From the office 

Hello Families and welcome to our July News

Our Service has been busy creating new learning opportunities in the Nursery. The Nursery had a makeover on the weekend and now allows our little ones to explore different skills as well as build on their existing ones. 


​NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC week celebrations provided opportunities for the children to show respect for diversity and to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our Educators provided opportunities for our children to explore these cultures through planned experiences.

​Ekka Fun Day & Show Bags

We are celebrating our 5th Birthday at the service and are holding an Ekka Fun Day. Come and join in the fun on the 16th August 9.30 - 11.30am.

If you want to avoid the crowds of the Ekka, or just can't find the time or money to go, we have a solution for you.

You can still take part in the fun by purchasing a show bag from us as we are selling show bags at the Service. The show bags range from Bertie Beatle Bags, Girls Only, Superhero and much much more.

Prices start from $6.50 each or 3 for $18.00. All proceeds go back into your child's room for more fun and educational resources.

*** Please return money and order form by Friday 2nd August ***

​Upcoming Events

2nd August – Show Bag order forms and money to be returned

14th August - Centre Closed - Ekka Show Day

16th August – Doolandella's 5th Birthday Celebration (EkkA Fun Day)

Nursery  

Welcome to the Nursery

Over the last month we have performed plenty of sensory play that allowed the children to explore their 5 senses. Small and large body movements have assisted to develop their fine motor and gross motor skills. Reinforcing this learning most of our little ones are beginning to hold objects in their hands during program activities like painting. 

Our room has been redesigned to incorporate learning areas where the babies can display several dispositions for learning. Even though our children predominately play independently we provide opportunities for group play so they can interact with each other to enhance social skills. Opportunities also exist for the children to socialise in our outdoor playground with older children. 

Our current focus this month for the children is self help skills. The older children are attempting to feed themselves by holding spoons to eat. We will continue to assist the children building on these skills. 

Please feel free to contribute or share ideas for programmed activities as we welcome any ideas and suggestions you may have. Thank you to our parents who frequently update us on their child's individual needs and we will continue to accommodate these changes for you. 

Until next time...

Miss Praxa, Miss Arley & Miss Chloe

Toddlers 

Hello and welcome again to the toddler room. Firstly we would like to extend a big welcome to James, Scarlett and Evaan. We are excited to have you join us on our journey. We are happy to have you on board and are pretty sure we will have lots of fun learning together. In the beginning of the month we celebrated Naidoc week and the children participated in art activities relating to the Indigenous culture.  Come and see our children's art worked displayed on our wall.

This month our journey has taken us on an exploration of the Jungle. The children have had the opportunity to explore different types of animals for example Elephants and Snakes. To reinforce the learning of these animals we used our creative skills and made animal foot paintings. We introduced sensory play with the children using green colour noddles and added jungle animals for the children to explore using our sense of touch. During this play session some children were able to identify the sounds of the animals which they had found in the noodles e.g. tiger.... ROAR!!!!! During group time we have been singing 5 little monkeys using the finger puppets. Our toddlers are becoming more verbal using their emerging language and communications skills.

Its officially winter time so if we could ask our parents to make sure that your child comes with shoes, socks and jumpers all labelled please.

Please feel free to speak with us in relation to your child's learning and development needs.

Miss Arleen, Miss Faapepe and Miss Khushi

Tweenies

Hello Tweenie families and welcome to our newsletter for July!

This has been an exciting month for Tweenies, with changes and additions to our class room. We have added a discovery area, chalk table, coffee and smoothie station, baby area and sensory table to our room. The children love these new additions, as you can see in the photos. We look forward to making a few more changes over the next few weeks and welcome any feedback or suggestions from our parents.

Our theme for July has been insects and our children are loving it so far. We have watched a few short clips with real photos and videos about insects we may find in our back yard and even here at the centre! We talked about what these insects look like, the noises they make and what beautiful patterns some of them have on their bodies. We have enjoyed some messy sensory activities such as bugs in green spaghetti, insects in slime, spiders in playdough and dragonflies in a pond. Our children have also enjoyed art activities - making spiders, a bumble bee collage, painting butterflies and a jar of bugs using our fingerprints.

We look forward to next month's theme - jungle animals!

If you have any questions or queries about your child, please do not hesitate to speak to one of the room staff.

Kind regards,

Cassandra, Cariad and Margaret

Pre Kindy  

Firstly, we would like to say a big welcome to our friends and their families who moved up from the Junior Kindy room. We have loved getting to know you better and are excited to have you join us on our Journey.

