Director’s Report, Anna Hutchings - 16 March 2023

The extended summer at kindy has kept us seeking water play – building and testing boats, exploring what sinks and what floats, creating mud patches, splashy pools and long bamboo water courses that stretch for metres downhill, learning the natural consequences of tipping water on your friend when they didn’t want or expect it……the seasons offer up such diverse learning experiences that are at their richest in the kindy environment.  The hardest brain-work of all for a kindy child is to co-operate and get along with a bunch of children their own age, for six hours.  No wonder they are tired at the end of the day!  But our children are doing amazingly, we are so proud of their enthusiasm, their openness and their growth over the first term.  Each morning we gather and say our special welcome, ending in “today I will go with Yindyamarra in my heart”.  To go softly and slowly with honour and respect.  And we talk about things that we have seen that were Yindymarra: someone helped a friend to dig a big hole.  Someone helping a friend put on their shoes. Someone rescuing an ant or giving a friend a hug when they’re sad.  To witness very young people becoming active, effective and caring citizens is a privilege and our children are on their way.

Music and story time are really favourite times of the day in both kindy groups this year – when the group time bells ring the children can’t get inside fast enough to come and sit on the mat.  Music and stories are intrinsically tied to children’s literacy and numeracy development and are a fun and engaging way to lay the foundations for future reading, writing and arithmetic.  Rhythm, rhyme, repetition and call and response are the bones of games like Boa Constrictor, the Pirate Song, the Pony Game, The Bunny Game, My Lovely Lycra and a myriad of songs and poems that we enjoy immensely.  We are learning songs in Wiradjuri by Aunty Sharron who will visit us next term.  At the moment when we read stories to the children we are subtly but consistently teaching them that text represents speech, that we read from left to right, that books have an author and an illustrator and about the different parts of a book – the cover, title and pages.  Our music and stories have had so much influence in the children’s play – there’s been days of wombat stews, bear hunts, recreations and references to bits of Mr McGee’s adventures and impromptu discussions about topics such as bees, boa constrictors, objects that can be used as musical instruments and what it means to be a good friend…. All ideas that have come out of songs and stories.  Our children are like sponges and they use their play time fruitfully to explore all the new ideas that kindy life offers up.

We hope you are enjoying the weekly posts on Facebook showing you many of the fabulous projects and happenings we’ve been into so far.  We loved our visit from Coach Dave and we’re looking forward to the Evergreen Children’s Theatre Rainforest Experience which is tomorrow for Yellow Kupi Group and next Tuesday for Blue Balimber Group.

We have some wonderful improvement projects in the mix such as partnering with the Kenmore Men’s Shed to build new chairs for the kindy to replace our much loved versions that have given over fifty years of service.  We are in the process of applying for a grant from the office of Elizabeth Watson Brown for this.  Kenmore Men’s Shed are already building us new possum and bird boxes at no charge to replace our old and dilapidated ones.  We are going to replace the top beam on our swing frame and bring some new life to our faithful planks and balancing beams.  We would dearly love to situate the SS Minnow outside in the garden permanently and there are some wonderfully handy Dads in our community who may be able to help us achieve this.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have volunteered to be on the committee, some of whom are already involved in the above projects.  We appreciate your time and generosity and look forward to working with each of you over the year.

Director’s Report, Anna Hutchings - 16 August 2022

Term Three is always a very busy time of the year, not only because we are gearing up for the Art Show, which is the Kindy’s biggest day, but also because of the way the children play and learn. They have been here for long enough that they are very comfortable with each other and the environment, they understand their responsibilities, their social skills have developed a great deal and they are ready for extended, rich play in collaboration with others. Our job at this time of the year is to provide interesting provocations and resources, to try and spark more complex thinking and skill development.

Because the children are feeling so confident at Kindy, we have observed many instances of children teaching each other skills. How to climb a knotted rope.  How to build a spider out of Duplo that is symmetrical and can move and transform. How to lift a heavy rock by creating a lever using a plank and another rock as a fulcrum. Explaining how to best avoid tidy up time by drawing with chalk a map on the underside of the fort showing the best hiding places around the kindy.  The flaw in that plan was doing it while their teacher was watching, but the effort was highly commendable in its detail and presentation.  Peer to peer teaching and learning is an incredibly effective way to acquire skills and can sometimes be more effective than learning from a teacher.  It has the additional benefit of building the self-esteem and confidence of the child passing on their knowledge and skills, and this is something that we strongly encourage between children.

We are noticing changes in the children’s play since the beginning of the year:

• Building projects –

  • More organized play

  • More communication

  • More complex ideas

  • More co-operation

  • Greater resilience and perseverance

  • “Do you want to build a tower together?” (Zoe to Romeo)

  • “We should add some blocks to the base to give it more support” (Romeo to Zoe)

• Also with dramatic play:

  • More co-operation

  • Better communication

  • Play is more cohesive and lasts longer

  • Reserved children becoming more involved.

• We are loving using REAL hammers and nails to have a go at woodwork. Working with real tools builds:

  • responsibility for self and others

  • mathematical understandings – measurement, comparison

  • Co-ordination

  • Problem solving

  • Resilience.

We have been selecting books for group story time that feature characters experiencing a range of emotions. As we read the story together, we stop to notice facial expressions on the characters – what are they feeling now? Why might they be feeling sad right now? These are questions that we ask the children during story time. The ability to recognise and label feelings is a key social skill. Being able to read how another person is feeling and respond appropriately enables getting along with others. Being able to identity our own feelings enables us to understand what makes us happy, sad or anxious, and helps us, over time, to learn to regulate our emotions.  The Kindy children have shown great interest in analysing and discussing the expressions and feelings of book characters and have shared sometimes surprisingly insightful reasoning. So that’s emotional literacy – in terms of language literacy the children are loving playing rhyming games and making up spontaneous rhymes throughout the day. Rhyming is a key element of early literacy development - rhymes teach children that words are composed of consistent sounds that can be played with to make other words - some real and some silly! And the silly is the fun part.

Of interest to families may be the information I brought back from a professional networking meeting at one of our local schools.  The prep teachers were keen to share with us what they would very much like children to be able to do by the time they start prep.  I think that it is a most reassuring and realistic list. 

1.    Independence.  To be able to go to the toilet by themselves and dress themselves.  To be able to clear up after themselves, for example once they have finished an activity.

2.    Social and emotional skills.  To be able to interact positively with others, to share and take turns.  To be able to cope with typical disappointments and frustrations without often having meltdowns.

