Preschool News Week 10 Term 3

Posted on September 22, 2023 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

A huge thank you to Gina and Matt and everyone that attended the maintenance day on Sunday. We were blown away by everything that was achieved despite the unseasonably hot weather. We’ve got some tentative plans regarding the preschool outdoor play space over the school holidays.

Thank you to everyone that confirmed they’re re enrolment into preschool for 2024. I’ll endeavour to send through enrolment forms to those families that need to complete them as soon as possible. Thank you to those families that have already done this.

We’ve had a great last week of term with lots happening. Children have worked on constructing a wrecking ball with Michael, we’ve continued developing the children’s skills in problem solving in play through intentional teaching opportunities, begun learning new hand rhymes, and filled our days with lots of music and musical performances. We’ve had lots of puppet shows, cubby house making, games of football and lots of water play in the mud kitchen due to our Spring heatwave!

Due to the rise in temperature on Monday we decided not to head off to Kimberley Playground. We did however go for our regular morning stroll around the school and enjoyed playing at the bottom playground for most of the morning. Music with Phil is the highlight of our Monday as the children continue to develop their understanding of music through singing.

There was great excitement when we reintroduced the foot spa on Tuesday. Everyone quickly remembered we needed bubbles, colours, essential oils and music for ambience. Many of the children spent much of their morning having a foot soak while eating their lunch and chatting to their peers.

Abi joined us on Wednesday which provided me with the opportunity to complete some admin and the children to reconnect with after a long absence. It was lovely to hear the children telling her that she was on their TV! The children enjoyed spending the day with her crafting and singing.

We had Dee join us on Thursday for another amazing yoga session. Thank you so much Dee, for sharing your expertise with us this term. We’ve been astounded by how skilled you are at music, singing and yoga, not to mention how engaged you keep everyone throughout your sessions.

We wish everyone a fantastic school holidays and look forward to hearing about the children’s adventures when we return for term 4.

Love

Katrina, Michael and Lisa

 

 

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Vinnie’s Group Week 10 Term 3

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Vincent

Hi all,

We have finished off the term with a fun packed week. The children enjoyed the heat as we put on the sprinkler out the back of the classroom for lots of fun water play. We also looked at some of the last years concert pieces.

On Tuesday we walked up to the park first thing in the morning to avoid the heat. The children loved playing a whole class game of survivor tip.

We looked at more skip counting and at patterns made by skip counting on a 100s grid. We did some subtraction and addition problems every day. We kept working on our sentences this week – the children chose to look at the Ultrasaurus this week. We also spent our last week with Otto teaching us about some pokemon characters. We spent some time reviewing our learning goals we made in week one and checked off all the things we learnt.

We have finished our class book – Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creature by the Rubies. It will be on display in our picture book shelf, come and have a look!

We welcomed back Hunter from her holiday and she told us about some amazing sea creatures she saw in the Maldives. We also welcomed back Meg and she told us about the Kindergarten room she had spent the last few weeks in, too!

Big thanks to the crew for Maintenance Day – it was such a pleasant shock to see big changes in the playground. Thanks to all the parents and carers for your help through the term.

Next term we will be back to  swimming every Tuesday and we will start our concert preparation.

I wish you all a safe holiday.

See you soon,

Vinnie

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Jess’ Group Week 10 Term 3

Posted on September 22, 2023 by jessk

Hi Everyone,

This week we spent some time getting a head start on our concert plans. We talked about the process of play-building and played some drama games to warm up, and we learnt that to be successful in drama we need to stay flexible and open to other people’s ideas. We then had a number of brainstorming sessions to develop our plot and I was very proud of how collaborative the children were.

Cubby building and dancing were very popular this week with the children really enjoying a more flexible timetable and the opportunity to engage in self-managed learning experiences. On the very hot days, some children sheltered inside moulding plasticine and making craft, whilst others enjoyed time outside, sometimes getting wet under Vinnie’s sprinkler. We also spent time deep cleaning our room and scrubbing the desks and chairs!

The highlight this week was of course the magic show on Thursday which featured a cup and ball trick, card tricks, coin tricks, science experiments, fortune telling and of course a bunny in a hat! I was so proud of the children who were brave enough to get up in front of their peers, but I was equally proud of the audience members who were respectful and supportive of the performers even when things didn’t always go according to plan!

