Edgerley Room

Some of the Edgerley children discovered that many of the recyclables that had been brought into the room still in fact had a residual smell. Often they would bring a container or a bottle and share the smell with the teacher. So the Edgerley teachers created a table where the children could ‘Guess the smell.’

Fletcher and Athan had a wonderful time experiencing the table and all the 14 smells in the bottles. They also recorded their guesses on a table by writing letters, numbers and drawing pictures that helped them remember the smells.

Fletcher excitedly expressed to Athan, “It’s like what you put on sushi (soy sauce). But Number 3, I don’t know what this flavour is.”

“Smell this – see if you remember that one,” Athan held up a

bottle to Fletcher’s nostrils.

“This one, number 4, I had it but I can’t remember where. I had it on something before but I can’t remember,” Athan referred to the cinnamon.

Fletcher confidently said, “Ah ha – I know what this is – it is a type of medicine – it’s like strawberry or raspberry.” In fact he was smelling the vanilla extract. “This is what you put on top of chicken to cook – it’s a really nice flavour. When you make tacos you put it on chicken. It’s really nice,” Fletcher was smelling the cumin.

Fletcher said, “I know what this is, I have it in a cup at home – it’s hot chocolate. Smell it Athan.” The boys continued to share the bottles.

“Yeah, it smells like hot chocolate,” Athan agreed as he smelt the cocoa. “Number 7, it’s nice but it smells like chewy gums.”

“It’s like cordial – number 8,” Fletcher added.

Athan held up the mint sauce. “This one’s nice but Fletcher doesn’t like it. Number 10 – that’s mint.”

Fletcher kept going back to the soy sauce all throughout the investigations. He obviously loved it. “This is a kind of special oil – for sushi. You put it on it, it’s really nice. I love it soooo much.”

There was then some confusion over number 3, the vanilla. “It’s medicine,” Fletcher was convinced.

“No, I have it on my food, but I can’t remember,” Athan sat there wondering for a few moments. “It goes 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 8, 7, - we need to move it so it’s right.

Where’s number 10? Oh, here’s number 10. Move that one forward, move that forward – that goes after that one,” Athan was concerned that the bottles were getting out of order. “Help me Fletcher.” The boys took a moment to set up all the bottles in the right order again, checking constantly with each other.

“What’s in there?” Athan help up number 14 to Fletcher. It was a spray of Mrs Baird’s perfume. “How can you smell something when there’s nothing in there?”

Fletcher was deep in thought, “That smells like… something I don’t know. Have you had a smell of this Mrs Baird?” Fletcher was back to his delicious smelling soy sauce. “It’s so delicious.”

“I’m not sure about the number 11. It’s disgusting. We’ve got to look in the book to get answers and ideas,” Fletcher started opening the books on display and sharing the contents with Athan.

Athan smelt the fish sauce and curled up his nose, “It’s so different.”

Fletcher agreed, “Oh, I don’t like that one. Oh, this one, it’s a nice smell. It’s like a spray for your armpits. Armpits!!” Fletcher started giggling.

“That’s what my daddy uses sometimes. Not all the time,” Athan admitted. Athan was looking at the order of the bottles again. “Problem, does it go: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8?”

Fletcher laughed again, “Some people got it wrong!”

The boys were giggling at the incorrect number order as they corrected it.

Easter Celebrations

The ELC  celebrated Easter today, first of all with a wonderful parade of Easter Bonnets that parents and children had worked hard to create.  We then listened to Mrs Cooper tell us the story of Easter's origins and explain why we celebrate  Easter with eggs. We then had a visit from the Easter Bunny who had hopped in and left us some eggs to search for in the playground !

Our day was topped off with yummy Hot Cross Buns that Mr Rob had left !

Have a wonderful safe Easter Break everyone !