3.    To be able to recognize their own name.  Being able to write their own name is a bonus but not essential, as this is easy to teach once the previous skills are in place.

4.    To be able to hold a pencil and use scissors effectively.

These are skills that we support every day through play, and it was great to hear from the school how much they value the work that we do, in collaboration with families, to nurture confident, independent and inquisitive children.

Art Show

Every day we are talking about the Art Show.  “This is for the Art Show” friends will say as they thoughtfully and proudly offer us their paintings, drawings and other creations.  We have had so many offerings that we could fill the kindy walls two times over!  We have seen a great change since the beginning of the year when it was very hard for us to “borrow” any artwork for the Art Show (as it all HAD to go home).  Again, this shows that our children are becoming more resilient and that their horizons are broadening.

In brief……

We have begun learning to use real hammers, nail and wood.  We have two rules: the hammers stay down low and they do not go”.  They have approached woodwork with seriousness and responsibility and we look forward to supporting this useful and rewarding skill to develop.

We have added some more words or phrases to our repertoire of Yugerabul language including “birpi” meaning “small” and “kurumba” meaning “big”.

Now that it’s August we have started celebrating all the 5th birthdays and have had to put another candle on the sand cake.  How big we are getting!

We have experimented with dropping coloured vinegar onto bicarb, to explore cause and effect and to learn some scientific thinking and language.

Thank you to:

Lydia.  Today we said farewell as she moves on to another work adventure.  We have enjoyed so much her friendship and support as our Administrator over the past six years and we will miss her very much.  We are looking forward to working with our new Administrator, Jill, and feel confident that she will quickly become a valuable and happy part of our team.

Our committee for your generous gift to the team of a night out to celebrate the end of A&R.  Hopefully the result due in a few week’s time will be worth celebrating and we can enjoy dinner together and truly relax.  We’re almost there, thanks to all!!!

Red Group 21/07/2022

Welcome back to Kindy to all our lovely families, staff and Committee.  Term three is always a super busy Term, with Kindy photos, Father’s Day gift making and Father’s Day Campfire and our amazing Art Show.  We are looking forward to a wonderful Term together.

The end of Term Two was a joyous occasion because our teddies and favourite soft toys joined us to celebrate with a Teddy Bears Picnic.   We went on a bear hunt, ate a delicious picnic and sang songs with our special friends.

This Term we have welcomed five new families to Red Group.  Welcome to you all.  Sandyha and I look forward to getting to know your wonderful children.  We all got straight back into the important business of play the last two weeks at Red Group.   Old friends were happy to see each other and welcome some new friends.  The new camp set up has inspired many children to talk about their comping experiences with their families and to make food on the (pretend) fire.

We put up the bouncy plank this week, which was enjoyed by most children, challenging themselves to jump high and land on the soft blue mat.  We are also learning about how to be safe and keep our friends safe.

It is wonderful to witness children playing together in a very mature, cooperative manner.  They can take turns, share ideas and negotiate ideas for their play.  Some still prefer to play alone for part of the afternoon, but everyone is keen to come to the mat for singing, games and stories. 

We are planning to extend our group time in Term three so we can incorporate more music and movement into our pre-kindy program.  We would also welcome any musical families to share their instrument with the children at group time.

Directors report Anna Hutchings 21 July 2022

Possibly the most rewarding aspect of preparing for Assessment and Rating is the act of looking back and reflecting on our strengths and achievements and the amazing things we have done together as a kindy community.  Yes, there’s been big things like awards, celebrations, renovations and our Bush Kindy program but there are also many, many smaller things that make this place rich and wonderful, things that have been shared, inspired and led by members of our diverse community.  In 2018 a Yellow Group Mum suggested and supported us to partner with the Brisbane Botanic Gardens to create an educational program for pre-school aged children.  We piloted it and six years later early childhood nature lessons are a permanent part of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens educational program, attended by kindergartens across Brisbane.  Wow!  In 2019 a Dad working as a set designer for QPAC arranged for all the kindy children to attend the premiere of a children’s theatre production, where some of our young friends were interviewed with cameras and microphone to gather their feedback.  Amazing! Another Mummy organized a grant and two Queensland artists to work with our children to create the much-loved water-dragon sculpture, Magil, at Cubberla Park.  And day to day family members have enriched our program in so many ways, such as by running spectacular dry ice science demonstrations, leading a wonderful Shabbat dinner, playing the cello at the Art Show, gardening with the children, instigating the creation of a recycling hub, bringing in pet guinea pigs, budgies, chickens and cats, teaching the children how to make and pour cement, make sushi and avocado chocolate mousse, learn a dance routine to “Firework” by Katy Perry and learn to count in Hungarian…..the array of amazing ways that our community has worked together to create a rich and meaningful program and environment for our children is astounding.  That is why our kindergarten is so great and why we hope that we go well in our assessment visits next week.

We are settling back into kindy after the holidays and have been immersing ourselves in many independent explorations – using mortar and pestles to crush and mix chalk, leaves, dirt and sticks to make natural paints, making our own colours from paint powders and inventing names for the novel tints and shades, making paper sea creatures as we talked about the Torres Strait Islands, constructing long, cardboard tube “telephones” to talk to friends and making collections of “fire rocks” and “clues”.  This is certainly a wonderful time of the year when projects can become especially creative.

More good news is that our Reconciliation Action Plan, our RAP, has been approved and published! This is an important step in our commitment to embedding deep respect and building meaningful connections with First Nations people and cultures, in particular the Yuggera and Turrbal people on whose land the kindy sits.  Thank you to Tracy for leading the RAP and for being so genuinely interested and proactive in building our understandings.

Thank you to our incredible staff for going above and beyond in the lead up to A&R, juggling the day-to-day teaching responsibilities with all this extra.  You are more amazing than you know and you deserve a proper weekend very soon.

Thank you to our fabulous committee for the work you have done, from writing policies to sorting out nightmare sheds, we appreciate all that you do.

Staff report ( in lieu of Director’s report) 16th June 2022 by Michelle Wood

Georgie had a wonderful time travelling and having some very well-deserved family time over her long service leave. The children did miss Georgie however Fiona (our relief staff member) settled in very easily, she was well accepted by the children and the 2 groups programs continued happily.

As you would be aware Anna is now currently on her well-deserved long service leave. Fiona and Kim have assisted with the relief during this time. This has ensured the continuity and the high quality of our program continues despite Anna’s absence. We are extremely lucky to have such committed, well trained and well experienced relief staff.

