Balcombe Pre-School Newsletter - Term 3 - 2015 by Magneto Design

N E W SL ETT ER Term 3 - 2015

WELCOME

To Term 3 Newsletter For 2015!

In This Issue: Presidents Report

Fundraising Report

4 Year Old Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Report

Seals & Sea Stars Photos

Lobsters, Dolphins & Penguins Photos

WORKING BEE DATES Help Needed! Come and lend a hand and make the kinder look great.

Sun 11 Oct 2015

THE TEACHERS

Jessie

Jessica

Kerri

Kellie

Natalie

Kristy

F R O M T HE PRESIDENT Term 3 - 2015

Hello everyone and I trust you are enjoying the Pre-School holidays with family and friends.

need help during the school breaks and parents are all too keen to put their hands up. Thank you.

Term 3 was always going to test us with the winter weather in full swing and more indoor activities for the teachers and coeducators to arrange. That said, there were clear skies on a number of days as the reflection reports described.

The activities that kept the groups on their learning path were great to read about each week. From Live tadpoles to Designer Snow and Mini Beasts. Also National Science Week, Book Week dress up days and importantly our recognition of Aboriginal culture. There was even a picnic day across the I am always excited to see the overhead TV slide show in the road with the volunteers from the BERG. Hopefully an annual waiting/locker room with images of the days activities. Thanks event. Jessica and Eliza for posting them. Term 4 will see the arrival of the new trampoline and a new As a father, I woke, in early September, to the excitement of Apple TV setup to display short educational clips for the groups my daughter Ella hurling a lovely hand crafted environmentally to learn from. The old rusty and failing wall heaters are being friendly bag at me with the most amazing Fathers’ Day Mug replaced over the term break, and new split systems installed. complete with designer figurines. Well done to the Social & Eliza and Jessica have been very busy organising the Term 4 Fund Raising Committee members on this one. curriculum and the list looks exciting. To Kerri and Barkly, we One other event that some of us might remember, was the look forward to seeing you when the term resumes, for more Bogan Bingo night. It was a fantastic turnout and luckily no fun in the yard. children present. The outfits on show were fantastic and those I trust all the kids are busy designing the layout for the Picture dance moves - well, let’s just leave it at that. Sally Lloyd - was Plates over the break - these are a great addition to the Father that really you ? Thank you again to the team on the Social/ Day mugs and for Christmas gifts at the end of the year. Fund Raising Committee for pulling off an awesome event and Grandparents will love them. to raise over $5000 towards the Pre-School. (I have to say, it was just in time, as the Winter days in mid July ripped the A reminder for everyone about the next Working Bee, October Shade Sail covering the sandpit. This is due to be replaced in 11 from 9am just for a couple of hours. the coming weeks and just in time for the spring days ahead.) Regards to everyone, A very special thanks goes out to the sponsors and donations that made the night a bidding frenzy with some parents/friends Peter. taking home more than they probably bargained for - Julie Tannahill. During term three a number of sneaky parents worked tirelessly on the bike/race track to Gernie it, and repainted the images - it looks great - thanks Vicky. I have provided the PreSchool with a Gernie of it’s own now, so we can keep it looking pristine each term. Thanks Stuart in particular for all your help on a number of jobs to date. Another task that goes unnoticed is the chook-minding. The ‘girls’, like Casserole-The-Chook,

S O CI AL & FUNDRAISING C O MMI T EE REPORT Term 3 - 2015

Wow! What a Term we have had. Bogan Bingo was held on August the 22nd at Balcombe Grammar School. It was a great night and raised over $5200 for our wonderful preschool. The event was a result of many months of hard work from the fundraising team involving collecting many donations generously supplied by many local businesses. There are too many to name here. However, a few deserve a special ‘shout out’ for their overwhelmingly generous support: MITEQ. EVIEW and Mornington Peninsula Brewery were a stand out in their support. It is also fitting to acknowledge all of the families who brought along their family and freinds to ensure the night went ahead and was a great success! So a big thank you to to the people who came along!

also have a pre-school garage sale taking place on November 14th. We are looking for donations of good quality, unwanted goods you may have lying around. So get Spring Cleaning and leave your donations in the box at the pre school. We will also be looking for some people to volunteer some time in manning the sale on the day! Once again, thank you for your continued support. Without generous fundraising efforts our children would not enjoy as many wonderful art and carft supplies and those little extras which make the pre-school as outstanding as it is! The Fundraising Team