We welcomed back Meg this week, fresh with stories from her prac experience with a Steiner school in the mountains. We’re glad you’re back!

We also say goodbye to Kiyaan this week and wish him and his family a happy move to Tweed Heads. We will miss you!

Wishing you all a wonderful break and a good rest before the end of the year busyness begins.

Jess

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Amelia’s Group Term 3 Week 10

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Amelia

Hi everyone,

We  made it! The end to a very busy term. PHEW!

I hope you all have some wonderful holidays booked for the break or are excited for a relaxing time at home with the family. I know I am!

For our last week together, the highlight in our group was our Big Clean. I was so so impressed with the children during their time spent cleaning different areas of the classroom. In the morning we assigned a few different jobs such as cleaning book boxes, washing chairs and tables, sharpening pencils, organising whiteboards and textas, cleaning the plasticine table and organising the bookcase. The children immediately went to action, taking their roles very seriously, and carrying out each job meticulously. I couldn’t have been happier or more impressed with their commitment to the Big Clean and making their classroom a clean and comfortable space for the final term ahead. Well done team!

We also had a lovely final day together, first making sure to finish our must do’s, before we sat down and watched ‘Boss Baby’ all together for the final few hours. It was a nice cool day outside which made it perfect to snuggle up inside for a movie, before saying our goodbyes and wishing each other a lovely break.

Can’t wait to see you all back for Term 4 after a much needed holiday!

Amelia

 

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Jo’s Group Week 10 Term 3

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Newsletter Ed

The final week of Term 3 was a blast! We started by going to the library. Then we decorated pizzas and cut them into different fractions. Later in the week, we made a gadget that uses a renewable energy source. We had fun experimenting with wind, water and imaginary heat. I was impressed with the diversity of ideas that the children created. And, finally, on Friday we walked to the shops, had a class party and watched a movie!

Hope everyone enjoys their holidays and see you next term!

Jo.

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Wendy’s Group Week 10 Term 3

Posted on September 22, 2023 by wendyp

We are saying a sad goodbye to Rhea this week and also to our student teacher, Evi. We will have a goodbye circle for them both on Friday afternoon and they will both be missed. We wish Rhea all the best for her move to the north coast and her new school. Hopefully, we can keep in touch and hear how it goes for her! We wish Evi the best of luck for the rest of her studies and for her future as a teacher. She’s given some great lessons while she’s been here with us.

We’ve mostly been finishing things off this week… our final copy of the texts we’ve been writing, completing corrections in textbooks, doing design drawings for science, finishing PIP presentations, completing reflections on Term 3, tidying up and cleaning. The PIPs have been fascinating as always! Most of the group joined Spanish for cooking on Wednesday. Thank you to Carolina for accommodating the increased numbers!

The group voted for buying lunch at the shops on Friday and there’s still a bit to do for many of us… but no doubt all will be completed in time!

Many thanks to all the maintenance people who did such a fabulous job last Sunday. It was wonderful to see all the children climbing the jacaranda tree on Monday morning! The new plantings seem to have survived the heat wave in the early part of the week and we’re all grateful for the cooler weather, with even some rain!

Our (very much last minute) stall on Thursday to raise some money to buy more soccer equipment for the school was a great success. Apologies for not advertising it more widely. Some soccer balls which can cope with the cement surface of the basketball court and some gloves are on the wish list!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us in our class this term or worked for the school in any capacity. It is such a gift to be part of the Currambena community!

Have wonderful holidays everyone!

Love,
Wendy

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Preschool News: Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 15, 2023 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

The smoke haze led to a change in our usual preschool days. As the smoke was so heavy, we asked the children to spend the mornings inside with the doors closed this week. This is the first time since 2019 we’ve closed a door, so the children have been surprised by the change and temporary loss of autonomy in choosing where they play. It has however meant that we can ensure everyone is breathing in clear air. It also meant that unfortunately we didn’t head off to Kimberley Playground or Lane Cove Library.  With a predicted heatwave on Monday, we may be missing the park again this week.

As we head into the last term of the year, I’ve begun enrolling new families in preschool 2024. For those families intending on staying in preschool next year that haven’t already let me know what days you would like your child to attend, can you please send me an email. If I haven’t heard from you by Friday 22nd September, I will presume you are not returning, and your position will be filled. For those families that have already let me know about the days your child will be attending I’ll be sending you an email and asking you to complete new enrolment forms for 2024 shortly.

