Working Bee

Dear Parents,
We will be holding a short working bee in our art room on the 13th of April. We are looking for some parents who would be willing to help us cover some books and clean out a few old coffee jars. We will provide the tea and coffee (to drink, not to clean!!). Come along and meet a few other parents and help your children’s books find their ways onto our shelves.
Date: 13th April
Time 9.00am onwards (it shouldn’t take too long)
Morning tea provided
Thankyou
ELC Staff

April Holidays

We are now only a few weeks away from the end of term and school holidays are from April 18 to May 2nd (inclusive). Our teaching staff will be on holidays during this time and our wonderful assistants will be running the program. If your child is going to be absent for ANY days during this period please let Mrs Porter or myself know so that we can ensure we have sufficient staff for the number of children here,
thanks
Jeanine

Cooper Dates for your Diary

Sunday 10 April
Picnic in the Park - Helicopter Park, Lefevre Tce, North Adelaide
12-2pm - Please bring a plate of food to share and byo drinks

Friday 20 May
Coffee Morning - McDonalds Magill Road
9am (after school drop off)

Saturday 18 June
Lunch at Maryatville Hotel (in play area)
From 12.30pm - Please RSVP so we can book for numbers

Kind regards
Chloe Kempe

Langley Picnic

Thank you to all the families who attended the Langley Picnic last Sunday. It was a lovely morning and a great opportunity for both children and parents to play and chat!
Look out for Term 2 event!
Thanks
Danielle & Karen

Missing clothes

Please check your child's hat once again to see if they have the correct one. Hats must still be worn until 30th April so make sure your child brings theirs each day until then. We are also missing a white shoe that we have searched the whole centre for! It has the logo NB on the side, please check your child's bag in case it has ended up in that unlikely place.

New Staff

Ms Rachel Rymill has joined us this week and will be assisting in Chapple room on Mondays ,Wednesdays and Thursdays. Rachel is Early Childhood qualified and has previously worked at St Peters Child Care Centre. Please make her welcome at our centre!

Children's Safety

Please make sure that when you collect your children from the undercover area at night a staff member is aware that you are leaving . Please also make sure that no other children leave the area with you unless they are with their parents or a staff member.
Thankyou
ELC Staff

Out of the Classroom…at the Clipsal 500!!

We visited the Clipsal 500 track yesterday and had lots of fun. We listened to the race cars and watched them zoom past, we saw lots of different types of racing cars and bikes on the Defence Force Oval and even saw a car that had changed into a man!! We were interviewed by Channel Nine News (Aadi and Francesco starred in a sports segment on Thursday evening) and even met some grid girls. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou to all the parents who helped us on the day. We had fun seeing and being seen by our local Adelaide community.
“My favourite was the pretty girls” said Sam S from Chapple
"Mmmmm, racing cars, Winterbottom is my favourite. His number of his car is number seven and he goes in the green car" said Charlie H from Cooper
"There's so many colours racing cars and they are extra loud!" said Jack O'B from Mead
“I can do it, I can also be a racing car driver… in a blue car, because they go faster” said Aadi M from Edgerley whilst climbing into a golf buggy!

In The Classroom

We can hula! The Langley children have been keen hula hoopers this week. We have been excitedly showing all the other children the enormous range of tricks we can do. We can twirl and spin and twist and roll.
“Ina spinning” Izabella told the other children as she wiggled her hips to get her hoop to swing around her hips.
“Spin, spin, spin” said Sebastian R as he twisted the hula hoop to make it spin around.
“I can roll it” he added as he gave it an almighty shove and watched it roll away.
Sebastian V and William even made a train out of a hula hoop!
Thank you to the Maione’s who collected and donated a stack of tin cans and boxes. We are still on the hunt for any old cutlery, bottle tops and jar lids to create our own wind chimes!
Kind regards,
Jess, Kerry, Jennifer and Hayley

Be Honest With Kids About Disasters

Dear Princes ELC Families,
In the last few months our world has faced many events that have challenged our young children’s ideas about the world that they live in - floods, bushfires, unrest and, most recently, the earthquake in Japan and resulting tsunami. It can be difficult to answer children’s questions about these types of events. The best advice is to answer their questions simply and truthfully. Give them reassurance that you have considered what you might do in such an emergency and that you have a plan, that their safety is paramount in those plans.

