednesday

AM: Christine – Traffic Signs on the Road

Link to current planning and children’s interest. I hope children will learn to identify the meaning of traffic signs on the roads.  Road safety and what to do when we come across a traffic light and zebra crossing.

Lesson Planned
We will practice how to cross the road (in the playground). I will draw a zebra crossing and what to do when we come across it. Pretend play: children driving cars, what to do if we want to cross the road next to a traffic light. Activity: Sticking activity using different colored milk caps to make a traffic lights.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children were interested on the topic today because there were back and forth discussions about what traffic signs they see on the road. I also showed them some of the signs that they’re not familiar with. The listened and paid attention to as I introduced some of the signs on the white board. They loved crossing the zebra crossing that I drew on the floor.

PM: Sarah – Star Wars and Disney fun!

Link to current topic – our world.  So at the moment at the supermarket there is Star Wars cards that you can collect…I have some of these and want to share them with the children.  I also have quite a few pictures from a desk sized 2016 year calendar that are Disney movie themed and I know the children will recognise these from what they have seen on DVD or at the Movies!

Lesson Planned
I will show the children the wide range of creative pictures that I have collected and see how many characters they can name, what’s their favourite and have the opportunity to share their ideas.  Then we will go to the tables and make a collage pictures using a selection of pictures/cards that the children will individually get to choose to glue to paper.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
It was awesome that I had 2 groups of 4-6 children as there was less time for the children to wait for their turns to choose a card or picture.  It was fun to see how excited some of the children were to see the cards and said they get some from the supermarket too!  The children were able to name some of the characters/or the movie that was show in the small pictures.  They did a wonderful job of being creative and gluing their cards/pictures that they chose to a big piece of coloured paper.

Thursday

AM: Sarah – Worms!

Link to current topic:  Our world.  The children showed an interest in the worms found in the Fundies garden when they were exploring alongside Hannah a couple of weeks ago.  Let’s learn and explore more about them…what do they eat, how do they live under the dirt, what do they do… I know that the children will have different questions and ideas to contribute to the conversation too!

Lesson Planned
Have a print out and pictures from the internet with some fun worm facts.  Then the children will have the opportunity to make worms out of play-dough.  Including big, small and how many can they make out of their amount of play-dough that they are given!

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
It was quite fascinating what we all learnt about worms today – that they have 5 hearts, breathe through their skin and that they don’t have ears, eyes or teeth!  The children really liked having the opportunity to explore with the play-dough and make a range of pretend worms – a family of worms!  I was able to make up a couple of worm songs to keep the younger children engaged and taking turns to choose a worm when I said their name.

PM: Christine – Emotions/Feelings

Link to current planning, I hope children will learn about the different emotions they go through during the day. How to manage emotions and how do we tell another person or teachers what we feel.

Lesson Planned
Printed feelings faces. I will use this to discuss what they feel at that time. Is there any point during day that children felt sad, angry etc?? Activity- whats your favourite emotion?

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children identified most of the emotions that I stuck on the board. They  also discussed with me their feelings when mum or dad drops them at preschool, their feelings when then play with their friends and as soon as they get picked up. They got involved in the activity and chose what colour represents their emotions, ex. red -angry, yellow-happy etc.

Friday

AM: Kim – Our 5 senses, Smell

Link to current planning our world. I’m continuing to unpack our 5 senses with experiences for the children. I hope they’ll learn that sometimes we are able to tell what something is just by using our sense of smell.

Lesson Planned
I will collect a selection of things from both around my centre and my home. I intend to blindfold children and get them to smell the items to see if they can figure out what is in front of them. Depending on how long this takes i’d like to take them outside to see what we can smell out there too.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
We started with an overview of talking about your nose..what we do with it, and the names for nose from several different countries, then into the activity. Most children in the younger group wanted to take part, and all from the older group. Sniffing was amusing and the children were quite creative in the ways the described what they were smelling, like with taste some associated it with things they liked to eat! There is a group story coming for this activity :)

PM: Angela – Numbers -Numeracy

Linking to the current planning – children use counting and numbers everyday and would like to continue this interest and use fun concepts for children to help in their learning of counting objects in order from zero to ten.

Lesson Planned
Numbers one to ten – on paper using fun pictures to tie in these numbers to help children visually learn these numbers. I will use fun pictures on paper for all of the children to colour to make a number train.  I will also use board stories to add and subtract as I place these on and off the board.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the board stories today as I used a variety for all children to be included and participate in.  They sustained their interest in this and some were able to recognise numbers when visually shown.  They enjoyed the number train and were able to tell me what number they had chosen to colour.

Programme Planning – Nursery Merivale

Date: 19/09 – 23/09/2016

Monday – Amelia – Planting our mint seeds from new world supermarket.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

This links closely to our grow the peas experience that everyone has had a lot of interest around. Now we are going to have a go at growing mint.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

I know some of the children have been apart of this with their families at home and we have had some very generous families bring in some seeds to add to our collection. The children favourite bit is helping to water them but we defiantly had some excitement around watching the soil grow 4 times its size. Plenty more excitement to come as we start to see them sprout very soon.

 

Tuesday – Amelia – Corn fritters.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

As Sam and I alternate weeks for a baking experience it is my week this week and I have chosen to make corn fritters. Its something we haven’t made as a class before and a healthy option that I think the children will enjoy.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Yum! Is what all of the children were saying at lunch time today as they tried their corn fritters. Everyone was really interested in the ingredients we were using and passing the bowl around the table to help with the stirring.

 

Wednesday – Sam – Smoothies

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

As we get a bit of shared fruit I like to make smoothies with the children, for a different healthy drink. The children have enjoyed choosing what fruit goes into the smoothies in the past.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children made two really yummy smoothies, an apple and pear one and a orange and pineapple. As the smoothies have a thick texture it wasn’t going through the cup lids very well, so we gave the children teaspoons, and my did they enjoy drinking them off the spoons.