We’ve been further developing on conflict resolution with the children using the teachable moment as well as explicit teaching opportunities during group times. We’ve been working on children’s trying to solve their problems in play independently before getting teachers, though stressing the importance of getting a teacher if the person you are trying to solve the problem with isn’t listening. It’s great to see so many children verbally communicating their feelings to each other and then verbalising to teachers how they tried to or were successful in solving the problem.

We’ve focussed on fine and gross motor skills during group times. Cutting can be a difficult task for many children to learn and master, so we’ve been ensuring everyone has lots of intentional and interesting opportunities to master it.

Music continues to be a huge part of our days. Boss of My Body and The Boundary Song are now deeply embedded into our day. We’ve had children repeat some of the phrases in the songs to peers and teachers as they negotiate and problem solve with others in their play.

As the term quickly comes to an end, we’ve placed up an end-of-term cleaning list for those families that want to get ahead with next term’s maintenance hours. Please pop your name down if you’re able to help us with anything.

Lastly, thanks to Cat, Lucy’s Mum, for the donation of spare pants for preschool and to Sophia’s Mum for the tomato seedlings.

Love

Katrina, Lisa and Michael

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Vinnie’s Group Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Vincent

Hi all,

Week 9 has flown by. The children had fun this week walking to the Library on Monday and the Secret Garden on Tuesday.

We also spent some time this week recapping  our protective behaviours. We used resources from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation to talk about permission/consent. We also discussed safe adults, our early warning signs, our personal space bubbles and private and public parts.

We continued with our third set of phonics sounds and will learn a new set next term. We finished our unit of writing by completing a final draft page about our chosen prehistoric creature. I will try to make it into a book over the holidays, so we can show all the parents and carers our informative writing.

We spent some time this week making bundles of ten and working with numbers up to 50. We also practised adding three or four groups of different numbers together. Every day in morning routine we looked at adjectives, words to describe a noun.

In class meeting we voted on a “Dress Up Day” for the last day of school. We will dress up as anything you want, and watch a movie. Our toy agreement was changed by popular demand. $30 limit still applies to all toys, however, we can bring in up to 2 LOL dolls.

I hope you have an enjoyable last week of school.

Vinnie

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Jess’ Group Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 15, 2023 by jessk

Hi Everyone,

The end of term is approaching very quickly as we race to tie up loose ends and conclude our learning across a range of themes. I dusted off the guitar this week for some group singing and we’ve started playing some drama games together in preparation for our concert next term.

We began our week by setting up our sugar crystal experiment and, as can be expected, the unexpected occurred. I was so worried about the candy not crystallising that when, in fact, the opposite happened, I was a little unprepared! By Thursday afternoon, our sugar and water syrup had clumped up into giant lumps of crystals with no way to extract them. We had a little taste, but this job has been left till next week when we can add some hot water and a hammer to the process!

In maths, we have been learning about division, with all children grasping some level of understanding of the concept, and all children showing a recognition of the mathematical symbol in a number sentence. The PIP presentations were very impressive, with a range of topics covered including Ancient Egypt, Chocolate and Taylor Swift.

Next Thursday the children will have an opportunity to show the class a magic trick/performance they may have learnt or developed. It’s a very low pressure opportunity which, I hope, will include a bit of dressing up and a lot of fun. If your child is talking to you about it, please help them out but remember we are not aiming for a polished performance but rather an opportunity to share with each other and have some fun.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend,

Jess

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Amelia’s Group Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Amelia

Hi everyone, hope you are well and getting prepped for your holidays!

It has been a very busy week with the group, as we count down to the last week of term. We had our last lesson focusing on analog time looking at quarter past and quarter to, and with Jess’ help on Monday the children started to make sugar crystal candy. We might have left our sugar crystals to spread for a bit too long as they have started to solidify and stick to the walls of our jars! Instead of the neat sticks of sugar we were aiming for, we may have to break up our crystals into bite size pieces. I am sure the children will be excited to eat them either way!

On Thursday we got to see most of our Year 2s present their PIPs for the term. As most of you saw, they have come such a long way from last term. I am so proud of the effort, focus, and passion they all put into their projects throughout the term, and their maturity and enthusiasm during their presentations. A huge well done to all of our Year 2s! I can’t wait to see what ideas they come up with next term, and what goals they set to improve on.

Have a nice warm weekend!

Amelia

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