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April 2017

Doolandella April Newsletter

I have been very excited to come & join the Doolandella Early Learning Centre's network of Educators, thank you for welcoming me so warmly. Evonne & Alana have both finished their work to put their feet up for some well-deserved maternity leave before their wonderful family additions arrive in May, we look forward to sharing that happy news with the families. Every day you will see both Christine & I in the office, please be sure to bring any changes to enrolment, payment or child/family needs to us so that we may support you.

Easter Egg Parade & Hunt

Our younger children will be putting those busy bodies to great use on Thursday 13th April in a race to collect goodies throughout the playgrounds in an Easter egg hunt at 10am, while the older children will be showing off their talents in an Easter Hat Parade 10.30am . All families are welcome to attend & cheer their children on J

Public Holidays

Just a reminder that the Centre will be closed on Friday 14th, Monday 16th April for Easter, Monday 25th April for Anzac Day and also Monday 1st May for Labour Day.All booked days including public holidays and absent days are still charged as discussed on enrolment and swap days are not available.

Class Changes & Transitions

As of Tuesday 18th April 2017, we will be splitting our Pre Kindy class into two to accommodate for a young & an older side of 3-4 year old children. All families that will be affected by this move have been sent home letters in advance to detail the changes & arrangements. If you have any questions or concerns surrounding your child's class change or transition up to an older class, please see Rebecca in the office.

Thank you, Rebecca

Nursery.

Welcome again to the latest edition of Nursery news.We are so happy to see that all our babies are enjoying exploring the room, the different areas and toys and are quickly settling into nursery life.Happy Birthday to the babies who have recently celebrated their 1st birthdays: Mia, Isabelle, Chloe, Hudson, Lilly Rose, Xavier and Fletcher.

Last month we had our "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme where we enjoyed exploring a variety of textures and colours,shapes and even tastes just like the hungry caterpillar itself. .We also enjoyed lots of outdoor play in the sunshine as we welcomed Autumn and our babies who have just started walking are so happy exploring their outdoor environment with their new skill. For our crawlers, they enjoyed their tummy time play or crawling around the playground.

This month we will be exploring things that we see in the farm, the different farm animals and the sounds they make. This is an extension of the babies' interest in our Old Mcdonald Book and Song. We will be incorporating it into dramatic play using farm animal hand puppets, story books and sensory art activities. Please feel free to speak to us if you have any suggestions or ideas you would want to add in our programme.

Till next time!

Your Nursery Staff:

Miss Arleen, Miss Casey and Miss Esther

Toddler.

Welcome to the Toddler class,

In the last few months the children have been learning about farm animals & are trying to recognise these furry friends during the stories we are reading about them. Keira, Abagail & Vienna know about the different types of animals on the pictures & celebrate how clever they are. We are also teaching the children introduction of healthy foods through pictures, this helps to know recognition of food such as apple, orange, banana & potato.

At the moment we are also trying to settle some of the children with higher needs, dedicating our support to their emotional & social development. We're working on building their confidence by doing activities that they enjoy & can bond over such as painting, collage & sorting colours. In the extension of the activity we challenge the children to develop their fine & gross motor skills using balance beams, running races & stepping stone hopping.

As educators we try to support every child's developmental needs making goals for us to work on & the child to work towards, if you have goals or areas of development you're focusing on at home with your child, please feel free to contribute these towards your child's learning.

Thank you, Helen, Faapepe, Josie, Cassandra & Maragret.

Tweenies

What's been happening in Tweenies?

This month in Tweenies we have been focusing on colours! We have been doing colour recognition & colour sorting experiences and the children are starting to be able to correctly identify most common colours. We will be continuing with colour as our main focus in the Tweenies class but also introducing some new ways of exploring colour through sensory play such as mixing colours through shaving foam, making colour mixing bags and exploring how light travels through & projects colours.

If you have any experiences that your child has enjoyed at home relating to colour exploration, please don't hesitate to share them with myself or Miss Cariad so that we can add them into our program as family input.

Please be reminded to make sure your child brings the following items in their bags each day; 5-6 nappies, drink bottle, hat, sheets & healthy lunch, all labelled with your child's name.

Thank you

Junior Kindy

Dear parents

We would like to start off by talking about what we have done over the past month.

As you may have seen from our room we have been focusing on our numbers, colours, and shapes. We have focused on a colours each day by creating experiences incorporating these colours, all the children have really enjoyed learning about all the colours each day. From next week we are focusing on letters and numbers recognition.

The children will also be gaining more independence with their toileting and moving to being more confident when independently toileting.

We welcome parents input in many ways so please feel free to communicate with us about your child, our programme, our class.