 

Thursday – Sam – Sand and vehicles in the trough outside.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

With the weather getting warmer I want to start planning more activities for the children outside, as the really enjoy getting outside. This also ties in with the children’s interests around tactile and messy play.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

As the weather was not the best I pulled the small trough inside fro the children. JA showed a lot of interest in the sand and vehicles, driving the different ones round in the sand making different car sounds. As the trough was still inside on Friday it was great to see how JA and other children enjoyed exploring the texture of the sand.
Friday – Sam – Art experience – Water colour painting.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

A lot of the children have an interest around messy/tactile play, water colour painting provides them with another way to be creative and expressive. As this activity went so well last week I am implementing it with the children on a different day so that some other children can explore the water colour paints.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children really enjoyed the water colour painting. BP was a great help at giving out the aprons for the children, and all came to the table quickly when I said we were going to do some painting. It is great to see how the children are developing their fine motor skills through holding and manipulating the paint brushes around the page.

Programme Planning – Preschool Merivale

Date: 12/-09 – 16/09/2016

Monday

AM: Kim “- Our 5 senses…taste 

Current planning is ” Our world”. I am intending to cover all 5 senses over my next few group times to give children experiences that will make them aware of what each sense is about, and how wonderful are bodies are to be able to give us all these experiences.

Lesson Planned
I am going to bring in different tastes from home and then offer them to the children. I intend to give some variety…sweet…sour…etc. I’d like the children to try and describe what they are tasting, and think about how our taste buds can give us these differences, and then how our brain thinks about what we’ve just tried. I will try and explain these concepts at the children’s level. If we have time we can do some art work about what we liked… our interpretation of what sweet looks like etc..

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Apart from one child everyone was very interested to take part in this activity. First I talked about our taste buds and what they do, then I had everyone poke out their tongues so we could see them. The children were all keen to come to the table and try the tastes..what a lot of different ideas and thoughts the children had on what they were tasting..some related it to other food, for example Will said the soy sauce tasted like Sushi..and someone else said the Paprika tasted like pizza. Today we tried salt, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon, sugar, paprika and sprinkles… of course sprinkles were the favourites. We didn’t have time for the art work.

PM: Zinzi – Weather and seasons around the world

Children have been showing interest in the weather a lot. So I thought we could learn about why the weather changes and why the season change. Also, does the season change all around the world? Is it the same everywhere else?

Lesson Planned
I will use the globe and the map to show what season are around the world. Also, show them how the weather changes through seasons.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Such an awesome group time. We had lots of conversation about the weather at the moment. Everyone knew it was spring and thats why we have such crazy weather. As a child said, some time it rains a lot and sometimes we get lots of sun. We also get lots of hail. Children learned that if NZ is got spring it wont be spring every where else around the world. It is all different. For example, during christmas time it is really hot here in NZ, we have summer. Where as in America it is the opposite, they have winter with lots of snow. The children were also able to tell me what they like doing in the different seasons. So I was able to write down what each children enjoy doing in different seasons. You can see it up on the tile wall near the art area.

Tuesday

AM: Angela – Listening-sounds

Link to current planning – listening is an important skill for us to all have. We can listen to the world around us as well as with our friends.

Lesson Planned
I will use our giant reading book that has a CD that plays sounds which you have to guess what they are. I thought we could then go on a sound hunt and go outside and ask what the children can hear. we can then come back inside and draw what we heard int he story or outside today.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed great interest in the book today and it was interesting to watch and hear what children thought each noise was. They enjoyed going outside to let me know what they could hear. With the younger group the concept was a little hard for some but I kept on prompting and soon some had an understanding of this.

PM: Christine –Scavenger Hunt

Link to current Planning “Our World”, Children’s Interest.  The children will discover and learn what they can find in the playground.  Focus on animals (bugs), plants etc.. Will also talk about the significance of the above focus on people like you and me.

Lesson Planned
This is more of an outdoor activity and will test children’s skills to find what was being asked. Paper with images and words of what to find. Pencil.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the things that they could see outside. They were able to use their ears and listen to the different noises around them. They showed interest in the scavenger hunt and searched everywhere for what were on their lists. Some children were very determined to find all the things in their lists.

Wednesday

AM: Christine –The World is our School

Current Planning. I hope children will learn more about their environment and what are the things we can see on air, land and sea.  How do they travel to preschool and other countries? Which is the fastest mode of transportation to go to different places. Hope we can answer these questions…

Lesson Planned
I will also encourage children to ask questions” For example: do we need a map when we travel by sea? Hope children will put on their thinking caps for group time. Sorting activity on the white board.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in both outdoor and indoor activity. They showed knowledge and shared their ideas about the things they could find in the air, land and sea. They were particularly keen about gathering the things the represents land, sea and air in the different containers.

PM: Sarah – Questions and Answers about your body

Link to current topic – our world.  I’m sure the children have many questions that they want answered about their small bodies…I have a lift-the-flap book from the library that will helps the discover when, where, what, why, who, how, yes or no.

Lesson Planned
We will sit as a group on the floor and the children will have turns to chose a flap on each page to see what the question and answer is.  There will be an open discussion and I look forward to seeing what other questions or comments pop up from the children as they discover interesting facts about their bodies.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
There was only 4-5 children in each of the groups which was perfect as they could take turns and learn to be patient without having to wait too long for their next turn.  As I went in order around our small circle, a couple of children began to get excited and predict when it was their next turn.  I think the younger children just really liked lifting the flaps and seeing the different pictures but sat so well and listened to the information I was reading out.  The older group and I learnt quite a bit about our bodies and they had a better understanding about what facts I was reading out.

Thursday

AM: Bobbie – Outside of preschool

Link to current topic “Our World” hoping to make links between what we do at preschool and the differences/similarities to the activities our friends/older siblings/parents do when we are/are not at preschool. For example: Do we all attend preschool everyday? Did you know some of our friends are here Mon – Fri while others only attend one or two days? What do our friends do when they are not here? What do our families do when we are at preschool?

