G'day Mate, Australia Day
March 14th, 2018
Dear Parents,
G’day Mate! Happy Australia Day! Many thanks to Kellie, Gr’s mum for coming to our class to talk about her country Australia. We looked at the continent of Australia in a big globe and some of us wanted to know where Japan and how much time it takes to go from here to Australia. Mo wanted to know where Austria is. We know that Li is from Austria and Gr from Australia and because it sounds so similar it’s fun for us to learn about it together. Kellie told us that Australia is also called “The Land Down Under” because when we looked at the world, we saw that Australia was under all the other countries. Gr is from Canberra and her grandparents live in Kent Town, where the Great Barrier Reef is. We were so excited to know that it is also the place where Nemo and Dory live. We also learnt about different animals from Australia like Kangaroo, Koala and Wombat. Log couldn’t help commenting “I know wombat. I eat wombat snack. They climb on the trees”. Kellie added, “yes and they eat gum leaves”.
It was interesting, and we sang and did actions to the song ‘give me a home amongst the gumtrees” that Kellie taught us. Then it was Question time and Em wanted to know, “How to count to 5 in Australia?”. Kellie smiled and told us that in Australia people speak in English and hence we just count 1,2,3,4,5. Tem then counted in Chinese and Wi in Japanese. We are so proud to count in different languages and couldn’t help sharing our knowledge. Mo wanted to know “what the time in Australia?” and Kellie replied that’s its 2 hours ahead of Japan. Kellie was really impressed with the wonderful questions we asked and explained that she had prepared two wonderful activities for us to do. So, we split the group in two. One group did Aboriginal painting. The tribal people in Australia paint in dots and hence we used cotton buds to paint the picture of a kangaroo. The other group played a very interesting game that Kellie termed as ‘Fly Swat Tennis’. She explained that in Australia, there are lots of flies and people also use a racquet to shoo them away. We used those racquets today to shoo the balloons away and hence the name of the game. It was interesting as we used our hand eye coordination to fly the balloons.
When we finished playing both the games, Kellie gave us yummy Lamingtons to eat. Lamingtons are Australian cake, made from squares of sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. Thank You Kellie for the lovely sharing on Australia Day. We really appreciate your time, effort and generosity.
In the morning, we read one of our favorite books ‘The three little pigs’ and acted it our when we went to the park. The climbing frame was our first little pig’s house, the swing was the second little pig’s house and the big swing was the third little pig’s house. It was funny to see Pooja the wolf’s, tail catch fire. She was running around the park holding on to her burnt tail.
During the free play time, we had a lovely conversation while playing with play dough. It all started when Wi came into the table and saw the big chunk of wood on the table. While all the other children were playing with the sea shells, pine cones and play dough, he instantly said…
Wi: This is Tamatoa!
Teacher: Who is it?
Wi: It’s Tamatoa from Moana!
Teacher: Are Tamatoa and Moana good friends?
Wi: No, Tamatoa can eat Moana.
Teacher: Is Tamatoa a big creature – you know a big creature can also be called a monster?
Wi: Yes, he is a scary monster.
All the other children were also listening to the conversation and one of them mentioned…
Em: I am making a snake. It is a long and scary snake.
Sa: (She got a few fallen chips from the acorn and put two pieces on one end of a long playdough) Look here! These…eyes!”
Teachers: Oh yes! I can see the snake’s eyes. How did you do that?
Sa: This one… (she pointed at the pine cones and the teacher understood that she got a fragment from it).
Em: Look here! I got a flat snake!
Teacher: How did you do the flat snake?
Em: I just pressed with my hands like this (then demonstrated how she could do it with two hands).
An came into the table and noticed the snakes and asked for a piece of play dough too. After she has made a big roll, she told her teacher.
An: I made a big snake and this snake goes to the castle.
Teacher: How can I snake get into the castle?
An: The snake needs to careful.
And Wi commented…
Wi: Tamatoa is coming to the castle. The snake…be careful!
An: Tamatoa comes to the snake.
The children spent almost half an hour making creatures out of play dough using the different materials presented to them. They love to touch and feel the materials and always have the interest in making sense out of it. It was great for everyone to witness this play.
It was our pleasure to have John in our class yesterday and today. Many thanks John John for coming to play with us. We loved to spend time with you!
Thank you for an amazing day everyone!
Lots of love,
All of us in Petals Class