Inside this Newsletter

Teacher Reports

Reptile Man visit

Little Endeavours

Phonics programme

Reminders!

New Outdoor Learning Area Our new outdoor learning area has now been completed with the children enjoying the opportunity to finish the area by planting some new plants into the tops of the tyres. We would like to thank Tyrepower Hornsby for kindly donating the recycled tyres for our outdoor project. The children have had a wonderful time playing in this space, which provides versatility to create many differing play opportunities in the months and years ahead. Parents we would love your feedback on this new endeavor, if you have any comments please pass them on to your teacher.

September

2016

Sweetpeas: What a busy month we have had at Preschool. We had a special visit from Bob Turner during

Reptile and Amphibian week. He talked to the children about the different animals he brought in and the safety precautions we should take around these animals. The Sweetpeas loved this visit and asked some great questions about the animals. Bob has a very special way of teaching the children about wildlife whilst at the same time the children find his show hilarious! The children showed great interest in ‘Olympic week’. They were already very knowledgeable of the sports in the Olympics and how hard the athletes have to train before going to the Olympics. The Educators used the I-pad to further research the Olympics and the information we sourced reinforced the children’s learning regarding the different sports and the first ever Olympics. During developmental time we did a fun experimental craft to promote the children’s creativity. The children did a salt painting, they were all so amazed at how the paint moved itself along the salt. We have also talked about positional concepts where the Sweetpeas were asked to identify the various positional concepts of: on, under, behind, in front and to the side. They all did really well with this activity. The Sweetpeas also played a game of soccer to promote their gross motor skills. They enjoyed this activity so much that we left the soccer nets out all week.

Bluebells: What a busy fun month we have had! Everyone loved the Bob Turner Reptile Man Show and it

was great to see how confident most of the children were when it came to touching and holding some of the wildlife. The children carried out a lot of fund experiments during Science week. Favourites included making volcanoes and creating our own salt painting. The Olympic Games were very exciting and we loved following how well the Australian athletes were doing while they were in Rio! We took this opportunity to learn about lots of different sports and we were able to use the Ipad to watch some of these. We have been working on lots of different areas of our development this month so far including our fine motor skills with writing, gross motor skills with some football and social skills by playing a game together. We will continue to work on all of these areas in the coming weeks and please feel free to come for a chat if you would like to talk about how your child is doing.

Schoolies: The Schoolie children really engaged during our ‘Olympics’ interest week, so much so that we

continued to extend the interest into the week after. The Schoolies loved learning about the different sports, athletes, rules and the history of the games. The Olympics also provided an opportunity to discuss and embrace diversity as we showed appreciation and respect by looking up the medal tally of other countries. We followed on with this by looking at their flags and their countries geographic aspects. The Schoolies were intrigued to learn about Rio and where it is placed in Brazil and some of their cultural practices that were expressed during the opening ceremony. The Olympic sports that were set-up outside were also very popular as the Schoolies played: soccer, hoola hoops, basket-ball and hurdles, while playing they demonstrated great gross-motor skills. We will continue to further their interests in sports by setting up a variety of gross-motor activities.

Please remember to encourage your Schoolies to walk into preschool, find their name cards, sign in and un-pack their bags themselves as it is great practice for their transition to big school next year :)

Our Preschool Programme Past Month in Review

Families take advantage of your child’s interest in sports by getting outside now the weather is warmer and playing some family games outside!

Attention Preschool Dad’s & Grandpa’s! Friday September 2nd between 9am -10:30am

You are invited to have a delicious pancake morning

tea with your children! There will be some fun

activities for you to engage in with your child and you will

get to cook your very own pancakes together.

Please register your interest at the sign in desk

Dear Families,

I cannot thank you enough for the absolutely beautiful flowers, the wonderful, warm and caring wishes and the lovely pamper gift that arrived from you all. I was completely blown away! Your gift was waiting for me as I arrived home from the latest treatment and gave my spirits such a lift!

