ANZAC Day Discovery

Quilt by Brenda McPartlin.

Mrs McP is one of our very talented junior school teachers, she shared her stunning poppy quilt with us today.

 At the start of Discovery today we were lucky enough to have a parent who is in the army come to talk to us about his job and ....

.... teach us to march.

Then we ....

.... made New Zealand flags ....

.... stamped poppies with our fingers ....

.... played with these very special toy soldiers and army vehicles ....

 

.... built tanks out of old boxes ....

 

.... made medals out of silver foil and cardboard ....

 .... and started to make a beautiful poppy wreath to take to the ANZAC Day parade in Upper Hutt.

Check out the ANZAC Day wreaths we made last year with our senior school buddies.

ANZAC Day and the meaning behind it can be hard to explain to children. We discussed how it is a special day to remember New Zealand and Australia soldiers who died in a battle at Gallipoli during the First World War.

We looked at this book 'My Grandad Marches on ANZAC Day.'

This website talks in more detail about ANZAC Day, Gallipoli and their significance.

Spinning Art

Look at the amazing spinning art hanging in our window.

 We used black paper, white paint, and generous amounts of glitter.

We used the same spinning machines used in this post for our spinning art.

Rolling Along

We were TP (Totara Park) Kids during Discovery today. 

Our 'Wheels' Discovery session provided lots of opportunities to practise cooperation and perseverance. They attempted to take turns and share, and try and try again if something was difficult. 

Some of the activities that promoted cooperation included:

Riding trikes, bikes, and scooters. 

These children are filling the trike with petrol and fixing the tires. 

Playing with matchbox cars and the road mats.

Sharing the Duplo vehicles. 

I often heard children negotiating to have a turn with the different vehicles. In my class I like to model with the children what words they can use to ask for a turn, that way they know exactly what they need to say when asking and answering.

 Counting and ordering these cars from Sparklebox to 20.

Filling out these car repairs form from Sparklebox. 

We also turned the playhouse inside J-Block into a Mechanics Garage - just the place to take your vehicle to be fixed.

 Watching the cars roll down the zig-zag race track.

Building with mobilo.

 Completing these stunning spinning artworks.  

 We only had two spinning machines (borrowed from our local kindy) and I observed many children sitting and waiting patiently for their turn, or coming back later in the session when a spinning wheel was available.

Activities that supported the children to persevere included:

Traffic light collage. 

I cut the paper into strips and the children had to rip, then glue the paper onto the correct circle to complete their traffic light.

 Finishing a colour wheel. 

The children were encouraged to complete this Newton Spinning Colour Wheel, then spin it on string or around a pencil to discover what happens to the colours. 

If you can spin it fast enough, like magic the colours should turn to white.

Making a box-car. (This was one of my favourites!)

While you don't need a lot of materials for making a box car, it takes several steps and a bit of time to complete.

 

Cross Country

Here are a few photos from our cross country on Friday.

The kids had a great time supporting other runners and running themselves. We have been practising our running several times a week all term, trying to improve our fitness and keep running even if our legs hurt. 

I was very proud to see the children trying hard to run as far and as fast as possible.

You can see in this photo the legs of some of our senior children who ran their own race, then ran with their J-Block friends to show them the way and provide a little bit of extra motivation.

 

A big thank-you to the parents who came to support their children.

Butterflies and Caterpillars

Our Discovery session today involved exploring caterpillars and the amazing process they go through to become butterflies. 

Check out some of our Discovery activities:

Matching butterfly wings on the interactive whiteboard, we used this website.

 Butterfly collage with tissue paper and sequins. 

 Butterfly and caterpillar chalk drawing on the concrete outside our classrooms.

 Smallest to largest cutting and pasting.

 Caterpillar necklace threading.

 Dot-to-dots, I encourage the children to use a ruler for this dot-to-dot, it is quite a tricky skill to learn.

 Cute fingerprint caterpillar wrist bands.

 Symmetrical butterfly painting. We discussed today how butterflies wings are the same on each side, like our faces - that makes them symmetrical.

Playdough caterpillars.

 Caterpillar and butterfly face painting. A fantastic mother of one of the children in my class came in today to paint the children's faces. The kids loved choosing their insect and its colours.