Luuk from Holland

GREETINGS FROM HOLLAND

Hello Everybody!

How is everyone!? I’m already back in Holland for three weeks. I have to admit, I miss all of you very very much!

When I got back in Holland, my family and friends organized a wonderful come back party for me. It was great to see everyone again in Holland.  Right now, I’m finishing the last few things for school and I am preparing for my new study: Physical therapy. On the 27th of August is my final conversation with my supervisors at school, and afterwards I hope I will have a great  party .       At least 2/3 times a week, I read the green book which I got from all of you, and I just love it!  The stories, the photo’s, it reminds me of a wonderful time at Currambena.

I have still a lot of contact with Julianna and Fran and it will be great if I have contact with more people from Currambena. So, just send me an email and I will reply as quick as possible.

My email address: horstinkluuk@hotmail.com

I hope you’re all good, and hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

Luuk

Aussie kids Week 4 Term 3

Dear Parents,

We are slowly working through all of the interviews.   Thank you so much to all the parents who have come and spent time with us talking about your wonderful children, we look forward to seeing the rest of you.

This week the letter is ‘t’ and we have been reading poems about tigers and turtles. On Monday we had our first authors circle where everyone gets to read a story they have written to their peers –  it was wonderful motivation.  We have some natural orators. For maths we are looking at multiplication and division and we are continuing on numbers to 30 and 100, though some children are saying they can count to 1000 000, I have not asked them to prove it!

We continue to work on our personal goals, which is fun and very motivating.

Poor Sarah has been sick all week so we are hoping she will be back on Monday.

Jo and I are looking forward to seeing everyone who is interested  in our meeting “Preparing your child for Kindergarten” on Monday evening at 7pm.

My attention is being demanded….

Take care

FRAN

Julianna Term 3 Week 4

Hello Currambena!

 This is a very special reminder to our parents about signing in and out. I am referring mainly to Preschool and to Casp. When the sign sheethas not been signed this causes huge stress for our staff. For example if you arrive, pick-up a child and promptly leave and five minutes later a staff member checks for this child, ten minutes is spent looking for the child then alarm sets in. Parents are rung which sometimes can take up to an hour tracking parents and they then tracking the person who they organised to collect the child….. As you can imagine all the staff are involved at this stage and quite often this includes myself and that really sick feeling I get in my stomach is very unpleasant… need I say any more.                                                                    

 Sue has a little more to say in the Preschool page with their concerns and some creative thought for resolution.

 THANK-YOU  - To the lovely fairy who so neatly folded our beautiful fabric bunting.                                                                                                                     

 Activities coming soon…….

Remember it is next Monday 24th August ….. preparing for Kindergarten presentation by Fran. At 7pm.

Café afternoon

Friday 28thAugust 2pm start.  This is always a lovely social gathering so please come. If you can provide a plate of something yummy that would be much appreciated…

 Dance social  Friday 25th September

We are hoping to have a bush band and if still cold Steve’s fire pit burning.

So mark that night in your calendar

 Reminders…

  • URGENT! Our waiting list is getting longer so please talk to Sue about the days you want for next year and any siblings that will be starting.
  • Fees are due TODAY. If you are not going to meet this deadline please email your payment plan.
  • Receipts. If you have paid your fees in cash or by cheque these are sitting under the window on my desk.
  • Child Rebates. Preschool parents who have children attending preschool and possible CASP can claim these at Centre Link. If you need the form please talk to me.

 With love,

Julianna

Babysitter!!!

Looking for a babysitter?

Mary Paz has just graduated from university in Chile, and she is staying
in Lane Cove with us – (the Woodward family: Emma, Chloe and Finn). She is
available to babysit most evenings – and charges a very reasonable
$16/hour.

Mary is great with children, diligent, reliable and organised. She comes
with a range of non-child related qualifications – including a degree in
construction engineering (Mary’s lego towers are built to withstand
earthquakes). She is also a professional basketball player, who has
represented her country for a number of years. (She can get a dirty pair
of children’s socks into the laundry basket from 15 metres).

You can call Mary directly on 0420422538
Or talk to Kirsten – 9427 0625

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Thursday 20th August 2009 Term 3 Week 4

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Preschool Newsletter Week 4 Term 3

Hello Everyone

Thanks to all the parents who came to the fire station with us on Friday. We had a good session with the firefighters and learnt what to do if there’s a fire in your house or if your clothes catch on fire. We also climbed in the fire truck, used the hose and saw the ladder truck with its twelve storey ladder. We came back and wrote thank you letters to the firefighters and then posted them.

This week we have been continuing our exploration of shapes by looking at 2D and 3D shapes, imagining the movements of shapes and the sound of shapes and writing a poem about circles. We have also started a big Kandinsky inspired shape painting on the big wall. Sisse has been doing flower arranging with the children. Thanks to everyone who has brought in flowers and leaves.

A parent has expressed interest in the kind of topics children have wanted to explore this term. Here they are – fires and fire stations; shapes; buildings and building houses for Hot Wheels, Barbies and for really tall things; learning the alphabet, writing letters, painting letters, capital and small letters; helicopters and planes; playing games like hide and seek and chasing games  and looking after the ocean and helping animals that live in the ocean.

