Uniforms

Now that everyone is back from holidays could we ask you to please check your child's uniforms once again to make sure that you have the right ones , we are still missing several rugby tops.
Could we also remind everyone that pants, skirts , leggings etc must be plain neutral colours eg, denim, navy , black , beige or khaki (or moroon trackpants) Tops that are underneath the school tops also need to be plain neutral colours . If your child wears a skivvy or other long sleeved top under their rugby top they still need to wear the school polo shirt otherwise when they take off their rugby tops they are then not in recognisable uniform.

thanks for your cooperation

In the Classrooms

Langley
This week Gabe brought in a snap dragon to show his friends in the Langley room. We decided to put it in some blue water to see what it would do.
“Look! It turned into blue!” cried Jack O
“It’s blue” added Gabe
“Flower, flower” said Owen
“What happened?” asked Oliver L
“Blue flower” answered Gabe “cos it snip snip” he added imitating a pair of scissors.
“Tips on it” said Jack J
The next day the children were eager to see what had happened to the flower and we decided to do some water colour paintings to illustrate the change. We have now added Gabe’s flower to our nature table. If your child is excited by something natural, please feel free to bring it in for our nature table and to share with the other children.
Kind regardsJess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
Dear Mead Room Parents,
We have had fun continuing our exploration of shadows this week. The children have all been involved in creating a silhouette of their profile. They have also been involved in creating and manipulating their own shadows using props and a variety of materials, resulting in many entertaining performances! We have also played shadow matching games, matching shadows to pictures of common household items.
Best wishes,
Emma, Susan and Emma

Cooper
The Cooper children have had an exciting week of exploration in our room. They have investigated different textures and materials and the effects of light on them. At the light box, the children sorted, arranged and stacked little mirrors, pieces of coloured perspex and glass. They were interested in the reflective, transparent and colour changing effects of the light, "It's glassy" said Alex as he looked through a blue glass cube. At the collage table, the children glittered and glued various reflective and shiny recycled materials and watched as the sun and light shone on them, "Star" said Daisy, "A sun" said Erin. We have hung these sparkly suns and stars over the block corner where they catch the light from our windows beautifully, please come in to Cooper and see how they shine!
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
Shadows, shadows, everywhere! During our Show and Tell this week, we asked to bring in something that had a light in it. We really enjoyed finding out about all the different sorts of things we brought in such as glow stations, homemade lanterns, all kinds of torches, books with space bodies and even a remote control moon. Of course we then had a great discussion about whether the moon really has a light in it, or if it has light ON it! We are so curious in Chapple!
During outside play we enjoyed drawing the shapes of the shadows that our friends made. We discovered that our shadows in the afternoon are much longer than we really are. Now we want to find out just why that is. When we got back inside we did some mathematics and we had to work out a way to measure our shadows. We found out that to be accurate we needed to make sure that our measuring tool was the same size. Here is what we found out!
“I’m going to use the long blocks to measure. I used 5 long blocks and I need 2 little blocks at the end.” Kalan
“I’m counting how long I am. I am that long; 7 blocks long.” Alex
“I need to get more of the short blocks. So, I need these 2 to make more to measure me – and that’s 7.” Katie
“It is 18 lengths. I used my hand to measure.” Olin
“You can’t use this one. It’s too small so you can’t use it to measure because it’s different and they have to be the same.” Sebastian
Chapple Room made ANZAC biscuits. You should ask us when they were first made, why they were made and how they were kept from going rotten as they were sent across the seas to our Australian Troops.
Kind regards,
Kate and Juliana

Edgerley
This week in Edgerley we have been making all sorts of discoveries and proposing lots of ideas about shadows and light.
“When I ride my bike one way (direction) my shadow is on this side of me but when I ride my bike the other way (direction) it goes on the other side on me!” said Luca
“When your shadow goes into the dark it goes away from you” said Carmine
“Your shadow is attached to you, it can’t rip away from you” said Hugo

We thought a lot about our shadows.
“If my shadow could talk it would say to me ‘Hello, lets go for a run together’” said Louie
“If my shadow could talk it would say ‘I want to go for a run on my own!’” said Lachlan Th
“If my shadow could talk to me it would say ‘I love you!’” said Roshan
We have wonderful shadows!
Regards
Mel and Rosalie

