Langley

 

Dear Langley families and friends,

 

This week has been all about camping! Some very eager Langley friends helped set up our indoor camp site. They brought in a tent, a lush lawn area and even made a camp fire with rocks, pieces of bark and cellophane. We added a billy can, pots, cups and saucers to complete this outdoor experience. The children have loved this area and it has facilitated some fantastic dramatic play, wonderful sharing and great conversations!      

 

We've been very caring this week in the home corner; looking after our babies, changing their nappies, feeding them and putting them to sleep in their cots. Children have also been busy constructing complex structures at the light table with coloured Perspex blocks. Over the last few weeks children have been fascinated by insects, so next week we will be welcoming live stick insects from the Nature Education Centre.

 

Finally, just a reminder to please send in a photo of your house for children to share and discuss. Thank you.

 

Have a lovely weekend

 

Sarah, Kerry, Emily and Renee

Wilkins

Dear families,

We have had another busy week, exploring bugs and insects. We spent time creating glittery spider webs, which have been a highlight. We have also been discussing where we can find these types of bugs and insects and drawing these on the chalk board easels.

The children have continued to show interest in their music experiences with the instruments and dressing up in a variety of costumes from the dress up box. We have had many tea parties and picnics with the dolls in the home corner.

It has been our last week with Miss Nicole in the Wilkins room, we wish her all the best and look forward to meeting her baby.

Have a great weekend, see you all next week.

From the Wilkins team.

Mattingley

 

Dear Mattingley Families and Friends,

Over the last few weeks the children in the Mattingley classroom have been interested in castles. On Tuesday afternoon the children and the teachers worked together to construct a castle using recycled materials boxes that Miss Bowden and Augustin had found in the Angwin room. Once the castle was complete the children started to think about what else they needed to do to finish the castle off. There were many meaningful conversations about who might call a castle home, what they would need in their home to live comfortably, as well as how we were going to look after our castle. 

You need to go under it or it might fall down and we want to keep it in our class- Isabella
I could live in a castle- Sam
We can make lunch in the castle or sleep with pretend soup- Patrick
But only go to the bed if your sleep- Katia

Over the week they have made two beautiful horses for knights to ride as well as painting the outside of their castle. We will continue to add to our castle over the next few weeks. Please feel free to come in and have a look. 

We hope that you have a lovely weekend, 

Kimberley, Coral and Tiarna

Mead

 

Dear Families,

 

This term we have been exploring musical instruments as a means of expressing ourselves and sharing stories.  We have predominantly utilised percussion instruments such as cymbals, maracas, drums, cowbell, triangles, rhythm sticks and sleigh bells.  The children have investigated rhythm, pitch and timbre aswell as turn-taking and creating our own musical compositions.

 

We have explored sounds of the environment, creating sound scapes of a rain storm including thunder, lightning, rain and assigning sounds to the sun appearing and umbrellas popping up.

Harrison T – I like the lightning (cymbals)

 

We have shared familiar and well-loved stories such as  The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Bears too!  We made sure we chose instruments in keeping with the characters and actions.

Sage – they really do sound like footsteps (clapping sticks)
Lily – the baby bear sound is so little (sleigh bells)
 

Have a great weekend,

from the Mead team. 

Cooper

 

Dear Parents  and Friends of the Cooper Room,

 

This week the children have really enjoyed observing Blue Bell and Sunshine the two budgies who came to visit this week. The children have delighted in watching them move about in their small home and watching the way they eat, drink, move and interact with each other. Pets are a delight for all ages and it has been interesting to see how excited some children have become at the thought of looking after the birds for the week.

They don’t have hands!   Harry B

Oh they are fighting!  Jack Mc

No, they are chatting!   Louis

They’re called birdies. They have food and water to drink. They have pointy tails, black eyes and beaks.   Knox

He’s getting all the dirt of him. They always do that!  Knox

They have mouths. Them have feathers.  Max

Yeah feathers to fly. Knox

He’s having a play. (bird on the swing)   Jack Mc

They’re nibbling themselves to get the salt out if the water. They go in the water – water has salt in it, birds don’t like salt so they nibble it out. Jack A

B for bird. That’s how you spell bird.  Jack Mc

Hello darling friends, are you hungry? They are my friends.  Archie

They eat bird seed so they can fly.  Nathan

They are soft and sweet.    Sze-Yong

They are SO cute!   Zander

They all have colour feathers – yellow, blue and green.  Knox

 

Though our observations and conversations the children have been some interesting discoveries about birds. Next week we will use these ideas to create a new home for the birds, maybe even a playground!  I wonder what other interesting creatures may visit us with their homes next week!

