Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Families

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year. 

Thank you for allowing us to nurture and care for your children over the year. We are very blessed to be given this task and the children provide us with so much joy and laughter. 

I have enjoyed watching them over the past year grow from little tiny people, nervous in their new surroundings,  into such confident beings - sharing their experiences as they pass by my office or see me in their classroom. I look forward to next year where we will see the 'old' ones begin to take on newer challenges and welcome in our 'newbies' keen to learn 'the ropes!'.

At the end of this year we farewell a few of our staff members who are leaving us to pursue their career in other venues. 

Goodbye to Mr Ty, Miss Bowden, Miss Kim Brooks and Miss Emily (last day 18/01/17). We wish them all the best and thank them for their loving care of the children over the years they have been at the ELC.  

I would like to welcome and introduce our new staff members joining us in the New Year:

Mr Christopher Richards - Cooper Class

Miss Liana Baldasso - Mattingley Class

Miss Georgia Boler - Mead Class

Miss Tayla Gordon - Langley Class 

We are looking forward to them joining our team. 

Enjoy your Christmas with your family friends and we will see you all in 2017 - 

(ELC opens January 9th at 7.30am. )

Kind regards 

Melanie

Cooper

Dear Cooper Families

This week has been all about having a break from the rigours of term time.

We enjoyed some playtime in the workshop, played in a marching band through the cafe and built tall towers in the ‘Town Square’.

There was time for a movie Micky Mouse Christmas and some morning yoga with Miss Melissa.

Leading up to Christmas we made ‘Magic Reindeer Food’. All you need to do is follow the instructions and on Christmas Eve;

Sprinkle on the lawn at night!

The moon will make it sparkle bright

This will guide them to your home.

Merry Christmas

Miss Melissa and Mr Ty

Angwin

Dear Angwin families and friends,

We have continued with the Christmas cheer this week with the children playing Christmas games. Pin the star on the Christmas tree was a great hit especially when William's Dad and Kennedy's parents had a turn! Throwing tinsel into the Christmas box was a challenging one, but balancing the candy cane on your head made for lots of giggles. Christmas yoga was popular with all the children and a lovely way to relax our bodies if you would like to have a turn type Cosmic kids Christmas yoga into YouTube.

As the ELC prepares to close for the year the children have become concerned about what will happen to all our classroom pets. Mrs Rocca has kindly offered to take care of the Spiny leaf insects and Miss Bowden will take Billy home for the last time, but we were not sure what to do with the snails. In the end we decided that they should go back to the school where we found them, so after a play on the playground we found new homes for them all.
 
What a fantastic year it has been! It has been a pleasure getting to know all the children and families in the Angwin room, we will miss you all. Have a safe Christmas and a Happy New Year! Good luck to all the children in their next learning journey at school.
 
You have brains in your head,

You have feet in your shoes,

You can steer yourself any direction you choose! Dr Seuss
 
Love Miss Bowden and Miss Wenting

Chapple

Dear Chapple family and friends,

We have reached the end of our last few days in the Chapple room for 2016 and have had to say a few sad yet happy goodbyes to our friends who are not returning for the first few weeks of 2017 in the holidays.

This week we have been taking it easy in the Chapple room, we have enjoyed continuing our Christmas craft and playing our favourite activities inside whilst keeping out of the hot sun. When the weather was slightly cooler we took advantage of this by venturing to the rainbow playground, we had lovely plays and even enjoyed laying down and just resting whilst talking to our friends and teachers.

The Chapple children have been requesting some relaxation time this week, after lunch we have been playing some calm music in the Chapple room whilst having a rest. Other ways that we have been relaxing is by having a Christmas movie after lunch or some stories.

Wishing you all a very safe and wonderful Christmas and for those of you who are back next year, we look forward to seeing you then.

Thanks,

Lucy-Anne Perkins

Edgerley

Dear Edgerley families and friends,

As the year draws to a close, we made sure we ended it with a bang and what would be more exciting than to get ready for Christmas!

 
While setting up the North Pole and getting ready for Christmas we realised that we don’t celebrate Christmas in Australia the same way as in the North Pole.

 ‘We don’t have ice we had sun’ – Rory

‘We give presents’ – Sebastien Has

‘I had Christmas lights in front of my house’ – Will P.

‘And I had decorations and candy canes and star on top of my tree’ – Zara

‘I eat sausages’ – Nicholas Y.

‘And corn’ – Ryan

‘Eat barbeque on Christmas’ – Hamish

We decided to display Christmas in Australia with a hot sun, the beach, a barbeque and Jacaranda trees. We were busy baking cookies and sweets in the North Pole and sausages, corn on the cob and burgers for Australian Christmas.

 
We also enjoyed visiting the rainbow playground and the tennis courts. Gardening, indoor games, school walks and the new books kept us really busy throughout the week. To celebrate the Christmas season on Friday we got the barbeque sizzling for a sausage sizzle! Delicious!
 