It has been wonderful seeing new friendships and relationships being established and strengthened each week. The children are becoming far more comfortable and explorative in their play. We are noticing that the children have an awareness that they have a large contribution to how Kindy runs each week, encouraging them to take some ownership over their own learning. The children are feeling very comfortable to share their interests/ ideas and from there we are creating our program possibilities. 

There has been interest in learning areas such as …

- planting seeds and discussing possible outcomes

- awareness of, interest in and caring of bugs and small creatures in our playground,

- investigation and learning more about further Yuggerbul words encouraged us to be more considerate of our nations first owners during reconciliation week

- attempting to write our own stories, with yellow group compiling a group project writing and illustrating their own book

- looking at how we can use a by-product from our campfire such as charcoal in a creative process

- Utilising the windy weather by doing kite and paper plane making.

- we’ve had our first cooking experiences in each group. We particularly love the sampling of the final product!

- We have introduced manipulative activities such as clay play as well as looking into at areas of stem such as magnet play and how gravity works with pipe play.

Throw in our weekly trips to Bush kindy where learning to play and interact in nature is continuing with new tools being introduced. We are becoming proficient in knot tying and rope usage, whittling, hand drilling and most recently sawing. Parent volunteers are integral to this program, not only for us to ensure adequate supervision but the skills and interests that the parents bring to help teach the children in this wonderful setting is amazing. We thank our volunteers for their generous time.

The staff are extremely busy behind-the-scenes preparing for our A&R process which will be occurring in the early part of next term. We do appreciate all the assistance that our committee can provide us to help prepare for this process.

We had a beautiful mother’s campfire event. It was fabulous to see everybody come together for our first community gathering. We are looking forward to many more this year.

Thank you to the two wonderful ladies Lauren and Emma for providing us with a fabulous family fun day and to the volunteers who assisted them on the day.

Thank you to Liz and Peta who are running our library borrowing experiences in the two kindy groups. I know many children are enjoying this.

Red Group Report 16/06/2022

Term Two is nearly over, which means we are already halfway through the pre-kindy year. Playing/working with three-year old’s puts one into a wonderful place where play and being in the moment is a high priority.  The short afternoons we spend at Red Group are filled with rich learning experiences and social interactions which makes the time fly by.

Our little group of eleven children will be expanding in Term Three with several new children joining us.  We have such a beautiful group of children, and I am sure they will welcome some new friends.

Looking through the many photos from the last month reminds me of all the learning that happens every afternoon at Red Group.  The children are developing their resilience and sense of self, which are evidenced by being open to new challenges and being able to co-operate and work collaboratively with others.  Some children love climbing and are getting very skilled at taking turns and encouraging each other during play.

This is an area that I see changes in during the year, their physical development and ability to engage in large and fine motor skill activities.  Movement is a must for this age group, and we like to encourage the children to climb, jump, balance and swing.    Some children started the year climbing and swinging independently, but others are working hard to learn those skills and Sandhya and I are there to support their attempts and encourage them to have a go.

We are also providing opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills.  With activities like- cutting with scissors, manipulating playdough and clay and threading large and small objects.  We made some “magic rainbow” playdough last week, then made it sparkly this week by adding glitter.

We all loved going fishing with magnets catching the fish on the blue mat.

 Many pre-kindy children came along to Family Fun Day and had a wonderful time getting their faces painted, watching the magician, playing games and eating yummy food.  We are so lucky to have our wonderful social/fundraiser conveners, Lauren and Emma, and their amazing helpers, put on a super Fun Day.  Thank you so much Emma and Lauren and all the volunteers who helped on the day.

Sandhya and I hope all the Red Group families have a wonderful School Holiday break and enjoy the beautiful Brisbane winter weather.  Check out the Nature Play QLD website for some ideas for family fun outside.  

 natureplayqld.org.au

Red Group Report May 2022

It’s amazing that we are already halfway through Term Two, time certainly flies when you’re having fun.   We welcomed our new teaching assistant Sandhya to Red Group at the beginning of Term Two, how lucky we were to find such a caring, knowledgeable educator.  Thank you to Fiona, Anna, Michelle and Georgie for working with me in Term One, it’s always such a pleasure to work with such passionate teachers.

So far this Term the children have been focused on outdoors play.  The swings, sand pit, mud kitchen and green hill are used every week.  One particular interest, which is repeated weekly, is rolling balls down the hill.  The children eagerly chase the balls down and gather them up to start again.  They are working on many physical and social developmental areas during this play.  I can see many beautiful social moments when balls are shared, and children wait for their turn.  Sometimes we need a little reminder about safety, so we are introducing the concept of doing a “safety check” before you do something.  They will use this skill when they are at kindy and Bush Kindy next year.

We have put out the bouncy plank and soft mat a few times this Term, which the children have loved.  Just like the ball rolling game, the children are negotiating turn taking, looking out for their friends and having fun.

Many children are beginning to play together in a very mature, cooperative play style.  They can take turns, share ideas and negotiate ideas for their play.  Some still prefer to play alone for part of the afternoon, but we are all keen to come to the mat for singing, games and stories.  They all come racing to the mat when we ring the bells and I encourage them to choose the story and songs for mat time to help them think about what they like and what interests them.

The children were keen to make a gift and a card for their mums, I was amazed at how many helpers there were to make the sugar scrub.  We sent the gifts home this week, but don’t worry if you didn’t get yours, you will get it next week.  We hope to have a new date for the Mothers Day Campfire soon, so we can all celebrate our wonderful mums.

Many of the children love to paint, and we have offered a variety of mediums.  We have used acrylic paints and water colours, so far.  We did finger painting this week, getting fully immersed in the tactile experience and colour combining.  We have an amazing Art Show in September, and we will be collecting some of your children’s art for that event.  We will be sharing more information about the Art Show next Term, but please Save the Date in your diary now, Saturday 10th of September.

Have you thought about coming to visit Red Group?  We love parents and grandparents to join us for the afternoon, just add your name to the Roster list.  Impromptu visits are fine also, we value all family connections at pre-kindy.  If you have an interest or skill you would like to share with everyone, please have a chat with me and we can work out a suitable time for you to share it with the group.

Director's Report by Anna Hutchings 16 March 2022

This year the indigenous concept of yindyamarra has continued to be strong and resonant with the children at kindy. Yindyamarra is a wiradjuri word that means to go slowly with honour and respect, to care for yourself, others and the environment and to be observant and kind. We begin each day by saying “We play on yuggera and turrbal country. Here is the land, the water and the sky, here are our friends, and here am I. Today I will go with yindyamarra my heart”. Many mornings have included discussions about what this means and our kindy leaders (those children who are doing a second year of kindy) have been quick to explain their understandings, as have some of our new friends. “It means to be good,” said one friend. “Not hitting,” offered another. A kindy leader had an experience to share which he felt illustrated yindyamarra. “We were at school and someone was by themselves so we asked him if he wanted to play our game. We included him in our game, that’s yindyamarra.”  What a fabulous insight.  After thinking about it a younger friend said, “I look where I’m going so I don’t bump into things,”.  Looking after yourself is indeed yindyamarra!

