Plastic Bags

Dear Parents,
If you have any extra plastic shopping bags or old bread bags, we love to recycle them at the ELC for wet clothes. Please pass any old plastic bags that you would like to recycle to Mrs Porter.
Thankyou
ELC Staff

Thanks

Thank you to the Knight family for the donation of a small wooden children's table. It was most gratefully received. We are still on the look for one more if anybody has one no longer in use or happens to spot one in hard rubbish!
Thanks again
ELC Staff

In the Classrooms

Langley
Xin nian kuai le! The Langley children have been celebrating Chinese New Year over the last week through a range of different experiences. We have practised our fine motor skills using chopsticks in the home corner, painted and decorated red and gold fire crackers using collage materials, read stories with Lao Shi and examined and recreated Chinese Dragons at the easel. As the children have created, they have discussed what they are painting.
“A dragon” explained Molly, “a dragon coming” she continued
“and two lions” added Felix as he painted on the other side of the easel, “two lions having fun” he expanded.
“I’m painting a tiger” Bruno said, “look, tiger” he added excitedly.
“It’s not a dog” said Sophia as she painted, “it’s orange” she added, “teef (teeth)” she continued as she added detail to her painting.Kind regards, Jess, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
Dear Mead Room Parents,
We have been busy exploring making noises in the Mead Room this week.
"That's a drum. You have to bang on it really loud"! Jesse told us as he played his drum (a tambourine).
"That's the bangers" (cymbals) Jack O said, "They are a loud noise".
"I got a rake" (shakes it). "A quiet noise". "Got some prickles in it" Gabe described (pointing to the ball shaped shaker) .
"It's a bang, bang, bang" said Harry as he banged his instrument!
Henry and Jack J shook some bells. It reminded us of the classroom bell we ring for inside time, and of Santa and his reindeer coming through the sky.
Following our exploration of instruments and the noises they make, we all explored making loud and quiet noises. The loud noises the children made were definitely LOUD - possibly deafening!! The cymbals were the most popular noise makers in the room.
Best wishes,
Emma M, Susan and Emma G

Cooper
The Cooper children have been playing with the marble run construction set this week and this led them to experiment with the marbles. Ajeet placed several marbles in the bottom of a basket and began tipping it side to side. He discovered that the marbles rolled back and forth and made a rattling sound across the bottom of the basket. He repeated this movement over and over listening to the sound. Alex picked up two marbles and tapped them together, “Do you wanna hear my noise? Look. Hear this” he said to Mrs Blake. Harry found the tin pots from the home corner and put his marbles in one. He shook them round and round and found it made a loud metal shaking noise. The boys were excited by their discoveries and the noise level grew and grew. Mrs Blake suggested to the boys that they might try some different containers. “Can we try a box?” asked Ajeet. We found a collection of plastic bottles, boxes and ice cream containers and the boys tipped the marbles into these, trying out the different sounds. Hearing all the noise, Austin and Tom joined in too. Austin even tried putting the tins inside a plastic container and shaking them! The boys lined up next to each other, making music with all their different containers. They jumped up and down shaking them, shouting and singing along to their noisy sounds. This investigation was a great starting point for our Noiseworks unit and we hope to discover even more sounds next week!
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
This week we read 'There's a Sea in My Bedroom' by Margaret Wild and we decided to make a sea for our classroom. We talked about the things you can see and hear at the beach and used lots of different materials to make our own sea. It looks wonderful up on our wall! We were also interested in listening to sea shells. Some of us could hear waves and the ocean inside the shells and we had great ideas about how the sea got inside the shells! We also listened to each other's ideas about how our bodies hear sounds and noise and learnt a new song about a turtle. A big hit in our class this week was the keyboard that Nathaniel's family has lent us. The children have really enjoyed playing it and exploring the various sounds and beats that it makes - a big thank you to the Lindop family!! Looking forward to more fun next week.
Warm wishes,
Suria, Sinead, Ciara and Sue.

Edgerley
Dear Edgerley Mums and Dads,

Pop down to our classroom to see our music factory in action. We have been busy this week creating instruments for our marching band. We constructed mixing desks, pianos and keyboards (because they are not the same, see if you can spot the difference!), wiros, lots of guitars, shakers and claves. Next week we will perform for the other classes in the café and serenade them while they enjoy their snack.

