Childcare Rebate Information

Changes to Child Care Rebate Payment Options
At the moment, eligible families receive their Child Care Rebate quarterly or annually based on attendance information submitted to the CCMS by child care services. From 1 July 2011, subject to the passage of legislation, the Government will provide families with the option to receive their Child Care Rebate paid either directly to their bank account, or as a further fee reduction payment paid to their child care service on their behalf, bringing further assistance to families at the time they incur the costs of their child care.
More information is available at www.mychild.gov.au. From the MyChild homepage go to the Latest News tab and click on the Fortnightly Child Care Rebate Payment Option link.

Farewell 2010

In the last two weeks of the 2010 holidays we have continued our creating and Christmas making. In the 3 year old program our favourite experiences have been making constructions sites, dressing up, painting Christmas trees and making yummy Christmas biscuits with our head chef Mr. Wagenfeller.
During the four year old program we explored venus fly traps all week but also had time for hospital and police lego, reindeer paintings and cards and a Rudolf mural with a sleigh full of presents.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas break, travel safely and we will see you in 2011.

Langley Room

Dear Langley Families,

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all back from the 10th January. Enjoy the festive season.

Love Jess, Adele, Jen and Kerry

ELC Staffing

I am happy to announce that the school has appointed a new teacher , Ms Suria Amir-Lang ,who will be commencing in the Chapple Room next year . Ms Amir-Lang has been teaching for several years and is currently teaching in Japan with 4-5 year olds . She will be assisted by Ms Sinead Diotallevi who has just completed her Early Childhood Degree and has been working at Campbelltown Children's Centre whilst studying. We are excited to have two very experienced staff joining us and look forward to the year ahead !
Sadly Mr Todd Kerber will be leaving us in January and moving to a position at Pulteney Grammar School's new extended Early Learning Centre that will suit his family situation better.
The staff and children will all miss him and we wish him all the best in his new venture.

Jeanine Dry

In the Langley Room

It has been a hive of activity in the Langley room with lots of very excited children eagerly awaiting Christmas Day. We have continued discussing the meaning of Christmas and what we are going to do on Christmas Day, the children have been eagerly telling us what they hope Father Christmas might leave under the tree for them. Tommi thinks Father Christmas might leave him a big yellow banana! The children have been keen writers this week as they develop their understanding that the marks they make can convey meaning to others. They have been using tracing paper to form letters of the alphabet and have been writing messages in their Christmas cards that they have created.

Kind regards,
Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Merry Christmas

Dear Parents,
Whilst the centre will still be open until the 23rd of December the school term has finished and teaching staff will be on leave as of the end of this week. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and friendship during the year and to wish you a merry Christmas and happy New Year. We are already looking forward to seeing your children again in 2011.
We would also like to extend a big hug to the assistant staff who will be here over the holiday period and thank them for their camaraderie in 2010.
We wish you all a safe and exciting holiday
Love Mel, Kate, Ali, Emma and Susan

In the Classrooms

Langley
What an exciting week we have had in the Langley room! On Tuesday the children were amazed to discover that Father Christmas had dropped into the ELC to visit and to personally deliver gifts to all the boys and girls on behalf of their teachers. We hope that you have since discovered two special packages within your child’s locker. After our special visit from Father Christmas the children were inspired to create their own Father Christmas collage as well as generating much discussion regarding Christmas. The Langley children have also been very keen observers of the varying weather conditions and have been fascinated with the rain, thunder, storms, wind and sunny conditions evolving throughout the week. Once the rain and storms had cleared, the Langley children were fascinated to discover some mushrooms and a ladybug in their yard! The Langley children are eagerly awaiting next week when Miss Jess returns. Kind Regards,Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Santa's on his way!!

We had a surprise visit from the Jolly Red Man on Tuesday, who flew in specially from the North Pole to hand out gifts to the children from the staff of the ELC. How lucky are we!!! If your child was not present on this day their gift has been placed in or near their locker for collection.

Dates

Dear Parents,

Just a quick reminder of our close and open dates for the Christmas period. We will be closed as of the 24th of December (23rd being our last day) and will reopen on January the 10th 2011. The school term will begin on the 1st of February. If you child is going to be away on holidays at any time between now and the 1st of February please e-mail Mrs Jeanine Dry at jdry@pac.edu.au as soon as possible.
Thankyou
ELC Staff

Our Rain Event Thanks

Wow! What a day it was on Tuesday. We had an unprecedented rain event and it took all our efforts to prevent the Town Square succumbing to the rising water! Some of you may have noticed that our outside sandpit and part of our outside garden was completely submerged. The staff that stood out in the rain bucketing out countless buckets of water onto the Parade would like to extend a huge thanks to David Nemeth. David jumped in to assist us, bucketing out water in the rain. What a true Princes man you are David and what a wonderful role model you are for our young men. Thanks again.