Enjoy your weekend

Susan, Jain and Rosalie

Chapple

 

We have continued our Homes theme this week and moved under the sea. We have looked at the “Rainbow Fish” and looked at how he became caring. We made our own Rainbow Fish to fill our empty sea. We also had great fun with our buddies using the Prep School green screen as we became actors for the morning. Hopefully in the next few weeks you will have chance to view our under the sea adventure movie.

 

In Chinese we have looked at insects and beginning to learn the Chinese words for them. We have also a visit from a fire engine to look forward to on Monday.

 

The Chapple Room

Edgerley

 

Dear Edgerley families and friends,

 

It has been yet another busy and fun packed week for our Edgerley  children. As we gear up towards the end of Term and our much awaited graduation, the children have all been very keen on sharing their thoughts and ideas about all "big boys/girls' stuff". We know that big boys and girls are allowed to do lots more things, but only when teachers think they are ready and can be trusted. we have been practicing a lot! Our daily conversations have been around how we get ready for school such as uniform fittings, which brain food to pack and bring to school and how we should behave. (We hope the mummies and daddies are also gearing up for this too). Our inquiry on animals and their homes have led us to more research about how animals hide from predators and how clever some animals are at buiding their habitats. This has been very helpful as we work on our art project with Mrs. McCauley. We now know that otters and beavers are very hardworking and you have to be careful when wandering through the jungle as some animals are great at camouflaging. Through the children's Show and Tell, we touched on why some animals are now endangered and others are already extinct. The children have expressed that it is very important for people to look after our animals.

"I dont like it when some bad people catch and kill animals" Harrison said.

"There used to be more tigers in the world", Jarrah informed.

" Even pandas! There's only a few left in China." Spencer added.

"Lucky monkeys can swing from tree to tree. It's hard to catch them" Sabian exclaimed.

"That's why my grasshopper is out in the garden and not in my room. So it can live long!" Zac shared.

What a great reflection it is from our little thinkers. We are very sure such care and thoughtfulness for our special creatures will make a world of difference in the future.

 

Important Dates and Activities:

 

17 June Tuesday  ( 9- 10:30) is Move Up Day. Please pack some water and  brain food for snacks in a lunch bag (NO nuts please). If your child does not attend on this day, please drop them off to their Reception class for the hour and a half session. Please stay on the premises if you can. Coffee and snacks available for purchase at the Piper Pavillion.

 

Show and Tell: What do you want to be when you grow up? We can't wait to hear all about what your child will share with us.

 

25th June Wednesday 2-3 pm Shared Class Afternoon Tea. Please bring along a plate of food to share. (A-M Surnames (savoury) N-Z Surnames (sweet).

 

26th June Thursday ( 11 am) Graduation. Lunch at Marryatville at 12 noon. Please RSVP to Mrs. Rocca or write on class list placed on top of the lockers.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Emma, Pip and Coney

Mead

 

Dear Parents and Friends,

 

A week of bugs and beetles!  This week we have turned our attention to creating and investigating homes for bugs.  We discovered that bugs are also called minibeasts!  They are small animals that do not have a skeleton on the inside – you can also call them …… invertebrates.

They live all around us in a multitude of habitats, in our gardens and in our homes. During our Morning Meetings the children have shared the information they already knew about minibeasts.

 

Scarlett – Bugs like to live under things
Lily – They live in flowers
Loukas – Do you know where grasshoppers live? In the grass!!
Lachlan – Do you know that ladybugs can fly and they live in trees.
Lachlan – You have to be careful where you walk, you could scrunch up their home.
Harrison R – We could make them some homes.
Christian – I make a house for the lady bugs and the bees today.
Stephen – I see bee house
Ned – Bees can bite you
Angus – I heard crickets outside, that's where they live.
Olive – I always hear crickets cricking.

 

Enjoy your long weekend!
Take care.
Melissa and Renee

Langley

 

Dear families and friends of Langley,

A few weeks ago the Wednesday Langley friends went on a nature walk and collected lots of beautiful natural materials, like leaves, feather and twigs. This week children have turned these materials into textured collages, adding sand and dirt. They loved getting their hands dirty and exploring the different textures, especially if their hands were sticky with glue as well!

We've also been busy investigating sea creatures this week. Children already know lots of animals who live under the sea - our list includes fish, whale, shark, octopus, crab and turtle just to name a few. Miss Kerry thought it would be a great idea for us to make a giant Japanese Koi fish, so that's exactly what we did! We printed finger painting onto paper, cut it into shape and stuffed it with newspaper. Keep an eye on our Koi fish because there are more to come next week.

Have a wonderful long weekend,

Emily, Kerry, Renee and Sarah

 

Mattingley

Dear families and friends,

 

We have been very busy talking about animals and the homes that they live in. The children have been engaging in some deep thinking about where animals live, with many thinking at first that all animals live in a Zoo. We have been challenging their thinking on this, and they have now discovered that while there are some animals that do live in Zoos for us to visit and learn from, animals actually do have homes out in the wild. 