Portfolios

Dear Parents,
If you have borrowed your child’s portfolio can you please return it to your child’s classroom teacher immediately
Thankyou
Classroom Teachers

Big Boys Breakfast

Dear Dads,
Unfortunately we have been unable to distribute Big Boys Breakfast invitations this week as we are still waiting to confirm our venue. Please rest assured that invitations will come home in the coming weeks
Thank you,
Mel Bishop

Construction and Collage Materials

Dear Parents,
The Edgerley Room are on the look out for lots and lots and lots of boxes for us to use at our making table. We have reached the last of our supplies and are now desperate. If you have any boxes you could give us we would be very appreciative.
Thanking you in advance
The Edgerley Boys

Copies Of Immunisation Records

As part of our license requirements we need copies of all children's immunisation records. If you have not provided us with this could you please do so as soon as possible. I believe it is available on line through Medicare Australia's website. You can give a copy to myself or Julie Porter at the front desk,

Thankyou
Jeanine

Happy Birthday to Us!!

Wow, can a whole year have passed already? This week marked our first birthday in our new centre, and what a year it’s been! Our new building has given us moments of joy and despair (we all remember the flooding of the town square in our first heavy rains!) We have welcomed many new families and staff members in the last 12 months and feel we have formed our own special ELC family. We have celebrated Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Christmas and two Grandies Days!! We have cultivated our first crop of winter veggies and tested our garden plants with our energy and activity! We have begun to colour our environment with our art work and investigations and it has been wonderful to continue the ten year long tradition of best practice in Early Years at Princes in our new environment. We would like to share our milestone with the rest of the Princes community in the upcoming Record Magazine and are asking for any special memories or recollections of our first year from parents or children that we could publish. If you have one you would like to share please e-mail me at mbishop@pac.edu.au
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

In the Classrooms

Langley
Welcome to all our new friends who have started in the Langley room. We have been settling into classroom routines, exploring our environment and getting to know each other this week. We have also begun our investigation into our new unit of inquiry Shadowlands. We have been exploring concepts of light and dark, night and day and shadows. The overhead projector has been a big hit. Some children have already discovered that when you stand in front of the projector you can see your own shadow on the wall. We have also had coloured shapes at the projector and the children have been investigating how you get the coloured shapes to appear on the wall. Some have been trying to stick the shapes to the wall by pushing them on while others have discovered that if you put them on top of the projector then they appear on the wall. We look forward to continuing our joint exploration in the coming weeks.
Kind regards,
Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer


Mead
Dear Mead Parents,
It is wonderful to see the children back and keen to begin another busy term. This first week of term has revealed a great interest and enthusiasm in our new unit 'Shadowlands'. The children have been creating and exploring shadows and fascinated by the various forms and shapes they can make. The torches have had a real work out and an interest in nocturnal animals has emerged.
Best wishes,
Emma, Susan and Emma

Cooper
We have had a lovely first week getting to know each other in Cooper! We have been delighted to see the children rising to the challenge of being in the bigger three year old kindergarten room, taking risks and embracing new experiences - saying goodbye to Mum and Dad, finding their new lockers, playing in the big playground, P.E. in the gym, show and tell, putting on their own shoes and eating at Mr Rob's kitchen (and many other exciting things). The children have enjoyed exploring their new room and all the shiny and shadowy things we have in it for our unit of inquiry, 'Shadowlands'. They have been particularly fascinated by the overhead projector in the corner of our room and the many interesting shadows they can make with it. It has been a very big first week!
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
What a wonderful week we’ve had in Chapple! All Chapple Room students have made a big effort to welcome our new students Harry, Samuel and Alexzandr and also our new teacher, Mrs Baird! During the week we’ve explored the letter S and we were particularly interested in scary snakes and spine-chilling spiders. We also made snowballs on Thursday; we’ve sure we can remember the recipe and the method so we can make them at home – scrumptious! The Chapple Room also began inquiring into shadows as part of our new unit Shadowlands. Here is a glimpse into the conversations we’ve had discovering just what a shadow is…
“I see some shadows of me!” exclaimed Luke.
“Look! Because of the sun we’re blocking it so we make the shadows!” pointed out Olin.
“Yes, you have to have something to block the sun so you can make shadows,” confirmed Regan.
“When my shadow appears, it’s bigger than me,” states Olin.
Luke tells, “Because your back looks just like your front”
“Why is the shadow gone now?” questions Sam G.
“It’s the dark clouds. The clouds are blocking our shadows,” says George confidently.
“What’s making the big shadow now?” asks Mrs Baird.
“It’s clouds. There are 251 clouds,” declares Lloyd looking curiously up at the sky.
“We need the sun! Bring the sun back for the shadows!” exclaimed Samuel W.
Katie states, “The Sun is the torch in the sky.”
“So what do we need to make a shadow?” queries Mrs Baird.
Harry professes, “We need to look at our shadows to see moving. We also need the floor and the bright sun. When the moon comes up we can’t see our shadow.”
“We need the sun! Bring the sun back for the shadows!” exclaimed Sam G.
Kind regards,
Kate and Juliana