Sports For Schools

Thankyou to all the Parents who supported our Sports For Schools drive. Congratulations! Our total points collected including bonus points came to 16,415 points! What a fantastic result! We look forward to spending our points on sports equipment.
Thankyou
Tim Weatherald
Prep Sports Master

In the Classrooms

Langley
The Langley room children have been actively getting into the spirit of Christmas this week. The children have used the nativity set to re-tell the story of Christmas and on many occasions whist playing the children have been heard singing the songs from our nativity concert. Many Christmas art activities have been undertaken this week and the children have been such good secret keepers knowing it won’t be long until they can share their surprise with you! During discussions about Christmas the children have made some interesting observations:
“You put up Christmas tree… and you get presents” remarked Tommi.
“I put up my Christmas tree, I put a Santa on it, I help Mummy and Daddy, I put ball balls on and then touch the light” reflected Chanel.
“Painting… red and green” recounted Toby.
“Mum and dad…and man gives me presents” Sebastian M insisted.
“I got my Christmas tree up, I hang it up” commented Ruby.
Kind regards,
Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Cooper
We have had a sparkly Christmas week in Cooper! The children have been busily preparing some special presents, but we can't tell you too much about them! We have painted with marbles making red and green paint trails, glued and glittered cards and painted Christmas trees with tinsel stars on top. The children have also been very keen on Christmas carols and dancing, with Jingle Bells a special favourite. Some of our Cooper children have now finished for the year and we wish them and their families a happy and safe holiday. Don't forget that the class Christmas party will be held at Orphanage Park on Saturday, 11th December (please check your email for details).
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
Once again, thank you to all the Chapple Room children and parents for being so caring, communicative and wonderful throughout the year. We are now all ready to move onto school! Thank you for sharing the ‘Gradulation’ with us on Thursday. Eleanor and I would like to thank you all for our lovely gifts – Jaye and Brendt chose some very beautiful things. It’s very generous of you all. Please note that the Final Kindergarten Report is the last entry in your child’s portfolio. We wish you a very special Christmas with your family and all the very best for the coming year!One final note from Kalan, a concern and special request he shared with the class, “Please don’t leave out beer for Father Christmas because last year he got too drunk and that made him fatter.” You’ve been warned!
Merry Christmas!!
Kate and Eleanor

Edgerley
Another jam packed week in Edgerley with lots of preparation for Christmas and love affairs with the staplers! Edgerley boys have loved creating paper chains as it has allowed them to wrestle with staplers of different sizes…what a fascinating and tricky tool!
We enjoyed a visit from Mr De Dear and his dog Bazza as he read us the story of Ace the Air force Dog. The book was very old and the pictures were in black and white. The dog in the book looked just like Bazza. Bazza came into our classroom for a pat and managed to eat a fly while he was there. He was very big and very gentle.
We finished the first part of our number collage using photos we found on our excursion. Next week we look forward to finishing it by forming our own numerals over the top.
Kind Regards
Mel and Rosalie

Thanks From Year Six Students

Many thanks for your support of the Year 6 Fair last Friday. It was a very successful event in terms of Year 6 boys collaborating and organising an activity, then working with the younger students to ensure they enjoyed the Fair. Monetary wise it was also successful in that we raised $925.25 for Uniting Care Wesley.
Thank you from the Year 6 teachers and boys

Our Own Masterchef

Dear Parents,
You may have noticed Mr Wagenfallar missing from our kitchen at the end of this week. Whilst he was away injured (nothing that happened in the kitchen!!) we were thrilled that Miss Emma Gray was able to step into his very big shoes. Emma has previous experience catering for Early Childhood centres and we were thankful that she was able to keep a cool head and step up so well, we certainly didn’t go hungry. Thankyou Miss Gray for your help, yum!

Sun Protection

Dear Parents,
Summer has definitely arrived and it is very important that your child has a hat at Kindergarten every day. Our No Hat No Play policy means that children who do not have a hat are not allowed to play in the garden. Please help us help your child by ensuring that your child’s hat is hanging on the hook inside their locker every morning and afternoon. We would also like to remind you that you need to put sunscreen on your child each day before arriving at the ELC. We will make sure it is reapplied before the children go outside in the afternoons,

Thankyou
ELC Staff

Professional Photos From Our Nativity

Dear Parents,
Duane, the wonderful photographer from Festival Photographic joined us the duration of our Princes ELC Nativity “The Story of the First Christmas”. Copies of his wonderful shots are able to be viewed as part of a DVD presentation in the lobby over the next week. Make sure you take a moment to stop and view them. These photos and more will be available to be purchased from the Festival website in the coming week. (Please note, they have not currently been uploaded, please be patient) To find the photos please follow the directions below in the next week or two.

*Log on to the internet and go to http://www.festivalphoto.com.au/
*Click view you photos in the top bar
*Click on 2010
*Click on Prince Alfred College
*Click on ELC Nativity (nb: it is not currently there yet)
*Your password will be the event date, don’t forget to include the dashes
*Follow the directions to order our pictures on line

A photo of each child on the day is in their portfolio, but apart from this, copies of photographs are NOT available electronically or in hard copy from the centre. When on the Festival website you are also able to revisit any of our other events that Festival have attended earlier in the year such as Grandies Day, Princesses Tea Party, Big Boys Breakfast or Sports Day if you would like to view photos from those events. The password for each one is the date of the event.
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop

PVC Pipes

As the weather warms up children are beginning to experiment with water in the sand pit. We are hoping there may be a family who has PVC piping that they no longer need that we could use for children to direct water with in the sandpit during the hot weather. If you have any PVC piping that you do not need any more please feel free to pass it to Mrs Porter at the front desk
Thanks
ELC Staff

Security Doors

Dear Parents,
We have three sets of security doors in our centre, our front door, the door on the other side of the lobby, and the doors that lead into the town square. These doors do have a high handle for adults but many parents are allowing their children to climb on the lower handle and hang from the higher one in an attempt to open it themselves. Unfortunately these handles are not designed to support the weight of children repeatedly over the day and we have had to have them repaired a number of times. Please help us by not allowing your children to hang on the door handles.
Thankyou
ELC staff

Chapple Families

Dear Chapple Parents
Over the next few weeks you will receive an email requesting your name to be removed from our blog alert list. Could you please respond to this by just hitting "reply" or it will not be activated and you will keep receiving the email ,

