Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Insects & Bees; Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Yellow; Light Blue/Turquoise 

SHAPE

Hexagon; Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 and 15

j

LETTER

Ii; Mm

IB Principle: Recap – we have spent the year alternating between the different IB principles and we asked the Squad to think back and remember which one they might have connected with the most. 

Writing and Phonics: We have been focusing on completing our word families and learning about how important it is to use our sound button concept from our Time2Read programme. Next year the Squad will learn more about decoding words and how blending helps us with reading because it is it’s on sound on its own. We also went over some digraphs including the “sh” and “ch” family. This was a sight introduction into the many ways that words can be decoded. 

Mathematics: The Squad have been practicing counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s – and this week we completed a worksheet that had the number chart where we could see how we can move across that chart when we count in “bounces”. Just like when we froggy jump to complete addition and subtraction – the froggy can also jump in 2s and 5s and 10s. We also recapped our 2D and 3D shapes – matching realistic every day objects with those that symbolise 3D objects. They are coming along nicely with this. 

Creative Art: We created such a beautiful card where the Squad stuck together and created their own bee because they “BEElieve in themselves”. We are also gearing up for our annual Art Expo so we have been putting all of our art together and completing the last few that we need to finish. This week the Squad used their light board to trace over their faces for a “wanted” poster – we cannot wait for you to see it!  

Music: We are in full swing of practicing for our graduation. 

 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend. 

Let us know on your class WhatsApp groups folks ... Are you part of the Indian TRIBE ... or do you with the Cowboys RIDE?

    

 Dates to Diarise:

18 Oct: Art Expo

24 Oct: Break Up Day

25-28 Oct: Mid Term Break

29 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants 

Our Squad!

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Insects & Bees; Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Yellow; Light Blue/Turquoise 

SHAPE

Hexagon; Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 and 15

j

LETTER

Ii; Mm

Welcome back after a nice long weekend. However this did only leave us with 3 days of this awesome theme! So we made the most of it. Here’s what we got up to. 

For art this week, we made amazingly beautiful bug jars. The Crew were instructed to colour in their bug jars and different types of critters to go inside. We cut the inside of the jar out and laminated the bugs inside. We will be keeping them for art expo to display them in the prettiest kind of way. 

We continued on crafts ‘Cow boys and Indians’ themed for our up and coming Art Expo. These crafts are extra special so take extra long to complete. Plus we need to have more than one extra ordinary art piece to display. The excitement is getting real now! This is one of the most special evening of the year please try your best to attend, it’s really a night you will enjoy. 

Fun Fit Sports was a blast this week! The Crew played some ten pin bowling. It’s so special to hear them cheer each other on especially when they knocked down pins. 

 Yoga this week was all about team work, so they did a group Yoga. The group flower pose is only possible if everyone can balance, create a circle by holding hands and keeping their core muscles tight whistle lifting their legs in the air. This activity was super fun and the Crew could hold this pose for 15 seconds before the 1st petal few off. 

Another fun activity we did was letter formation. Using white boards I wrote down each letter demonstrating to the Crew how the letter is formed. This will be one of our most important focuses for the rest of the year. 

Puzzle Challenge is well under way and it’s so much fun to see the Crew made those graphs grow each week. Keep up all the great work Crew. We can’t wait to see who the winner will be. As our moral conscious says, hard work pays off! 

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams 

Colour: Turquoise 

Shape: Tear drop 

Number: 14 

Letter: Mm – Mud 

Moral Conscious: Do unto others 

 

Over the last 2 weeks during story time we have been reading our book study ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl. The Crew have really enjoyed listen to this story with different chapters and evolving story line. It was interesting to have discussions but also remembering what had happened and what they thought was going to happen next. This is also a book with very few pictures, so the Crew had to use most of their imagination to put together the pictures.  

For our creative arts this week we decided to make different animals, when put together make a pond. The Crew coloured in patterns, using kokis on tin foil covered pictures. This really comes out beautifully and we can’t wait to put up the display on Art Expo evening. 

This week we added to our Expo themed art. Pastel drawings, and ancient art traditions. This is what you can look forward to on this spectacular evening.   

