Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

We have had a very busy week in the Mattingley classroom exploring colours. We continued to experiment with colours by mixing different colours together to work out how to make the colour orange.

Blue and purple and yellow make grey. – Isaac

Red and yellow is orange.- Ashlynn

I’m mixing the colours in, yellow and red. Then it makes orange!- Harrison

Together we added an orange spot on our colourful canvas. In the art room the children found a fantastic selection of orange craft things, and combined with the beautiful things the children had brought in from home we collaged our orange spot. Our masterpiece is starting to take form and is looking great! You can find it above the lockers. We will be collecting yellow items for next week.

Also this week we have been exploring the job role of Police Officers, who are in fact Super Heroes in our eyes. The children have been having lots of fun dressing up as Police Officers in our classroom police station, leading to many discussions on what Police Officers do to help us in our community.

They help people. They tidy up.- Poppy

They put people in jail.- Toby

Police officers do things.- Dominic

They got hats.- Robert

Police officers have keys to open the hand cuffs coz if the people don’t listen to the Police Officer. – Isaac

We will continue these discussions next week, further exploring what Police Officers do as part of their jobs to help us.

We hope you all have a fantastic weekend,

Kimberley and Coral

Mead

Dear Mead Room families,

Our ‘Conversations in Colour’ project has begun in earnest.  The children are capturing images of colour in our environment using the digital camera, choosing their own subjects independently.  We have been finding a myriad of opportunities to document colour, discovering many different shades, in many different places!

Our flower experiment is coming to a close.  We discovered that blue, red and green dye were easily absorbed up the stem and into the petals, but purple and orange were a bit disappointing.  We may have to repeat the exercise with different flowers and record our findings…. perhaps  we will achieve a different outcome!

We utilised shaving cream to revel in sensory exploration, adding colour later on in the week to add another dimension.  And despite only having one hand in operation,  Louis was keen to investigate the squishy, squashy foam.

Louis – its like playdough

Seb – its soft

Max P – cold

Ned – mushy, mushy

Wilbur – its all squishy

Have a lovely weekend.

Melissa and Maddie

Cooper

Hello Cooper friends and families,

This week the Cooper children have been busy conducting experiments. Our first experiment involved dripping different coloured dyes mixed with water onto paper towel and observing the outcome. The class were quite fascinated by watching the dye expand when it hit the paper towel and how this resulted in the colours mixing together. 

When I drop it...it goes little, big, medium. Lucas

It's floating, the colours are floating. Jake

It's dropping in and mixing. The yellow is mixing with the green. Varish

Our second experiment was to observe what happened when we filled a shallow bowl with milk, added four drops of dye and then added dish drops. The class spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the dye would alter its shape and position when the dish drops were added. We soon discovered that the dish drops altered the surface tension of the milk and this meant that the dye was pushed to the side of the bowl.

They're moving around. Ella

The soap is moving them around. Oscar

It's mixing. It's making blue with purple. It's colourful. Andrei

We hope you all have a great weekend

Jain & Cris

Angwin

Dear Angwin Families

 

We have been busy bees in Angwin this week. Our big focus has been our trip to the Art Gallery of South Australia. On Thursday we walked into the city to view art works and talk about their colours. We looked at some sculptures made from grass and twine and talked about how the colours helped us work out what the sculptures were.

 

We also looked at Bush Plum by Angelina Ngal Pwerle. From far away it looked red but as we got closer we discovered that it was covered in tiny white spots. We had lots of fun zooming in and out from the painting.

 

We also discovered a mirrored installation that let us add our own colours to it. We held up our shoes, shirts and faces to add colours to the mirrored surfaces. Art Gallery volunteer Brian showed us two portraits painted by Nora Heysen. They were both of women but Brian encouraged us to think about how colour made us think the person was feeling. We decided that Ruth, who was dressed in black, looked strong and serious, while the woman in London looked sad and as though she were thinking, dressed in her blue greens and grey.

 

Next we looked at a bark painting attributed to Mawalan Marika that told the story of hunting for seagull eggs. Brian encouraged us to think how the materials for the painting had been made.

“These are Aboriginal” said Harvey

“It’s wood” explained Oscar

“How did they make the colours?” asked Brian

“From sugar?” supposed Scarlett

“From the ground” said Oscar

“Yes, they are the colours of things from the ground like mud and special stones, but how did the artist make it stick to the bark?” asked Brian

“With quick dry cement!” said Harvey

“I don’t think there was any quick dry cement in the olden days. Now they might use aquadhere but in the old days they used something sticky from the trees called sap” explained Brian

We enjoyed hearing the story about the seagull eggs and then we set off to find the man on the horse that Lucille’s Grandpa had told her about before the visit. Brain took us to see the Gallery’s most famous painting A break away by Tom Roberts. The children could see how the man on the horse was trying to shoo the sheep away from the dam.