Thankyou
Jeanine

In the Classrooms

Langley
During our lunch time discussions this week, Sebastian R has been telling us about the miners.
“Da men are stuck in da mine” he said.
“What happened?” asked the Teacher.
“Da big rocks went all over da place and covered dem” he explained, “dey send in a robot” he continued.
“Why?” asked the Teacher.
“To see if they ok” he told everybody.
“Where did this happen?” questioned the Teacher.
“In Mew Zealum” Sebastian responded.
We have set up a sand tray in the classroom for the children to explore this further. Tommi suggested “maybe my Mummy and my Daddy and I can get on a plane and wescue them”.
“We might need a hospital car” suggested Jack O “woo, woo, woo” he added as he got a red car.
It’s amazing how globally minded our two and three year old children can be!
Kind regards,Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
If anyone needs a new hair do........come to the Mead Room Salon! We have many an experienced hairdresser ready to transform you. Our salon opened in response to one of our classroom members who hadn't had a haircut for a long time. He had some reservations and concerns over what actually might happen to his hair at the hands of a hairdresser wielding a pair of sharp scissors around! After his visit, and a very handsome and groomed haircut, we decided to open our very own Salon to assure all the Mead Room clients that Hairdressing Salons are enjoyable places. The children have become quite adept at using the tools of the trade and meeting the customers needs.

"Can you put it on me please?" Daniel asked Ashraf as he passed him a clip.
"Does it hurt?" Ashraf asked, with real concern, as he clipped it onto Daniel's hair.
"I'm just making you into Mary" Ashraf added.
"No, I want to be Daniel!" Daniel explained.
"Daniel Black?" Ashraf enquired.
"No, Daniel Hope" Daniel confirmed.

Best wishes,
Emma, Emma and Susan
Cooper
The hot weather early in the week gave us the opportunity to participate in some wet sand play. Not only was this a great way to keep cool but an interesting sensory, scientific and social experience. The children loved being sprayed with the hose while we wet down the sandpit and noticed lots of differences in the very dry sand compared to the wet muddy sand. Oliver and Sami played "machinery" with the trucks, tipping, pouring, loading and driving and discussed their work...
“We need to put more sand in it” said Oliver.
“I’m filling it” replied Sami.
“Wanna come back now we got more filling?” asked Oliver.
“I need more sand” exclaimed Sami.
“Well, tip it up and come back here, I got another job to do” said Oliver.
It sounded like a real construction site! Meanwhile at the indoor sandpit, Deacon, Sienna and Chester were busy baking a big cake for a birthday party. They mixed and squashed the wet sand in a big pot, then iced it with the dry sand. At the sand tray the children poured big buckets of water over the sand, mixed and raked it and then farm animal toys splashed and rolled in the mud and water because they needed to keep cool too. Although we went home very messy, we stayed lovely and cool and had lots of fun!
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
What a busy week we have had in Chapple! Transitions have continued this week with a visit to the uniform shop to learn about what to wear in the Prep School. We also visited the Reception classroom again where Mrs Burford and Mrs Leeson read us stories and we practised some songs.
Congratulations must go to Regan who became the first child to lose a tooth in Chapple! The children have been very interested in why we lose teeth and where our old teeth go.
Max thought ‘Money is too big for the tooth fairy to hold!”
Katie solved this problem by announcing “No, but they have magic!”
We have also read a tooth story and will continue with our investigations into the world of dentistry next week.
Thankyou to Cheryl (Lloyd’s Mum) who came to our ELC this week to read La Petite Poule Rousse, please see our display to find out what the title is in English!
Thankyou also to Mrs McKenzie and Mrs Lock for stepping in and having a fun week with us. We loved seeing you again.
Eleanor, Susan and Emma.

Edgerley
What an active week we had in Edgerley this week, with so much activity happening outside of our classroom doors. At the start of the week we enjoyed PE in the gym where Mr Weatherald had set up an obstacle course, Charlie wowed us all with his big enthusiastic jumps from the trampet onto the crash mat! The following day Groundsman Tas arrived to cement our birdhouse, that we had made with Hugo’s Dad, into the secret garden. We learned the difference between cement and concrete and watched as Tas dug a really big hole with a post hole digger…it was cool! The following day Hugo brought some wild bird seed to school and that was lucky because our Eastern Rosellas reappeared and they were hungry, we watched but they are a bit shy and only wanted lunch when we weren’t watching. We had a wonderful time during the hot weather playing with water in the sandpit and at our water feature in the shade…we got soaked! It was great! Later in the week the clouds covered the playground and it rained so the Edgerley boys concentrated on practicing cartwheels in the sandpit. Lachlan Fleet showed the way and showered us all with sand! In the breakout space we took turns taking on the roles in the Nativity and enacted some wonderful variations on the original. Mrs Bishop’s favourite was when one of the kings carried donkey Aadi to Bethlehem because the donkey was tired!
Inside the classroom we busied ourselves with Christmas preparation creating some gifts for our mums and dads, shhhhh don’t tell!
We can’t wait to see what next week brings!
Kind regards
Mel and Rosalie

Langley Staffing

Dear Parents of Langley Children,
Miss Jess Catt will be taking annual leave from Thursday the 2nd of December and will return on Monday the 13th of December. In her absence Miss Julia Mitchell will join the Langley Team.
Thankyou

New Fee Schedule

Dear Parents,
We are writing to inform you that we are currently reviewing our fee structure for 2011. There will be a fee increase in the new year and we will publish this new schedule as soon as it comes to hand (next week we hope), for the consideration of families.
Kind regards
Jeanine Dry

