Edgerley

Dear Edgerley Families,

This week we have continued to explore symbols and their meanings and have created a chart of our own attempts to illustrate symbols we have collected. 

Some mums have been lucky enough to receive the most fabulous button rings, do you know what a ring symbolises? Together we tried to find the beginning and end of Mrs Bishops wedding ring, we discovered that it goes round and round forever and we decided that a ring is supposed to symbolise forever. 

Next week we will use symbols to represent and record information. This week we also continued with our portraiture project, wow! What wonderful artists we are. Inspired by Vincent, Henri and Sidney, our portraits are full of facial details and the children have taken great consideration as they have observed themselves in the mirror. Our finished results are sensational. 

A new interest has popped up this week that saw us scurrying to collect brightly coloured Autumn leaves. Mrs Bishop wondered why the leaves that had been green a few weeks ago were now red and yellow. Had someone been out painting them? Charlie P explained “No Mrs Bishop, they change because the cold is surrounding them!”. We plan to explore this theory further. 

We enjoyed visiting Junior Primary Chapel this week as part of our transition program. We listened to the PAC boys singing beautifully about saying please and thank you and particularly liked the listening song lead by Mrs Bell. It was great to see some big boys receive honour certificates, they looked very proud of themselves. We also had a visit from one of our buddy classes who came to the ELC to perform “The Cow Tripped Over the Moon”. Another jam packed week.

Have a wonderful weekend

From Mel, Cris and Emma

Parent Master Class - A window into the mesmeric adolescent brain

PAC Parent Master Class 

We invite parents to join us on 

Monday 5 June, from 6:30 to 8:00pm, in the Piper Pavilion, 

with our guest speaker, author and child psychology expert Mark Le Messurier.

"The years between 11 to 19 years of age, are loosely considered adolescence. It is a critical time for human development, and is best-known as a period of massive changes – physically, emotionally and neurologically. Yet, adolescent behaviour can be a mystery, to many parents. 

So, what is a parent to do? 

Firstly, understand what’s really happening to your teenager. 

Mark will also present some fast and helpful ideas for you to work with. Oh, yes! This is a challenging age group, but so brilliantly rewarding to parent and teach!” 

Please secure your booking, at no cost, via the following link 

by Friday 2 June: 

http://bit.ly/2q4IUDX

Nappy Collective update

Dear PAC ELC families and friends,

Thank you for being a part of our May 2017 Nappy Collective. Your donations are greatly appreciated not just by the organization but most importantly by children and families in need. We hope that this act of kindness has  and has open avenues of communication about caring and sharing with your little ones. 

These nappies are going to be collected from our centre and delivered to receiving venues in SA. Please visit www.thenappycollective.com if you wish to volunteer for counting segregating the nappies for the state. We will do the collective again in October this year, so please don't throw out your leftover nappies from here on. Again, thank you.

Coney Rocca

On behalf of the PAC ELC Team

The Nappy Collective www.thenappycollective.com

The Nappy Collective

Today is technically the last day of our Nappy Collective Drive and we would like to thank everybody who has generously donated nappies. We have created quite a collection. 

But...if you missed the deadline and would still like to donate we will extend the collection date to the end of next week. 

Please donate your unused nappies in the Collection boxes in the ELC cafe. It is greatly appreciated. 

Regards 

ELC team 

Pitter, patter of tiny feet

There must be something in the staff water at the ELC because I am happy to announce that our ELC community is expecting again!!

Congratulations go to Mrs Kimberley Mason-Corey (Mattingley)  and her husband Sean who are expecting their first baby in September. 

And congratulations to Mrs Amelia Murdy (Langley) and her husband Craig who will be welcoming baby No. 2 in November.  

We wish them all the very best as they await the arrival of their bubbas. We will notify you in due course who the replacement teachers will be. 

Regards

Melanie

Parent Morning Tea - What to Expect - Your Child's First Year at School

You are invited to share a morning tea and information on the topic "What to Expect - Your Child's First Year at School" with Mr Neil Andary - Deputy Headmaster and Head of ELC to Year 6. 

This is a great opportunity to have your transition to school questions answered. This morning tea is available to all families, regardless of whether your child is moving on to the Preparatory School or not. 