Lesson Planned
Older group – Discussion about what other types of things we do when we are not here, and what our friends/family do. Activity that involves identifying what days we are here, what days we do other things (e.g. going to nana’s house, etc). Younger group: Discussion and art activity that focuses on favourite things to do outside of preschool.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Both groups sung the days of the week song and talked about what they like to do when they are not at preschoo, the older group filled in a sheet that identified the days that they were here and the days that they were not, this worked well for Mon/Tues but after this they got distracted. Younger group drew a picture of their favourite thing to do outside of preschool, most understood this concept and talked about things they do with their parents/siblings.

PM: Kim – Our 5 senses… hearing

Link to current planning ” Our world”.  I’d like the children to focus on this one sense during the group time and gain an awareness of how wonderful of ears are..and i’d also like to touch on people who are deaf..talk about sign language briefly.

Lesson Planned
I like the children to go outside and just sit quietly for a few minutes then discuss what they heard. Then i’d like to move inside and see what we can hear there too. I’d like to use the resource where a CD and a book have different sounds to identity.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
All the children in the group, even the youngest ones were keen to come and participate in this group time. I was delighted with how they all were able to follow instructions and sit quietly, both inside and outside to just listen. It was interesting how well some of them were able to tell different children’s voices from as far away as the gym..and it was lovely how some used their imagination a little too..Rohan told me how could hear a butterfly..Mum told me later that they’d been talking about the sound of butterflies at home earlier in the week. The cd story too held interest and sparked discussion with even the younger two years olds naming what they could hear.

Friday

AM: Sarah – Colours everywhere!

Link to current topic – our world.  Colours!  They are everywhere and are found throughout the children’s day at preschool.  Whether it be their clothing, the creative drawings, in their lunch boxes, outside where they play…the list goes on!  I want the children to share about what colours they know and what their favourite is….

Lesson Planned
I have a big book of colours from the library that has all sorts of colours, where you can find them, shades, mixing etc  The children will have many opportunities to share what they think and come up to beside me to say what their favourite colour is..and why?  The children will then be able to be creative and use from a variety of coloured materials including felts, colour pencils, crayons, coloured paper to make a picture that represents their favourite colour or even create a rainbow theme!

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Wow, we all learnt so much in this book!  It had all the colours of the rainbow, showed real life and pretend pictures showing these colours and some fun facts, learnt quite a bit actually…  The children also had many ideas to contribute and would look at their clothes to see if they were wearing a specific colour form the book as we turned the pages.  I also took this opportunity to say the colours in Te Reo and the children are getting really good a remembering the names and learning the new one too.

PM: Zinzi – Art around the world

The children will learn about the different kinds of art that is around the world. Designs and symbols. How is different from each other. This is also showing different cultures and tradition around the world. At the end children will get to paint or design their own art.

Lesson Planned
There will be information and picture on all the different kind of art and painting from the world. Instead of printing it out I thought I can save paper by showing it on the laptop. It will be also easier and quicker to show too. At the art table there will be paint and paper all set up with brushes.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children got to see the different type of art, painting and drawing that are from around the world. I was able to show them the difference between NZ art, carving and painting to other countries art carvings and painting. Eg: India. ‘S’ wanted to see the art from London and ‘L’ wanted to see art from Christchurch. It was really good to see them being focused and attentive. There were able to communicate and share their thoughts and ideas about what art is to them. Afterwards, we went to the art table and did our own painting.

Programme and Planning – Nursery Merivale

Date: 12/09 – 16/09/2016

Monday –Amelia – Posting experience.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

This is a follow on for one child in particular with an interest in puzzles but I will make up several boxes for other children to join in. I am going to get a range of boxes and cut slots into them. We will then find a range of different objects to practice out posting threw the slots.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

I implemented our peas experience today instead because Jacks family brought in the book for us to share with our friends. It was quite long and the children came and went. JA stayed the whole time possibly because it was something familiar with home. Our peas had grown a couple of cm but have defiantly slowed down a lot. Next week I am going to find a Jack and the bean stalk story.

 

Tuesday –Amelia – Revisiting our peas and a remeasure.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I will ask the parent that offered to lend us the book by Eric Carle if we can borrow it for todays lesson. I will get the measuring tape out again to see how much they have grown from this time last week and the children will help me to give them a big drink.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Sam to reflect. Amelia had an awesome posting activity for the children, and as soon as I got it down all the children rushed over to see what it was. They were great at taking turns, and would come and go from this activity for the rest of the day.

 

Wednesday –Sam – Music and movement.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

Music and movement is still a big interest in the nursery. TO who is new in the nursery really like to groove away, as well as some of the other  children AC and JF. Music and movement provides the children the opportunity to be creative and expressive, while also developing their gross motor skills.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Zinzi to reflect.

 

Thursday –Sam – Art experience – Water colour painting.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

A lot of the children have an interest around messy/tactile play, water colour painting provides them with another way to be creative and expressive.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children really enjoyed using the water colours to paint their daffodil pictures. CW and EM where very involved with this activity and stayed at this activity the whole time even as other children moved on.
Friday –Amelia – Baking – Corn fritters.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

As Sam and I alternate weeks for a baking experience it is my week this week and I have chosen to make corn fritters. Its something we haven’t made as a class before and a healthy option that I think the children will enjoy.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Due to some changes in the roster I ended up spending the day in the preschool and will move this experience to one day next week.

Programme Planning – Preschool Merivale

Date: 05/-09 – 09/09/2016

Monday

AM: Angela – Lunch boxes

Linking to current planning- our world- within preschool. Children recognise own lunch boxes and drink bottles. What is in our lunch boxes? What is treat food and what is growing food?  What do we do at fundies- shared fruit morning tea.

Lesson Planned
Own lunch boxes, lunch box outline on paper, scissors, pictures to cut of food to glue. Board story –

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in their lunch boxes today and what things that in theirs. They were able to recognise growing food and treat food and all took an interest in the lunch box activity at the table. We used different food pictures where we pasted these onto our lunch box paper.

