Welcome to Edition three of Doolandella Journey; Our Journey of Discovery and Development.
Fees as of July 2019
We recently sent out the following email to all families:
It is that time of the year, when Child Care Centres throughout Australia review their fees.
To ensure we continue to deliver high quality services and our operations remain viable, we will be increasing our fees as of Monday 1st July 2019 as follows …
| | 0-2 Years | | | 2-3 Years | | | 3-5 Years | | | 4-5 Years Kindergarten | |
| Current fee | NEW FEE | Extra Per Day | Current fee | NEW FEE | Extra Per Day | Current fee | NEW FEE | Extra Per Day | Current fee | NEW FEE | Extra Per Day |
| $99.50 | No Change | $0 | $97.50 | $99.50 | $2 | $93.50 | $96.50 | $3 | $92.50 | $95.50 | $3 |
The ongoing rise in operating costs and everyday expenses has been taken into account in creating the new fees.
The staff and management would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and families for your ongoing support. We believe that the strong relationships we share with you are an important aspect of our service and that this enables us to provide the best possible experiences for the children in our care.
If you have any questions Please don'e hesitate to see Miss Renae or Miss Allana in the office.
Upcoming Events
July
7-14 NAIDOC Week - NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
1-14 School holidays
If you would like us to celebrate any events from your culture please come and see Miss Allana or Miss Renae in the office to discus when it happens and how we can appropriate celebrate it and if you are available to join us in celebrating. Alternatively you can email us on
Educa
We have recently implemented a digital format for programming that allows families to get regular updates on learning stories and exciting events your child has been in, as well as a digital copy of the rooms Daily Learning Journey.
If you have not already received a request to create an account with Educa for your child please email
When you have a chance please update the about me section for your child so the staff can ensure that the program provided aligns with the children's interests.
Hello to our Nursery families,
Welcome to our latest Journey update. Over the last month the babies have engaged in a range of exciting activities to enhance their skills and abilities. These activities have included play, art, music and group time. These experiences have also extended on the children's interests.
Our focus this month will be language and Fine motor Skills. And some extended activities based on sensory .We have enjoyed watching our babies discover their strengths and abilities to reaching their milestones.
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
If you have any questions or queries don't hesitate to come and see us.
Until next time
Hello to the Toddler Families,
Firstly we would like to welcome Jonathan, Siaosi and Bosco who have recently joined us on our Journey in the Toddler room. We are very excited to have you join us on our Journey of Discovery and Development.
As our Under water adventure came to end the children began showing an interest in Farm Animals. This has extended from our group time singing where the children have been requesting to sing "Old MacDonald had a farm" frequently. The children have gotten more confident at suggesting animals to sing about and have been great at remembering what sound each animal makes. The children have been developing their verbal and communication skills through these experiences. To support their knowledge and understanding of farms and farm animals we have been exploring books, toy farm animals and even watched a video about farms. The children have been working hard on creating a farm display in our room. Please take some time to explore your child's art work.
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until next time
Hello to our Tweenies Families,
Firstly we would like to extend a big welcome to Olivia, we are excited to have you join us on our Journey.
This month our Journey has taken us on an exploration of DINOSAURS! The children have had the opportunity to explore different types of Dinosaurs, comparing sizes, identifying features as well as what food they eat. This has lead to some wonderful discussions where the children have engaged actively with each other as the contributed and shared their knowledge. They have also expanded their vocabulary with words such as biggest and smallest.
Our favourite dinosaur is the T-rex which the children love talking about and imitating. We have been watching short educational clips on the laptop during group time called 'I'm a Dinosaur' which is full of information about different species of dinosaurs found all over the world. We learnt how big a T-rex is compared to a house, how fast a velociraptor is compared to a car and what 'camouflage' means. Some of the activities we have enjoyed this month are t-rex foot paintings, making brontosaurus' with paper plates, hatching frozen dino-eggs, dinosaur dig sensory bin, duplo stamping dinosaurs and painting triceratop masks. We are still planning many more activities for the rest of the month including dinosaurs in lava slime, hatching dino bi-carb soda eggs, dinosaur egg spray painting, making dinosaur fossils and decorating dinosaur cookies!
We also wanted to thank our lovely parents who bought in afternoon tea for our super hero party last month. The children all looked fantastic in their costumes and enjoyed all their yummy treats during the party.
Just a friendly reminder, that all children in our room who are 2 years and older are required to bring in nappies from home. If you have any questions or wish to discuss toilet training for your child, please speak to one of the room staff at your convenience.
