LOCKLEYS EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
NEWSLETTER April 2018
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR
Keep up with all our adventures on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Lockleys-Childcare-Early-Learning-Centre-1674776249481988/
PRESCHOOL – UNIVERSAL ACCESS
Did you know that we have been providing a Preschool program with an Early Childhood Teacher now for 4 and half years? We receive a small amount of funding for 4 year old children who attend the Preschool program here if they do not access any other DECD Preschool. This will not mean that your child will be excluded if they go to another Preschool; it just means that we will not receive any funding for this.
Our preschool program is developed in accordance with the Early Years Learning Framework.
Whilst the formal Preschool Program operates from 8.30 am until 4 pm Monday to Friday during school terms, the Centre will still operate the normal hours 52 weeks of the year and children are still able to access all of the hours of operation.
Please talk to Sage, Hema or myself if you would like to know more information about our Preschool.
If you would like to increase your child’s days in the year before school to prepare them for the adjustment, please talk to Dionne or Paula.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Our Centre hosts students from a variety of different training organisations – TAFE SA, Child Care Services Training, Enable College, Enhance Training, Flinders University and Uni SA.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Easter Monday
Centre Closed Mon 2nd April
ANZAC Day Celebrations Tues 24th April
ANZAC Day
Centre closed Wed 25th April
Disco Day – Pop Theme Mon 7th May
Mother’s Day High Tea @ 2.30pm Fri 11th May
National Families Week 15th – 21st May
ScientifiBubble Show @ 10am Wed 30th May
Queen’s Birthday
Centre Closed Mon 11th June
Messy Art Day Tues 12th June
Grandparent/Special Friend Day
Afternoon Tea @ 2.30pm Fri 22nd June
NAIDOC Week
Theme ‘Because of her, we can! 8th – 15th July
PJ Party Day Wed 11th July
Disco Day Theme – Bright & Sparkly Thurs 9th August
Science Week 13th – 17th August
Book Week
Theme: Find your Treasure 18th – 24th August
Dress Up Day Fri 24th August
Multicultural Week:
Each day a different culture 3rd – 7th September
Amazing Drumming Monkeys Mon 10th September
Labour Day
Centre Closed Mon 1st October
Tie Dye Tuesday
Bring in a white T-shirt Tues 9th October
Father’s Day Afternoon Tea Wed 31st October
Disco Day 80s Theme Tues 6th November
Diwali Festival Wed 7th November
Children’s Christmas Party TBA
Children’s Christmas Parade TBA
Shared Christmas Lunch Mon 24th December
Christmas Day/Boxing Day
Centre Closed Tues & Wed 25th-26th December
Bek, Paige, Tati, Heather, Chanelle, Lisa, Sandra & Hema all attended various training sessions on Reggio Emilia this month. Titziana, a pedegogista from Reggio Emilia, Italy, inspired our thinking in relation to how we as children’s educators create respectful learning environments and conditions for our children. The main topic was the importance of community participation in the child’s school environments.
We were inspired by the projects Tiziana shared with us, how the teachers in Reggio analyse and continuously support the children to investigate, and explore their world through the arts and scientific investigations. Pre-school have engaged in an ongoing and exciting enquiry into moss and prekindy have indulged in many small projects from rainbows, to inquiries into height. We are excited to continue practicing these exciting projects to provide our children with rich and meaningful experiences.
2018/2019 Entertainment Books are coming soon
The Centre is selling the books as a fundraising event. We receive $13 from every membership sold.
If you are interested and want to get in early visit this link.
https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/16p0529
You could even ask your family and friends if they would like one. It only takes a few vouchers to re-coup what you spent on the membership.
Regards, Dionne
INFANT/TODDLER ROOM
You may have noticed some changes in our room. We have a new display, our Art Gallery! Where we can display all of our beautiful art work, that the children create.
The children have been hard at work creating masterpieces using a variety of different mediums. The children are able to express their ideas through the creative arts using a range of markers, pencils, dot markers, crayons, paints, glue & natural resources. The children have been practicing turn taking and sharing the resources with their friends. This encourages children to engage in enjoyable interactions with each other using verbal and non-verbal communication.
A new washing machine arrived at our Centre last week in a huge box; we then thought it would be a great idea for the children to play in. The children have expressed wonder and interest in box play from perversely playing with small boxes. Some children have been playing peek-a-boo by hiding inside of the box and jumping out. The children loved exploring the giant box and had so much fun playing inside. They have been chatting away to their friends, showing interest in other children and being part of group play.
