July 2011 Newsletter
Country Kids
Early Learning Stanthorpe
Newsletter July 2011
everyone to our July Newsletter!
Our days are still chilly, so we have been spending a bit more time indoors lately! We do still go out when possible, so please send a jumper and beanie for your child. The children are always keen to get outside when the weather permits!
NEW CHILDREN - we would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new children in our Centre:
· Sunny in Toddlers
· Jayden in Nursery
· Bella & Izack in Senior Kindy
Please !!!!! NAME YOUR PROPERTY – could you please double check your child’s property to ensure it is all named before coming into the Centre. The Nursery and Toddlers Room in particular has many milk and water bottles (and lids) that are not named. Thank You for your co-operation. The Lost Property bin is situated outside the Toddlers Room.
EVENTS in JULY
NAIDOC WEEK was celebrated last week in a big way. We had a myriad of arts & crafts activities for the children, we even had witchety grubs!!!! Hopefully the children have taken away a little understanding of our important Aboriginal culture.
FRENCH BASTILLE DAY was also celebrated this month on Thursday 14th. We did lots of ‘French style’ arts and crafts. Sheryl cooked up some fantastic French food for the children. Pre-School made their own crepes, and even had a go at making their own Eiffel Tower!
UPCOMING AUGUST EVENTS
FIRE TRUCK - 1st August, we are lucky enough to be getting a visit from the fire truck!
JEANS FOR GENES DAY – Friday 5th August. Please dress your child in jeans this day, and if you like, make a donation to go towards the Children’s Medical Research Institute.
15th – 19th August is GERM BUSTING WEEK. This is quite an important week for us as we feel it is vital that children learn how to keep themselves healthy by doing simple tasks such as washing hands after toileting and before eating etc. This week will focus on encouraging children to make these simple tasks a part of their day. We will also be receiving a visit from the Community Health Nurse on the 17th.
22nd – 26th August SPACE/SCIENCE WEEK.
RED NOSE DAY was celebrated last month. Thank you to all the wonderful parents who donated 50c for their child’s colouring competition. Lucky winners from each room were: Sharna from Nursery, Max from Toddlers, Tayla from Junior Kindy, Sienna from Senior Kindy and Sam from Pre-School. Each child received a prize. We donated a total of $214.00, which has been donated to SIDS. We thank you kindly for your support.
THANK YOU - Oscar & Mia’s Mum for donating some fantastic toys to us. The children always love to see something new, so thank you Simone!!!
CHILD CARE REBATE – WOULD YOU LIKE LOWER CHILDCARE FEES? Remember that you can now elect to have your childcare rebate that you receive from Centrelink paid directly to us. What this means for you is that your gap fees will be considerably lower. You should have received information from Centrelink about this, if not please contact them to arrange this.
From the office:
We have received a direct deposit in May which has no name attached to it. If this is yours, please let us know.
NEWS FROM THE ROOMS:
Nursery
· we’ve had balloons which the children have been happily bouncing around;
· we’ve been doing hand paintings;
· playing peek-a-boo in the Elmo tent is another favourite at the moment;
· we also read a different book each day, and listen to lots of different nursery rhymes
Toddlers
In keeping with our current season, we have been having our very own Winter theme – we’ve made an awesome snowman, a cottage with snow, and snow flakes. In Home Corner, we’ve been having tea parties, with lots of ‘cuppas’ being drunk. We’ve also enjoyed musical instruments, blowing and catching bubbles, and have been reading Manners books which encourages us to say please, thank you, sorry and excuse me.
Junior Kindy
This month we have been learning about jungle animals and Australian zoo animals. We’ve been painting, drawing, colouring and don’t forget collaging zebra’s, lions, snakes, elephants, hippos, emus, koalas, dingoes and much more. For NAIDOC Week, we painted our own aboriginal boomerangs, did dot painting, painted with the Aboriginal flag colours of black, red and yellow, and talked about the meaning of these colours. Black representing the Aboriginal people, yellow the sun and red being the earth. We have also done string paintings on the Torres Strait Island flag. In the middle of all this, we had Red Nose Day, some of us painted our noses red and we were proud to raise money for SIDS.
Senior Kindy
We have been learning some Thai words such as hello, goodbye, thank you and please. We’ve also been talking about transport, which follows on from the children’s excitement with our new bikes. We’re talking about stop & go signs and what they are used for. A big Thank You to the parents that brought in material and interesting bits from nature – these have all been put to good use.
Our most popular song lately is:
Take you Riding in My Car
Take you riding in my car, car. Take you riding in my car, car.
Take you riding in my car, car. I’ll take you riding in my car.
Horn, it goes beep, beep.
Engine, it goes brrrrrm, brrrrrm.
Windscreen wipers go swish, swish.
Seat belts, they go click, click.
Pre-School
Pre-School has been a busy room during the past few months. We have enjoyed investigating farms and seasons, and celebrating the Thai & indigenous cultures. During Farm Week we made a paper mache pig, discussed how to look after pets and investigated the process of milk and how it gets to the shops. We were even lucky enough to spend the day with a goat, two lambs and some chicks. During Thai & NAIDOC Week celebrations, we enjoyed traditional arts and crafts, learnt new dances and discussed photos from Miss Melinda’s Thailand holiday. We have begun completing the calendar each morning where we work hard to identify the days of the week, the date, weather and seasonal changes. The year is flying by and we are now getting more independent as we serve our own meals and wash up our own plates. I’m sure our parents would love us to practice this at home! Show & Tell is an important part of our day as we love sharing things that are special to us. Instead of toys coming in (as they may get lost or broken), could we please ask that your child brings something such as a photo, book, song, instrument, map or other special item on their particular day (these days will be available in the room). If you have any activity ideas or special talents you would love to share please let us know, you are more than welcome to join us on any day!
SPARE CLOTHES - we still have children coming to the Centre with no spare clothes. Could we please have spare clothes in your child’s backpack EVERY DAY
(inc. underwear). If your child is toilet training, a couple of changes is necessary.
Immunisations
If your child has had an immunisation lately, could you please give a copy of this immunization to us, as we need to ensure that all immunisations are up to date. Thank you for your co-operation.
Policy Review - this month’s policies reviewed were:
· Chickens
· Rest Time
· Nutrition
· First Aid
· Biting
· Behaviour Management
· Authorised Persons
What is Play?
Play is:
*Spontaneous
*Free
*Joyful
*Carefree
*Disorderly
*Secret
*Magical
*Messy
*Noisy
*Inefficient
*Absorbing
*Intense
*Intimate
DEEPLY SATISFYING
