Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 5 Term 2

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.

Posted May 27th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 4 Term 2

Hello Everyone

This week we have been talking about bodies and blood. We have looked at books and diagrams, talked about what we know about blood and the body, felt for pulses and done experiments using pretend blood (red food colour potion), funnels, plastic tubes and a bucket to imagine how our blood travels round our bodies. If you child has come home with red hands, feet or clothing this is why! There has been lots of pouring, connecting, negotiating, thinking, talking and hypothesising. We have also been drawing round children’s bodies and then they have been painting them. Each one is unique.

The children have also been learning the names of some body parts in Spanish through songs and games. Here are the words and their pronounciations so you can be involved at home-

  • cabeza (kabeza) – head
  • hombros (ombro) – shoulders
  • rodillas (rodiya) – knees
  • pies (pies) – feet

In Spanish vowels are always said with the same sound as follows-

  • a as in apple
  • e as in elephant
  • i as in igloo
  • o as in octopus
  • u as “oo” as in book

There is a display of Chris’ time in Nepal during the holidays. Come and have a look at the school she worked in, the children and photos of her time in Kathmandu. Chris will be taking it home next week.

There are headlice about again, so please check your child’s hair and treat if necessary. Here’s the link for the conditioner treatment -

http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/hlice/hlinfo1.htm

There is lots of lost property in the basket. Please come and see if any of it belongs to your child.

Thanks to Carmen (Xanthe’s aunt), for the paper.

Lastly, we love it that you all feel this is like your home, but in Currambena style we are all responsible for our ourselves so, if you use things in the kitchen, please wash, dry and put them away. Thanks!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted May 20th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 3 Term 2

Hello Everyone

This week we welcome Matthew and his family. We have been working on finding out more about the body, following up on the children’s interest in the brain and thinking, and blood. There are two life size bodies on the wall in preschool and we have started adding a brain and nervous system to one. There are plans for a circulatory system for the other, with plastic tubing! We have also been having discussions about how our body relays information to the brain and vice versa and also how our hearts pump blood around our bodies.

We have also been talking about where you can and cannot go when you are at preschool. CASP is out of bounds during the day until CASP time. If children want to go to the library they need to ask one of the teachers to accompany them.

On this coming Monday 18th May we will begin going to the park at the end of Dorritt Street. The Monday group has made some agreements for how we will walk to the park. We leave at 9.30am amd return at 11.00am, in time for canteen morning tea. We take fruit with us in the backpack to cut up for morning tea. There is a tap at the park for drinks of water.Children need to wear a hat and be at school by 9.30am so that we can leave promptly. Luuk and Willem will be going to the park with us each Monday until they leave on the 18th June. They will be planning different games and physical activities.  Please sign the permission slip that will be on the sign on sheet each Monday morning – it’s really important to remember do this otherwise we have to start phoning parents for permission or leave children behind at school!!

There will be breakfast at school this Friday 15th May, from 7.30am onwards. Come and meet other parents and enjoy the Currambena spirit. Payman (mum of Avah in Aussiekids) is organising the breakfast and as she has fractured her wrist she needs people to lift tables and help setting up. Please see Payman if you can help.

It’s Information Morning at 10.00am this morning for people to find out about Currambena. Michael is working while I do various admin tasks for the rest of the day.

Preschool and Aussiekids (Fran and Jo’s) will be holding a stall to raise money to buy books for the library at Heartland Children’s Academy in Nepal on Tuesday 7th July 2009. Please start going through your cupboards and bookshelves for items you no longer need to donate to the stall. We will also sell cakes and biscuits, so start planning some recipes to make as well!

Thanks to everyone who spirits away our bags of dirty washing and returns everything clean. We appreciate it!!

Lastly, we need an urgent Maintenance job done – can anyone replace one of the top rungs on the wooden climbing frame?

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted May 13th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 2 Term 2

Hello Everyone

This week it was good to have Chris back ! Thanks to Michael for working, playing, reading, helping resolve conflicts and more while Chris was away . This week we also welcome Amy and her family to preschool. Amy’s sister is Mia, in Aussiekids (Fran, Jo and Sarah’s group).

