Chapple

What a way to start the week with the Princesses Tea Party. I hope the Mothers (and Dad), who were lucky enough to come, enjoyed themselves. The children certainly did.

This is our last week with Miss Beagley. She has been a wonderful addition to the classroom in such a short time and we will miss her.

As we move into Term 2 we will look to add some more focus to Show and Tell. This week is the colour Yellow.

As an alternative, the children have also been looking at oral storytelling and they may wish to tell a story- particularly a story that has been told to them, not just a memory of something they have done or seen. Grandparents are great for this!

We have been investigating tails and what they are used for. We even made our own to see if they help us balance.

The wild weather also gave us opportunity to look at the power of water and learn a new word Erosion!

Tate told us a wonderful story to go with a picture he had drawn. It was told with such rich detail and fitted in beautifully with our work into oral storytelling. Later in conversation with Tate’s father, we discovered it was the story of Tate’s Grandpa’s life as part of the Stolen Generation.

Chapple Room

Mead

Our in depth investigation into the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly has come to a natural conclusion… we have observed our last chrysalis go from beautiful emerald green with golden dots to dark grey to transparent and then….. the butterfly emerged before our eyes!!

Yifan was reading our information book and was comparing the picture in the book to our class chrysalis when all of a sudden the chrysalis split open and two crumpled wings emerged.

Yifan – it open!

We quickly organised ourselves into a circle to watch the rest of the process.

Mikayla – its wings are only little

Jonas – it’s a butterfly

Alex – butterfly fly away

Tom D – It got wings

We left it to dry its wings for the rest of the day and we were amazed to see them getting bigger and stronger.  The butterfly showed us it was ready to fly when it started to open and close its wings.

Patrick – its practicing flying

Flynn – its got long legs too

We took our beautiful butterfly outside, flapping our own ‘wings’ to encourage the butterfly to take off!

We said a fond farewell and set her free. We knew it was a ‘her’ because our information book said that the female butterfly has thick black veins on their wings!

And then the cycle begins again.

We were thrilled to have so many Mums at the Princesses Tea Party on Monday – we hope you had a relaxing day on Mother’s Day and an equally tranquil morning at the Princesses Tea Party sharing cakes, creating tiaras and having a blissful time having your nails painted!

  

Have a great weekend!

Melissa, Elodie and Rosalie

Just a thought....

Chinese Lessons

Dear parents,

“Ni Men Hao” (Hello!)

In Chinese classes this term, we have done various activities about Chinese New Year celebrations and learnt a few Chinese songs and some Chinese characters.

At the beginning of this term, we explored several interesting activities on the theme of Chinese New Year. We learned the story of Monster ‘Nian’ and why Chinese people believe that Red is their lucky colour. Children showed great interest in learning Chinese cultures and some of them linked what they had explored in classes with their daily life. They shared their personal experiences in Chinatown or in China with their classmates and teachers. 

We also decorated our classrooms’ windows with our own paper-cuts. I was really impressed by our children’s imagination and creativity. Most children made more than one paper-cut and they used their knowledge of shapes and colours to create various patterns. We learnt how to say ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ by singing Chinese songs. Some children danced with the Chinese New Year music as well.

We also learnt ‘Where are my friends’ song and played the magic apple game. By doing these activities we learnt how to ask people’s name and express our preferences in Chinese.

Another focus of this term was learning ‘my body’, which we have learnt through songs, games and dances. Children enjoyed dance with the song ‘Shen Ti Ge’ (Qiaohu Body song).

Best wishes, from Wenting

Wo De Peng You Zai Na Li? (Where are my friends?)

Yi, Er, San, Si, Wu, Liu, Qi, (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Wo De Peng You Zai Na Li, (where are my friends?)

Zai Na li? Zai Na li? (Where? Where?)

Wo De Peng You Zai zhe Li. (My friend is here.)

Ni Jiao Shen me? (What’s your name?)

Chapple

Welcome back to Term 2. It was great to hear about all the children’s adventures in the last few weeks. Miss Kerry and Miss Faye have really looked after them.

We have some new faces to say hello to. Hugo is new to our class and has fitted in wonderfully.  Miss Perkins is our new Chapple Co-educator and Miss Beagley is our student teacher for the next few weeks. She taught us a great new memory game called 'Bug under the Rug.'

Mrs Shakespear came in with her tiny baby daughter Edie, which Kian summed up with the words “Ah! Isn’t she cute!” She certainly is.

The week has flown by with preparation for the Princesses Tea Party on Monday.

Looking forward to seeing many of you on Monday.

Chapple Room

Edgerley

Welcome to Term 2! This week we have been busy creating beautiful gifts for Mother’s Day and preparing for the Princesses’ Tea Party (Monday, 9th May, 9-10am).

The children have thoroughly enjoyed outdoor play this week. They have been using an obstacle course created by Mr Ty, riding the bikes, playing football and discovering how their bodies can control the tyre swing.

During inside play we have seen amazing creations built using both the Lego and Mobilo, many of which have been made by small groups, requiring them to use and extend their communication skills.

We look forward to another fulfilled week next week.