Here are a few fun facts we learnt in ring time, if you would like to chat about them at home: 

Frogs Toads 

Need to live near water Do not need to live near water to survive 

Have a smooth, moist skin Have rough, dry and bumpy skin 

Have a narrow body Have a round wider body 

A group of frogs is called an “army” A group of toads is called a “knot” 

In Cooking this week, we kept to the natural theme and worked with the spice, cinnamon. That is actually ‘bark’ from a cinnamon tree. A layer of the bark is peeled away and underneath is a layer of cinnamon. The bark is carved out and dried, leaving you with what we know as cinnamon sticks. These sticks are then ground up into a powder which gives us our cinnamon.  

So we made cinnamon rolls! YUM!!! Teacher Tegan took us through baking cinnamon rolls step by step, with the dough we even had to let it rest over night to make sure it was the fluffiest cinnamon rolls ever. Thank goodness Teacher Tegan is a great baker!  

One of the best things about this theme is when we get to go next door to visit the koi pond. We get to feed the fish AND go on the merry go round!! This is so much fun and always a great way to end this special week. Pictures and videos will be uploaded straight to the group. Gerry might even make his way up there with us to choose this next adventure partner. 

Next week’s theme: Fantasy and Fairytales 

Let us know on your class WhatsApp groups folks ... Are you part of the Indian TRIBE ... or do you with the Cowboys RIDE?

    

 Dates to Diarise:

18 Oct: Art Expo

24 Oct: Break Up Day

25-28 Oct: Mid Term Break

29 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Tegan and the Curious Crew Assistants 

Our Crew!

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Insects & Bees; Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Yellow; Light Blue/Turquoise 

SHAPE

Hexagon; Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 and 15

j

LETTER

Ii; Mm

What a busy two weeks of learning all about insects and bees, ponds and all the creatures that live there! 

The Happy Hoppers enjoyed listening to sounds of ponds at night and trying to identify the creatures. They even learned that the African bullfrog is an endangered species. How lucky are we to go to school right next to one of South Africa’s bullfrog conservation wetlands? Our “big word” this week was Amphibian, and our Hoppers are doing quite well with this word. We also went through the life cycle of the frog! What an amazing transformation these creatures go through. 

We concentrated on our Hoppers cutting skills this week as well as placement of drawings. It’s amazing how much they have grown since the beginning of the year. Well done Hoppers. We have started assessments this week, and we are so excited to see all the progress they have made. 

For Fun Fit Sports this week, Coach Trevor made the Happy Hoppers play a game of bowling! What a fun way to improve their hand-eye coordination. They truly enjoyed this activity and tackled this task with immense enthusiasm. 

Yoga Day  

“Rollercoaster ride” Hoppers had to sit in a line with our legs spread wide on each side of our friend. We stretched upwards, forward, left and right. Our breathing exercise: lying on our backs with our head on our tummy. We matched our breathing with each other, feeling our friends’ tummy lift up as we breathe in and down as we exhale. The aim is to breathe together as one but there was so much giggling going on! 

Have a lovely weekend with your little ones. I’m sure they are going to love our theme: Fantasy, next week. 

Let us know on your class WhatsApp groups folks ... Are you part of the Indian TRIBE ... or do you with the Cowboys RIDE?

    

 Dates to Diarise:

18 Oct: Art Expo

24 Oct: Break Up Day

25-28 Oct: Mid Term Break

29 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher C, Teacher Yolandie and the Happy Hoppers Assistants 

Our Hoppers!

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Insects & Bees; Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Yellow; Light Blue/Turquoise 

SHAPE

Hexagon; Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

4; 5

j

LETTER

Ii; Mm

“Once I saw a caterpillar climb up in the tree… He wrinkled long, he wrinkled short, he wrinkled right to me! I put him in a little box… “don’t go away” I said… but when I looked again it was a butterfly instead!”  

We have a had buzzing good time learning about insects and bees this week! Our Busy Bugs (a very appropriate name if you ask us…) have absolutely loved seeing and hearing about all the different types of bugs we find in our garden! And we were so proud to see how many of them know so many cool facts about bugs!   

Just a few of the bugs we discussed were; grasshoppers and how high they can jump, spiders (which technically aren’t considered to be Insects, but in our opinion, still count) with their 8 legs and webs, lady bugs with their red shells and black spots, butterflies who go from an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a beautiful butterfly that flies around, bees who make honey and have a very sharp stinger, worms that live underground, ants that are super strong and love sweet stuff, dragonflies that hover over water, praying mantis that can actually box and look like they are praying and even mosquitoes that suck our blood and leave behind itchy bites!   

