In the Classrooms

Langley
As well as examining what animals we might find on a farm, we have also been looking at what fruits, vegetables and other foods the children think might come from a farm. We have created our own fruit tree in our classroom farm with apples and oranges and there have been discussions about whether apples and oranges can grow on the same tree. Miss Kerry brought in some apples from her tree at home and we have been examining them and completing still life paintings at the easel. We are looking forward to seeing what they taste like next week and making some juice from oranges. The children have also been eagerly awaiting our sunflowers opening, some think they are going to be yellow and some think they are going to be orange. Have a look in our garden; it should be any day now!
Kind regards,
Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Kindergarten
Dear Parents,
This week Kindergarten students from Mead, Cooper, Chapple, Edgerley stepped out of the class room, past the farm gate and into the barn. The Wednesday children ventured on an excursion to the Animal Barn at the Onkaparinga Hills and had a wonderful time. They were delighted to be able to hold baby guinea pigs, rabbits, chicks and ducklings and gently pat them before setting off in to the hen house to feed a variety of farm birds. They created a wonderful meal for the large pigs, mixing grains, chaff and molasses for a tasty treat! The smiles on the children's faces as they were invited to jump up onto the saddle for a pony ride were priceless. They walked around and visited the larger farm animals including sheep, goats and llamas and rode on John Deere tractors, shifting hay. The bus trip back was a quiet one with many falling asleep on the way home.
The opportunity to hear, feel and smell farm life was one that the children engaged in enthusiastically.
“We couldn’t walk there, it was a long way away” said William from Edgerley Room
“I was having ‘yee-haa’ (a pony ride) !” said Lachlan Th from Cooper Room
“I liked the horsey ride” said Ethan E from Mead room
“It was raining when we left and I wanted to stay!” said Oliver from Edgerley Room
We would like to thank Christine, Karen, Belinda and Amanda for their help during this trip, we would not have been able to do it without them and a big thanks must go to Farmer Dale and Farmer Jane and their organised and enthusiastic team.
Next week classes are going to reflect on the children's experiences creating farm scenes and animals! Fun down on the farm!
Best wishes,
Kindergarten Room Staff

A Change of Dates

Dear Parents,
Due to unforseen circumstances we have had to change two of our diarised dates for this term. Please note that:

Class Photographs will now be on Thursday May 13th. The photographers will photograph each class group and each individual child. If your child does not attend on a Thursday you are welcome to bring them in (in uniform) for the photo and then take them home straight afterwards. You will need to stay with and supervise your child until the photographer is ready and then remain in the classroom (or possibly the art room) whilst the photo is taken to prevent the children from being distracted.Please make sure that your child is here at the correct time as we will need to keep moving in order to get through all the photos. The classes will be photographed at the following times :
Mead Room 9.00 am
Langley Room 9.30 am
Cooper Room 10.00 am
Chapple Room 10.30 am
Edgerley Room 11.00 am

Our Parent Wine and Cheese Curriculum Evening has had to be moved to Thursday the 20th of May. Invitations to this event will be going into children’s pigeon holes in the coming weeks. Please RSVP you intention to attend to Mrs Porter at jporter@pac.edu.au

Princesses Tea Party 2010

Dear Mums,
We are so looking forward to celebrating this special occasion with you and have been busy in our classrooms preparing some surprises. We just wanted to remind you that we are only able to accommodate 1 guest per child. Our event has been registered as a Biggest Morning Tea with the Australian Cancer Council. If you would like to make a donation on the day please place them in our special pink pigs.
Thank you,
The ELC staff

Down on the Farm

In response to the overwhelming interest in farms we are planning to create an outdoor play farm in our town square. We are hoping to borrow some items to support this. If you are able to lend or give us any of the following items we would be very appreciate

A saddle
New hay bales
Old straw or Akubra style hats
Elastic sided boots
Flannelette shirts

Thankyou
The Kindergarten Team

Mead Room Staffing

Dear Parents,

Miss Emma Gray will be joining us next Tuesday as the assistant in Mead Room. Emma comes to us after 7 years at Waite Campus Children's Centre. Please make her welcome. We would also like to thank Miss Ciara Guilfoyle who has helped us out for the last two weeks , the children and the staff have appreciated her support and warm friendly nature . I am sure we will see more off Ciara throughout the centre.

