The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Pre-Kindergarten (Monday to Tuesday)

Pre-Kindergarten had a very eventful Summer Term and Autumn Term will be just as action-packed. For our 3-year-old boys and girls, this is their introduction to school life, and we aim to make it enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, unique and above all, play-based.

In Summer Term, the children began developing their independence and interpersonal skills, they learned the routines of Pre-Kindergarten, developed new friendships and challenged themselves with new experiences.

Our unit of inquiry for Semester 1 is 'Who we are', focusing on the central idea; 'Learning who I am.' Within this, we are looking at 'What is important to me'; 'Discovering what I can do'; 'How we are different and the same'. This has been an incredibly rich learning experience for the Pre-Kindergarten class and at times challenging, as they begin to develop understanding and empathy for others and learn different perspectives such as likes, dislikes, abilities, appearance, and family units.

One of our focuses has been, what healthy food we like to eat. We have been cooking some of the Pre-Kindergarten favourite foods, and in doing so promoting independence, cooperation, and language skills, with the students being involved every step if the way. Cooking has also been great for maths and science experience. The children have weighed and measured ingredients, juiced, mixed, cooked and frozen to change the state of matter. They made predictions about how foods would alter and how they would taste. Sometimes they were surprised by the outcome, for example, we put liquid cream into a jar and shook it until it turned first into thickened cream, and then, with more shaking, into yellow butter.

Another focus has been developing individual ways of expressing who we are and how we see ourselves and others. Creativity comes in many forms, and our Pre-Kindergarten children have used every medium imaginable to create art that reflects who they are and what is special to them. They have created self-portrait's in 2D by drawing and painting, and in 3D by using play dough, natural and human-made materials. They have brought in their most cherished things and discussed them in front of the class and they have used boxes to construct places they would like to live.  They have cooperated in dramatic play to create imaginary scenarios and spent a lot of time discussing and negotiating so that all participants had a say and were included.

As well as all this, Pre-Kindergarten has spent a lot of time in the magnificent outdoors, running, jumping, climbing and building.

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We can't wait to see how Autumn Term progresses. One thing I am sure of, it will be fun.

Ms Sam Lock
Pre-Kindergarten Teacher