As we come closer to the end of the year, it becomes more festive here at Piptree Sunnybank Hills. We had a fantastic introduction to cultural celebration of Diwali, which is the Indian festival of lights and symbolises the spiritual victory over darkness. Traditionally people light up their houses using clay lamps called Diya to invite good spirits. We utilised this festivity in each room and celebrated it in different ways according to children's ages. Children's respect and awareness for multicultural experiences about Diwali were delivered by our Indian heritage educators.
Tomorrow is Halloween and many children look forward to dressing up and trick or treating. All children are welcome to come dressed up and our educators will be guided by children voices and initiative to develop learning activities. It could lead us to discussions about feeling safe and how to manage emotions when scared. All details will be included in our daily program tomorrow.
From 18th to the 25th of November, we will have parent/teacher interviews in all rooms, and you are encouraged to attend, especially if your child is off to primary school next year. A letter will be sent out and a time schedule roster will be available in the rooms closer to the time. For the children commencing prep in 2020 Transition Statements will also be distributed and will form part of the parent/teacher interview to discuss your child's learning or any concerns you may have.
Graduation is fast approaching! To commemorate this milestone, we have organised the graduation ceremony on Thursday, 28.11.2019 at 5.15 pm All details about the celebration night will be displayed on the Curriculum Wall in kindergarten rooms.
Prepaid Graduation and Christmas photos have been delivered and ready for collection. Please see your Early Childhood teachers or Natasa at the front desk.
Re-Enrolment Forms for next year
It is that time of the year where we need to start looking at our enrolments and setting up our room rolls for 2020.
The 2020 Re-enrolment forms have been sent out to you via email. On the form there is an allocated place where you can notify us of intended holidays over the December/January period.
If your child is heading off to prep in 2020, they are welcome to stay here until they start school if required. You will need to fill an additional form, Termination of Enrolment, informing us when your child is finishing up in 2020. A copy of this form can be found on the counter in the front foyer.
Please complete the form and return it to Natasa at your earliest convince.
Room reports
Hello everyone,
It's again Pips room's newsletter time. Since September, five new babies (Yumi, Madeline, Ember, Emilia and Rina) started with us. We welcome all our new families. The new babies are settling into the room well.
The babies are reaching lots of developmental milestones. Our younger babies are almost ready to crawl. Other babies are gaining confidence to walk independently. This month, the children have been doing lots of drawing and painting activities either on high chairs or on the floor. Babies explored painting with natural materials like leaves. Through sensory and motor stimulation, each child is building strong cognitive connections. Also, the babies have been learning lots of actions through nursery rhymes. They are happy to imitate simple actions such as waving and clapping with songs. Children sharpen their memory through imitation and repetition.
We are requesting all parents to clearly label your children's belongings. There are so many similar types of bottles and lids, it is hard for us to correctly identify each child's item. As the weather is getting warmer during the day time, please pack some summer clothes in their bag.
Another gentle reminder that we are no longer accepting children's old clothes and old toys for donation.
If you have any queries about your babies, please feel free to talk to Annie or myself.
Until next time,
Ms Sanchita and Ms Annie
Hello everyone. Welcome to another newsletter from Sprouts room. We would like to also welcome all our new friends and families in the room.
September and October have been a very busy months for us as we have quite a few children moved up to the next room and we also welcome some new friends like Harmony, Violet, Aleck, Bianca and Ellis to our room.We also moved back to sprouts 1 original room and we're all really settling well.
The children were already showing lots of improvement in their language, social and physical development.Most of them are confident and starting to be more and more independent in terms of their self-help skills like getting their own water, putting their rubbish in the bin and feeding themselves.One of the biggest aspects that we teach here in day care is the children's independence so when they grow up, they already know how to look after themselves and be responsible.
This October, we've been talking about plants, animals and nature and help children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment. We use play to investigate, explore, predict and develop and understanding of the interdependence between land, people, plants and animals. We will be exploring around our garden and check out what else we can see besides the plants and trees. We will also be doing some art and crafts using natural materials and explore the different textures of the dry and green leaves, barks, sticks and flowers and fruits.
The Sprouts Team, Miss Shai and Miss Maninder
Buds Room 1
In the Buds Room 1 the children have been learning Respect, care and empathy for others and the environment. Learning to become active and involved learners through using a range of different mediums.
To support the children in these interests, the educators have been providing enriching learning experiences such as.
Images of me, where the children are using mirrors to focus on what makes them unique and express themselves using candle wax, marker pens and dye paints.
Water play to encourage small group experience, weather to clean baby dolls or even practice pouring, mixing and transferring water from one container to another.
Role playing in the new home corner, encouraging children to display their sense of well-being for them selves and others.
Through these experiences and play the children are becoming independent throughout their daily routine and engaging with a range of texts, where they can gain their own understanding of the world around them.
Thank you to all the Buds Parents whom have been a big part of my learning journey. I have enjoyed many memorial moments with your children in the Buds room. With sadness I say that I am leaving Piptree Early Learning Centre.
