Parents remember learning Nursery Rhymes when they were young with their mums and dads and now they find themselves doing the same with their children…
The Preschoolers have had a marvellous week exploring the theme of nursery rhymes, showing what a young child can learn when the environment is set and geared to independent and guided learning.
During the week, it was very interesting to watch the facial expressions and actions of the children as they recited, chanted, sung or acted out each rhyme. The children were able to recognise each nursery rhyme with a corresponding picture card. They quickly took possession of their favourite cards and enjoyed singing or chanting them – even choosing to do so during their free play.
What a fantastic week it has been with all the children in Early Years joining in the celebration of Early Childhood Education Department’s TCI ‘Week of the Young Child’. See a video of some of our young toddlers singing Humpty Dumpty.
Year 5 are extremely happy to be using their class interactive whiteboard this term. A particular favourite at the moment is the Big Writing program where the children can learn about how to use punctuation, sentence structure, connectives and openers in a fun, interactive way. They also love the widget timer, which guides them to complete creative writing tasks within a certain time frame. It plays classical music in the background and offers vocabulary choices to help stimulate their ideas. 
Year 4 were lucky to have Mr Handfield, The TCI Conch Man, visit them last week as part of their Age of Discovery topic. Mr Handfield is a local artist who works purely with conch shells to create all kinds of art and everyday items. He explained to the class how he had been inspired to develop his skill of cutting, decorating and joining conch shells as a whole new art form. He how has a repertoire of over 25 designs that he produces for sale and his items have been sold and dispatched to countries all around the world!