Edgerley
Wow, what a week! The new Edgerley room boys settled in fantastically this week, ready for the new challenges that are part of the four year old room…. but we were still very pleased to see Mrs Blake as we passed our old Cooper Room on the way to the playground. We had to stop for some enthusiastic waving! We welcomed Luca and Henry who have already found some great friends and enjoyed lots of different activities in the room. As part of our unit Shadowlands we created our own shadows using the overhead projector and talked about how the shadow was moving from the projector to the wall.
“The light is going up to the mirror and the mirror is making it go to the wall” explained Jamison
We enjoyed our first visit to the dark room and excitedly observed the lava lamps and lit dinosaurs. We look forward to continuing our investigations next week.
Regards
Mel and Rosalie

Big Boys Breakfast

Dear Dads,
We would like to inform you of an important date to add to your diary. To celebrate Fathers Day this year, we would like to invite you to the Big Boys Breakfast! All you have to do is bring your child and your appetite! We would encourage you to wear something blue and bring a donation, as we will be raising money for Beyond Blue research and support for male mental health.

When: Thursday the 2nd September
Time: 7.30am

We will enjoy a breakfast of bacon and eggs before your child performs a special concert for you. We hope to be finished by 8.30am in time for you all to get to work. Unfortunately due to the large number of guests expected we are only able to allow one guest per child or pair of siblings. Children who do not normally attend on a Thursday are more than welcome to attend until 8.30am with their Dad.

Families will receive an invitation with a tear off RSVP slip in their child’s pigeon hole next Thursday. If you do not usually collect your child and would prefer to have your invitation sent to you through the post please let me know via e-mail at mbishop@pac.edu. Please note that you must return your RSVP slip or e-mail your RSVP to Mrs Porter at jporter@pac.edu.au to attend.

Next Thursday we will also be sending home a survey for fathers to complete. Please fill it in and add your photo where requested and pass it back to Mrs Porter at the front desk.
We look forward to celebrating this special occasion with you!
Thank you,
The ELC staff

Portfolios

Dear Parents,
If you have borrowed your child’s portfolio during the holiday period can you please return it to your child’s classroom teacher so that we may begin to add more evidence of your child’s learning.
Thankyou
Classroom Teachers

Chinese Information Evening

Dear Parents,
We would like to invite you to an evening of information, vocabulary and fun with our very own Chinese Teacher, Lao Shi Kath House. Kath will be sharing some of the Chinese vocabulary that our children experience in class in an informal and enjoyable way. We will publish more details closer to the date but wanted to share the date with you now so you may add it to your diaries.

When: Tuesday 17th of August
Time: 7.00pm
RSVP: by 10th August via e-mail to jporter@pac.edu.au

Thankyou
Mel Bishop

Book Week

Dear Parents,
We will be celebrating Book Week from the 23rd to the 27th of August. This will culminate in our annual Book Week Dress Up Parade in the Preparatory School on Friday the 27th at the start of the day. Children who do not normally attend on a Friday are welcome to join us for the parade with their parents.
Children are encouraged to dress up as a character from their favourite book and to bring that book as part of their show and tell for that week to share with their friends.
Please note that children will not be allowed to dress up as super heroes (eg: Buzz Lightyear, Ben 10, Batman etc…)
Parents are encouraged to join us for our parade in the John Dunning Gymnasium in the Preparatory School at the start of the day. We find this works best if you drop your child at the ELC as part of their normal routine and then make your way to John Dunning. The children will then walk up with staff after you have left.
Thanks
Mel Bishop

Cooper and Langley Parents and Friends Representatives

Dear Parents of Cooper and Langley,
We are currently looking for parents who are interested in becoming P&F reps. If you would like more information or are interested in volunteering please speak to Miss Jess or Mrs Blake
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

Blog Alerts

Each week we try to send out an alert to let you know that there is new information on our blog site. If this only goes to one parent and you would like it to go to both please send me an email and I will add your address. You will then be sent a request to approve your name being added to our email data base and you need to reply to this . If your child no longer attends the centre you would have been sent a request to remove your name. Please reply to this as unfortunately it makes our data base too large to keep all past families on there.

