As we commence our final term in The Cocoon, reflecting on the growth and transformation the children have made throughout this year is incredible. They have indeed found their wings and are almost ready to flutter out of The Cocoon and off to school!

Our orientation visits have commenced for children moving into Foundation at Minimbah in 2023 and will continue throughout this term. Please check the orientation schedule displayed at the sign-in desk for further information.

We have already heard from several schools regarding orientation for children leaving Minimbah at the end of the year. Please let Cathy or your child’s school know if you would like to discuss your child’s transition to Foundation next year.

Cathy will prepare your child’s Transition Learning and Development Statement this term. This document is intended to provide your child’s teacher with an insight into their skills, interests, and strategies that may be useful as they make the transition to primary school. You are invited to share your thoughts as part of this statement, and the forms will be distributed this week. We ask that you return these as soon as possible, please.

“We explore and make sense of our world through the narratives we create.”

Inquiry

The fourth term in The Cocoon has begun with a flourish of creativity and storytelling as we launch into our new Unit of Inquiry: How We Express Ourselves.

Our learning engagements and investigations for this unit will allow the children to explore and express themselves using a wide range of creative, playful, and engaging ways! The focus will be on observing, experimenting, discovering, and learning about the world around us through active exploration.

We will be learning about:

• Physical movement as a means of expression

• Ways we can explore materials as a means of expression and communication

• The ways we can express ourselves through verbal language and mark-making

• The form and function of a range of materials and musical instruments.

• The connection between materials and our ideas, narratives and self-expression

The children will learn to be balanced risk-takers and communicators as they encounter new materials and collaborate with others to develop stories and performances from their interests. This Unit of Inquiry is always a joyful, magical learning journey as the children design and create using the visual arts, music, and creative movement.

The Early Years Learning and Developmental Framework refers to a process of children belonging, being and becoming. Children’s identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change during childhood. Many different events and circumstances shape them. Becoming reflects this rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow. It emphasises learning to participate fully and actively in society.

Over time, as educators, we reflect on how the children have developed and engaged with increasingly complex ideas and participated in increasingly sophisticated learning experiences. Sharing these moments of learning with you, our families, and the broader community is something we treasure.

We use a diverse range of methods to assess and capture children’s learning and development, and these processes do not focus exclusively on the endpoints of children’s education. Through our documentation, we aim to give equal consideration to the ‘distance-travelled’ by individual children and celebrate not only the giant leaps that children take in their learning but the small steps as well.

We look forward to seeing where the children’s inquiries and interests take us this term!

CATHY, RACHELLE, KELLIE, MILLY, EMMA and LISA
Minimbah ELC Educators