ELC Team

Grandies Day 2013

Grandies Day 2013 was a wonderful celebration with our much loved Grandies! Thank you all so much for coming and making our event such a fantastic success! The children were so excited to perform our concert and to share their learning environment with so many Grandies. The morning tea was a delicious culmination of such a special time. A big thank you to Mrs Annie Antonas for making such amazing cupcakes and to our Mr Rob who once again made fabulous scones. We hope you had a superb morning!

Grandparents

Gentle, good natured, soft hearted and grand,

Rising always with a smile and a warm helpful hand.

Admired and regarded as knowledgeable and wise,

Nurturing their grandchildren to reach for the skies.

Delight in showing pictures for everyone to see!

Always telling stories of how things used to be,

Reading books, playing games or listening patiently.

Easy going, easy living, enjoying life’s pleasures,

Noticing that long life brings so many treasures.

Truly grandparents are wonderful in so many ways,

Special people who always seem to brighten our days.

In the classrooms

Edgerley

Dear Edgerley Families,

What a week! We have been extremely concerned with so many issues in our world that affect our environment. Some of the children decided to take matters into their own hands and sit at the writing table to write some very important letters to people in the world.

Alex wrote a letter to the Environment telling it that he wanted the animals to have a new home.

Cooper wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Australia telling her that “We need to clean up the world because it’s too dirty and there is too much rubbish.”

Alyssa has written to Mr Andary telling him to stop using rubbish.

Rocco wrote a letter to his parents thanking them for “picking up all your rubbish at the Rubbish Dump” and “You are helping all the animals, you are recycling and that is really, really helpful” – thank goodness for the Rositano Family!

Lily wrote “To the lady in charge of Australia, its Julia Gillard.” Lily explained her concerns about the smoke and how “the animals will die if we don’t turn it off.”

William wrote to his dad questioning how he will help the Environment He also gave him some advice on how to use his computer and car effectively.

Jacob wrote to the Prime Minister about “all the rubbish left on the ground is killing all the animals – I want it all to stop happening!”

We will be sending these letters to the recipients in the hope that we hear back. Check out our classroom door for copies of our letters. We are so proud of our Edgerley children for taking action!

THE highlight of the week was our trip to the Metro Waste Dump. As Rocco said, we are all thankful for what the Rositano Family do to help our Environment by recycling. On our excursion we got to see the workers sorting the rubbish, the excavator piling up the bricks and concrete, all the different bins and really big trucks coming and going. We all got our own fluro yellow safety vests and safety glasses and even a hat! It was all so exciting and we learnt so much! We now know where our recyclables go and how they are sorted ready to be reused and made into something else. We got to bring back a chest of rubbish to sort in our classroom.

We are very much looking forward to Grandies Day next week! Keep up the awesome effort helping our Environment Edgerley Children – you are doing so much!

Coney, Juliana and Katherine

 

Chapple

Dear Chapple Room Parents and Friends,

As part of our unit of inquiry, My Family Album, and as part of our Grandies Day preparation, we have been discussing the concept of family roles and grandparents. Here are some of our ideas about our Grandies.

My grandparents have a big brothers. They're called Melieka. Oh, Nanny Diane and Pa Gary.' Izabella

I have golden hair you know. I don't have two grandparents. I have Nanny. That's Mummy's mummy. Eden

My grandparents are called Granny and Grandad and Gran. I go to their house and sometimes I go to Granny's flat. William

I have nanny and poppy. They're the only grandparents I have. They're Mummy's parents. They do lots of things and Poppy sometimes lets me stag at work. Oscar

Some children are quite confused, and tell me that their grandparents are called Mummy and Daddy. It's an interesting concept to explore.

We are also in need two parent helpers to help with the book sales and serving the scones. Please let me know if you can help.

Have a fabulous weekend and a safe and happy Easter!

Chapple Room Team

Cooper

Dear Parents and Friends of the Cooper Room,

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and blast off! We are heading to space. Following on from the interest of a small group the Cooper children have built a spaceship to take off to space and explore the planets and the moon.

