What do we know about Space?

 A discussion during group time to begin our learning during Space Week. I circled the keywords and we then made our own class story!

 

R U OK?

 "R U OK? Day" is a day in Melbourne where people check in on each other's mental health. It is a wonderful opportunity to discuss anxiety and so I read the story "Ruby's worry" to the children and we discussed the story during group time. The children then talked about a time when they felt worried. One of my children said "I was worried when I lost my doll."

 

Christmas countdown

 What a fun version of an advent calendar! Each day, the children get to put a cotton ball on Santa's beard as a way to count how many days until Christmas.

My Group Time Area

A small peek into my group time area in my Kindergarten classroom. I do most of my intentional teaching on this carpet. On my wall I have:

- a visual schedule. This facilitates the children's understandings of how their day unfolds at Kinder and gives them a routine to follow and predictability each day.

- a picture of 'Suzie'. Suzie is a cartoon character on the wall who models whole body listening for the children. Eyes on the teacher, legs crossed, hands in your lap, lips together. 

- a daily calendar. This develops early concepts of time such as the days of the week, months and seasons.

- a list of teacher's helpers. This is a rotating list so that everyone gets a turn at taking responsibility.

Pedagogy behind group time - group time is a space for children to collaborate, share ideas and learn as a group. Therefore, ideally I have always wanted to convert group times into 'circle time' as I feel that the children should not be looking towards the teacher as the only source of information. I believe we are all equal as we learn together and so a circle format facilities equality and sharing of information with each other. This was really hard to do in my Kindergarten classroom simply due to logistics. I had 33 children and no clear space for such a big circle!