 To support the children to further develop their understanding of animal homes we have brought in some tadpoles for them to observe and to look after. The children have had many rich discussions about where tadpoles live and what they need to survive. 

 

He lives in stinky water- Angelina

 

H lives in dirty, smelly water- Patrick

 

They live in rivers- Eva

 And ponds- Bella

 

They eat dragonflies- Harrison

 The children have been fascinated by the tadpoles and have been loving watching them in their tank. Please come in and have a look at our special friends, and ask your child how they are changing. 

 

Kind regards,

Kimberley, Coral and Tiarna

 

 

Cooper

Dear Parents and Friends of the Cooper Room,

This week we have continued our exploration of animals and their homes. We have gathered some snails this week and the children have loved observing them and touching their shells. They are quite fascinating creatures and although we don’t love them in our gardens they very much loved in the Cooper Room.

Facts we have discovered about snails:

               Snails leave behind a slimey trail.

               They like to crawl onto the tips of pencils!

               They can grow a shell if they break it or crack it!

               They can stretch right out of their shell but still not loose it!

               Snails can move quick.

               They like to climb all over each other, we think to keep warm!

It has been a wonderful to see these small creatures and talk about they why they keep safe in their shell.  Harry also shared his turtles and they have a different type of shell to protect themselves.

A fun week learning all about nature – don’t worry we always made sure we thoroughly cleaned our hands after!

Enjoy a wonderful long weekend.

Susan, Jain and Rosalie

Wilkins

Dear Wilkins families,

We have continued to enjoy creating music using different instruments this week, creating different bands and taking turns being the lead singer on the big stage. Mrs McCauley visited us on Thursday to make some red breasted robins to go in our nests. We were excited to share with her all that we knew about what types of animals live in nests. Keep an eye out for our upcoming display of our birds in their nests. We have explored a different type of painting this week, using small plastic cars to make patterns on paper and mix different colours. We have investigated different animal environments further this week, exploring and discussing the types of animals that live in the jungle and in the snow. Enjoy your long weekend and we will see you all next week.

Best wishes,
Nicole, Karla and Jess

Next week will be Miss Nicole’s last week in the Wilkins room before she goes on her maternity leave. Please make sure you remember to say goodbye to her! We are very excited to be welcoming Miss Amy to the Wilkins team to replace Miss Nicole. Miss Amy has been doing some relief days in the Wilkins room getting to know the children and our routines and is looking forward to joining the team on a regular basis – please say hi and introduce yourself when you see her.

Edgerley

Dear Parents and Friends,

We have been furthering our investigations this week into the homes where animals live. We now have a spider web instead of a mat space!!  Zac brought in an interesting nest which we have been trying to recreate with clay.  We have welcomed some hopping mice into the Edgerley Room this week. The children were fascinated to find out more about them and how we need to look after them. We discovered that they are native animals to central and southern Australia and they like to live in burrows, hollow logs and can even make nests out of straw or grass.

Here are some of the children’s comments:

Jarrah: They are right here!!

Ammar: They are humongous!

Jensen: One’s having a drink form the bottle.. There’s three mice (excitedly shouting to everyone else in the class

Jarrah: One’s in the log

Jensen: That one’s very thirsty…

Jack: He’s taking all the water

Jensen: Shhhhh! Don’t talk!

Jarrah: They’re very hungry.

Oscar: Their tails are very long! Look… he’s licking!

Jensen: Shhhh! Don’t make any noise! They’re having a sleep in the hay.

Next week we are going to start creating some habitat boxes for our favourite animals. Thank you so much for all our families who are supporting our show and tell programme. It is a wonderful help for our animal investigations.

Kind Regards,

Emma, Pip and Coney

Chapple

 Dear Chapple Parents

Thank you sincerely for all the wonderful cupcakes that were sent in. We were taken back by your generosity. The children had a great time spruiking their cakes to the Senior Boys. Our aim was to raise $70 to buy a sleeping bag and swag for the Hutt St Centre. Amazingly we raised $143! This will enable us to buy two. Thanks you again.

 

Unfortunately due to the fact I am now required at a meeting in the Prep School. The Literacy Program meeting will now have to be moved. The new date is Wednesday 25^th June at 4pm. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We are also now collecting empty clean plastic milk cartons with the tops on and labels off, if possible, for our next exciting creative projects.

 

 

 

The Chapple Team

Festival Photos

Hi Parents,

The Festival photos that were taken at the Princesses Tea Party are now ready for you to view.

Please go onto:


http://www.festivalphoto.com.au/photos

Then click on Prince Alfred Collage.

The access code is: Princes2014



Thanks,

Pamela