Angwin #2

What a wonderful start to our new unit we had this week. Angwin children kicked off the week observing a machine in action as they juiced fruit with an electric juicer. We followed this up by taking a music box apart together in class and discovered that machines have all sorts of things inside that work together to make them go. We thought about what we knew about machines.

“Chocolate makes a machine” giggled Rachel

“You can’t make a chocolate into a machine, but you can make a chocolate with a hot chocolate machine” explained Sujay

“Some machines help us if we are late to cook something” said Arwyn, describing a microwave

“A tractor is a machine” said Allegra

“It can help you do, make things faster” explained Anthony

“It needs electric to work” said Lucille

“It needs wires and pipes” said Harvey

“It needs petrol in the fan engine” said Arwyn

“It needs buttons” suggested Joe M

After spending the week exploring the inside of machines we finished off by trying to juice oranges without a machine. Anthony was right, the machine was much faster… and easier.

This week we were also interested in rock and roll guitars and Mrs Rocca supported our interest by playing an ACDC concert videoclip on the computer. Lots of children rushed to the block corner for long blocks to use as guitars and took great pleasure in imitating Angus’ rock and roll moves. Tommy even showed us how he could do a rock and roll jump off a chair. It was thrilling but we decided not to do it anymore because it made our teachers too nervous!

Angwin Airlines continued to fly passengers around the globe this week, with tours becoming more and more complex. We are going to start plotting some of the places we have flown in real life on a map next week so please feel free to email Mrs Bishop (mbishop@pac.edu.au) a snap or two from any destinations you have visited and they can join Autumn's Falls Creek photos on the wall.

We now have a new sign in sheet for children to record their names on the desk outside our classroom, but please don’t forget to officially sign your child in every morning as usual. We are on the lookout for any additional machines or appliances that you no longer need that we could deconstruct in our classroom and are also looking for any shoe boxes (with or without lids).

Thanks

Mel, Alexandra, Coney, Faye and Louise

Mead

Dear Mead Room families,

We are very excited to welcome back Kartik from his sojourn in India!  He shared an exquisite bejewelled elephant with us;

Kartik – It has a trunk and I brought it from India. I didn’t see one but I know they were there.

William – There’s a rider for the people (a place for a person to sit)

Charlie L – It has jewels

Zoe – Maybe these things are decorations

Charlie B – There’s mirrors too

We wished Zoe a very Happy Birthday! She turned 4 on Thursday! Ned, William, Kartik and Addison made Zoe a birthday cake with a multitude of candles.

Zoe – I got presents from Mummy and Daddy, a Dusty!

We had a few amazing days in the winter sunshine.  William, Charlie L, Braxton and Max made soup in our Mud Kitchen, utilising exotic ingredients from our outdoor environment.

To begin our Unit of Inquiry William shared a machine from home, a machine that cooks rice.  This prompted the children to share examples of machines they have at home:

Lachlan – Popcorn machine

Charlie B – mine makes coffee

Noah – Juice machine

Banjo – a lawnmower

We had a close inspection of our first example of a machine….. we are looking forward to using machines and pulling machines apart!

Jack Woodrow is still in Japan, attending Niida Kindergarten, にいだこども園, in Akita.  He

and his class went on an excursion to harvest potatoes, its very hot at the moment, around 35 degrees so they are  being very sunsmart!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Melissa and Jain

Cooper

Dear Cooper Room families,

It has been a great first week in the Cooper room with the children. Cris and I have loved getting to know each of the children. Each day we are finding out more and more about the children’s strengths and interests.

The children have particularly enjoyed engaging in imaginative play with other Cooper friends in the large boat in the sandpit outside. These have included sailing in the ocean and almost getting eaten by a shark and going fishing over the side of the boat!  

The chickens have been another popular area in the outside yard, with many of the children wanting to go inside the cage and feed the chickens.

It has been lovely to see the children creating new friendships with each other especially with the Cooper friends who are new to the Early Learning Centre. 