PM: Zinzi – It’s Spring

What is spring? How do we know when it’s spring time? What happens during Spring and what do the children love about spring time :)

Lesson Planned
Book About spring. Flower templates. Paper and pencils.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children were able to identify and tell me what the different seasons are. So we know that now we are in Spring. I asked them What do they see around them, some children called out; “it rains a lot”, “There is sun”, “lots of flowers”, “daffodils”, and “Leaves”. They were all right. I was able to show them what else happens in spring, we get lambs come out as well as baby calves. There are also lots of flowers around us. We also went outside to see how many trees we could see with flowers on them. Later on we went to the table, drew and coloured in our own spring tree.

Tuesday

AM: Bobbie – Caring for my friends

Link to “Our World” topic: Our world within preschool requires many social interactions. What is a good friend? How do we look after one another? Discussions around turn taking, conversation, sharing ideas, and showing we care.

Lesson Planned
Book on friendships and caring for one another. Generate a discussion about being a good friend – how am I good friend?

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Older group very focused and interested, had plenty of great ideas and really seemed to enjoy story (Jungle Bullies), including repeating some of the words. Younger group also enjoyed story but were less able to contribute ideas so activity was complete sooner, opted to then get up for music and movement.

PM: Christine – Living and Non- Living Things

Link to current planning . What are living and non-living things? Characteristics of living and non living. Identify living and non living things in their outdoor environment.

Lesson Planned
I have knowledge about this topic. Images of why they called living and and non living. We will also have a sorting activity to test children’s knowledge and what they’ve learnt. Weather dependent: we could go outside to find these things.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest by participating in the discussion today. I introduced why we called things living and non living. What there characteristics were and where could we find them. The activity went really well, children showed what they had learned by cutting, sorting and gluing.

Wednesday

AM: Christine – What Country am I from?

Current planning. We will talk about the different traditional costume’s of some countries. Why are they significant and why is it important to their culture. What is New Zealand’s traditional costume?

Lesson Planned
I have an idea of some traditional costume’s in Asia. Borrowed costumes from parents. Activity- paper dolls costume matching.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
I used the book to show them images of traditional costumes around the world. Some children were fascinated about the different clothes that children wear around the world.

PM: Zinzi – Life cycle of a butterfly

Some children have been showing interest in the monarch butterflies as they saw one fly around the garden the other day. It will be awesome to revisit the life cycle of the butterfly while they keep an eye out on the butterflies who will come and lay some eggs on our swan plant. We will afterwards go to the table and do some butterfly printing with paints.

Lesson Planned
Activity sheet, book, and the life cycle video.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children really enjoyed doing this activity. The older group were more interested in learning about the butterfly cycle of life. They were able to tell me what the egg looks like on the picture, how do they hatch and how caterpillar starts to grow. “They eat lots of and lots and grow fat”. Then when I pointed at the caterpillar hanging I asked what shape is it hanging like? One of the children said; “J”! Then another child said; ” The caterpillar is going to get into his cocoon”. Very clever. And then we turned the page and noticed it the cocoon chances colour and it hatches into a butterfly! And the butterfly flies away. Then the new butterfly lay eggs on the swan plant. The younger group of children really enjoyed painting their butterfly print. The painted their paper and folded in half to reveal their butterfly print.

Thursday

AM: Sarah – Worms – NOTE: change of plan due to children’s interest in the weather/storm overnight and that morning

Link to current topic:  Our world.  The children showed an interest in the worms found in the Fundies garden when they were exploring alongside Hannah last week.  Let’s learn and explore more about them…what do they eat, how do they live under the dirt, what do they do… I know that the children will have different questions and ideas to contribute to the conversation too!

Lesson Planned
Have a print out and pictures from the internet with some fun worm facts.  Then the children will have the opportunity to make worms out of play-dough.  Including big, small and how many can they make out of their amount of play-dough that they are given!

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Change of plan:  THE WEATHER TODAY…. There was a bit of a storm yesterday, overnight and this morning and I could tell the minute I walked in the door that the children were very excited to share about what they had experienced at home and coming to preschool that morning.  So not time to learn about worms, it was all about the what the children and to offer about the weather they had/were experiencing.  Each child got a chance to tell me their story or say some words to do with the weather and I wrote these on the whiteboard.  About 5 minutes into group time, it began to hail outside, a couple of the children said look Sarah, hail!  I saw this as a great opportunity to go out and experience the weather rather than just talk about it!  We stood on the deck under the cover, some of the children put their hands out to catch the hail and talked about what it felt like, what it looked like, what is hail?  This lead to more discussions once we went back inside.  Zinzi had found a time lapse video from a storm in Christchurch 2012 and we watched this.  The children were super interested and wanted to talk about the lightning, dark clouds and hearing the thunder.  The really fun part for the children and I, was to run out the door every time it began to hail, it was such crazy weather!  Rain, hail, wind, sunshine…rain, hail, wind, sunshine…just like that for the entire hour of group time!

PM: Sarah –Contribution – turn taking and sharing

Link to Current Topic: Our World.  On Tuesday, the children generated what it is to be a caring friend during Bobbies group time.  One important part of being a friend especially with children making a contribution within the social environment at Fundies is – turn taking and sharing.

Lesson Planned
The children and I will investigate when this can happen within the routine/play times and how children can demonstrate what it looks like to turn take/share with others.  I will use puppets to show what sharing/turn taking doesn’t look like and then get the children to come up with ideas and demonstrate what it should look like.  I will be looking to the children to come up with ideas of what to play with and how we can practice our communication, turn taking and sharing during this experiences and being able to extend/develop these skills throughout the time when the children are at preschool.  This will then be reaffirmed when they are able to show/practice these skills at home and within their world alongside others.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
I selected the magnet/wooden cars, trains, crane and boat from the extension room, these are pretty cool and don’t come out into the main room very much.  This was a special occasion and the children were super keen to have a turn of the wooden vehicles etc.  It was a small group which was great as there was a limited amount of toys, but it worked out that there was one for each child.  Then I gave the children verbal cues of how to share, take turns and being patient.  It was great to hear and see the children using these words and responding appropriately.  I was also able to initiate by using my words to find out what toy each child wanted to have a turn with next and then empower them to ask their friend.  The children and I agreed that we can all have fun and it’s even better to share with our friends, good things happen….

