LOCKLEYS EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
NEWSLETTER September 2018
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR
Lift the Lip
SA Dental is coming to the Centre on Thursday 27th September to check the children’s teeth. Please check your parent pockets soon for the information.
Parent Evening Night
Is happening on Wednesday 26th September. I have placed an invitation in your parent pocket, inviting you to come along and see presentations from your child’s room, chat to educators and have an opportunity to look at your child’s portfolio. Please RSVP as soon as you can. We look forward to seeing you there.
Staffing
It is with great sadness that we will be saying goodbye to Lisa from the Infant/Toddler room. Lisa has accepted an Assistant Director position at another Centre. We would like to take this time to thank Lisa for all that she has brought to this Centre, for the children, families and for the educators, and wish her all the very best for her future as Assistant Director. Lisa’s last day will be Friday 21st September. Tati, Chanelle, Heather and Krystin will continue to be the familiar educators in that room. We have placed an ad on Seek and will be conducting interviews shortly. I will advise all families of the new educator once we have made a decision.
Congratulations to Stella. Stella is one of our fabulous relief assistants and has accepted a permanent part time position in the Prekindy room to work alongside Paige and Kym. Stella is currently working towards her Diploma so Paige and Kym will be providing amazing on the job mentoring for her whilst she is on her learning journey to become a Qualified Team Leader. We are so excited that Stella will be here at the Centre on a more permanent basis.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Multicultural Week:
Each day a different culture 3rd – 7th September
Amazing Drumming Monkeys Mon 10th September
Parent Evening Night Wed 26th September
Labour Day
Centre Closed Mon 1st October
Tie Dye Tuesday
Bring in a white T-shirt Tues 9th October
Photo day
Thurs 1st November
Fri 2nd November
Disco Day 80s Theme Tues 6th November
Diwali Festival Wed 7th November
Children’s Christmas Parade Tues 11th December
Children’s Christmas Party Wed 12th December
Shared Christmas Lunch Mon 24th December
Christmas Day/Boxing Day
Centre Closed Tues & Wed 25th-26th December
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
All educators completed their CPR refresher training this month.
We are very fortunate to have a strong working partnership with the West Torrens Council. Margaret, form the council has helped us set up the Centre in a more efficient way in regards to recycling. We now have organics caddies all over the Centre to dispose of all our green waste. “If it grows, it goes” and from this we have dramatically reduced our red waste. We recycle so much green organics that we had to ask the council for another green bin.
Regards, Dionne
INFANT/TODDLER ROOM
Hola, from the Infant and Toddler room!
The baby shark project has now come to an end, but it will always live on in our room when listening to the Baby Shark song. We have seen so many amazing dance moves even the babies now know the actions to the Baby Shark song. We can’t wait to share our ‘Baby Shark’ inquiry project with you during our parent evening night in September.
The children have shown a special interest in taking care of our outdoor environment. During outdoor play, Heather and the children have been revamping our vegetable garden. They have been digging up the old soil and turning the vegetable patch over ready for new seeds. The children have had a chance to plant beans into the garden. After watering the plants we have been observing the garden. They have been lucky enough to see the beans starting to sprout. We can’t wait for our beans to grow, so that we can harvest the fresh produce and Belinda will then use it in her delicious cooking!
We have now started a new inquiry project on ‘Light, Shadows & Reflections’. It was inspired by Ellee, who noticed her shadow on the floor outside. Ellee began waving at her shadow and noticed her shadow moving, when she moved. We have brought out the projector for children to create their own shadows using their hands and bodies. It was amazing to see what creations children came up with, it let the children’s imaginations run wild.
We can’t wait to keep you updated on our inquiry project next month!
Ciao,
Tati, Lisa, Chanelle, Krystin, Kahla and Heather.
