Wendy's Homegroup

2008 Term 2
15 August 2008

I think we have all eventually recovered from Performance Camp. It as tiring as it is fantastically experiential and of course heaps of fun. Not only did the children experience the continuing growth and work involved in rehearsal that leads to a top quality musical performance they also experienced a wealth of new knowledge and personal achievements. These were holding green tree frogs, blue tongue lizards, central desert dragons, a Gippsland Water Dragon, a childrens python who was shedding its skin and a multitude of interesting facts. They also flew through the air attached in a harness along the flying fox. A couple of children displayed great inner strength by having a go after initially being too scared. One child followed who was wearing a particular harness for a couple of turns then decided it was safe!!! Archery, Javelin, a wiggly ropes course were also taken on with great gusto. These extra activities led us into the beginning of the Olympics which started on the Friday. A newspaper will be going home each day with your child so please take some time to enjoy looking at and discussing the different sports, countries, buildings in Beijing, aspects of training, winning, not winning by a hundredth of a second!! A very special Pirate Day is happening next week – I heard the Pirate maps are due soon and that it will take us about a fifteen minute walk to arrive at our destination to hopefully discover some buried treasure.
Wendy

1st August 2008

Did you see our groovy looking punks and hippies dressed for the long gone 70s? What a wonderful morning we had yesterday with our visit to Lilydale Library. It was a special day complete with a very magical magician, his tricks and jokes had all spellbound, then to finish a feast of cakes, cordial and pancakes!!! The library staff were dressed in flairs, hats and groovy dresses. The theme was to celebrate their original opening in the 70s. I hope the children told you some of the magic tricks they witnessed. Quite a few children told me their favourite trick was the changing colour of balls and the fact that they ended up behind some of our children’s ears. I was able to borrow more exciting pirate story books. We have read quite a few pirate story books this last two weeks and discovered a most amusing tale regarding the origin of the Pirate Flag ‘The Jolly Roger’. Please ask your child what the story is? At the end of term we will sing the story to you.

26 May 2008

What a lovely thing to say!!! The male leader from Go for Your Life said Village School is like a rural school, these kids are so great and they are relaxed and easy. The children had a great time participating in Go for Your Life activities. The leaders were most impressed at the knowledge our group had regarding healthy eating options and how different body parts work to keep us fit and healthy. This information had been learnt and remembered from last term when the whole school worked on Healthy Eating and exercise. What a surprise the children gave me when I came back from lunch last Friday. They had been busy working on disco balls, disco microphones and were writing names on paper cups in preparation for a disco party. This was their combined idea so after a tidy up of the room, and watering of plants, care of our finches, they moved the furniture and held a Friday disco. They danced all around the room pretending to sing and dance in most interesting ways, finishing the week on a very musical and happy note. This week they shall start to sew soft toys in a body shape, using their own ideas they will create their own soft toy. Some of the ideas have been a boxing bear, teddy bear, super hero and fairy. We have now reached one hundred bottle tops, the group has enjoyed sharing these out and taking turns counting, getting closer and closer to one hundred. They are now being used to create a graph displaying how many of each colour and visualising just how many 100 is. After a visit to the playground across the oval the group used their thoughts of design to create playground equipment for the Duplo people. One of the very difficult items to make were the swings, a great amount of thinking and trial and error took place while trying to make these. Last week we planted drought resistant plants in the garden outside our room and are watering them with hand washing water and drink spillage at the taps. To deter the chooks from digging them up we designed small barriers with sticks and wool. This seems to be working. All groups now have gardens to beautify and care for.

5 May 2008

I hope everyone had a restful long weekend. The children made ANZAC biscuits which nearly didn’t have any sugar, luckily Emily saved the day by discovering that we hadn’t added the sugar we had so carefully measured. Due to the altered consistency of the mixture we turned it into ANZAC slice which was slightly chewy and very delicious. This was the first time some children had tasted rolled oats and/or coconut. Not only are our cooking experiences great for learning and understanding aspects of measurement but also to taste test new tastes. Our group continues to learn Letterland. Letters N – Naugty Nick, - ask your child why Nick is Naughty? Y – Yo –Yo man – What colour are his yo-yos? i, Ippy Ink and ice cream man. The emphasis is on the starting sound of a particular letter but I also extend this to middle and ending sounds as the stages of learning in our group is wide. Last week when learning about ‘Y’ yo-yo man as a starting sound we also discussed the difference in sound when used at the end of words. Some of the children worked with Y as a beginning sound and some as an ending when it makes different sounds such as ‘ee’ and ‘I’. The group is quietly working on Mother’s day presents and cards. Toys continue to be our theme and we will be moving onto making toys such as boats, balls and teddies. They have discussed many toy categories adding to their vocabulary and development of groupings. They have now built boats and sailed them testing how water proof they are. I have placed some photos on our entrance board from last term when all the children had a turn playing the alto saxophone – they had great fun making very loud noises and guessing what tune was played to them. Last week we photographed teddies at school using them as stimulus to write a story using the photographs. The children wrote short poems last week which we will turn into a class book of poems that can be added to. The new sandpit is a hit. Children are taking off the covers first thing in the morning and playing for as long as they can. I think some of the sand may be at your home.

2008 Term 1
25 February 2008

Our group have continued talking about healthy eating foods especially for snacks. The children made a very large fruit basket full of their favourite fruits. This week they will do some work along similar lines of their favourite vegetables and we will have vegetables to taste making a hot and cold platter. These discussions and colourful fruit have lead to discussing colour so using finger paint the children have been making green mixing blue and yellow to feel and see the change of colour taking place. They have also been playing a colour changing game whilst establishing turn taking skills and waiting while everyone finishes the game.

Our visit to the Ringwood Community Farm is this Wednesday we will be leaving at 9.30ish to be there at 10.00am.

Some amusing and interesting language arose when the children were asked to say their favourite number!!!

Our group has spent some time learning to soften clay to a working form, we found potatoes in the garden, and worked with basic 2D shapes. We continue literacy learning using Letterland. We have worked with Clever cat, Annie apple and Dippy duck. Please make sure your child has given you the Letterland song sheet.

11 February 2008

Welcome to or back to Village. The group has settled exceptionally well and the children are working and playing comfortably together. They are a most lovely group of children and I am looking forward to spending the year with them being involved in their social and academic growth.

This term in particular we will be discussing healthy foods concentrating on fruits and other healthy snacks in lunchboxes. This week the children will be making a very large and delicious fruit salad using all the fruits that they have said are their favourites.

The photos of the children and their parents/family look beautiful in our entrance. Please Mums/Dads if you haven’t come in yet please do to say hello and so I may take a photo of you and your child at the beginning of the year.