Blossoming Ideas

And so, the Who am I topic has come to a spectacular finale… Throughout the term the children have explored their own identities and thought carefully about how they would like to present themselves to the world.

The S.M.A.K museum provided the children with endless inspiration to many new ways of thinking about self-portraits as the artwork there provided so much more information than just the physical appearance of an artist. The art alluded to more about their own personalities, culture and background. This inspired the children to develop their own curiosity boxes showing others a window into their soul. Using a multi-media approach, the children began to manipulate materials into beautiful treasures to fill their boxes with each child expressing themselves through a hundred different languages. From caves of wonder to castles for Kings, the boxes are tailormade to each individual and the children would like to invite you to come and guess which box belongs to them…

Continuing their exploration of the Who am I topic and inspired by the Fire Children, the children have been unveiling the mysteries of how the world began and have developed their very creation myth. I have been overwhelmed by the dedication and determination of each of the children to write and rewrite their stories onto the original scrolls that you see hanging in the classroom today. They have encouraged and supported each other throughout sharing stories, ideas and advice in order to make the finished product just perfect. To complete the cave of creation in the classroom, the children wished to have recordings of themselves playing as people could move through the space. Inspired by the oral retelling of myths, the children have recorded their stories as gifts for the listener. Gifting their creation myth to you, is an individual way of bringing their myth to life to be passed down for years to come…

It has been lovely to watch the relationships within Lower Primary develop and strengthen over the term. Recently, the children have tested their communication and listening skills in mathematics, with the older children designing a code for the bee-bots and then explaining the code to the younger children to see if they could follow it. After a few attempts and a great lesson in the art of clear and concise communication, all the groups were successful, and the bee-bots made it to their final destinations! These initial discussions about coding has sparked an interest in many of the children and I am sure will be continued into the rest of the year!

The changing of the seasons has not gone unnoticed and evidence of the change can be found scattered around the classroom. With each visit to the local park, the children collect more natural treasures to bring back to our classroom. From this, the children have written beautiful poems and made a series of beautiful observational drawings. I was so impressed with their attention to detail and how intimately they studied each of the object, ensuring their drawings were perfect!

As the end of the Who am I chapter of our Lower Primary book is written, there is starting of a new one. The children have already began having many animated, excited and enthusiastic discussions about the People of the Past topic and are eager to get started. I am so looking forward to hearing about who they find inspirational and sharing this with you.

Love

Beth