Jeanine

Spare clothes

If anyone has spare jocks , socks or long pants we would be grateful for any donations as our supply is very low. If your child has been sent home in spare clothing could you please wash it and return it to us as soon as possible. Meanwhile please make sure your child has a complete change of clothes in their bag just in case !


Thanks
ELC staff

Signing in and out

Dear Parents,

Could you please ensure that your child is signed in on arrival each day and out on departure. Our sign in sheets are a legal document and are used for 3 different purposes. Firstly they are a safety check of who is here in an emergency situation. If your child is not signed in and we check our children against the roll we may assume that they are not here that day but could actually be missing ! Secondly our Licensing Body (DEEWR) use them when they arrive (unannounced) to audit us and ensure that we are providing the correct ratio of staff to children. If our numbers of children in attendance does not match the number signed in we will be in breach of our license conditions. Thirdly they are used by the government in assessing children's attendance in order for you to receive your fee rebates. Signing out at night is also important so that we can check that all children have been collected and staff can leave the centre. If someone other than yourself is collecting your child please make sure they know to sign in or out !

Thanks for your help

ELC staff

Construction Extravaganza

Chapple and Edgerley are planning a construction event for Week 4, which will require lots of recyclables. If you have any extra bits and bobs at home, we’d love you to bring them into school as soon as you can.
Thanks,
Chapple and Edgerley Room Teams

In the Classrooms

Langley
We have begun our investigation into our new unit of inquiry ‘From Farm Gate to Kitchen Plate’ by engaging in a range of experiences. The children have been discussing what they already know about farms and which animals they might find on a farm. We have been using animals and a range of adjuncts at the light table and the felt boards to create our own farm scenes. Have a look at the Langley farm developing in the classroom, thankyou to Harry Macdonald’s family for bringing in lots of farm items for the children to investigate and look at. The children have also been busy preparing for our Mother’s Day Princesses Tea Party; please check your child’s pigeon hole for your invitation and RSVP to Julie Porter.
Kind regards,
Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
Dear Mead Parents and Children,
Welcome back and we hope you had a lovely Easter!
We have entered our new unit 'From Farm Gate to Kitchen Plate' with gusto. We have an excursion to the Animal Farm Barn next week and the children have been very enthusiastic gardeners planting some Sweet Peas in our ELC Garden patch.
'This is very interesting' Jenna said.
'I get water can. I water the plants. I going to get some more' Daniel told us.
'We put little plants in' Charlie told us.
'Then we put the water in' Jesse added.
'So it can grow' Charlie confirmed.
'Yes, it needs water to grow' Jesse agreed.
'They will grow bigger' Nicholas told everyone.
Regards
Emma and Susan

Cooper
We have had a busy first week back in Cooper Room this week and the children have been very enthusiastic about our new unit, From Farm Gate to Kitchen Plate. The children were surprised to discover a farm corner in our room and have been busy building farm machinery in there. They have modelled with green playdough to make paddocks for animals and also cut pictures from agricultural magazines at the collage table. On the block carpet a farm was built with a house, paddocks, pig sties and chook sheds and this idea was then extended to a "Vet hospital for farm animals and home animals". The boys were very good vets and carefully looked after the animals by wrapping them up in bandages. Julian even came up with the great idea for a "scanner x-ray" and the animals were checked for broken bones! We are very much looking forward to our trip to the Animal Farm next week so that we can find out even more about life on the farm.
Kind regards,
Ali, Susan and Sue

