The post office table

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Sending letters to other people is a powerful way to connect emotionally and socially  – and a great literacy opportunity.  The role play of stamping and mailing is fun too!

We will be sending letters to our grandparents soon so we brought out the stamps and envelopes and the post office box, and the children needed no invitation at all….

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It’s essentially a social activity, to write a letter to someone –

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– and special to give and receive something!

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A butterfly encounter

We received some butterfly pupae in the mail recently.

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We wondered if they would come out – we watched them a lot. And they did!

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After one day inside we let them go in the garden. We watched them visit some flowers then fly away.

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One stayed in its chrysalis and very obligingly waited until the mums’ night to come out – so the mums could see what we were so excited about!

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This was the perfect time to look at symmetry and do some blob and fold painting….

We are a lot more knowledgeable now about butterflies!

Autumn in the Mallee

It’s autumn in the Mallee and that means cropping and gardening after the heat of summer. We have reintroduced worms to the worm farm and studied and drawn them, moved like them, read about them, finger painted them, and now are feeding and looking after them.

 

We planted some bulbs last week – and yesterday Hamish brought some seeds in that  Maddie had germinated – which set us thinking that we could do that too. (Such a great gift, to have a strong interest in something emerge within the group, so the children can do the program planning for us… )

The farming children said they could bring some seeds of wheat or other plants in – and Sandy brought 5 different sorts!Wheat, barley, lupins, chick peas and canola. So we did an experiment – planting them into cotton wool so that we will be able to observe their growth and change.

We did some for the group and then each child chose what seeds they wanted to plant – canola was popular – it’s so tiny and looks different to all the others. Hard to believe that we can get oil for cooking and margarine from those tiny dots of seeds.

Now we will look after them and watch them grow.

We are watering our bulbs outside but not too much – last year’s group has taught us not to over-water (the bulbs will rot!)

We are also learning a song (to the tune of I’m a little teapot):

Children crouch down while they sing this until the end….
I’m a little seed buried in the ground

Waiting for the sun all warm and round.

A little drop of rain gives me water to drink

And up I sprout – quick as a wink! (clap 3 times on Quick as a wink).

 

 

Plasticene

Playdough is a bit tired at present – limited by the very features that make it so accessible – being easy to manipulate makes it soft and saggy, colors don’t stay separate, tiny pieces don’t keep their shape. So it was time to bring out something different – plasticene is more challenging, you have to work it for the pieces to really stay joined up, but the colors and the strength are appealing. There’s a reason to make those fingers work hard at pinching and moulding.

To start with some of the children were intrigued by mixing the colors, but Milly got stuck into creating her nests, eggs and the mumma bird guarding the babies against the magpies that prey on baby birds.

Birds are always a popular topic and so are snails….

The best thing might be that the children get to keep their creations  – they don’t crumble with age as playdough does.

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