Chapple

This week of the Autumn school holidays has been so much fun. On Monday we spent the day being keen scientists doing experiments. We talked about what a science experiment was and what the out come of our experiments would be. We built a giant volcano and watched it erupt red lava. We observed colours bubbling away in milk,  made a jellyfish in a bottle and watched a stream of cola froth out of a bottle when we mixed it with Mentos.

We danced the morning away on Wednesday and had a dance competition shaking it off to the music. 

Thursday we spent the morning with Stewart a personal trainer. We played tug of war with a giant rope, did some relay games involving running ,ball skills, boxing and team work. 

We have also been discussing  ANZAC Day and read the books "My Grandad Marches on ANZAC Day"  by Catriona Hoy and Benjamin Johnson and "ANZAC Biscuits" by Phil Cummings. We've talked about the brave men and women who have served our country, the ANZAC Day march, and the symbolization of the red poppy. The conversation has been quite lively and the children came to the conclusion that the soldiers were very brave.

Mead

Hello Mead families and friends,

As most of you have noticed we have given the classroom a makeover, the children have had a positive response to their learning environment. Having an array of POD areas for them to engage in while continuing to build on their relationships with peers. Thank you to the parents for feedback on the room change!

A popular area has been the Dinosaur Habitat, the children have demonstrated strong interest with animals. This is why we have provided animal fine motor activities.

Hudson and Sienna assisted Miss Elodie in making play-doh. Hudson chose orange for the colour! What a great choice!! Play doh is always a big hit with the children within the Mead room as it is fantastic for their manipulation and fine motor skills.

On Tuesday we let our beautiful butterfly go, we all sat on the grass and watched as it flew into the sky and landed on a tree. We also have two more chrysalis that will soon turn into butterflies.

Paige brought in some lovely leaves that she collected from her walk at Mt Lofty. Paige and Thomas Draper decorated the tree that is outside the classroom.

This week we have been participating in an array of inside and outside experiences, making the most of the sunshine when it would come out.

We hope you have a lovely long weekend

Miss Elodie and Mrs Nacca

Angwin

Dear Angwin friends and families,

This first week of the Autumn program the children continued on their exploration of color. Monday saw the children become scientists with a number of experiments to encourage their curious minds. We made a volcano with red lava, a jelly fish in a bottle and mixed colours with milk and washing up liquid.

The children have also been looking at how we can eat fruit in different ways, including fruit jelly, chocolate fruit kebabs and rainbow fruit smoothies. 

Thursday we welcomed back Sebastian's Dad, Stewart and his team (Jayden and Emma) to run a sports session on the oval. This was just as fun as anticipated and we don't know how the children still managed to have so much energy after boxing, running, ropes and soccer. 

On Friday, the children had the privilege of Mr Ty's sausage sizzle, have you asked your child how many sausages they ate?

To finish the week, we read and discussed the meaning of Anzac day. We were lucky enough to look at some real medals that Miss Kim's partner, Joel had achieved in his time in the Navy.

Thank you to all our community in supporting our learning this week, in particulat Stewart, Jayden, Emma and Joel.

Love Miss Bowden and Wenting

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

We had such a lovely start to our holidays with children creatively building transport vehicles using mobilo builders and lego. You should see their amazing boats, planes, cars and more using careful planning, eye- hand coordination and lots of concentration.

This week we also touched on topics about ANZAC Day as we read wonderful literature and watched some videos appropriate for our age group.

"Soldiers are brave. Really brave", said Samuel.

"I can go to war cause I have four water pistols at home", commented Felix.

"Fighting is not good", said Lochlann.

"Fighting hurts people", explained Eloise.

"Soldiers fight to save people from the baddies", added Lochlann.

We also talked about how red poppy flowers help us remember the brave soldiers who fought to keep Australia safe. This inspired our paintings as well as our creations at the playdough table.

"We need red dye to make a really really red colour playdough", thought Walter.

This week we also celebrated Alice's and Billy's 3rd birthday with some yummy cupcakes and explored the Rainbow Playground further testing our theories and bodies as we attempt using various equipment. 

Of course, the highlight of our week has to be our Teddy Bears' Picnic. The children had so much fun introducing their soft fluffy friends to the class, taking them for walks and sat down at the Senior School Courtyard from some fresh fruits and bread. While we were there, the children noticed a big pile of Autumn leaves. And what do you do with them? Of course you make it RAIN!!! Chasing Mrs Rocca to throw leaves at her was definitely fun! Cheeky chops!

"It's fun to have picnics" said Marcel

"Picnics!" shouted James.

