March 2011

Parent Information EveningThankyou to all those Parents, Grandparents and Carers who were able to attend our Parent Information Evening on March 1st. It was an enjoyable evening and we really appreciated the opportunity to speak with so many of you at such a relaxed and casual evening. We hope that you all found the evening very informative and the handouts useful.

For those of you unable to attend, please check your communication pockets for booklets and factsheets that were given out on the evening. If you have any questions or queries you would like followed up or you would like to have the opportunity to speak to your child’s Teachers, please let me or Mandy know so that we can make the necessary arrangements.

Parent Learning EveningsAs part of our commitment to supporting families, the Centre organizes Information/Learning Evenings on topics our current families indicate they would like to know more about, need help with or are simply interested in.

To get us started, we really need your feedback to tell us what topics you are interested in. For example, are you interested in:

Speech & LanguageToilet TrainingBehaviour Management Sleep ManagementNutrition, Allergies & IntolerancesFace Painting

Please keep an eye out for a list of possible topics next to the sign in sheets during March. We will provide a list for you to locate your name, tick topics of interest and/or add other topics of interest. Once collated, we will then attempt to source suitable trainers and work out possible dates and times.

Family Input into ProgrammingWe love and encourage all members of our families to provide new and interesting ideas to the Centre’s programming. This can take the form of sharing photos and anecdotes of family trips away, birthday and family celebrations, visits to attractions or general information about a topic your child/ren are particularly interested in. As you continue through this newsletter, you will read about the various topics of interest each group are following. At the moment, many of the children are learning about each other and their family’s cultural differences, celebrations and family make-up. We would love it if you would be able to pass on any notes about celebrations and their dates that your family partake in, for example: Eid, Diwali, Easter, Halloween, Pancake Day, etc. Please feel free to email details to each group. We look forward to sharing your ideas and further encouraging the children’s sense of belonging at the Centre as they share some of themselves.

Silky Oaks Childcare Centre “For little people, not big profits”

NEWSLETTER

A word from the DirectorWelcome to our first newsletter for 2011. The year has certainly started at great speed with a lot of events occurring within the first 3 months of the year.

Tracey

We would like to firstly say a Big Hello to the following new families who have joined us in the Nursery this year: Anneli, Sophie B, Harper, Lachlan, Conrad, Cillian, Charlize, Felicity and Olivia. A big welcome back to our families from last year, Roman, Ruby, Halle, Thomas, Sophie.L, Oliver and Leila.

Secondly we would like to wish the following children a Happy 1st Birthday Ruby, Halle, Conrad.

We also need to wish Margie a sad farewell as she has chosen to leave us and pursue a life of leisure with her family - we look forward to hearing all about her travel adventures.

We hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas and New Year and are ready for a great year of learning, playing, and growing into individuals who are happy and confident in all that they do.

Please take a moment out of your very busy day to look around the room and see what the children have been up to. We try to have stories on all the children up for you to see. Also, feel free to send by email any stories or photos from your adventures at home, we would love to have a section devoted to family participation and this would enable us to interact and discuss things with your children about what they do with family and friends outside of the centre.

Some of the experiences we have been involved in so far include lots of water play with boats to float on the water and cups to scoop the water up and pour it into the water wheels working on our cause and effect. We have also loved painting with various implements, play dough, construction, home corner with the babies and lots of sand play, just to name a few.

We have seen lots of emerging self help and autonomy skills developing in our older children and we have been supporting these skills especially at meal times and when putting their hats on ready for outside play.

With the younger children we have been encouraging their developing gross motor and balance skills to support their body strength in preparation for them to walk.

That’s all for now, until we talk to you next time

Trena, Gail and Tania

March 2011

NURSERYNEWS

Welcome to the first Nursery News for 2011

NURSERYNEWS

Reminders:• Everyone needs 2 sheets every day they come into care - 1 fitted is easier if your child sleeps in a cot, but 2 flat are preferred if they are on a bed as the fitted sheets don’t fit the beds.