Chapple
Welcome to Term 2! We've had a great start to the term. The weather has been lovely and we were able to get into the garden to plant some vegies. Chapple Room planted some beetroot and we will later plant some rocket. This will add to our basil and rosemary and we will use these vegies in many cooking sessions throughout the term. We are already very excited about our unit, 'From Farm Gate To Kitchen Plate' and have had some great discussions about farms. If you have anything at home to contribute to this topic, please let me know. It would be great to see some 'farm' themed show and tell sessions also. We are looking forward to a wonderful term together.
Thanks,
Alexandra and Juliana

Edgerley
Dear Parents,
We have had a wonderful week back in the Kindergarten progam with lots of passionate discussing and investigating. We have begun to prepare for the Princesses Tea Party and planted broccoli in our garden. We also palnted some mystery seeds! We can’t wait to see what sprouts! Following on from our interest in rhymes last term we have enjoyed participating in the “Slug in a Jug” rhyming game, we are great at making our own rhymes. We will be going to the farm next week, you might like to identify foods in your meals that come from a farm over the dinner table this weekend.
Kind Regards
Mel and Rosalie

Princesses Tea Party 2010

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Terri Guillemets

Dear Mums,
To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we would like to invite you to the Princesses Tea Party!

When: Thursday the 6th May
Time:10:00am
Where: The Prince Phillip Theatre, Senior School

We would encourage you to wear something pink and a tiara friendly hairdo!! We will also be raising money for Breast Cancer Research and will be accepting donations for this. These can be placed in our beautiful pink papier mache pigs- which we will be making this term, as part of the sensory program we will be running in the art room.
Your child is looking forward to performing a special concert for you, before sharing some scones and a cup of tea!
There will be a photographer from Festival Photos who will be taking photos of you with your child.
Please return reply slip you have received in your child’s pigeon hole to Julie Porter no later than Monday, 3rd May.
We look forward to celebrating this special occasion with you!
Thank you,
The ELC staff

Specialist Music Lesson

Dear Parents,
We are pleased to inform you that music lessons will begin this term. We warmly welcome Ms Erna Berberyan to the ELC team as our new music teacher. Erna has been teaching at PAC for a number of years and runs a very successful strings program in the Preparatory School.
*Edgerley and Chapple students will enjoy music lessons every Monday
*Langley students will attend every Friday
*Cooper and Mead students will attend music on alternate Fridays.
We look forward to Mrs B’s program complimenting the singing and grooving we already enjoy in and out of our classrooms!
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop

Chinese in the Final Week of Term

Dear Parents,
we would like to inform you that there will be no Chinese lessons in week 10 of this term as Lao Shi will be on leave at this time.
Regards
Mel Bishop

Jumper Marked Commons

Dear Parents,
We have been unable to locate Kristian Commons’ jumper for quite a number of weeks and suspect that it may have inadvertently gone home with another child. Please help us by checking the names inside the PAC jumpers in your child’s closet.
Thankyou
ELC Staff

New Child Restraint Laws

Dear Parents,
On 14 November 2008 the State Government made an announcement confirming changes to the laws governing child restraints. It is anticipated that these laws, which were approved by the National Transport Council in 2008, will be adopted in South Australia sometime in 2010.The new rules will address the existing deficiencies in the current law and the RAA recommends that members ensure they are complying with the proposed new rules as set out below.
When introduced the new laws will require:
*Children to be appropriately restrained in a motor vehicle in a suitable approved child restraint from birth up to the age of 7.
*Children up to 4 years of age to be restrained in the rear of the vehicle (where the vehicle has two or more rows of seats).
*Children aged between 4 and 7 years will not be permitted to sit in the front seat unless all other seating positions are occupied by children under 7 years.
With nearly 60 child passengers aged 0-12 years killed or seriously injured in road crashes in South Australia each year, these new laws are being introduced to provide maximum protection for children travelling in vehicles.For more information go to: http://www.raa.com.au/page.aspx?TerID=918

Flu Shots Under Five

Dear Parents,
there has been much discussion about the current safety of flu shots for children under five this season. The most recent information suggests that this years flu shots are now unsuitable for children under five. If you were planning to take your child for a flu shot it is recommended that you first speak with your family doctor.