ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

JUNE NEWSLETTER

Well winter is here and we have certainly been having some very cold mornings, days and nights!!! Great weather for putting on a scarf and beanie and snuggling up under a blanket on the couch☺ NADIOC week is fast approaching from the 3rd - 9th July. NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee and is an important week for all Australians. It is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions that Indigenous Australians make to our country and our society. For more information check out the NADIOC website www.naidoc.org.au. I would like to remind all families, if you would like to share some family or cultural celebrations with the educators and children at the Centre we would welcome you with open arms. All of our families are important at our Centre and we would love you to feel part of our Albert Waterways community. SAVE THE DAY - Our annual disco is coming up on the Friday 21st July 2017. So put your best white outfits on (we have a glo theme!) and get your dancing shoes on! If you are a parent with skills or products to add to the success of the disco please see myself

or Nikki ASAP. We would love all the help we could muster. We will be sending out raffle tickets very soon for our big Disco Raffle!!! You will have noticed a basket at the front door in the hallway for you to place in some items that would be great in the raffle. We are also looking for some major prizes, so if you have a business or know someone with a business, a donation would be wonderful!! Vouchers for products, meals, movies, accommodation etc would be greatly appreciated. Our Free choice Friday charities have been doing really well this year. So far this year the staff and families have donated $150 to Ramana’s Garden India, $70 to the Mater Foundation Little Miracles, $50 to the RSPCA, $75 to limbs4life, $50 to Lori Wright(our former parent battling breast cancer) and this month our charity still on the go is our Indigenous Literacy Foundation. These charities are all chosen by staff members and are very dear to their hearts. So well done everyone! Please continue to donate to our causes throughout the year. Some of you might not know that we have a Book Swap in the hallway. We are keen to get the children interested in books and literacy and this is a lovely way to do it whilst raising some funds for the centre.

ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

July’s Free Choice Friday charity is Epilepsy Australia

This is Karen’s charity of choice.

Please give generously!

Dr Joe The Travelling Scientist

Dr Joe will delight the children with lots of

great scientific experiments!

Tuesday 11th July at

10am Jnr Kindy 10.30 Kindergarten

ALL WELCOME!

To join BOOK SWAP

Bring in a book from home and $1 or

no book and $2.

Take your time and have a look

through the book selections.

Once you have decided on your

book bring your coins and book to

the office to SWAP.

Happy Reading☺

Albert Waterways Children’s Centre Annual

DISCO

Friday 21st July 2017 6 to 7.30pm

Lots of fantastic family fun☺ This year the theme is GLO!!!!

Come along and meet other families and be part of our AWCC

community☺

ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

This month’s recipe is a nice sweet delight, it is….. Honey Oat Bars Ingredients 2 cup rolled oats 1 cup sultanas 1 cup wholemeal self raising flour 1 cup raw sugar 1 cup coconut 1 egg, beaten 320gm butter 2 tablespoons honey Directions Combine oats, sultanas, flour, sugar and coconut in basin. Add eggs. Melt butter, add honey. Mix dry ingredients until mixture clings together. Press evenly over bass of greased baking dish. Bake in moderate oven for 25 minutes (approximately) or until golden. Cut into squares whole hot. Allow to cool and put into freezer for 15 minutes.

Kindergarten Room Report Our children are still showing lots of interest in bugs and insects. They get really excited exploring our yard, reading stories, arts and crafts and painting all things bugs. To extend this interest we organized Bugs Ed to come in a visit with the children. This was a wonderful show where the children were able to explore real bugs and get hands-on experience and learn lots of fun facts about bugs. Thank-you to all parent helpers that made it possible to visit the library this month. We had lots of fun reading stories and singing along to story time, and not to mention jumping in puddles and dodging the rain. Just another reminder it would be great if you could pop over to the library and pick up a library card for your child so they are able to take home a book each visit. Bunnings from Mermaid Waters visited our Centre at the beginning of the month and donated hundreds and hundreds of dollars in indoor and outdoor plants, trees, herbs, pots, soil and gardening tools to our centre. They worked with the children