We also enjoyed a visit from our buddies this week who helped us build a dolls house. The new dolls house has been very popular and the scene of many wonderful stories this week. We have also created a ring factory in our classroom and many of us have been sporting bejewelled fingers after being inspired by Autumn's initial creation.

Next week we will be taking a trip to Coopers Stadium on Norwood Parade to continue learning about the significance of colours. If your child attends on a Wednesday please ensure that you return your consent form as soon as possible. We are also very keen for parent helpers so please let us know if you would like to join us.

Cheers

Mel, Alex and Faye

 

 

Save the Date

Mid Year Parent Information Evening for Wilkins and  Langley children moving to the Cooper class and Cooper children moving to the Edgerley class:

Monday 15 June

6.30pm - 8pm

ELC Café

Move up Days

Wednesday 17 June

9-10.30am

Wednesday 24 June

9-11am


You will find more information in your child's locker.

We hope to see you there.

Regards

ELC Team

ELC Staffing update

Dear Families 

I would like you to join me in congratulating the below staff members on their new Early Learning Centre Appointments.

Congratulations to:

Ø  Madeleine Gilbert who has been appointed to teach in the Cooper Room from Term 3 for a one year contract. A qualified  early childhood teacher, Madeleine has been working  in the Mead Room as a co-educator and is looking forward to her new teaching opportunity

Ø  Louise Wegener who joins the ELC as teacher on Fridays in the Chapple Room and support in the Angwin class on Wednesdays. Louise has a wealth of experience in Early Learning and we welcome her to Princes.

Ø  Emma Gray who has been appointed to teach in the Edgerley Room for Terms 3 & 4 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, whilst Pip transitions her class to Reception.

In addition:

·        Thank you to Jain White for her expertise and knowledge as teacher of the Cooper class for the past year. Jain will be joining Melissa Prest in the Mead Room as co-educator from Term 3.

·        Thank you to Ellen Rousvanis who has replaced Nicole Wauchope whilst she has been on Maternity Leave. Nicole begins back at the ELC in the Wilkins Room on Monday 1 June. Ellen will be available as a regular relief co-educator.

·       Thank you to Kerry Rowbotham for her much appreciated support in the Office over the past few weeks. We hope to appoint an Administration Assistant in the very near future.

·        Thank you to Miss Robina and Miss Bena for their amazing job in the kitchen recently.  Miss Sue will be re-joining us in the kitchen from next week on light duties.  We are also trialling a new menu and a hot cuppa soup on cold mornings is proving to be real hit with the children. Copies of the menu are available from the Front Desk. Please forward any feedback if your child happens to share any with you.   

Ø  Goodbye to Pip Cooper (for a little while) as she heads up to the Prep School with the  Edgerley boys. We wish you well and will see you back in the New Year.

Ø  Welcome back to Coney Rocca who has completed her teaching practicum. Look out for her new amazing skills!!

Ø  Thank you to everyone else who helps to make this ELC a great place to be!

 

Kind regards

 

Melanie

 

 

 

 

 

Mead

Dear Mead Room families,

We have had a colourful week exploring our unit of inquiry.

Another experiment in colour mixing, we squashed and squeezed two different coloured balls of playdough, this time using red and yellow;

Benji – Orange!

Louis found another way to express his understandings by illustrating what he had discovered with coloured wooden balls;

Louis – well I just know that you get yellow and red to make orange.

We also began experimenting with colouring white flowers.

We made predictions about what may happen when the flowers were plunged into coloured water.

Wilbur – the flower will turn blue (in the blue water)

Ned – it will get coloured

Lachlan – Maybe they will turn the same, the same as the water.

Later we discussed how the petals had changed colour;

Lucy – the green thing (stem) it drank it up

Lola – It got sucked up the stem.

We will have to do more experimenting in the Mead Room – these scientists are on a roll and eager to hypothesise, theorise and deduce!

Of course this is not all we have done………

We climbed, balanced, saw the chickens set up in their new chicken coop (yes we have chickens!), made snakes out of blocks, created a Pirate city and the vet clinic turned into a doctor’s surgery.

We also celebrated the birthdays of Tate and Banjo who are now 4!

Have a lovely weekend.

Melissa and Maddie

Congratulations to Leonardo and his parents Alicia and Nick...

a new baby, Edward, has joined this happy crew.

