In Birdsong Kindy, we have started the term celebrating many six-year-old birthdays! Each child has a birthday celebration throughout the year. Parents send stories honouring each year in the birthday child's life, to be told with the lighting of the candles. We sing our Kindy birthday song and the child is gifted with a birthday crown. Each crown is hand-dyed and stitched and imbued with love. The children receive this gift proudly, knowing it was made especially for them. One birthday child even wore theirs to bed this week! Each child in the class draws a picture to be bound into the birthday book, and messages are added, thanking the child for all the gifts they bring to our kindy. To finish our celebration, we enjoy fruit sticks made by the birthday child's family.
The six-year-old birthday is an important one to honour. The Kindy year can bring many changes, physically, socially and emotionally. We support the children in Kindy by viewing them with kind eyes, knowing they are all experiencing a transition and are striving to find balance and harmony within themselves. We set out our days and weeks with a strong routine and rhythm, helping them gain confidence in the familiar while they grow and change. We also hold consistent, firm and loving boundaries for the Kindergarten child, knowing that children look to adults for guidance, acknowledging them as individuals while supporting them to participate safely and harmoniously within the class setting and the broader community.
Outside we continue to enjoy the glorious winter sun. The children run, jump, climb, balance, build, carry, push, monkey bar and expand their bodies, working on muscle development as well as gross motor skills. We balance this "breathing out" with our "breathing in" times; story, drawing, craft, baking and painting, building on concentration and fine motor skills.
Kat Barwick
Kindergarten Teacher