Celebrating Matariki together and baking whetu cookies!

We have been talking about Matariki with the children together this week. We are learning about the Matariki stars and how this time mean a Māori new year.

We come together as a whānau to celebrate this time together.

We have been learning a song called Ngā whetu o Matariki and the children have been getting so good at singing and knowing the names of the stars.

We have done publishing of this song, and amazing art was created.

We also did some baking and baked whetu cookies.

Here is what happened!

We got so busy that we couldn't take photos of us eating the cookies! It provided an opportunity to talk about tools we used for baking, ingredients used, and we talked a lot about how sugar and salt tasted like.
We all had such a wonderful time, cutting them into star shapes and lots of children were very helpful during the preparation.
We are talking about making a soup next week!

Exploring magnets!

This week we have received the Science Box and we have been exploring magnets together. The children started being interested in magnets a couple of weeks ago after they found a box of different kinds of magnets.

We used the kit to explore the magnets. The awesome thing about the Science Box is that there are enough equipments for the the students to explore and they all have a turn using and work in a group together.
The children found what is magnetic inside as well as outside. We had a collection of items that were magnetic in a box and discussed what it was made of afterwards.

I really love the way the children worked together and talked about what they were observing. We have also learnt that a magnet has a south pole and north pole.

What does our play look like in Room 2?

Since we came back to school after the lockdown, our children settled back into the classroom so beautifully and I can see that they are very engaged in play. They are able to collaborate with others, negotiate and focus on their interests for a long period of time.
Here are some photos of what happens in our play based learning environment.

Writing through play happens everyday!

Beautiful creations using loose parts 

Really interesting to see children creating their own puppet shows! This can be something to explore together. 

Busy children creating their own books and cards. 

Writing through play

We have been doing a lot of writing through play. There are many opportunities that we can create for writing in the children's play. It is through their interests and provides developmentally appropriate practice. We can write together by making signs, lists of things, and making a book. This approach has been really successful in my classroom and the children are more eager to write as their interests are supported through play.

Here are some of the photos of our children's writing in play.