We have started learning other indigenous words, mainly from our local yuggerabul language, which the children find fun and interesting – as families you may have heard some of these words from your child and wondered about them.  “bigi” for sun, “gadam” for rain, “gulambarun” for the magpies who strut amongst us and clean up our crumbs – we like to think of these as the first names of things in this place and it is respectful, yindyamarra even, to learn and use them.

Following are some examples of our play and learning recently:

- Exploring the garden and discovering many large and beautiful spiderwebs.  This has led to discussions about how our families deal with spiders at home, and which family member is the most afraid! In Blue Group we made a giant spider web of our own with yarn and both groups made spiders and flies to stick in it. We’ve read stories and had discussions about the important role spiders and insects play in the environment as we observe them in the garden.

- The climbing tree has been a focal point so far this year as children develop their courage to find a way up and get down again. We have used these moments to discuss “safety checks” and making choices that are safe for yourself and others.

- Sensory play and learning with play dough, clay, water and paint.  Sensory experiences provide opportunities for children to learn and think scientifically about their world and to develop their language as they describe textures, sights and smells.  Sensory play can contribute to wellbeing and calm feelings for many children too.

- Lots of spontaneous, self-directed play and exploration.  We provide open-ended resources and big chunks of time for children to initiate their own projects – this encourages independence, curiosity, decision-making, creativity and social development, to name a few outcomes.  We have really seen the children’s independence and perseverance growing.

- A little research project to answer the question from a child – do fish sleep?  We found out that they don’t sleep like we do, but rather rest by poking themselves into some coral or mud, or simply floating.

- A giant ball run with the long PVC pipes. The children worked hard as a team to move the pipes and connect them together down the rocks.

- We’ve had such a muddled start to the year with Covid and then the floods.  We’ve had some group discussions and chats one-on-one to give the children opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings about the big things that have been going on. Every child is different – some have noticed a lot about things happening in the community while some others have not, some children want to talk about things while others do not.  Both are ok – but we are always here to listen and acknowledge thoughts and feelings.

- A fun Playball session with Coach Dave involved throwing and kicking balls, catching hoops, following instructions and a fair amount of chasing the Coach.  Playball is a fantastic and age appropriate introduction to sport and physical activity for young children.

- Imaginary role play about butterflies, pirates, families, dinosaur swamps, putting on shows, takeaway delivery, pizza shops, vets, camping….the list goes on!  Imaginary play is a natural and vital aspect of children’s play for which we provide ample time, space and resources.

- We’ve been really loving storytime and music time – you may have heard snippets of some of our songs like the The Ants Go Marching and Boa Constrictor.

- Aunty Sharron visited and spent some time with us sharing some first nations perspectives such as only taking what you need and not wasting – she gave the example of catching an echidna and using every part of it – eating the meat and then using the quills for tools and jewelry. She shared some of her own beautiful songs and dance with us – we had fun dancing like dinnawan (emu) and banda (kangaroo). Aunty Sharron is a wiradjuri gamilaroi elder who has been visiting our kindy for many years, and who says she will continue to visit our lovely kindy even after she has retired – what a special lady.

We are making plans and looking forward to our Bush Kindy program starting next term.

Thank you to all our families who responded so quickly to come and help us clean up after the big rain event.  It was heartwarming to see so many in our community, including children, grab rakes, shovels and leaf blowers and get our kindy all ready to welcome the children back.

Thank you to Chris and Kate Robinson and their girls for coming in on Saturday to chop and clear the branches that fell after the big storm last week, what a generous gift of your precious time.

Thank you to our new committee members for taking on the roles, we appreciate your support and hope that you find it to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Red Group Report 17/03/2022

Welcome to all the children and families to Red Group.  This short afternoon program will provide many opportunities for your child to enjoy free play, social interactions with their peer group, creative arts, climbing, digging and much, much more.  For some of you, this is your child’s first experience without you, which is a big step in a three-year-olds life and an emotional time for you too.

 Some children at Red Group have watched their big sister/brother come to Blue and Yellow Group, and they are more than ready to have their own special time at Kindy. Many children are happy playing alone or parallel to other children, whilst others are seeking out new friends to play with.  One thing for sure is that Red Group afternoons are filled with activity and opportunities for your inquisitive three year olds.

Term One is rushing by, only two more weeks until school holidays begin, and Red Group children are exploring their Kindy environment with confidence.  The children are enjoying all areas of the Kindy, from the home corner to the swings.  With the warm weather we’ve been having, water play is a favourite with many of the children.  During water play, children are improving their problem-solving skills, physical, social/emotional and language development.  Maths and science concepts are also explored during water-play; what an amazing activity filled with rich learning opportunities. 

Easel painting is offered every week, with a variety of colour combinations each day.  This week we did colour mixing using primary pain colours and creating lots of new colours.  The children are keen to use all the equipment on the stationary shelves, such as scissors, sticky tape, hold punches and a multitude of drawing materials.

 Play dough is a favourite activity for some children, offering wonderful opportunities for creative expression. 

We have been busy with other activities too, such as: rolling balls down the hill, climbing, swinging really high, walking on stilts, balancing on the red boards and playing the Snail Pace game just to name a few.  How the children fit so much into ninety minutes is a real mystery. 

We get together as a group near the end of the session to sing, chat and read a story.  We are really enjoying group time and we encourage the children to choose the story and songs when we are together on the mat. 

Thank you to the families that have already sent in family and pet photos for our Red Group Family poster. We will start the poster next week and add more family photos as they come in. We are creating this poster to get to know each other better and to recognize that we are a special part of the Chapel Hill Community Kindy.

