SEPTEMBER 2016
3 OCTOBER
Public Holiday (Kindy closed)
8 NOVEMBER Kindy 1 Graduation 9 NOVEMBER Kindy 2 Graduation 10 NOVEMBER Kindy 3 Graduation 18 NOVEMBER Kindy Christmas Celebration
“Nothing lights up a child’s brain like play.” — DR STUART BROWN —
Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline 1B – A Kindergarten child who has a strong sense of identity acts with increasing independence and perseverance. Children who have a strong sense of identity are building a sense of trust and security, acts with increasing independence and perseverance and are building a confident self-identity. These children have the ability to make choices, perseverance when tyring new and challenging tasks and self-organisation of their own belongings. As our Kindy children are approaching prep for next year, an important factor for children to transition to the next stage in their schooling is their sense of identity and independence. In term 4 our Kindy children will start to do transition visits to the prep classrooms and our Kindy teachers will be preparing the Kindy children for this transition though discussions in the classroom. Below are points on how parents can prepare their Kindy child for Prep :
HILLCREST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE EARLY LEARNING COMMUNITY LONG DAY CARE / KINDY 21 Bridgman Drive REEDY CREEK Q 4227 PO Box 2503 BURLEIGH WATERS Q 4220
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Encourage your child to carry their own bag to and from Kindy.
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Encourage your child to pack their own bag in the morning or night before for Kindy.
07 5593 4226 hillcrest.qld.edu.au
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Encourage your child to dress themselves each morning.
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Encourage your child to unpack their bag each morning when they arrive at Kindy by taking out their lunch box, putting their drink bottle in the drink basket and getting their own hat out of their bag.
kindy@hillcrest.qld.edu.au
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Follow daily routines e.g. meal times, play times, story time, bed time.
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Ensure your child eats nutritional meals and has a regular bed time to promote health.
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Encourage your child to eat, drink and use the toilet by themselves.
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Read to your child daily to practice concentration and early reading behaviours.
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Speak positively about the transition to Prep; ask your child what they are the most excited about, what they may be worried about, and any questions they may have.
HOURS OF OPERATION
6.30am – 6.00pm KINDY DIRECT LINE
5655 0910
Sourced from Kids Matter – Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative. www.kidsmatter.edu.au
HILLCREST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE KINDY CAPERS 2016 | 1
kindy news KINDY CLOSING DATES FOR CHRISTMAS / NEW YEAR As we have had a few parents inquiring about Kindy holidays over the Christmas / New Year period; please see below for our finishing dates.
“When a child
gives you a gift, even if it is a
rock they have
just picked up,
exclude gratitude. It may be the
only thing they
have to give and
they have chosen
to give it to you.” — DEAN JACKSON —
Children who are enrolled in the Kindy hour’s program in Miss Gately’s class will be finishing up at Kindy on Friday 25th November 2016, all other enrolled children will continue their enrolment under the long day care Kindy program. Our Kindy will close for the Christmas / New Year break from Thursday 22nd December 2016 and will reopen on Wednesday 4th January 2017. If your child is enrolled in the Kindy long day care program they will continue their enrolment at Kindy and will finish up on Friday 20th January 2017. Children will commence Prep on Tuesday 24th January 2017. If you would like your child to finish up at any time during the December / January period please give 2 weeks’ notice by email to Alicia with your child’s ending date.
SOME FRIENDLY REMINDERS •
CHILDREN’S HATS - Please ensure that your child has their hat each day they attend Kindy. With the warmer weather approaching it is imperative that all children are wearing hats during outdoor play.
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DRINK BOTTLES – Please ensure that your child has a drink bottle each day they attend Kindy.
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TOYS AT KINDY – We discourage children bringing toys to Kindy as sometimes these toys can get lost or broken. We have ample resources within our Kindy for children to access through their play experiences and ask that your child’s toys be kept at home. Show and Tell is an opportunity for children to bring an item of interest to discuss with their peers such as shells from a day the beach, pictures from a family holiday or things that our Kindy children may be discussing within their programs in their room. Parents are more than welcome to email pictures from your weekend through to your child’s teacher for show and tell.
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POLICY REVIEWS In the Kindy admin area the policies that are currently under review are: •
Policy – Sun Protection
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Policy – Water Safety
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Poisonous Plants
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Toilet and Hygiene Facilities
If you have any feedback or input into any of the above policies please let us know. We value and appreciate your feedback and contribution into our policies reviews.
