General

Spring Sock Drive Fundraiser!!

Dear Currambena

“Sock It To You”,  the sock drive people have a new Spring catalogue with lots of new items in it. There are gifts, toys, socks and lots more. Do your Christmas shopping now and beat the crowds as well as fundraising  for Currambena. Get orders from your friends and family as well!

Every child will be receiving a catalogue this week. Please have your orders back to me by Friday 2nd October 2009, which is the last day of term. There will be a box on the preschool teachers’ desk to put your orders in. You can pay by credit card, cash or cheque made out to Currambena School. I will send the orders off in the holiday and plan for them to be delivered in the first week of Term 4.

Thanks

Sue

Posted September 17th, 2009 in General by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 8 Term 3

Hello Everyone

Thank you to all the people who made the school look so clean and cared for in time for Information Morning on Wednesday. It is really appreciated!

On Monday 21st September it is the International Day of Peace and we plan to mark it by all wearing a white t-shirt, singing peace songs and icing white peace signs onto biscuits. Please bake some biscuits – the recipe is in the newsletter. It is also 350 day – we will be taking a photo to send a message to world leaders about the need to address the climate change issue.

After a discussion last week about teddy bears and soft toys we are having a “Soft Toy day” next Thursday 24th September. Bring your favourite soft toy!

There is a Social next Friday 25th September at 5.30pm. There will be a bush band and a communal dinner, so  please make some food to share. No nuts, kiwi fruit or chocolate, please! More information is on notices around the school.

This week we have been talking about peace, doing some more work on houses and playing alphabet games. In Craft last week the children designed and made a city out of boxes, which was then painted. The city has every conceivable thing needed for a community to live very comfortably – spas, slides,  lots of lifts, buildings, trampolines, swimming pools etc.

Gabriela will be away this Friday 18th September visiting a preschool in Annandale where they have a Spanish program. She will also be away on Monday doing a First Aid Course. Bec will be working in preschool on Monday in Gabriela’s place.

Next week is the second last week of Term 3 so I will be putting up a list of jobs that need to be done in the final week of school. This is the time to catch up on doing your maintenance hours!!

There is a Spring Sock Drive Fundraiser on. Each child should have received a catalogue in their locker. Do your Christmas shopping now!! Orders need to be back to school by the last day of term, Friday 2nd October 2009. Put them in the box on our desk.

Thanks to the following parents-

Jackie and Kiffin for musical instruments and toys;

Susan for the purple satin;

Kath and Keppel for bringing in sushi ingredients and spending time in preschool showing us how to make sushi;

Peter and Xanthe for the new trampoline sandbags;

Jack for the dinosaur tail;

and Janine for the hooks and towels for the children’s bathroom.

Love from

Sue, Chris,  and Gabriela.

Posted September 17th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 7 Term 3

Hello Everyone

The excursions to Longueville last week went really well and the children did some really interesting drawings of the city skyline and the harbour Bridge. They are up on the walls in preschool so come in and have a look at them and the accompanying photos. Playing in the park was also fun.

This week we have continued with buildings by discussing homes and doing an experiment. We have also been doing a unit on protective behaviours – talking about things we can do to keep ourselves safe in a variety of situations. We have also had clay out for children to build with.

Yesterday Sisse had a Danish hotdog stand in preschool and children ordered hotdogs with various accompaniments and chocolate milk.

It’s Information Morning next Wednesday so let friends know if they are interested in coming to find out about Currambena.

Please label all possessions especially lunch box plastic containers and lids as they are becoming the new litter!! Also please claim your child’s lost property. Thanks!!

There is a talk on this Monday night, 16th September 2009, on “Your child and high school” from 7.00 – 9.00 pm.  If you are curious about how your child will manage the transition to high school, come and hear from some ex-Currambena pupils and Wendy about this process. It is open to everyone, not just Currambena parents or those with children going into high school in the near future.

It is “The International Day of Peace” on Monday 21st September 2009. We are planning to celebrate peace by all wearing a white t shirt that day. We have been learning a song as well. There are other events being planned so keep a look out in the newsletter. We are combining this with 350 day, which is concerned with creating a visual to send a message to alert world leaders to take action on climate change. Have a look at the website - www.350.org

I have begun offering places to people on the waiting list for 2010 and having interviews with the new families.

Thanks to Michelle, Annabel’s mum, for scrubbing our easels.

Thanks for the art magazine, Charlotte.

Thanks to the community for returning some of our little ponies, Lucy, Scarlett, Rosie and Paisley were happy to see them back again.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted September 10th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 6 Term 3

Hello Everyone

This week we have been talking about and drawing buildings and skyscrapers. Amazing block constructions and their related drawings are appearing in preschool. We have also been singing Spanish songs and listening to Latin American music.

