Another great week in birdhuulay with lots of learning and consolidating of skills. Thanks to the parents who are sending in additional vegetables for Crunch and Sip. The boys enjoyed trying Greek yoghurt too.

This week our PDHPE unit ‘Play it Safe’ continues to look at ways to teach students to keep safe and the ways we can achieve this at home in varying settings. We listened to sounds you might hear at home and discussed if they were scary or safe and what to do if the boys hear them. We have practiced what to do in case of fire and I’d encourage you to talk at home and make a plan of what to do. Practicing this plan is important as the evidence is stating that as little as 2 minutes in a house with toxic fumes will severely damage a child’s lungs. The slogan is ‘Get down low and go, go, go ‘ and if you are on fire its ‘Stop, cover, drop and roll’

We have also looked at how to cross the road safely. We say ‘look left, look right then look left again’ – but we included listen and if you hear a type of transport to wait until they go past then start again.

We’ve discussed stranger danger and what to do if they got lost. Even though Miss Burn has previously worked on the boys saying their name clearly and stating where they live not one boy could correctly tell us. Could parents please practice their child saying their name and address as none of the boys were able to say it?

In addition to our current safety themes we’ve begun the NSW Departments Child Protection unit for our stage and discussed strategies to help keep children safe. In the unit we correctly name private parts and discuss what to do if you have uncomfortable feelings, or someone asks you to keep an unhappy secret. These strategies are serious and while they may seem confronting they are a mandatory unit that can give our children the skills they need to help avoid child abuse.

I read the boys a story called ‘Happy, happy poo’ and yes you did read the title correctly. The book discusses how the creatures in our gut effect how we feel and what food helps to keep our gut filled with awesome creatures. The boys were so interested in the book that Mrs Hall bought in some Greek yoghurt for the boys to try as it has lots of awesome bacteria in it in. We discussed that eating Greek or natural yoghurt is a healthy option for a snack rather than packaged products. We were so proud of all the boys attempts to eat either a teaspoon or tablespoon or two of yoghurt.

Mr Ward came to our room to view our new movie ‘ Managing our emotions’ and he thought it was amazing.