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Our new water tank is full of rain water... well, maybe not so much now, after we filled buckets and other containers from it's tap. The children explored capacity, floating, sinking, water flow, and splashing of course.

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Alex, Will, Lindsey and Eliza helped to set up the tent. The children wanted to play in the tent. They had to negotiate use of the small space. there was a password the children had to say to enter. To get the password they had to ask what it was, kindly. All children eventually found out what the password was and had time in the tent

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Today the children had the opportunity to create prints. Payton and Scarlett are painting on the Perspex screen before placing paper on the screen to transfer their painting.

I wonder what else the children can do using this technique?

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On Monday the Red Gums discovered a surprise; a play provocation left by the Bluebells inviting them to contribute to a shared construction project focusing on this year's Children's Week theme: Children have the right to live somewhere that makes them feel happy and safe. The Red Gums busily created many more additions to for the model city and recorded their ideas to share with the Bluebells.

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Every child collaborated, discussed, created, problem solved and more during sustained play with the Duplo today.

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For Space Week the children explored a range of learning experiences with Jodie, including creating these Name Constellation Artworks by making pin pricks into black card. The children worked on their developing fine motor skills to hold the small drawing pins to precisely outline their names, poking through to the black paper underneath.

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Alessandro and Eli taught Gemma and Isabella how to play this maths game. Ask them what happened if you spun a number one!

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as well as tent supports, bench seats and pretend campfires.

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Today Eli was digging in the sandpit. Sil was working with him, experimenting with the /d/ sound, "Digging ditch deep down." After more digging Eli asked Sil, "come and see how deep he dug," demonstrating his knowledge of present and past tense.

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Eliza found Sarah and said, "let's do some more hill rolling. You haven't got my picture doing it yet!"

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Look at our amazing mindful breathing and mindful listening in action. Check out this week's Gilmore Gazette for more information. Please tap the heart or write a comment to leave us some feedback.

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Over the last fortnight we have been playing with Binion, a recycling bin puppet, borrowed from No Waste ACT. We have been observing and comparing materials and properties of various items to determine if the item can be reused or recycled before sorting into into the appropriate bin. Eli shared his expertise and demonstrated how to test if the item was 'crinkly'. The children are very interested in finding out more about repurposing items so keep an eye out for a letter from them asking for your help with a special project over the holidays!

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Out the Back is closed for a few weeks to ensure our children are safe from some very protective magpies, so we have been joining the whole school for some playtime on the oval. Today the Red Gums and Year 6s had a lot of fun rolling very quickly down the hill. Lindsey discovered by holding her head she could keep her hat from falling off. Isabella discovered that the recently mowed grass clippings could be sprinkled and they would fall like snow. Declan was rolling just as fast as Bailey from Year 6, and laughing at how dizzy it was making him!

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These are our ant models created from natural loose parts. We learnt the names of ant's body parts, and collected, sorted, counted, compared sizes, and helped each other.

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Isabella started her painting with fluency pattern line work (loops and waves) which then evolved into this colourful masterpiece.

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Scarlette said "I used red for the Red Gums and blue for the Bluebells. Now there can be yellow for Yellow Gums and green for Green Gums."

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Will said "I want to be an artist when I grow up and I will do a famous painting. This one is like an Aboriginal painting."

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What an amazing day! The Redgums had a super time on their adventure to the library. When we got back they wrote a short recount of their time and then read it out loud. You can hear them sharing their stories during the video!

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The Red Gums worked in small groups to construct and then decorate a bus shelter model for use in their play. After researching canberra bus shelter mural designs the one group decided on creating a castle mural complete with kings and princesses, a fire breathing dragon, magic forest, throne chair, and hot air balloons. The other group designed the outside of the shelter using colours, symbols and letter approximations to give information to passengers at the bus stop.

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Eliza noticed a new flower growing Out the Back today. After asking year 6 teacher Matt (who the preschool children know is a member of local Simpson's Hill community association) who could not name the plant she brought a sample back to preschool and was supported to research the plant online.

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Declan and Kylie noticed a 'love heart shape' in one of the vertical logs in our outdoor learning space.

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We started the paintwork on the preschool bus today. Aleks suggested "Let's do handprints on it because handprints will be 'quicklier' for humans." SL said "We are still working on it." Gemma sang "I am painting everything, team work, team work."

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Our works of art were inspired by the 2022 Book Week short-listed books, Jetty Jumping by Andrea Rowe/Hannah Sommerville and Blue Flower by Sonya Hartnett/Gabriel Evans. We learnt about Gabriel Evans' technique with water colours and used small, fine brush strokes just like he did.

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Today we learned a new game, Hop Along Frogs. This is a cooperative memory game where children take turns to guess and then check the base colour of a frog before matching it to an empty lilypad space on the board. The children did a great job negotiating, turn taking and helping each other with strategies to problem solve to finish the game.

