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.