Currambena Primary and Preschool

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.

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.

Hello Everyone

It’s Currambena’s 40th Year reunion on Sunday at 12 o’ clock. All kinds of interesting things are planned – a delicious lunch and a sausage sizzle, whole school singing, various speakers, meeting Currambena’s alumni and founders and more. Please come and bring some food to share. There’s a list on the noticeboard where you can write down your contribution.

This week we have been talking about pollution in the sea and mermaids. We are making a mermaid grotto to play in. In Craft tomorrow we are going to do some action painting. Ann, Ben’s mum, is planning on making pancakes with preschool this morning. Last week’s pancakes were delicious and very popular with the children (and adults).

We also went to the park on Monday as we finally had a sunny Monday. Please remember to sign the permission form each Monday morning. It’s on the sign-on sheet. Also, please can people remember to sign the sign-on sheet every day that their child attends preschool? Thanks!!!

The Nepal Stall is being held next Tuesday. Please bring in things to sell and also money to spend on the day. We need things baked for the day as well. Yesterday Preschool had a meeting with Fran, Jo and the Aussiekids to work out how to run the stall.

It’s the second last week of term. A list of cleaning jobs needed to be done has been put on the glass doors next to the lunch table. Please come and put your name down for a job to be done next week. This counts as maintenance so don’t forget to write it up in the maintenance folder in the front foyer of the main building.

The last day of term is next Friday, 10th July 2009. We re-open on Tuesday 28th July 2009. CASP is open for the whole day on Monday 27th July 2009, so see Colin if you would like to book your child in. Amba is also running holiday CASP on certain days. There is a list on the main noticeboard, so write your child’s name down if you need care for them during the holidays.

The chickens need a holiday home for the holidays.If you would like to look after them see me. They need a secure place to sleep at night, fresh food and water each day, a laying box and access to the garden during the day.

Preschool now has a laptop computer! Thanks to Tony, Ferghus’ dad, for getting it up and running.

Chris has been working tirelessly putting out the lost property each morning, both outside preschool and under the blue umbrella. Quite a lot of things have been taken home. Please claim your child’s things as all the left-over lost property will be going to Vinnie’s in the holidays.

Here are some Spanish words and their pronunciations-

vamos (vamos) - let’s go

vamonos (vamonos) – we’re going

uno (oono) – one

dos (dos) – two

tres (trehs) – three

adentro (adehntro) – inside

dime (deemeh) – tell me – you say this when someone calls your name. In English we say “Yes?”, in Spanish you say “Dime”.

There is some more Spanish pronunciation information in the newsletter today. 

Love from Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Hello Everyone

The aquarium visit was lots of fun. The rain held off at the right times, the dugongs were beautiful, the sharks and fish all interesting and a rainbow shone for the journey home!! Each dugong eats 90kg of lettuce every day! It’s a full-time job catering for dugong meals as all the lettuce has to be washed and threaded onto special frames and then lowered into the tank. Thanks to all the parents who came with us and made the excursion such a happy learning experience. We appreciated your help.

This week we have continued the exploration of marine life. Yesterday we added photos of the creatures we saw at the aquarium to the mural. There is also a poster of photos of us all enjoying the excursion. In Craft today we are planning on making a life-size shark.

There is also an interest in cars and we have some car books and have started a project on cars. If anyone has an interesting/sports car we’d love to have a look at it! 

Last Wednesday Chris, Gabriela and I went to a talk on bilingualism, simultaneous and successive language learning. It was really interesting and informative. What is most important in families where one family member speaks another language is that they consistently speak that language to the children of the family. Another thing we learnt is to value the incredible resource that a person who speaks another language brings to an environment. In light of this, Gabriela has started speaking a lot more Spanish in the daily routines. We also have some bilingual children’s books from the library. If anyone has any linguistic resources or experience to share we would love you to come and share it with us and the children.

School Meeting is now at 9.30am on a Friday morning to give a longer period of unbroken time on Fridays. The primary school has reinvigorated the Friday program to enable children to have more choice in personal projects and more extended time to devote to these projects.

Today is Willem and Luuk’s last day. We hope they have lots more fantastic experiences in their last month of Australia, and find wonderful schools to work in when they get back to Holland.

Lastly a reminder to parents to please sign the sign-on sheet each morning when dropping children at preschool.

Thanks to Kasia and Stan for the beach materials and Rebecca and Oscar for the dress-up items.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Hello Everyone

This week we have continued the exploration on bodies and are now thinking about mothers and babies and the changes as we grow. The children  have been discussing what they know about babies and what they know about children. The discussions are up on the big wall. We have Myung-Jin (Oliver and Tilly’s mum) coming in later this week to talk about how she cares for baby Charlie. We also have Anita, Georgia’s mum, coming in today to talk to us about the blood, the brain and the body from a doctor’s point of view.

We have also been doing a project on bullet trains, inspired by Tate’s interest in Japanese bullet trains. Lots of the children have been very interested in this as well – doing drawings and talking about their knowledge and experiences. We painted a large, colourful bullet train in Craft last week and have been making paper people to go in the train. It’s up on the big wall.

In addition to bullet trains, babies and bodies we have been talking about what we call “put-downs”. These are words that make other people feel sad, cross and “squashed” inside, like “You’re stupid” or “poo-bum”. We talked about why people use put-downs, how they make you feel and what you can do if someone uses them. We also talked about thinking of the effect on someone before you use a put-down.

The park visit this week was cancelled due to rain. We did dancing with Willem and Luuk in the spare room instead.

On Thursday it is the Lane Cove Reconciliation Day and the primary children will be going up to the Plaza to participate. Alexandria Park school students will be coming back  for a barbeque lunch afterwards.

The AGM will be held on Thursday 4th June 2009 at 6.00pm. We are asking families to bring some hot soup and bread to share. Nominations for Council need to be in to Julianna this week, so see her a.s.a.p. if you would like to stand for Council.

The Sock It To You orders have been sent off and the items should arrive next week. Thanks to everyone who participated.

We need someone to look after the chickens for the long weekend. You will need to be able to come in and let them out in the mornings and feed them and put them in the coop in the evenings on Saturday 6th, Sunday 7th and Monday 8th June. Alternatively, you can take them home for the weekend if you have a secure place for them to sleep at night. Let me know if you would like to do either of these options. Thanks to  Caroline and Ricky and Jamie, Tilly and Oliver for caring for the chickens for this month.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.