Kind Regards,
Emma, Amelia and Ty 

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

What a busy time we have had during our first week of  term. The weather was very wet for the first few days, which made many magnificent puddles to explore. Children seem to be drawn to puddles like magnets, therefore would loved to encourage the children to bring in their gum boots and wet weather clothing so they can get a little closer to the puddles. Later in the week the sun was shining, so we spent some time up in the Prep School playing on the playground and running races on the immaculate oval.

Wednesday morning we made our way up the Prep school path for our PE lesson. For some of our friends this was their very first time. They especially loved the challenging obstacle course, practicing their balancing, weaving, jumping and crawling moves. There was lots of persistence and many proud smiles when they had success on the different parts of the obstacle course.

Wow! exclaimed Walter as we entered the gym.

So much fun-  Ashton

It a bit tricky, but I tired- Audrey

Also this week, over on our making table there have been some wonderful creations taking shape. The children have been practicing their problem solving skills as they try to maneuver the different pieces and make them stick together. They have also had to use their negotiating skills as they share out the different bit and pieces to make their creations. There has been some beautiful moments of team work as small groups of children work together to source all the different parts a project might need to come together. We look forward to seeing what other marvelous creations  take shape next week. If you have any recyclable boxes or bits and pieces at home we would love to add them to our collection.

We have also been very busy this week preparing for our Princesses Tea Party . We have been adding some last minute touches to the Mothers' Day gifts and are all very excited to share them with our Mummies on the big day. We are looking forward to seeing all of our Mattingley Mummies being pampered and celebrated Monday morning.

Wishing you all a happy weekend,

Mrs Mason

Angwin

Dear Angwin families,

This week we welcomed two parents in to our class to share their knowledge and extend on the children's interests. Teddy's Daddy came to school at the beginning of the week with some eagle wings! The children took it in turns to use pens and pencils to colour in two wings and a tail before attaching  them with elastic to their bodies. Some children even had jet packs on their backs to make their eagle fly faster! 

At the end of the week we welcomed Andreas Mummy, who talked to the children about Greek Easter and together as a team we had some fun with eggs, they weren't chocolate ones though... be sure to ask your child what we did.

To finish the week we released our final two butterflies! It was a touching moment and we have enjoyed watching them change from small caterpillars into big and beautiful Monarch butterflies. We will continue to care for Billy in our class and if you would like to take him home for a few nights be sure to ask Miss Bowden.

Kind regards

Mrs Cooper, Miss Bowden and Wenting

Langley

And so Term 2 begins! A very warm welcome to Abigail, Ruby, Nathan, Lola and Sebastian. B who have joined the Langley Room. It has been a delight to see you all settling in to your new school environment, exploring our play spaces and adjusting to the rooms routines.

This week we have focused on changing weather and investigated the season of Autumn. We had a discussion about what the weather looks and feels like in Autumn and what happens to the leaves on the trees. We visited the tree outside the ELC and saw some leaves on the tree but also some which had fallen on the ground.

Isaac - "How are we going to get them down"

Riani - "They all fall down"

James - "Its red and brown"

Our outdoor yard has a little bit of an update so on Thursday we took the opportunity to spend some time in this space as a class. We had morning and afternoon tea picnics there and spoke about respecting the area - not pulling on the plants and allowing them to grow and not throwing the bark.   

We hope all our Langley Mum's have a very special day on Sunday and look forward to celebrating with you on Monday morning at our Princess' Tea Party.

Sarah, Emily, Brooke and Renee

Cooper

Hi Cooper families,

We have had a wonderful start to our final term together. I definitely think the children have all grown over the holiday period!

Monday was a very exciting day in the Cooper room as Zara B brought in a stick insect for our classroom. The children were fascinated by our new class pet and have been observing its movements all week. We found a glass atrium that was suitable for the stick insect to live and the children filled up its new home with gum leaves and sticks that we found in the outside area. Zara had originally come up with 5 names for the stick insect, which we narrowed down to two favourites, Sunshine and Cupcake. We each voted for the name that we liked the best and Cupcake was the clear winner.

We have been very busy this week making our special Mother’s Day presents in preparation for the Princesses Tea Party. They are coming along amazingly and smell lovely. We have had a lot of fun making them as a class and seeing what happens when we put them in water. I won’t give you any more clues, as we want them to be a lovely surprise when we give them to you on Monday. 

Welcome to William P, who has joined our Cooper class this term. It has been lovely to see the children being so welcoming to our new friend.

Happy Birthday to Sebastien Ha., Byron and Zali, who all turned 4 this week!

Happy Mother’s day to all of the Mothers for Sunday, we hope that you all have a wonderful and special day.

Love, Miss Gilbert and Miss C

Wilkins

Dear Wilkins families

Welcome to Term 2! 

To further extend our knowledge and understanding of our bodies, we have set up a Wilkins hospital complete with a hospital bed, dress ups, x-rays, medical tools and even a skeleton! The children have been working in small groups, role playing being doctors, nurses and patients. It has been a hive of activity as the children identify different body parts, talk about how they are feeling unwell and then work together to make the sick patients better again.

This week we have also been developing our fine motor skills using scissors and jumping frogs, continued to care for our rapidly growing frogs and geckos, observed different weather patterns and examined the living environment of ocean creatures.

Don’t forget our Princesses Tea Party on Monday from 9am to 10am! We have been busy preparing for this special morning celebrating our Mums!

Best wishes,

Nicole, Ellen and Georgia, Kim and Jess