Week 7, Term 1 Newsletter: March 2019

Dear families, Today I write this on our 1st birthday in our new centre – we opened for business on 13th March 2018, so today marks 1 year of learning together in this space. What a year it’s been! Our vision has always been to create a place of learning for all. This past year we have focused on supporting our families and community members to feel connected to our new centre and our new location. We are excited to see so many families now attending playgroup and other community programs offered, some are mentioned in this newsletter so please chat to a staff member if you are interested. We invite our kindy families to our Harmony Week celebrations coming up next week. Harmony Week is celebrated in schools around Australia every year, this year marks the 20th anniversary. It is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Pennington is such a diverse community and this brings a strength and uniqueness to the learning of each of your children – learning about each other and learning to get along and learn together with respect, kindness and openness. Please come to our afternoon tea – please bring a small plate of food to share (no nuts) that your family enjoys at home or that shows off your culture. You are also welcome to dress in traditional cultural dress/attire or bring something to share with us. You could also wear the colour orange. Or … just come along and join in!

Group A children and families: Monday 18th March 2pm

Group B children and families: Thursday 21st March 2pm

Why orange? Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Australians can choose to wear something orange during 17-23 March to show their support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia.

Take care, Jessica Dubois Director

Butler Avenue

Pennington

Phone: (08) 8268 1200

Email: dl.5640.leaders@schools.sa.edu.au

REMINDER

ALLERGY AWARE: Keeping every child safe NO NUTS

Please help us in creating a safer environment at Kindy by

Not providing any nut products at school (or products

with ‘traces of nuts’)

Encouraging your child to not share or swap their food or

drink bottles with others.

Encouraging your child to wash their hands before and after eating.

NO NUTS NO PENUT BUTTER NO NUTELLA NO MUESLI BARS with NUTS

NO CHOCOLATE

REMINDER

NO KINDY – Wednesday 20th (for Group B)

NO KINDY – Wednesday 27th (for Group A)

Thank you for your support. As explained

previously, these days are an entitlement for

teachers to catch up on programming and

planning. We also have 4 pupil free days per

year where the whole centre closes so that staff

can attend professional development.

Project Quattro: The South Australian Collaborative Childhood

Project

Our centre is one of 4 schools in South Australia chosen in this project,

to research the principles from the Reggio Emilia Educational Project (in

Italy) and use them to help us create a strong South Australian early

childhood system.

We are showcasing our learning in an upcoming exhibition and

conference at the end of March. Michelle and Jessica will be speaking at

this, so they have been working on this project a lot this term which

means Michelle is at meetings from time to time so we have regular

relief teachers in the centre. We are proud to have been chosen to

share our work from Pennington – 1 of 4 in the State!

LEARNING SNAPSHOT – this is a place where we like to share a glimpse into our learning days

at Kindergarten. As a teaching team, we spend a significant amount of time planning for, documenting

and assessing children’s learning so that every child is supported to grow and progress. We also share your

child’s learning growth through writing learning stories which are placed into your child’s learning journal.

Please feel free to take these home to read. They are special treasures of learning for your child to share.

Learning Intention: Children relate to our learning space in safe, familiar ways

We know that learning is enhanced through open ended resources and collaboration with others. By

providing resources such as Magnatiles, our large wooden blocks, loose parts and construction sets we

have been noticing children collaborating together to create. Thinking like a mathematician, an engineer,

a builder all whilst fostering and strengthening their learning muscles of imagination, communication and

team work.

Here are some photos of children collaborating through building and creating their ideas on a small or

large scale.

“If we want a

world full of

innovative

entrepreneurial

thinkers, we need

to enable and

sustain making

from a very young

age” Briggs 2016

Making

connects your

hands, eyes

and brain in a

very special

way!

LEARNING SNAPSHOT continued…..

Learning Intention: Children build strong, positive and supportive relationships with

each other and educators.

We’ve created opportunities for children to share their identity, their family and their

story with their educators and learning friends. Children are invited to draw a

picture, of their home, their family or something special to them to add to our family

wall…. This is learning in progress, we hope to continue to add more families to the

wall over time. This will help children, educators and families to talk to each other

here learning about our unique identity.

Learning intention: Children have the opportunity to express who they are; I use language to connect

with my world.

Educators noticed an interest and strength in children and their understanding of symbols, letters and

digits. Here are photos of children learning together in intentional learning spaces

related to the languages we use to connect with our world.

Mark making,

drawing and writing

are all part of our

visual

communication, our

literacy learning at

kindergarten.

We are making

connections with each

other about what

letters are the same

or different in our

name!

Each morning we invite your

child to have a go at writing

the first letter of their name

(or more if they can)!

Families are invited to come to the Pennington Primary school gym

where there will be a range of activities on offer for children and

families to participate in. Morning tea will be provided at the end of

the event.

We hope to see you there!

This is an event organised by Pennington Primary school in collaboration with

Pennington Children’s Centre

COMMUNITY NEWS

In the Moment Family Yoga sessions

I am really excited to let everyone know that we will be running yoga sessions at the centre. In the

Moment Family Yoga sessions will run for five weeks starting on the 14th of March. The focus of these

sessions is for parents/ carers and children to practice yoga and breathing techniques together with the

support of the yoga teacher, Susannah. Susannah has lots of experience working with families in other

professional roles which she draws on in the yoga sessions that she runs. If you are interested in

attending these sessions, please let me know (Jess Scott).

Stay, Play and Garden 6th April 10 – 12 noon

Each term the school runs an event on a Saturday for families to attend with their children. The event is

linked to a theme based on what has happened in the term. This term the theme for Stay Garden and

Play is based on Harmony day. There will be a range of activities for families to engage with in the

morning such as making friendship bracelets, cooking, badge making and building using the imagination

playground provided by our local council. This is a great opportunity to spend time with your family at a

free event and meet other families in the community.

Stay, Play and Garden will be held on SATURDAY 6th of April from 10am to 12pm in the school gym.

Morning tea will be provided. I hope to see you there.

Harmony Day Storytime 20th March 10:30am – 11:30am

Lizzie will be visiting the Woodville Town Hall on Wednesday the 20th of March celebrating a love of

reading and the diversity in our community. This is a free event where children are able to join in with

story time, songs and dancing along with a range of craft activities. Fruit platters and refreshments will

also be provided. If you and your child are interested in attending, please contact Sascha Hutchinson at

the City of Charles Sturt on 8408 1333 to RSVP.

10 plants for $10

Did you know that if you live in the City of Charles Sturt you are

able to purchase 10 indigenous native plants for $10 from the

council? For more information, please refer to the City of

Charles Sturt’s website. This offer is only available until the 31st of May.

Jess Scott is our Community

Development Coordinator. Please

chat to her about your ideas of

how we can support our

community to be strong, inclusive

and supportive of each other.

Thank you to all the families who braved the hot weather and

attended our Twilight Kindy recently. Lizzie loved meeting you

all!

Lizzie’s MARCH message is …..

Michelle took Lizzie off to the primary school to

re-connect with all of our past Kindy learners!