As part of our exploration of buildings we will be going on an excursion to draw the cityscape with Chris Rochester on Thursday and Friday morning, the 3rd and 4th September 2009. We will leave at about 10.15 am and return again by 11.15 am. We will be walking down Longueville Rd to the corner of Woodford and Kenneth Rds in Longueville, where there is an amazing view of the city. We will draw what we see and also play in the park behind the tennis courts. Michael will be coming with us on Thursday and then staying for the day in preschool so that I can do some admin work after the excursion. There will be a permission form on both Thursday and Friday morning.  Please sign them!

There will be a Latin American Music Show in Preschool next Wednesday 9th September 2009 from 10.30 – 11.30 am. The cost for this is $8.00 per child. Please pay one of the teachers a.s.a.p.

We are still having children arriving at preschool before 9.00 am. We are only licensed for children from 9.00 am onwards. We also use the time before 9.00 am to set up the room, prepare materials for the day, have meetings and write in journals. We are unable to surpervise children at this time and would really appreciate everyone respecting this and not dropping their children off until 9.00 am. Thank you for your kind cooperation with this!!

Next Friday 11th September 2009 Kath and Keppel are coming to make sushi with preschool after School Meeting. We need a few more sushi mats for this so if you have any please bring them in next Friday. Thanks!!

The silkworms have hatched so if you have a mulberry tree please bring in some leaves for them as our tree is quite small.

Thanks for the glass tank and the storage box, Susan and Matthew.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted September 3rd, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

General

A Letter from Preschool

Dear Currambena

All our little ponies in preschool have vanished. They have ‘PS’ written on their tummies or their feet. If you’ve taken them home please bring them back soon. We miss playing with them.

From Scarlett, Lucy, Rosie and Paisley in Preschool

Posted September 3rd, 2009 in General by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 5 Term 3

Hello Everyone

The children have really responded to the shapes project. This week we have been exploring shapes found in nature – spirals, circles, cylinders, ovals and symmetrical shapes. This has led to looking at patterns in nature as well. Yesterday Elizabeth, Alexander’s mum, brought in  some of the stunning quilts she has made and is making to show us the shapes she used when making the quilts. There were triangles, squares, rectangles, crosses, hearts and stars.

We have also been looking at treasures and treasure boxes. We have had a look at Chris’ treasures and started painting treasure boxes. If anyone has any treasures or a treasure box they’d like to share with us come and show us!

We have also been singing shape songs and shape movements in Music with Tony. Gabriela has also been singing some Spanish songs. We have a Latin American show coming to preschool on Wednesday 9th September 2009 from 10.30 – 11.30 am. The cost for this will be $8.00.

Sisse has been doing experiments with flowers, seeing if we can make watercolour using petals and leaves. Last week the flower arranging was very popular. Thanks for all bringing in flowers. Yesterday Sisse is baked delicious Danish Cinnamon Snails with the children. 

Sally and Noel (Hamish’s grandparents) planted seed potatoes in tyres on the tanbark near the spiderweb with Sisse and preschool. We are going to add a tyre every now and then and as the potatoes grow upwards they will make new potatoes along the stem. We should be able to harvest them in December. Thanks Sally and Noel!

Thanks to everyone who comes on a Monday for signing the new park excursion permission form, and for everyone getting to school in time for us to leave at 9.30 am.

Thank you to all the people who have let us know their plans for next year. The list for preschool places is still up on the window next to the sign on sheet. I will take this down at the end of the week and then begin contacting people on the waiting list.

There is a Cafe on this Friday at 2.00 pm, so bring a cake (no nuts, chocolate or kiwifruit, but cocoa is fine) to be sold at the Cafe and then come and have a cup of tea or coffee and a slice of cake with the Currambena community. There are notices up around school with the details.

Thanks to Anne for all the really useful rolls of paper and thanks to everyone who does the washing so efficiently.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted August 27th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

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

Posted August 20th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 3 Term 3

Hello Everyone

Welcome to Max and Josie and their families.

Today is Information Morning and Bec is coming in to play and weave her special magic through preschool. Later on Hari’s aunt is coming to read stories in Greek with puppets. Last week Steve and Lucy brought in their fire pit and we made a fire. We tried toasting bread and marshmallows. Today Jenny and Josh are planning on visiting Reverse Garbage for some paper and other supplies. Last week Elizabeth went to Reverse Garbage for us as well. It’s wonderful to have such fantastic support and we appreciate all the sweeping, cleaning, washing, building planning, library tidying and chicken caring that happens behind the scenes as well. Thank you!!

