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Exploring our senses in the Pounamu Room
During the month of May we have noticed that children showed a great interest in exploring their senses and being curious about their environment around them. They would look at all things in such great detail, they would investigate how work, moved, and what they looked like in closer detail – some of these experiences included feathers, an ant or a bug. We decided to have a few trips in the garden to find some bugs and during these short walks we explored the outdoor garden, leaves, bark and the dirt but we were not very lucky to find many bugs in the garden. However, it extended their curiosity about the bugs, and they loved exploring the different materials and sensory play experiences creating their own spiders, butterflies and caterpillars. It was amazing to see the toddlers learning to be responsible for their own learning and working together to figure out the theories about the world around them.
In the Pounamu room we love to provide opportunities for the children to be independent and take an active part in their learning. We involve them by asking about the ideas and choices to encourage their communication and it also supports their sense of belonging for the room and support them to develop their confidence. Alongside our sense of discovering we celebrated NZ sign language week where children were exposed to learn sign language and we just loved watching them practicing the signs for different expressions. We also celebrated Samoan language week children had fun dancing to the Samoan music and learning Samoan greetings and some dance moves which was supported by our wonderful Kaiako Tams.
This month we said 'All the Best' to our graduates Raizel and Ethan for their new adventures in the Kawakawa room. We welcomed Ruby and Elijah from the Kahurangi room and we are dighted to have them as an official part of the Pounamu room.
We are excited for what the month of June has for our young explorers.