Director Report October 2021

Director’s Report

Anna Hutchings

21 October 2021

Now is that fabulous time of the year when the kindy teachers begin to feel a little superfluous at times.  Just as the jacarandas come into bloom, the baby magpies start to squawk and mince pies appear in Coles, the blossoming of the children’s skills and dispositions that have been developing all year can be observed in their independence and complex play that needs little interference from us.  Our role shifts to one that is more about attentive observation leading to more precise interactions that will support their learning.  We spend much less time supporting children to co-operate, communicate and negotiate, instead focussing on moments with children where we can support them to reflect on their learning, and document their learning.  A good example is of some recent play when three boys spontaneously started a game of shooting matchsticks into a box by blowing them through a straw.  Without teacher support they decided together where each contestant should stand so that the competition was fair and organised taking turns. Each time a matchstick was fired the boys shared their thinking about why it did or didn’t make it into the box: “You blew too soft,” “It bounced out,” and this game carried on amicably for a couple more minutes. I was enjoying watching this orderly play and the boys using language that demonstrated they were keen for fairness and that they wanted one another to succeed. At this point I suggested that they might like to keep a record of how many matchsticks were successful in going into the box, and demonstrated how to keep a tally on a piece of cardboard.  The boys thought this was a terrific idea and gleefully added tally marks under their name after each successful turn and periodically counted them up.  The game now had a mathematical component and without moving out of their chosen play the boys were meaningfully assessing and recording their progress. This example illustrates the sort of complex communication, problem solving and social skills that the children have learned over the year and can now perform independently.

Science experiments, deep and reflective discussions, theatre incursions and visits from some amazing native wildlife and a butterfly workshop will infuse the children’s play and thinking with new experiences and understandings.  We are excited that our annual excursion to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mount Coot-tha will go ahead in November - this involves a morning with the Gardens Education Team learning about various topics in a fun and interactive way, as well as a glorious chartered bus ride to and from the Gardens with a look at the fascinating Mt Coot-tha Quarry where we can see the big trucks moving the blasted metamorphic rock which will be used to build Brisbane’s roads.

School transitions have begun with many of our children heading off to orientation sessions at more than a dozen different schools. We are having lots of positive discussions about school to help children prepare, and little things like signing themselves in in the mornings and being responsible for their own belongings further supports that level of independence that we know is important before heading off to big school. At kindy the old school uniforms are getting a work out as children put them on to play, and school is a regular topic of conversation around the lunch tables as children discuss where they are going and when.  “After Christmas,” “When I’m 5,” “At the end of Kindy”.  Generally our friends who are moving on to school are very positive about it, and one little boy assures me almost daily that this is his last day at kindy because tomorrow he’s going to school.  Twelve kindy children across both groups will return next year as Kindy Leaders - 25% seems to be a fairly stable portion over the recent years and we are looking forward to their helpfulness in settling in our new kindy friends and their own developing confidence and independence so that they will head off all ready for school in 2023.

The staff are very excited that the renovation of the kindy admin wing is tipped to go ahead over the Christmas break!  We’ve had good meetings with the builder and with the amazing support of our resident architect Mum, Claudi, we are looking forward to the process and feel positive that the project will be completed by the start of Term One.  There’s much to do and organise before then so that the builders will be entering an empty space on the first Monday of the holidays.

This week the staff participated in a professional development day and completed individual sessions in Reconciliation and Education for Sustainability, as well as working on the new version of our Quality Improvement Plan which is almost complete.  This work will positively impact on how we as a kindy respect and interact with indigenous perspectives, how we embed sustainability in every aspect of our operations and in identifying and communicating our strengths and plans for improvement.

Congratulations

Congratulations to our Red Group Assistant Teacher, Phoebe, who has just completed her Master of Education (Early Childhood).  This is wonderful for Phoebe and she will now be able to work as a teacher of her own class.  Sadly for us this means letting her go so that she can pursue her career.  We will miss her very much but know that she is ready for bigger things.  We also know that she has loved her time at Chapel Hill Community Kindergarten and the valuable formative experience of early childhood education at a high standard.

Thank you

•    Martina Barham for persisting with getting us a successful quote from a builder so that our renovation project can go ahead

•    Claudi Bird for your commitment and generous, expert support with our renovation project

•    Zoe Bayer and Emma Wiles for your organisation of the sausage sizzles and sock fundraiser

•    Natsumi Uyeda for all your help covering books and prepping materials

•    Rachel Meiklejohn for your donations of resources

•    Marissa Gibb for your roster help and mending jobs

•    The wonderful and talented Grandmothers of Asriel and Georgia who have knitted us some creatures and creations for the front garden, and Lachelle Waldron for organising this

•    All our Bush Kindy volunteers for coming along and making the program possible.

Red Group Report October 2021

Red Group Report

21/10/2021

As always happens in Term Four we all wonder, “where did the year go?”  Which prompts us to look back on all that has happened so far with our amazing Red Group children.  A time to reflect on how they have changed during the year – socially, emotionally and physically.  I’m pretty sure some of the children grew a few centimetres taller in the holidays too. 😊 

With the hot weather returning we have introduced water play each day.  As well as cooling us down, water play is a wonderful open-ended learning opportunity to explore volume, gravity, improve eye/hand co-ordination and many other skills.  For the Red Group children, it’s just plain fun and a great way to socialize with our friends.  We will be offering it most days, so please remember to pack an extra t-shirt.      

We all had a turn at making vinegar and bicarb soda volcanoes last week, it was lots of fun and very exciting when it bubbles over the edge and down the volcano mountain.  We discovered that the Blue Group Kindy children had made a web out of wool, which we decided needed lots of insects, so the spider would have something to eat.                 

We did some “Magic Painting”, using a wax candle to draw with first, then we painted over with water colour paint to “reveal” the picture.

This week we made some delicious smelling Ginger spice playdough, which was fun to make and so nice to play with fresh, soft dough.  We used some pipettes to transfer water from one container to another, engaging our hand muscles and using fine motor skills.

Up at the swings there is a new ladder that is challenging us to climb and test how far we can go.  Can you get to the very top?  The beaming smiles, when they achieve something they were unsure of, are priceless.

Friendships are blossoming as children actively seek out their friend or friends to play a game with or do some cooking in the sand pit.

To help the children transition to “big” kindy next year we have started to introduce some of the kindy routines they will encounter next year.  During snack time we have introduced the three-bin system for all waste/rubbish at kindy.  The yellow bin is for recyclable materials and used cutlery, the green bin is for food scraps that are suitable for our worm tower or compost bin and the red bin is for any rubbish that can’t be recycled or reused.

Red Group children will have a special job this Term, creating a homemade gift for their families for Christmas.  We will work on the gift during the last four weeks of the Term.  Red group also has an end of year Break Up party which will be on Tuesday 7th  of December, from 1:00 pm till 2:30 pm.

There are plenty of available Roster Days available if you would love to spend the afternoon with Red Group, we would love you to come and play.   

