We have had a super busy, full of learning and discovery term in Koorlongka.

Emergency services visit

This term we were lucky enough to have visits from our emergency services around the area of Rockingham. Our first exploration was on firefighters. We created a dramatic play area in the room where children could explore what fire fighters do. We researched this using apps (Triple zero kids challenge) and books which showed us different scenarios that could happen in real life and what to do in a fire emergency. To further extend our research, knowledge and questions, We had a visit from the Volunteer Rockingham firefighters (https://www.facebook.com/rockinghamvfrs/) who brought their firetruck for us to see. Firefighter Andrew, Firefighter Phillip and Firefighter Aaron showed us the hoses they use and the tools to help rescue people trapped in cars or in burning buildings. We also got to have ago on the hoses watering the plants.

To continue our project on the emergency services we looked into paramedics and hospitals. To start off this exploration we had a visit from the Saint John Ambulance and a lovely paramedic Rubina, who brought her friend Kurra (teddy bear) and an ambulance to show us. She read us a story called 000 Heroes which showed us a possible real-life scenario and talked about what we need to do in a medical emergency. Rubina brought along pretend mobile phones for us to practise calling 000 and allowed us to practise giving us different emergency scenarios. After this great talk, book and song we went out to see the Ambulance where Rubina showed us the medical tools and equipment they use in the ambulance. The children had the opportunity to practise caring for Kurra the bear in the back of the ambulance. To follow on this learning, we set up a hospital dramatic play area where the children could practise the skills, they learnt from Rubina. We also taught the children some basic first aid skills like wrapping bandages etc.

Our last emergency service we explored was the police. We were kindly visited by Senior Sergeant Ian Francis (head of Rockingham Police station), Sergeant Tara Brown and Cadet Mackenzie. Tara talked to us about the police officers main job is to keep the community safe. She went through different ways we can be safe by wearing helmets when on our bikes and scooters, wearing seatbelts when in the car, don’t talk to strangers etc. She also talked about safe people to go to when we might get lost or who to call when we don’t feel safe or need help. We then had a chance to look inside a police car where Tara showed us the radio they use and the screen which gives the officers all the information they need before approaching an emergency. We received police hats and stickers so we could be junior cadets for the day. This learning and discovery continued in the classroom where the children explored our fingerprints and the different tools police use to identify a criminal. We did wanted posters where we had to describe a person. We looked at eye colour, hair colour, build, height etc. We then looked at our own profile and had ago at painting each other faces concentrating on all our features. We also explored the triple zero kids challenge app which brought up what to do when a stranger talks to us. This brought up questions about what a stranger is and who are the people that are safe to talk to.

Rhyming words

This term we have been learning about rhyming words. We have been playing lots of fun games like rhyming memory match and peg the rhyming word. We have also explored this concept further through our bee hive rhyming exploration table. Here the children matched the bee to the correct hive by looking at the word and picture on the bee and the hive.

School Holidays/Easter

Easter and school holidays were a nice break, and we had a fun time playing together. We learnt about Jesus dying on the cross and what that means for Christians. We also went on a fun easter egg hunt did some cooking activities and adventured on different playgrounds around the school. Our favourite days were the movie and Pyjama day and of course the superhero day where we could dress up as our favourite superheros.

Airplane/ country discovery

We have lots of children in Koorlongka that has recently gone on a plane or planning a trip soon. This sparked a big interest in flying on planes and the different countries of the world. In Koorlongka we set up an airplane where the children could act out the experience by putting on headphones, pulling out the table and being served food on the plane. Children also experienced being the pilot where they chose where to fly by looking at the globe or the map of the world on the wall. There was lots of discussion in this area as children talked about the places they had been and the pictures they spotted in our flip atlas book.

Construction

There have been lots of construction going on in Koorlongka this term. This interest was sparked from watching the front loaders and excavators working on the other side of the fence as they constructed a new nature play. The children would line up chairs to sit a watch a little bit back from the fence and watch for ages. The language and sometimes heated conversations that was had over what was being built and the names of the vehicles was lovely to listen to. This interest was then brought into the classroom where we created a construction zone. Here the children could act out what the saw and design their own playground using magnets and tunnels. Children also practiced their writing skills by writing the names of the different vehicles on paper and on our special whiteboard table. We have also been exploring shapes in our playground designing process. We are continuing this exploration further and the ideas are spreading in all areas of the classroom.

National Families Week

To celebrate this week, we looked at what games and activities children play at home with their families and brought them in to play as a Koorlongka family. There was lots of fun board games like memory match, snakes and ladders and junior monopoly. We also had fun games outside like AFL and soccer.

Mrs Ralph
Koorlongka Teacher