Kind Regards

Mel and Rosalie

ELC Doors

Would all parents please remind their children not to climb on our doors or hang from the handles. We are afraid that accidents will occur and it also weakens the handles and we seem to have to get them tightened frequently. We would also like to remind you that children (including school aged ones) are not to use the electronic door code system. It is a little sensitive when codes are put in incorrectly and then tends to jam. The code is for adults only as it is for security and children are not very good at keeping it to themselves. We will change it again in the near future to protect our ELC community,

Thankyou
Jeanine

A Warm Langley Welcome

Dear Parents of Langley Children,
we are pleased to announce that Miss Hayley Mattingly will be joining Langley as a new permanent member of staff as of next week. We look forward to her joining our team and are sure that you will join us in making her feel welcome. Miss Hayley will stay until the end of the day at 6.00pm
Thankyou
Jeanine

P&F Rep Meeting

Dear P&F Reps,
We will be meeting in the Early Learning Centre Art Room next Friday the 18th at 9.00. We look forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards
Mel and Jeanine

Opening of the Pavilion Cafe

Dear Parents and Staff,
Opening Invitation:

~ Pavilion Café ~

Located in the Piper Pavilion.
The Pavilion Café will be open for business as from Monday 14 February, 2011, from 8.00 am to 12.00 noon (school days, school terms). The Pavilion Café will also be open on days of major events, with a larger selection of food.
Parents and staff are formally invited to patronise this facility. There will be a lovely selection of tea, coffee, cakes and slices available.
Kevin Tutt
Headmaster

Monster Truck Rumble PAC Special Offer

The Monster Truck Rumble 2011 The line-up is huge! Freestyle motocross, huge fireworks display, all new Rex the rides truck , ‘Free’ pit party between 4.30 – 5.30 children and BIG children can meet and greet the Monster Truck drivers and get up close to trucks for photo opportunities and autographs.

Where: Adelaide Showground
When: Feb 19 2011, Main event from 6pm until around 9.30pm.
Tickets: www.venuetix.com.au or Venue*Tix – 08 82258888,

Gilbert Racing is offering a special PAC discount for the Monster Truck Rumble.
General Admission Family Tickets (2 adults & 2 children) $120 (usually $130)
To book visit: www.venuetix.com.au
click on the Monster Truck Rumble
Select BUY
Select GENERAL ADMISSION
Select 4 in FAM2+2_G (ensure that EDU_GA os ‘0’ is set to ‘0’)
Enter the following for your password: PAC
(Note the password is case sensitive. There is no ‘.’ after the ‘C’)
THIS DISCOUNT OFFER IS ONLY AVAILABLE FROM MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY UNTIL FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY
FOR MORE INFO http://www.monstertrucksaustralia.com.au/

New Baby

Congratulations to Heather and Adam O'Hara and big brother Malachi on the arrival of their new baby girl - Lily Grace - born Thursday 10.2.11

Edgerley New Year Get Together

Come to Tusmore Park (enter from end of Barr Smith Ave off Portrush Rd) on Friday 11th Feb from 5.30pm. Bring a plate of food and drink to share and deck chairs/ picnic rugs and bathers for the kids. We'll be near the toddler wading pool just over the little bridge
Please RSVP to the Edgerley P&F Reps
Belinda 83324498, 0411872434
Nicole 0403423765

A Few Reminders

Welcome to all our new families ! I have added at least one email contact per family for the alert system but if you would like extra ones added please let me know.
There are a few reminders that we always need to do at the start of each year to make life as smooth as possible for children, parents and staff.
Firstly please make sure your child is signed in and out each day as you arrive or depart. Children need to have sunscreen applied prior to the start of the day and the staff will reapply it in the afternoon. Children must have their hat each day at this time of the year, rain or shine(the uniform shop is currently out of stock so another sunsafe one is fine for now).As all the hats look the same please make sure your child's is clearly named and that they are wearing the correct one when they leave !
Each child should have a named set of spare clothes in their bag each day and bring a clearly named drink bottle of water. (many of the old ones have lost their names !) Please make sure your child's footwear is suitable for lots of running, climbing etc. Sneakers or sandals are suitable but not thongs, crocs or rubber boots.
Lastly , we still need copies of children's immunisation records so if you have not provided us with these could you do so as soon as possible .
Thank you all for your help, if there is anything you are unsure of please ask me or the staff in your child's room,

Jeanine

Flood

Dear Parents,
You are all aware of the terrible flooding that occurred in January in Queensland, but for those of you who were on holidays during this time you may not be aware of the response by our children to this tragedy. Students were very keen to find out more about floods and learn of what happened to the people who lived in this area.