Carols by the Tree

Thankyou to the families who joined us for Carols by the Tree. What a wonderful evening it was. From the looks of the activity on the top oval, we're sure there must have been lots of tired children that night! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
ELC Staff

Moving Up Day

Dear Parents,
Next Tuesday the 30th of November is Moving Up Day for ELC and Junior Primary students at PAC. All students who move to new classes in January 2011 have the opportunity to spend a morning in their new class. If your child is currently in Chapple room moving to Reception please do not forget to provide your child with a mid morning snack. If your Chapple child does not normally attend ELC on a Tuesday please feel free to meet us up and the Prep School office.
If your child is moving into Mead or Langley and does not normally attend on a Tuesday we would love to see both you and your child to join us for the morning. Please note that these mornings are not designed for staff to stand and speak with parents, instead, to get to know their new students in a safe and welcoming environment where children do not have to worry that their parent will leave them. If you have any questions or queries please save them for our Parent Information sessions on Wednesday the 1st.

*Parents of new children moving into Langley in 2011 will meet with Miss Jess Catt at 4.00pm in our Art Room
*Parents of Langley children moving into Mead in 2011 will meet with Mrs Emma McKenzie and Mrs Susan Lock at 3.15pm in the Mead Room
*Parents of Mead children moving into Chapple in 2011 will meet with Mrs Mel Bishop at 3.15pm in the Chapple Room
*Parents of Chapple Room children moving to Reception in 2011 will meet with Mrs Margot Leeson, Mrs Meg Burford and Mr Robert Adcock in the Reception Hub in the preparatory School at 3.15pm

Outstanding Library Books

Dear Parents,
The Preparatory Library has begun it’s annual stock take and, as such, borrowing from the Library has ceased (although you may still visit at any time). We are asking for all Library books to be returned as soon as possible. You can either pass them to Mrs Porter and she will place them in the return basket or you may post them through the return chute in the library. Some outstanding book slips have been placed in children’s pigeonholes, others will be placed by the end of this week.
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

Centre Christmas Celebration

Dear Parents,
We will hold a brief and informal Christmas celebration in our centre on Tuesday the 7th of December at 11.00am with a visit from Santa who will share gifts with the children from the staff. Due to the numbers of children, we will not be hosting a full Christmas Party. Children who do not normally attend on a Tuesday are welcome to join us from 11.00 to 12.00 with a supervising adult.
Thankyou
Mel

Chapple Graduation

Dear Parents of Chapple children,
You are invited to join us for a fun informal graduation ceremony to mark the end of your child’s time with us and their graduation from four year old kindergarten. What a special milestone to mark before they move through into the “big school”!
Please join us in the town square on December Thursday the 2nd at 11.00am.
Please note, this event is for families of Chapple room students only
Thankyou
ELC staff

Portfolios

Dear Parents,
Please feel free to borrow your child’s portfolio to share with them and reflect over during the Christmas break. They will be available to be borrowed from classrooms from December the 7th on.
Thankyou
Classroom Teachers

Preparation for Hot Weather

Dear Parents,
The hot weather has arrived, allowing us to get into the garden more regularly and strip off the layers to play with water. You can help us manage the change in weather by remembering to:

*Clearly name all the clothes your child wears to the ELC
*Ensure that you apply sun cream on your child’s face, legs and arms before they come to the *ELC in the morning (we reapply sun cream to all children before their afternoon outdoor play)
*Ensure that your child brings a hat to kindy everyday
*Bring a full water bottle to school with your child every day (we will refill them when your child empties it)
*Take your child’s water bottle home every night and wash it out

Thankyou
ELC staff

On the Scrounge

Dear Parents who are planning to have a spring clean or empty out the shed over the holidays!
We are on the look out for old wooden drawers from old chests of drawers or old bed side tables for a creative storage idea for our outdoor garden.
We are also looking for an old wooden outdoor setting that is more or less child sized (it’s doesn’t need to be in good condition, we would be happy to adopt a fixer-upper, but it does need to be wood or metal)
We are still taking any old terracotta pots or silver kitchen tools and pots.
Thanking you in anticipation
ELC Staff

At the Pageant

Last weekend Adelaide came out in force for the annual Christmas Pageant. Sophie and her family enjoyed the morning and managed to spot a familiar face!

Congratulations Miss Jess, what a wonderful Christmas Pixie you made!

Out of the Classrooms and Onto the Stage!

Thankyou to all who attended our annual Christmas Nativity in the Anzac Hall on Thursday morning. We would like to thank the Preparatory School boys who assisted us with seating and distribution of programs, and the PAC ancillary staff who assisted with the bookings and set up for our function. I would particularly like to express a huge thanks to all the ELC staff who put in an enormous amount of effort to assist the children to pull it together. Duane, our professional photographer photographed children in their costumes before the event and during the Nativity. He also took a few family photos in the Piper Pavilion. These photos will be available to be purchased on line in a week or two. Please watch the blog for further information regarding this. Thankyou again for coming to watch us sparkle and shine, we hope that it left you with fond memories.
ELC Staff

For Chapple Parents

Dear Chapple Parents,
Kate Baird will be absent from school for Week 7 (22nd - 26th November). Kate is conducting a PYP workshop in Hong Kong. Susan Lock and Emma McKenzie will share the week teaching in Chapple Room. This is wonderful for the children as many of them were in the Mead Room with them the previous year. The Chapple Room program will contine as per usual.