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After researching this year's theme on the Children's Book Council website the Red Gums went for a walk on country to see what inspiration could be used for our own story planning. We heard birds call and wind rustle through the trees, we saw insects busily working and flowers blooming, and we felt the warm sun on our skin. We're looking forward to turning this inspiration into our own storytelling.

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The Red Gums had a great day in their dress ups today. They enjoyed lots of roleplay games that included their chosen  character, and shared likes and dislikes of known stories.

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Exploring mirrors and reflection.

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As part of science week we explored mixing colours in this fine motor activity. 

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"Look Kylie, I made my P!"

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While celebrating Science Week, the Red Gums made these decorations using salt dough and boiled lollies. The children placed the lollies in the middle of their dough shapes. When baked, the lollies changed from a solid to a liquid and back to a solid, to create the coloured window decoration. The activity used a technique of glassmaking called fusing.

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Everyone enjoys music lesson with master Hayden. The music lesson helps the students to follow teacher direction and persist in the task whilst being supported by educators.

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Declan was really listening to the rhythm of the music today!

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We made parachutes for our dinosaur astronauts before launching them high in the air with a water rocket! It was really fun and was a great way to practice counting down from 10!

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It was cool seeing you use different tools to make patterns in the playdough today Declan!

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Zendaya you are such a caring girl. It was cold outside so you asked for a blanket to keep your baby warm!

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Spiky, soft, tiny and crunchy! It was great to hear you using so many describing words today Levi-Roy!

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Great job Lindsey! It is great to see you working on your 1 to 1 association when counting!

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“Look Kylie, I made my letter!”

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The Red Gum Band were rocking it out during music class today! We looked at all the parts of a guitar and practice making different sounds with them. There are some eager musicians who want to play the guitar when they are older!

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Great work Stephanie! This was a word from your story plan, it will be handy having it on the wall for you to refer to when you are writing!

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Well done Will making this cool sword today. It was great seeing you use craft materials to make something to play with. It was also awesome seeing you move safely with it!

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You are so creative Lindsey! Your mask makes me feel happy 😊

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Isabella worked hard at making a pattern of repeated colours while threading beads.

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We had lots of fun playing.musical instruments with Joy today.We had to listen and follow instructions as we shared our instruments and played our songs.

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Eliza, Will, Aleks, Lindsey and Sebastian were reflecting on our most recent preschool program and considering improvements and suggestions for our next cycle. They worked with Sarah and Joy to convey their suggestions for play using images and approximations of letters and words. Eliza and Sebastian said we should catch a bus. Aleks wants to play with robots or trucks. Will is interested in ipads.

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We've been working on pincer grip  and finger strength a lot this term. Today Isabella and Levi-Roy played Peg Races by quickly putting as many pegs as possible on the edge of a box before the timer went off. We even started a High Score Board to record our totals.

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Inspired by one of our well known books, A Walk in the Bush by Gwen Perkins, many children recorded their observations of Out The Back in a collaborative mixed media artwork.

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Will and Levi-Roy wanted to show a photo of something cute ❤❤

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We  explored our environment and had fun decorating some of our trees today!

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We  explored our environment and had fun decorating some of our trees today!

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It was such a beautiful day today! The Red Gums saw it as the perfect opportunity to take some paper planes for a bit of a fly!

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Isabella wanted to start a card game at the Maths table today and invited Sarah to help her. To play Moo Cow the first player selects a card and moves it to the side, face up. Taking turns, each player selects a new card from the deck and calls out the number name. If a matching card is selected you yell Moo Cow!

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Can you guess who disguised themself behind the playdough "monster mask" they made?

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S.L, P.F, and I.T challenged themselves with all of these puzzles this morning. Hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, problem solving and more at work.

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The Redgums were fabulous listeners when Stacey read Snail Trail!

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Redgums read this story today about a snail setting out on a trail one bright and sunny morning. After reading it the Redgums set out on their own trail exploring our outdoor environment and following the challenges the snail  faced moving over obstacles.

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Redgums read this story today about a snail setting out on a trail one bright and sunny morning. After reading it the Redgums set out on their own trail exploring our outdoor environment and following the challenges the snail  faced moving over obstacles.

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With the lifting covid restrictions in schools we have been enjoying more regular opportunities to work with peers at "big school". Today we voted on a visit to the Alison Lester (K/1 unit) playground. Children had the opportunity to extend their gross motor skills when navigating the big fixed equipment, building on their negotiating and turn taking skills when joining in What's the Time Mr Wolf and sandpit " kitchen" games, and exploring creativity in the music studio. We will continue to build connections at "big school" as part of our Gilmore Kindergarten Transitions program.

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Red Gums were working on their subitising and number ID skills with a super fun musical chairs style game Sharon brought with her today. We are working on identifying numerals and regular dot-dice patterns to 5. Hayden and Gillian are looking forward to sharing your child's progress at the student learning discussions in Week 10. Have you booked a time with us yet?

