I have wanted a rain gauge for a long time, rain being such a precious commodity and exciting event in our part of the world. This very special rain gauge stand has been made for us by one of our very talented dads, a farmer, one of the multi-talented people who keep our farms going and the food coming to our plates. I love this rain man, the same height as a kinder child, who is holding out his cup in hopes of getting some rain in it – maybe even praying for rain, which we are also very familiar with in the Mallee. Thanks so much to Jolie’s dad!
Category Archives: Maths
sand play
A new set of outside furniture, designed to withstand the rigours of the Australian sun, and to extend the sensory, fine motor and socio-dramatic play around the sandpit. Expensive, but finally achievable (thanks to some help from our local council), and worth waiting for.
Anzac Day
It’s coming up to Anzac Day in Australia, an important national event in the Australian (and New Zealand) community. In our town, we have several displays of poppies (the red Flanders poppy) and also posters and memorabilia about the wars that Australians, including local people, have fought in. We often have a visitor on this day to share their story, but unfortunately that didn’t work out this year – we do have an excellent book, just published, called Liam’s Story: Why do I wear Dad’s medals? which approaches the day from the point of view of a little boy whose dad has been killed in an armed conflict. This certainly got some of the children asking questions, and remembering their own great grandfathers or uncles who have been soldiers. Eliza’s great grandfather and great grandmother were both in the Second World War. We made paper poppies, a maths activity for folding and cutting (using the shapes of a square, rectangle, circle and cone), which we then colored in red. Many of the children gave us a poppy for our kinder Anzac wreath; we found the letter A and decorated an Anzac A; and we made (and enjoyed) Anzac biscuits.
our own guitars
Zack was walking around on Monday, strumming a long plank and singing happily. With no guitar on the premises, what do we do to promote his and the others’ further learning? We found some good guitar music, but what else? What is the key here? Zack loves music. And he has started to develop imaginatively and to connect socially. Music is great for both these aspects of learning. On Tuesday we offered the children the chance to make their own guitar. This turned out to have a strong appeal for everyone – some had to wait for a turn until the next day.
We had some cardboard that the children could cut themselves, with effort. Some wanted to use the template while others drew freehand. It soon became apparent that they needed to measure the string to make sure it would be long enough, and also that having the help of a friend made the job of attaching it easier.Some thought of a strap, others decorated their guitar. Then we all played like a rock band to the song Kangaroo Rock. It was deadly!
maths in the sandpit
Maths investigations can happen anywhere. Maiya noticed something about the chick pea seedlings that are sprouting in the sandpit – how long they are when you look at them with their roots as well.
The next day, we got some supplies out and Maiya chose long ones and short ones to stick on her board.
Then Adam came along and did this too. Adam had to draw a line first, before sticking his on – perhaps he has heard someone say that they all have to be on the line? This is the start of using standard measurements – to help make measuring meaningful.
The power of a clipboard.
An interesting part of the river work was the role Claire gave to herself – of being the boss. She went over to the office table and brought back a clipboard and texta and sat down where she could watch the children working.
She announced that she was the boss, giving a tick to good wortjk and a cross to not good work. The ticks and crosses were pretty evenly distributed – she had drawn a line down the middle of the page.
After a while Jobe, pumping furiously, called out, I’m puffed, is someone going to help me? and she said, I will, but who’se going to be the boss? Adam came over, and said that he would. She explained to him what he had to do, and she came back later on to check on his progress.
It was interesting that everyone accepted that she could be the boss – or that there would be one to check up on them but that she didn’t mind giving it up, although she was interested in seeing that the boss’s job was done correctly – so maybe she was still the boss?
Making the river run
We have a dry creek bed – and it has really been dry because our handpump has been out of action for over a year. Finally it has been fixed. The interest in making a river has ignited!
But hard pumping by itself didn’t make it run…. even when people dug out the stones and dirt to clear a channel for the water to come down.
Claudia started to bring containers full of water down to where they wanted the sea or a lake to be – and after she had
collected 5 , suddenly everyone was inspired to get lots. What great problem sxolving!
They ended up getting 70 containers – all shapes and sizes. We counted them every now and then as the number grew – first just 5 then 11 then 20 then 40 and then 70.
Then everyone got busy with emptying the containers all together – the excitement was tangible. Some emptied and some cleared.
After that we got the boats out….
Ahoy me hearties
Louise reminded Brooklyn about the treasure and the map that she had made last week –
and today Brooklyn made a treasure map for a treasure hunt.
All the children followed her map – and found her treasure buried under
the slide. This gave a couple of other children the idea to draw maps too.
Tyrone, Lucy and Gareth were keen to play pirates, using the boat painted last week and the flags they made today.
The pirate hats and spy glasses helped with the game. Gareth made a map to find some buried treasure.
Tyrone wants to make a sword tomorrow….
Easter at kinder
This year, Easter falls right at the start of our holidays so the children are a bit more aware of it this year than they have been some years. And our interest in chicks and eggs and nests and feathers is quite strong still, so the traditional symbols of eggs at least seem a bit more relevant this year. We set up an Easter play space – the fur fabric we used as the base was a sensory magnet for many children.
And we had the usual Easter egg hunt outside…. but Easter egg hunts are not usual for a group of four year olds!
A focus on collecting and then sharing meant that there were no worries about how many eggs each child had found. Inside we counted them out into groups of 12 (how many children we had at kinder that day) and there were exactly 4 groups – the children very easily worked out that that meant they would each get 4 eggs! (don’t you love division with food – such a great learning opportunity).
Outside, Eli started a game where he made an egg, clipped it to a peg, and then threw it to see how far it would go. He soon had some other children creating their own egg missiles…
Drawing, coloring in and cutting, pegging, throwing and chasing…comparing distances – so much learning in an activity that one child thought of for themselves….
And this is only a snippet of what happened on our last day of term!
Happy Easter and have a good break everyone!
Our kinder morning tea
Today was the Australian Biggest Morning Tea day to raise funds for the Cancer Council and the Ouyen Kinder had one too.
We have been noticing and using shapes a lot lately so apple triangles were on the menu today.
Cutting up the apple to show how one whole apple could become 4 quarters was the first step. (Using the correct language is important for early maths confidence and understanding) Then it was on to cutting up the apple slices into tiny bits (no special maths words there!)
After cutting the apple it was time to do some maths magic on the pastry sheets.
From a square to a triangle ….
Then into the oven – and they changed from flat white and raw to puffed, brown and cooked (we could smell them cooking! – yum)
Then we had them with some milo at our morning tea – using real teapots and teacups (even teacosies, which the children thought might be teapot beanies or jumpers!)
Everyone tried a taste of the apple triangles – which is all we ever ask of them.
And as Maya proudly said, “We did it all ourselves”.