Best regards,
Mel and Jeanine

Little Bo Peep

Dear Parents of students who were sheep in our Nativity,
After the performance some sheep accidently left with their sheep ears still on. Can you please return any outstanding ears to your child’s classroom teacher.
Thanks
Mel Bishop

Working Bee Thankyou

Thankyou to Annette, Nicole, Karen, Akiko, Jaye, Karly and Eleni for helping us out in our art room working bee! What busy bee’s you must have been! We were sooooo grateful for your assistance.
A huge thanks!
ELC Staff

Building With Boxes

Dear Parents,
We are currently collecting junk materials for our making trolleys for the holiday program. If you have any cardboard boxes, egg cartons, cardboard tubes ready for the recycle bin we would love it if you could pass them our way for us to make beautiful creations with!
Thankyou
ELC Staff

Holiday Dates

Our school term ends on Dec 7th and this will be the last day that the teaching staff will be with their classes for the year. The ELC will remain open until Dec 23rd and then closed for 2 weeks. We will reopen on January 10th 2011.
If your child is leaving the ELC could you please give us the date that they will finish. Children moving on to school are welcome to stay with us until the start of school next year or can use the school's OSHC program if you prefer. (you must book with them separately)
Please let us know of any other dates that your child will be absent over this period asap so that we can make both staffing and catering arrangements in advance.
Children who are moving up to a new class will not do so until the beginning of Term 1 2011 (Feb 1st) when the Teaching staff return.

Jeanine

The Year Six Fair

Dear Parents of Edgerley and Chapple Room Children,
We will be attending the annual Year Six Fair on Friday the 26th of November. The fair is a community service project designed and run by Year Six students as part of their community service. Children participate in a round robin of fun carnival games (we particularly like the one where we get to throw wet sponges at the teachers!!!) using tokens that they receive after a gold coin donation. Please send a gold coin donation to ELC with your child on this day. All money raised will be presented to Wesley Mission by Year Six student representatives at their final assembly before the Christmas break.
Thankyou for helping Year Six support the Wesley Mission
Thankyou
Mel and Kate

Nativity

Dear Parents,
Nativity (or Tibity, as some children call it!) is now only days away. We would like to thank all the parents and staff who have supported the children in their huge undertaking and just take a moment to list a few reminders that will help the day run smoothly.
Children who do not normally attend on Thursday must be at the ELC at 10.00am to change into their costume and prepare (not before or after 10.00am please)
Children coming in at 10.00am must be signed in in their classroom sign in books. Sign in books will be available afterwards in the Anzac Hall for parents who would like to collect their child directly after the event to sign out. You are welcome to take your child early if you would like to take them for a celebratory lunch with family.(Please inform their teacher and sign them out)There will be a brief period for taking photos in the Piper Pavilion after the event. However, rest assured professional photographs will be available. There will not be an opportunity for children to be photographed by parents in the centre before the Nativity.
We are so looking forward to performing for you and look forward to seeing you there.
The Children and staff of the ELC

In the Classrooms Last Week

Langley

Mead
We have had a busy week in the Mead Room. Since the children are getting so good at signing themselves in and out each day we have had fun writing our names on the light table using shaving foam! It has been fun using our finger as our pencil and exploring this sensory challenge.
Our focus for story books has turned from 'The Little Gingerbread Man' to 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. Supporting this interest we have porridge, beds and chairs in our home corners which are being used by the children with alot of entertaining dialogue.
We have also been practicing our Nativity songs and the children are doing an amazing job learning the words. Please make sure Thursday the 18th is booked in your diaries to come along and watch the performance.
Best wishes,
Emma, Emma and Susan

Cooper
At Morning Meeting on Wednesday we read the story of Elmer, the colourful patchwork elephant. The children enjoyed this story so much that some of them chose to create their own Elmers with paint and collage at the easel. They painted elephant bodies, legs, tails and long trunks and stuck on lots of bright coloured collage pieces then retold the story in their own words…
“An Elmo, he got a big tummy, he got spots, them there” said Daisy pointing, “and stripes.”
“Elmer changed the colours. He used the rain to do it. Not grey – green, blue, red, purple. Really, really colourful!” Jasmine told us.
“The other elephants put spots on him. The storm comes and washed it” said Erin.
We have been practising for our Nativity every day and it has been great to hear all the children reciting their line so well (thank you for your help at home!). If you have not done so already, please remember to send in your child’s named black top and bottoms ready for the dress rehearsal on Wednesday.
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
We had 22 big boys and 1 very grown up schoolgirl from Chapple Room who ventured up to the Prep School to visit and use the big toilets, play in the Reception playground and meet the Reception teachers! We LOVED it! It was a really positive experience and we look forward to the coming weeks where we will get used to our future surroundings even more.

Our Monday Number Treasure Hunt was a real highlight! We very excitedly set off from the ELC and made our way up to Bunnings. Along the way we saw hundreds of numbers.
“I thought it was a little bit boring before we started but then it got really exciting!” Regan exclaimed.
“Saw number 2. It was fun. Saw number 21,” told Zac.
“It was exciting because we found a lot of numbers. We found the 1 a lot more than zero,” Katie perceptively explained.
“I liked it. I was hunting down the numbers,” Kalan said as he pretended to use a detective’s magnifying glass.
“It was good because daddy and Kalan found lots of numbers,” Connor was proud to say.
Back in class we counted up all the numbers and made a giant graph of how many of each number we saw! We saw the number 1, nineteen times! Thank you to Cheryl, Adam, Darryl and Marnie for accompanying us on this wonderful trip!
“It shows we found 5, 5 times. And 9, 9 times. That’s funny!” Olin shared.
Sebastian drew the fact, “We saw number 1, 19 times.”
“The 2nd winner was number 4,” piped in Max.
“And the 3rd was 0,” Tyler joined in on the conversation.
“I can see that 6 has the not maniest,” Philippe was quick to tell.
Kyle said, “Also 7, because 6 has got 1, 2, 3, 4. And 7 has got 1, 2, 3, 4.”