We sang lots of songs about all of these bugs and watched a video showing us how they move around, what they eat and where they live.  

For art this week, we made;  

  1. The most adorable little Bees. These will be on display at Art Expo!  
  1. We snuck in some other Art Expo pieces that are looking amazing!  

Thank you to everyone who brought show and tell this week!   

Reminder: Don’t forget to book your Art Expo tickets! It really is an incredible night that you don’t want to miss!  

We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we will see all next week for another exciting theme!  

Next Week’s Theme: Frogs and Ponds 

Next Week’s Show and Tell: Everyone to please bring something theme related! 

 

Ribbit, ribbit! 

Croak, croak! 

Hop, hop, hop! 

We had a hopping good time this week learning all about frogs, their lifecycle, what colours they can be, what they eat and where they live… which brings us to ponds. We learned about all the different animals that live in or around ponds and the type of plants/flowers that grow there. 

We spoke about the life cycle of a frog, how and where they lay their eggs, which then hatch into teeny tiny little tadpoles. These tadpoles eat lots of food a quickly grow from a tadpole into a froglet (which is the “teenage” stage of the frog, before it loses its tail), and then eventually grows into a frog. We spoke about how some frogs can be poisonous, and you can usually tell which frogs are poisonous because they are very brightly coloured. We spoke about how a frog uses its tongue to catch insects flying past and about how important they are to a wetland and/or pond ecosystem. 

We sang lots of different songs about frogs and spent many days hopping our way around the classroom and playground. It was so much fun! 

The highlight of the week was Friday, when we got to take a walk across the plot into Uncle Georges house and visit his amazing pond. We got to see first-hand all of the plants we were learning about in class, the giant Koi fish that we also got to feed. We took our snack down with us and enjoyed this pond-side, picnic style! We also got a have a turn on the merry-go-round and absolutely LOVED this! 

For art this week, we made the cutest little tadpoles by painting egg cartons green, cutting them out and adding eyes and little tails to them. We will be keeping these to display at Art Expo. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend, rest well and we will see you next week for some more Busy Bugs fun! 

Next Week’s Theme: Fantasy 

Next Week’s Show and Tell: Everyone to please bring something theme related 

Let us know on your class WhatsApp groups folks ... Are you part of the Indian TRIBE ... or do you with the Cowboys RIDE?

    

 Dates to Diarise:

18 Oct: Art Expo

24 Oct: Break Up Day

25-28 Oct: Mid Term Break

29 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma. Teacher Ash and the Busy Bugs Assistants 

Our Bugs!

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Insects and Bees; Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Insects & Bees; Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Yellow; Light Blue/Turquoise 

SHAPE

Hexagon; Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

4; 5

j

LETTER

Ii; Mm

As we kicked off the new season back at school, we dove into the wonders of insects and bees! We explored the bright, cheerful colors of different insects all around us and talked about what bees like to eat and the colours ft them. Our little Pups truly shined as they learned about shapes and colors while counting up to 10—I’m overflowing with pride at how well they did! 

With the Art Expo just around the corner, our creative projects are in full swing, and I can’t wait for all the lovely Pups’ parents to join us for this exciting night. The children have been working hard, and their enthusiasm is contagious! 

Next, we hopped into the delightful theme of frogs and ponds. We learned all about the different colors of frogs, the funny sounds they make, and their favorite places to hang out. When it came time to sing the Froggy Song, the joy on their faces was priceless—they absolutely love it! 

For our art project this week, we made adorable frogs using paper and green paint. To make it even more fun, we got a little messy by painting with our hands! Watching the Pups giggle and enjoy getting their hands covered in paint was such a joy. The creative process was as delightful as the final creations! 

On the potty training front, I’m excited to share that several Pups are proudly on the “undies” train and doing an amazing job. It’s heartwarming to witness their progress and growing independence. This spring is off to a wonderful start, filled with learning, laughter,andcreativity!

 

Let us know on your class WhatsApp groups folks ... Are you part of the Indian TRIBE ... or do you with the Cowboys RIDE?

    

 Dates to Diarise:

18 Oct: Art Expo

24 Oct: Break Up Day

25-28 Oct: Mid Term Break

29 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Monette and the Playful Pups Assistants 

Our Pups!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue / Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval / Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 & Recap

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Moral conscious theme: Do unto others 

We explained to this Squad that this is a golden rule, treat others the way you would like to be treated. You need to treat your friends with kindness and respect no matter what.   