This week we have been discussing, painting and thinking about numbers. We have also been doing watercolour painting and baking lots of Anzac Biscuits. We have been discussing not throwing anything over the fence, group time agreements and Chris has been describing life in Nepal.

We are planning a stall to raise money to buy books for 3-7 year olds for the library at Heartland Children’s Academy in Nepal. This is the school that Chris volunteered at in the holidays. We will be running the stall with Fran and Jo’s class on Tuesday 7th July 2009 at 12.30 pm. Please go through your homes and look for things you no longer need – books, toys, DVDs, CDs etc, and bring them in on the morning of the stall. You can also bake cakes or make food to sell at the stall. Thanks!!

If anyone would like to care for the chickens on the weekend for the next five weekends, please see me. Caroline and Ricky have volunteered to care for them this weekend, so there are four weekends thereafter that need volunteers. You need to be able to let the chickens out on Saturday and Sunday mornings and then feed them, check their water, and get them in again each evening. The chickens will hopefully reward you with eggs! See me if you would like to do this.

Last week “Sock it to You” catalogues were put in children’s lockers. This is a fundraiser for the school so please order all your winter needs and lots more. Take orders for family and friends, too. The orders need to be put in the box on the preschool desk by next Friday 15th May. Payment is by cash, cheque made out to “Currambena School” or by credit card directly to “Sock it to You”. Please remember the 50c postage payment per customer.

Thanks to all the following people-

  • Johnno and Mironne for the boxes, basket and for caring for the chickens all holiday!!
  • Carmen (Xanthe’s aunt) for the paper.
  • Zack and his family for the wonderful collection of box construction materials.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela

Posted May 6th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Week 1 Term 2

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to preschool for Term 2. This week we also welcome Keppel and his family.

We all had exciting and varied holidays. Julianna, Jo, Fran, Luuk, Willem and I went to the AAPAE Conference at Tamariki School in Christchurch, New Zealand, where we encountered new ideas, shared stories, looked at innovative schools and were made to feel totally at home and welcome by our friends at Tamariki. Gabriela went hiking and Chris is in Nepal, working at Heartland Children’s Academy. Michael will take Chris’ place until she gets back on Tuesday.

This Friday, 1st May, at 9.30 there will be a talk by Sydney Wildlife animal carer, Bev, who will talk about her work with baby animals. All are welcome. Please bring a gold coin donation.

This week we have followed up on the children’s ideas of what they would like to learn about this term and we have materials out for exploring the alphabet and numbers. We also have shapes and colours to play with on the light table.

I will be holding a fundraising sock drive in the next few weeks so don’t buy any socks, gloves, hats and so on until then! Look out for your catalogue in your child’s locker in the coming days.

Chris, Wendy and Fran will be holding a Conflict Resolution course beginning on Saturday, 9th May. It will run for 4 weeks.  Look out for the flyer in this newsletter. See Fran or Wendy if you are interested.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who cleaned at the end of last term and in the holidays. Thanks, too, to Kath, who bought us a big store of paper from Reverse Garbage. If you would like to cut it up for use on the easels please come and see one of us.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted April 29th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 10 Term 1

Hello Everyone

It’s the last week of term. Tomorrow is the last day of term. Preschool begins again on Wednesday 29th April 2009. There will be vacation care on specific days during the holidays so keep an eye on the big noticeboard near the gate for more details, or talk to Amba, Emma and Rowena in CASP.

Thank you to the parents who have offered to come and clean this week and also take things home to wash in the holidays. The cleaning  jobs that have not been done this week will go onto our maintenance noticeboard next to the sink. If you come to a Maintenance Day at the end of the holidays please do some. Thanks!!

There will be a talk on baby animals by Bev Young, of Sydney Wildlife on Friday 1st May 2009 at 9.30 am. Last week the older children found a baby possum and called Sydney Wildlife who came to collect it and Bev offered to come and give a talk. This is free and all are welcome.

We have one book missing from the Australian Museum box that we borrowed. It is called “Eyes in the Dark” and it is about animlas’ eyes. If your child has taken it home please return it to preschool as it needs to be sent back to the Museum.