• Everyone needs to remember to bring in a piece of fruit to share each and every day they attend (this is not necessary if you are supplying all your child’s food separately due to their age)

• Please name all items coming to care each day – clothes, containers, bottles, sheets, etc., there is a permanent marker on the front of the fridge if you would like to use it.

• Everyone needs a hat to wear in the sun - bucket hats or the caps with the flap down the back are recommended by the cancer council as being best, and please remember shirts and clothes need to have sleeves on them. We do apply sunscreen as well in the afternoon 20 minutes before going out into the sun.

• In the hotter weather, water play is a favourite and we have it out most days, so please pack at least 2 complete sets of named spare clothes each day.

• Lunches - if you would like to send in food that needs heating, we are more than happy to do this, but can you also pack a sandwich or a second container of food to be heated just in case your child refuses the food when first offered. We are required to throw out heated foods and bottles whether they have been eaten or not as the heating promotes bacterial growth. Also, bacteria is transferred from the mouth to a spoon and into the food and thus we can not reheat food as this also promotes bacteria growth.

• Please remember to give us a thought if you have spare plastic bags at home as we use these to dispose of used nappies.

Reminders• Please name your child’s belongings - we are still having hats, drink bottles and clothing unnamed. As we have various staff and students in the room, it is very difficult to keep track of things if unnamed.

• No snap lock plastic bags or glad wrap - we are still having a few snap lock bags coming in. This is a chocking hazard and your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

• Only grated or cooked carrot, again this is a chocking hazard and we ask that you not send raw carrot to the Centre.

We have had a busy time helping the new children settle in and we are having a great time getting to know our new friends. At the moment we have started 2 new projects one on music and movement and the other on food and cooking. I noticed that many of the children really enjoy music and dancing and thought this would be a great opportunity to extend on their interest in this area. I hope to introduce the children to various music from around the world and different dance styles as well. The cooking and food project was initiated because the children love cooking. We have a few children with food allergies, so we are asking for your help for any suggestions of recipes from home that your children could do at the Centre. Non dairy and non citrus recipes would be great! Maybe we can get a collection together for a recipe book for all the parents who are struggling with ideas for their toddlers. We recently cooked damper with the children, they had a ball and loved eating it.

Another blossoming interest involves gardening. We are currently developing a garden for growing our own vegies and fruit. We are slowly starting to get the garden bed ready for planting, so if you have any ideas or suggestions of what we should plant, we would love to hear them.

Another exciting experience recently was had during the “Tunes for Tots” show on Wednesday 16th of February. This was a great show and the children loved it. We all got to sing and dance and even went outside for some groovy fun too.

Nappy Baskets

Please make sure you name or put the initials of your child on their nappies as most of the baskets are shared and we do not know if some have been accidently left and not collected at the end of the day. This will stop the wrong nappies being placed on the wrong children. We do ask that if your child is not in on the next consecutive day that you collect all their unused nappies and take them home to be returned upon the next day your child attends child care. This also helps you keep track of how many nappies your child has used that day and if you need more.

Donations

We are looking for any old cooking trays or cake tins, grocery boxes, seedlings or seeds to start our veggie garden would be great too.

Kind regards, Jodie B, Anna & Jodie H.

CUDDLYKOALAS

Hi from the Cuddly Koalas

March 2011

CUDDLYKOALAS

March 2011

Welcome to a new year!It has been a busy start for us all with new children and staff in the room. Everyone is settling in well this year and we have been having a great time getting to know our new room and all of our friends who are in it.

So far, in the Busy Bee room, we have been enjoying the creative area the most, the children seem very interested in cutting and painting. We have done some cooking with the children which they really enjoyed, especially eating the final product.

We are starting our first project for the year ‘All About Me Project’. This is a way we can get to know who we are and learn more about everyone in the room this year. The project is a way we can discuss with each other the differences about us all and what makes us

all special from the colour of our hair and eyes to who lives in our family. I look forward to getting to know the children more and find out what they like to do outside of the centre at home. It would be greatly appreciated if parents/carers could assist with this project as much as possible. All information received would help us to make this project a great success.

