balnarring preschool · pmp starts again in june. due to other events pmp will be held wed th8 ,...

Balnarring Preschool & Infant Welfare Association Learning and Living with nature

PO Box 113, Balnarring, Vic, 3926 phone/fax: 03 5983 5803 [email protected] Reg No A 5257

Acknowledgement: Balnarring Preschool acknowledges that our children and families play and learn on Boon Wurrung Country. We acknowledge the Boon Wurrung of the Kulin Nation as the First Peoples of this land. We thank them for caring for the land and the waterways and value the sharing of their knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to their Elders: past and present.

Presidents Report – May 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an incredible night of Australian unity amongst the Balnarring community, Akubra hats, Flannelette shirts,

footy players, trees, fairy lights, silent auction with amazing donations, loads of laughter and dancing at the end of a

great night.

How lucky we are to have such incredible teamwork in Caroline Brunt, Bec Long and their fundraising team, their

dedication to such a successful night goes with such a huge THANKYOU and the appreciation is endless!!!

A date has also been set for our annual QIP (Quality Improvement Plan); annually the service re-writes the plan to

achieve a high level of quality within the pre-school.

Monday the 27th of June, 10am to approximately 2pm, anyone is welcome to come along and contribute any

thoughts and improvements towards our service.

Suzi Callender




Djeembana News – May 2016

Congratulations Caroline and Bec and team on a successful trivia event. Thank you to all who assisted in setting up the event and participated in the evening.

Congratulations to Mim, Steve, Joshua and Oskar on the arrival of Millie.

The children have been involved in a variety of experiences this month. When planning the program the following is taken into consideration: children’s interests; things that nature has presented to us; experiences that develop skills we have observed require targeting; and ensuring all of the learning outcomes are being catered for.

The learning outcomes form part of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development framework. They set out examples of children’s learning and development and are used to design experiences and opportunities for progressing and assessing children’s development. The outcomes are: Children develop a strong sense of Identity; Children are conlnected with and contribute to their world; Children have a strong sense of wellbeing; Children are confident and involved learners; and Children are effective communicators. There will be an opportunity for parents to discuss their children’s progress with me. I will be referring to the outcomes as part of these discussions.

Music and movement experiences are developing the children’s vocabulary. Every child is participating in the musical experiences, exploring ways to use their voices and bodies to express their thoughts and feelings. Riding on a pony contains a section where the children have to make their bodies into a shape. Each time we sing this rhyme they are challenged to think of another way to make a shape with their bodies. Last week children began exploring twisting parts of their bodies to create an interesting shape. “Riding on a pony through the woods. Riding on a pony, that feels good. When your pony goes like that (make a shape). Jump up quickly or you’ll fall down flat’

The fancy dance is an echo song through which I have introduced different ways of using our voice - loud, soft, low, high, grumpy….. Some of the interests over the past weeks have included: Messy play; football; climbing courses; soft toy imaginative play; art and craft; pattern creating; fungi and setting themselves challenges. Each child will interact with these

experiences in their own individual way.




Our nature experiences have been many and varied. Each time nature presents its wonder to the children they are curious and excited. They ask questions keen to learn as much as they can. The children are expert fungi spotters, enthusiastic mulchers, careful conservationists and observers of wildlife. Last week the children became Djeembana Rangers.

When we walked to Coolart the children managed the walk easily as they explored, drew in the sand and played along with the dolphins. Once in the bush area of Coolart they confidently explored the space. A little risk taking resulted in children persisting until they could climb into a tree.

After many discussions with parents we decided to include some work on emotions and feelings into the program. Recognising emotions and managing them is quite tricky when you are only 4 or 5 and sometimes when you are 55! The children have been involved in games that ask them to identify an emotion, share when they have felt that emotion

and demonstrate what that emotions looks like using their face and bodies. Fill my bucket has drawn our attention to the positive things we do in life that contributes to us feeling great and helps others feel great. The mother’s day morning tea gave child and mother the opportunity to identify what ‘fills their’ bucket. This work will continue throughout the year and is something I encourage you to support at home. Harper told us she had filled three buckets

The book sharing morning has been a huge success. Almost every child has experienced sharing a book with a family member over the past weeks. It was obvious the children enjoyed the opportunity to share this special time with their family. Books provide an amazing opportunity to connect and share ‘being’ together. We have greatly appreciated the support we had for these mornings.