Friday

AM: Kim – What do I want to be when I grow up?

Linked to current planning ” Our World”. Children are often saying that Mum/Dad are ” at work” while they are at Fundies. I’d like to explore what ” at work” means and further, what the children might like to do in the future when they are ” at work”

Lesson Planned
Discussion around parents jobs and children’s aspirations and art work. I’d like to go to the library and see if I can find any books on careers that are suitable for this age group. We could make a poster of what we want to do,and then illustrate it together

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Both groups really enjoyed the story “What does my Daddy do”, it had fun illustrations and jobs that were out of the ordinary…practicing saying “palaeontologist” was certainly a highlight! When we came to talking about what our parents did at work and what we wanted to do the older group were spot on with what their parents did, and it was nice to see imagination around different careers..although there were 5 firemen there was also a lot of other ideas too.

PM: Kim – What am I going to do in the weekend?

Link to current planning ” Our world”, but also to the curriculum Te Whariki, where in Belonging we talk about establishing connecting links between home and the centre. I’d like the children to be able to share what they enjoy doing at home, and being Friday what they would like to do over the coming weekend

Lesson Planned
I’ll use the whiteboard as a prop to make notes, so the children can connect literacy with the spoken word. I’m hoping to have the children come up in a ” news” style format, like at primary school to tell the group their ideas. If we have time we could draw pictures of what we’d like to do.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Wow… how great this was. Every child wanted a turn, and I was delighted for the most part that there was children listening to what each other had to say.  Ange and Sarah had a turn first so the children could understand what we were doing and from then away it went. I loved hearing what they thought they were going to do, and when one child said there were going to Bunnings, that started a chain reaction for other children to say about their Bunnings experiences ! I liked that there was a variation too in what they said, the children really did grasp the concept of there are days we don’t come to preschool and there are days we do. We sang the days of the week song as well , and the children really liked calling out that ” Today is Friday !”

Programme Planning – Nursery Merivale

Date: 05/09 – 09/09/2016

Monday –Amelia – How much did our peas grow over the weekend?

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

One of our parent mentioned they had a book at home that we could borrow that would fit in nicely with the growing of our peas. If we have that on Monday we will read it and measure our peas so we can start to look at just how much they are growing. We will need to give them some more water after the weekend and stake them up with something to support there growth.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children are still very much interested in the growth of our peas and as soon as they see me bringing the peas down to their level they rush to my feet in excitement and gather around. Today we used the ruler to find that our tallest pea is 24cms tall. Unfortunately we didn’t have the book but I will remind Louise and share it with the children as soon as we can.

 

Tuesday –Sam – Painting with stamps.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

A lot of the children have an interest around messy/tactile play, painting with the stamps provides them with another way to be creative and expressive, while exploring the stamps and paint.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

This activity went really well, and the children were very interested in the stamps, so much so that they wanted all of them out to choose from. This is a great fine motor activity for the children, as they are developing their grip as they hold onto the stamp.

 

Wednesday –Sam – Nursery rhymes and board stories.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

To further extend on the children’s interest with nursery rhymes and songs. I will also have the group time mainly child lead, so they can pick what stories they want to hear, taking control of their own learning.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children are all really enjoying group times, and I have noticed that they really enjoy when they are involved with choosing the board story, or when they get to hold onto a character. I can tell that they are enjoying the group times are they all bop away to the different songs, and reach out for the different characters.

 

Thursday –Sam – Baking – French toast soldiers with bananas.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

Baking is a current interest and something we are implementing in the nursery once a week. We are using healthy recipes to encourage good choices and encourage them to be involved with the baking experience as much as possible.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The french toast was a real hit with the children. They all tried a piece with most having a second piece. All the children helped me to beat the eggs and milk together, and BP was very interested in watching the french toast cook, and Amelia lifted her up so she cold see the pan.
Friday –Amelia – Finger painting.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I am going to provide a messy play experience for all of our children that are loving the different textures. I am going to put a few different coloured paints onto the table for the children to spread around with their fingers and we will make prints from the table when they have finished.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children really enjoyed our messy painting experience. It got very messy but was all in good fun and some great pictures were created especially by CW who wasn’t afraid to get dirty. I had put out some sparkly pants as a treat that they hadn’t really seem before and these were very popular and grabbed the children’s interests.

Programme Planning – Preschool Merivale

Date: 29/-08 – 02/09/2016

Monday

AM: Sarah -Kia time

Link to current topic – Our World.  I’ve been noticing some of the children are becoming not too keen at sitting down at kai times to eat the delicious food that their parents/whanau have provided and also having some fruit from the shared plate. Some hot lunches are going half eaten/uneaten and yoghurts only having a spoonful and being shoved away!  So it’s time to remind the children about how important food is for their bodies, to help them grow and that it is very beneficial to sit and eat at the kai times during the day.  Some of the parents are also showing a little concern for the uneaten or wasted food, being in communication with why this is etc…

Lesson Planned
I have a fun book about a child who doesn’t eat her lunch and some make believe animals eat it instead.  she gets a very hungry tummy and when it’s dinner time she eats it all up, yay!  We will talk about what the children see/think about that happens at the kai times at preschool, morning tea, lunch time, yoghurt time.  What are the expectations, how much food should the eat, trying the food before saying they don’t like it, letting their parents know if there’s a food item they don’t like etc.  Having clear communication between the children and teachers in relation to kai time and eating their healthy food to help them grow.  I also have another book that shows counting by making a salad and pretending the ingredients are animals!