Thank you and we look forward to next months theme - insects!!
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until next time
Hello to our Junior Kindy Families,
Firstly we would like to welcome Anna who has recently joined us on our Journey in the Junior Kindy room. We would also like to introduce Miss Dipali and welcome her to Junior Kindy. Many of our older families may recognise Miss Dipali, who has recently returned from Maternity leave after having her son Aarav who has joined our Nursery group. For those of you who haven't meet Miss Dipali yet, she has been With Doolandella early Learning Centre since 2015. Having completed her Diploma of Children's services and having many years experience in Early Childhood we know that she will be a valuable asset to the room. If you haven't had the chance to yet please introduce yourself to Miss Dipali. We are excited to have her join us in the Junior Kindy and are looking forward to contributions to the room.
Our focus for this month has moved into Transport. We have noticed most of the children in our room consistently choose to play with the trains and, during combined grouping times in Pre-Kindy, we have noticed the children's interest in the car track. At group times we talk about our cars and bikes at home, as well as reading "Who Sank the Boat" and "Bicycles from Around the World". So far this month, the children have approached the programmed activities with enthusiasm and confidence. Here are a few activities we have already done:
- Cars in the playdough – The children have a section of playdough and a car each. They used their imaginations to role play with this activity and extended their own learning with the playdough.
- Painting car tracks – The children dip the car wheels into paint and roll them across the page to make tire tracks.
- Washing the cars – A water play activity where the children wash the cars in warm, soapy water with a cloth.
Here are some activities we have planned for the rest of the month:
- Cars in jelly – A sensory activity where the children can role play scenarios with their car.
- Matching cars – A matching activity where the children get a large picture of a car and they find the smaller picture that matches from a variety of different colours.
- Sorting cars – The children sort the cars into colour and number categories.
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until next time
Hello to our Pre-Kindy Families,
Firstly we would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our families and new friends who have joined us on our Pre-Kindy journey.
We have continued to explore a new letter and number each week. Each day at group time we have group discussions about the letter and number of the week, this reinforces their learning and expands their knowledge. These discussions also encourage the children to develop their communication skills and confidence.
We have continued to encourage the children's development in all areas such as fine motor, gross motor, hand eye coordination and social and language skills. These skills are regularly challenged through out the days activities. By providing challenges for the children we are encouraging them to to try their best to reach their goals and celebrate their successes.
Have you had a look at our learning Journey wall? Here you can see everything we have done over the last term.
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until Next time
Kindergarten 2020:
Children born between July 1st 2015 and June 31st 2016 are eligible for Kindergarten in 2020.
Here at Doolandella Early Learning Centre we provide a high quality Kindergarten program run by 3 experienced and qualified Teachers and overseen by our head kindergarten teacher Miss Renae.
The program is run in accordance to the Queensland Kindergarten Curriculum and focuses on empowering your child with the skills and knowledge for them to hit the ground running in prep 2021.
If you would like to know more about our Kindergarten Program we will be holding a Kindergarten 2020 Information Night early September where we will address any questions you may have regarding Kindergarten.
Just a Reminder that families receiving the Kindergarten Discount that it will not apply for the two weeks over the school holidays due to Kindergarten terms.
With the end of the year rapidly approaching and prep interviews looming many parents will start to become concerned that their child might need some extra assistance before heading off to school next year. If you have genuine concerns please don't hesitate to speak with your Child's Teacher (Miss Jazmin, Miss Reane or Miss Manpreet).
However if your just looking for some suggestions on activities to reinforce the learning at Kindergarten please read on.
Phonics:
Phonics is the sounds that the letters make. It is valuable for children to master the phonics of sounds before they attempt to read sight words. At Doolandella Kindergarten we implement the Jolly Phonics program. There is an app available for both android and apple devices; "Jolly Phonics". The basic app covers the first 6 sounds for free. to gain all 42 sounds that your child has/will learn this year will cost $19.99. We feel that this investment is well worth it as it includes audible sounds, stories, actions, formation, writing, songs that align with the program we are using in the classroom.
Numeracy:
We are currently researching Numeracy programs that can be used at home that align with our curriculum. If you have one you have found useful please share it with us.
In the meantime Children learn best through real life experiences; such as counting apples when shopping or counting while helping with cooking.
Hello to our Kindergarten One Families;
Firstly we would like to extend a warm Kindy One welcome to all of our new friends who have joined us on our Kindergarten Journey. Louis, Hope and Romeo.
