Explore and learn with Melisse

01/07/2022

I’ll be running a drop and go session for 5+ year olds this coming Wednesday at Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary from 11-3 for $10/hr. Homeschooled or traditionally schooled kids welcome!

Please feel free to message about your kids joining for 1, 2, 3 or all 4 hours. I will have maximum 10 spots available during any 1 hour and we will meet at the same spot each hour for drop off and pick up as necessary. There are already 3 kids for the full 4 hours so get in quick for the remaining spots!

The kiddos who meet me there every week love to explore, create, play and use our imaginations! Through free play we have built towers from sticks, leaves and rocks, created birds nests, played hide and seek, built shops, gone on mini bush walks (not on a bush track, just the little paths in the main area), practised our social and communication skills, persistence and resilience whilst building and creating games and more.

In the koala sanctuary we have explored koalas, their eating habits, anatomy and gestation, learned about our butterflies and how to help them populate, read interesting facts about Aussie marine life, measured ourselves against a whale fin and explored all of the interesting facts and information on display there!

We would love to have you join us!

16/03/2022

I just discovered this amazing resource thanks to the power of facebook and others sharing their finds :-D Please feel free to search through the (free!) toolkits and use any parts you can with your kiddos!

Note: these are made for educators but if you're a parent you will still be able to do the great activities! If you don't have any stories mentioned, try searching for it on youtube. Chances are it'll be on there. If you are a teacher outside of Vic, these resources are linked to the Vic specific curriculum but hopefully having those already listed helps you link them to the Aus curriculum or the syllabus you're using :-)

Happy exploring!!

https://www.outdoorsvictoria.org.au/outdoor-learning-toolkits/?fbclid=IwAR09FbAgV2FbAbGblYJfp7hBgCU-y2oUvmhMUpcV8nT2eYvTT6dclxIK0mM

Visit the post for more.

01/03/2022

Hi everyone 😊

I’m so excited to be half way through my first term with ‘Explore and Learn with Melisse’ and my first term home schooling my kiddos, we’ve had a blast so far!

As I start planning for next term, I’m looking for expressions of interest for the following term-long, weekly group sessions:

* Jewellery making for 11+ year olds - 2 hour session for $20, all resources supplied but donations welcome 🤗 We will make our own paper beads, as well as using other beads to make friendship bracelets, necklaces, anklets, maybe even venture into earrings! (Drop-and-go session, no need for parents to stay)

* STEAM and Crafts for 5-11 year olds - 2 hour session for $20, all resources supplied (but please feel free to donate your recyclable rubbish). We’ll make crafts and participate in building challenges to develop our critical and creative thinking skills and team work abilities. (Drop-and-go session, no need for parents to stay)

* Sensory play for 18 months+ - 1.5 hour session for $20, all resources supplied but donations welcome 🤗 Allow me to take care of the mess while your kiddos explore their senses! Colourful spaghetti, foam, jelly, scented play dough and more! Change of clothes essential, parents of kids under 4, please stay and observe the enjoyment and awe, let me take care of the clean up though! (Depending on the ages of interest, we may have two sessions, one older, one younger)

* Choir for enjoyment for ages 5-17 - $15 for 1.5 hour session. No need to have a pop star voice, the only requirements are to enjoy singing and to want to have fun and get to know other kids of all ages 😊 We will come together and learn how to warm up our voices, how to breathe properly while singing, learn songs together and have a great time. We should be able to put on a performance at the end of the term for parents as well! (Drop-and-go session, no need for parents to stay)

I do not have days and times confirmed yet, but they will be in Logan. Some sessions will be at Greenbank Community Centre on Wednesdays.

Please comment or message with any questions or with the number and age of children if you’re interested in having your kiddos join 😊

27/02/2022

Exploring on our walk 🤩 we learned that the drain flows to the creek, we observed that some pipes that lead into the drain are higher and some are lower, one drain had more water flowing into it than the other, another drain goes really deep, some water flows faster, our soccer ball wouldn’t fit in the drain if we dropped it… lots of great math work just in stopping to look at different drains on our walk 💙

22/02/2022

What a fun way to learn/practice patterns!

etkinliktrenim • Original Audio

09/02/2022

I cannot recommend this podcast enough for educators, parents, teens, my 5 year old also enjoys it.. Every episode is engaging and filled with experts sharing information that will help you to help your kids get the most out of life. A confronting quote from the episode I’m listening to - ‘osteoporosis is a pediatric disease that presents later in life’.