We were lucky enough to have Farmer Darcy’s Travelling Farm come to our Centre. The children were so fascinated with looking at animals and feeling the animal’s fur. Some of the animals included piglets, calves, chickens, ducks, rabbits, guineapigs, alpacas, sheep and goats. The dog made some children laugh when the he came up to say hello.
Some children spent a lot of time patting the animals, sitting with them in their pens and holding them. The children have been practicing their words by naming the different animals and making their sounds. What a fantastic time we had with the all the animals.
The infants and toddlers have been playing with technology which includes playing with mobile and cordless phones. If you have any old mobile phones, please consider donating them to our room. Thank you 😊
Kind thoughts from us all.
Tati, Lisa, Chanelle, Krystin and Heather.
PRE-KINDY ROOM
Hello, from the Pre-Kindy Community
The year is certainly underway now; we are already nearly through term one. We are all feeling settled, safe and secure in our environment now through positive relationships being built.
We have recently been using the garden to explore our fundamental movement skills. We have been using wooden planks to practice balance, stability and control. The planks have been organised and arranged in the sandpit to promote challenge for some of us who are feeling adventuress, and have been lowered and placed on more stable ground for some of us who are a little more cautious. It has been interesting to see how we have developed through practice and how we have been trying to take on new challenges, like not holding someone’s hand for support or jumping off the edge instead of walking down.
To practice our skills of kicking, fielding, throwing, catching and rolling we have been using different sized balls and cones to practice aim and coordination. This has been a shared group experience where we will casually enter the play when ready and share the enjoyment of physical activity. We have even been cheering each other one, when someone kicks a goal or catches a ball.
Another enquiry we have been learning about is height. It all started when we noticed the children constantly stacked their blocks as high as possible, marvelling at the height. We then extended the children’s learning space with lots of different building materials and new, exciting experience.
This enquiry has led us to new learning possibilities such as experimenting with measurement. We jump from steps and then mark the distance, a great way to start talking about numeracy concepts such as numbers, space, measurement and problem solving.
And through all our work with stacking and construction, we are starting to experiment with 3D construction, resulting in some pretty amazing cubby houses! When the children work together, they can share their thoughts and ideas to scaffold each other’s learning and thinking. It’s also another great opportunity to discuss math concept such as spatial awareness, volume, and problem solving and negotiating the spaces. We can wait to see where our heights enquiry will lead our learning next!
Bek, Andrea, Paige, Lil, Kahla & Kym.
PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
Hello to all our preschool families.
The end of term 1 is nearly here, and we have had a very fun-filled learning happening in preschool this term.
Thank you to all our families who contributed to our show and tell experience. Children enjoyed sharing photos of their families and homes. They were especially curious to share specific features of their own rooms. The house photos have been displayed in our construction space, and children have also been taking this opportunity to share details with their peers.
Our teacher Sandra has returned from her holidays in Fiji with some native instruments, which the children have been experimenting with, the different sounds they have been making and what makes those sounds, could it be something inside the instrument? Is it the bumpy pattern on it? Is it magic?
This month, we have also been looking to express ourselves through the language of sculpturing and have been exploring this through wood works, clay, concrete materials like buttons, pebbles, tiles and also through clay, light and reflection.
Farmer Darcy came with her animals to our Centre, and needless to say, we had the best view. We watched from set-up to pack-up, which was a very valuable learning experience for us, as it reminded us about the different needs of the animals and their unique characteristics.
Reminders:
Please remember to name your child’s coats and jackets and take them home at the end of the day. If your child has not had an opportunity to do show and tell, please do so by end of April. As always, if you have any queries, don’t hesitate to see Hema or Sandra.
Thank you,
Hema, Sandra, Asmita, Stella & Nisha.
IMMUNISATION
Is your child up to date with immunisation? Remember that children who are not immunised will be excluded during any outbreak of a government scheduled preventable illness within the Centre
HEALTHY EATING & NUTRITION
Please find a fact sheet on the recent Rockmelon listeria outbreak and how to reduce your risk of infection.
Thank you, Belinda
ADMINISTRATION
Dear Parents, please be aware that due to a change in regulations which came into effect on the 1st of February, we have updated our enrolment form. As happens at this time of year we ask all families to fill in an update form. Be on the lookout for a pretty pink enrolment form that we would like returned as soon as possible please.
Please be aware that from the 2nd July 2018 the New Child care package takes effect. I have provided the link to the website so you can read up on the changes and see what you need to do.
https://www.education.gov.au/new-child-care-package-families-2-july-2018
Thank you.
Ciao, Paula