Kind Regards,

Maddie and Cris

Angwin

Dear Angwin Parents and Friends,

We have settled back into Angwin life very quickly and have been having lots of fun exploring our unit, Marvellous Machines. 

We have had some birthdays (and cupcakes), made orange juice with a machine, made play dough by hand and explored deconstructing machines with screw drivers and tools. The class is continuing to show an interest in planes and we have used this interest to make models and learn more about these marvellous machines. Next week we explore machines that make play dough, kitchen tools and continue to look at planes.

So far, we have defined machines as; things that help us, things that make things easier and things that do things quicker.

We have had some school clothes go missing from lockers over the last few weeks, so please check your child’s clothing to make sure it belongs to the right child!

In support of the Hutt Street Centre, we will be having our own Walk a Mile in My Boots event on Tuesday 4^th August at 9:15am. The staff and children will walk up to and around the top oval and back. The children are asked to bring in a gold coin donation to support Hutt St Centre’s work.

Please also welcome Mrs Satin Kaur - a student teacher who will be working with us across Term Three on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Thanks,

Angwin Team 

Walk a Mile in My Boots

Click here for information regarding the ELC fundraiser for the Hutt Street Centre "Walk a Mile in my Boots". 

Edgerley

Dear Edgerley Families and Friends,

It has been a fun week settling into the new classroom and getting to know the children. They have appeared to all be settled and enjoying their new environment.

The children have been busy building constructions with a variety of blocks and boxes. Play dough has been popular with all sorts of creations, even a robot land. It has been nice to see the family photos from the Cooper room being revisited and shared amongst each other.

The children have started to explore different machines through pulling them apart and discovering what is inside. They have enjoyed the process of manipulating the tools and finding the different parts.

“I can’t get it out! But I just screwed it back in.” –Sylas

“This is how you make it.” –Ollie

“Where’s a big screwdriver?” – Mateo

“Can you hold this and then I’ll screw it?” –Mateo

“The screws go in there.” –Lucas

“You can turn the screwdriver and the screws come out.” –Stefan

“You know how I put the screws in…I just popped them in.” –Stefan

We would love any donations of old or broken machines that the children could pull apart.

Please remember to bring a library bag for our Wednesday library session.

Have a lovely weekend!

Emma, Emma and Ty

Chapple

Dear Chapple Families and friends

Welcome back to Term 3. The children have enjoyed our start to the development of early literacy.

They have slithered, surfed and snaked their way through their first sound “S”.

They have practised their letter formation with our sound collage picture.

We have sorted “S” sounds and made patterns with them.

 We have sown seeds in shoes (We will continue with this activity if anyone has any more old shoes to bring in.)

We performed the play of “ The Old Woman who lived in a Shoe.”

We also made a living graph to decide on the names of our chickens.

Chapple Room

Correction!

 

Please see below for the correct address for Festival City Photography if you are wanting to view and/or purchase photos from recent ELC events.

http://www.festivalphoto.com.au

 

Mattingley

Dear Mattingley friends and families,

Week three of the Winter program has been busy. On Monday the children had the opportunity to have crazy hair! With red, yellow and blue hair spray, glitter, gel and hair bands the children had some unique hairstyles! The middle of the week brought us rain clouds so we went to the Red Centre to keep dry and have a run. We found some thick rope as long as the basketball court which was great for pulling, dragging and flicking. We even had a tug of war! You’ll have to ask your child who was the winner… the girls or the boys? Friday was our pyjama day and what a cosy way to end the week. The children looked so comfortable drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and eating popcorn with a movie was a relaxing way to end the week.

Monday is still part of the Winter program term commences on Tuesday 21st, we welcome Miss Mason back then. Please double check that all clothing has your child’s name on. A few jumpers have faded names on where they have been washed, please ensure they are easily visible.

Love Miss Bowden and Miss Chloe

 

Angwin

Dear Angwin families and friends,

The winter holidays have come and gone in a flash and before we know it, another Term begins again.

The school break has given the children attending the ELC a lot of opportunities for learning and fun with some of the extra activities we were fortunate to have.