HEAD LICE We have had a few cases of head lice of late within the Kindy. Can all Kindy parents please check your child to ensure that your child does not have any lice or eggs. If you do find eggs or lice you will need to treat your child’s hair. Please do not panic … head lice will be a problem from time to time and it is important we all work together to try and deal with them. As per our service policy we ask that your child remains at home until effective treatment has commenced and there are no live lice or eggs present. To assist in the treatment of head lice we ask that your child’s hat is washed weekly. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or Alicia if you have any questions and we will be more than happy to assist.
LUNCH BOXES Please ensure that your child has enough food each day for their full day at Kindy. If your child will be staying at Kindy past 4.30pm, please ensure you pack something extra for a late afternoon snack.
LIBRARY ROSTER Below is the library borrowing roster for term 4. Kindy have 3 allocated days at the library for children to visit - Monday, Thursday and Friday. If your child does not attend any of these days or due to the monthly schedule your child may miss out on library for a month, please know that parents are more than welcome to take your child to the library and borrow a book. Please note on the last two weeks of the roster that children will not be borrowing books as it is the end of year and all books need to be returned to the library by the end of term. The Kindy classes will still be visiting the library on these days for a story.
OCTOBER 2016 MONDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
3rd October – Public Holiday
6th Oct – Kindy 2
7th Oct – Kindy 3
10th Oct – Kindy 1
13th Oct – Kindy 2
14th Oct – Kindy 3
17th Oct – Kindy 1
20th Oct – Kindy 2
21st Oct – Kindy 3
24th Oct – Kindy 2
27th Oct – Kindy 3
28th Oct – Kindy 1
NOVEMBER 2016 MONDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
31st Oct – Kindy 2
3rd Nov – Kindy 3
4th Nov – Kindy 1
7th Nov – Kindy 2
10th Nov – Kindy 3
11th Nov – Kindy 1
14th Nov – Kindy 3
17th Nov – Kindy 1
18th Nov – Kindy 2
21st Nov – Kindy 3
24th Nov – Kindy 1
25th Nov – Kindy 2
“I love our Kindy
garden because I get
to water the flowers and rake up the leaves.”
— LACEY —
HILLCREST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE KINDY CAPERS 2016 | 3
kindy class news won a medal she would bring her brother in to show the class was gorgeous! We will be following the basketball while the Paralympics are on. It is wonderful to be able to expose the children to this as allow them to gain understanding and respect for people who are not as able bodied as they are. Showing them that everyone has the opportunities to live their dream regardless of age, physicality and gender..
KATIE MATHESON Early Childhood Teacher
KINDY 1 NEWS Throughout the last month we have seen a big interest in bugs and insects which has stemmed from our refurb of our garden. Throughout the month we have learnt lots about the various bugs and insects and the important role these have in our environment. We discussed when as we chop down trees and clear bushes to build our manmade structures like houses, schools and shops we are actually taking their natural homes away from them. Together we collaborated with the children about how we could make bugs feel at home here at Kindy. The children came up with a variety of ideas such as inviting them over for a party (Thomas), giving them food (Hope) and giving them somewhere to play (Hudson). We put all these ideas together and decided that a bug hotel would be a great option as it was a place for the bugs and insects to sleep, eat, play and party! We invited parents to contribute by building a bug hotel and were overwhelmed by support! Luca brought in our bug hotel that his father’s friend Al made! The children were ecstatic! Miss Katie painted the hotel with chalkboard paint and once dry the children have painted the bugs some beautiful pictures to make them feel welcome! We went on a little excursion around the school to collect some natural materials to furnish the hotel so the bugs and insects would feel most at home. The children are so excited to be able to explore, infer, predict and hypothesise to create a better understanding of the interdependence between the land, people, plants and animals in the environment. We have also looked at the Olympics and learnt about the various sports that are played. We also learnt about the Paralympics which we will be following very closely as Miss Cassie is going over to support her brother Matt who is representing Australia in the basketball. The children were curious about what the Paralympics were. Miss Cassie explained that the Paralympics are for people who have a disability such as no or little use of their legs, arms, eyes etc. The children were very intrigued. Miss Cassie explained that her brother couldn’t walk so he had a wheel chair. The children were eager to see how he would play basketball in a wheel chair so we put a video clip on you tube to demonstrate. The children were amazed! “What’s the rope on their legs for?” questioned Eloise. “It’s for holding them in” replied Lucas. Miss Cassie explained that they go so fast in their wheel chairs that sometimes they fall over and the rope is like a seat belt to keep them from falling out. The excitement on the children’s faces as Miss Cassie told them that if they 4 | HILLCREST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE KINDY CAPERS 2016