PRE-KINDY ROOM
In the pre-kindy community we have been busy working towards our literacy and numeracy goals for term three of ‘creating a numeracy and literacy rich environment to support all our diverse learners’. We have tried to come up with ways of introducing concepts that don’t simply involve learning the alphabet and counting to ten. We want to be able to explore literacy and numeracy concepts on a deeper level through hands on active learning experiences.
We started by singing the jolly phonics song using the iPad as a visual guide. Once we were all familiar with the song and the letter sounds we started to make connections between the song and our identity. By listening to the letter sounds we started identifying the first letter of our names; we were able to scaffold each other’s learning as we supported each other in the morning meeting discussions. We used the stage to begin exploring the first letter of our names in a practical sense where we used white board markers to practice forming the symbol to represent the letters. Some of us spent time one morning drawing on a table outside by pressing the sand around its surface; we decided to use this idea to practice writing symbols on our light table.
To begin numeracy concepts we have been using mathematic language during our daily routine times and during play. We are unconsciously using concepts of mathematics during our daily play and routine times, like when we prepare and serve food in the mud kitchen we are using aspects of quantity and portions and when we are constructing a building with our magnetic blocks we are exploring height, size, balance and spatial awareness. When this play is occurring we are introducing the language to support making the connections between what we are doing and early mathematical concepts. We are going to continue to strive towards the goal as we explore new ways of learning through literacy and numeracy.
At times we have needed to use the Centres’ spare clothes for the children who have had accidents or engaged in messy play, etc. If you have any at home could you please return them, as our spare clothes are becoming very low? Thank you!
Kym, Paige, Stella, Lil, Vanita, & Andrea.
PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
Hello to all our preschool families,
This month, the preschool children have been observing many fascinating happenings that are occurring in our natural environment. Many of the children have had questions regarding the sudden appearance of flowers that are beginning to bloom in and around Adelaide. We have been investigating the surroundings of the Westpac building, taking a closer look at the beautiful transformation that is occurring all around us. This has rekindled our fascination with bees and the children have noticed some very strange behaviour. The children are wondering why the bees suddenly drop to the ground and cannot fly any more. Are they sick? Are they dying? And the biggest question that has come up…how can we save them? This seems to be the big enquiry question that we are going to need to investigate further…
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
This term preschool has been focusing on the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. The children have been reading the story every day and have used props to further explore the book, play out scenes and investigate the story from different perspectives. We noticed the children interacting with the imaginative materials on our inquiry table and then, suddenly, the children started to negotiate the roles and act out the story for themselves. We have been very interested in how the children have brought the book to life and have used the loose parts in the room to continuously follow their ideas and create a complex learning experience. These photos show the children constructing the brick house in the story and then looking at it from the perspective of outside the window.
Our show and share experience has been amazing this term. Thank you to all the families who have shared their favourite books with us in preschool. It is a fantastic opportunity for all the children, as it means we read a wide range of books, the children share their favourite stories and that they are meaningful for them. Our preschool room really do have a great appreciation and imbedded love of all kinds of stories and we are looking forward to reading more of them!
As always, if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to see Sandra or Bek.
Thank you,
Sandra, Bek, Nicole, Asmita, Renae & Nisha.
HEALTHY EATING & NUTRITION
My fabulous: Banana & Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups SR flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2-3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup rice malt syrup
2 eggs
Method:
Mix all ingredients together but do not overmix
Place into loaf tin and cook in oven at 180ºC for approximately 1 hour in the middle of the oven.
Alternatives:
Gluten Free: Replace the flour to gluten free SR flour and baking powder.
Egg Free: Use 2 tablespoons vinegar. Place the baking powder into the vinegar first and mix and then add to the rest of the ingredients.
Enjoy.
Thank you, Belinda
ADMINISTRATION
Parent Pockets.
Parents you have a suspension file located in the front foyer with your family name on. In these files you may find artworks, newsletters, programming sheets for your children, notes of upcoming events, excursions, fundraising activities, birthday invitations and pamphlets of interest from various organisations. Please check them regularly to avoid the disappointment of missing an important date.
Thank you.
Ciao, Paula