September Newsletter

From the office 

Welcome to our new families that have just joined our service.

As Spring has arrived we are hoping to instil the learning of looking after our environment by planting new flower and herb seeds through the new Woolworths promotion. By doing so we will provide the children with an opportunity to plant and care for their new seedlings in support of our sustainability program.  We are asking Families that shop at Woolworths to collect the small plant pot and seeds in a move that looks to inspire a new green-fingered generation and donate these to the Service. All rooms including our little ones in the Nursery will have an opportunity to participate in this learning therefore we need your support to assist us with donating these plant pots and seeds. 

Please give your donations to either Renae or Gayna so they can distribute the plant pots to the rooms so all the children can participate in the program.

Nursery 

Welcome to the nursery!!!!

We are here to update our planned activities and program for this month. This month we have focused on sensory, social and cognitive skills. We help and support the needs of each child and we maintain our good relationship with parents. As educators we are happy that parents collaborate on the learning needs of their children and contribute ideas for the program.

This month we are providing our babies with opportunities to explore the numbers 1 to 5.  We are doing this through the use of sensory play, painting, reading number books and singing number rhymes. During these experiences we have notices our little ones expressing enjoyment for painting by clapping their hands and smiling as feel the texture of the paint. 

We have noticed several of the children playing with the musical instruments and making sounds. In continuation of their interest we have introduced the children to outdoor play where they can use the music station outside our room to make as much noise as they want without waking their friends resting in the sleep room.

As the month goes on we will continue to encourage the children to use their fine and gross motor skills through teacher planned experiences. 

On a final note please remember to dress your child appropriate to whether conditions as the days are warming up. As the whether is perfect for outdoor play we have been using the mid morning session to perform our gross motor skills in the playground hence the reason for appropriate Spring clothing. Please remember to label these belongings so we can place them back in your child's bag so they do not get lost.

Miss Arley, Miss Praxa and Miss Chloe

Toddlers

Hello and welcome again to the Toddlers Room. This month, we welcomed our new friend Yusra from the Nursery – a big welcome to Aiden who started recently in Toddlers Room also. We are happy to have you on board and are pretty sure we will have lots of fun learning together.

After our ALL ABOUT ME last month, this month we started on our new and exciting adventure – OUR MULTICULTURAL FAMILY!! 

We started with the Samoan culture. The children coloured the Samoan flag, made Samoan fans and Ms Pepe and the two Samoan children dressed up in Samoan costumes and performed the Samoan dance. Last week, we are looked at the Philippines culture with Ms Arleen. The children were given an opportunity to taste test some Philippines food e.g. rice. Ms Arleen encouraged the children to do the Philippines dance and the children copied the Philippines song actions. This week we are looking at the Indian culture with Ms Khushi. 

We have been teaching the children the numbers from 1-10 and letters from A-Z, and some children are starting to recognise these in play and art work around the room. Come and see our children's art work displayed on our wall.

As it is warming up, we remind our parents to bring enough spare clothes for your child as we have started to do our water sensory play.

If there is anything you would like to speak about to educators, do not hesitate to come and see us. We also appreciate any ideas and suggestions you would like to add in our weekly program.

Till next time,

Miss Arleen, Miss Khushi and Miss Faapepe

Tweenies

Hello to our Tweenies families and welcome to our newsletter for September!

Our theme for this month is 'All About Me' which is focusing on our bodies and our feelings. The children have enjoyed this topic so far and we have been having some great discussions during group time about our bodies, senses, facial features, our similarities and our differences. We have learnt that our bodies are amazing and work perfectly while playing, jumping, running, balancing, climbing, talking and dancing. Some activities we have done this month are face collages, rainbow oat sensory bins, head, shoulders, knees and toes collage, feelings sensory tray, body movement games, handprint paintings and creating our face using food! We still have many fun activities coming up - chalk body outlines, herb ice cube trays, footprint paintings, body collages, and making body pizzas!

We have updated our 'All About Me' photo wall with some new photo's of the children which we have all enjoyed looking at and discussing. Please feel free to look through the photos with your child and ask them to point themselves out as well as their friends. We have started putting up artwork from this month and will be including the children's All About Me forms that we have sent home in their bags. If you could please complete and return these forms over the next week that would be greatly appreciated. We will be using the information in these forms for next months topic - culture and family.

We would also like to kindly remind our parents to please label all of your child's belongings as there are some children with the same clothing, hats and bottles. Also, if your child is in nappies, please provide these in their bags or you may leave a pack of nappies in their locker.

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

Hello and Welcome to our September Newsletter.

The month of August through to September has been full of exciting experience for the Pre Kindy room, as they had the opportunity to engage in experiences that helped them to use their skills. We have fully completed our alphabet letters which we have been focusing on each week. And I have to say we are so proud of our pre kindy friends and how much this alphabet topic has helped them with their letters. So WELL DONE Pre Kindy 😊

This month we will be focusing and learning about ourselves as individuals, which will be "All about me" topic. Getting to know what each child likes and dislikes, their background, their family tree etc. So please parents if you have any ideas to help with our up coming topics, please do let us know. We would love to have your input in our upcoming topic.

As the warm weather is approaching, just want to remind parents about hats and spare clothes. We have noticed children coming in layers of clothing which they properly don't need as it gets very warm throughout the day. Also please remember to label all your child's belongings. We have had a few belongings that have been mistakenly taken home by parents. And if you know that these items don't belong to your child please do return them back as it belongs to another child.

Sarai, Sophia & Esther

Kindergarten 1

Hello Parents, Families and Children of Kindergarten One.