Thank you, Maia
Buds 2 Room
Hello everyone
Firstly, we would like to welcome Aiden and Ricky.Y who have moved up from the toddler room, and we also welcome Carina, Mia.x, Emir and Ricky.C to our room who are new to the centre. We hope they have an amazing time.
Last month was filled with fun and busy for the children who were constantly learning and playing during indoor and outdoor sessions. They were engaged in various play-based activities which were based on interests and exploration. The children were most interested in car play, blocks, playdough, artwork, sand play and they loved to dance.
We have come a long way with our toilet training with most of the class now trained or on their way, so keep up the good work!
Just a reminder to make sure your child is dressed in sun safe clothes which includes a top that cover their shoulders as we head into hotter weather.
Thanks Sharon and Elisha
Blossom 1 (3-4)
Hello Blossoms parents!
We would firstly like to welcome Lyric and Edin, our lovely new addition to the room. I'm sure they will have a wonderful time with us.
Shapes, alphabet, numbers, animals name and all about pets learning experience over the last few weeks, our Blossoms children have been involved in many interesting learning activities. To improve children's fine motor and cognitive skills while they are gaining new knowledge we did a wide range of activities about shapes, farm animals and our pets. We have also done many fun and creative art activities like stamp painting, sticker collaging and creative own pet collage. Everyone had an amazing time doing these hands-on activities.
Ms Briohny encouraged children to do group discussion during the group sessions. Children learnt about a different variety of pets and all our activities will be pet related. To improve and work on the children's sensory and imagination skills, the children will engage in a sandbox toy activity which includes a lot of toys and pets.
It is great to know that all the children have done a wonderful job in learning numbers 1 – 10 and can even spell and write the numbers in words. They also show an extensive attention span and interest in all the activities and group time and great participation within these activities and group sessions. All the activities we do enforces concentration and skills that will help the children further down the road into primary school and even at home.
We would also like to remind parents to prepare healthy morning tea lunch box for the children. It would be great for the children to have some fruit and yoghurt or even cheese and milk, it is very important for our children to start the day of with healthy foods for an active day. Also, as it is getting warm please don't forget to apply sunscreen for the children before they are brought in and most importantly to bring a water bottle.
Until next time!
Ms Nikki and Ms Briohny
Blossom 2 (3-5)
Wow, time is flying by this year and here we are in October! Our little learners have come a long way from the beginning of the year. The past month, we have finished our last few alphabet letters from 'v' to 'z'. The majority of children can now write their own name and have the confidence to identify letters in different contexts. A highlight of September was our science project when we created volcanoes. We used the sandpit in our outdoor area to build a gigantic volcano with dinosaurs and lava. Everyone enjoyed this so much that children requested to build their own volcanos around the sandpit and use food colouring and vinegar to create the lava. Our class has also focussed on transitional skills such as self-regulation to prepare for Prep next year. This refers to the ability to adjust and manage your own emotions and behaviour in accordance with demands of the situation. Activities that can help to improve self-regulation include role-playing, social stories, sensory play and problem solving games.
We are now busy preparing for graduation day and everyone is looking forward to this milestone achievement. We have also set up a parents interview near the end of November for parent's who have any questions or concerns about their child's development or about going into Prep next year. We are happy to sit down and provide support where we can!
Here are some important dates note down:
- 28/11/19 – Graduation Day
- 18/11/19 to 25/11/19 – Parent's Interview
- Note: parent's who would like to make an appointment can do so by writing down their name on the timetable in the classroom.
- 07/12/19 – Christmas Party
Until next time!
Ms Yu-Mei (Sophie) and Ms Cindy
Greetings from the kindergarten room!
It is about 12 weeks before our poppies are off to prep in 2020! How the time have flown as the children are continuing their learning experiences with confidence, lots of enquiry and taking ownership and responsibility for their ongoing holistic development.
Currently they are interested in space and we are supporting and facilitated their curiosity with activities, books, science experiments, arts and crafts. One of our parents were kind in sending us a link on science experiments about rocketships, demonstrating that the children are sharing their learning with their parents.
In the kindergarten room we have continuous discussions during our group time sessions about emotional and social competencies such as confidence, courage, kindness, responsibility and resilience. These are so important for a smooth transition into prep. The children have been visiting their prep schools of next and is so excited to start prep. Their experiences are recorded as they share with their peers their excitement. This is a main topic as they also share their colour uniform, their new lunchboxes and school bags. This is great as it gives them a sense of anticipation and of being 'big'.
Congratulations to our kindergarten children and Piptree Sunnybank Hills for receiving an Award for Excellence. They were acknowledged at a award ceremony for their outstanding participation and behaviour by Kevin the Swaggie man who delivers a music program each Monday. Well done, guys!
Exciting times ahead! Graduation is next month and details are in the office newsletter. Practising for this special occasion will start Monday for the pre-preppies where they will deliver a beautiful performance for their families and friends.
Please, if you have any concerns or just want to have a chat about your child, don't hesitate to approach me. You can also communicate to me via our educational online program Educa.
Until next time
Cheers
Ms Tertia & Amanpreet