The Beauty of Snow

The natural environment is a constant source of wonderment and provides many opportunities for children to explore the beauty and diversity of the world around them. Each season brings its own special reward. This winter, several of the children in Banksia Room have spent time in the snowfields and have enjoyed sharing their experiences with their friends. Avalon Pascoe (4YO ELC) shared photos of snow scapes and her family enjoying their time at Mt Buller, encouraging many of the children to recount their understanding of snow and ice.

To support and extend their interest, the children have been observing pictures of magnified snowflakes to gain an appreciation and understanding of the many varied patterns and shapes. This information has enabled the children to create their own interpretations of snowflakes using a variety of mediums, varying from drawing and painting to cutting and intricate collage constructions.

As snow does not appear in our local environment, not all children have had the opportunity to gain an awareness of its tactile quality. A large bowl of artificial ‘snow’ mixture was provided to simulate the texture and as each child handled the mixture, they began describing the sensation … “It’s cold”, “Gooey”, “It feels wet”, “Soft, super soft”, “It’s light”, “It feels like snow”.

Finally, to further extend the experience, the children enjoyed playing with ice cubes. As they handled the ice, they began observing that it was starting to melt which has raised new questions and theories to be explored in the coming weeks.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

Mrs Penny Campbell, Banksia Room Teacher

Memories and friendships made in the ELC!

What a pleasure to read the following personal reflections of the friendships and vivid memories made in the ELC from several of our current Year 6 students.  Well prepared to move on to Secondary School in 2018, the students were extremely delighted to be invited to host the children attending a recent ‘Meet and Greet’ for incoming 2018, 3-year old learners.

Only five former ELC students, currently in Year 6, attended the function, as the other students were singing in a performance (for which they received ‘The Gold Award’ at Federation Square) at the same time. Those students enjoyed the Federation Square event and the receipt of the prestigious award, however, were also disappointed to be missing out on the 2018 ELC welcome event. The memories of the excellent place of learning, the fun, the engagement, the projects and the friendships made will never be forgotten! For your enjoyment, please read the following articles from our now 12-year old students who reflect so vividly on their many memories.  Their writing had to be limited. They wanted to keep adding to it!

ELC Memories

• One of my memories is when  I was three, we did an Australian play and I was a kangaroo.
• Our teachers gave us small nap times up to 20 minutes or 5 minutes in total.
• I remember playing with my friend Anise in the sand pit.
• Playing with toy animals with my kinder friends and building towers out of blocks

Pia Wilson (Year 6)

I started ELC in 3-year old kinder and now looking back, I can reflect on some very favourable moments.

I remember when in 3-year old and 4-year old ELC, I loved going to the playground at recess and lunchtime and climbing the big tree with Chloe Shergold, Isla Forsyth and Coco Kudelka. I also loved special friends day in 3-year old kinder. I brought my aunty and my grandpa, and in 4-year old kinder, I brought them again.

I loved the times when we came back from Library and we would watch the swimming pool being built. We watched the progress every day for the whole year. It was interesting and exciting to see the different stages of works being carried out.

When we went for sport, we would go under the rainbow parachute and I would always stay under there so Mrs De Nardis would not find me. I was very cheeky when it came to the rainbow parachute. I loved being under it and watching all the beautiful colours.

I am so happy and proud to have been in the ELC at St Catherine’s. I will treasure my memories forever.

Chloe Nevins (Year 6)

• One of my memories is playing outside in the sand, and everyone throwing sand around.
• Another memory is that we were playing music and we were hitting the lollipop drums.
• The last memory is that we did an Australian play in 3-year old kinder

 Anise Imam (Year 6)

ELC highlights

My favourite highlights of ELC were:

• Making clay butterflies with lots of patterns on them
• Each week, a different person got to take Humphrey the Bear home. All his clothes came in a little suitcase, so you could dress him up!
• Being leader for the day was very important. The leader counted how many boys and girls were at ELC that day with blocks.  They also lead the group around to whatever activities they were doing outside of the Kindergarten.

I always treasure these special memories.

Coco Kudelka (Year 6)

I arrived in the ELC in 3-year old kinder and I have many fond memories of my two years there.

Some of my favourite memories include:

• I absolutely loved going to the Fitzroy Gardens in 4-year old kinder. My Dad came with us and I loved seeing all the possums and other animals in the gardens.
• In addition, at the end of the year, we put on a concert to show to our parents or any other special visitors what we had learnt. In 4-year old ELC, I was a flower with a big petal on my head it was so heavy and in 3 year old ELC I was a rainbow.
• I loved playing on the monkey bars and climbing up the big tree with Chloe Nevins, Gigi Carter, Coco Kudelka and Chloe Shergold, these memories will be with me forever.
• I also loved special visitors day too, I brought in my Nonna and my Granny and we had the best time talking about what I have learnt in class and I introduced them to my friends and teachers.
• We loved Mrs De Nardis always taking us to the gym for sport, going on the beams, jumping off with a rope, and landing in a hoop.
• Overall, I absolutely loved ELC at St Catherine’s. I will remember these years as being my best childhood memories.

Isla Forsyth (Year 6)

Our 2018 ELC Welcome party with Mrs Moor.