Thankyou

Welcome to our new families

Welcome to all our new families ! This term we have had quite a lot of changes in our ELC . Along with one group moving on to school , the Cooper children moving to Edgerley and half the Langley children moving to Cooper , we have also had 30 new families join us , 14 in Langley room , 3 in Mead room, 7 in Cooper room , 3 in Chapple room and 2 in Edgerley room ! So to those families who are now "old hands" please intoduce yourself when you see new faces around the corridors.


We have also had Mrs Katherine Baird join our staff team as she is covering Miss Marcus' absence in the Chapple room until the end of the year. The children have already bonded with her and the staff have appreciated the way she has "slotted in" so easily. I am sure the Chapple children (who are now our oldest group ) will share some great experiences with Mrs Baird over the next 2 terms.
As the Edgerley and Chapple groups are now much larger than last term they will not be joining together on Fridays . Mrs Susan Lock will cover Mrs Bishop's non contact day assisted by Mrs Nacca.

Our first week has gone quite smoothly and the children have all coped amazingly well. There have only been a few tears (and they were more from parents not children !) We look forward to sharing you and your child's journey with us. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have or for any assistance you need at any time,


Jeanine

This Week In Langley

We have had lots of fun this week experimenting with a range of different textures. The gloop was a huge hit! The children loved having to scrape really hard to get it out of the tray but then when they held their hands up, it would run back down and drip off then ends of their fingers. Some of us ended up with coloured hands, but the sensory experience and enjoyment was worth it!
“It’s sticky” said Jack O
“It feels melty” said Deacon
“Sticky” said Sebastian A
“It’s hard to get up” said Erin
The children have also enjoyed dressing up and performing on the stage to a range of different music. Keep an eye out in the years to come for some star performers coming out of the Langley room!
A group of our older children will be moving up to the Cooper Room next week and we wish them all the best of luck in the next stage of their learning journey. We look forward to welcoming some new friends into the room.

Kind regards,Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Early drop off point

Please remember that from next Tuesday (start of Term 3) if you arrive prior to 8.15 am take your child to the Langley room after signing them in and putting their bag in their locker . We will trial this and are happy for you to give us feedback at the end of the 4 week period.

ELC staff

Missing Rugby Tops

Dear Parents,
Once again we need you to check your children's tops and bags as Caleb Thomas and Yeoryi Perentes are missing their rugby tops. Both children's tops are named. Please do this each day when your child undresses and it will help return clothing to its rightful owners quicker.
Also a reminder to please name all articles of clothing ! In doing a quick check today we found many tops were either not named or it was so faint it was hard to read. Sew on or iron on labels last better and are also easier for the children to recognise. They are available from the uniform shop or on various web sites.



Thankyou

Recipe from Mr Wagenfeller

We have had several requests for Rob's recipes which has proved a little difficult as they are all in Rob's head and in large quantities ! He has been kind enough to write this one down in a smaller quantity for you , enjoy !

Meat Loaf
Combine equal parts of premium minced beef and sausage meat (eg 500gms of each) with 2 large onions finely diced and 2 teaspoons of mixed herbs.

Make 2 loafs of equal size and roll in greased alfoil , twisting up the ends.
Place in a baking dish and half cover with boiling water. Cover the dish with alfoil and poach in the oven at approx 180 deg for 1.25 hrs.
Remove meat from foil and place loafs in a greased baking dish. Brush on a mixture of tomato paste, oil, mixed herbs and garlic. Return to oven at 220deg until brown and crisp.
Slice and serve with gravy or sauce of your choice

Third Week of Holidays

The holidays are finished, time has flown and we’ve had a mountain of fun. The last theme for the holidays was colour week. We explored mixing colour by using 2 colours of play dough each day and combining them to make a third. We experimented with magic pictures using crayons and paint, and used lots of colourful beads, letters and shapes on the light tables. Using handprints on card we also created a group mural of a rainbow. This sparked a great interest into what colours are in a rainbow and how they are made, we even spotted some on rainy days when the sun peeked through the clouds. We hope everyone had an enjoyable break and we will see you after term three for the next fun filled holiday program.

