Author: Bonkers Beat

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Ring the Bells

And here we are in December! Can you believe that we are now fast-approaching the end of the year?

 

No doubt it is an incredibly busy and exciting time for all as we prepare for children moving on to primary school, young children moving up to different rooms and everyone getting into the spirit of Christmas and end of year celebrations.

 

A couple of weeks ago saw Bonkers Beat Music Kinder’s end of year concerts and presentations take place and we were once again blown away by the turn out and the concerts themselves! The dedication and passion was clear in both the educators and the children and it certainly paid off. We couldn’t be more proud!

 

The end of the year is a special time as we reflect on the year that we’ve shared between educators and children and how far we have all come together. The end of year concerts are a beautiful way to package up what a wonderful year we’ve had, and we even offer a DVD for families who want to commemorate the special event.

 

The excitement of the year’s end is tripled thanks to the impending joy of Christmas and as we all know, next to birthdays there’s nothing children look forward to more. From singing Christmas songs to creating decorations for Christmas trees, it’s safe to say it’s a particularly fun time of year in the world of early childhood education. I think we’d all agree!

 

Before we go ahead and farewell 2014, we’d like to extend our sincere thanks to each and every one of you for your ongoing support of Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing. Our passion for early childhood education, music and wellbeing is continually strengthened by your encouragement.

 

As this will be our final blog for the year, to wish our loyal readers and supporters a very Merry Christmas, we’d like to share one of our special Bonkers Beat Christmas songs with you. Click on this exclusive link to enjoy the video recording of ‘Ring The Bells’: https://musicearlychildhoodpresenter.com/merry-christmas-happy-new-year/

 

All the best for Christmas and the New Year! See you all in 2015!

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Western Australia Welcomes Bonkers

Not only was November a very busy month, it also marked a ‘first’ for Bonkers the Monkey – his very first trip to Western Australia! While Bonkers and Galina travel a lot both in and out of Australia, this was an exciting maiden voyage for the Bonkers Beat team.

And what a wonderful, warm and welcoming place Western Australia is! From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, the trip was an absolute pleasure. The people, the views, the food, the climate – just beautiful.

The busy adventure in the West included attendance at a conference that was a highly successful event, as well as networking with many educators and centres from Perth and its surrounds.

If you haven’t already, check out our Perth album on the Bonkers Beat Facebook page to see what a great time we had enjoying as much of Perth as we could in the short space of time that we had.

Western Australia, a big thank you for having us and we can’t wait to come back and visit again soon!

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Participation for Sense of Community and Belonging

As educators and/or as parents of children, we regularly encourage these young people to participate and ideally to be an active participant where possible. Why? Because this is of course a fantastic way to learn and to work towards the goal of belonging, being and becoming. We are, after all, not solitary beings and frequently as both children and adults life presents collaborative situations with others.

The Bonkers Beat team believes in participation and community involvement and that’s why we were so excited to hold our recent working bee at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria. Families, educators and friends came together striving towards the common goal of improving the Centre’s outdoor spaces and we were blown away by the commitment and passion shown by our community. Not only do events like working bees bring us all together and bring about great achievements, but what an important example to set for the children in our community, allowing them to see firsthand the adults they look up to working together.

Creating a sense of belonging and connectedness in your Centre’s community is in line with Outcome 2 of the Learning Outcomes for Children from Birth to 5 Years, and that is: Children are connected with and contribute to their world. Belonging is also an area that assessors will consider during the NQS rating process, paying extra attention to Quality Area 6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities.

We have found that working bees, our Harmony Nights and various other special events in the calendar for Centres can have incredible and immeasurable benefits – we’d love to know what ways you encourage participation to facilitate belonging and a sense of community in your Centre’s families, so please share with us on our Facebook page or here on the blog by commenting.

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5 Ways to Approach Father’s Day With Care

Father’s Day is a brilliant way of celebrating dads and all that they bring to our lives. Everywhere we look in shopping centres in the lead up to Sunday 7 September this year, promotional material encourages us to show dad how much we care and to spoil him, and it is around this time that early childhood educators organise our Father’s Day activities in centres.

While Father’s Day is exciting for many children, as with any occasion that is about celebrating a particular role within families, it should be approached with the knowledge in mind that not all children come from families that have a father present for many varied reasons.

Father’s Day discussions with children can be a great way of opening up a dialogue about the different shapes and sizes of families and the different roles of various adults in their lives. Letting children know that there’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ family can be incredibly comforting to a child who may feel uncomfortable about their family situation and can teach other children about diversity.

Here’s our top five tips for approaching Father’s Day with care this year:

1. When talking to children about Father’s Day, keep in mind not all children will have dads involved in their lives, while some may have two dads.

2. If you’re hosting a Father’s Day celebration, open the invite to dads, step-dads, grandfathers and uncles.

3. Don’t be afraid to open the dialogue about family diversity and the different families that children may have.

4. When embarking on activities such as card and gift-making, suggest the options for who children may like to design their creation for rather than specifying ‘for dad’.

5. Some children may even like to make more than one item for the occasion if they have more than one father figure in their lives.

