August 2011 Newsletter
Country Kids
Early Learning Stanthorpe
Newsletter August 2011
We’ve been very lucky to have some absolutely beautiful sunny days lately, and we’ve been making the most of it by spending lots of time outdoors, even having our morning tea and lunch outside as a picnic in the sunshine, which has been lovely!
CONGRATULATIONS!!
It’s a Boy… 
Congratulations to Ewan, Bonnie & Bella on the arrival of a little baby boy named Kye.
Also to Maxine, Drew & Rhianna, a baby boy named Caiden.
DO-RE-MI MUSIC LESSONS
We are so excited to announce that we now have local musician Penny Davies coming in once a week for music lessons with the children. So far the lessons are going brilliantly, with the children very interested and more than happy to participate. These lessons are paid for by Country Kids, FREE to you and your children!
CAR PARK REMINDER
Parents, please remember that we are not permitted to make a right turn out of our driveway into Davadi Street. Thank you for your co-operation.
AUGUST EVENTS
FIRE TRUCK - 1st August, we were lucky enough to have a visit from the Fire Truck and also Blazer!
The children had a turn at the hose and were in awe of the Fire Truck! Ian talked to the children about how fires start and fire safety. We thank the Stanthorpe Fire Station for spending time with us.
JEANS FOR GENES DAY – Friday 5th August. A lot of children dressed in jeans, and we thank the parents that donated to this special cause. A total of $100.00 was donated to the Childrens Medical Research Institute.
This week 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. If parents could follow up on this at home, that would be fantastic! We will also be received a visit from Sue Fleming to talk about Dental Hygiene, and read her new book to the children called “Dentists DO Wear Masks”. Thanks Sue – your visit was most enjoyable. Also we’re having a visit from the Community Health Nurse on the Wednesday 17th.
22nd – 26th August SPACE/SCIENCE WEEK.
Friday 26th August
Country Kids supports many charities including Daffodil Day to raise money for Cancer Research.
Please wear YELLOW on Friday the 26th August to show your support, we will have merchandise for you to purchase or please make a donation on the day.
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.
DONATIONS PLEASE???
Would anyone have any big logs, big granite rocks, or river pebbles that would be able to donate to us? We are going to be setting up a natural garden area for the children soon, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
From the office:
We received a direct deposit in May which had no name attached to it. If this is yours, please let us know.
NEWS FROM THE ROOMS:
Nursery
Katrina has been very busy in the Nursery, thinking up lots of new and interesting ideas for the little ones to participate in. Last week we introduced jelly to touch and feel. Some of the children loved it, some were very unsure about it. Our jungle is taking shape nicely, and the children have learned that if they pull on the waterfall, the balloons will fall off the top of the net. Very clever!! We’ve also made some rice shakers which make a lovely noise!
Toddlers
Our Toddlers have been busy this month, learning to count, and reading counting books. We’ve done lots of different style of painting and craft activities, and spent lots of time outdoors in our new cubby house!
Junior Kindy
We’ve been working hard on our winter wonderland theme recently, also talking about warm winter clothing. We’ve also been discussing washing our hands with soap, and being good germ busters. We’re going to begin assisting with wiping down our own tables after meals, which should be fun!
Senior Kindy
In our room, we have been busy creating masks, collage and paintings to support our theme of ‘Zoo Animals’. We had fun creating new dances, songs and body movements.
A song we’ve enjoyed singing is Alice the Camel.
Alice the Camel had ….. 5 humps, Alice the Camel had….4 humps, Alice the Camel had ….. 3 humps, Alice the Camel had …. 2 humps, Alice the Camel had …. 1 hump, Alice the Camel had …. No humps…..Alice the camel is a horse, of course!
Parents, could you please bring in a family photo and any craft material or anything interesting that has been of interest to your child that day or weekend.
Thank You, Melissa
Pre-School
We’ve been exploring the story of The Three Little Pigs lately. We’ve made pig and wolf masks, and even made the three houses – the wood from paddle pop sticks, and the straw from pasta, and the brick from red boxes. We’ve talked a lot about Fires and Fire Safety as a follow-on from our visit from the fire truck last week, as well as when to dial 000. We’ve talked about fire evacuation plan and have done some ‘flame paintings’.
We also had a lot of fun with our Pet Theme. We’ve had lots of discussions about pets and how to look after them, and discussed what types of animals would be a pet. We had a visit from Katie’s puppy named Chopper, Jessica’s Diamond Python snake, and Kye brought in his birds to show the children.
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 absolutely 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:
· Access Equity & Enrolment Policy
· Accreditation Policy
· AIDS Policy
· Allergy Policy
· Anaphylaxis Policy
· Head Lice Policy
· Inclusion Policy
· Social Justice Policy
These are all available on display in the hallway for parents input. Please see us if you’d like to make any suggestions or input to these Policies.
Thank you once again for giving us the privilege of caring and educating your beautiful children.
From Mel, Brian & the team at Country Kids