Red Group Report 16/09/2021

Looking back over the last four weeks of photos and weekly plans for Red Group made me realise what a busy and wonderful time we have had.  I would like to begin my report with heartfelt thanks to Georgie and Michelle for being amazing Red Group assistants while Phoebe was on her teaching practicum.  They are fabulous teachers, working a full day in Kindy and then staying on for pre-kindy afternoons, you are both Rock Stars.

We spent time during Red Group at the end of August making memorable hand print cards for our daddies and gave them each a bookmark to help remind them to read us more books.  We discovered that many children loved getting their hands painted and some have continued for the last few weeks making handprints every time we have paint available.  We hope that all the parents send their children in clothes that can get painty, muddy and wet, as we encourage all these hands-on explorations at kindy.

It was wonderful to see so many Red Group dads at our annual Dad’s Campfire a few weeks ago.  The children showed their dads around the kindy, did some fun activities together and roasted many marshmallows in the campfire.                                       

Phoebe and I would love to say a big Thank You to Emily who has been volunteering every Monday for eight weeks as part of her Rotary Junior Community Award.  She was very helpful, friendly, involved, competent and loved by all the children, we will definitely miss you.

The big event every September is the annual Art Show, which was a wonderful event this year.  We changed the format last year, due to covid restrictions, which made us rethink the Art Show format.  So this year we combined the two formats, having a big unveiling event on the Saturday and then leaving up many artworks for everyone to enjoy all week long.  It was wonderful to spend the whole week surrounded by all the beautiful artwork.                    

The Red Group children love to create butterfly prints, which was the inspiration for our group Art Show canvas this year.  Everyone added their favourite colour and we smooshed two canvases together and then opened them to reveal…a beautiful Butterfly.  We hope the Garton family enjoy hanging it in their home.

Thank you to all the children who created the art, teachers who mounted the art and all the helpers who assisted with the setting up and taking down of the Art show.  Also, a big thanks to all the bakers and helpers on Saturday, the Bake Sale was a big success.

Red Group likes to finish Term Three with a Teddy Bears Picnic and we were very lucky to have Phoebe back from her practicum to join in the fun.  We made crowns for our special toys and cooked them Honey Joys, which we helped them eat 😊.  Phoebe hid all our toys and we went on a Bear hunt and found them all in the …..cave.               

Phoebe and I wish everyone a fun and restful school holidays and we look forward to seeing everyone again in Term Four.

Red Group Report 17/06/2021

Term Two is nearly over, which means we are already halfway through the pre-kindy year. Playing/working with three-year old’s puts one into a wonderful world where play and being in the moment is a high priority.  The short afternoons we spend at Red Group are filled with rich learning experiences and social interactions which makes the time fly by.

Our little group of twelve children will be expanding in Term Three with several new children joining us.  We have such a beautiful group of children and I am sure they will welcome some new friends.

Looking through the many photos from the last month reminds me of all the learning that happens every afternoon at Red Group.  The children are developing their resilience and sense of self, which are evidenced by being open to new challenges and being able to co-operate and work collaboratively with others.  Some children love playing board games and are particularly good at taking turns and encouraging each other during play.

Another area that I see changes in during the year is their physical development and ability to engage in large and fine motor skill activities.  Movement is a must for this age group, and we like to encourage the children to climb, jump, balance and swing.    Some children started the year climbing and swinging independently, but others are working hard to learn those skills and Phoebe and I are there to support their attempts and encourage them to have a go.

We are also providing opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills.  With activities like- cutting with scissors, manipulating playdough and clay and threading large and small objects. 

 Many pre-kindy children came along to Family Fun Day and had a wonderful time getting their faces painted, playing with the baby animals and eating yummy food.  We are so lucky to have our wonderful social convener, Zoe, and her amazing helpers, put on a super Fun Day.  We would like to say thank you to Zoe and all the volunteers who helped on the day.

Phoebe and I hope all the Red Group families have a wonderful School Holiday break and enjoy the beautiful Brisbane winter weather.  Check out the Nature Play QLD website for some ideas for family fun outside.  

 natureplayqld.org.au

Red Group Report May 2021

Another typical Red Group afternoon is not a comment we make after a busy pre-kindy session.  Every day is different with three-year-old’s.  Sometimes there is a quiet hum of activity and other days the children race around with limitless energy.  I am sure all of you will know just what I mean.

At Red Group we celebrate their inquisitive minds and look for new ways to quench their need to move and create.  Climbing and balancing have been a focus this Term, with children taking chances and trying something challenging, with a little scaffolding from the teachers.  Just in case you think we are putting up scaffolding to keep the children safe, I was referring to the concept of scaffolding which means to support children whilst they learn a new skill.  Climbing and balancing improves strength and spatial awareness, just to name a few benefits. 

The children love to paint, and we have offered a variety of mediums.  We have used acrylic paints, water colours and wet chalk.  Using the chalk at the easel produced a beautiful result when the children painted water over the chalk drawing.  We have an amazing Art Show in September and we will be collecting some of your children’s art for that event.  We will be telling you more about the Art Show next Term, but please Save the Date in your diary now, Saturday 11th of September.

Most children are playing together in a very mature, cooperative play style.  They can take turns, share ideas and negotiate ideas for their play.  Some still prefer to play alone for part of the afternoon, but we are all keen to come to the mat for singing, games and stories.  They all come racing to the mat when we ring the bells and I encourage them to choose the story and songs for mat time to help them think about what they like and what interests them.

The children were so excited to make a gift and a card for their mums, I was amazed at how many helpers there were to make the sugar scrub.  Thank you all for coming to our Mother’s Day campfire, it was a wonderful day and I loved seeing all the children sharing the afternoon with their mum, grandma and some aunties.

Have you thought about coming to visit Red Group?  We love parents and grandparents to join us for the afternoon, just add your name to the Roster list.  Impromptu visits are fine also, we value all family connections at pre-kindy.  If you have an interest or skill you would like to share with everyone, please have a chat with me and we can work out a suitable time for you to share it with the group.