Writing and Phonics: This week the Squad did a worksheet on the “ip” family, they had to match the correct words with the pictures followed by writing out sentences with the “ip” family words. We have been practicing number names 1-10 and working hard on remembering sight words.  

Mathematics: The Squad did a fun worksheet where they had to dot to dot a fish from 1-20 and then coloured it in. We also practised counting in 2’s. 5’s and 10s as well as counting backwards from 30. Please keep practicing this at home.  

Creative Art: The Squad has been continuing to work hard on their art expo pieces, the piece they made this week involved painting, as well as cutting and pasting. The excitement is real as art expo is right around the corner, it is truly going to be groovy night! 

Please note– we are doing assessments over the next few weeks; please can all kiddies be at school.  

 

THROW BACK TO ...

We wanna know folks … which NIGHT CLUBS did you jol at back in the day?

    

 Dates to Diarise: 

20 Oct: Art Expo

25 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC)

26 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS)

26 Oct: Break Up Day

27, 28, 29 30 Oct: Mid Term Break

31 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

Our Squad!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue / Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval / Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 & Recap

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

The Curious Crew had one busy week this week , we enjoyed our daily ring time , where we took the opportunity to watch a few educational videos on frogs and their habitats. 

We took a look at our colour of the week which was an interesting one , we mixed colours together to see if we could make the colour turquoise 

We counted to our number of the week too , and we played games to both recognise and identify our number. 

 ART 

For art this week , we focused a bit on our art expo art that we can not wait for !! And we can’t wait to show it off to all you parents. 

We made a very cute frog this week too , using circle shaped cardboard ,each child had to assemble their own frogs , and this came out very cute and we can not wait for everyone to see. 

We did a few worksheets this week too , 

We did a number 14 worksheet where each child had to trace over the number 14s using kokis , 

And we did a letter m worksheet , where each child had to trace the letter m , and then fill the back of the worksheet with letter ms. 

FUNFIT SPORTS* 

This week coach Trevor divided the class into two teams , and they had to verse each other in a very competitive game of bowling , 

The class just loves being put to the test , and being able to show us what they’re made of. 

YOGA 

Curious Crew Yoga, 

This weeks lesson focused on our memory and sequencing. 

Working through our yoga poses and trying to remember what number represented which pose. There are 11 poses in total, which the crew was able to remember up to number 8 in the correct order and were able to demonstrate perfect poses. We did this activity in May, and the crew were only able to memorize 6! Well done Curious Crew.

Next weeks theme : Fantasy 

 

 

 

THROW BACK TO ...

We wanna know folks … which NIGHT CLUBS did you jol at back in the day?

    

 Dates to Diarise: 

20 Oct: Art Expo

25 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC)

26 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS)

26 Oct: Break Up Day

27, 28, 29 30 Oct: Mid Term Break

31 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Ash and the Curious Crew Assistants

Our Crew!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue / Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval / Tear Drop

NUMBER

5 & Recap

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

We eased into the week with a theme discussion on different bodies of water, which plants and animals can be found in these waters and the life cycle of a frog. We enjoyed singing songs and spoke about the life cycle of a frog. The life cycle of a frog starts with eggs, then a tadpole, tadpole turns into a froglet and then froglet will lose its tail and turn into an adult frog. 

For our art we made the most adorable frogs out of rocks. The children chose a rock, painted it in their chosen colour and finger painted speckles. We added pipe cleaners for legs and googley eyes.  These look amazing and we will be keeping them for Art Expo. 

FunFit Sport this week with coach Trever. The Hopper played a game on tenpin bowling. They really enjoyed this and got to work on the hand-eye coordination. They all did so well and we had a few strikes. 

Happy Hoppers Yoga: This week’s lesson focused on their memory and sequencing skills. Working through their yoga poses, we tried to remember what number the pose represented. There were 11 poses in total which the Hoppers were able to remember up to number 8 in the correct order and able to demonstrate perfect poses. They did this activity in May and only got to number 5. Well done Hoppers. 

We went on an adventure to the fish pond next-door. When we got to the pond, each Hopper was given a handful of fish food. The water was very still and quiet at first, then they tossed in the food and watched as the water came to life with the most beautiful koi fish. As you can imagine, this was such an exciting experience for our children! While we were at the pond, we said hello to the horses and had a few spins on the Merry Go Round. When the kiddies got off, they had such a good giggle as they were so dizzy! 