What a great year it has been and we thank you all for being a part of it. We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous 2017.

love

Mrs. Kaur, Miss C

 

 

Mead

Dear Mead Families and Friends, 

Our final week of the year has ended with a big bang! The weather has been supper warm and what better way than to cool down splashing in the water fountain, making our very own outside slippery slide, getting wet underneath the water hose and building sand castles and mud cakes in the mud kitchen.

The children absolutely adore participating in water experiences sharing joy and happiness with their peers.

We have spent most of the week outside – enjoying and participating in outdoor activities making the most of the beautiful weather. The Mead children are full of energy and running around outside, bike riding, playing ball games, using balance and co-ordination on the balancing beans and climbing frames.

As most of you have noticed, there has not been much furniture within the room towards the end of the week as we are having our floorboards re furnished over the summer holidays.

We ended the week with a picnic for our morning tea on the outside grass and a sizzling sausage sizzle for lunch. Yummy!!!

 
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and look forward to seeing you refreshed after a well deserved break.

Miss Elodie and Miss Sharon

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

We have come to the end of the year and we cant believe how quick the year has gone.

This week, we continued on exploring children's ongoing interest in bugs and insects. It seems these creatures know which room to visit as we had butterflies, dragonflies and even a wasp flying into our learning spaces day after day. Of course, the children also don't fail to make sure our phasmids are well looked after as they help to clean the terrarium, collect the eggs and interact with them gently and responsibly. If you haven't seen them recently, you would be surprised at how big they have grown.

We have also been finishing our Jacaranda projects and working creatively with construction and craft materials. We have been practicing our cutting and gluing skills and working out how to use tape dispenser safely and carefully.

We continued discussion what wishes are and have thought about our wishes for the world in addition to last week's post (please do check )

"A wish is blowing on a flower and watch it go but you can't tell anyone about it or it will not come true", explained Felix.

"A wish is asking for something", added Paxton.

When asked for their wishes for the world, the children responded with the following.

For the people in the world to have lovehearts. Felix

For children to have all the toys they want. Walter

For children to play. Alice

For people to work in the city because that's where my mummy and daddy works. Paxton

For people to share. Daniel

To have firetrucks. Jason

To not be scared. James

For people to have metal detectors so they can find treasures. Samuel

On Thursday, we wrote all our wishes for the world in a letter, tied it to a balloon and released it to the sky with hopes that these wishes come true.

We ventured into the Reception and top oval playgrounds, had some running races and played circle games in the Senior School area. What a lot of fun that was for everybody

I think it will end up in space. Lachlan

It will land on someone's roof in Melbourne. Edward

Maybe my cousins will get them in Melbourne. Paxton

Maybe in planet Earth. Ashton

We finished off the year with a fun water play and a nice barbeque sizzle on a very summery day and wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great new year.

We cant wait for the new adventures we will be having when we get to Angwin Room.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Mrs Rocca

Langley

Dear Langley Families and Friends,

 AND THAT’S A WRAP!

The last ELC week of the year—done and dusted!

What a great week we have had, though!

We have enjoyed some time outside—exploring water play. The children have enjoyed transferring water from one bucket to another until they have no water left to transfer,  they have created wet sand and built structures with it, we even made our very own water slide! Placing the hose on the top of the slippery dip and mats at the bottom. So much fun!

We moved away from our scented playdough this week, the children wanted coloured playdough! They loved manipulating the playdough in their hands and using the cutters to create shapes.

Miss Georgia spent time with the children at the light table—the children were very inquisitive trying to identify their names and tracing the letters.

We celebrated Claudia’s 3rd birthday together this week—enjoying some delicious cupcakes and singing her Happy Birthday!

Miss Emily will sadly be leaving us next year, her official last day will be the 18th of January. She hopes to see you all and say farewell in the new year. Miss Emily will be starting an exciting new adventure in her career at Seymour College—The Early Years.

We wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

Love from the Langley Team,

Jen, Georgia, Emily.

 

Wilkins

Dear Wilkins families and friends,

What an amazing and eventful last week of 2016 we have had! It has been a fun filled and joyful year!

On Tuesday we went for a walk around the Prince Alfred college grounds. The children were so excited and full of energy so Miss Ellen thought it would be a great opportunity to teach them how to participate in a running race on the tennis courts across from the ELC. We then decided to go for a walk and explore the senior school and its secret garden. On our journey back from exploring we discovered the OSHC children were out on a giant inflatable slide and we were lucky enough to have a few turns!

This was lots of fun!

On Wednesday we had a Wilkins class party, to celebrate the joy at this time of the year. We ate lots of yummy food, danced around and played stuck in the mud!

We all had a wonderful time with lots of smiles!