Thank you

Miss Praxa, Miss Sarai ,Miss Christine ,Miss Sophia, and Miss Florence

Pre-Kindy

Hello and welcome to term 2 for all our new and existing parents.We have had a very exciting term 1 with all the children settling well in their new room.

Just a reminder to ensure you pack at least 2 sets of clothes, hat, water bottle and sheets (all named please) each day your child attends the service. The children are wearing jumpers as the mornings are getting quite cool but during the day it is still warm outside so could you please make sure you pack short sleeved shirts for the comfort of your child.

I will be moving to a smaller room with some of the older Pre-Kindy children after Easter.If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to talk to me, Miss Praxa or Miss Dipali who will be your child's Educators in the Pre Kindy room.

Miss Karen, Miss Dipali and Mr Daniel

Kindergarten 1

This term the children have shown great interest in building both constructively & creatively. On the 27th March we had a mini project with building castles & towers all the while imagining who lives in these houses & the surrounding magical lands! We extended on this using cardboard boxes encouraging the children to stack & build even bigger, wider & stronger.

Mystery Box – each week the children learn a letter in our mystery box where the children are encouraged to gather items from home that begin with that week's letter to share with their class in Show & Share.

Healthy Food Topic – on the 20th March our class had a group discussion on food, what is healthy often foods & what is unhealthy sometimes foods, sorting good into groups & what intake is recommended on the healthy eating pyramid.

Group Body Awareness Talk – We have spoken about how we can learn to respect others, we sang 'The Continent Song' & reminded each other that we are all different in our unique ways. We are different by culture, boys & girls but we are all humans.

Social & Emotional Welfare – The children are learning to look after themselves by;

*Making their own beds

*Opening their own lunch boxes

*Coming to an adult for assist

Literacy – S, A, T, I, P & N (Group C, K, E & H (Group 2)

Numeracy – We are currently looking at the numbers 0-20

Thematic Studies – we're currently driving into 'The Hungry Caterpillar Series'this term.

Thank you, Angeline & Sabrina.

Kindergarten 2

Hi to all our fabulous parents in the Kindergarten 2 room. Firstly I would like to thank those parents who attended our parent teacher evening. It was great opportunity to discuss your child's achievements and progress so far this year.

As term two begins next week the children, Miss Hannah & I will begin our new letters, sounds, numbers and shapes. During next term we will also explore road safety and transport as well as people who help us in our community. During this learning process we would appreciate your time to come in and talk to the children about your work. Wear your uniform and bring in any supplies (e.g. Doctors Medical Bag, Tool Belt, Hairdressing/Beauty Supplies etc.) This is an exciting opportunity for the children to get to know their friend's parents and for them to learn more about community helpers, whilst it allows you the opportunity to spark your children's interest further.

What can you do to assist your child's learning?

Parents play an important role in their children's speech and language development. Children learn language every day and as a parent you provide your children with a variety of opportunities to communicate at home and in the community. The growth of literacy skills is a vital part of your child's overall development. But before your child learns to read and write, she/he needs to develop the foundations for literacy – the ability to speak, listen, understand, watch and draw. With time, and your assistance, your child will also come to understand the connection between letters on a page and spoken words. For this to happen, she/he will need plenty of experience with:

pictures and objects – how you can use words to talk about them

letters and words – sounds and names

reading with your child

These basic skills will give your child a great head start when he/she reaches school and starts learning the more formal aspects of literacy.

Jolly Phonics – Early literacy and writing skills

Each week your child learns a new letter and sound using the Jolly phonics program. Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. The letters are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible. This program continues through school enabling the teaching of essential grammar, spelling and punctuation skills. I would encourage the use of this program at home with your child using this link

On a final note, I invite families to make comments in our Parent Communication Book. You might like to voice your concerns, happiness and ideas. Monthly parent input forms are available for your input into the curriculum as this information assists me in identifying your child's interest and needs outside the centre.

Looking forward to term two's learning journey with your child.

Kind Regards

Miss Renae and Miss Hannah

Schoolies

Welcome to Term 1.

The learning program for this term explored "Health and Safety" precautions during "Storm Season", and how to reduce the risks from any kind of injury such as:

Stay in the room and undercover when it's raining in case of flooding and lightning;

Stay calm not panic;

Stay with the group;

Knowing where to find shelter;

Keep in touch to Teacher's and Educator;

Don't be afraid to ask help when its needed;

Paying attention and listen to the educational group discussion, (health and safety topic etc.); and

Paying attention to any siren's noises.

Schoolies also learned during this term talking about how we feel, and the importance of effective communications.

Schoolies were encouraged during the term of taking responsibility of their own actions. As we grow up, we should take responsibility such as:

Know your own personal belonging;

What you say or do, to other's be responsible etc.

Parents and Guardians are welcome to contribute any suggestion to our Schoolies

Kind Regards

Miss Vicky

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