We look forward to a wonderful year, and so far it has been a wonderful start.

From Kirsten, Elisa, Sally and Isa.

March 2011

BUSY BEES

BUSY BEES

Just a few housekeeping reminders:• We now have an esky outside in which the children’s drink

bottles are kept. Could you please ensure the children have a drink bottle with their name on it, filled with water only, for each day they attend.

• We have been working hard in the Centre to ensure that the healthy food policy is followed. In the foyer are some examples of foods the children can have and some that the children should keep for when they are at home. If a child has food that is not on the healthy food list then we will send it home with a note. Also, please ensure that there are no plastic wraps or bags with the lunches, this becomes a choking hazard for the children.

• Please ensure that all clothing and containers that are sent to Kindy are clearly labelled, so we can ensure that they are returned to the correct child each day.

• It was been very hot lately and lots of water play has been happening, can you ensure that children are sent to Kindy with at least 3 changes of clothing, both shirts and shorts and underwear and again if these are named, it is much easier to ensure none are misplaced.

• Artwork to be taken home is kept in a red basket on top of the lockers. Your children spend lots of time creating this special artwork while at Kindy, please have a look every so often and take it home so the children can show you their beautiful work and share with you the inspiration they had when creating it.

Group Identity

We have been settling nicely into our routine working with new friends and old friends establishing ideas about caring for others. We have been sitting comfortably around other children, helping friends and classmates and working on rules that helps others and ourselves keep safe and happy.

We have been sharing stories, dancing, singing, exploring, investigating, enjoying experiences and telling stories through dramatic role play.

The children have investigated our National identity around Australia Day, learning about some of our national foods making both Damper and Lamingtons, which were delicious; we learnt the names of our unique Australian animals and demonstrated how they move. The children enjoyed creating images of Australian ways of living, such as at the beach and family barbeques and decorated animals which we turned into glove and stick puppets.

We explored and enjoyed language, reading and telling Australian stories and singing songs about Australian life that included, “Home Among the Gum Trees” and “Kookaburra sits on the old Gum tree”.

Exploring ideas

Wombat Stew is a favourite story with the group which inspired an amazing muddy mix out in the playground one morning. The children built up layer upon layer of water, mud, sand, bark, leaves, more water and more mud. As the Stew grew, so did the containers (mathematical ideas about size and problem solving was developing here when finding containers that were just a little bit bigger). There was a wonderful mix of natural materials with each member of the group taking part and adding their contributions (exploring natural textures, how they work together, mix, feel etc). The Wombat Stew overflow created

a river flowing both swiftly and slowly, the children working together to help its journey along a winding pathway to the larger puddle area at the end. Children were working carefully and cooperatively engrossed in the magic of water and how it moves. Inside the children were delighted with another reading of “Wombat Stew”

To extend on their ideas outside they created a Wombat Stew cake, Alisha included some delicious fruity ingredients such as banana, apple and sultanas, adding a generous amount of milk to create that sloppy stew like texture. Another delicious result with lots of measuring, turn taking and shared responsibilities as the recipe came together with everyone contributing.

We have been Pirates collecting treasure, finding pirate bones (twigs), pirate parrot feathers, pirate food (collecting herbs), Pirate eye patches (leaves). Our pirates found numbers of treasures buried in the sandpit which we quickly stored into our pirate treasure chests and locked in the shed incase other pirates were nearby (a great packing up game). We have made a Pirate cake, with pirate eyeballs (eggs), fruity treasure, a few chocolate gems, which is great on rare occasions. Pirate hats involved the children in folding and decorating adding their own unique creative touches to them. Pirate maps encouraged prewriting shapes; closed in images and the clearly defined X marks the spot. Hand-drawn, winding pathways, encouraged a group of us to walk around the playground and its familiar features like the sandpit, which on many an occasion became the ideal spot for burying or re-burying treasure. We even found some gold rocks in the sand pit to encourage our digging and exploring and developing our sense of wonder about the journey.

