Language Experience

The king of the islands-a mighty coconut arrived today in Room 3. The children were curious to see a display of some items such as a real coconut, coconut cream, coconut flesh, a pack of tuna in a coconut sauce and some coconut oil, all nested among the coconut trees the children made out of recycling materials. First, the children shared what they knew about the coconuts. Cordeliah said "Me and my family ate it and it was yum!" Evander told us he drunk the coconut. Meleane knew about the white stuff and Armaan told us they live on the trees. Imogen was very excited to share her experiences of drinking the coconut water. Levi told us you have to cut it. Savannah knew they are heavy and they can fall on your head! James told us that the white stuff was called the meat and Penny gave us another name for it, which was copra. Next, we discussed many different uses of the coconut. We saw many clips online about the islands and Cordeliah's Mum showed us some things made out of the coconuts in the past. It was good to see the children making links with what they knew and what they've learned so far. James told us about how the husk is used for starting fires. Most children knew all about the coconut cream and milk used in cooking and baking. Penny raved about the benefits of coconut water, especially during sickness. Zoe thought that the water was put into the coconuts in the factory but James was quick to tell her that the tree made the water. The coconut oil felt slippery and a few children knew that you could cook with it and use it as a moisturizer. Marko remembered that James brought three coconuts to the kindy they both attended before starting school which clearly illustrates that practical experiences have a long lasting effect on children. While we were discussing and exploring coconut, some children looked at the books and talked about their findings. We even tried the coconut flesh which most children found sweet. After this we wrote together a few sentences and the children wrote their own reflections. Imogen's sentence was about relaxing under the coconut tree, Levi was sleeping under one. Zoe was picking up the coconuts. This mini language experience where oral language is the platform for an interactive and rich learning  proved to be an effective teaching and learning tool. 

Coconut-the King

Island Display

Sweet flesh of a cocnut

Engaging in the writing process after our investigation

Learning on Many Levels

Another busy day in Room 3 this week. We continued learning through the lens of Social Studies about the Pacific Islands. Provoking imagination, oral language and thinking, we engaged ourselves in an island pretend cooking session. We looked at the traditional way of cooking called umu. Penny brought us some banana leaves to wrap our 'food' in and covered it afterwards. We located some 'hot' rocks for the cooking on the ground. We used acorns and chestnuts. All children wanted to participate and give things a go. We tried to follow the process as we've seen it online. After a few hours, we uncovered our food and 'relished' each bite! That gave us energy for practising our assembly songs. On Friday we performed at our assembly with Room 25. The children sang "Pacific Greetings' song, environment song and our fundraising song. The children that had some words to say gave it a go with confidence. By the end of the day we treated ourselves to a movie, while we wrote descriptive sentences about our tapa cloth art.

See of hands

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Wrapping food in banana and taro leaves

All covered

Hot, hot!

Assembly

We welcome you in Pasifika song

Throw your rubbish in the rubbish bin song

Rest time

Describing our tapa cloths

New friendships

A proud Tongan girl of her tapa design