From the Office

 It is great to see so many smiling faces here at Piptree Sunnybank Hills. It has been wonderful looking at the photos from the Easter holidays, and the many adventures and experiences the children have had with their families.

I would like to advise you that Miss Yu-Mei (Sophie) will be on leave until the 1^st of June. In the meantime, Miss Aman will take over as a lead educator in Blossom 2, and together with Miss Cindy, they will continue to deliver a high standard of education and care in the room.

Next Wednesday is ANZAC Day, so our service will be closed for the public holiday. Our centre will also be closed on Monday the 7^th of May for Labour Day. 

On Friday the 11^th of May, at 3pm, we would like to invite all the mums and grandmas to this year's Mother's Day Afternoon tea. The children will make some goodies with lots of love, and share them with their most beloved. I hope to see you there, and until then

Keep Smiling,

Natasa

Reports from the Rooms

Pips

Hi everyone,

It is that time again to bring you the news from the Pips room. We are welcoming our newest babies Kruz, Daniel and Archer and hope they will settle in the room.

It is great to see that the babies are developing physically. Some of them are crawling and some of them are so close to walking independently. During music time, babies are imitating actions like clapping and waving.

Due to wet weather in the last month, we've been keeping our babies busy indoors. Babies are enjoying exploring our new wall mounted toys. The toys help to improve babies fine motor skills, sensory motor skills and cognitive skills. Also, we have done several art activities. Though it is quite challenging to focus the babies on the art, during Easter, we made a footprint carrot which the babies enjoyed a lot.

Miss Annie, our nursery room assistant, has been away for the last few weeks for health concerns. She is recovering well and will be back by mid-April. Miss Amanpreet, our new assistant, is doing a great job.

As the weather is getting cooler, please provide a blanket for naptime and please make sure you pack some warmer clothes in their bag.

Cheers, Miss Sanchita and Miss Amanpreet 

Sprouts 1

Hello all!

Wow what a busy few months it has been. Settling into the room, meeting lots of new children, it has been a pleasure getting to know all the new families and we're looking forward to our futures together.

We would like to congratulate Aria on becoming a big sister to Levi and a huge congratulations to Mum and Dad as well.

These last months, there have been so many celebrations like: Valentine's Day, harmony day and Easter. We celebrated these special occasions with art activities and discussing the topics with the toddlers. Although they may not understand 100% the meaning behind these celebrations, it's a great idea to start to talk with them early in life, so it's familiar for them in the future.

Having Miss Zeljka back in the room has been fabulous. She brings new light and new ideas, and of course, the children love her bubbly, excitingpersonality.

The main focus these past few months have been our new toys or as we like to call them "learning aids", all of which enhance their scientific, literacy, fine/ gross motor skills and mathematics skills, while we play we learn! We are beginning to learn our colours and numbers through our play and much much more. Another focus has been sensory play, the toddlers love to get their hands dirty. We especially had fun with a water experience of washing our pretend babies in the big water trough, many of the toddlers showed their caring and nurturing skills through the experience these skills are great to develop at a young age to have a positive life outcome.

Regular tooth brushing is important for both children and adults. It helps to remove the bacteria and plaque that causes tooth decay and gum disease. It's good for children to start having their teeth brushed early so that they can see tooth brushing as part of their daily routine.

Most parents should have received our notice about our interest in brushing the toddler's teeth before rest time, please bring in a toothbrush, some toothpaste, and a container to store them in.

If you have a questions or concerns about this please don't hesitate to ask myself Miss Melissa or Miss Zeljka.

Over the next couple of months, we will continue to focus on colours and numbers, and of course the children's continually changing interests.

Until next time!

Lots of love: Miss Melissa, Miss Zeljka and sprouts 1 children 

Sprouts 2

Hello and welcome everyone!

Through all this time we saw how the children in the Sprouts 2 room have accelerated incredibly in different areas of their play and learning. We welcome new families into the room and we are pleased with how they integrated into the environment.

Currently the children are demonstrating interest in painting and art activities. They are developing a range of skills such as curiosity, cooperation, creativity, imagination, and exploration of their sensory motor skills. They are also building a strong interest in learning colours and enjoying new shape toys (shapy train) as they begin to understand how symbols and pattern system work .