March 2011

PRE-PREP

Dear Parents, Grandparents and other family members,

Chinese New Year

We had lots of fun with our dragon dance after creating the head and body using a variety of collage materials. We danced to Chinese music wriggling and winding our way around the room. The children also enjoyed trying chopsticks to eat our Fried rice with!

Fascinated with life cycles

Tadpoles have been fascinating to watch, we have been recording their development in our Tadpole diary. Daily reports have been written down based on the children’s observations with added information on what we have been doing to help care for them. The children have included an illustration to help develop an idea about its shape and any changes that may have occurred. Josephine brought in some rocks to add to the tank for the frogs to sit on. We have had one frog develop and released into a quiet protected area of the playground, so far.

Tiddalick a well known Australian dreamtime story has been a developing favourite in the group. Tiddalick is a frog that drinks all the water in Australia, leaving the other animals desperate and thirsty. The animals decide on a plan to make Tiddalick laugh to help release the water stored inside his huge body. They think of different ways to do this and the Preprep children were also helping to problem solve and think of ways to release the flood of water too. We have had some funny ideas. Our future plan is to develop a group story; at the moment we are creating props to help us take on the role of the animal characters and especially the frog Tiddalick. We will keep you up to date on our progress.

Future Project - looking at our vegetable and fruit garden space (next to the Busy Bees Room) and raising money to start collecting good planting soil, seeds, and preparing the bed, digging out grass and weeds before we start. Please bring shoes daily to help protect your child’s feet as we start our work in the garden, thongs will not provide adequate protection.

Lets work together to keep our children safe!

Thank you for your cooperation!

Best wishes from Alisha, Noeleen, Sally and Caroline.

PRE-PREP

Reminder, please remember not to use any form of plastic bags or wrap around food, or for storing clothes in your child’s bag. Also, popcorn is a choking hazard and can’t be served to you child!

Parent Information Evening 2nd March 2011

CENTRE NEWS

SUN SAFETY

To play at the Centre your child MUST wear a legionnaire, bucket or broad brimmed hat, a shirt with sleeves (NO SINGLET TOPS) and most importantly – you must apply sunscreen to your child BEFORE coming to childcare to ensure the sunscreen has had the recommended 20 MINUTES TO ABSORB before entering the outdoors. If you forget or run out at home, we always have sunscreen available next to each room’s sign in/out sheets. Sunscreen must be applied even if it is a cloudy morning and in winter as we still play outside during these days and the sun is still able to burn your children’s skin.

ILLNESS In order to avoid cross infection and the spreading of illnesses, we remind parents that if their child has had any of the following symptoms the day or night prior to attending the Centre, you must keep your child/ren at home until they are well enough to attend. This may involve you obtaining a medical certificate of clearance from your doctor. The Centre Directors reserve the right to refuse entry if they believe your child/ren still appears unwell, even if you have a medical certificate.

- high temperature- vomiting- diarrhoea- excessive coughing- thick, green, runny discharge from the nose

MEDICATION Non-prescribed medications or drugs labelled “Take as Directed” (this includes paracetamol and teething gels for pain relief from teething), will not be administered by staff to any child UNLESS a pharmacy label clearly stating the name of the medication, dosage, child’s name, current expiration date and time intervals (e.g: 2 hourly, 4 hourly) is on the medication. A letter from the Doctor authorising usage and dose is also acceptable.

At no time will any medication for one child be administered to another.

Medications are to be kept in a secure place out of the children’s reach.

Nursery – medications will be kept in the kitchen fridge in a lockable container or on the shelf.

2-5 years – medication will be kept in a lockable container located in the main kitchen fridge or in a lockable container on the kitchen bench.

