Banksia Room

Armed with a set of looking glasses, a pair of respectful listening ears, a thinking cap, an imagination backpack, and a set of adventure gumboots, the Banksia Room children embarked on a learning journey that bolstered their creativity and imagination and fostered their knowledge through curiosity, investigation, and a great sense of wonder. The year began with a strong focus on classroom community and strengthening of wellbeing as the children became connected to one another as a class. From the beginning, the Banksia Room children were empowered to be coconstructors of their learning. The children contributed to decisions that augmented their learning space and effected positive change in their learning environment. When the children were asked to share their ideas on what they would like to learn and do that was new and different, a common theme of nature and community emerged. As the leaves changed colours and fell, autumn became the springboard for the children to immerse themselves into the joys of nature pedagogy. Our learning environment embraced nature, and became intertwined with nature, inside, outside, and beyond. Their imagination and creativity dreamed up a landscape to transform their learning environment into a rainforest, filled with different elements created from recycled materials and a drawing plan. From a tree that housed an owl and a squirrel, to a waterfall that leads into a rock pool, a crocodile, tiger, cheetah, snake, rhinoceros, and zebra that roam free in the rainforest. These elements were created with the ‘languages’ toolkit the children amassed over the year. The children developed positive dispositions for learning as they immersed themselves into their learning journey. Through representations of their creative expression, the children demonstrated their connectedness to the natural world and to the environments and habitats they have grown curious about beyond the walls of our classroom. Through the construction of the rainforest, the children claimed a world of their own size, magnifying their presence in the larger world…

Banksia Room