GAP
Practical guidance, family resources and everyday moments connected to German-language early learning through GAP Playschool.
These posts help families understand the rhythm, routines, culture and community around early childhood learning at Spielwelt.
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Spielwelt During Canberra Lockdown 2021
Spielwelt is putting its programs on pause during the ACT lockdown. We plan to reopen when ACT public schools reopen for all children. Already counting the days in lockdown? Here are the many Spielwelt remote learning pages with lots of activity ideas suitable for young children learning or maintaining German at home. For Spielwelt the…
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Excursion to Capital Scraps Community Compost
The Monday-Tuesday GAP children enjoyed an excursion to the Capital Scraps Community Compost in Haig Park, today. With the help of many parent helpers, we walked through Haig Park, then crossed Northbourne Avenue to the Braddon side of Haig Park, and within a few short meters, we arrived at the community compost collection point. Brook…
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Behind Every Great Organisation
Behind every great organisation, there is an even greater committee. And driving our great committee this year is a really great president. The year 2021 is Tobias’ second year on the Spielwelt committee, and he’s guiding us all well through another year of covid, policy updates, capital improvements, special events like the lantern walk, considering…
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What do PhysioTherapists Do?
The Thursday/Friday GAP class were fascinated to learn about what physiotherapists do. We were lucky enough to have the wonderful physiotherapist Lucy Joske visit us. She specialises in paediatric physiotherapy as well as other types. We learned that physiotherapists can help us when our bodies don’t work as well as they could. They help children…
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Dr Barks visits GAP
The Thursday/Friday GAP class were excited to welcome Dr Brandon Barks and his wonderful assistants to our morning circle today. Dr Barks is an anaesthetist and came in to talk to the children about what doctors, specifically anaesthetists, can do for people when they are in pain in the hospital. Dr Barks was wearing his…
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A New Look for our Hall
The Turner Scout Hall in Haig Park is undergoing a transformation. As the home of the German Australian Pfadfinder Scout group and the German Australian Playschool and playgroups, it is only fitting that the building’s new paint job gives the hall a European look. Our Fachwerkhaus (half-timbered house) with shutters and stone foundations is also…
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Flea the Dog Visits GAP
Even the children who started off feeling a little bit hesitant about dogs soon warmed to our recent little visitor, Flea the Dog. The class heard about what dogs like to eat. It turns out that apart from kibbles, Flea likes popcorn and cheese, but he’s not allowed to have those things very often. We…
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Calypso Visits GAP
The Monday/Tuesday GAP class have been studying animals, and we were delighted to welcome a couple of our families’ pets. First up was Calypso, a friendly bearded dragon belonging to one of our GAP families. The children got to pat Calypso (very gently) and hear about what bearded dragons like to eat, how they stay…
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Indigenous Studies
As part of her pedagogical studies, Birgit prepared and delivered an interesting lesson on Indigenous culture. Birgit explored (and simultaneously translated) a wonderful book called The Magic Boomerang at story time with us. We also enjoyed creating indigenous-art-inspired handprint paintings which turned out beautifully.
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Caring for the Environment in Space
The MondayTuesday GAP class had a fascinating presentation by Dr Doris Grosse today. Dr Grosse brought in a satellite to show us, and using a model rocket she built, she showed us how it launched into space. What was most surprising, however, was how much space junk was left behind in the process. Dr Grosse…