Then VIP night was very busy. As it was dark it gave the children the opportunity to see if any creatures were exiting the nesting boxes. It would have been a brave animal that showed its face with 45 people in the yard shining torches! These events are only successful when supported by the families- thankyou.

Lisa and I have learnt that many children are not washing their hands thoroughly. Many are just holding their hands under the water. We will be practicing how to wash hands over the coming weeks explaining the importance of doing this so germs don’t spread. Please reinforce this at home.




REMINDER: now that Winter is approaching please ensure the change of clothes in your child’s bag reflects the drop in temperature especially on Fridays. We recommend long socks for the beach day.

Indigenous learning day The children shared this day with 80 other children. To begin we made a rainbow serpent led by Rachel (from Gamiloroi country) that wound its way across the lawn area. Then Jayden, Carolyn Briggs grandson, welcomed us to Boon Wurrung country. The children made a bark picture with Mia, from Northern Territory and danced with Carly from QLD. They then heard a story from Jayden.

Our learning continues as we revisit the experiences at Coolart and expand on the creation story and introduce the children to some dances, music, stories and art experiences that we have learnt through our Indigenous relationships.

Coming Events:

PMP starts again in June. Due to other events PMP will be held

Wed 8th, Wed 15th and Tues 21st. Looking forward to your

continued support.

Progress Reports – Several dates and times have been set inviting

families to discuss their child’s progress with me. You will find the dates on Djeembana’s notice board in the

foyer. If you can’t find a suitable date please let me know

Continuation of our learning about First Peoples culture. Baluk Arts incursion: Wednesday 15th June at 10:30- Lisa will share ‘On the edge of creation’ a story that was developed by the artists working at Baluk Arts, and Bob will demonstrate how to make clap sticks. The cost of this incursion will be covered by the pre-schools funds. PARENTS are welcome to participate in this session

Mud day will be celebrated on Wednesday 22nd June. Place this date in your diaries. On this day all families are invited to participate in mud activities with their child.

Until next month, thank you for all the support you are giving to the centre and your child’s participation with us. Karen and Lisa




Weelam (camp/home) Group Newsletter - May 2016

Dear families,

My Learning and reflections: As I look back through our learning diaries (we are now up to book 2) to write this newsletter, I find I am reflecting on the many photos and stories of our adventures, and times of being and learning together. As well as lots of fun and many discoveries they focus on strengthening our sense of community and belonging to a group/team. These experiences highlight the importance of being together, working together, developing an awareness and empathy for another as well as enhancing our skills to identify feelings and find possible solutions to problems as they arise. If this sounds complex, you are correct, being a friend, learning to share, take turns, engage in difficult conversations, resolve conflicts and to develop the skills to control and self regulate your emotions and actions are all complicated skills to learn and develop - children can’t do this alone.

Last Friday and Saturday I attended a conference for Early Childhood Teachers. This conference focused on the challenges for our children, their families and our communities in this world today. It discussed and asked us as Teachers to reflect on the skills that may support everyone to feel positive and resilient to these challenges. The many speakers I listened to throughout the conference emphasised the importance of supporting children to develop their problem solving skills, respect for others, to take responsibility for their actions, ability to take risks, to feel positive about new challenges and understand that trying ie. ‘having a go’ is as important as achieving and always being the best. Throughout all these presentations the emphasis was on our role as Teachers and Parents to intentionally teach and support our children to develop these skills. The messages were that with our support, guidance, role modelling and coaching our children are able to think about and come to understand their actions and what they can possibly do rather than just reacting emotionally to situations. Let me know if you would like to know more about how this is happening within our program, we are always happy to share our knowledge, books and skills.

Mothers / Grandmothers / Aunties Day: On Thursday 5th May we invited our families to join us for our yoga and relaxation time as well as make a special necklace before we shared our lunch time together. While enjoying lunch with each other, we talked about how we make each other happy ie. Feel good, and what others do that make us

These photos show some of our group projects to achieve this amazing ‘machine’ and ‘castle’ the children were required to share their ideas, negotiate what they would look like and to work together

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feel great. This discussion is from the ‘bucket story’ which offers the children a visual way to understand how what they do and what others do to them ie. fills or empties their bucket. All our thoughts were written on stars and placed in our bucket (now in our diary) for all to see. We ended this special time together with a bucket story and lots of hugs.

