This week we introduced a new routine - Star Names. A different child's name will be selected every two weeks and the children will explore the letters in that name. They will look at what the letters sound like, look like, and their name. Sammy was our first Star Name and the children had fun with different activities to develop their fine-motor skills and letter formation. They also had the opportunity to develop their questioning skills by interviewing Sammy to find out all about him.
We had fun counting and writing numbers this week. The children spotted different amounts of objects around the school and took photos of them using the iPads. We then printed out the photos and stuck them in our Number Journal and tried to write the number next to it. The children were great thinkers and explained that they could find the number 4 written down somewhere and then copy it into their books if they didn't know how to do it. It was great to see the children using their problem solving skills so early on in Kindergarten.
We also explored measurement a bit more this week, connecting it to our Unit of Inquiry and exploring 'Who We Are.' The children compared themselves to their friends to see who was the tallest and who was the smallest. They then had fun ordering each other and different objects by their size.
This week the children also had the opportunity to extend from last week's self-portraits and create self-representations using different media. They used modelling clay and tools and explored making different marks and using different techniques to vary the shapes they were making. They looked closely at the shape of their noses and how to make different mouths in the clay to show their emotions.
The children also used the iPads to create digital faces and record their descriptions of themselves. We talked about the colours they saw in the mirrors to help them choose matching colours on their digital face. We also talked about using loud voices when we record so that they can listen back and hear themselves. Look out for these on the blog next week!