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
I started with the book and the children were fascinated by it!  Probably because it was showing animals that they like/talk about during their play.  Then we went into talking about the routines and expectations of kai times.  Including what happens before during and after at morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea/yoghurt time.  the children were very confident to answer the questions and share what they knew about with kai times.  When I got the clock it was awesome to see how the children took this on board and really thought about how to read the time on the clock, knowing when they could leave the kai table etc.

PM: Zinzi – My family

We will talk about who all are in our family and what different families from the world looks like. Afterwards if we have time we will make our own family tree or draw describing who all are part of their family.

Lesson Planned
I will have my ipad to show them the different types of families around the world, how they live and share their house with everyone. I also have book about the littler children around the world. What their routines are compared to ours routine in NZ.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
This was such an exciting group time. The children really enjoyed see different types of families around the world. How they live together. Some families have their grandparents, uncle and aunties and their children all live in a big house. Some children have two dads or two mums and some only have one. They all talked about their families with each other and share who all lives with them. We also got to look at the different type of homes around the world through my Ipad. The children also got to see the book about the different children in the world, how they got to school and how they live in their homes with their families.

Tuesday

AM: Angela – New Zealand Flag

I hope the children will learn about our New Zealand flag and why it looks the way that it does.

Lesson Planned
I will use my NZ flag, and paper for the older group to colour in their own flags as well as a big piece of paper for the younger group to paint our NZ flag.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the flag today and were able to tell me about the colours on the flag. We talked about what the stars and Union Jack meant and had fun painting and colouring our own flags. We then all sang the New Zealand National Anthem together and some of the children said that they had heard and sang it before.

PM: Zinzi – Solar System

What is a solar system? What does it look like? Children will get to learn about the different kinds of planets. Afterwards we get to colour in our solar system.

Lesson Planned
I will have my iPad ready for the children to see the different type of planets and how they are different from each other.  I will also have the solar system colouring page ready for the children to colour in.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
This was a very chilled afternoon. Both older and younger group of children enjoyed learning about the different planets in our solar system. They learned that the sun is the center of our solar system. We also were able to see and notice how the planet sizes are different from each other. One of the children notice that Jupiter is the biggest plant in our solar system. They also called out the colours of each plant and I was able to explain why they were that colour. For example Mars is red because its got the rust dust in the atmosphere. When I pointed at planet Earth one of the children said, “Its Earth”. They also were able to recognize the blue colour is water and the green and brown is land. Great observations.

Wednesday

AM: Christine – “Let’s Play”

Link to current planning “Our world”.  We will look at how children play around the world and how similar or different their games from us.  We will also look at the different things and resources they use in their play.

Lesson Planned
I have a book with awesome images of children’s play.  We will also try to play some of these games- need to look at resources that I could use in the classroom. Younger children- activity tracing our hands. we will also create a world using our cut out hands (if we still have time).

 

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the images of children’s play. The children noticed some few similarities which was striking to them. The hula hoop, the swing, jump rope were the games that they could relate to. I could hear some children say “I play that outside”. It was great to see children’s participation in our discussions and the marble game that we played.

PM: Kim – Making good choices

I’d like to talk with the children and make a poster of their ideas of how we can make good choices, and also rules outside, both for safety and kindness

Lesson Planned
I know what to suggest , but i’d like to get the ideas from the kids too. I’m intending to write these on a large piece of paper as we brainstorm/discuss

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children were able to outline some of the rules that we have at preschool.  The older children were able to verbally tell me and the younger children nodded when they heard what was being said.  They asked lots of questions about why the sand stays in the sandpit (outside rule) and the bark in the bark area, which was good.  We were able to discuss this a bit further.

Thursday

AM: Bobbie – My learning journey (Profile books)

Linked to our current topic of “Our world” /Belonging at Fundies I would like to really highlight where the profile books are in our preschool, what they have in them, and read some of the stories aloud to highlight the successful learning journey the children have at Fundies.s.

Lesson Planned
I will challenge the children to find their own profile books (will need to check in advance that these are all there) and will ask them if they are happy for me to read some of their stories aloud. I will talk about what they enjoy seeing stories on, if they check Educa, and may be able to show them what Educa looks like.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Older group really enjoyed this and were so enthusiastic, sat in groups of 2-3 and shared their stories and pictures. Younger group flicked through and got fascinated by certain things, maybe that they could recall being interested in. With both groups we talked about where to find the books, what the books were for (capturing their learning), that it was also on the computer and that they could look at their own book whenever they liked. We discussed the covers – name, photo, border. I then asked some of the children if I could share their most recent stories, most were able to remember details from the story and what they had done.

PM: Sarah – Garden animals

Link to current topic – Our world.  The children like to explore the outdoors and sometimes happen upon a creature or two!  I have a book from the library that shows some garden animals that can be found….you just got to look really closely!

Lesson Planned
I will share the book with the children, it is an intro reader book so I can point to each word as I read, to encourage their literacy and concentration skills.  We will have an open discussion about what bugs the children have seen in their garden or outside at preschool, what’s their favourite, what happened when/if they touched the bug, did they show a friend too?  We will then create a paper butterfly with coloured pencils and that the children can make flutter by attaching it to a stick.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children liked the book & watched as I pointed to each word. I explained why I was doing this too. The children had seen a monarch butterfly & a couple of worms in the fund yes garden that day so we were able to chat about that. The children were interested in my description of what the snail does with its eyes & boys when feeling threatened. After the book we made butterflies & the children just loved fluttering around with them. We say a simple butterfly song that I had made up, lots of fun!

Friday

AM: Kim – How did you grow so tall?