As always, we’d love to hear your tips for creating an inclusive and positive Father’s Day experience in your centre, and in your home.

If you’d like to explore family diversity with your children in centres or at home, these books may be a good starting point exploring modern families, adoption, divorce, same-sex families, death of a parent and more: http://www.parenting.com/gallery/divorce-books-children?page=0

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Reaping the Rewards of Reading

We all have a book from our childhood that has special significance, perhaps even several that we treasure and love to revisit even now. The joy of stories and reading is something that Bonkers Beat truly believes in and this is why we are so excited to celebrate Book Week 2014.

The obvious benefit of reading to and with children is the development of great reading ability, but reading also assists in the development of bonding, thinking and numeracy skills. The slogan for this year’s Book Week is ‘Connect to reading ~ Reading to connect’, and is explained beautifully on the Children’s Book Council of Australia website:

“Connect to reading is about enjoying the experience of exploring story, and travelling to other worlds. The reflected slogan Reading to connect, has a broader social meaning, suggesting that reading assists in creating a bond with others. Within the world of the contemporary child, this is also relevant as they read books and they read to connect through a variety of media.”

At Bonkers Beat we often encourage children to act out stories that we read – we’d love to hear your ideas for celebrating Book Week, so please share with us over on our Facebook page!

Following this brilliant week of book celebration is a week to celebrate the core areas of education – from August 25 – 31 Australia will enjoy National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW).

The NLNW website is exceptional and offers a range of useful resources and activities to incorporate Numeracy and Literacy themes into your week. For numeracy activities use this link: http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/reach-stars; and for literacy activities head here: http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/literacy-activities-0

It’s a busy couple of weeks for literacy and numeracy! What a perfect opportunity these educational weeks present for us to put a focus on these areas and continue to reignite the passion for learning in each child… and ourselves!

 

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Early Childhood Conference of the Performing Arts 2014

Based on the theme of ‘Learning Through Musical Play’, the 19th Early Childhood Conference of the Performing Arts takes place in Victoria this weekend, presented by the Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association.

As you can imagine, this conference is something that the Bonkers Beat team is passionate about and we are proud to announce that Galina Zenin will be among the exceptional collection of presenters at this year’s conference.

The EECPA 2014 program comprehensively covers various elements of music and education, right through from exploration of holistic education to boosting your confidence and renewing your enthusiasm.

The keynote speaker is a special guest from the USA, Lynn Kleiner and she has a wealth of amazing musical approaches to education to share with us:

Lynn Kleiner will introduce delightful rhymes, folk songs, dances, world music, classical pieces as well as instruments for the youngest music makers. Children become sensitive listeners, considerate participants, & successful musicians. The use of language, movement, rhythm & melody in a game-like atmosphere develops mental concentration, coordination, self-concept & creativity, while building an excellent foundation for future musical pursuits. From the beginning, the ideas & contributions of even the youngest music maker are recognized & encouraged. Everyone, including the adults are viewed as successful music makers.

Where: Genazzano FCJ College, Kew, Victoria
When: August 16 and 17, 2014

To join us at ECCPA 2014, register online here: http://www.vosa.org/index.php/Registration/36-eccpa-2014-registration

To find out more about Lynn Kleiner’s Teacher Training Course held across Kew and Caulfield locations in Victoria from August 16-19, click here: http://www.vosa.org/index.php/events/35-lynn-kleiner-teacher-training-course

 

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Growing Through Emotional Intelligence

Children’s imaginations are racing every day as their various types of intelligence are developed and they continue to learn new things. One particularly crucial area that they are experimenting with and learning about is emotions.

Emotional intelligence and awareness are very important skills for becoming a confident, resilient adult. The Victorian government’s education website identifies the set of skills involved in emotional intelligence, which includes:

  • Knowing your own emotions
  • Recognising and being sensitive to other people’s emotions
  • Knowing how to calm down when you are upset or angry
  • Developing the skills of restraint—knowing when it is wise not to say or do something.

 

Here are some ways you might like to consider developing children’s emotional intelligence:

  • Emotional literacy – identifying emotions in others and in ourselves, giving them a name so they can be acknowledged, accepted and dealt with in an acceptable way
  • Activities focused on expression of feelings  – instead of writing about how something made them feel, younger children may like to draw how they felt during a certain time
  • Conflict resolution role play – demonstrating and working with children to show them how to find a solution to a problem with others in a fair and measured manner
  • Reflecting on triumphs – encouraging children to remember times where they came out on top facing a challenge to assist them with developing optimism

(Reference: http://www.happychild.com.au/articles/teaching-emotional-intelligence-how-schools-can-educate-children-for-life)

Whether at home or within a childcare or kinder setting, the first step towards promoting positivity and wellbeing when it comes to emotions is allowing children to see that all feelings are okay, including the bad ones. A fantastic article on Berkeley’s ‘Greater Good’ site makes a powerful comment: “Terrible feelings like jealousy and fear and greed are invitations to grow, to understand ourselves better and to become a better person. When you see these “undesirable” emotions in children, think of them as opportunities to both learn more about their inner-world and—importantly—to teach them how to deal with negative emotions now and in the future.”

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