Literacy
On a weekly basis, students write in their journals. They share stories of their families, children and imaginary characters. This practice enables them to make thoughts, ideas and feelings visible to others (The Kindergarten Program 2016). Our beginning writers make marks on pages and write their names. As they progress, they begin to sound out words, and look to classroom resources, such as the word wall and morning message, to spell difficult words. As educators, we encourage and reward students for writing according to their ability. It is our experience that concentrating on neat letter formation and accurate spelling can discourage and frustrate children.
As students become more confident writers, they conduct research and create books! This week, as part of our hospital inquiry, we have been researching the role of doctors. We are so impressed with the work of our JKs and SKs.
Stories are also created through drama. Our puppet theatre has re-opened and our busy dramatists are re-enacting stories they have read and creating their own new stories!
Numeracy
This week we have continued our "number talks". JKs are encouraged to represent numbers with dots and tallies, while our SKs are encouraged to represent numbers with number sentences.
We have continued patterning by creating our own rhythmic patterns (claps, snaps and taps), building with blocks and making bracelets.
We have also focused on the order of numbers by filling in the missing number.
Inquiry
Our hospital inquiry has extended to research. We are finding out more about what doctors in hospitals do, what hospitals look like, etc.