There are two sessions available: 

Tuesday 23 May, 9.00-10.00am

or

Wednesday 31 May, 9.00-10.00am 

to be held in in The Preparatory School, Rose Garden 

Please contact Jane Conn on jconn@pac.edu.au  or phone 8334 1229 to make a booking. 

Limited vacancies available so book early to avoid disappointment. 

Regards 

Melanie

Mid-year Parent Information Evening

If you have received an invitation to join us for the Mid-Year Parent Information Evening on Monday 19 June at 6.30-8.00pm - we need your RSVP's.

This evening is for those families who are joining us for the mid-year intake and for those children moving classrooms eg Wilkins, Langley, Cooper and Edgerley. 

Please email us on elcadmin@pac.edu.au to advise. 

Thank you 

Melanie and Mandy 

New Code

Sshhhhh... the front door code is changing on Wednesday 24 May at 7.30am. 

Please see Miss Mandy or Ms Garland for the new code. 

Cooper

Hi Cooper families,

We have been eagerly collecting a whole variety of different autumn leaves over the past 2 weeks. Children have been bringing in leaves to our classroom each day and our collection is huge! First we sorted the leaves according to their shape and colour and then used them in a fine motor threading experience. In this experience the children threaded a number of leaves onto a thin piece of wire, which we have hung on our Cooper room tree.

We have also used the leaves that we have collected to create Autumn artwork in our classroom. We used our emerging knowledge of trees and plants to paint the trunk of our tree. We then painted leaves onto our picture and added a range of beautifully coloured autumn leaves.  

We have finally each had a chance to plant our very own magic bean in the classroom. We talked about what plants need to grow.

Ned – We need dirt.

Aaron – Water.

Stirling – It will have leaves on the side. When you pull the roots out my daddy gets dirty hands.

We also made predictions about what might happen to our beans.

Isaac S  – Maybe it might grow into a tomato.

Xavier D  – It will turn into a bean stalk.

Lotti – I think the bean stalk will grow and grow and grow and grow. My butterfly garden is still growing.

Olivia – It will grow and grow and grow into a leaf. It will be like a beanstalk.

We have been patiently waiting for our plants to grow above the soil. We have had no luck yet… but we are hoping to see some changes next week.

Many of the children in the class have loved collecting sticks and long pieces of bark which they have been incorporating in their play. Sometimes they are used in prosocial ways, and sometimes they are not. We brainstormed how we could use the sticks in a way that would not hurt anyone else. Some of the children suggested that we could make people out of the sticks that we have collected! From this conversation, the children have created amazing replicas of people using sticks, twigs, gumnuts, stones and bark that they have been collecting.  

Happy Birthday to Isaac S, Emilia, Grace and Xavier D  who all turned 4 during the week! We hope that you all had wonderful birthdays celebrating with your family and friends.

We hope that you have a lovely weekend.

Love Miss Gilbert and Miss Sharon 

Winter Bugs

Tis the season to be ...coughing, spluttering and generally feeling blurghhh!

Please be aware that Hand, Foot and Mouth is currently present at the Centre with cases being reported in a few rooms. 

Be on the look out for tiny blisters on various parts of the body, including the mouth, and on the fingers, palms of hands, buttocks, nappy area, soles of the feet, upper arms or legs. 

The blisters last a little longer than a week. Some children may also have a fever, sore throat, runny nose or cough. Vomiting or diarrhoea are uncommon. The most troublesome symptom is often the blisters in the mouth, which can make it difficult for children to eat or drink.

Children with  Hand, Foot and Mouth are to be excluded from the ELC until all of the blisters are dried. 

If your child is generally unwell please keep them at home until they are fully rested and well. Being in group care means that illnesses often spread quite quickly. 

You are able to use your holiday leave for sick days. If you are unsure of how many days you have to use, please ask Miss Mandy or myself.  Remember too, if you at the doctors, to ask your doctor for a sick certificate and hand to Miss Mandy. We will then record this as sick leave. 

Thank you for helping us to stay healthy!

Regards

Melanie

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

To All Our ELC Parents and Friends

This year on Thursday 25 May, the ELC is taking part in Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea and we would love if you could contribute in some way by purchasing 3 yummy cupcakes for $5 or by simply leaving a donation. Please see Miss Mandy who will have a supply of the delicious cupcakes. 