We've had a very busy month, working hard, building friendships, growing independence and a love for long life learning. We are so proud of each one of the children and their improvements. The group continues to develop skills and knowledge that will help in preparation for Prep next year.
| Week | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Week Beginning | 20 May | 27 May | 3 June | 10 June |
| Letter and Sound | Gg | Oo | Uu | Ll |
| Number | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| Shape | Square | Square | Rectangle | Rectangle |
| Colour | Purple | Purple | Brown | Brown |
| Topic of interest | Road and care safety | Emergency Services | Water Safety and Bike Safety | Space |
With the weather getting cooler we have been participating lots of fun gross motor activities inside such as; dancing, and playing activities such as Simon Says. We have also designed our own bike helmets, producing a slide show about road and car safety, collaborating to create a solar system poster, building letters and numbers from lego and much more - you can see our Daily Learning Journey's on Educa - If you are not set up for Educa please see the office staff.
We have ventured outside once the weather warms up and had a wonderful time; practising road safety on the bike track, challenging our gross motor skills on the obstacle course, hunting for the shape of the week, digging for treasures in the sand pit, and much, much more.
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until Next time
Hello to our Kindergarten Two Families,
We have continued on with our exploration of transport. The children have had the opportunity to explore a variety of vehicles including emergency vehicles. This lead into the children wanting to know more about ambulance's, hospitals and doctors.
With the children taking the lead with their learning, we have explored different equipment and supplies that the children might encounter when they are visiting the Doctors or Hospital. The children have had the opportunity to role play and use the items them selves leading to them been more confident and comfortable when they next visit the doctors.
During group discussions we have discussed what we should do in an emergency; call 000.
From here we discussed the dentist. A few of the children expressed concerns about going to the dentist. We reassured them that the dentist is there to help us look after our teeth. Earlier in the year when we explored hygiene the children had the opportunity to practice brushing teeth using a giant set of teeth. They were excited when the teeth made an appearance again.
In the upcoming weeks we will be exploring construction workers and their vehicles.
We have continued to explore Numbers and Letters each week. Since our last update we have learnt the following:
| Week Beginning: | Letter | Number |
| 13/05/2019 | M | 12 |
| 20/05/2019 | D | 13 |
| 27/05/2019 | G | 14 |
| 03/06/2019 | O | 15 |
| 10/06/2019 | U | 16 |
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change. Please ensure all articles of clothing are named including jumpers, hats and socks.
Until next time
Hello to our Kindergarten three families,
This month our journey has seen a greater focus on refining our fine motor skills. The children have been working hard on their handwriting through our handwriting books, have you seen your child's Hand writing book yet? Please come and see me if you would like to see your child's progress.
We have continued to focus on fine motor activities such as cutting with scissors. While we have not mastered this skill yet the children are quickly developing more and more control of the scissors each time we use them. This skill will be valuable to them when they start prep next year.
We have continued to explore a new letter and number each week. However But we are doing different activities for eg; letter hunting, number hunting , alphabet puzzle, alphabet blocks, alphabetbean bags.As you know we are learning about different types of vehicles , in last couple of weeks children were learning about fire truck and ambulance activities. They were pretending a role if ambulance driver and nurses ,doctors and patients.
They are showing their interest in musical instruments as well . They are enjoying their own initiated activities during free play time and learning different types of skills.
At group time children are watchingeducational videos on the tv related tothe topic.Children are using iPad to support their numeracy and literacy skills. For example handwritingletter , number and shapes game.
Children are also exploring their imagination, language skills , team work skills and gross motor skills with outdoor activities .
If you have any concern about your child's development please don't hesitate to speak with me.
| Week Beginning | Letter | Number |
| 13/05/2019 | M | 12 |
| 20/05/2019 | D | 13 |
| 27/05/2019 | G | 14 |
| 03/06/2019 | O | 15 |
| 10/06/2019 | U | 16 |
We love to hear about adventures or exciting event your child and family have been involved in while not at the Centre. You can share these with us through Educa, When you log into your account and select your child and then Parent Stories. Here you will be able to upload photos and stories about your adventures. From here we will be able to extend on your stories with you child and their peers. This is a wonderful way to connect your child's home life with day care life.
With the Days getting cooler outdoor Play has been limited. We would like to remind parents to bring spare named warm clothes in case your child requires a wardrobe change.
Until Next time