This week we have been talking about what children would like to learn about next term. We have a wide range of topics ranging from the alphabet, counting, bull fighting, fire fighting, how to pick up babies and marine biology!! Let us know if your child has any passions or burning questions!

Danni (Ellery in Fran and Jo’s class’ mum), brought in a dead flying fox to look at this week. It had got caught on the wires outside their house.

The CR course will be running for 4 weeks next term, starting on Saturday 9th May 2009. See Fran, Wendy or Chris if you are interested.

Thank you to the following people-

Janine, Charlie G.’s mum, for replacing the broken bag hooks.

Amba, Luca and Max, for the playdough rolling pin.

Christine, for the box of plants.

Hannah, Jacob, and family for taking the chickens for the holidays.

Natalie and family for taking the mice for the holidays.

All the people who have done Maintenance jobs, washed and cut up paper.

Have a happy holiday everyone!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted April 8th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 9 Term 1

Hello Everyone

This week we have been extending the ideas from the Australian Museum box on “Day and Night”. We have made a day/night mural on the big wall, with Aboriginal inspired animal paintings and our faces in the day and the night. We are now planning a night wall and have made a Boobook Owl fledgling and a Sooty Owl to inhabit it. We will do more work on this in Craft today. Some ideas on this that you can incorporate at home are talking about what you do in the day and the night; telling stories of picnics, beach trips, camping trips and other family activities; and going on a nightwalk with a torch. You may see a possum or a Tawny Frogmouth!

Fitting right in with this theme is the book that Stan made on his Autumn mushroom picking trip to the Belanglo Forest with his family on the weekend. Stan and Kasia told us all about mushroom picking and showed us the mushrooms that they cooked and ate and also a poisonous toadstool. Stan’s book with photos and a transcript of the discussion is in preschool, so come in and have a look. Xanthe then told us how she had been apple picking in the Blue Mountains on the weekend and brought in three fresh, juicy apples for the fruit bowl. Theres’ a transcript of what she said and one of the apples (if it hasn’t been eaten yet!) next to Stan’s mushroom book.

If any families would like to share events and experiences from their lives we would love that. You can always talk at morning meeting and bring us things to look at – photos, objects, books, brochures, tickets. If you or your child has an interest they would like to share with preschool we would love to hear about it. Come and talk to one of us.

The library is looking FANTASTIC! Thank you, Kerrie, and all your helpers. The library is warm, functional and interesting .The dinosaur and joke book displays have caught our imaginations.

There is a Social this Friday 3rd April at roundabout 6.00pm. The Social is run by parents (often by Payman, who ran the Cafe a couple of weeks ago). Tables are set up, drinks are organised to be sold on the evening, families bring  a plate of food to share and everyone has a really good time. If you would like to know more please talk to Julianna or Payman.

This week we have lots of people to thank-

- Bec, for the CDs for preschool.

- Helen, for sorting the paper box.

- Kimberley, for checking the textas and sorting the box construction box.

- Payman, for changing and washing the sofa cover.

- All the people who do our washing.

Chris is going to Nepal for the holidays to work with CLCR and Heartland Children’s Academy. She will be back on Tuesday 5th May. Michael is going to come and work in preschool for the four days Chris is away. Chris is collecting money, and items such as coloured pencils and other things if you would like to donate anything to help children in Nepal who have so little compared to us. See the notes around school of what Chris will be doing and what she needs, or talk to Chris for more information.

Lastly, next Thursday is the last day of school. Amba is organising holiday care for certain days in the holidays. See the big noticeboard near the gate for more information and to book your child in. The first day back is Wednesday 29th April 2009. The teachers will all be here on Tuesday 28th April for a pupil-free Co-ordination Day, and CASP is open that day for children to attend if you need them to.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela

Posted April 1st, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 8 Term 1

Hello Everyone

There are two more weeks of this term. The last day of preschool is Thursday 9th April 2009. There will be holiday care run by Amba Gatherum on certain days during the holidays. See the big noticeboard near the gate if you would like to book your child in. Preschool reopens on Wednesday 29th April 2009. Next week we will be putting up a list of cleaning jobs that need to be done during the last week of term, so if you need to do maintenance hours come and do them then.