Director's Report March 2021

At Kindy we come together each morning and say our welcome: “Here is the land, the water and the sky, here are our friends, and here am I. Today I will go with Yindyamarra my heart”. Yindyamarra is a Wiradjuri word that means to go slowly with honour and respect, to care for yourself, others and the environment and to be observant and kind. We use the word in multiple contexts throughout the day, reminding ourselves to make choices that respect others, ourselves and the environment. We have been amazed at how the children in both groups have taken to the idea of Yindyamarra, using the word throughout the day to describe actions and behaviours. “My friend just found a caterpillar and put it back onto a leaf, that was really Yindyamarra”, reflected one friend. “Saying sorry is Yindyamarra”, thought another at a different moment. “Listening to your Mum and Dad is Yindyamarra”, offered another, wisely. “Throwing rocks is not Yindyamarra”, suggested another, “unless you’ve done a safety check”, he added. This early time of the year is when we all, staff and children, contribute to deciding on what our Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 2 of 8 expectations are in order to create a peaceful, happy kindergarten, and Yindyamarra has proved to be a wonderful, rounded concept to start that thinking and those conversations. We have been learning other indigenous words, mainly from our local Yuggerabul language, which the children find fun and interesting – as families you may have heard some of these words from your child and wondered about them. “Jippi” for bird, “Gadam” for rain, “Duram duram” for storm – we like to think of these as the first names of things in this place and it is respectful, Yindyamarra even, to learn and use them. Following are some examples of our play and learning recently: - Exploring ideas about Lunar New Year last month – Blue Group embarked upon an amazing project of creating our own enormous Dragon for a Dragon Dance. The dance was repeated many times over a couple of weeks and included a Pearl of Wisdom on a pole for the Dragon to chase, and musicians. All the ideas came from the children from their interest in the books we had read about Lunar New Year. - Playing lots of name games so that we can learn each other’s names and call out to our friends – this can take a while though! - The climbing tree has been a focal point so far this year as children develop their courage to find a way up and get down again. We have used these moments to discuss “safety checks” and making choices that are safe for yourself and others. - Going on the swings – we are impressed with how many children can swing themselves independently – this is quite unusual for this time of year! Perhaps it’s because of all those trips to the local park during COVID restrictions? - Sensory play and learning with play dough, clay, seeds and shaving cream. Sensory experiences provide opportunities for children to learn and think scientifically about their world and to develop their language as they describe textures, sights and smells. Sensory play can contribute to wellbeing and calm feelings for many children too. - Lots of spontaneous, self-directed play and exploration. We provide open-ended resources and big chunks of time for children to initiate their own projects – this encourages independence, curiosity, decision-making, creativity and social development, to name a few outcomes. We have really seen the children’s independence and perseverance growing.Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 3 of 8 - Investigations in Blue Group about dinosaurs and how fossils are made, and how the dinosaurs went extinct. This has been a fascinating topic for teachers and children alike. I posed the question at group time one morning – Why aren’t there dinosaurs stomping around outside today? “The dinosaurs all ate each other”, thought one friend. “They ate all the leaves on the trees and then they didn’t have any air”, said another. “They’re extinct and now they live on Mars because it’s hot and it has volcanoes”, thought a creative thinker. Afterwards we did find out the probable explanation for the dinosaurs’ demise – a massive meteor strike – but it was wonderful to hear their original thinking and to create the opportunity to teach them that ideas are valuable and that their ideas are valued. - Imaginary role play about animals, especially cats, tigers, games about families and rescue games. - Developing compassion and understanding through the discoveries we have made of a diverse range of insects and small creatures. - - Imagining we’re in the Rainforest with the Evergreen Children’s Theatre and meeting some beautiful native animal puppets. - We’ve been enjoying the rain and it has eased up enough for us to get out and play in the damp, fresh garden every day. In Yellow Group we observed the big umbrella steaming when the sun came out after a downpour – “It looks like the umbrella is on fire!” exclaimed a friend, which started a nice science discussion. - We’ve been really loving storytime and music time – you may have heard snippets of some of our songs like the Pirate Song and Boa Constrictor. - Yellow Group engaged in a big, long-running project about boats (in fact I think it’s still going!). Children were designing their own boats and working out how to make them move. - We’ve been re-enacting some of the stories from story time – Mr McGee is a favourite character who has many misadventures that are fun to re-enact. Recall, rhythm, rhyme and vocabulary are strong elements of learning in this type of experience. On Wednesday our staff had a very productive pupil free day. We completed our full First Aid course, held an offsite evacuation drill, reviewed our Philosophy, conducted our Annual Peer-toPeer Reviews, made plans for future projects and dealt with some policy and procedure updates. We are making plans and looking forward to our Bush Kindy program starting next term.Committee Meeting 18th March 2021 Page 4 of 8 Thank you to our families who have come on roster, we’ve enjoyed your presence and appreciated your help. Thank you to our new committee members for taking on the roles, we appreciate your support and hope that you find it to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Red Group Report March 2021

Welcome to all the new and returning families to Chapel Hill Community Kindergarten.  Phoebe and hope that you and your child feel “at Home” at our Red Group pre-kindy.  Our program is short in length but very full of opportunities for your child.  Here is a short list of what happens each afternoon at Red Group – free play, creative arts, climbing, social interactions, stories, music, digging, games and so much more.

The children have settled in and are happy playing alone or parallel to other children.  Some have joined Red Group with a special friend and others are seeking to make new friends to play with.  Social interactions and learning how to get along in a group are important skills that we work on during the pre-kindy year.  For some children this is their first experience away from their family, so we like to spend time getting to know each other and building trust.

We see children as capable and competent; they already have a wealth of knowledge from their first educators; mum, dad and other family members.  Phoebe and I have really enjoyed the last eight weeks discovering what the children already know, what they want to do and how we can encourage them to try something new.  Resilience is one of my favourite words and I want every child to know they “can do it” and to help them build their self-confidence to try something new or challenging.

The children are enjoying all areas of the kindy, but the rain has stopped us from fully exploring the upper playground.  With the warm weather we have been having water play is a favourite with many of the children, especially running it down pipes and planks.  During water play children are improving their problem-solving skills and enhancing their social and language development.  Maths and science concepts are also explored during water-play, what an amazing activity filled with rich learning opportunities.

 Easel painting is offered most weeks, with a variety of colour combinations each day.   We also tried finger painting this week, which many children found very engaging.  The children are keen to use all the equipment on the stationary shelves, such as scissors, sticky tape, hold punches and a multitude of drawing materials.  Play dough is a favourite activity for some children, offering wonderful opportunities for creative expression.  We use scissors with the playdough for children to help develop their fine motor muscles and cutting skills.

We have been exploring climbing and jumping the last few weeks and working on how to safely climb and to bend out knees when we land.  The children are all at different stages of learning this skill, so we always meet children where they are and scaffold their progress as needed.

We get together as a group near the end of every session to sing, chat, play a game and read a story.  Phoebe and I are amazed at how keen and interactive the children are at Group Time, it is always a joyous time to share that special time together.  If any parent or family member have a special talent to share with us at Group Time please let me know, we would love you to come and visit. 