You will be helping us raise money for the Cancer Council which will go towards helping to achieve our vision of a cancer-free future.

We sincerely thank you for your support and wish you and your family a healthy and happy life.

Kind regards

The ELC Team

Langley

Dear Langley Families and Friends, 

It has been a lovely and very busy week in the Langley Class. The children have been busy exploring the new experiences and have also thoroughly enjoyed playing together. It is a pleasure seeing so many of them beginning to form new friendships with both their educators and peers. We have observed the children being empathetic towards one another, inviting friends to play and also enjoying parallel play alongside one another. We also would like to extend another warm welcome to Miss Nicole who returned this week from maternity leave. 

Early in the week we went on a hunt for different coloured leaves. This experience was an extension of the children’s interest in leaves and their ever changing colours. The children found red, green, yellow and brown leaves just to name a few. They then went on to work with Miss Georgia to create some beautiful collages using the leaves they had collected along with some Autumn coloured paints. Their masterpieces will be displayed in the Langley Class for you all to admire. 

To extend this experience at home you may like to go on a ‘leaf hunt’ with your child. We encourage you to bring the leaves in so that your child can show them to us all as we would love to see how many different leaves and colours we can discover. 

It is great to see just how many children are giving toilet training a try. We acknowledge that this process looks different for every child and would like you all to remember that there is no perfect time to toilet train. If your child is beginning to toilet train please try to dress them in loose fitting pants such as track pants and leggings as these are much easier for the children to pull up and down and also for us to change in the case of any accidents. If you would like any additional information on toilet training please feel free to speak to the Langley staff. 

REMINDER

Please remember to have a look through the ‘lost property’ basket that is located next to the sign in book. The number of items in there is increasing and we will need to dispose of some of the items very soon. We are also still on the hunt for Winnie’s jumper. This jumper has been clearly labelled so it would be greatly appreciated if you could double check your child’s jumper to make sure that there hasn’t been a mix up. 

We hope that you all have a lovely weekend. 

From 

Miss Amelia, Miss Kathy, Miss Georgia, Miss Tayla and Miss Nicole

Wilkins

Dear Wilkins family and friends,

What a glorious week we have had this week, despite the chilly mornings. We have made the most of the sunshine, exploring the outside environment. We ventured out to the big yard on Monday, the children excitedly observed the chickens scratching around the yard. Hugo was sure to warn everyone to be careful not to get too close or the chickens might peck you! We also explored the more challenging climbing equipment, confidently scaling great heights, climbing over and under the obstacles and flying down the slide.

We have continued our Autumn investigations this week using leaves we gathered in the big school at the end of last week. We have used these leaves to paste with, trace over, thread and sort and order. We have also enjoyed scrunching them between our fingers and throwing them up in the air! If you have any Autumn leaves in and around your house, we would love it if you could gather some and bring them in to share.

We would like to extend a big welcome to Edward and Armando who have joined us in the Wilkins class the last couple of weeks and a welcome back to Evan who has just returned from a big overseas trip.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend. We look forward to seeing you all next week.

Ellen, Courtenay, Melissa and Jess

Angwin

Dear Parents,

The Angwin children have had a really busy week this week. On Monday we were lucky enough to visit the Adelaide Zoo. The children had a great time observing different birds and animals.

Walter: The Emu is a big bird.

Ashton: The Emu has 2 toes.

Oscar : He yawned (Tasmanian Devil) he's tired.

Jed: Look Freddy, Kookaburras!

Alice : The Koala's looking at everyone!

Lochlann: It's spiky and wet (echidna). He could spike someone.

During the visit, the children were intrigued by the maps and kept checking to see where we were going and what animals we would see next. 

Chloe: Where's the T-rex?

Lochlann: It's on the map!

Walter: Don't worry Sophie, I know exactly where we are (pointing to the map).

Back in the Angwin classroom we have set up a space for the children to create their own zoos and paint their own maps.

Some of the children have also helped create a map of where we can find the rainbow lorikeets as we walk up to the Preparatory school. We have been asking staff in the centre if they know where the rainbow lorikeets live at PAC. We have discovered that some people have never even seen any here. We hope that our map will help them discover where they can spot a rainbow lorikeet at PAC. The map is on display in our classroom so please have a look and you can find out where the lorikeets are at our school.

Have a lovely weekend,

Pip and Cass