PMP: Our PMP program has begun again with the fabulous support from our families. The children are all engaging enthusiastically in the program, they are welcoming the new challenges each session and trying very hard to develop their skills to jump, hop, catch, and bounce the ball and balance on the beam. Developing these skills are supporting each child to become more confident and learn that by trying and practicing they can improve their skills. This could not happen without the encouragement and role modelling offered by the parents and grandparents who are assisting in the program. As I have become more aware from my latest conference our PMP program is not just assisting our children to develop their physical skills but also their ability to accept a challenge, work with others, to wait, problem solve, experience many emotions, accept that sometimes they need to try again. Next sessions 9th and 23rd June.

Coolart Day: On Wednesday 25th we all meet on the beautiful gardens at Coolart. We danced, listened to stories about Bundjil and Waagn, made bark pictures, learnt about Arweet Carolyn Briggs possum skin coat, what the pictures represent. We shared this day with the children from Balnarring Primary school- please take a look at the photos in our diary.

Catch up times with families: Over the past month I have had the opportunity to meet with many parents, it has been great to have these times together to share stories of your child, discuss school options and discuss ways that may support your child’s ongoing learning and development. I look forward to chatting further over the next month.

Our Experiences and Interests on Tuesdays: At Balnarring Preschool we actively take our learning outside the Preschool walls. Recently while walking on the beach we became aware of a rainbow in the sky, we decided to stop,

Each Weelam group friend made a special feather flower for their Mum and everyone enjoyed the scones for lunch. We love to cook and recently made curly wurly potatoes and sushi for lunch.

Coolart Day: On Wednesday 25th we all meet on the beautiful gardens at Coolart. We danced, listened to stories about Bundjil and Waagn, made bark pictures, learnt about Arweet Carolyn Briggs possum skin coat, what the pictures represent. We shared this day with the children from Balnarring Primary school- please take a look at the photos in our diary.




have morning tea and watch the rainbow. Slowly the rainbow grew across the sky creating an arch above us. What a wonderful way to talk and learn about rainbows. As we finished our morning tea Ranger Ron came down to visit us on the beach, he had discovered where the koala was sleeping and with excitement we quietly walked up to A reserve to see the koala for ourselves. Last week we went exploring our C reserve bush camp for Fungi, once the children became aware of where to look, they began making many discoveries some large, some very tiny, some on the ground , some on logs, many different colours and shapes. Before searching we discussed the importance of not touching or breaking the fungi- we just used our eyes to look and took photos that are now in our diary. The rain has offered us many opportunities to jump into the puddles and see the changes to ‘smelly river’ which has now filled and is not longer smelly- we can no longer walk to the mangos as this area is flooded. All these experiences offer the children firsthand knowledge of the environment in which they live. Bundjil and Waagn are always with us on these journeys, when we find rubbish I now hear “Bundjil will not be happy” as Bundjil’s Lore reminds us to care for the Land as well as the children.

Dates for diaries:

VIP (Very Important Person) night: 31st May 6pm to 7:30pm: Our invitations have been created by the children and have been given out. We look forward to sharing the Preschool experiences with our VIP’s. The children are excited to be bringing their torches so we can explore our nest boxes at night.

Baluk Arts workshop: Wednesday 15th June On this day Baluk Artists Lisa Waup from Gunditjmara Country and Bob Kelly from Wathaurong Country will join us during the session to sing, share stories and share with us how to make clap sticks. During this workshop the children will be supported to make their own clapsticks. Families are welcome to join us for this workshop. (More information to follow)

Long weekend: No Preschool Monday 13th June for Queen’s Birthday holiday

End of term 2 celebrations: (more information will follow before the end of term)

Tuesday 21st June, Weelam group Family BBQ: For our last session at C reserve for term two, join us at 11:45am for a sausage and bread.




Wednesday 22nd June Mud day fun: All around the world Mud day is celebrated this time of the year; this is a day to wear old clothes and join in the fun.

Thursday 23rd Last day day of Term 2: Our thought is to end the term in our PJ’s with PMP in PJ’s and group story time with our families. Remember if you are helping that day you can wear your PJ’s and ugg boots too.