Following is an excerpt from a newspaper article that quotes child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Joshua Sparrow:

‘One of the United States’ best known child and adolescent psychiatrists, Boston-based Dr Joshua Sparrow, said yesterday that parents should not try to conceal the truth from even the youngest children. “After the Manhattan terror attacks, very young children watched parents closely. Parents cannot hide what’s happening because the children can see it on their faces,” he said. “Kids aged between two and five first want to know if they’re going to be alright.” For children aged between six and eleven, Dr Sparrow said they were interested in how things worked – tsunamis, earthquakes – and how things went wrong, such as when a nuclear power plant explodes, or when a government shoots their own citizens.
Dr Sparrow said parents should point to something positive amid the chaos, talk in short concise paragraphs and watch kids reactions.’ – Paul Toohey, New York

On a more cheery note we have finally had news of the Tabuse family (ex Mead room 2010) who live north of Tokyo. Following is an excerpt from Akiko’s e-mail:

…We are still having little shake sometimes, also now biggest problem is the atomic pile! We cannot feel safe yet…Last Friday afternoon Ryuta was during Pre-school graduation ceremony and just about his turn, suddenly started to shaking ,the stage lights are moving and moving wider and people are started panic!! It was so so long! I felted like a sea sick! I did not know that am I shaking myself or still moving???I never had such a experience before!! (Ryuta’s) teacher told me… the stage light was falling off so he shouted "Get out of here!" they took kids to out of building from escape door! …Many people could not go home and stay at hall. Taka came back middle of the night because he walked back home about 2 hour! (Some people are more!) One of my friend worked to the house about 4 hour! … The north is still terrible and tsunami was so big!! (7meter) we did not believe it!
Take care and thank you again
Akiko, Taka and Ryuta

We wish Ryuta and his family all the best for the difficult times ahead. If like us, you are moved by the Tabuse’s plight please contact the Red Cross to make a donation to the Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal 2011 by phoning 1800 811 700. You can also donate over the counter at any Commonwealth or Westpac Bank.

ELC Staff
Princes Early Learning Centre

Plastic Folders in Children’s Lockers

If your child shares a locker with another child you will have noticed that there is a clear plastic folder with your child’s name on it in the pigeon hole space at the top of their locker. This is so newsletters and confidential mail are not mixed up and inadvertently taken to the wrong home. Please do not take the plastic folder home. Instead, remove the contents and leave the folder so that we may place other newsletters inside. If your child shares a locker and you have accidentally taken the plastic folder home please return it as soon as possible as these will no longer be replaced.
ThanksELC Staff

Our rubber softfall

If you are wearing narrow heeled shoes please do not walk on the rubber softfall area as these heels tend to sink and leave holes in the surface. It is very expensive to have repaired and you also run the risk of tripping as you catch your heel.

Thankyou

Instant Orchestra Excursion

Thankyou to all the parents who have offered to help with our next excursion. As we had to pre- purchase tickets for this one some time ago we only have enough for 3 parents per class. As we have had more than enough offers of help we have included the first 3 volunteers per class. We will let these parents know and keep others in mind for next time !
Many Thanks

Langley places for July

Dear Parents,
As the older children from Langley will move to Cooper room in 3rd term we will be offering places to new children to start at that time. If you wish to increase your child's days (either as they move up or in Langley ) could you please let me know as soon as possible so that I can allocate available spaces to other families

Thankyou
Jeanine

Child Health Checks

Tuesday, March 15th 2011
Child and Youth Health Services
Dear Edgerley parents,
Carol, our local CAFS nurse, will be visiting the ELC on the 29th March and 11th May 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 Rosalie