Lazzy got some tadpoles from the dam for us to have a look at during the week, the Hoppers absolutely loved this and were so excited to see a real life tadpole! 

We have had such an exciting and busy week. We are so proud of our Hoppers and all their hard work and efforts that they have put into creating the most beautiful art pieces for our Art Expo. We are so excited to share their work with you! 

Our theme next week will be:  Fantasy 

Have a safe and lovely weekend. 

 

 

 

THROW BACK TO ...

We wanna know folks … which NIGHT CLUBS did you jol at back in the day?

    

 Dates to Diarise: 

20 Oct: Art Expo

25 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC)

26 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS)

26 Oct: Break Up Day

27, 28, 29 30 Oct: Mid Term Break

31 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lynn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Our Hoppers!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue / Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval / Tear Drop

NUMBER

5 & Recap

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Ribbit, ribbit!

Croak, croak!

Hop, hop, hop!

We had a hopping good time this week learning all about frogs, their lifecycle, what colours they can be, what they eat and where they live… which brings us to ponds. We learned about all the different animals that live in or around ponds and the type of plants/flowers that grow there.

We spoke about the life cycle of a frog, how and where they lay their eggs, which then hatch into teeny tiny little tadpoles. These tadpoles eat lots of food a quickly grow from a tadpole into a froglet (which is the “teenage” stage of the frog, before it loses its tail), and then eventually grows into a frog. We spoke about how some frogs can be poisonous, and you can usually tell which frogs are poisonous because they are very brightly coloured. We spoke about how a frog uses its tongue to catch insects flying past and about how important they are to a wetland and/or pond ecosystem.

We sang lots of different songs about frogs and spent many days hopping our way around the classroom and playground. It was so much fun!

The highlight of the week was Friday, when we got to take a walk across the plot into Uncle Georges house and visit his amazing pond. We got to see first-hand all of the plants we were learning about in class, the giant Koi fish that we also got to feed. We took our snack down with us and enjoyed this pond-side, picnic style! We also got a have a turn on the merry-go-round and absolutely LOVED this!

For art this week, we made the cutest little tadpoles by painting egg cartons green, cutting them out and adding eyes and little tails to them.

We hope you have a lovely weekend, rest well and we will see you next week for some more Busy Bugs fun!

Next Week’s Theme: Fantasy

Next Week’s Show and Tell: Everyone to please bring something theme related

 

 

THROW BACK TO ...

We wanna know folks … which NIGHT CLUBS did you jol at back in the day?

    

 Dates to Diarise: 

20 Oct: Art Expo

25 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC)

26 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS)

26 Oct: Break Up Day

27, 28, 29 30 Oct: Mid Term Break

31 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma, Teacher Monette and the Busy Bugs Assistants

Our Bugs!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue / Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval / Tear Drop

NUMBER

4

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Wow the weeks are just flying by so quickly now. This week we learnt all about Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams. It was a very interesting topic for all but our boys seemed to enjoy this theme more than our girls. We looked at many different pictures of frogs and ponds.  

We tried to explain that frogs are amphibians which means they are able to live on land and in the water. They have big eyes; webbed feet and their skin is smooth and moist. Most of them live in water but other species live in trees or burrow into the ground. We made a make shift little pond where we could show the Pups some tadpoles and explain to them that tadpoles are baby frogs. The Pups definitely learn and understand better when they can see and touch objects that we are leaning about. One thing is for sure our clever Pups definitely know what a frog is! 

 The Pups had so much fun this week jumping/leaping around all over the classroom. These little people are so cute and I have a good giggle most days at the funny things they do. The best part of our week was that we got to go next door to see a real pond which was so cool.  

We did some finger painting and we made some cool green jelly and put some jelly tots in the jelly to represent some frog eggs in their own mini pond.  

It was a great sunshine filled week with lots of dancing, singing and learning.  

Please may I ask you to send hats for the Pups as we are having some very hot weather at the moment.  

Have a super weekend and see you Monday! 

Next week’s theme is:  Fantasy     

 

 

 

THROW BACK TO ...

We wanna know folks … which NIGHT CLUBS did you jol at back in the day?