This week we have been exploring the contents of the big box we received from the Australian Museum. The theme of this box is “Night and Day”. We will have it for three weeks. We have started creating a big night/dawn/day mural on the big wall, with stars, moon, dream stories and discussions on what we see and do both during the day and during the night.

We have also been talking about where preschool children can play during the day. Children can play in the preschool area and the whole playground. They need an adult with them to go up to the library, so they need to ask one of us if they would like to go to the library or go with a parent . Out of bounds areas are the music room, seniors room and CASP.

There will be holding speech screening with a speech pathologist on Monday 6th April 2009 from about 11.00 am. The session will take about ten minutes and cost $20.00 per child. Parents are welcome to attend with their child. If your child attends preschool on a Monday and you would like to have their speech screened, please come and fill in a permission form and attach the $20.00 in an envelope. The permission forms are on the teachers’ desk. If your child does not attend preschool and you would like to have them screened you can attend between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm on that day. The screening covers pronunciation, expressive and receptive speech and fluency. You will be advised if your child needs to receive treatment.

Thank you to everyone who does our mounds of washing. Thank you to Lachlan, who used to come to preschool last year, and his family, who donated dress up clothes and books to preschool.

Lastly, a request for no lollies and chocolates to be brought to school. This is a rule brought in by the children themselves.

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted March 25th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 7 Term 1

Hello Everyone

Thank you to all the people who attended Fran and Chris’ talk on Monday night. Thanks too, to Jess and Karen for organising it. And a big thank you to Chris for coming even though she was unwell.

Welcome to  Annabel, who started last week, and her family.  On Friday Sam brought in cake for his last day in preschool and Rachel did her last music session. We have all loved the joyous music sessions given by Rachel each Friday over the past few weeks. Yesterday we said goodbye to Sam and his family and wished them well for their return to England.

It’s been a busy week with lots to do and talk about - juicing fresh fruit and vegetables and learning their Spanish names; making sushi; doing paintings inspired by Monet; cleaning the mouse cage and learning about mice; looking at fantastic photos of diggers laying a gas pipe;  having discussions about why we shouldn’t take other people’s food and talking about friendship issues. A mysterious big, black trunk was delivered to preschool on Monday…we are all very curious as to what is in it and what is planned for next week.

We have also been talking about where children can and cannot go in the school. The areas that are out of bounds during school hours are CASP and the library upstairs. If children wish to visit the library they need to go with an adult. The library has an honour system for borrowing books so when your child borrows a book and have finished reading it, they just need to return it to the white box in the library for re-shelving.

After this week there are three more weeks of school left in this term. In the coming weeks we will be putting up lists of jobs to be done in preschool in the last week, so if you haven’t done your maintenance hours you will get the opportunity to put your name down and come and do some jobs then.

Thanks to Seamus for the photos of diggers laying a gas pipe and also to Elaine for the magazines on road building and civil engineering. Thanks to everyone who takes our mountains of washing each week!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted March 18th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg

Preschool

Preschool Newsletter Week 6 Term 1

Hello Everyone

This week we have continued the interest in vehicles and diggers by  starting to build a roadway system out of little boxes and cardboard for our tiny cars. We have also been baking bread, doing water colour painting and digging in the sandpit. We are planning to sing some Spanish songs and learn some Spanish words as well.

The boat arrived last Wednesday and is under a tarpaulin awaiting its renovation. Thank you to Steve (Luke and Julia’s grandfather) for the wonderful donation and David (Josh’s dad) for volunteering to fix it.

People have been borrowing their children’s journals which is wonderful, but if you borrow your child’s journal, please bring it back the following day as we add to them frequently. Thanks!!

Please can everyone remember to sign their children in to preschool each morning? This is a DoCS requirement. If they are going to CASP please write “casp” in the sign out box. Thank you!

We have taken down the children’s autobiographies and have put them into their journals. We would now like to take down the parents’ memories of their first days of school. We will be putting these into each child’s journal but if you would like to take them home please come and get them in the next few days.

Lastly, thanks to Peter for A4 paper, Julie for Craft items and everyone who does the washing!!

Love from

Sue, Chris and Gabriela.

Posted March 11th, 2009 in Preschool by sueg