Indoors, the children have continued exploring their creative talents as they construct mini dinosaur lands for their favorite species. Although the T-Rex is the king of all the dinosaurs, the children explored ideas about flying and swimming ones.

"Pterodactyls are cool because they can fly high and swoop down", shared Elliot.

"Brachiosaurus is not very scary like the T-Rex", added Felix.

Apparently, dinosaurs really like coconuts so the children covered their homes with lots and lots of pinecones! and lots of mobile Transformers lurking everywhere too! 

Inspired by children's current holiday trips, our Airport is back due to public demand.

There's been a lot of discussions about what and what not to do when you are flying.

"This paper tells you that you can't smoke on the plane. It's not allowed my Daddy said", explained Sujay.

"If you book this resort in Fiji, you get to go to the beach and spend time relaxing", Allegra suggested.

"Mrs. Rocca, you can't take your dog with you, because it's going to be two dollars and that's expensive", Rachel commented.

You definitely can't go wrong with the service in Angwin, because they only offer first class bookings and they also give you shopping money! How good is that! A holiday is in order we believe.

If you have your boarding passes and anything related to travelling, we are happy to incorporate them in our Airport Dramatic play area.

For NAIDOC Week, we explored various literature celebrating the works of Indigenous people. We revisited the story of the Rainbow Serpent and some other literature from different Aboriginal Countries of Australia. The children explored various symbols used in Aboriginal Art and made connections to the recent Indigenous Art Incursions we had at the ELC.

The children have also been spending a lot of time outdoors whether playing ball games, totem tennis, serving yummy mudpies or just checking on our  chooks.

We baked cupcakes and cookies to go along with our special afternoon stories. Yoga has been a favourite as well. Check out youtube clips feature "Cosmic Yoga Kids". It is exercise and entertainment rolled in one and perfect for some downtime at home.

Here's the like for your perusal https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

On Friday, the children came in their pyjamas and onesies for a good cause. That is to help raise funds for children in Foster care. The children engaged in discussion about who these children are and had their questions and comments.

"Why do they not have mummies and daddies?- Angus

"Are they at work?"- Arwyn

"Maybe their mummies and daddies are not there"- Oscar

"I'm getting my coins and bring them to school!- Valentina

Thank you to the  families that have extended support on this special cause. Your help is greatly appreciated.

We are looking forward to what Term 3 brings and  have Mrs Bishop and Mrs Shmidt back.

Mrs Rocca and Ms Faye

Langley

Dear Langley Families and Friends

This week we have been very busy in the Langley room.

Throughout the week we enjoyed some outside fun, playing with the trucks, building big train tracks, making sandcastles and much more.

Tuesday the children did some cooking. We made some yummy ham and cheese pizzas, which we enjoyed at afternoon tea time.

Crazy hair day extended over a couple of days where the children had their hair styled in crazy ways and with different colours and glitter spray. We also had a beauty day and painted our nails.

We were lucky enough to have a special visit from a big tipper truck on Friday morning. The children got to climb up into it, beep the horn and the drivers showed us how the back tray tips up.

Being the last week of holidays we have had to say goodbye to some of our friends who will be moving up to the Cooper room next term. We have enjoyed the time you have spent with us in the Langley room and will miss you all but we will be sure to wave hello over the fence J

Our new friends have been visiting throughout the holidays and it has been such a joy to get to know them all and their families. We look forward to spending more time with them in the coming term.

Enjoy your weekend.

Miss Brooke, Miss Renee and Miss Emily

xox

 

Pyjamas and Onesies for a Cause at PAC ELC!

The children and staff at PAC ELC went all out to raise money for children in Foster Care through a Pyjama Foundation Fundraising Event. Everyone came in their favourite snuggly pyjamas and onesies with beaming faces and lovely grins.

So far, we have raised $160 dollars from your gold coin donations.

We would like to thank all the children and their families as well as the staff for their support towards this cause. We believe that today, we made a difference in  the lives of less fortunate children in foster care and gave our children the opportunity to be caring and socially aware little citizens of their community no matter how small it is.

Thank you and more power.

Coney

On behalf of PAC ELC