LOCKLEYS EARLY LEARNING CENTRE

NEWSLETTER                                                                                      January 2018


NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR

 

 

Welcome to 2018, it is going to be another exciting year. December was a very busy month with our Christmas party, parade and preschool graduation party. Thank you for helping us celebrate this festive season, and we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.

Our events coordinator Lisa has a very busy and exciting year of events planned for us. As a measure to reduce the endless signatures for these events, incursions and excursions, we have devised a single document for your consent. It has already been placed in your parent pocket, so please make sure that you have fill it out and returned to Paula asap. This letter will also include the complete calendar of events. The educators will communicate the event and specific details of the event, but we do ask that you also check the whiteboard and door flyers for details.

DATES TO REMEMBER

 

Australia Day Celebrations

Wear Australian colours              Thurs 25th January

Australia Day

Centre closed                                Fri 26th January

Disco Day – Rock Theme                Mon 5th February

Shrove Tuesday                           Tues 13th February

Vietnamese/Chinese New Year

Year of the Dog                            Fri 16th February

Water Fun Week                          19th – 23rd February

Farmer Darcy @ 10.00am                   Wed 7th March

Adelaide Cup Day

Centre closed                                Mon 12th March

Crazy Hair Day

Worlds’ Greatest Shave                  Wed 14th March

St Patrick’s Day-dress in green             Fri 15th March

Harmony Day-dress in orange            Wed 21st March

Good Friday

Centre Closed                                  Fri 30th March

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

 

Preschool for 2018

As you may be already aware, Sandra, our new teacher will be joining the preschool team on 22nd January. Chanelle, who has been working across the Centre, will now join Hema and Sandra in the preschool permanently. I am excited for this fresh and very competent preschool team.

Staffing:

Dionne – away till 15th Jan

Kym – away till 2nd Feb

Penny- away from 15th – 19th, 24th – 25th Jan

Lil- away till 19th Jan

Heather- away from 15th – 19th Jan

Regards, Hema

 

QUALITY ASSURANCE

This month we will be continuing to look at:

Quality Area 1 – Educational Program and Practice.

Standard 1.1 – An approved learning framework informs the development of a curriculum that enhances each child’s learning and development.

  • Our Centre observes each child on a monthly basis and programs an activity for them that will interest them, be challenging yet achievable.
  • The program is created from child observations, experiences and interests.
  • Our program is flexible to suit the children, their needs and their daily interest.

 

INFANT/TODDLER ROOM

Recently we have continued on our interest in water play, and we have incorporated it in many different formats. Sometimes we were bathing the dolls and at other times pouring from cups and jugs. We have had bubbles in the water and experimented with different colours in the water and different creatures too.

The children have been quite keen to experiment in different forms of visual arts; using crayons, chalk or textas, and even painting with water. This has been offered both inside and outside and the children are extending their skills in holding the crayons or chalk and making marks and circles on the paper or black board.

We have been working together to improve our garden outside, watering the plants and pruning back the overgrown vegetables. We have replanted kale and silver beet which was lots of fun too. The children have become quite dexterous and are enjoying the opportunity to connect together interlocking blocks. They also are using the magnetic blocks and the stacking blocks to work together to build amazingly tall and complex towers.

 

All these activities and experiences have shown us the children’s depth of knowledge, engagement and interest, and skill level in their individual learning and capabilities. In the Early Years Learning Framework, we can see the value of this learning in Outcome 4: Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials. Naturally we have also seen the older children support the younger toddlers to learn, build, become more confident and take risks.

 

A big group of our oldest children have begun their transition visits to the Pre kindy room, in readiness for next year when they will become Pre kindy children. We say good bye and good luck for the future.

 

Kind thoughts from us all.

Tati, Lisa, Penny, Krystin, Bek and Heather.

 

PRE-KINDY ROOM

 

Toddlers are naturally curious about how their world works; therefore their play is always scientific based as children are natural scientists in their play. Our current enquiries in pre-kindy are exploring transformation through exploring water, ice and mist. We have used cups, bowls, balloons and ice trays to freeze a range of materials, enjoying water play using the hose and water mister outdoors and our favourite, using the water pump in the sand pit!

 

Another enquiry we have been exploring is posting/ inserting. We noticed a recurring schema in the children’s play where they experimented in how things fit together with all the nooks and crannies in the room. We are extending on this curiosity through our ‘wire sculpture’ set ups. We have been amazed and surprised at what the children have created. These experiences are great examples of how we use loose parts to enhance our learning environments.

 

We are very excited to welcome our new friends from the under 2’s room at the end of January! Over the past two months the toddlers have been having visits in their new environment, building strong trusting bonds with their new primary carers, getting to know the older children and the pre-kindy environment. We have learned so much about our new friends such as their love for cars, music, dancing and the arts. We can’t wait to share this exciting journey with the children through the next year together! If you have any questions about the upcoming transitions please feel free to ask Paige, Kym or Bek.

Bek, Stella, Andrea, Paige, Lil, Kahla & Kym.

PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

It has been a very busy but none-the-less exciting month for the Preschool as many of our children are making the big transition to school. We have supported them through this exciting and anxious period with our transition program where we have discovered what makes us excited and what makes us nervous towards the change. We have also celebrated these children’s achievement in the preschool at our graduation ceremony with our families and friends.

We absolutely loved the Christmas party and our annual Christmas parade where we got creative with our own takes on a Santa hat.

Lastly, we have begun our holiday program with a bang, as we ventured onto the Lockleys North Primary School oval for some ball games and LOTS of physical activity. We have also explored floating and sinking on science day plus the effects of ice melting with paint.

A big thank you to all of our families and friends for your continued support, we can’t wait to see what 2018 holds for us and we especially can’t wait to welcome our new teacher Sandra into our centre.

 

As always, please see Hema or Chanelle if you need more information about the preschool program.

Thank you,

Hema, Dion, Asmita & Chanelle.

 

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

 

I have attached a pamphlet with this newsletter in regards to ‘Choose water as a drink’, it tells why you should drink water and what benefits you can receive.

Thank you, Belinda

 

ADMINISTRATION

This time of year is our busiest with both families moving on to preschool/school and new ones joining our extended family.  For those moving on we wish you all the best and for those who are coming in, welcome and we hope your time with us is an enjoyable one.

Thank you.

Ciao, Paula