From the Office 

Welcome to our March Newsletter. We have a very busy time coming up at Underwood, with our 10th Birthday party in April, the Easter parade, Free Parent child Yoga sessions and date night child minding. We are also looking at adding a street library to the centre in the coming months, so keep an eye out for it out the front. it would be nice to be able to share books from home and also to include our neighbours and community. This follows on from our Kindergarten children's planned excursion to the Logan north library.  

Centre 10th Birthdays Celebrations 

Underwood Early Learning Centre is turning 10 this year, and we are  throwing  a Disco party to say thank you. The party will be held on Friday  night 20th April starting at 6.15 pm until 8 pm. we will be shouting pizza and drinks as well. Keep an eye for the invitation  to come home soon.

A look at our Educators 

 While looking back at our 10 years of being open, we wanted to pay tribute to our dedicated educators here at Underwood. We are very fortunate to have a very low turnover of staff with 3 being here at the centre from the beginning Allison, Jessie and Tracey. We also counted up the years of experience in our centre this added up to 150 years  between our educators. I think the experience of the educators shows and i hope our families agree. Well done to them all for the years of dedication to our centre.  

Foundation Families 

 I am looking at setting up a wall dedicated to our foundation families. These are families that have been with us for a number of years. I will be in contact with these very soon to let them know, so keep an eye out for this display. 

Easter Operating dates 

The centre will be closed on Friday 30th March for Goof Friday and again on Monday 2nd April for Easter Monday, we re open on Tuesday 3rd April. If your child is booked in, on any or all of these public holidays you will still have to pay for the day. I can not swap days to avoid these charges. 

Coming Events 

  • ​Wednesday 28th March- The Kindergarten room will be hosting the Little Wonders Science Show at 10.30 am 
  • ​Thursday 29th March - Easter Bonnet Parade starting at 2.30 pm. The children will all be making a bonnet in class leading up to this date. We welcome all our families to come along and cheer the children on. 
  • Saturday 7th April Free Family Yoga Class - starting at 9 am. Miss Chloe will be hosting a 15 to 20 minute session (depending on the numbers and age groups in attendance) The morning will be a great opportunity for you to learn some yoga moves with your child. Chloe is now a qualified children's yoga instructor, feel free to bring a friend  along. Light refreshments and snack will be provided on the morning. Please put your name on the sign up sheet  in the office so you don't miss out on this event. 
  • Date Night child minding - We would like to offer a night where families can book their children in for us to mind while they have some quality time together. Start time would be 7pm til 10pm at a cost of $30 for 1 child, $50 for 2 children, $60 for 3 children. let me know if you would be interested in doing this and what night of the week and date would suit parents? all money raised would go back into the centre to purchase new resources for each room.  

Book Club 

 Book Club Orders are due back on Friday the 16th March.


Firstly a warm Welcome to Hunter & Isabel joining our Nursery, we look towards many years of continued care and connections with your Families. Miss Allison and  Miss Faysha have been spending plenty of time on the floor, enjoying small play with the babies and engaging in one on one ,  having those bonds  make the children feel safe and welcomed in our room.  

 Benefit of Art with Babies  . Many of the motions in making Art, such as holding a coloured pen or scribbling with a pencil, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children, these skills are then transferred into having confidence with self feeding with a spoon. When we are doing craft, language is used to describe what we are seeing, touching and making. Just talking about it- provides opportunity  to learn words for colours, shapes and actions. We have been busy exploring new ideas and making creations with various art tools. Our room will slowly be filled with the children's drawings.

Easter Parade we will Show case our beautiful Bonnets and do look forward to having our Families join us. 

If you would like to join the toddlers on Thursday the 15th March at 2:30 pm to help make their Easter bonnets, we would really appreciate it. And so would your children getting messy with you is always fun. If your child doesn't attend on Thursday's don't worry you can still come along and join in the activity . Or if you can't make it yourself and grandma or granddad would like to come instead we would love to have them.

Here's a little poem I found, that I think we can sometimes forget about these things.

