Johnson House
Story by Educator Alisa
The children in Johnson House have been showing a strong interest in learning about the Olympics. To follow up on this interest, we read the book ‘Koala Lou’ by Mem Fox. The story is about a koala who competes in tree climbing for the Bush Olympics. Reading the story and providing images of medals, Olympic rings, torches and sporting events sparked discussions about different concepts related to the Olympics. The children shared their existing knowledge of the Olympics. They understand that medals are won in the competitions and that first place gets a gold medal, second place gets a silver medal and third place gets a bronze medal. The children learnt that the Olympic Rings stand for the continents of all the participating countries.
The children also shared which sporting events, such as soccer, swimming, running and high jumps, they are watching and cheering for, and the country they are supporting—Australia! Some of the children even cheered “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!”.
The children helped to set up an Olympic Games area. We added some images of sporting events, medals, the Olympic Rings and the torch. Some of the children have also been working on making medals and selecting “events” to participate in. We will continue to incorporate a range of experiences into the program and look forward to seeing the development of this interest over time.
Murray House
Story by Educator Sophie
The littlest landscapers in all of Sydney were at it again in Murray House this week as we embarked on another lovely day of gardening!
After rummaging through and sorting soil and skeleton leaves we found buried treasures! We uncovered toy cars and forgotten boats of babies who are probably all grown up now. We found worms and families of snails and witchetty grubs that had funny ways of moving as well as other living creatures. We talked about how the ground is home to lots of bugs and grubs and how and the birds like to eat them!
We took turns in our group and talked about organic waste, compost and rubbish! Our ongoing gardening project has connected us with a new favourite picture book ‘Change Starts with Us’, by Sophie Beer.
We designated a special spot for a snail sanctuary, and practiced looking with our eyes and not touching. It was really sweet to watch the children interacting so beautifully, with concern and compassion, towards their absolutely favourite slimy creatures!
The children also worked really hard at bringing little buckets of sand to highlight the edges of the path and the off-kilter logs the children practice balancing on!
The road to Levi’s heart is a noisy one and he travelled it with a gang of friends, loving the chimes dingle-dangling from the sound garden. Henrique, Angus and Rosie quickly figured out that there is a string hanging from the tree that will knock the hanging CDs into the chimes to create music that comes from all around, and they enjoyed swinging and swaying in the sound garden.
Now the children can enjoy a corner of the garden that they helped to build, and a space to tread lightly on the earth and still look after their green plant friends. Good job Murray maties!
Family Day Care Sydney Wide
Story by Educator Amna
At Amna’s Family Day Care service the children and Amna been have finding ways to contribute to community wellbeing by helping those that are struggling with the lockdown in Greater Sydney. They created a community pantry which they placed next to the letterbox so that people can pick staples such as milk, pasta, soup and canned vegetables, as well as chocolates for adults and colouring sheets for children, without having to go to a shop. The children also helped to create parent wellness packs for their families, and next week families will receive a surprise meal box.