“Let’s go to the moon,” said Jackson

“We will need a rocket,” added Max

“The moon is a long way away,” said Liam nodding

“You need oxygen tanks so you can breathe,” said Hudson “like the astronauts.”

“We need a helmet too,” suggested Jack “ See like this one” (pointing to the astronaut in a book)

“It’s very dangerous in space,” said Kristian

“It is dark in space,” said Jarrah pointing to a picture of the moon.

Throughout the week the children have used teamwork to build their rocket and find a helmet and a space suit to wear. The children are also working on some very important skills to share the rocket and take turns flying in the rocket. The excited audience waits in anticipation as the rocket gets ready for the count down and then blasts off into space.

What will they find?

Where will they go?

Will PAC be the first ELC to land on the moon?

That really will be one small step for us and a giant leap for our school!

Over from the moon! Coral and Susan

Mead

Dear Parents and Friends,

The children in the Mead Room have found it fascinating to explore the bird kit from the Nature Education Centre. We have been discussing where birds live and what they need to keep alive and healthy. The kit is full of taxidermy brids, skeletons, eggs, nest and other curios. The dialogue shows the way the children are discussng and helping each other learn so much about birds.

Harry M: Was dat called?

Miss A: Quail eggs

Harry M: Oooh

Charlotte: What do birds eat?

Harry M: Seeds

James S: Birds eat seeds!

Charlotte: How do the birds go in trees?

Harry M: Fly! Wiv wings!

Charlotte: Do dese have bones in dem?

Miss A: Yes (showing Charlotte the skull)

James S: I love d’ wainbow worrikeet!

Tom M: Dis one (magpie) has d’ longest beak, longer den all d’ others. An’ dis one( starling) is d’ smallest in d’ whole bird kit.

James S: I like dese birds

Charlotte: I like dese birds too.

James S: Be careful wiv dese. Where’s d’ barn owl? Oooooh, dis barn owl is weally heavy. What’s inside d’ barn owl?

Miss A.: What do you think is inside?

James S: Bones!

(James lines up the birds) All d’ birds.

Toby comes over.

James S : Be careful Toby, don’t step on dem. Its’ all my favourite birds… I have six. The wainbow wollikeet say to d’ magpie. “You can’t have my feeders!” An d’ magpie says “I have enough feeders.”

Our children have been busy creating nests with collage materials, looking at seeds, enjoying bird walks up to the Prep School and talking more about bird features. Lots of busy learning!

Many Thanks,

Emma, Pip, Amelia

Langley

Dear Langley families and friends,

This week the Langley children went for a walk up to the big school. We went looking for leaves to recycle for our artist endeavours. First we looked in the boarding house garden under the large gum trees and found some strings of bark that had fallen to the ground along with some small leaves. Then Mr. Tye pulled up in his tractor and we asked him if he knew where we could find some large leaves.

He told us to go to the top of the oval, so we had a running race with Miss Kerry to see who could get to the big pile of oak leaves first. We found huge crunchy leaves for our art work. On our way back some of the children had noticed something else on the oval.

"Look at the rubbish," said Jack.

"Is messy," Angelina stated.

Lachlan said with concern, "we should pick it up."

We talked with the children about how we should put our rubbish in the bin and that we would go for another walk to the big school we will collect some rubbish and place it in the correct bins for recycling. The children are showing a keen interest in caring for their environment.

Best wishes,

Kerry, Nicole, Emily, Hayley and Jess

                              

Parent Teacher Interviews

Classroom teachers will be holding parent teacher interviews after school on Wednesday 3rd April and Thursday 4th April. Please see Jeanine if you would like to make a time to have a chat with your child's teacher.

Easter Thursday

Next Thursday we will be holding our annual Easter Bonnet Parade and Easter Egg Hunt. Get creative and help your child to make a special Easter hat for the occasion. Children who do not normally attend on a Thursday are welcome to join us for the morning under the supervision of a parent. Our parade will commence at 10.30am followed by our Easter egg hunt (sssshhhh, it's a surprise for the children!). The morning will conclude by 11.30am.