Link to current planning ” Our World” and also that I have to do the nutrition story for September for the Healthy Heart award.  I hope the children will learn that it’s ok to be different sizes..some of us are bigger..some of us all small..but we are all friends.  I also hope that the discussion on ” how did we grow so tall” will bring out a focus on healthy food..if not I intend to steer the conversation this way :)

Lesson Planned
I’m going to bring in a tape measure and scales and record the children’s heights and weights. I’d like to have a discussion on how people are different shapes and sizes and what we can eat to make our bodies grow strong and healthy.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Everybody wanted a turn of being measured ! The tape measure and scales held a lot of interest even before group time when several children noticed there was something unusual on the kitchen bench.They all came eagerly to group time to have a turn with ” Kim’s things from her house” I was absolutely delighted that I didn’t need to steer the conversation towards healthy choice..every child (except for a couple of very little 2 year olds who didn’t answer the question at all) all had answers for me, about what helped them grow..and every single answer was healthy! There is a display on the wall of their answers, colouring in and heights and weights… the height and weights are a little approximate due to wiggling,and about 30 impatient children wanting to all have their turn at the same time.. but in general the heights are weights are close (ish). There will be a group story on EDUCA :)

PM: Christine – What Country am I from? Changed to “Fathers Day” -Relevant Occasion

Current planning We will talk about the different traditional costume’s of some countries. Why are they significant and why is it important to their culture. What is New Zealand’s traditional costume? We will talk about one of the most celebrated occasion in New Zealand.  What is special about their Dads and what are the things you to together with your Dads.

Lesson Planned
I have an idea of some traditional costume’s in Asia. Borrowed costumes from parents. Activity- paper dolls costume matching. I have a book that i’d like to read to the children about Dads.  Planned activity: Print out poem  and children’s hand prints.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
This group time was awesome, most children shared their experiences and the things they do with their Dads on weekends. There was a lot participation and discussions at the podium about Fathers Day.  The children were really proud of their hand print activity, they even remembered to take it home as a present for their Dads.

Programme Planning – Nursery Merivale

Date: 29/08 – 02/09/2016

Monday – Amelia – Revisiting our peas.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

The children gain an understanding on how to care for our peas. They have been enjoying to help water our plants and watching the change as they get bigger. After the weekend they will be thirsty and I’m thinking they will be getting very big.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

We have been following our peas very closely and just as we expected they grew loads over the weekend. Again the children showed an interest in the dinosaur watering can and watering the peas. We only had to support one with a stick because it was getting to big to hold its self up. Next week I will bring the correct tools from home to tie them all up and support their growth.

 

Tuesday – Sam –   Art activity – Finger painting

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

A lot of the children have an interest around messy/tactile play, finger painting provides them with another way to be creative and expressive, while exploring the texture of the paints with their fingers.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children really enjoyed getting outside today and exploring the outdoor environment. There was slime out and EM was very interested in it.

 

Wednesday – Sam – Music and movement

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

Music and movement is still a big interest in the nursery. TO who is new in the nursery really like to groove away. Music and movement provides the children the opportunity to be creative and expressive, while also developing their gross motor skills.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children had a great time dancing away to the music in gym time. We all danced together for 2 songs then the children went off and explored the gym room, though when they heard a song they liked they would start grooving away where they were.

 

Thursday – Amelia –  Fathers day craft

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I will try and find a book about Dads and finish by a craft for them to take home to Dad.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children showed an interest in everything that was set up on the table especially the goggly eyes that we used to stick on the fish. The children were very excited about taking something home for Daddy.
Friday – Sam -Baking – French toast soldiers with bananas. KidsCan Mufti Day.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

Baking is a current interest and something we are implementing in the nursery once a week. We are using healthy recipes to encourage good choices and encourage them to be involved with the baking experience as much as possible.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

With Sam being away today I stepped in and did another fathers day experience for the children that weren’t at school on Thursday. Because it was a dress up day we decorated poems about our dads that followed a super hero theme.

Programme Planning – Nursery Merivale

Date: 22/08 – 26/08/2016

Monday – Meme – Revisiting our sprouts.

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

Last week the children were showing an interest in the sprouts that were beginning to show on the window. I want to revisit last weeks experience and show them the progress and change to our seeds.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

This was so exciting. The children were very interested in the beginning and quickly gathered around close. By the time I had planted a few peas into the tray the children had lost interest but regrouped again as I was finishing to see what the finished product looked like

 

Tuesday – Meme –   Balloons hanging down from a string

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I am wanting this experience to encourage the children’s hand eye co-ordination and develop their movement and control of their bodies.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

I set up this activity while the children were sleeping, it was nice for them to wake up with a bit of a change around in the room. CW loved this experience and we got so many giggles.

 

Wednesday – Sam – Tunnels and balls

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I want to revisit this activity with the children, as last time I did this they really enjoyed themselves. The children will be following instructions while developing their gross motor skills, as well as crossing the midline.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children had a great time with the balls and the tunnel in the nursery. It was great to see how the where finding different ways to use the tunnel and the balls.

 

Thursday – Meme –  Baking pancakes

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

I want the children to be part of a group activity and work together, taking turns and listening to instructions.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

The children are very aware of what is going on when we sit them around the table and start getting ingredients out of the cupboards. They love baking and start to get excited and show an interest in what it might be that we are baking.
Friday – Sam – Art experience – Tin foil painting

What I hope they will learn – Goals for children

As many of the children have an interest around messy/tactile experiences painting onto tin foil provides another medium for them to explore.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?

Nearly all the children showed an interest in the art activity. Painting on the tin foil gives the children a different medium to paint on. It was great to see how they were all excited about this activity.

Programme Planning – Preschool Merivale

Date: 22/-08 – 26/08/2016

Monday

AM: Bobbie – FUNdamentals Routines

“Our World”, and especially in light of having so many new children recently, walking through the preschool, where are the things we need? Where does our bag/lunchbox/name tag go? Exploring the building, talking about routines with kai, etc.

Lesson Planned
Walk through of entire preschool and discussion about our days – What times of day do things happen? Where do we put our belongings? What parts of the preschool are foreign to us? (e.g. office/nursery).