I am so grateful to you all for your ongoing messages of support and the support that you have also offered to all of us at Preschool. It is just simply a pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful and caring community. Thank you again so much.

Kindest regards, Annette xxx

School Readiness Tips!

Thank you to one of our Preschool mum’s who passed on this link to us

with some helpful ideas to help your children in their transition to

school .. Simply visit this website!

http://mummyweekly.com.au/ready-set-school-notes/

We have been having lots of fun in

Little Endeavours and learning lots at

the same time.

The Reptile Man! Monday 15th August

We had our annual visit from Bob Turner the Reptile man during our Reptiles and Amphibians week.

As usual he was a hit with the children, presenting an educational and entertaining show as he

introduced the children to numerous animals including snakes, spiders, cockroaches and lizards. The

children loved getting involved in the interactive show, some were even brave enough to volunteer to

hold some of the animals!

Bob had both the children and Educators laughing throughout the duration of his show and we can’t

wait until he returns next year!

A big Happy Birthday to all of our children and teachers having a birthday this month.

Zoe 4yrs Sophia 5yrs

Amber 4yrs

Charlotte 4yrs

September Birthdays’

Scholastic Book Club

The new leaflets are out now and you should find these in your pocket. Thank you for all the orders for the last issue. With the commission we earned, the Preschool was able to buy a new science book and a collection of books about weather patterns. These are being used

around preschool and for the children to look at. Thank you for your continued support of the book club!

Spring has sprung! Sun Safety reminder

As the beautiful season of Spring is upon us please remember

to pack a hat for your child each day they come to preschool. Children are also

required to wear tops that cover their shoulders. Singlets and spaghetti straps are not

to be worn during outdoor play as they provide inadequate protection from the sun.

Thank you to all families who have returned your child’s Developmental Portfolio. However, there are quite a few outstanding and the teachers urgently need them returned to enable them to continue their learning observations for your child. If you have not yet returned your child's portfolio,

please do so as soon as possible.

They are given to you at the end of the year for you to keep!

Next up

Next up we will be meeting Jumping Jim before doing some revision in the holidays.

It’s been another busy month for our Phonics Programme where have met Kicking King and Noisy Nick.

Our new sounds were first introduced to the children by exploring interactive software. The children loved to sing along to the corresponding song, followed along with the handwriting lesson and listened to a story based on the sound character. This was further extended with a variety of fun activities to further practice the new sound.

We have been incorporating a lot of physical activity into our Phonics Programme lately. With Kicking King we worked on our kicking skills as we kicked a soccer ball into a net. We also practiced some Kung Fu using a Youtube video. These were both great lessons in balance, coordination and control of the body. Noisy Nick tied in with Olympic Week and the children were asked to think of a sport that was in the Olympics that began with N and we came up with Netball. We had some practice with the hoop and ball, working on our ball skills through this exercise.

Parents, it is also a great idea to engage at home in

conversations and fun activities with your

children around the sounds we are learning each fortnight to

further develop their understanding.

September 2nd—Father’s Day Morning Tea 9am—10.30am

September 20th and 22nd — School photos

September 26th to October 7th—Holiday Programme

October 3rd—Public Holiday, Preschool Closed

Dates to Remember!

Mt Colah Preschool Kindergarten

Cnr Amaroo Avenue and Pacific Highway

Mt Colah NSW 2079

Preschool: Ph: 9476 4101

Email: info@mtcolahpreschool.com.au

Annette: Ph: 9943 0731

Email: annette@freelancer.net.au

www.mtcolahpreschool.com.au

Quality Improvement Plan (QIP): We are really pleased at how our Quality Improvement Plan is progressing this year. We have completed our Office refurbishment which has provided so much more storage for records and space for Educators. We have now brought our outdoor play area to life and would love your feedback on our endeavour. Educators have been regularly reviewing early childhood theorists work and are linking this learning to observations and curriculum planning and this will be ongoing. Our carpark safety campaign continues and we strongly encourage families to take the time to hold their child’s hands as they enter and exit the Pre-school—we really need your help to keep this important safety project alive.