We would like to wish everyone wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year’s. Thank you all for your support throughout the year, we have enjoyed building relationships with not only the children but also our wonderful parents. We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

 Love Miss Kim, Mrs Renee, Miss Courtenay and Miss Ellen xxxx

 

 

Chairs

We are selling our chairs..

Handy for children's parties, cubby houses, play rooms, you name it!!

Please take your pick! 

Chapple

Dear Chapple family and friends,

We have reached the end of our first week of the summer holidays, despite the weather being extremely hot one day and then pouring down with rain the next we have had a lot of fun.

On Monday we took advantage of the nice weather in the morning before it got too hot by having a play on the big oval, we took a soccer ball and had a lovely game of soccer.

As the day went on and the sun got hotter we played inside. We began creating some beautiful Christmas decorations and then wound down with a Christmas movie.

As Tuesday was another hot day, we spent some time inside in the cool continuing making our Christmas decorations.

The Chapple children have been showing a high interest in singing and making their own songs, so we extended this by hosting a 'Chapple Musical.' The children chose a topic to sing about and enthusiastically performed to their peers who listened and clapped along. This has been a popular throughout the week, Chapple is full of some talented children!

As the week continued and the weather settled down we finally had some plays on the favourite rainbow playground, enjoyed some water play, continued with our Christmas decorations and played with the jungle duplo and dinosaurs in the classroom. We have been ensuring that the children have relaxation and calm time seeing as it is such a busy time of the year.

Next week will be another exciting week leading up to Christmas including some Christmas beading, cooking, beautiful Christmas decorations to put up at home, rainbow playground visits and many more things!

Seeing as some of the Chapple children are having some of their last days this week it has been sad saying goodbyes, however we are very excited for the Chapple Children to begin their next adventure in life.

Thanks,

Lucy-Anne & Faye 

Cooper

Dear Cooper Families,

With the warmer weather early this week we froze some water into a big block of ice. Into the water the Cooper children put small dinosaurs before we put we put it in the freezer. We also added some colour to the water to create some mystery. 

When it was ready the children had fun trying to work out how to free the dinosaurs. Lotti said, “If we put water in there the dinosaurs will melt”.

Ned and Seb A together said, “The dinosaurs are melting”.

Lotti added, “The water is melting”.

The children really enjoy playing outside. They have a lot of fun building with blocks, bike riding and playing in the sandpit.

Next week with some warm weather forecast can you please ensure the children have a change of clothes if we have water play outside.

Wednesday come dressed for the Festive Season in Christmas colours.

Thank you and have a great weekend,

Mr Ty and Miss Melissa

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley families and friends,

We have had such a lovely start to our Holiday program with children being so excited about Christmas drawing near. Joshua D informed us that Christmas is near when you see Jacaranda trees blooming with their beautiful purple flowers.

Mr Coleman also read us the story Purple Snow by Tim Lobbecke during one of our trips to the library. We have also been lucky to have a huge Jacaranda tree at PAC that never fails to catch our attention as we explore our school. As a response to this interest, we invited the children to create their own Jacaranda trees using clay or sand and some beautiful paper in shades of purple. What a wonderful quiet creative experience it was for the children to engage in while enhancing their fine motor skills and eye hand coordination. We have also planted some flowers to invite butterflies to come to our school and veggies to feed our chickens especially corn. The children have been wonderful helpers planting and caring for our plants. We will soon be working on making signs to ensure all they are well cared for.

This week our discussion about Christmas led us to talking about wishes.

"A wish is something that may come true or not come true. Sometimes you just have to wait", explained Walter.

"A wish is for birthdays", said Roy.

"Well, if you wish for a cow, it won't come true because it is too big", added Chloe.

"A wish is when Santa gives you toys", said Lachlan.

"A wish is magic that comes true", added Samuel.

We asked the children what they wish for themselves and also explored the idea of wishing for something for other people or the world. And here are some of their wishes.

For Elsa to come alive but she wont freeze the world because I will train her not to.  Chloe.

For people to drive well on the road because there are so many houses. Edward

For people to go to Madagascar because there are some beautiful colours in there. Joshua

For people to live on icebergs. William

For people to have train sets. Oscar

For penguins in the world to come to Australia. Sidney

For people to share toys with everybody. Roy

For people to drive slowly so they don't crash into cars. Leo

To drive safe and not crash into others. Josh S

To see lots of kittens in the world. Lochlann

For people to go to the shops and buy toys. Eloise

To find a big feather to tickle myself. Oliver

For people to go to Sydney because my cousins live there. Billy

For people to have happiness. Ms Jackie

For children to sing and be happy. Mrs Rocca

These wishes celebrate children's innate caring and kind nature and it is our hope that we all take every single day as an opportunity to nurture these warm thoughts and feelings that children have towards others. May these wishes make you proud of your children as well as yourselves as parents and family in your child's life.

Mrs Rocca, Ms Jana and Ms Jackie