There are only two weeks of Red Group for Term One, then we have the April school holidays and Easter. In Week Ten we will have a mini Easter Egg Hunt on our last day of Term, which is Tuesday 30th of March.

Red Group Report 19/11/2020

The end of Pre-kindy is fast approaching, and your little children will be heading off to big Kindy next year.  They are all very ready for this next adventure and I am so happy to be in the lucky position to see them grow and develop through their Kindy year.  As most of you know, I am the Kindy Outdoor Educator and lead our Bush Kindy adventure in Terms two and three with Blue and Yellow Groups.

We have had many changes this year with Covid stopping Red Group for a few weeks and old friends leaving and new friends coming, but none of that has stopped the play and fun of pre-kindy.  The Red Group children have had a fabulous year playing, painting, swinging, imagining, digging, climbing and making new friends.  The children have matured and changed so much over the last ten months. 

It is so special to sit back and watch the children play co-operatively with their friends and to create their own play opportunities.  They are seeking out friends to play with and showing a developing social maturity.

Water play has been immensely popular the last few weeks, a great place to play on hot days.  So much learning occurs during water play, such as: providing opportunities for children to experiment with math and science concepts, strengthen their physical skills, advance their social and emotional skills, and enhance language development.  Play is how children learn about their world and is the reason kindy has a play-based curriculum.

  There are many end of year preparations in the next two weeks, such as - making cards and presents for our mums and dads.  This is a surprise present your child is making, so you will have to wait a few weeks to find out what it is.   We will also be cooking something yummy for our end of year party which will be on Tuesday the 8th of December from 12:00 pm till 1:30 pm.  Next week we will send home invitations and put out a food list for parents to select what they would like to bring to the party. 

We would like to thank all the parents who came on roster this year, to help or to come and play with your child, we loved having you come to Red Group.  Phoebe and I have had a wonderful year with your beautiful children, and we are looking forward to our last few weeks together.

I also want to thank all the wonderful parents on the Committee who give up so much time and energy to our kindy, you are all amazing!!  Our kindy is a very special place because you are all fabulous human beings. 😊

Director's Report November 2020

Anna Hutchings Directors Report 19 November 2020

How amazing that we have reached the end of the year, a spectacularly different year, but a wonderful one none the less full of growth and learning.

 My absence from Kindy due to ill health was keenly felt by me and I feel that I missed out on what is always the sweetest time of the year, when the children are so confident and are applying their full personalities and skill sets to creating and pursuing their own interests and learning.  I am so grateful to our amazing team of educators who kept kindy gliding along seamlessly - what a lot of thought and effort that took and the results speak for themselves - when I returned, I found two classes of children who were incredibly content and had moved further along with their development. I am glad to be back.

 So much has happened already this term and we have even more to come!  Amazing learning and exploration took place including:

-    rich show and tell sessions - a wonderful opportunity for children to share their experiences, to ask questions and to learn about one another and the world around them.

-    the establishment of a Vet’s Surgery - many animal ailments were treated and healed including Coronavirus, broken limbs, rashes and tummy aches.  This learning space provided fantastic opportunities for children to role play, share and develop their understandings, talk about and health worries and practice meaningful writing on medical charts.

-    a visit from Kevin and his Reef Experience Puppet Show.  He showed us many beautiful animals that live on the reef.

-    taking part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count - counting and identifying our local birds.  Developing our understanding of our place and empathy towards the creatures we share it with.

-    Bush Kindy at Kindy started up again and is being embraced by some children with lots of ideas including making a truck, a swing, doing some sawing, whittling, plaiting, drilling, discovering interesting warm-weather insects, making a fishing rod and even a slingshot (with safety checks in place).  We are currently building a sign for the mud kitchen which involves sawing, painting, pouring cement and writing words - a great real-life skill-building and literacy experience.

-    Our student teacher Lucy shared many wonderful ideas and created fabulous learning opportunities for the children.  We made our own story stones using indigenous story symbols, again strengthening the children’s connection and understanding of our place and its long indigenous history. She organised several experiments involving chemical reactions where we observed what happened when you mix bi-carb with water, and Coke with Mentos! We played games to test and hone our throwing skills such as throwing beanbags through a sheet of corflute with holes cut out.  Fun!

-    we created a giant spiders web across the kindy that could support the weight of several children, sparked by an ongoing fascination with arachnids.  This required much testing and utilising of rope tightening and tying skills developed over the Bush Kindy year.

-    NAIDOC Week inspired many wonderful threads of learning.  We looked at a map of Australia showing the approximately 250 indigenous language areas and found our own - Yuggera/Turrbal.  We listened to a story from Yawuru country which was about “Wanggarranggarra”, meaning “spider”, “spider-web” and “fishing net”.

-    We built cubbies and put on dance concerts - ballet and Frozen - learning about the rituals involved in performance and being an audience.

-    Developing our hammering skills with more complex creations and projects - another real-life skill that builds confidence and a sense of capability.

-    We created an outdoor “junk musical instrument” with suspended pots, pans and seed pods.  Fun, noisy, encouraging experimentation with different tones, timbre, volume, hand-eye co-ordination.  Moving body across the mid-line, an essential precursor to writing.

-    Learning about body parts, making “bones” out of salt-dough which we cooked and then used across multiple days to make skeletons.  Yellow Group is following on from this by making a bid chart with Yuggerabul body part names.  Combining body awareness and understanding with the cultural heritage of our place.

-    Aunty Sharon visited and shared more beautiful stories and music from Wiradjuri/Gamilaroi country.  We love Aunty Sharon - she makes us feel happy and connected and part of our long history and this place.

-    Jutta visited with her Butterfly Workshop, another fabulous, colourful and fun opportunity to build understandings about the local natural world, an essential component of taking responsibility for the environment.  The life cycle of a butterfly is a compelling story and works as a foundation fur understanding the cycle of life in general.

We are looking forward to our excursion to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens where we will learn more about two familiar yet very different trees - the eucalyptus and the lemon.  We will also soak up the wonderful sights, smells and sounds of this beautiful and oh-so-local place.  The educators there weave indigenous understandings into their teachings which dovetails so nicely with our program at kindy.

The Christmas Party is coming up - how wonderful that we can have it despite this crazy year!  The Committee, especially Sarah and Zoe, have done an amazing job in a very short space of time to get everything ready and checked off so that the children can enjoy the special occasion.  Thank you to John for your magical contribution to the day too - the children will be star-struck!

Thank you to everyone for this incredible year.  It has been like no other, but we made it.