SNOW PLANET FUN!

24 September 2010

What fun, we finished the term with a visit to Snow Planet for our morning children and what a wonderful day out we had! We went on the bus to Snow Planet to have a great time in the snow. After arriving, we had morning tea outside before going in and changing into all our warm snow gear and boots ready to go into the snow dome. It was so cold in there -4 degrees. We all had a toboggan to ride and after going up the 'magic carpet' to the top of the slope, we slid down. It was just heaps of fun and lots of the grown ups, including me, had turns too.

When we had had enough fun, we went into the warm cafe to have some yummy hot chips to warm ourselves up again before returning to Kindergarten.

What a great day out we all had!

Margaret

A STAR IN OUR MIDST?

James just loves playing the guitar and asks to use it every day. He sits on the couch and plays and sings so I grabbed the Easyspeak microphone and recorded him as he sang the pirate song.

Then Ian, our techie, told me about a great new keyboard that isn't too expensive - made by Akai. After a little online research I went to the shop he suggested and bought one. I am so pleased with it. Using Garageband on our computers, the children are creating some fabulous music and having heaps of fun. James was the first to try it out (of course) and I recorded his first efforts. I think it has a lovely jazz type feel and that it is very musical. I wonder where James will take this and look forward to listening to more of his music as he becomes even more proficient.

Margaret ❀

POLKADOTS SHOW!

We were very lucky to be invited by the children's group, the Polkadots, to a free show (thank you to their sponsors Telstra Clear) at Greenhithe School on the 8th September. All the children also got a free DVD from the Polkadots to take home at the end of the Kindergarten session.
I created a slide show with the photos I had taken so the children could revisit the show and after setting it up on my lap top on a table, I invited the children to draw pictures of what they had enjoyed at the show. I was so impressed with the results - the drawings were stunning and full of detail, capturing the wonderful time they had all had. Another example of ICT enhancing children's learning opportunities!
Margaret ❀

MASTER BUILDERS

We have been amazed by the wonderful buildings the morning children have been creating over the past few months. They started out very simply and have become more complex as time passes.  After searching Google Images for some interesting buildings and printing out those that the children chose, the buildings became even more developed in form and shape. We have had taller and taller buildings created and rooms and buildings within buildings. We have even had roads between buildings made and buildings created along the roads. One road even went out to the sandpit! The printed images are regularly used as a reference point as they consider what to add to their creation, or as a starting point at the beginning of the day. We just wonder what they will come up with next.

Margaret ❀

SKY TOWER VISIT

Our morning children have been creating an amazing range of buildings in the block area at Kindergarten and doing building related activities, so to extend on this we took them to visit the Sky Tower in the city on Friday 20th August. Everyone really enjoyed their morning which started with us having morning tea at the base of the tower, out of the rain. However, when we went up the tower we could see a long way despite the weather. And, near the end of the visit we got to watch some people jumping off the tower - a highlight for many of the children.
Margaret ❀

ANIMATIONS

I am a little behind here - I have worked with two of our children to create wonderful animations, both of which have come from their own imaginations and using models they decided on themselves. First is Cade's animation and when he decided he wanted to make it he came to me with the dinosaur models already in his hands and the story ready to dictate to me. We filmed it very quickly as he had planned it all before he started. He chose his background in KidPix and after we edited everything in IMovie he dictated his narration and it was done in one take as he was very happy with what he had done. We shared it with all the other children at mat time and they have regularly asked us to replay it ever since.



The second animation is Ryan's. He was very keen to create an animation too and decided it had to be about his favourite Superhero - Spiderman. We discussed what models he could use and he had a look at the block area people and found a model of a surgeon to use as the Green Goblin. He then found a wooden man to use as Peter Parker back in his 'normal' clothes and we decided it would be best if he brought one of his Spiderman models from home to use for his movie.
Once filmed he chose his background in KidPix and then we exported his animation to IMovie to edit. Ryan told me what sort of music he wanted for his titles and of course the background had to be red. He dictated his story and it took two takes as he had trouble fitting it all in with the first take.
At the mat time at the end of the session when we finished Ryan's animation he shared it with all the children with pride and the final confirmation of his success was the spontaneous applause when it ended from everyone.



I wonder who will create an animated story next?

Margaret ❀

MARK THE MAGICIAN VISITS

20/7/10
We were so lucky today because we had a visit from Mark Robinson the magician. He came to visit the morning session and shared his magic with us. He did lots of magical tricks and we couldn't believe our eyes! He even turned his scarf into Neo the dove and we all were able to give Neo a pat at the end of the show.
Later we watched Mark do some more tricks on You Tube and were even more amazed!
Thanks for sharing your magic with us Mark.
Margaret ❀