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After the rainy weather last night there were many puddles for us to explore Out the Back. Will, Eli, Sebastian, Eliza, Levi-Roy, Isabella and Aleks transferred our STEAM learning to search for and test the density of natural materials to float in the puddle and compare what we could observe. Then Eliza, Zendaya and Isabella used the objects that sank to displace the water and fill the volume of the puddle.

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Redgums had fun playing 'Vets' today. This encouraged the students to reflect on how to care for the animals, how to work together as a group and how to work out the roles they would take on....Pet owner, Vet, Nurse etc.

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Redgums had fun playing 'Vets' today. This encouraged the students to reflect on how to care for the animals, how to work together as a group and how to work out the roles they would take on....Pet owner, Vet, Nurse etc.

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Today we read Say Yes by Jennifer Castles and reflected on our own understandings of fairness and compared this to the laws for First Nations people before the 1967 Referendum. We considered what small actions we can make as a class, starting with crafting our own Acknowledgement of Country.

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With a little bit of rain recently, it became evident that there was something of interest to be discovered and dug up out the back today! MUD! The oozy feeling of mud squishing between little fingers is a great way for growing brains to experience tactile sensations like no other!

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The Red Gums participated in the cross country carnival, running a big lap of the oval out the back of the school. They showed Kindness when they cheered each other on, Courage when trying their best doing a difficult task, and Respect when congratulating each other at the end of their race. Well done Red Gums!

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Check out this awesome child-instigated play from Out The Back today. Unfortunately the bell rang in the middle of our game. The children were entertained when Sarah said that even she has to Follow Instructions the First Time and stop playing when it's time to line up.

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We learnt that the leader (Prefrontal Cortex), safety (Amygdala), and memory (Hippocampus) parts in our brain help us to do different things all of the time.

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This is what some of our learning looked like today.

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On Monday the Red Gums participated in a guided engineering inquiry based on Incy Wincy Spider. We have been working on our bilateral coordination when practising the finger play motions, creating spiders with craft materials, and testing how slopes and gravity affect how water moves.

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On Mondays we go to the hall for Gross Motor. Currently the Red Gum are building their balance skills on the low beam and mini tramp, building core strength when climbing over and under on the obstacle course and scooting on their tummies on the boards, as well as developing hand-eye coordination and crossing the midline when throwing bean bags at a target, or catching the soft foam balls.

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Identifying numerals and regular dot dice patterns (subitising)

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Identifying numerals and regular dot dice patterns (subitising)

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On Tuesday the Red Gums were working on their subitising skills, which is the ability to look at a group of objects and realise/ recognise how many there are without counting. We matched quantities to their numeral name, searched for matching numerals and quantities, and transferred this skill when reading Counting on Country by ordering our numerals and collections and using them in counting sequences. Want to know more? Ask us how you can support your child with this skill at home.

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Today we created our very own version of the classic 'Where is the Green Sheep?' By Mem Fox and Judy Horacek.

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The Red Gums thought of some great ways to show respect when participating in group time such as having quiet bodies, one person talks at a time, our eyes look at the person who is talking, we can put our hand up to show we have something to share, and we don't just walk away.

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Counting and numbers have been a big focus in preschool. Today we used our knowledge of counting to make sure the dominoes were evenly distributed amongst the group.

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Today the Red Gums read a book called Bridie's Boots by Phil Cummings. We did a brainstorm of all of the different types of shoes that we can wear. We also made a shoe shop and drew a picture of our favourite type of shoe.

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Scarlette, Stephanie, Gemma, and Isabella experimented with a different drawing medium. As we drew and chatted, our drawings inspired the beginning of a story.

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Eli, Declan and Levi-Roy worked with our BSO Dave to fix some broken resources. They Followed Instructions when Dave taught them how to use the hammer and nails safely, and Moved Safely when taking turns to use the tools.

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Continuing the children's interests in stick play, this week we have been collecting and comparing the properties of sticks for use in a range of creative projects. Today we viewed Mualgal artist Flora Warria who demonstrated some of her ancient weaving techniques that she uses to create useful objects. She talked about how this technology has been shared for many generations and how she shares it with children to keep the knowledge alive.

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On Monday our day was filled with maths experiences. We sorted dice based on their attributes, made playdough, counted lines of counting camels, counted on harma beads using one to one correspondence, played Snakes and Ladders, and worked collaboratively to make a Maths Shelf.

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We enjoyed feeling the shaving cream, and coating the sea creatures with it too. The mixture was described as "weird, soft, and cold" by some of the children.

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Some of the children decided to cut and create with paper today. They practised their scissor grip while doing so.

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We have been learning how to use the shelving system in our school library by searching for and matching letters that identify the location of some of our favourite books. It was very exciting when we noticed that letters were the same as the ones in our names.