"I am 2. I am not terrible…I am frustrated. I am nervous, stressed out, overwhelmed, and confused. I need a hug."
From the diary of a 2-year-old:
Today I woke up and wanted to get dressed by myself but was told "No, we don't have time, let me do it."
This made me sad.
I wanted to feed myself for breakfast but was told,
"No, you're too messy, let me do it for you."
This made me feel frustrated.
I wanted to walk to the car and get in on my own but was told, "No, we need to get going, we don't have time. Let me do it."
This made me cry.
I wanted to get out of the car on my own but was told "No, we don't have time, let me do it."
This made me want to run away.
Later I wanted to play with blocks but was told "no, not like that, like this…"
I decided I didn't want to play with blocks anymore. I wanted to play with a doll that someone else had, so I took it. I was told "No, don't do that! You have to share."
I'm not sure what I did, but it made me sad. So I cried. I wanted a hug but was told "No, you're fine, go play".
I'm being told it's time to pick up. I know this because someone keeps saying, "Go pick up your toys."
I am not sure what to do, I am waiting for someone to show me.
"What are you doing? Why are you just standing there? Pick up your toys, now!"
I was not allowed to dress myself or move my own body to get to where I needed to go, but now I am being asked to pick things up.
I'm not sure what to do. Is someone supposed to show me how to do this? Where do I start? Where do these things go? I am hearing a lot of words but I do not understand what is being asked of me. I am scared and do not move.
I lay down on the floor and cry.
When it was time to eat I wanted to get my own food but was told "no, you're too little. Let me do it."
This made me feel small. I tried to eat the food in front of me but I did not put it there and someone keeps saying "Here, try this, eat this…" and putting things in my face.
I didn't want to eat anymore. This made me want to throw things and cry.
I can't get down from the table because no one will let me…because I'm too small and I can't. They keep saying I have to take a bite. This makes me cry more. I'm hungry and frustrated and sad. I'm tired and I need someone to hold me. I do not feel safe or in control. This makes me scared. I cry even more.
I am 2. No one will let me dress myself, no one will let me move my own body where it needs to go, no one will let me attend to my own needs.
However, I am expected to know how to share, "listen", or "wait a minute". I am expected to know what to say and how to act or handle my emotions. I am expected to sit still or know that if I throw something it might break….But, I do NOT know these things.
I am not allowed to practice my skills of walking, pushing, pulling, zipping, buttoning, pouring, serving, climbing, running, throwing or doing things that I know I can do. Things that interest me and make me curious, these are the things I am NOT allowed to do.
I am 2. I am not terrible…I am frustrated. I am nervous, stressed out, overwhelmed, and confused. I need a hug.

-Author unknown

Till next month Miss Chloe and Miss Kanako

Hello and welcome to the Junior Kindy room,

We would like to start by welcoming all your families to your room, we have a new family who has come back to your centre.

We have been busy little people the past few months, we have been learning about Your body, and healthy Eating, we have been doing lots of art activities, in the next few weeks.. We have been talking about healthy eating what is good, what is some time foods.

Easter is coming up, so we will be getting ready and starting your Easter hats for your Easter hat pride, so we need to get started on that ASAP

At the moment we have a few children toilet training and are doing great with it, so if we could please but some spare undies and shorts in their bags that would be great. In case of an accident please ensure you have brought spare clothing.

Also, please make sure that your child has a hat for the day, so we can play outside with your friends

Please bring in a family photo for your family Wall. Please make sure that your child is signed in and out daily as if a fire was to happen we would not realise that your child was here as these are the rolls we follow. 

If you and any concern about your child please come and see myself or Kelly, or just for a little chat.

Miss Mel, Miss Kelly

& Junior Kindy

Pre Kindy News.

We have all been having so much fun exploring sustainability in our room. We have a new set up at our self help station which allows us to wash our own dishes. The children love the independence this gives them and it's helping to develop our self help skills. The children then help to take this water and tip it into the gardens to help recycle it. The children have become actively involved in feeding and caring for our worm farm outside. We have just received a new one and we can't wait to set it up. The children are so excited to take out their fruit scrapes everyday and check on the worms to ensure their environment is perfect for them. We are also adding to our compost bin daily and watching our beautiful pumpkin plant grow from it. Everyday we go out, water the plants and count how many pumpkins we can see growing. The children can acknowledge now that if there is a flower a pumpkin will soon grow there. The children would love for you to come and have a look at our gardens they are very proud of them.

A little house keeping now. Please ensure all your children's belongings are labelled and that they are being sent with spare clothes. 

We have used some of our kindy funding to buy car seats for the bus. We are going to use them when we go to the library. We are going to start going to the library after Easter on Friday mornings to attend story time and to borrow books. The children will need a separate bag for library books. You can supply your own or if you bring in 2 dollars I will buy them a bag from the library on our first visit which is Friday 20th April,

If you do not have a library card please see me for a form if you have a card please bring it in so we can keep them together.

On Wednesday 28th March we are having a science show called Little Wonders.

Show and tell

On the wall is a sign telling you what letter it is also one telling you what letter is the following week.

19th March (C,K) followed by (E), (H),(R), (M),(D).

Can you please ensure that the children have spare clothes in their bags and all items are labeled. We supply water to the children throughout the day they do not need water bottles.

Don't forget Easter bonnet parade

Thank you Miss Andrea and Miss Tracey