This week we have been exploring shapes. We have some beautiful wooden solid shapes as well as flat shapes, books and  pictures. In Group Time we have been doing activities to aid in the understanding, naming and recognition of shapes. We have also been looking at a book on the Gee’s Bend quilts in America and making shape collages. In Craft tomorrow we will look at the beauty of shapes and look at Kandinsky’s work.

On Friday (this Friday 14th August) we will be going to the Crows Nest Fire Station.  We have prepared a list of questions to ask the firefighters. The children who attend on a Friday will be travelling by private car (either with a teacher or a parent). We will be leaving at 9.30am so everyone needs to be at school by 9.15am. We will return again at about 11.00am. There will be a permission form on the sign-on sheet on Friday morning. This must be signed for your child to go on the excursion.

Last week Karen put a questionnaire in each child’s locker. Please fill it in and return to Julianna or Sue. The RSVP for Fran’s “Preparation for Kindergarten Night” is at the end of the questionnaire. This evening is the opportunity for you to talk to Fran and other parents about preparing your child for kindergarten. It is open to everyone, not just families with children going to kindergarten, and not just for Currambena families. There are flyers outside preschool for you to take to give to friends. This event will be held on Monday 24th August 2009 at 7.00pm. There will be childminding available in preschool with some of the CASP team. Last year’s night was fantastic, so don’t miss it!!

We have begun our whole school planning for 2010. There is a list of the days for next year up on the window above the sign-on sheet. Please choose the days you would like your child to attend next year.  This applies to current preschool parents and also families in the primary school with siblings coming to preschool next year. Come and secure your days now! If your child will not be attending preschool in 2010 please come and tell me. We need to know if children will be going to Fran’s or to another school or preschool. Once everyone has chosen their days I will be offering places to people on the waiting list.

Lastly, we need someone who loves attending to detail to sort out puzzles and put all the stray pieces back where they belong. If you think you’d like to do this come and speak to one of us.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted August 12th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 1 Term 3

Hello Everyone

Welcome back!  We hope everyone had a good rest over the holidays. Thanks to everyone who helped with the end of the term cleaning and washing.

We have started exploring the big topic of  ’fire’. This came out an interest in fire fighters and fire stations. In the last week of last term Charlie’s Uncle  Tad came and spoke to us about his work as a voluntary firefighter in country Victoria. We also painted a big fire truck and fire on the big wall. We used some of our ‘action’ paintings to symbolise the fire. 

This week we have been talking about how fire starts, what we think it is, the different types of fire and how we use fire in all kinds of ways in our homes. In Craft we will be looking at paintings by Tim Storrier and painting fire.  Next Thursday we are  planning to make a fire with Steve, Lucy’s dad, and see if we can toast some bread.

We have an excursion planned to Crows Nest  Fire Station on Friday 14th August. We will travel by private car, leaving at 9.30am, then have a talk with the firefighters and see all their equipment. We will then drive back to school at about 10.45am. We need about two more drivers to help transport children to the Fire Station. You will need a back seat with a seat belt for each child travelling in your car. If you can help please speak to me. There is no cost for this excursion. There will be a permission form on the day. Please make sure you sign it!

This week we have also been making vegetable soup using vegetables from Chris’ garden and the school’s vegetable garden. Next week we will be making sandwiches in preschool.

We are starting our whole school preparations for 2010. We need to know which children will be continuing into Fran’s class for Kindergarten next year. Please come and let us know of your plans. In a few weeks I will be putting up the days of the week for 2010 and asking parents whose children will be continuing in preschool next year to choose the days they would like their children to attend.

Fran will be hosting an evening called “Preparing for Kindergarten” on Monday 24th August at 7.00pm. This is open to the wider community, regardless of whether your child attends Currambena, is going to Fran’s or even to Kindergarten next year. Last year’s talk was a really fantastic session with all kinds of valuable topics discussed. Come and share the discussion and invite your friends too!

Wendy, Fran and the children who went to Laura will be holding a Laura Presentation on Tuesday 11th August at 7.00pm. They will tell us all about their amazing trip and think of the next one in 2011.

Lastly, we need our new fire extinguisher put up on the wall. If you’d like to do this and use up some maintenance hours just come and see us.

Thanks to Eduardo, Magda, Leo and Pablo for looking after the chickens during the holidays!

Love

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted July 29th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

General

Chickens urgently need holiday home!!!!

The chickens need somewhere to stay for the holidays. If you can help see Sue. You need to have a secure place to lock them up for the night. We will supply food and straw for their nest box. 

Thanks!!

Posted July 8th, 2009 in General by sueg