KINDY 2 NEWS Recently in the Kindy 2 room we have been focusing on sustainable practices as we explore ways that we can look after and preserve our environment. This stemmed from the interest in plants and trees after we made over the garden and planted seeds in our classroom. We spent time learning about the differences between natural and built environments and discovered that if we don’t look after our natural environments we can’t go to the shops and buy a new one! We explored the uses for trees such as creating paper, clothes, providing habitats for animals, helping us to breathe, as well as providing timber to build houses for people. In particular, we focussed on how trees are used for paper. “What about the animals though,” asked many of the children. “They need somewhere to live.” We began to explore how we can contribute to reducing the amount of trees that are used for paper as we looked at the concept of recycling. When they were told about recycling, the class showed how important they found this issue as they began to cheer and clap, saying “yay, we can help the animals!” We spent time exploring rubbish items that can and can’t be recycled and sorted pictures of rubbish items into little replica rubbish bins with yellow and green lids. We also introduced a recycling bin into the classroom and looked at the triangle recycling symbol that is found on rubbish items that can be recycled. The children have been very enthusiastic about finding this symbol on their lunch packaging and throwing these items into the recycling bin. We have been looking at other ways we can re-use items such as giving clothes away when we outgrow them, using plastic bottles to create table decorations and using jam jars to hold pencils on our collage trolley. During our focus we have started a compost, looked at landfill, pollution and how litter can make its way into waterways and affect our ocean life. We also had
the opportunity to learn about how long rubbish items take to break down and learnt that some items never fully breakdown! This has been a great exploration and the children have learnt lifelong skills as they become socially responsible and show respect for the environment. We then began to focus on learning about new physical activities and sports to coincide with the Olympics. We asked the children what sports they would like to learn about and also looked at the events in the Olympics day by day. We then went outdoors and put our skills to the test each day! Throughout this time the children were able to participate in long jump, high jump, running races, gymnastics, tight rope walking and tennis. We focussed on learning new skills, using our gross motor skills, turn taking and good sportsmanship.
ALANA HURST Early Childhood Teacher
shared. “I love being the big sister,” Saffi said. One day we gave the babies a lovely bath and washed their hair. “This one looks like you Kailin!” Geordie said. Over the past few weeks we have also been very focussed on embedding sustainable practices into our classroom. We watched a video clip of Charlie and Lola recycling, and this was the launching pad for our new recycling centre in the classroom. Every meal time the children discuss which parts of their rubbish they may be able to recycle or compost. We had an in depth investigation into worms, their life cycle and how they help the garden to grow. We have also re-used many of these items in our play and box construction and we are attempting to make our own recycled paper! Currently we are beginning an investigation into water pollution and the water cycle. Last Friday we did a very interesting experiment in which we ‘polluted’ the water with rubbish and oil. We tried our hardest to clean the water but it was still yucky! This highlighted the importance of disposing of our waste appropriately. “If you put rubbish in the water it goes yucky and makes the animals sick!” Xander informed us. We are looking into the possibility of ‘adopting’ a penguin for our class through Philip Island conservation, and look forward to continuing our investigations as we become good shepherds of the incredible world God created.
HOPE GATELY Early Childhood Teacher
KINDY 3 NEWS This month Kindy 3 have been engaging in a wide variety of play and learning activities; it is amazing and very exciting to think back on the year so far and observe just how much they have grown and learnt. With this growth has come the ability to confidently share interests, ideas, knowledge and questions, and to problem solve, identify how we can investigate the world around us, and how to resource our own learning. Through various lunch time conversations a number of children became very interested in babies early in the month. This lead to the designing and creation of a baby’s nursery in home corner. This began with Shylah, Jemma and Amelia working with Miss Gately and Miss Sasha to research exactly what babies need in their rooms. They found images on the computer and created some ‘vision boards’ for the play space. “In baby Kai’s room there is a cot, no pillows, teddies, shelves, a monitor, nappies, wipes, bottles and dummies,” Jemma informed us. Shylah added her knowledge of babies to the planning process also, “Some babies have beds with curtains around them and with big bows. They need couches, and cupboards, blankets, lights hanging, baby food, teddies and little blocks.” Amelia posed the very important question, “What about a nappy change area?” This play developed over several weeks with both boys and girls caring for the dolls. Malachi made a great Daddy as he nursed the babies and gave them a bottle. “I love the beautiful babies,” Kailin HILLCREST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE KINDY CAPERS 2016 | 5
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