Please note that the rest of the school will be finishing at 1pm on Easter Thursday. Although the ELC will be open until 6pm, the classroom teachers will be finishing in the classroom at 1pm at which time the coeducators will run the afternoon program. If your child will be finishing at 1pm on this day, can you please advise Jeanine early next week so that we can organise appropriate staffing for the afternoon.

Grandies Day Reminders

Don't forget our Grandies Day next Wednesday 27th March. For catering purposes, if you or your grandies have not yet RSVP'd to Jeanine can you please do so as soon as possible. Our morning will commence at 8.30am and conclude at 10.30am. If your child does not normally attend the ELC on a Wednesday, they are more than welcome to join us for the morning (in casual clothes please) under the supervision of a Grandie who they will then leave with at 10.30am. We have been very busy practicing for our concert and preparing our art gallery and are looking forward to welcoming our Grandies to our ELC!

Annual Leave

I will be away on Annual Leave next week and Mrs Jess Catt will manage the centre in my absence . Please see her for any enquiries or concerns.  Could you also please forward your replies for Grandies Day to Jess.

Jeanine

Easter Eggs

As we have children in the centre with severe nut allergies we are asking parents to please refrain from sending edible food treats (chocolate, sweets etc) in for Easter.  We will do our usual egg hunt on the Thursday before Easter so that the children enjoy this special time but will make sure that we purchase nut free chocolate.

ELC Team

Edgerley Room

Dear Edgerley Families and Friends,

The Edgerley children have become quite environmentally aware – thanks to you and the connections we are making between what we are discovering in the ELC and what we are doing at home. Thank you all for your valuable input into helping your child understand what you do at your homes to help our environment. Our show and tell times this week were a real highlight and we loved looking at the posters and listening to all your ideas and advice.

We have enjoyed making music from recycled plastic containers and glass jars and bottles. Cooper, Toby and Angus could be heard having a chat, although just barely!
“Make it louder! Try to practice it! So loud the music!!” yelled Cooper, encouraging his mates Toby and Angus.
“Doesn’t sound like music to me, just sounds like noise,” Angus contradicted.
Toby added, “The noise ones are loud!”

“We’re going to build music. You gotta practice making the loud noise,” Cooper pointed to the musical notes and the scores on the wall. “Make it louder!”

The boys were in full swing when Angus interrupted, “Stop the music! Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow down.”
Toby piped in, “Would you like to hear this music? C’mon keep making it!”
“We’ve gotta mix up the music,” again Cooper encouraged his friends.
Angus wanted to try something new, “I’m using beans to make it loud.”

Cooper pointed to the score again, “We’re on the number 3 one now. It’s sounds awesome to me.”

Please come in and make some music! We would love to hear it.

This week we excitedly look forward to visiting the Rubbish Dump where we hope to discover more and more about the world of rubbish and how we can help make our world a cleaner place.


Katherine , Juliana and Coney

Chapple Room

Dear Chapple Room Parents and Friends,

We are slowly beginning to focus on pre-writing skills, with lots of fun activities to promote fine motor development. At this age and stage, we do not expect children to be able to correctly hold a pen or pencil. The focus in Chapple Room is to strengthen and encourage pre-writing skills. This week we are using the chopsticks to manipulate magnetic shapes and letters. We are also exploring how to use the etcha-sketch/magnadoodle, which everyone is enjoying. Last week we used the pin boards and the tap tap to encourage fine motor manipulation and movement. Many children at this age still hold their writing implements with the fist grip, and may hold a paint brush at the very end. This is completely normal. We encourage children to participate and enjoy any writing/painting activity, rather than focus on the correct grip. If you are looking for any activities to do at home to further develop your child's fine motor skills, here are some suggestions.
1. Dot painting using ear buds 
2. Use tongs to select food during dinner time- cutlery should also be used competently, rather than fingers/hands
3. Use chopsticks to pick up small objects
4. Any sensory play, such as gloop, playdough, finger painting etc
5. Use tweezers to manipulate objects
A great website with more activities is otplan.com, which has quite an extensive list of prew-writing games.
Always remember to enjoy this phase of your child's development and try not to worry or pressure them.
Have a lovely weekend.
Chapple Room Team

