The Chicks have had another fun and busy week, which we began by celebrating Earth Day. We listened to the book 10 Things I Can Do To Help My World! and this led to some wonderful discussions about the things we can each do to help. The Chicks came up with ideas such as turning off the lights and television when not in use to save electricity and remembering to turn the tap off once we've finished washing our hands.
We continued our discussions about nature in our Focus Time where the Chicks planted wildflower seeds and learnt about the importance of trees and plants and how they help to clean the air and provide us with oxygen to breathe.
We continued the week with our topic books. For the Pink, Yellow and Green Chicks we read The Queen Next Door by Marcela Ferreira and Sally Agar which is a story about a happy queen who rules over the happiest of kingdoms in a faraway land. But, when a new queen moves in next door and starts showing off her ginormous brand-new, super-duper throne, the happy queen can’t help feeling a little jealous and decides she MUST have a throne of her own … no matter the cost.
The Topic book for the Orange and Purple Chicks was The Hugasaurus by Rachel Bright. This book is all about a happy little Hugasaurus who waves goodbye to her Pappysaur and sets off into the world on her own for the very first time. When she finds a playground, some new friends welcome her into their games, but it isn’t long before the other little dinosaurs start to squabble. Can Hugasaurus bring her new friends back together using the magical power of kindness?
The children have been discussing Classroom Principles and how we can be kind to each other by sharing and taking turns, working together with their friends, listening to each other and using their kind hearts and these books were a great way of helping the children in these discussions.
In Art, the Pink, Yellow and Green Chicks decorated crowns where they practised their fine motor skills and developed their creativity by using a variety of materials. The Orange and Purple Chicks created a collaborative dinosaur by using different materials and paint.
In other activties, the Chicks constructed various castles, houses, dens and enclosures using Mega blocks, Magnatiles and Duplo. In the Messy Area the children used dinosaurs and a variety of paints to create marks.
The Chicks also celebrated a royal tea party with their friends using coloured water and foam and pretending that they were having tea and hot chocolates. The Chicks have been practising pouring into a cup and scooping as well as transferring foam to create the froth and this was a great way for them to continue developing these skills.
The children enjoyed re-telling the story ‘The Queen Next Door’ by using story spoons, princesses, animals from the book, castle and puppets. The younger Chicks sang various nursery rhymes using puppets and musical instruments. In Maths the children practised their shape knowledge by matching 2D shapes to a castle as well as practising to count quantities and recognise numerals.
During our Write Dance session this week the Pink, Yellow and Green Chicks went on an adventure where they started off by calling out to their horses by clapping their hands together to a rhythm. Once the horses had arrived they then got onto them, making sure to hold onto the reins tightly. They then galloped to the castle with music, where they were invited to ‘The Royal Party’. The Chicks also enjoyed making marks using chalk on paper and in the tuff tray with flour. The Orange and Purple Chicks practised jumping on spots to music and also created marks.