"Leaves! lots of leaves!" said Jason

"My teddy is called Bella",  informed Amelia

I'm sure the children are already looking forward to spending the next week with Ms Mason while Mrs Rocca goes to the Philippines for two weeks to see her family after 6 long years. I will surely be thinking of you while I am away .

Enjoy your long weekend and see you soon

Mrs Rocca and Ms Lucy

Langley

The Langley children have really enjoyed the first week of school holidays.

The Langley Italian Restaurant was heating up throughout the week with the children cooking up some delicious pizzas and pasta.

We had discussions about the different types of toppings you can put on a pizza and which flavours we like best.

The children are really excited to be cooking their own pizzas next week with lots of yummy toppings. 

And, wow, our Langley friends are quite the little groovers. They have been really embracing the dance and music corner and have been showing us their incredible dance moves and beautiful singing voices.

On Tuesday we did some planting. The children helped Miss Emily plant some beautiful herbs and flowers into pots for our new garden. They had discussions about how to plant them but more importantly how we take care of our new plants and what they need to help them grow. The children loved this experience. Each day the children help the teachers water the plants.

We also went on an adventure to the Rainbow playground on Thursday.

On our way up, we saw some diggers and big trucks working on the oval. The children sat and admired them for quite a while.

Some new friends came to visit us also this week to say hi and meet their new friends. They will be starting with us in the new term.

We look forward to what next week brings and hope you all have a lovely long Anzac weekend.

Miss Emily, Miss Brooke, Miss Renee and Miss Jen.

Cooper

Dear Cooper Room Families and Friends,

We have been following the life cycle of the monarch butterfly as it hatches from the beautiful green and gold chrysalis that has been hanging quietly for several weeks. On Monday the chrysalis changed into a dark brown colour which was telling us the butterfly was about to emerge all squashed and damp. On Tuesday just before lunch we witnessed the chrysalis opening as the butterfly nibbled its way out. We read a little further into what happens next and we learnt that the butterfly hangs until its wings and body dry and fill out. Once the butterfly begins to flutter its wings it’s ready to fly. We then released the butterfly out into the big yard so it could fly way. It was quite amazing and the children were thrilled to be a part of the butterfly life cycle experience.

We experimented in colour change by mixing our primary colours blue and red to make the secondary colour purple and blue and yellow to make the secondary colour green.  During our process we discovered that by mixing a pure colour with white increases lightness which is called a tint. The children were intrigued when they created a lighter green colour by mixing green and white together. The children continued to experiment at the painting easel with pure colours and white paint to see the colour change.

Who knows what two colours make the colour green?

Aston: We use paint.

Sebastien: Red and purple.

Rory: Green and yellow.

Zali: Purple and pink.

Sebastien: Why don’t we use white. I think it will make green.

After further discussion and experimenting with the colours we came up with this…

Aston: Actually I think blue and yellow.

Rory: Yes, that’s right, blue and yellow will make green.

Miss C: How do you think we can make the green colour lighter?

Will A: We put white and green.

It’s been a wonderful week full of fun and wonder. During the week we also went for a play up at the rainbow prep playground, explored the school grounds, used our artistic talents in cloud painting, finger painting and name dot painting, we visited the cooper room hair salon, watched the movie about The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, sorted various sized buttons and continued to practice yoga and relaxation.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Miss C and Miss Cass

Wilkins

Dear Wilkins Families,

So far, we have had a wonderful time throughout the first week of our holiday programme. We have had a very special visit from Miss Ellen's Yia Yia, Mrs Jess. Miss Ellen is from a Greek background and her family celebrates Easter on the 5th of May. A tradition for Greek families at this time includes making Koulourakia biscuits. Mrs Jess joined us to make these and explained to the children that some cultures around the world celebrate special events at different times of the year.

Recently the centre purchased new water troughs which the Wilkins children have all thoroughly enjoyed. We have been making use of this weeks warmer weather and engaging in water play, exploring what objects sink or float and splashing around with our peers. We decided after some conversations about what lives under water to create an 'under the sea' theme in our classroom. We have decorated an area in lots of different shades of blue and we have a water trough full of sea creatures immersed in jelly. The children have loved this sensory experience and we are looking forward to taking this unit of inquiry further.

Wilkins parent request    

Throughout our days we do tend to engage in some exploratory play which can sometimes get quite messy! Lately we have been sending some spare clothes home and we are getting quite low. If anyone has any loved clothes that need a new home, we would very much appreciate some donations. Can you please try to remember to pack a pair or two of spare clothes in your child's bag also, just in case we are having an extra fun messy day .

We hope you all enjoy your long weekend as we honour all the men and women in our country who have participated in wars on Anzac day.

Miss Kim, Mrs Nicole, Miss Ellen and Miss Georgia