Preschool Room

Take A Tour of our Preschool Room!

Sports Classes

Sports classes are an extra-curricular experience conducted by experienced, skilled, and energetic professionals! Children involved in these classes will be supported in their interpersonal skills, increased attention span, gross motor skills, and balance and co-ordination. Experiences in the sessions supports skills in soccer, netball, football, and basketball.

Language/Linguistics

As we live in a multicultural community, we have found that there is a great interest in learning about aspects of other cultures. Languages are a large part of each culture. Tralee Gardens educators are culturally diverse, and therefore brings many opportunities for language learning. Currently, the Preschoolers are learning counting, colours, and animals in Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, French, Dhurag (Aboriginal dialect), and Arabic.

Yoga

Yoga is a great activity for children to practice their mindfulness, breathing techniques, and yoga stretches. When in the yoga experience, children become more active, flexible, and mindful for an increased overall wellbeing.

Art Classes

Art classes are an extra-curricular experience conducted by Shayoka’s Art Classes. Children are naturally creative! The benefits of art for children include, assisting with patience, improves concentration and focus, increases self-confidence and self-control, and provides a feeling of accomplishment.

Transition To School

Tralee Gardens Preschool is led by our assistant director, Nargis, an Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) for over 15 years. Her wealth of knowledge and continuous professional development allows for an extensive program that challenges children, as well as to support children in reaching their milestones.

In Preschool’s daily routine, there are many elements in the everyday program that assist children with their transition into Kindy. This includes, but not limited to, separate toilets for boys and girls, understanding how to take care of their belongings (e.g., hat, bag, artwork, etc.), early literacy, and numeracy experiences (including letter and number recognition and writing), emotional regulation, and essential social skills through the PALS program, as well as how to make friends!

Towards the end of the year, children who are transitioning into Kindy will be asked to bring in their lunchboxes to practice opening/closing their lunch boxes. Sandwiches will be provided during this time and will be placed in each lunch box.

PALS Program

Tralee Gardens Preschool uses the PALS social skills program to support children’s social skills in their play. The PALS (Playing and Learning to Socialise) social skills program teaches children from 3 to 6 years of age about greeting others, listening, sharing, taking turns, dealing with feelings of fear, sadness, and anger, and solving problems.

Learning social skills like these in early childhood is just as important as learning numeracy and literacy, and of the utmost importance for children’s future development. The PALS social skills program is an Australian research-based educational resources developed by clinical psychologists and early childhood teachers, for use in everyday practice in early learning settings.

Sustainability

Tralee Gardens creates a supportive learning environment to encourage children’s sustainable learning. Everyday sustainable experiences include, feeding and tending to our pet chickens, watering, and picking fruits, vegetables, and herbs from our garden, use recycled materials for experiences, separate bins, compost, and a worm farm.

ICT

Technology has increasingly become a great tool for investigating, discovery, and interactions for children at Tralee Gardens. Engaging in ICT experiences offers opportunities for children to explore their ideas in new ways. Children input their expressions for their interests in various ways through ICT. The skills children strengthen by using technology is essential in the early years, especially before transitioning to Kindy.

Dramatic Play

In dramatic play, children act as if their imagined world was an active word and represent familiar feelings, thoughts, actions, and feelings for themselves. Children develop skills in listening and speaking, express ideas and feelings through language and action, and practice working cooperatively with confidence as individuals, small groups, and in large groups.

Cooking

Cooking is an essential skill for children as it relates to many areas of their learning and development. Mathematical concepts such as measurement, counting, and addition are all supported through the cooking experiences. Cooking also enhances elements of children’s wellbeing, including turn-taking, self-confidence, and understanding of their physical wellbeing.

Through creating a foundation of healthy eating, children will feel more enthusiastic about trying new foods as they were part of the creating process. Cooking also allows children to explore their knowledge of their own cultural foods, and the difference between other cultural foods.

Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Perspectives

In 2022, the Australian Government Department of Education updated the Early Years Learning Framework (Early childhood curriculum framework) to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into everyday practice in early learning settings. Tralee Gardens has always implemented many elements of the program to support children’s knowledge of Aboriginal culture and perspectives. This creates a respectful environment for children to grow in their knowledge of the world around them.