Syndal Pre-school

Family Fun Day

shiona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:30:09 +0000

2011

Staff meeting Santa

Thankyou to Bronwyn for coordinating a great day, with a wonderful team of helpers. Also to the Bartholomeusz family for setting up a great place to meet Santa.

Our Family fun Day is to farewell leaving families and welcome new families. We have lots of fun with facepainting, a jumping castle and Santa comes too.

Merry Christmas

Best Start in Life ezine

shiona — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:07:59 +0000

Through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) of the Australian Government we have been a focus of a story in their Earlychildhood ezine. You can follow the link to read the story here.

http://www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildhood/BestStartInLife/Pages/Issue1.aspx

Drama Toolbox Term 3 Lizards

loracs68 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:13:11 +0000






Drama Toolbox came to visit on Monday 25.07.11 Michaela brought her trolley load of costumes and music. The theme was MINI BEASTS. We all got to take turns to dress up as lady bugs, worms, caterpillars, butchy boys, dragon flies and grasshoppers. We learnt that grasshoppers rub their legs together to talk and that butchy boys curl up in a ball when touched. We pretended to take drinks from the pond and look for food in the flowers. We had to watch out for the bird that was flying overhead. We all had a great time and enjoyed trying out the experience of being a Mini Beast!

Term 3 Newsletter Lizards

loracs68 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:02:09 +0000

At the end of last term, we had Jeanette from the Dove Puppet Theatre visit as our first incursion. She entertained us with puppets, songs and stories relating to Nursery Rhymes. We also got to have a turn at feeding the cow, giving instructions to the puppets and using them ourselves.

At the start of Term 3, we welcomed Michaela from the Drama Toolbox with her trolley load of costumes, props and music. We all got to take turns to dress up as MiniBeasts. Caterpillars, lady bugs, grasshoppers, dragon flies, worms and butchy boys were crawling and flying all over the mat!

Following on from the Drama Toolbox experience, we used eye droppers to create colourful butterflies; stickers and cutting to make lady bugs; and pasting and hole punching to make insects on leaves.

On the one wet afternoon we have had this year, we got busy with balloons, bean bags and music….. a noisy, active, frolicking afternoon!

Father’s Day gifts were completed with pride and enthusiasm….strict instructions were given out that the daddies or poppas needed to wear their cardboard ties all day……….and loving drawings of dads showed up on individual cards.

Now, that the weather is sunnier, we are encouraging children to start to wear hats and sunscreen. Please help your children with the sunscreen at home before the session.

We welcome Porsha and her family, the Van Oosterwijcks and Adele, who has taken over as our Additional Assistant from Jennie. Thanks to all our parent helpers for their willing assistance.

Regards,

Carol, Meg and Adele.

Hospital Imaginative Play

shiona — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:55:40 +0000

Playing with props from a hospital or doctors helps take away fears associated with visiting the hospital.

Imaginative play helps children develp empathy as they take on the roles of others. We use literacy as we practise pretend writting for prescriptions on our clipboards. We take turns to be Doctors, Nurses or patients.

Kindergarten Physical Education Program

shiona — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:36:08 +0000

Gross Motor skills We use the Kindergarten Physical Education Program designed by Occupational Therapists.

Balancing, heel to toe walking along the line.

Each week the experiences will become more challenging as children learn and practise new skills.

Eric Carle

shiona — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:55:58 +0000

We enjoy many Eric Carle books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider and The Bad Tempered Ladybug.

We wondered how he does his beautiful pictures. Shiona found a short video on youtube of Eric Carle painting his paper, drawing, cutting and preparing his collage pictures. So we did it too.

We used textured rollers with shades of colour

We draw onto the painted paper, cut and collage.

An array of creative individual pictures.

Happy 82nd Birthday Eric, we will explore more of your books.

Eric pic

eric pic3

The set up of the room

loracs68 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:44:17 +0000

The set up! Or what goes on behind the scenes late on Friday afternoon in preparation for Monday morning….

Book shelf set up with bright, colourful selection of fresh books ready to share together….”Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work” (Early Years Learning Framework, Outcome 5d).

Construction table set up with 2 full baskets of “zoobs” ready for piecing together…………………”Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating” (EYLF, Outcome 4b).

Nature table set up with bugs, beetles, sticks and leaves..all enclosed in a private setting underneath the mosquito netting………..”Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment” (EYLF, Outcome 2c).

Drawing table set up invitingly with an assortment of textas, glossy and mat paper and picture books in stands as prompts…..”Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media” (EYLF, Outcome 5c).

Wooden farm animals and wooden blocks on table top….added pipe cleaner people on Monday morning….”Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect” (EYLF, Outcome 1d).

Potato Head People ready to add arms, feet, eyes, hats, ears and moustaches…..”Children have a strong sense of identity “(EYLF, Outcome 1a).

Threading table set up with colour sorted beads and strings…………………”Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency” (EYLF, Outcome 1b).

Insect box with stick insect and praying mantis ready for viewing and close examination with magnifying glasses and drawing on clipboards…..“Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another. Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials.” (EYLF, Outcome 4c).

Dove Puppet Show

loracs68 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:49:12 +0000

Jeanette visited from Dove Puppet Theatre to entertain us with her puppet show. Some of us were a bit apprehensive, not knowing what was going to come out from behind the curtain. With a bit of reassurance and time to settle down, we all began to enjoy ourselves.

The show was titled ” The cow who jumped over the moon” and included many favourite characters, including Miss Polly, the gingerbread man and of course, the cow.

We liked being able to feed the cow some bits of food and had a turn being gingerbread men and “running as fast as we can”.

At the end of the show, we all got to take a turn beiing the puppeteer behind the theatre and experienced some of the magic involved ourselves.

Solar Power

shiona — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:21:24 +0000

Our solar water fountains help us learn about solar energy, we play with them on a sunny day.

We use the water from our rain water tank so we are not wasting water and then put it on the plants.

The water needs to cover the pumps, then we connect the solar panel.

When the children hold the connected solar panels up to the sun …

water spouts out of the fountains.

As soon as they turned them away or placed them in the shade, even a shadow, the water stopped – talk about instant energy!

We ask questions what if…? and tell our friends, then show them how. This is enquiry based learning through play. We also like to make tracks for our solar cars, a story for another day.

The children also have heaps of fun with a fountain next to the sandpit, which recirculates its water.