Term 3 Week 2: April 25th – 29th

Dear EY1 community,

It’s been another fantastic week of learning and fun in EY1! This is such a special time of year for our little ones. They have all worked so hard to get to this point in their EY1 school experience. They know the routines, are so comfortable in their learning environment and have formed so many meaningful relationships within the class community. We also wanted to take the time to thank you, parents! Thank you for taking the time to support your child, especially with the morning questions each day. Without you it would not be possible and it really helps make for a richer discussion in the classroom.

Next week we will be introducing a new center for the children. Please look out for provocations on how to best support your child on the tables and please ask your teachers if you need any support or guidance. 

Our students continue to demonstrate many of the Learner Profiles such as Principled, Reflective and Open-Minded through being Special Helpers. Thank you to Anya, Yadin, Lalin, Proud, Smile, Charkin, Netan, Myra, Etta, and Grace . We appreciate your help in making sure we follow the rules, stay organised and reflective on our learning each day. 

Happy Birthday to Asher who turned 4 years old this week!! Thank you for celebrating your special day with us and we hope you had lots of fun!

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This Week’s Learning & Fun
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Unit of Inquiry

This week we continue to revisit our Who We Are unit of inquiry on “Relationships.” We began to explore friendships and reflected on what it means to be a good friend as well as ways to create a caring and inclusive classroom community. During Circle Time, we looked at images of animals and children being friends with those who might be different from themselves, such as dogs and hedgehogs, buffalos and birds and children of different ages, hair colour, skin colour as well as boys and girls playing together. During our reflection time, we discussed some of their differences and why they could ‘of course’ still be friends. We came to the conclusion that kindness is a very important part of maintaining friendships with both animals and people. We also read a class story called ‘The invisible Boy’ by Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton that teaches us how small acts of kindness can help friends feel included and allow them to shine. 

Mind Yeti

We have also been exploring mindfulness and meditation in classroom with help from our new friend Mind Yeti. Mind Yeti introduces students to Hubbubbles (thoughts, feelings, and sensations) and the Hubbub (what happens when Hubbubles get too busy or too big and prevent us from thinking clearly). Mind Yeti provides us with some guidance on how to overcome overwhelming feelings and how to be kind to ourselves and others. If you would like to learn more about this we have assigned some ‘Mind Yeti’ activities for you to explore as a family over the long weekend. 

Cartoon Character Exhibition

This week the children were invited to participate in a school wide event, ‘Cartoon Character Exhibition’. The children had the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and storytelling skills by either re-creating an exhibiting character they are familiar with or come up with their very own! This was a very popular activity for many children as they revisited this center throughout the week. We were then able to bring our drawings to life and have made them into an animated version. The children were able to choose what their character movements would be, such as dancing, walking, jumping etc. They were all so proud of their creations and were very excited to share with their teachers, friends and family. If you would like to do this activity over the weekend with your child, we have sent home some paper in their backpacks and you can also check out the flyer for information (see upcoming events and reminders at the bottom of this post).

 

 

‘The Wombat Wobble’

As you know, many of the EY1 students enjoy engaging in songs and dance as a way of expressing themselves and learning new things! This week we had lots of fun learning a new song/dance called ‘The Wombat Wobble’ inspired by many unique Australian animals.

 

Fun Friday

This week we were lucky enough to go on an amazing adventure to the Secondary School Science Lab. Ms Madhuri and the Grade 11 students had set up stations with various science experiments for us to explore. It was the perfect way to ‘tune in’ to our new unit of inquiry, ‘Investigations,’ starting next week. This sparked great excitement and curiosity amongst the children and we really enjoyed our time there. It was amazing to see how much the children had learned when we reflected on the experience. The children spoke with such enthusiasm and passion when explaining their observations and learning during their time in the Science Lab. We are very excited to try some of these awesome experiments next week and turn our EY1 classroom into our very own ‘Science Lab’.

Photo Gallery – Week of Apr. 25th-29th

 

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Parenting Corner
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Mind in the Making – The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs by Ellen Galinsky

Essential Life Skill

“Perspective Taking goes far beyond empathy: it involves seeing things as others would see them: their likes, dislikes, feelings and thoughts. It involves executive function skills, including remembering how others might respond (working memory); inhibiting our thoughts to understand the perspectives of others (inhibitory control); viewing situations in different ways (cognitive flexibility); and considering the thoughts and feelings of others (reflection).

Perspective Taking emerges in children over time but needs to be encouraged. Children with perspective taking skills are more likely to adjust better to school, to understand what they are learning through reading and writing and to build positive relationships with less conflict.”  (from mindinthemaking.org)

 

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Upcoming Dates & Reminders
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For Next Week:

• May 2 | Labor Day Substitution, May 1 (school & office closed)
• May 4 | Coronation Day (school & office closed)
• May 6 | EY1 Library Day – Bring books back to swap.
• May 6 | 8:00-10:00am | Auditorium | PS Parent Workshop (registration needed – see HOS Parent email)

Looking Ahead:

• May 9 | Cartoon Character Exhibition – Drawings/ Entries Due
• May 16 | Student Led Conferences | No school day for children except when they come with their parents during their allocated time. Sign-up schedule and more detailed information to come in the coming week.

Thank you for another great week! We hope everyone has a lovely long weekend. See you all again on Tuesday 😊

EY1 Team