We’ve also found that we have 23 young authors in our class – it’s the Chapple students! We’ve been very busy illustrating our own books and telling our stories to the teachers while they write the words. Please come in and read our stories – they are quite special and it’s surprising at how original they are!

Edgerley

Edgerley students observe people in our community using numbers for purpose on our Number Hunt Excursion

Carols by the Tree

Dear Parents,
Our ELC students were lucky enough to watch the arrival of our Princes Christmas tree on the back of a truck on Monday. They watched with baited breath as the groundsmen used a forklift to raise the tree and add the shiny star.
We would like to invite you to join us for the annual Princes Christmas Tree lighting on the Main Oval this Friday the 19th. Come and join us for carols with the community. The evening will begin with a Nativity performance from the Junior Primary students at 6.00pm. We will take a brief pause for dinner and conversation and then music will began at 6.40 followed by the lighting of the tree at. Bring a rug, picnic basket, the whole family and a singing voice!
We look forward to seeing you there
ELC Staff

Holiday Plans

As holidays are fast approaching us, a mere three and a bit weeks away, we would ask all parents to please advise if your child will not be attending the ELC during the December and January holidays. This will help with both staffing and catering needs.
Thank you

Yalla Lebanese Festival

Dear friends,
You won’t need to travel far this summer to experience the exotic Middle East. On Sunday December 5th , Rundle Park will come alive with the sights, the smells and the sounds of the annual Yalla Lebanese Festival.
Yalla means “c’mon, let’s go!” in Arabic, but this December, Yalla will mean a day of eating, dancing and experiencing the famous Lebanese hospitality and lively culture.
Yalla will feature all-day entertainment including singers, drummers, DJs, belly dancers and traditional dancers. Yalla is an interactive cultural festival so there’ll be opportunities for patrons to learn from the professionals and participate in the singing, dancing and cooking!
Yalla is a free-entry family friendly event so there’ll be loads of entertainment and activities for the kids including camel rides, bouncy castle, Arabic arts & crafts and music lessons.
This year, Yalla is honoured to be supporting Novita Children’s Services, who provide services to children with brain injuries and serious physical disabilities.
Venue: Rundle Park, City (location of Fringe's "Garden of Unearthly Delights")
Date: Sunday 5 December
Time: 11am to 7pm
Web: www.yallafestival.com.au

Yalla! See you there!
Warm regards,
Nada Andary

The Song Inside All Of Us

Dear Parents,
Mrs Erna Berberyan, our music teacher, has asked children to bring to school and share a significant song from home that they may sing before they go to bed or at another time of the day. If you have a song that you like to often sing with your child please feel free to pass a copy of the words to your child's teacher for use in music classes. Alternatively you may e-mail them directly to me at mbishop@pac.edu.au
Thankyou
Mel Bishop on behalf of Mrs B

Princes Electronic news

Please find below the link to the Princes electronic newsletter

http://www.vision6.com.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=733353&u=28919

With compliments from the eNews team.

Staff on Leave

Dear Parents,
Please be aware that Mrs Jeanine Dry will be on leave next week (8th of November to the 12th on November). If you have any pressing concerns that can’t wait whilst she is away please feel free to leave a note with Mrs Porter and I will contact you after 3.00pm.
Mr Todd Kerber will also be on leave on Monday the 8th.
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop

In the Classrooms

Langley
The giant gum tree in the big yard is shedding its bark, much to the Langley children’s amazement! They keenly collected it off the ground and carefully placed it in the basket.
“It’s a big one!” commented Oliver L as he placed his bark in the basket.
“There’s bark!” cried Henry excitedly.
We decided to do some drawings on the bark with black marker. Here are some of our creative bark stories.
“Dinosaur, its dinosaur, look a frog, its eating dinosaur” said Dillon.
“A playground, there was a swippy swide (slippery slide)” Jack J told us.
Ryan’s story was about his Daddy, “dat my Daddy, he got long hair and he got no eyes!”
“It’s a picture of a caterpillar” said Tommi.
I wonder why the bark is falling off of the tree…stay tuned to find out what the children think.
Kind regards,Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
The Gingerbread man theme has continued in the Mead Room this week with more bakers baking in the kitchen, more role play and the production of a class book. We have finger puppets, hand puppets and a life size Gingerbread Man suit all being put to good use! We have also been learning a lot about books and the various parts of books. The children have learnt about authors and illustrators and have stepped into the shoes of these roles with much eagerness. Our investigation into books was further encouraged on Wednesday with a visit to our local Norwood Library for a story telling session.
Best wishes,
Emma, Emma and Susan

Cooper
As we continued to look at and wonder about the Eastern Rosellas that visit the ELC, we decided to create our own birds with clay and bright collage materials. Some of the children selected bright feathers, pop sticks and pipe cleaners from the Art Room and set them out at the clay table. The children looked at photos of the birds and thought about how they looked and how they could model them in three dimensions. We started by making body shapes with our hands. The children added pop sticks for legs and wings, tooth picks for beaks, buttons for eyes and picked up the birds and flew them around the table. Austin even rolled tiny worms in his hands and stuck them on his bird's beak. The children discussed how their birds should look as they worked...
"Making the eyes – that’s the eyes. Two wings. One [feather] on the back. All done!" said Rylan.
"Two wings. I’m making it like this. Look, I made a birdy… ta-da! Ooh, eyes. Here’s his little eyes. He needs a beak" thought Ajeet.