On a personal note I would like to say congratulations to the fund raising committee for their incredible efforts that created the fun Trivia night we all attended with friends, families and past families. It was a great night catching up with everyone, it was an amazing amount of work and you were all fabulous.

Big thanks to Lisa who joined us when Michele was away recently, the children enjoyed sharing their experiences with Lisa and were very happy to see Michele again last Thursday. They had lots of stories to share with Michele.

If you have any questions or ideas for the program please let us know.

Thank you to everyone who has assisted in the program, we can’t do what we do without you, we look forward to sharing the program with you soon, Ann




Manameet and Gareeal (3yo) Groups Newsletter - May 2016

Hello again,

There has been a lot happening within the three-year-old program over the past month!

We watched Jim put up some micro-bat boxes high up in the trees, the

children were curious and enjoyed looking at the detailed pictures he’d

brought with him. The children discovered some other boxes located

down at the wetlands and have been practising their ‘ladder safety’

when climbing up to paint the cubby roof.

Our wetlands adventures have begun and despite the rainy weather we’ve been on two walks. There has been a

great response from the children as well as our parents and we’ve had lots of parent helpers come on both walks.

Our discoveries so far have included jumping in loads of muddy puddles, collecting

witches fingers, looking at mushrooms and toad stools, sighting possum and bird

boxes, collecting natural treasures (pine cones, flowers, twigs), reading the

information posts, seeing different birds like swans and ducks and learning how to

cope with the unpredictable

weather.

Our wetland adventures create new

learning opportunities for the

children and we hope they will also

create a love and respect for nature.




There have been some special celebrations over the past month like a many of the children’s birthdays as well as

Mother’s day. The children made some iced biscuits and colourful beaded necklaces for their mums and other

special guests like Aunties and Nanna’s. It’s events like these that bring us together as a community and celebrate

the special bonds we share with those we love.

We have noticed a real social change in the children in the past couple of weeks as they are discovering one another.

There has been lots of interaction between the children as they play and show a genuine desire to be with each

other engaging in shared experiences. We are supporting children to share, wait turns, listen to their peers, talk to

each other and talk about feelings, help each other and to be kind. These skills will then help them to develop

friendships, get along with others as well as cope with tricky situations.

Working alongside one another Waiting turns Working together Playing games together

Important Dates:

Making Baked Potatoes on 17th June

Term ends 24th June (Celebrate Mud Day)

Kinder Photos 2nd of September

Betina and Cath




Maintenance roster

Maintenance Day Saturday 18th June 2016 @ 9.30am

Committee Member: Oliver Brunt

Families of: Arkadia Moore, Billie O’Brien, Remy Spender, Sunny Reardon, Theo Saleres, Thomas Alford, Trisha Lim-Men, William De Jong

Peninsula Reads Book Swap Boxes

Have you noticed the book stand in the foyer?

Your children are invited to take a book to share at home. When you have books that your children are finished with, you can donate them to the stand. Other swap boxes are located throughout the Mornington Peninsula where you can take a book from and leave unwanted books.

Kindergarten Central Registrations

Register your child for kindergarten for 2017!

Kinder registrations accepted from Tuesday 1st March – Friday 1st July 2016.

This year there will be a 5 month registration period which will give you plenty of time to register your child for kindergarten in 2017. Please visit the Mornington Peninsula

shire website and follow the directions to apply online.

If you have any questions about enrolments for next year please contact the enrolments officer or one of the teachers at the kinder on 5983 5803.




Fundraising Update

What a fantastic night we had at the annual Trivia Night. The Balnarring Hall was transformed into an Australian Landscape and we tightly fitted 146 people.

We had some wonderful costumes and it was wonderful to see some people go to such a big effort…thank you!

There were plenty of laughs and sore heads to nurse the following day but it was so wonderful to socialise with our community in such a relaxed and fun atmosphere. The bar staff even made a comment about how lovely and enjoyable you all were to deal with…so thank you!!

It really has been an amazing few months for the fundraising committee and I. I am completely blown away by the support we have received this year and was brought to tears by the pure love for the Balnarring Pre-School. The support from the families and community in attending the event and from the local businesses was outstanding.