We also have group discussion and story time. In these group they learn to cooperate with others and too express an opinion.

This month we also celebrated Harmony and Easter day. These cultural celebrations help children to build awareness of their heritage, as well as support them in putting together and understand their belonging in the world around them.

See you next time! 

Isha

Blossoms 1

Hi all Blossoms I parents,

What a wonderful month it has been. The children in Blossoms I have been really busy. We focused on learning about manners and being polite to our friends, investigated different shapes and colours, and even tried making cupcakes! We did lots of Easter activities with our peers. The children all showed great interest in the activities.

Our goals for the coming month include learning about healthy eating and being active. Of course, we will continue to develop good manners along the way. I'm sure we will have another month of fun learning.

Just a reminder to all parents to remember to bring your child's water bottle, sunscreen and hat. Please also bring spare clothes for your child for them to change into if needed.

Thank you and till next time!

From Miss Nikki and Miss Briohny

Blossoms 2

 During the past month children raised their interest about the ocean and what is swimming beneath. In our classroom, we implement child-initiated learning where children can come up with the topics that they would like to learn about. We try to incorporate activities that target the curriculum within the context. Everyone enjoyed all of the ocean themed activities from octopus counters, ocean animal ice cubes, seashell words and sand writing. A highlight of the month was the water play with sea animals and the 'my ocean' cardboard box. During March, we also celebrated Harmony Day and the diversity of our classroom with a circle collage of everyone in our classroom. Children drew themselves on little people that is around the world. Alongside our learning activities, we also focussed on transitions for our daily routine. We sing songs to help us move from each activity and so far children have begun to move in and out of the room. In the last week of March, we also celebrated Easter with a fun Easter egg hunt, rabbit mask making and egg painting. Children were so excited, walking around the classroom to find their eggs. We also used this opportunity for children to practice counting. Everyone had a handful of delicious chocolate eggs. What a treat!A big thank you to Yuelle's mum for baking the yummy cookies for the children to decorate.

Next month, we will be exploring the topic of occupation and dinosaurs with activities such as dinosaur building, fossils, pin the tail on the dinosaur, different occupations of the world, role play and storybook reading.

Until next time,

Miss Yu-mei (Sophie) and Miss Cindy​

Poppies

Welcome to our news from the kindergarten room, also known as the poppies room!

The children have now established themselves well into the kindergarten program with their personalities and characters emerging through supportive guidance and understanding. We wish to welcome Asher and Seth who recently joined this energetic and enthusiastic lot! Regrettably, we had to say goodbye to Ms Hamda who is pursuing her studies. We wish her the very best. Taking her place is Ms Alicia who has experience in the preschool room and already a rapport is starting to build between her and the children.

What has been happening in the kindergarten room?

On the 28th February Ms Sophie and myself held a meet-and-greet with the parents sharing how the kindergarten curriculum is implanted and incorporated in their child's holistic development. We had a decent turn-out and would like to thank the parents for taking the time to attend the meeting.

The first two months were focussed on the children and their families to form a connection between home and childcare. All About Me sheets were send out, activities in the room were based on the children's uniqueness, their likes and dislike, emotions, body awareness, health and hygiene but mostly establishing a safe and secure environment to nurture each child holistically.

Our curriculum is based on the children's emergent interest through play as well as catering for individual interests, too. So, for the past month or so topics on summer, dinosaurs and currently autumn has been of interest. Incorporated into these topics were literacy, numeracy, science, health, geography to name some of the learning experiences. It is rewarding to see and hear how the children apply their knowledge into their play and conversations with their peers.

New wall mounts;

With Easter just passed, we would like to thank Yuelle and her mum Lenny who baked some Easter treats for the children. Lenny joined us on Wednesday where she assisted the children in decorating their Easter egg. The children were so happy and couldn't wait to enjoy their treat. On Thursday this Easter excitement was extended with the children crafting easter bunny hats and an Easter egg hunt which the children had so much fun searching for.

On this note we would like to wish all a happy Easter and please be safe!

Ms Tertia & Becky