Todd, Susan, Emma, Ciara and Rosalie

Head Lice

Dear Parents,

We have had a case of head lice at the centre, please check your children carefully and ask staff for help if necessary. If you suspect that lice are present then please treat your child before they return to the centre. There are many treatment products available at chemists and supermarkets . Please note that follow up treatments are needed after a week to avoid reinfestation,

Thankyou

Second Holiday Week

Week two of the holiday program was all about Music; and it was anything but quiet. We loved making raucous music by constructing our own shakers, drums, microphones and guitars. We experimented with sounds using, pots, pans, jars with water and the big drum kit too. We danced with balloons, dress ups, hula hoops, grass skirts and streamers. We played musical chairs, did the limbo and for Master Chef Friday, cooked 5 fat sausages and 5 crispy pancakes.
Next week we look forward to exploring all the colours of the rainbow during Colour Week.

Todd, Susan, Juliana, Rosalie, Emma and Eleanor

Langley Room

The Langley children have taken to the stage this week, dressing up in costumes to perform songs and dances for their peers. The children sang along to some classics including ‘ABC’ and ‘I’m a little tea-pot’ as well as inventing their own new and ‘catchy’ tunes. Many tea parties have recently taken place within the home corner with the addition of our China tea set and cooking home wares. The children’s interactions during these ‘tea parties’ have provided opportunities for language development, imaginative play and co-operation.

Outside in the yard we have been practicing our bowling skills, aiming the giant spiky balls at the skittles, knocking them all down. The children have also continued to develop their balancing skills navigating their way around the differing paths of the wooden blocks, trying to reach the end of the path without slipping off.

Throughout the week we were also lucky enough to hear Mr Kerber playing his drum kit, and on occasions were able to play along with percussion instruments.

Our older Langley room friends have had some visits to the Cooper room during the week to assist with their transition next term.

Kind regards,Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer

Girls Uniforms

Dear Parents,

Please remember when getting your girls ready in the mornings that skirts , pants , leggings, skivvies etc must be in neutral colours in keeping with our school uniform policy. We know that the girls like to "dress up" but please keep these clothes for the weekends etc. Clothing other than the ELC maroon tops needs to be plain navy, Khaki, beige , black or maroon .

Thanks for your co-operation !

End of Financial Year

Dear Parents ,
If you have not registered for your Government Rebate , now is the time to do it ! You can still register for CCB (even though you may be told you get 0% assistance) and claim your whole years rebate (up to $7800) if both parents are working , studying , training or volunteering (it is not means tested). Your child's attendances and fees have already been sent on-line to assist with this. If you have any questions please see me ,

Jeanine

First Week of holidays

For the first week of the holiday program we kicked off with “Weather Week”. We discussed and painted pictures of all the seasons, made winter snowflakes and raindrops and experimented by heating and freezing water and watched it transform. We also made water bottle tornadoes, a “lady scarecrow” to keep our “man scarecrow” company, cooked pizzas for Master Chef Friday and even presented our own weather reports. It was lots of fun to see ourselves on TV talking about how hot, cold, wet or windy it was going to be.

Todd, Juliana, Susan, Rosalie and Emma

Langley Room

Week one of the school holidays has been a bit quiet in the Langley Room. We have had lots of our Langley friends away on holidays or off sick L. This has been a nice opportunity for the children to have a bit of a relax and recover from such a busy term. We’ve participated in lots of building and construction activities and have had fun making patterns with the play dough. We have also engaged in some different art activities and have been for walks around the big school. We have enjoyed lots of time outside in the sandpit. Because the sand has been wet from all the rain, it has been wonderful for sculpting and moulding into all sorts of shapes. We have been very creative in our pretend play in the sand pit doing lots of cooking. We have made cakes and doughnuts, coffee and even some pastry!

Kind regards,

Jess, Adele, Kerry and Jennifer