Happy and healthy hints…

From AWCC Kitchen

ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

planting and redesigning our gardens. Bunnings is situated in the Q Store Shopping Centre and will be opening their doors on the 4th of July. We were so pleased with their time they donated to our centre as well as the amazing resources they have shared with us. Through this our Kindergarten children have developed green fingers and happily water our gardens each day and we can’t wait to start cooking with the herbs we are now growing. Some classroom activities we have been working on lately have been shapes and colour recognition. We have noticed a few of our children struggling a little recognizing basic shapes and colours. Letters and numbers will come later in the year, but if we could ask that you spend a little extra time with your child revisiting shapes and colours, together we can ensure they are up to speed. Recognising letters and numbers are for the children heading off to school next year, there is no

expectation for your child to know these if they are coming back next year 😊 With cooler weather that we are having, please provide your child with a warm jacket or jumper as well as warm shoes each day. This will be the last reminder about Family Photos. If you have noticed our family wall by our new lockers you will have seen these family photos. We have lots of children still wanting to see their family pic on the wall. If you could please email in a family photo I know your child would love this! We are always after odd nicks and knacks, and other great arts and crafts supply’s, so if you have cleaned out a cupboard and come across some old bits and pieces that you no longer want we would love them. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!! ☺

Junior Kindy Room Report We have had an amazing first half of the year in the Junior Kindy Room with lots of activities and experiences on the go. On the 1st of June, we had a visit from our local Bunnings team. They donated a wide range of plants and gardening equipment to the centre; some beautiful cumquat trees, a passionfruit vine, many herbs and veggies, strawberries, a dwarf fig tree, and flowers and seeds. We were also given many pots, bags of soil and mulch. Our centre was a buzz of excitement as we all worked together to make over our gardens and plant out the pots. We aimed to bring some of the outside, inside! Bunnings also donated some beautiful indoor ferns and plants to liven up our indoor space. The children responded very positively to our Bunnings visitors, confidently getting into the digging, planting and watering that needed to be done! It’s great for the children to have these important links

ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

with their wider community and be a part of a team effort. A very big thank you to the lovely team at Bunnings Mermaid Waters for coming in to work with the children and for the huge donation of plants and materials. The Bunnings Mermaid Waters store opens on the 4th of July and is located in the Q-Store shopping complex, formerly JB Hi Fi. This month we celebrated National Reconciliation Week – NRW celebrates and builds on the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community. Educators planned some fun activities and experiences to assist the younger children to have a better understanding of NRW. We held fantastic group times exploring many books; learning about Bush Tucker and Dreamtime stories, the children participated in an array of art and craft experiences using natural materials and earthy colours, dot painting and exploring flags and their meanings. Haley made a lovely mural with the children called “The Friendship Tree”. Each child placed their hand print representing the leaves of the tree and it signified reconciliation and the group coming together as one. We used key words when exploring NRW, such as “harmony”, “friendship”, “respect” and “sharing”. Educators are always fostering each and every child’s independence and self-help skills. We see the children as capable learners and give them plenty of time to do things for themselves, always offering support and guidance. We are focusing on many skills with the toddlers, such as eating with a fork or spoon, drinking from a cup, locating their own bag and hats and washing hands. With the older children, we encourage them to take care of their belongings by placing their clothes and shoes in their bags. They are encouraged to take some responsibility of their personal hygiene, care and safety of themselves and others. They are great at helping the younger children with simple tasks and take a lot of pride in showing off their capabilities. Just a little reminder to pack plenty of clothes in your child’s bag, at least 3 full sets and a spare jumper for these chilly afternoons.

ALBERT WATERWAYS CHILDREN’S CENTRE 2017

Disco Raffle Donations We would appreciate any donations that you could make to the centre for

our Disco raffles. All items will be gladly accepted! A basket at the front door of the Centre is ready to collect the items. If you have any contacts

that are able to supply restaurant dinner vouchers, pamper packs, spa treatments etc we would be very grateful. We are a not for profit Centre and all of the funds raised will go back into the Centre (this year to buy a

tank for Junior Kindy’s garden!!!) Thank-you in advance.