Jack O’Brien from Langley room felt compelled to make a difference and decided to collect some money to send to the Queensland Premier. With the help of his teachers he decorated a box and put it on display just past the lobby doors, and then, leading by example, emptied the entire contents of his money box into the donation box.

We will be finalising Jack’s fundraising initiative at the end of next week. Please feel free to help your child add a gold coin donation to the box above the flood display just through the lobby doors any day next week.
Thankyou
On behalf of Jack

In The Classrooms

Langley
Welcome back for Term 1, 2011! We have had many new children join us in the Langley room this week and our older Langley children have welcomed them with open arms and are helping them settle into classroom life. To celebrate Chinese New Year, the children have been practicing using chopsticks and we have been looking at the Chinese Dragon and recreating images at the easel. We have also begun our investigations around our Unit of Inquiry, Noiseworks. We have been looking at different ways we can create sound and noise. Felix discovered he could create a drum with the pots and pans and chopsticks!
“I’m making a drum, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra!” he cried.
“Welcome my show. It’s my drums I’m playing, her it comes” he added.
Many of the other children came and joined Felix and created their own sounds. We look forward to a noisy term of investigation!
Kind regards,
Jess, Kerry and Jennifer

Mead
Dear Mead Parents,
The children have done a fantastic job for their first week in the Mead Room. They have settled in with very few hiccups and seem to be enjoying the challenges that come with moving up to the 3 Year Old room!! We have sung many songs, played getting to know you games and had many free choice activities. A popular attraction has been the computers - we have two in our room, with age appropriate programs and games, and these have generated great excitement. We look forward to a busy, happy and interesting term ahead.
Best wishes,
Emma, Susan and Emma
Cooper
Welcome back to all the Cooper families! Everyone was pleased to return to Cooper Room this week and the children quickly set about exploring the room, catching up with friends they hadn't seen over the break and telling us all about Christmas and their holidays. The children were particularly fascinated by the large Chinese dragon mask displayed in the glass case outside our room - they were full of questions about it and keen to create their own. We selected bright papers, patty pans, bottle tops and various other collage materials and the children made their dragon heads on paper plates.

"That one’s bright and colourful" said Deacon pointing to the mask display, "mine’s not. It’s going to be scary one… I’m gonna use some of these bottle lids."

Fergus was busy sticking on bottle tops, "I’m making lots of scales, mine brother wants lots of scales" he said.

Some of the children chose to represent the dragon in paintings. Tom described his painting, "It’s a dragon and those are fireworks" he said splattering the paper with fluorescent pink paint. On Thursday in Chinese the children showed Lao Shi their creations and discussed the traditions and festivities of Chinese New Year with her. There was great excitement in the room about this celebration - "Yay, it's Chinese New Year" exclaimed Zac, "Happy New Year everyone!"
Kind regards,
Ali and Susan

Chapple
Welcome to the Chapple Room for 2011! We have had a fantastic and busy start to the term. We learnt about Chinese New Year and Lao Shi our Chinese teacher told us the story about the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. We made colourful Chinese lanterns and blew paint onto black card to create beautiful fireworks. We have been making lots of wonderful noises for our Noiseworks unit and have especially enjoyed listening to music on headphones and drumming, tapping, clapping and even singing to the beat! We loved listening to the rain-stick and making light and heavy rain sounds by turning it slowly and quickly. We are looking forward to exploring more sounds and noises next week!
Warm regards,
Suria, Sinead, Ciara and Sue
Edgerley
Dear parents,Welcome back to Edgerley class for 2011. The term certainly got off to a busy start as children jumped right into our “Nosieworks” unit, investigating the different types of bells at the bell table. We wanted to investigate how bells make noises and looked very closely at the varied shapes.

“They hit together and so it spins” said Jamison, describing the single cymbal bell

“It rings like that because it has a whacker. The whacker whacks it, it’s hitting the wall (inside the bell)” said Eddie, explaining how the Indian prayer bell worked

“These have balls inside, you have to shake it and then it makes noise” said Alex, describing how to use the sleigh bells

“It goes right on his neck, he don’t have hands so he push it, he wobbles it and it goes ding ding” explained James as he swung his shoulders side to side, displaying how a cow would use a cow bell

Please Return Portfolios

Dear Parents,
Can you please return student portfolios to the classrooms as soon as possible, we hope you enjoyed sharing them with your child during the Christmas break.
Kind regards
Mel

Signing in and out

Please make sure you sign your child in and out each day ! This is a legal and safety requirement . It is checked by our licensing body and is used to count our children in emergencies,

Thanks