"I’m doing he’s beak first, I’m doing his face. Look how I can do faces. And his little toes now. I’m gonna chop this off ‘cause it’s too long. This is the boat, the bird sits on the boat. One has one leg, the other has one leg, a pirate cut it off. Up here is the flag and up here is the bird’s wings. This is going to be a magpie" Lucy told us.
The birds were beautiful, bright and feathery and you can see them displayed in our room.
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
What an enormous week we’ve had in Chapple! On Wednesday we joined with Edgerley Room to host the prep School Assembly in the brand new ANZAC Hall. We were wonderful and the big boys were very impressed with our story telling abilities! We shared with them the story of Goldilocks through puppets, singing, acting and telling. Lloyd even spoke in French, because you can tell stories in other languages too!
Jude Searles came to share a story about the farm with us on Friday. She was wonderful with loads of props to help us remember the story – she even had eggs from her farm! Thanks Jude! We had a wonderful time visiting the Norwood Library too – there were thousands of books there!
On Thursday afternoon we went on a number hunt around PAC, in search of… numbers! We found so many along the way and we talked about why they were there and how they help us to understand important things.
“They look kind of like letters, but they’re actually numbers,” Sebastian told us.
Olin explained to us about the numbers in the Drop Off area, “…to say how long you can park there when you’re dropping off your child.”
Meanwhile, harry was fascinated with the number plates on the cars and explained, “You’re not allowed to have the same numbers cause they’re special numbers.”
Lloyd said, “That measure how many gases in here. There is a 1 and a 0, 6, 3, 5, 8,” as he look at the big machine to measure gas.
Kind regards,
Kate and Eleanor

Edgerley
Wow! What a full week we had this week! We absolutely loved our trip to the Norwood Library where we found lots of different books from the ones we see at our Princes library. We talked about all the people who might borrow from the Library; someone suggested that even a policeman could borrow a book if he wanted to. You may like to follow up this trip with a visit to your local Library this weekend.
We also presented an assembly about the different types of storytelling with the Chapple children. We performed in front of all the students from Reception to Year Six! Everybody clapped when we were finished, we must have done a good job!
We continued to author our own books this week and particularly enjoyed creating roads in the building corner; they looked a little bit like 2D maps! I wonder where our roads will take us?
Kind regards
Mel and Rosalie

Child and Youth Health Services

Dear Chapple parents,
Cathie and Cheryl, our local CAFS nurses, will be visiting the ELC on the 24th and 25th of November to perform health screenings. If you would like to take advantage of this please visit Mrs Porter and choose a convenient time for you from the schedule. You will be required to bring your child’s blue book to the visit and complete the form that has been placed in your child’s pigeon hole. If you have recently visited your CAFS nurse or have an upcoming appointment you do not need to also schedule one at Kindergarten, these are being offered purely for your convenience.
Kind regards
Mel and Kate

NATIVITY REMINDERS

Costumes
In your child's pigeon hole you will now find a red slip outlining your child's role and their costume requirements. Please bring in these labelled items to your child's teacher as soon as possible. Where we have asked for shorts, leggings, tracksuit bottoms, trousers will also be fine.
If possible it would be great if you could send you child to school in sandals on the day of the Nativity and dress rehearsal.
Parking
Additional parking will be available on the back oval from 10.30am. Please ensure you are seated in Anzac Hall by 11am. We anticipate the performance will go for approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
Signing In
Please note that on the day of the Nativity, regardless of whether your child attends on a Thursday, they will need to be signed in and out. This means that when you drop your child at the ELC at 10am, you will need to sign them in, even if the box is shaded. This is very important as it is a licensing requirement that all children in our care are signed in. Sign in sheets will then be available at the end of the performance for you to be able to sign children out again.

Thankyou
Jessica Catt and Ali Blake

Christmas Dates for Your Diary

Centre Christmas Celebration
Dear Parents,
We will hold a brief and informal Christmas celebration in our centre on Tuesday the 7th of December at 11.00am with a visit from Santa who will share gifts with the children from the staff. Due to the numbers of children we will not be hosting a full Christmas Party. Children who do not normally attend on a Tuesday are welcome to join us from 11.00 to 12.00 with a supervising adult.
Thankyou
Mel

Edgerley Christmas Picnic
Date: Sunday 21st November 2010
Time: 11:30am - 1:30pm
Where: Helicopter Park, Lefevre Tce North Adelaide
BYO: Plate to share, drinks, chairs, picnic rugs etc. There are BBQ facilities at the park. RSVP: 15/11/2010 Christmas
Gift: Please bring a book (~$10) for each child attending the picnic (i.e. Edgerley child + any siblings), wrapped up and with your child's name on it. Leave the gift(s) in the box provided in the Edgerley Room by Thursday 18/11/2010. We will place all the books in a "santa sack" and at the picnic santa's helpers will give the gifts out.
Hope to see you there.
Kind regards,
Adriana, Belinda and Amalia.