Our park visits are causing the teachers a lot of stress and we need your cooperation for them to work smoothly. The children learn so much on park visits – road safety; a joy in physical exercise; stamina;  looking at numbers and writing in the environment; walking in a group; looking at nature and the built environment and also just having fun playing games, eating fruit together, swinging, climbing and imagining.

What we need is for children to arrive at 9.00 am so that they have time to separate from their parents and have a quick play. We aim to have Morning Meeting at about 9.15 am, leaving enough time to go to the toilet and put on shoes before leaving school at 9.30 am SHARP.

We are going to trial a new permission form system instead of the weekly park permission  form as parents are still forgetting to sign this form each week. This causes confusion and stress and slows down our departure for the park. As this is a routine excursion we are assuming all parents and children know we will be going to visit the park each Monday (except if it rains).

I will be putting out a park permission form to cover the park visits for the rest of this year. Each family will need to sign this form. We will assume we have your permission unless you tell us otherwise. It is also imperative that you sign your child in on the sign on sheet every morning. Please do this promptly on Monday mornings so we know who is at preschool before we leave for the park and are able to do an accurate head count. Thank you for your cooperation!!

Fran’s “Kindergarten Information Night ” is on this Monday 24th August 2009 at 7.00 pm. All are welcome. Please fill in the preschool questionnaire that was in your child’s locker last week as there is a RSVP at the bottom of the form. We also need to know your plans for your child for next year. There is a list on the preschool window to write down the days you need for your child to attend preschool. Please talk to me if your child will be going to Fran’s or to another primary school or preschool.

Preschool hours are 9.00 am to 2.30 pm. We use the time before 9.00 am to set up the room, work on journals and have meetings. We are not available to supervise children during this time. If you arrive earlier than 9.00 am you will need to stay with your child until 9.00 am. We appreciate your cooperation with this, thank you.

There are head lice in preschool. Please check your child’s hair as a routine twice every week and treat if there is evidence of head lice. Thanks!!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela

Wendy’s Class Week 4 Term 3

Hi everyone.

Firstly, thank you to Rowena for taking the group last Friday when I was away. The kids all seemed to have a   great day.

This week in Wendy’s class we are running a Rubbish Free Lunch Day to raise awareness about the amount of rubbish generated by school lunches. Last Wednesday we conducted the first audit of lunchtime rubbish and today we are doing the same…. after an education program with each class about how to reduce, recycle or re-use instead of just chucking away! We will write  a full report about our findings for next week’s newsletter. If we are able to substantially reduce the amount of rubbish, we may be eligible for a grant from Lane Cove council to purchase more worm farms and compost bins.

Also this week is the 40 Hour Famine which starts at the end of the week. Some children are giving up technology or talking and some will be fasting. Please give generously for it’s all in a good cause. The funds this year are going to assist famine victims in Africa.

We are choosing a new book to read aloud this week and there are many suggestions! Children in our group read widely and have strong opinions about what they would like me to read to them! We are completing comprehension questions and mini projects about our new pet rats to ensure we all know as much as possible about their needs. In Maths, we are completing a unit of work on data, graphing and some beginning  statistics. Elaine (our scientist in residence)  is working with us this morning on the statistics we collected about how children travel to school each day.

Our unit on science (chemistry and other experiments) has been on hold with so much else going on but we’ll be doing more of that next week and possibly visiting CSIRO for a science excursion later this term.

Parent interviews are proceeding well… remember to come and speak to me if you are having trouble finding a time to suit. From Monday next week, piano lessons will be back to normal. I am sorry for all the disruption and I hope everyone has continued to play, play, play!!

I think that’s all for today. Please feel free to come in and look at our new pet rats. The agreements about handling them are on a poster on the door.

Have a great week.

Love,  Wendy

Olivia’s Class Week 4 Term 3

Hi Everyone!

We have welcomed our 21st student into the class this week. A huge welcome to Rupert and his family into our class.

It has been the fortnight of birthdays in the class at the moment with neverending supplies of cake and numerous renditions of happy birthday. We no longer have any six year olds and have now moved into the world of ten year olds.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to come and have a meeting with me or has booked a time to come and see. It has been great to sit down and chat with all of you and talk about the things that the children get up to in the class.

Wendy’s class has organised a ‘rubbish free lunch day’ which occurred today. This encourages awareness about the amount of rubbish that is generated by school lunches and has taught us all some very interesting strategies to reduce waste in our school. Thank you to all the children in Wendy’s and to all the children who participated. Sorry there was no warning about this in previous newsletters, unfortunately it was only organised late last week.

We have moved onto a new topic in maths: Measuring time. The children have started working with a range of clocks including digital and analog time. We have also begun discussions about the difference between am and pm. We are also beginning to write factual descriptions about forms of communications and have received a few old phones that we plan to take apart and study how they work from the inside out. Thank you to everyone who donated their old phones for this purpose. The children have all begun to work on their personal interest projects with enthusiasm and energy. I will let you all know when they are up and ready for display so that you can come in and have a look at them. They are always so interesting to see. Please remember that it is not an expectation that they work on these at home, they are given designated time each week to work on them.

That’s all for this week. Have a great week!

From Olivia