    

 Dates to Diarise: 

20 Oct: Art Expo

25 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC)

26 Oct: Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS)

26 Oct: Break Up Day

27, 28, 29 30 Oct: Mid Term Break

31 Oct: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Pups!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 and Recap

j

LETTER

Mm – Mud

We eased into the week with a theme discussion on different bodies of water, which plants and animals can be found in these waters and the life cycle of a frog. We enjoyed singing songs and spoke about the life cycle of a frog. The life cycle of a frog starts with eggs, then a tadpole, tadpole turns into a froglet and then froglet will lose its tail and turn into an adult frog.

 For our art we made the life cycle of a frog. We started off by making a pond out of an oval shape piece of cardboard, we stuck ripped pieces of blue tissue paper. For the life cycle part of the art, we painted egg cartons green and turned them into tadpoles, froglets and adult frogs. For the eggs we used a piece of bubble wrap and added black dots to look like frog eggs. These look amazing and we will be keeping them for Art Expo.

 We went on an adventure to the fish pond next-door. When we got to the pond, each Hopper was given a handful of fish food. The water was very still and quiet at first, then they tossed in the food and watched as the water came to life with the most beautiful koi fish. As you can imagine, this was such an exciting experience for our children! While we were at the pond, we said hello to the horses and had a few spins on the Merry Go Round. When the kiddies got off, they had such a good giggle as they were so dizzy!

 Lazzy got some tadpoles from the primary school dam for us to have a look at during the week, the Hoppers absolutely loved this and were so excited to see a real life tadpole!

 For cooking, they made “Frogs”.  The Hoppers got to experience sifting and mixing all the ingredients together. (Flour, warm water, yeast, butter, salt and sugar). They made one big ball for the body and two little balls for the eyes and added chocolate chips to the eye. These little “dough” frogs were so cute!

 We have had such an exciting and busy week. We are so proud of our Hoppers and all their hard work and efforts that they have put into creating the most beautiful art pieces for our Art Expo. We are so excited to share their work with you!

 Our theme next week will be:  Shadows, Day and Night, Weather and Summer.

 Have a safe and lovely weekend.

 

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

 

 Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

 

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lyn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise

SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop

NUMBER

14 and Recap

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LETTER

Mm – Mud

Frogs and Ponds are such a favourite with all the kiddies! The Crew really enjoyed this week’s theme. It was so cool to get some real tadpoles from the pond at school. Every day the children had a look at how the tadpoles were doing and it was a big discussion each day!

We haven’t done a painting activity in ages so it was the perfect opportunity to bring out the paint and paint brushes for the Crew. We set up books with different pictures of ponds so the children had an idea of what they could paint. And just wow! We are proud of the confidence the Crew painted with. Such colourful pictures filled with frogs, insects and bugs. As Christy-Lee was watching the Crew paint she said they were so good that Ben and Alexa should go to painting school! It was hard to not keep this piece of art of our upcoming Art Expo but we thought you should enjoy them as soon as possible!

The Curious Crew worked on tracing over their name and then writing it by themselves. They are making steady progress but, practice makes perfect! If you as parents could please do name writing at home with the Crew and sound out the letters of their name, maybe make it fun and write your name and other family member names too. Sounding out the letters as you go.

The Crew have been working on their puzzle building skills in class. Those puzzles have been recorded, so if you see some extra numbers on their graph this week, its puzzles they have completed in class! Great job Curious Crew! You make your teachers really proud!

Here are a few fun facts we learnt in ring time, if you would like to chat about them at home:

Frogs                                                                                                                     Toads

Need to live near water                                                                 Do not need to live near water to survive

Have a smooth, moist skin                                                                            Have rough, dry and bumpy skin

Have a narrow body                                                                                        Have a round wider body

A group of frogs is called an “army”                                          A group of toads is called a “knot”

In cooking this week the Crew made the cutest little sweet bread frog buns with chocolate chip eyes, they had to roll the bread dough themselves and then rolled 2 smaller balls for the eyes. Ending off the activity with chocolate chip eyes. We hope that you got to have a bite too!

For sure the highlight of the week….we went next door to Anita’s uncle’s house where they have a HUG pond, with big Koi fish. The Crew LOVED this, they each got a turn to walk a little on the bridge that goes across the pond. They had a chance to put their feet in the pond and we even enjoyed lunch there. Last but certainly not least we went on the big merry go round, WHAT A BLAST!!!

Next week’s theme: Shadows, day and night, weather and summer

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

 

 Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

 

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Megan and the Curious Crew Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!