Over the past 4 weeks we have been encouraging the children to seek and accept help when needed from their peers and then the teachers after trying an experience independently. Teaching and modelling a social skill like this will inspire them to use their independence and solve their own problems before coming to an adult.

This past month we have been busy as bees as usual. During the EKKA week we had a blast learning about different foods and animals from the farm and enjoyed a fantastic Family Fun EKKA Day on Friday.

The following fortnight Miss Phoebe and I introduced the children to Australian Aboriginal people and spoke about cultural diversity in this country. The children had fun being creative with both the Australian and Australian Aboriginal flags. It was so enjoyable to watch the children attempt to copy some of the Aboriginal symbols with black, red, yellow and brown paints. Once they painted the symbols, I modelled to them how to fill in the spaces with dots.

It's almost the end of term and the September School Holidays will be here soon. During this time we will do Literacy and Numeracy Testing in order to guide our teaching learning for the rest of the year.

Reminders:

• Please remember to label al items.
• Pack a sheet, blanket, hat, spare clothes and a LATE snack (If required).
• NO TOYS PLEASE!
• DRINK BOTTLES AND LUNCH BOXES ARE NOT REQUIRED!
• If you have items missing, please come and see us. These are some of the items that have been here for months.
  

During the daily Literacy/Numeracy session the children complete a handwriting worksheet for the number and/or the letter of the week. Each week they also either trace and free draw the shape of the week or cut and paste it into their work booklets. During this session the Kindergarten children are becoming more focused and now can organise the equipment they need for the task. 

Indoor Experiences:, writing our name free hand, free drawing, working as a team to keep the room tidy, learning our Graduation Song, threading, creative visual arts at the collage table, Creating farm pictures, painting the Australian Aboriginal Flag, farm animal puzzles, creating our name in glitter, independently handwriting, exploring the Alphabet Soup, dancing, singing, colour sorting, finding farm food in supermarket catalogues, Dolls and Doctors, saying letters in our name, and much, much more.

Outdoor Experiences: investigating the see-saw, bouncing and doing tricks on the balancing beam, baking in the sandpit, Tug-O-War, carrying bean bags without using our hands and while climbing the obstacle course, socializing and building friendships, Duck, Duck Goose, animal role playing, chasing games, watering the gardens, 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.

As we are coming towards the end of the year and closer to the start of Primary School we encourage you to come and chat with us about any concerns you have with your child. We are here to work in partnership to help prepare your children for school.

Until next time we meet, have a Great Day!

Miss Jazmin and Miss Phoebe

Kindergarten 2 

Hello and a huge welcome to all of our new families to Kindergarten 2 and in particular Braxton, JJ and Olivia. We are all excited to have new friends and are looking forward to getting to know you all.

So what's been happening in Kindergarten 2? We finalised our unit of work on farming by making our very own bread grown from wheat on the farm and made Mr and Mrs Potato heads using vegetable crops.

September has taken us on a new adventure were we are currently learning about sustainable practices and how to look after our environment at Kindy. We introduced the children to an idea of recycling which they were familiar with by performing these activities at home with family e.g. recycling newspapers and milk bottles and placing them in the yellow recycling bin. To reinforce this learning the children used our recycling station at kindy located in the front foyer. They took turns at placing plastic and glass bottles in the recycling station and then placing aluminium cans in the right bin. Miss Renae then took the items recycled by the children to the recycling plant where we raised $24.20 for our fundraising. Well done children! We encourage our parents to continue to recycle plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans as we get 10c for every eligible container that has a bar code.

In continuation of sustainable practices our Kindy children created a worm farm last week. They created a false floor in the bottom of the bin and then added shredded paper, compost and worms. We then fed the worms scraps from our kitchen. Once the worms begin to grow they will produce fertiliser which will be used to fertilise our plants and vegetables which we will be planting after the school holidays.

In the final week of term 3 the children will create small composting stations that will assist in minimising kitchen scraps as the scraps can be composted and or given to the worms as food. Once the compost stations break down over time we will use the compost on our newly established plants and vegetables.

Looking forward to a continuation of learning with your children.

Miss Renae, Miss Casey & Miss Karen

Kindergarten 3

Hi Parents

First of all a big welcome to our new children Adeline and Sandra who started last month. In term-3 children have continued to develop self-help skills, social skills and communication skills in the room at group time through dramatic play, during transitions and settling in new routines. They are also accomplishing their academic achievements. We are continuing to develop the children's fine motor skills by correcting pencil grips and practicing of handwriting. They are also using fine motor skills by completing collage, drawing, and cutting activities. Children who are going to school next year are showing their confidence in handwriting, spelling of their names, Alphabet, numbers, colours and shapes. 

We are also running indoor/outdoor program throughout the day and providing activities and creating an environment according to children's need and interest.

In the month of August, we learnt about the planets and the solar system. The children participated in activities where they painted and collaged planets and traced and outline of planets to form circles. Our favourite planet we studied was Earth and we are learning how to keep our planet clean through sustainable practices.

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring plants and how they grow. To accomplish this task, we are asking that any families shopping at Woolworths and wont be participating in the Discovery Garden at home please consider donating the seeds and pots to the Kindy 3 room. Through growing plants the children have the opportunity to explore and respond to the world around them, show concern for living things such as herbs and flowers, explore plants with all their senses, explore mathematical concepts when comparing growth of plants and expand on their scientific concepts when making predictions and recording growth of the plants.

Please ensure your child is coming with a hat and sheets every day.

Thank you

Miss Manpreet, Miss Lana, Miss Dipali and Miss Florence