Our programs:

Using the early years learning framework to guide our planning, our planned programming is based on developing and extending children's learning through what the group and individual children show an interest in.

An example of how this might work is if the children become very interested in the story "Going on a Bear Hunt" written by Michael Rosen. We will extend on their interest through strategies such as dramatization of the story and going on a “bear hunt” outside with simple props, taking photos and using the photos to create our own “bear hunt” story, drawing maps of our bear hunt, measuring how far away the cave is that the bear lives in, using the rhythm of the story to create music, painting bears, talking about feelings and how the bear felt when we all screamed and ran away and whatever else we as teachers and the children are inspired by. Maths, science, literacy, and other “academic” learning is naturally captured through these activities rather than formally taught.

We document and reflect each week on both how the group responded and used available materials and activities, and how individual children are progressing. This is then used as part of the development of the content of the written part of the program planned for the following week. The room updates then provide families with an overview of some of the activities and learning the children have engaged in, so that families can talk about it with their children, and then let us know what they have been saying at home. This reinforces the learning at home, and allows us to make changes based on parent feedback as well.