Please remember children that are prescribed antibiotic medication require remaining at home during the first 24 hours. This will allow medication to take affect against the infection, as well as allowing parents to monitor

any allergic reaction a child may have to the prescribed medication. Example: If a child receives the first dose at 9am in the morning, this child will be able to return to the Centre 9 a.m. the following day.

HEADLICEPlease remember to check your child/ren’s head for head lice once a week. If head lice are found, begin treatment immediately and check for effectiveness and keep checking every 2 days until no lice are found for 10 consecutive days.

You may send your child back to care as soon as effective treatment has commenced.

IMMUNISATIONYou will find an immunisation schedule attached to your parent handbook and should also receive reminders from the Immunisation Dept. as to your child’s status. We strongly encourage you to follow the immunisation schedule if your child receives a new immunisation not on original copy of immunisation status at time of enrolment please ensure the centre has a new copy of your child’s status. If your child is unable to follow the schedule due to ill health or some other reasons please advise the centre, it may be necessary for your child to be excluded if an infectious disease is identified in the centre and can also affect your eligibility for child care benefit.

HEALTH & HYGIENE

SAFETYSHOESIt is a safety requirement that children attend the Centre wearing shoes especially when going to and from the car. The children are able to remove their shoes once inside the Centre enabling them to grip climbing frames and run more easily. It is also important for children participating in extra curricula activities such as Ginger Sports Soccer and Physikids to wear shoes so that they can participate fully in the sporting activities the coaches provide.

PLASTIC BAGSPlease ensure that your child’s food is not wrapped in plastic cling film or sent in plastic zip lock bags and that no plastic bags or zip lock bags are placed in your child’s kindy bag. This is regulated under the Child Care Regulation 2003 – Children must not have access to any dangerous item kept at the centre which includes plastic cling film and plastic bags.

SHEET BAGSPlease place sheets/blankets into a non drawstring bag – pillowcases are ideal. Please ensure that all sheets and cases are clearly labelled.

FeesAccount Statements are produced every fortnight and show the previous two weeks and the upcoming two weeks of fees. Statements also show variances such as absences, charges and payments for shows and the fundraising levy.

If you are having difficulty interpreting the statement, please come and see Tracey or Mandy to help clarify any of your questions.

A reminder that fees are required to be paid two weeks in advance.Sometimes fees paid by Direct Deposit are not shown on the printed statement. This is usually due to the time delay between the banks processing your Direct Deposit and it reaching the Silky Oaks Children’s Haven bank account. Once the fee payment reaches the Haven’s account, our Accounts officer logs onto internet banking daily and sends a list of names and amounts paid to the Centre via a daily email. Childcare Centre Administration staff then enter these payments against the respective payee account.

Please remember to check the date on which the statement is printed to see whether or not your payment would have been processed in time for that statement print run. We usually allow two working days for bank processing of payments.

Thank YouThe Francey family from the Busy Bees who donated a chest full of home made and retail dress up clothing for the children. The bright red and blue capes have been exceptionally popular.

BirthdaysHappy Birthday to the following children who have celebrated birthdays since our last newsletter:Nursery Happy 1st Birthday Ruby, Halle, Conrad.

Cuddly Koalas Happy 2nd birthday Jamie, Winston, Rebecca, Alannah And happy 3rd birthday to Denzel

Busy Bees Happy 3rd birthday to Orlando, Abigail, Vipul, Eli & Lewis

Preprep Happy 4th birthday to Sophie, Noah, Ida, Emmanual, Jordi and Oscar

APRIlMonday 11th to Thursday 21st Henny Penny Hatching Display at the Centre

Friday 22ndGood Friday – Centre Closed

Monday 25th Easter Monday – Centre Closed

Tuesday 26th Anzac Day Holiday – Centre Closed

MAY Monday 2nd Labour Day Public Holiday – Centre Closed

Thursday 19th “Kids of Culture” – Tribal Music Workshop 10am

March 2011

CENTRE NEWS

Calendar of Events

11-21APR

2MAY

22APR

19MAY

25APR

26APR

March 2011