In the Pre Kindy room this month, we have continued to explore a new letter and a number each week during our group time. As each letter and number is introduced we offer a variety of experiences and activities such as art and craft, sensory play, collage, painting, counting buttons or building up blocks, letter and number tracing, colouring and number puzzels, number and letter hop scotch and balloon play to encourage each child's learning progress. While children participated during these activities they are able to use their verbal communication skills, fine and gross motor skills and hand- eye coordination.

A reminder, please remember to label your children's belongings as items such as bed linen, shoes, hats and jumpers are being misplaced. Other children within the service have similar items therefore it needs to be labelled. Hats & Bed linen – Several children have had no hat or bedding. These two items are a daily requirement for a child to bring into our pre kindy room. During scheduled sessions of physical activity outside if your child does not have a hat they are unable to participate in the programmed activities. They remain on the veranda due to our sun protection policy. Lastly as the weather is getting cooler please ensure you dress your child appropriately as per weather conditions e.g. shoes, socks and jumper. 

Miss Sarai, Miss Sophia and Miss Esther

Kindergarten 1  

Hello Children, Parents and Families of Kindergarten One for 2019.

Welcome our new friends and families – Aaliyah, Louis, Noah.V, Amelia, Dulina

Over the past month the children of Kindergarten One have been encouraged to build on friendships and try making new ones. This focus allowed much discussion around what a good friend does, how to keep friends and how to make new ones. The experiences over the fortnight provided opportunities for the children to build a sense of security and trust, build positive relationships with peers, show increasing respect for differences, and explore ways to effectively communicate with others.

Over the School Holidays it was great to have the Schoolies come in and play with us. There was a high interest in the Construction Learning Area – Magnetic Panel Manipulatives, Lego, Straw Construction, wooden train set. The children had fun receiving a letter from the Kindergarten Two class to which they replied with the help of Miss Phoebe. The next day the children had fun writing pretend letters to their friends and family. 

Kindergarten One Loves Learning!!

Indoor Experiences: mixing paint with a friend using our hands, independently handwriting, constructing cars, houses and 3D shapes with the Magnetic Panel Shapes, creating our name as a mosaic, completing giant number and alphabet puzzles with a friend, putting the groceries in alphabetical order, collaging Friendship Heart, dancing, singing and playing instruments, saying letters in our name, performing shows with multicultural puppets and much, much more.

Outdoor Experiences: Completing the obstacle course while holding hands with a friend, bouncing and doing tricks on the balancing beam, socializing and building friendships, animal role playing, team building in the construction area, running races, playing hiding and chasing games, throwing and kicking balls to each other and much more.

We continue reading every day! Reading is so important in education and we love it!! If you have any books to donate that would be appreciated.

Until next time we meet, have a Great Day!

Miss Jazmin and Miss Phoebe

Kindergarten 2  

Welcome back to Term 3

So what's been happening in Kindergarten? July has been one of our busiest months with the start of the month focusing on NAIDOC week. The children were given plenty of opportunities to engage in activities relating to the indigenous culture.

In continuing with diversity and cultures we have begun our new learning journey exploring all about me and where my family is from. This week we are learning about the 7 continents of the world and within those continents where our friends and children's parents originate from.

This has been an exciting time for us as we have children originating from 4 of the major continents Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Our learning will take us on a journey of investigating these continents further by looking at places of interest within those continents, animals, foods and schools of these continents. A large world map on our learning wall in the classroom depicts the places the children come from. The children have learnt the 7 continents song and continue to sing it daily during morning group time.

Towards the end of the month will see us engaging in traditional dances of these cultures with the assistance of our staff within the service that also come from many different cultures e.g. Philippines, Samoa, Africa and India.

Until next month

Miss Renae, Miss Casey and Miss Karen

Kindergarten 3  

Hello Everyone

First of all we would like to say a big hello and warm welcome to the new families and children moved from the Pre-Kindy room. Good to see them settling in well and learning room rules and getting familiar with the new environment.

The first week of Term 3 we are focusing on OUR FIVE SENSES. The Children are developing an interest in the topic of the week and are actively involved in the activities planned for their development. 

For Term 3 in the month of July we are focussing on

Letter J, Z, W

Numbers 19 and 20 (Review 0-20)

Shapes- Circle and Oval

Colours- Orange and Blue

We are encouraging children to use their self –help skills, fine and gross motor and social skills whilst being engaged in the day-to-day routine. We would also like to request spare clothes and hat for the children as some children are still attending the service daily without these items. Please ensure you name all your child's belongings so it doesn't go missing.

If your have any concern about the program and your child's learning and development please don't hesitate to come and see Miss Manpreet, Miss Dipali, Miss Florence.