JULY NEWSLETTER 2020

National Reconciliation Week 2020

27th May – 3rd June – ‘In this together’

We celebrated National Reconciliation Week with a focus on inquiry learning, music and meaningful art

experiences. The children were involved in several activities; including art (dot painting), story stones. Story

stones are a collection of small stones with pictures on them that can be used as storytelling prompts.

They're particularly wonderful for creating collaborative stories that are meaningful for children. Some of

the stories were so fantastic and showed what wonderful imagination the children have! The children

listened to digeridoo and indigenous music and learned several songs in Kuarna language, as well as singing

‘Ninna Marni Welcome’ and ‘We Are One’. We had several discussions about the meaning of Reconciliation.

[Type a quote from the document or the

summary of an interesting point. You can

position the text box anywhere in the

document. Use the Drawing Tools tab to

change the formatting of the pull quote text

box.]

We also talked about the meanings of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags and the significance of

‘Acknowledgement of Country’. We also displayed the Uluru Statement from the Heart on our Adventurer’s

Room notice board. The children also read several Indigenous Stories and made tapping sticks.

The children enjoyed watching episodes of Little J and Big Cuz, an Educational program for children on ABC

Iview. Via engagement with Aboriginal worldviews and the Aboriginal pedagogy of storytelling the ABC

developed the animated television series Little J and Big Cuz.

The Explorers were involved in Reconciliation Week through music, art and language. We painted with the

colours from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags and also did some handprints. We also learnt

the Kaurna names for some Australian Animals from the website Kaurna for

Kidshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYUt-QKNkW4OGYWA18cOaQ

The Explorers explored reconciliation by reading some lovely stories such as ‘Welcome to Country’ by Joy

Murphy and The Two Wallabies: A Dreaming Narrative. We also listened to to some Indigenous Music on

Spotify, and enjoyed Children’s International Music Lists.

REMINDER : OUR CANCELLATION POLICY

We just wanted to remind families about the cancellation policy – normal booking charges

apply for any care that is cancelled after 5.30pm the night before.

Care cancelled after 5.30pm the night before will be subject to charges, as per the child’s normal booking for that day. Charges will apply regardless of the reasons for cancellation after this time (including sickness)

For weekend cancellations, an email or phone message needs to be received before 5.30pm Sunday.

Child Care Fee entitlement reductions will apply for your cancelled booking for up to 42 days each financial year, so families will only be out of pocket for the cost they would normally pay for that booking.

We thank families for their continued support!

National Pyjama Day was on Friday 17th July. It's a

day to wear your favourite pair of PJ's to help The

Pyjama Foundation raise awareness and funds for

children in foster care.

Thank you to all children and educators who came in

dressed up in their Pyjama’s and all families who gave

a gold coin donation on the day!

Everyone looked fantastic !

All our Educators recently engaged in Red Nose Safe Sleeping training. Safe Sleep Education & Training

packages are based on the latest scientific evidence and include how to ensure our policies and procedures

for the safe sleeping of infants and children are up-to-date and reflect current best practice. We have some

leaflets in our Parent Library too for families to take home. Topics include; Tummy Time (Why supervised

tummy play is important for Baby), Safe Sleeping (Sleep baby safely and reduce the risks) and Cot to bed

safety (when to move your child out of a cot?)

ADVENTURERS ROOM

Wear Your Welly Boots Day

On Friday 3rd July 2020 it was Wear Your Welly Boots Day.

Wearing our welly boots was so much fun. It rained in the morning and the children were very keen go

outside to have fun jumping in puddles. We were also raising awareness for kids in need in South Australia

through Puddle Jumpers SA and also help to raise much-needed funds to provide holiday experiences to

children that otherwise might not have the opportunity.

Thank you to all families who brought in a gold coin donation. Children always enjoy coming to child care

wearing their Welly Boots (and love a day of jumping in puddles)

ADVENTURERS ROOM

Our Garden

We are looking forward to starting up the garden again in the next few weeks. We have already been

weeding in anticipation of planting and have had a parent volunteer to assist us with planting. We are also

excited to have the new fence up. I think everyone will agree that the new fence looks fantastic and will

hopefully result in less toys going over the fence! We are looking to make a succulent garden bed (that

looks something like the pictures below) and would appreciate any cuttings that could be donated from

families’ gardens at home.

Key Word Signs

We have also been continuing with learning Key Word Signs and have been practicing them with some

songs. The children learn really fast and are very confident and involved with the signing.

Eye Hand Co-ordination and Pre-writing Skills

Pre-writing skills are the fundamental skills children need to develop before they are able to

write. These skills contribute to the child's ability to hold and use a pencil, and the ability to draw,

write, copy, and colour. A major component of pre-writing skills are the pre-writing shapes

The fingers, hands and shoulders require hours and hours of practicing different skills to get

ready for the actual job of picking up a pencil and making marks, lines, shapes and letters

on paper. Prewriting skills include the ability to write straight lines, curved lines, zig-zags

and shapes. These skills are building blocks for letter formation during handwriting tasks.

EXPLORERS ROOM

Sensory Project

As a part of our sensory project our student, Jaynelle also brought in a nature sensory box

full of leaves, twigs and other sensory items.

A great investigation was underway!

The explorers used all their senses to explore. The leaves were very colourful and dry and

made a great crackling sound when crunched. The flowers were soft and smelled wonderful.

Nature inspired play is so important in Early Childhood. Children learn best through

exploration and hand on experiences!

We are excited to report that our Explorer’s Room is starting to be quite busy. We were also excited to

welcome back children whose bookings were on hold and also welcome new children and families to our

centre.

We were so happy to see how much the children had grown while they were away and were thrilled to be

busy once again. We have been busy making connections and forming safe and secure relationships with

the children, as well as settling them in to our room and finding out about their routines. We look forward

to them becoming confident and involved learners.

Fine Motor Skills and Drawing Tools

We have also focussed on hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills in the last few weeks. We have done

some drawing with a variety of tools such as chalk, pencils and crayons. We have also had finger painting

with essential oils.

r