I’m not an expert in getting outside but we are really ramping it up lately and it’s going so well! We won’t make it to 1000 hours for the year but even if we get outside for 5 extra hours than we would’ve before, that’s a great start. I’m aiming to get past 100 hours for this year (really, I hope I smash that).

Feel free to join me in the journey! I bought the app to help motivate me, it’s mostly just a timer but you get badges at certain milestones 😆

27/01/2022

Lots of fun at Robelle Lagoon at Orion yesterday 😊 we covered a lot of HPE topics including safety around a pool, safety in water, exercising and using our muscles, eating healthily, sunscreen, hats etc. as well as developing our gross motor and fine motor skills 💪🏻 such a fun time. The boys probably could’ve stayed for 4 hours but Mum was drained 😆

23/01/2022

If you have a little, or older one, who is not so interested in writing, here are some ideas that might help them ‘write’ without necessarily needing to put a lead pencil to paper.

The number 1 key is that we want our kiddos to love learning, so drumming something into them, even if they learn the skill, is kind of counter productive (even though I catch myself starting to do this too at times 🤦🏼‍♀️)

- make all of the letters in a crafty way, maybe you can cut them out of card and s/he can collage on them with feathers, sequins, glitter, colouring, google eyes etc. then use those letters to make words of things that they like.. after your kiddo knows the sounds they can try this independently. If they get it wrong, but phonetically correct (each letter, making its own sound, sounds right when read) eg ‘Yoonicorn’ or ‘shayp’ those are considered correct at the beginning writing stage because they are common sounds made by those letters or letter combinations 🙂

- try writing with coloured pencils, textas, glitter glue or a glue stick then sprinkle glitter or crafty stuff on it

- ‘build’ letters out of toys. Line up dolls, cars, animals etc in the shape of letters to make a word

- you might be able to motivate your kiddo to write by writing letters to friends, grandparents, favourite toys. Or by writing little info cards about toys ‘name, age, favourite colour, special skills, super powers etc’

- use sensory experiences like a finger in shaving foam, writing in sand, cut each letter out of sandpaper then glue it on card (adult's job) then s/he can trace the letter with their finger. these ideas can help with letter formation

- Or, like my kids did today, use letters that you already have.

Hopefully that gives you some ideas to get your kiddos writing without the fighting 😊

09/01/2022

Before Christmas we made gingerbread biscuits. We had a lot of fun (and a little frustration 😆), made some mess and spent some beautiful time together. We also practiced reading numbers, place value, modelling addition/subtraction (if we need 100g and we have 98g now, how many more do we need?), measurements, developing understanding of mass and capacity, using fine and gross motor skills, and comprehension skills.

J and I then did a copy write activity about whether he liked making gingerbread biscuits better or other baking earlier in the week, gingerbread won 😁 We listened for the sounds in each word and worked together to choose those sounds from our magnets. We talked about capital letters at the start and full stops at the end of sentences and J then copied that writing into a scrapbook.

09/01/2022

I’ve added a new service!

Are you feeling a little nervous (or a lot panicked) about being responsible for your kids’ academics and don’t know where to start? Please let me help ease your stress levels! I’m now offering consultations over zoom (yeeesss comfy couch and pjs!) where we can chat about your questions and concerns, teaching strategies that might work with your kiddo/s or resources and experiences that might help them engage with a topic more easily (saving everyone stress!)

Feel free to check my services page for timing and price then comment or message if you’re interested!

I can’t wait to help you feel more at ease about working with your kiddo 🧘‍♀️🧘‍♂️

Please feel free to share my post if you know someone feeling stressed about this!

31/12/2021

Dinosaurs! My boys had a dinosaur fight which led to exploring dinosaurs and fossils and talking about why they might’ve died. We then printed images for painting. B (4yo) painted his very carefully, then painted a blanket over him to keep him warm ☺️ we worked together to paint a tree family. J (5yo) was not interested in painting at all 😆 Links to the Aus Curriculum in comments. Happy exploring!

28/12/2021

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my page! My name is Melisse and my purpose is to help people live past their labels and to create a safe space for them to try new things, make mistakes, get messy and explore. I want everyone that I’m around, young and older, to feel great about themselves and strong in their identity. I love to see a kiddo’s eyes light up when they grasp a new or tricky concept, and when they are exploring or learning something that excites them 🤩

I have 3 awesome boys and a wonderful husband. We like to read together, eat good food, play board games and watch movies 🍿

I have been teaching for 6 years in primary and special education classrooms and, in this new season, I’m teaching outside of the classroom and I’m really excited about it!

Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to chat about my services, I can’t wait to work together!