Johnson House
Preschool
Story by Educator Madhu
Recently the children in Johnson House preschool have been asking to do yoga, so we made this one of the activity options for children to participate in after their daily check in group. The children help to set up the space by laying out the yoga mats and creating enough room for the activity.
The children begin with some warm up exercises and then practice the yoga poses that they’re already familiar with. Some of the children request specific poses that they have already learned and we also try out new poses each session.
This experience is a great opportunity for the children to develop their ability to focus and to increase their strength and flexibility.
Robinson House
Story by Educator Andrew
This week in Robinson House we continued our exploration of woodworking. Just as we did in our previous woodwork session, we began by discussing the importance of maintaining a safe learning environment for everyone involved, and also how to use the tools and available resources in a safe and effective manner.
We again used hammers and screwdrivers, along with a range of screws, nails, brackets, hooks and many other useful items.
We focussed on joining multiple pieces of balsa wood together using screws and mini clamps. The clamps were a very useful way of holding multiple pieces of wood in place while we screwed or hammered them together, ensuring we could still use both of our hands more effectively.
It was amazing to see the confidence grow in our woodworkers this week; previously we focussed mostly on controlling the tools and mastering the challenging skills required, which saw us driving as many nails into the wood as we could, and turning as many screws as possible, developing the fine motor skills and coordination involved in these very challenging skills very quickly.
We even heard a very interesting discussion between Ben, Hugo and Remi about the correct name for one of the tools—was it a wrench or a spanner?
Community Playgroups
Story by Playgroup Coordinator Rebecca
The wet weather over the last few weeks has been challenging for our Red Bug Playgroup in the park. However, these challenges have also provided some wonderful opportunities for learning about the bugs that seem to thrive in this kind of weather. We hid some toy bugs in the long grass at the park and then went searching for them and matched them to the bugs on our chart.
We have also been learning about the different parts of bugs and about what makes bugs special. We made our own bugs using a variety of collage items. Pictured is a collage bug that one of the children created!
