CGELC Newsletter
October / November 2015
Dear Parents & Guardians
Welcome to our newsletter for October and November 2015.
21/10/15 Wednesday - 'Lets Talk Teeth' dental health incursion from 10:00 - 10:45
29/10/15 Thursday - 'Steps' FREE Statewide Eyesight Preschooler Screening by NSW Health for children 4 years and above.
25/11/15 Wednesday - School Photos from 9:30am at Castle Grove Early Learning Centre.
28/11/15 Saturday - Graduation photos from 1pm at Wrights Road Community Centre before ceremony and concert.
28/11/15 Saturday - Graduation Ceremony & end of year concert. 1 - 4 pm at Wrights Road Community Centre.
2) Please be informed that beginning 6 October 2015 no make up days can be accommodated due to groups having reached the maximum ratios.
I also wish to clarify the perception parents have about make up days.
Make up days are given at the discretion of the service. We accommodate children attending on other days apart from their registered days as a gesture of good will and are by no means obligated to offer make up days. In future make up days will be considered if the child has faced an injury / illness which requires a medical certificate and only if staff : child ratios are not affected. Also a one off concession can be given when families leave on long holidays to visit relatives.
3) It is that time of year again and preparations for our end of year concert are underway. We've already begun practicing our dancing and music but would like to request your assistance with the costumes. Required items per age group are as follows
2-3 year group (Miss Elise / Miss Arthy) - A RED (for the girls) or GREEN (for the boys) shirt.
3-4 year group (Miss Jodie / Miss Chandi) - A Raincoat and pair of Gumboots.
We'd appreciate if you could send these items to school AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so we can ensure that each child has access to some form of the costume for the concert. Should you have any queries or need assistance in attaining part of the costume please don't hesitate to contact the educators.
~ CGELC Educators
Here's a look at what we've been doing over the past two months.
Personal Hygiene
We learned some important hygiene skills such as washing hands, brushing teeth, combing hair, and how to identify and treat head lice. How important it is to shower every day and wear clean clothes so we can be clean and healthy.
We also learned about hygienic practices when we are sick. Crawford the cat taught us that we should cough and blow our nose into a tissue. The tissue should then be throw out into the rubbish bin. Finally, we should wash our hands to wash of the germs that may be left there.
What valuable lessons to help us keep our daily routine hygienic and healthy!
Friendship
The topic of friendship allowed us to reflect on our friends and what qualities make a good friend.
We discussed how we should treat our friends and some of the ways we learned were
1) Sharing toys
2) Playing games that your friend likes to play sometimes.
3) Hugging your friend to cheer them up when they are sad.
4) Being honest with our friends
5) Saying nice things
6) Being happy.
7) Including different friends in your games so no body feels left out.
Our craft projects included a few group 'friendship' projects such as a friend ship quilt (out of handprints), we made friendship bracelets to share with our friends, and even made our own friend out of recycled materials.
The Zoo
We love learning about animals, and discussing the zoo topic was no exception!
We learned about the inner workings of a zoo and the animals which we see there from ALL OVER THE WORLD. Although we all love visiting the zoo, we also took some time to realise the fact that zoo's are not always the happy place we envision, and that it is not a natural way for animals to live. We reflected on the zoo enclosures of animals, and compared it to their preferred environments in the wild.
We also learned about special zoo's which take endangered (we learned that this means there is only a small number of them left) animals and breed them so they can help increase numbers, they just rehabilitate them in the centres for a short time before returning them to their natural surroundings in the wild. In this way animals are helped to breed so their species doesn't become extinct (we learned that this means none of those kind of animals can be seen on the earth anymore as they all died out such as with dodo's).
Father's Day
We spent a few weeks before this preparing special gifts, cookies and songs for our Daddy's. It was clear to see that all the children love their Daddy's very very much!
Thank You all for joining us.
Here are a few photo's from the event.
Over the next few months ....
We've had a number of interesting topics we discussed over the past two months, and there are still more to come! Over the next few months we'll be discussing
Sept 28 - Oct 10 We will be learning about THE HUMAN BODY we'll learn all bout different systems of the body (such as breathing and digestive) and the bones, muscles and physical make up of our bodies.
Oct 12 - Oct 23 We will be talking about DENTAL HYGIENE. Children will learn about the proper way to brush teeth, they'll learn about the importance of visits to the dentist and also about what happens to your teeth when you eat sugary foods and don't brush your teeth everyday!
Oct 26 - Nov 6 The topic of discussion in fitting with the season is Spring & In the Garden due to children's interest in gardening activities and the change of season into spring we thought it would be a good time to discuss ecosystems, plant growth, garden maintenance as well as the four elements relating to spring (soil, sun, seeds, water) and the weather conditions occurring with seasonal change.
We look forward to the next few months of learning!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We'd like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following children who are having their birthdays in October and November.
OCTOBER
20th - Christopher
22nd - Euan
31st - Ruvi
NOVEMBER
8th - Anika
8th - Tranlong