Santa’s Little Helpers

Dear Parents,
We are looking for some helpers who would be able to assist us on Wednesday the 10th or Thursday the 11th of November to help us in a mini working-bee in the Art Room. We have three projects that we would like help with, folding paper tabards for the Nativity, wrapping Christmas presents and covering hard cover books(no prior experience necessary!)Any time in the morning would be great (we will supply the Tea and Coffee!!)
Please let me know if you would be able to be involved in our mini working-bee.
Thanks
Mel

Terracotta Pots

Dear Families,
The Langley children are keenly interested in planting and growing at the moment and have started to create a potted garden in the Langley yard. If you have any spare terracotta pots that you are no longer using or garden cuttings that we can plant, the Langley children would love to give them a new home in our garden. Please forward any donations to Julie Porter so that she can pass them on to us.
Thanks
Jess Catt

Library Excursion

We had a lovely time visiting the Norwood Library on Wednesday and very much enjoyed having it all to ourselves, as it was open just for us! It was also great to have some of our Langley friends and Miss Jess come along on this excursion. Thank you to all our parent helpers and those families who made gold coin donations. Debi the librarian tells us she will purchase some children's books for the library with this money.
Ali Blake

Thankyou

Well, we finally made it! We managed to pack all our shoeboxes of love and send them off to the Samaritans’ Purse, ready to be sent overseas. Thankyou to all the families who participated in this project, allowing their children to perform a very special kind of community service right before the season of giving starts.
I would also like to publicly publish a massive thanks to Mrs Susan Lock (Teacher in the Mead Room) for her tenacity, patience, unfailing positivity, organisation and, above all else, her time for keeping this project moving in the right direction. Susan only works three days a week but in the past few weeks you may have mistakenly thought she was now full time, she spent so much of her personal time organising shoeboxes (including long days on the weekend!)
I watched as Susan assisted children to pack their boxes, letting them take their time to make their choices, never rushing them or choosing for them. I can guarantee that every child who packed a box with Susan gave the box a big hug and kiss and an extra bit of love before it was placed on the pile. Dedicated to the children owning the process to the end, yesterday she enlisted the assistance of the Chapple and Edgerley children to pack the boxes into the car ready to go, sent with love and hope.
If you feel inspired by Susan’s efforts please visit a giving tree this Christmas and give your child the time to choose a gift for another child less fortunate than them in Australia, there are plenty of them out there. What your child receives in empowerment and hope will far outweigh the value of the $20 gift.
Thankyou Mrs Lock for making sure we know how important it is to care.

In the Classrooms

Langley
We have had an opportunity to have a closer look at some of our feathered friends this week courtesy of The Nature Education Centre. The children have been fascinated with the features of the parrots; the claws and the beaks and the texture of the feathers. We have recorded the children’s thoughts and used paints to represent our discoveries.
“There’s his claws. He’s a sharp birdie. A birdie, it colour, the colour on it” Ryan observed.
“It feels like soft. He’s got big teeth. Does he want to talk? All the feet not working, they’re not working. Those ones are kind feathers” said Alec.
“It’s got claws and eyes and a beak. He’s tired. Its soft feathers, blue, blue and dreen (green)” Ruby told us.
“The bird not moving because they don’t have any batteries” Tommi suggested!
We look forward to further observing our live feathered friends around the center!
Kind regards,Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
"I'm writing a letter to my Uncle Bob the Builder" Ollie said as he busily wrote at our writing table.
"I'm making my very own book", Henry told us.
Many letters, books and other literary forms have been written this week as the Mead children have really explored and practised their letter formation, and used their imagination in many different ways. The children are also loving signing in and out as they arrive and depart the room, in the 'Sign in book'.
"If I draw some lines I can write really neatly now," Charlie H proudly exclaimed!
"I can't forget to sign in every day, otherwise you wont know I am here!" Ryan reminded us.
Emma, Susan and Emma

Cooper
In Cooper we have been reading the story Witch Witch Please Come to My Party, a repetitive story with many fantasy characters. This started the children thinking about parties and invitations. Several children played at the writing table making invitations (in their three year old writing)...
"It’s for a picnic" explained Erin, "at eight thirty."
"For my Mum and Dad. A show" said Daisy deciding it would be at six o'clock.
"Show, show" exclaimed Fergus.
"It’s an invitation... for Maya when it’s her birthday" said Jasmine. "How do you say 'Love from Jasmine'?" she asked as she wrote.
The children drew pictures and decorated their invitations and stuck photos of themselves on. They folded the invitations and put them in envelopes and remembered to write the name of the guest on the front. We have displayed our writing work in the room - the children have proudly been showing their friends and have inspired even more invitation making!
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
This week in the Chapple Room we have been talking about what it means to be a good friend. A good friend is someone who lets you join in, is kind and thinks about you, isn’t bossy and when you decide on things together. We’ve also had a wonderful sharing our favourite storybooks with each other during Show and Tell time. One of the most surprising finds was that some books don’t have illustrations, but you can make your own pictures in your head while you read them! Chapple children have been learning to write numbers and also to recognise numbers in our environment and understand why they are there. This week we all thought about the numbers on our mail boxes and drew pictures and wrote the numbers.

Edgerley
This week in Edgerley we have been very thoughtful authors, writing story’s for books that are sad, happy and non-fiction. Here are some of our titles.

Sad
“Grandma and Grandpa Died” by Aadi
“Little Black Riding Hood Gets the Fox” by Lachlan F

Happy
“The DJ” by Jamison
“Little Thomas and Other Stories” by Lachlan Th
“My Daddy and My Family” by Nickolas
“The Night Garden Tom and Jerry” by Francesco
"Thomas the Tank Engine and the Eastern Rosella” by Aadi

Non-Fiction
“Dougal” by Eddie
“Tris and Brian’s Wedding” by Jamison

We also finally created our own real wedding cake with five layers. It was super yummy and just the thing for our afternoon wedding.
Kind regards
Mel and Rosalie