We raised an amazing amount of money of over $10,000 after expenses. That is the most incredible thing I have ever been a part of and have a few people to thank.

I would like to start with my beautiful team. It was such a pleasure to work with these girls and get to know them as time went on.

Bec Long

Meg Willis

Corri Robinson

Jess Atichinson

Leesa Harcourt

Beth Fletcher

Natalie Walduck

Sally Tresize

These girls were right by my side and they did everything I asked. They didn’t look at me strangely when I said ‘I want logs on the tables’, they supported me when I said “I need to get into the hall TODAY!’, they designed amazing posters to promote the wonderful businesses that supported us, they gathered donations,




they brought brilliant ideas to the table and a LOT of FUN! I thank you girls from the bottom of my heart and look forward to future friendships.

I would next like to thank the teachers especially Karen & Ann. Karen was my delegating reminder and mother hen and Ann never minded when I took up her time. I am so thankful to have such wonderful people to have supported me.

I would also like to thank the following people for the support they gave along the way with either bringing donations in, setup, clean up or just moral support for myself!!

Stacey Stewart

Suzi Callendar

Mel Armstrong

Sarah Reeves

Kelly Unthank

Adam Unthank

Ryan Wilcox

Nikki Trevaskis

Mel Symes

Mark Heffernan

Please be aware that I still have a fairly tired head, so if I did miss anyone, I am terribly sorry and thank you very much!

Lastly, of course I would like to thank the businesses. The ones that we approached and said yes, the ones who approached us and the ones that just turned up on our door and lead me to tears. I can honestly say I have NEVER felt my heart so big and want to thank the Balnarring Pre-School for giving me the opportunity to have such a privilege in experiencing this community at an even greater depth.

Harvey Norman

Le Bouchon

Enchanted Maze

Tucks Ridge

Orbis Finance

Kelly Unthank

Goyte

Erica Lewis Handcrafted

Elm Hair

Proactive Finance

Rain, Hayne and Shine Farm

Ciao Bella

Lillian Mac

Peninsula Hot Springs

Moonlight Sanctuary

The Big Goose

Sorrento Hotel

Bay Play

Polperro

Bluestone Lane

Paradigm Hill




Stonier

Moorooduc

Red Hill Estate

Red Hill Bakery

Lazzar Winery

Benton Rise

Skate Progression

Oritas

Charlbella Eats

Westernport Hotel

Ruby Finch

Sunny Ridge Farm

Crittendens

Phaderus

Bec Long

Angie O’brien

Jetts Mornington

Kristian Vidakovic Massage & Myotherapist

Puffing Billy

Boatshed Cheese

Candle Harbour

Leanee Cakes

Peninsula Life MediSpa

Stefanie West

C.H holt gifts

That Little Shop

Wise & Co Dispensary

Nikki Trevaskis – Socceroos

Made by Molly

Gallery One

In Depth Civil

Balflower

Reeves family

Australian Netball

Tiny Tiger

Manyung Camps

Arbornne

Balnarring Post Office

Tim’s Xtreme Painting

Tim’s Plumbing

4 Sure Firewood

Balnarring Podiatry

Eramosa Road Medical Centre

Catherine

Reece Dromana

Balnarring Picnic Racing Club

Ourlieu & Loft Homewares

The Chef Trainer

Bunnings

Ocean Eight

Pete Evans

Lumiere Art & Co

Sandy Elliadis Artist

Barn & Co

Celebrations Balnarring

Jane Reisegar

Ting Tong

Lothlorien Harmony

Karen Anderson

Tall Trees

Corris Hair Boutique

Amy Sayle Photography

Saffron & Twine

Lightening Bugs

Baby Paw Paw

Balnarring Camping Ground

Little by Nature

Merricks General Store

Balnarring Village Meats

Elfreds

Red Hill Brewery

Lorraine Lea Linen I hope all of you who came had a wonderful night as I sure enjoyed sharing it with you all.

Thank you again, Caroline




Anaconda

Mock Orchards

Meg Dad’s Avocados

Balnarring Village Medical Centre

Peninsula Mapping

Grand Hot

I hope all of you who came had a wonderful night as I sure enjoyed sharing it with you all.

Thank you again, Caroline.

balnarring preschool · pmp starts again in june. due to other events pmp will be held wed th8 ,...

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