Cooper Room

Dear Cooper Room Families,

What an adventure we had today! We caught the bus up the Parade to visit the kind fire crew at Beulah Park Fire station. The children were so excited to look for all the things they been investigating about firemen and fire engines.. After a fun ride, hailing the bus and riding up past the oval and the shops, the children discovered how to ring the bell and let the driver know they were ready to get off the bus.

Ray met us outside and then toured us through the station. We watched one of the crew get dressed in his fire safety gear – gloves, helmet, jacket, boots, torch, safety alarm, smoke mask and pants. It looked really heavy and hot under all the gear but we discovered that none of his skin was able to be touched by the fire. Then it was time to tour the station and see the kitchen, sleeping areas and recreation areas as the station is manned 24 hours a day. Outside the children shared all their ideas of the things they thought we may see on a fire engine. What a list they came up with ! Slowly Ray and his crew found all the items: hoses, ladders, lights, axe, hammer, water, steering wheel, helmets and places to sit. All the children eagerly climbed aboard to take a peek inside and sit in one of the seats high above the road. No trip to the fire station would be complete without a turn at blasting the hoses ! Everyone lined up and held on tight as they were shown how to turn the hose on and off and aim it at some orange cones. What fun it was blasting the recycled water at the garden! When the firemen turned the hose pressure up we looked to the sky to see a shooting stream of water, which would be high enough to reach the top of many buildings and it showered down all over us! We were wet but what a blast ! With the visit nearly finished we lined up to see the flashing lights and hear the warning sirens !

18 new fire recruits ready to enrol !!  A special thank you to all the parents and grandparents for joining us for the morning.

Kind regards

Susan and Coral

Mead Room

Dear Friends and Families,

This week the children have extended  their interest in gardening and have spent some time planting beans and a range of different herbs in our veggie patch. They have engaged all their senses as they have dug, watered, smelt the leaves and planted all the different plants. The interactions and shared discussions highlight the way children are learning through active engagement  with each other and when play is purposeful.

Tom: We’re gonna plant them

Jock: Oh but no rain!

James: I want a green shovel

Tom: It’s a bit hard for me (digging)

Olympia: Ohhh, a bit of dirt on me

Tom: I’m going to grow some food

Olympia: I’m going to grow these flowers

David: Look at these holes!

Tom: It smells like yum (lemon thyme)  If I see anyone pulling out my plant I will say no don’t pull out my plant because we don’t pull out plants do we?

Tom: All the basil’s falling apart when I’m pinching the roots.

Olympia: Mint.. have a smell of it! They smell fresh.

Dougal: I’m digging where James throws the worms.. Worms help the plants to grow. I dug a big hole! Now what do we need to do?

Olympia: Water!

Kind Regards,

Emma, Pip and Amelia

Langley Room

Dear Langley Family and Friends,

Many of the Langley children have taken a keen interest in the alphabet recently. They have been identifying and recognising letters in the environment and have been experimenting with creating letters using chalk in the outside environment. To support this interest we have begun a small literacy project with a focus on letters. This week the children have been using wooden letters to create images in play dough. This has sparked many interesting conversations about letters as children share their existing knowledge. Some children are able to identify letters that are familiar to them such as the first letter of their name and other family members. Other children have been exploring the letters by creating imprints in the play dough and asking adults to identify them. We will continue to explore letters and writing next week as we further experiment with the formation of letters, identify them in our environment and look at different forms and uses for writing.

Best wishes,

Jess, Kerry, Nicole, Sarah and Emily

Head Lice

There has been a case of head lice reported within the centre . Please check your children and treat them if necessary.(repeat after 7 days) Information will be available on the cupboard inside the first set of double doors.