 

 

 

Cooper

Hello Cooper friends and families,

This week we have been very busy creating our Cooper rainbow by adding the orange items that the children have brought in from home. The class have become quite interested in talking about all the different colours in the rainbow and what colour they think will be next. The children have also started to try and identify all the colours that aren't found in a rainbow. Don't forget that in week 5 we are collecting small yellow items.

During week 5 we will be sending out a small note regarding the changes to sleep/rest/relaxation time in preparation for the children’s transition into the Edgerley Room.

Have a great weekend

Jain & Cris

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

The Chapple room have had some baby chicks in their classroom that have just hatched from their eggs. We decided throughout the week we would go to the Chapple room to look at them, hold them and learn more about them. These are some of the comments that the children have made over the week.

Isla – It’s gonna (going to) fly away

Harry BB – What’s it saying?

Poppy – I think he’s saying I want to fly (notices the chick trying to flap its wings)

Kennedy – It does this (shakes her head from left to right quickly)

Robert – He did a poo!

Kennedy He’s a cheeky monkey

Harrison – he did a poo it comes out of his bottom

William G – I like chicks!

Dominic – I like chickens!

Ashlynn – Sometimes I’m a bit scared of chickens but I’m not scared any more

Isla – I'm scared of dogs now

Poppy – My granny is getting new chicks to cuddle

Antonio – Chickens come out of eggs

Amelia – It’s fluffy!

Poppy - And its eggs are for cakes!

Wolf – They are adorable!

Isla – I love cute chickens, chicky, chicky chickens

Romesh – They are yellow

Dominic – I can touch them

Sophie – You can’t lift them out only for the adults

Ashvin – the chickens need light to see what they are doing

Sophie - and it makes them nice and warm so the chickens will like the light if it keeps them nice and warm

Romesh – They drink water

Wolf – And they eat seeds

Antonio – And they are yellow

Ashvin – looks its sleeping

Harry H – Chickens lay eggs

Romesh  - Maybe the mumma chicken should come out

Miss Shakey – The mummy chicken is in Hindmarsh Island on a farm

We look forward to watching them change as they grow and helping to take care of them when they move to their new home in our outdoor environment. Please feel free to go into the Chapple room to have a look at our beautiful chicks. 

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Coral and Kimberley

 

Edgerley

Dear Parents and Friends,

Our week has been brimming with colour and full of adventure! We have been exploring colours in amazing ways, through playdough mixing, shaving cream, squirty bottles and even hand printing with pastel colours.

The highlight was our trip to the Central Market to explore colour through our senses and in food… fruit and vegetables, icecream, cheese, bread and even in China Town.

Oliver P: I love the red roses!

Sebastian: The coffee… it’s all brown.

Archie: I love the colours of all these flowers!

Campbell B: I can see brown bread and white bread.

Louis: I saw a lollypop. It was all colours!

The children bought some colourful vegetables that we brought back to make into vegetable soup… we noticed how the colours blended together and made deliciously healthy soup! 

Thank you for all your help on the excursion… we are looking forward to our next adventure to the Art Gallery next Thursday!

Kind Regards,

Emma, Pip, Ty and Rosalie

 

Angwin

Dear Angwin Families

 

Angwin children have been busy discussing different types of change this week. After having a special visit from the Chapple room chickens last week we  discussed where they had come from and how they might change in the coming weeks. The children began to discuss other things they knew that changed. Transformers seemed to be a particular area of interest, so this week we invited Autobots and Decepticons into the classroom to see what they do and what transforming involves.

“He’s a robot” explained  Harvey

“Then changing into trucks and cars” said Sujay

“But when do they transform?” asked the teacher

“That’s it, transforming is changing” explained Sujay

“They change to save people, they are rescuebots” added Will

“There’s a mission to do!” exclaimed John

After much discussion about which transformers are good and bad the children took their transformers to the block mat to build a transformer city. There was so much interest that a lot of children decided to join in the play. But they struck upon a problem, there were not enough transformers to go round.

“I don’t have a transformer” said Elliot

“How can we solve that problem? Do you think you could build one with some Mobilo?” suggested the teacher

“Yes, I can do it” said Elliot

Elliot led the way, thinking about what he would like to make. His final product was a dog transformer that transformed into a dinosaur! Impressive Elliot! Later in the week we followed his lead, illustrating our own plans and trying to complete them using our Mobilo shapes, what a fun way to exercise some of our mathematical understandings.

We also followed our interest in changing the colour of our hair this week. Come to our salon for a rainbow haircut!

Mel and Alex