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Older children quite intrigued by this concept and really able to follow along with a good discussion about what we do/why – great ideas about why we wear warm clothing outside/when, why we wash hands (“germs”), why we eat fruit first/growing food (to be strong and healthy). Followed along in group well but discussion took up longer than anticipated and tour was cut short, aside from this, very successful. Younger children quite distracted and not able to participate in same level of discussion so we opted to tour building much earlier, this appeared to be of interest to them but was very distracting.

PM: Christine – Food Mapping

We will learn about where our food (fruits and vegetables) come from. We will locate them on the world map and identify and the different climate they grow in.  Will talk about how far these fruits and vegetables have traveled to get to our country…

Lesson Planned
I know that in New Zealand we cannot grow some of the fruits and vegetables due to the cold climate. Printed images of fruits and vegetables, world map.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The other group showed interest by communicating what fruits they could see on the cards. They were also able to stick it on countries that produce them. Some of the  younger children didn’t show interest at all. They looked at the photos and were just keen to do other things. They took an interest in the card game at first but didn’t last because they had to wait their turn. Those children who had knowledge with fruits and vegetables were quite good and keen at  guessing them.

Tuesday

AM: Kim – We are New Zealanders!

I hope the children will gain an awareness of the fact that New Zealand is made up of many different cultures…and we are all Kiwis.

Lesson Planned
The centre has a book about children from different cultures. I’d like to share this book then talk about our own cultures..what we know about them , but then finish with our mihis..introducing ourselves in Te Reo.  If we have time i’d like the children to write something about themselves, something that makes them ” you”.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children all enjoyed the book, it sparked great discussion especially about the clothes children from different countries wear. It was great to have Kora’s Mum stay and she talked about Nepal. The extension children all confidently said their mihis, lovely for the other children to hear and I was pleased that a few 3 year olds had a go and Christine and Zinzi too!

PM: Sarah – Our World

There has been a couple of children who have been up to the snow in the mountains with their family in the weekend, to explore the snow and to even ski!  Also over the weekend there was the Disney on Ice show that I went to and know that a few children and their families were going to as well.  This group time will be about the children gaining confidence and sharing their world/experiences of ice skating, snow or skiing.

Lesson Planned
The children will have the opportunity to each have a turn in the “teacher chair” to share what their experiences and ideas are of the above topics.  I will also show a short dvd story clip of Dora the Explorer and her experiences with ice skating, snow and skiing that will encourage the children’s participation in counting, problem solving and extending on their interests.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
It was fun to see the children be so interested and quiet as the DVD was playing.  I would pause it from time to time to get the children’s ideas and contributions.  Asking questions about who has been skiing or skating or saw Disney on ice….  Then counting in Te Reo and Spanish, looking at the safety equipment required to take part in these winter sports.

Wednesday

AM: Christine – My place in the world

We will explore where children live and how their community and city fits into the wider world.This is also a good activity for children to visualize where they are on the map. Understanding of Geography and neighbouring countries.

Lesson Planned
I think i’m quite familiar with all the countries and the continent they belong to.
– coloured a4 papers- cut into circles – yarn – children’s creativity and imagination

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children liked the story and and watched the video until the end. They were also interested in looking and locating New Zealand on the globe. Not only were they able to locate New Zealand but also Christchurch. Some children also shared their street address with other children.

PM: Zinzi – Our body

Children will learn about their body part and also about the body parts inside their body such as the cardiovascular system and digestive system. How it all works and what happens inside our body through the day. We will also practice our te reo maori by naming the body parts. At the end we can do the action song.

Lesson Planned
Video and books.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
Children learned about their digestive system. They were amazed at how we are able to digest food inside our body. They had lots of conversations with each other about what they thought happens to food when they enter our body. It was great to see the stages of food digesting inside our digestive system. We also got to learn about the heart and what it does for our body.

Thursday

AM: Serina/Sarah – Choo choo all aboard!

Some of the children have shown an interest in trains lately within their free play experiences and during music time.  Serani (student teacher) will be taking this opportunity to implement a planned experience that will be hands on and encourage the children to take turns, share and express their ideas.

Lesson Planned
First I will read a story on the little train that could and then follow it with a book on trains which explain the different parts (for the older children) and a simple shape train puzzle (for the younger children) and show/play with the train track (circle) with Thomas characters.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children enjoyed group time.  The children listened to the Little Engine that could, followed by talking about trains and the children’s experiences (older children) and doing a shape puzzle of a train (younger children), it included a triangle, square and circle.  The children used their patience, sharing and taking turn skills and listening – as I had a circle train track which needed to be built and had limited trains/toys.

PM: Kim – How old am I and when is my birthday?

I hope the children will learn their ages, and that some of them are the same age..some are younger and some are older. We can also talk about months and dates and hopefully give a basic understanding.

Lesson Planned
We have the children’s birthdays displayed on the wall. I’d like to get a colouring picture organised where they can colour in their number of candles on a cake, and some may be able to write their number. If we have time we could talk about birthdays they’ve attended and their memories.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children liked to talk about parties and how old they were but apart from a few children talking about dates and months didn’t hold any interest.
They liked the book ” Boas big birthday”, and also the colouring in of the cake. Only one child followed instructions with colouring in the number of candles of their age..the rest either decorated their cakes beautifully as rainbows ( 2 children ) or just drew over the picture in scribbles.

Friday

AM: Angela – The New Zealand Kiwi bird

Talking about New Zealand our home country and our native Kiwi bird. I hope the children will learn about where the kiwi lives and other fun things about them.

Lesson Planned
I have some fun facts about the Kiwi and I will ask the children to tell me about what they know and for them to draw a Kiwi picture. I will also use the Kiwi CD story book to act out the different actions the birds do.

Description of Learning – What did the children show interest in?
The children showed interest in the story book today and were able to sing along in some parts that they knew. We also had some great discussions about what they knew about our kiwi’s and we also found out some other interesting facts.

PM: Zinzi – Aquarium sea creature

Children have been showing interest in the sea creature. I thought it would be great to take about some of our favorite sea creatures. I got a life size book of sea creature that we can use to compare and learn about the difference from each of the sea creature that lives in our world.