We are now on the homestretch of the pre-school year. We have a couple more fundraising things happening. All families have received a Picture Plate letter and template. Please ensure they are returned and paid for on your child’s first session back in Term 4 if you intend to purchase one. No Late orders can be accepted due to lengthy production time. We

S P E C I A L E V E N T S TO N OT E I N YO U R D I A R I E S F O R T E R M 4 I N C LU D E • MONDAY 5TH OCTOBER – Term 1 Begins • WEDNESDAY 14TH OCTOBER (Dolphin, Lobster and Penguins) - Dreamer in Space Puppet Show • THURSDAY 15TH OCTOBER (Seal and Sea Stars) - Dreamer in Space Puppet Show • MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER (Seal and Sea Stars) – Dinosaur World Excursion (details to follow) • TUESDAY 20TH OCTOBER (Seal and Sea Stars) - Dad’s/VIP Night - 5.307.00pm • MONDAY 26TH OCTOBER (Dolphin, Lobster and Penguins) - Dad’s/VIP Night - 5.30-7.00pm 4

• TUESDAY 27TH OCTOBER (Dolphin, Lobster and Penguins) – Dinosaur World Excursion (details to follow) • MONDAY 2ND NOVEMBER – Melbourne Cup Holiday • TUESDAY 3RD NOVEMBER – No preschool sessions in lieu of Dad’s Night • WEDNESDAY 16TH DECEMBER (Dolphin, Lobster and Penguins) Final session and Party Day • THURSDAY 17TH DECEMBER (Seal and Sea Stars) - Final session and Party Day

4 YE AR O L D TEACHERS REPOR T Term 3, 2015 News

Can you believe that there’s only one term to go of our preschool year? This term seems to have flown by so quickly! Thank-you so much to all of our families who have supported us this year with their contributions to the children’s portfolio’s each school holiday break! Not only has this provided a wonderful opportunity for the children to share their holiday experiences with the group, developing their self-confidence and communication skills, but it has also helped us plan our program from these interests.

experiences to do with the children. We challenged the children to not just think, but to think differently, to look at their world from every perspective and question “why”?!

The next 2 weeks of term revolved around a planned visit from Andrew Wegener - the Australian wildlife expert! We learnt about the unique animals that are native to Australia and had many discussions using words such as nocturnal, marsupial and camouflage. Andrew helped consolidate what we learnt by bringing a variety of live and stuffed animals for a wonderful hands on experience. Our dramatic play area changed into a bush corner and we made a variety of Australian animals through craft activities.

picture books. These have been put in the children’s portfolios which you will get to look at over these September school holidays!

During this time, we also made some special gifts for Father’s Day including scribing details about each child’s Dad. Thankyou to all the Dads (and possibly Mums?!) who completed “Dad’s homework” during this time which extended upon these ideas. We enjoyed reading these at mat time and learning a little more about our pre-school Dads - especially the ones we As many children went to the snow in the June school don’t get to see! We will be holding a special ‘Dad’s Night’ (or holidays, we began Term 3 learning all about winter and the associated changes to the weather and our lifestyles. Sensory V.I.P if Dad is unavailable) in Term 4 once daylight savings begins and the weather becomes warmer! Details in “Coming experiences included shaving cream, “Designer snow” and slime! Going to the movies to see “Inside Out” and/or “Minions” Events”! ☺ was also a popular school holiday event, which led us to The next week was “Book Week” which highlighted and having a special “Movie Day” where the children watched promoted the importance and enjoyment of reading! Local several short Pixar animations and enjoyed popcorn! So as librarian Gail Higgins visited and we held a special “Dress you can see, we greatly value your contributions in helping us up as a book character” day! The children produced some plan a relevant and stimulating program for the children! fantastic artwork based on some classic favourite children’s

“National Science Week” followed. As well as setting up a science discovery table outside, we enjoyed implementing a variety of fun science learning, experiments and craft

The last 3 weeks of Term 3 have been spent learning about spring, mini beasts and life cycles. Our tank of tadpoles have provided as a focus for these concepts. We have also been fortunate to team up with BERG (Balcombe Estuary Rehabilitation Group) this term to learn more about our local natural environment and utilise the beautiful reserve adjacent to the preschool grounds! To conclude Term 3, we will be having a special “Footy Day” with outdoor sporting events, craft activities and a footy lunch!

Seals, Sea Stars, Penguins, Lobsters & Dolphins

4 YE AR O L D TEACHERS REPOR T Term 3, 2015 News

It has been amazing to watch the children’s self-confidence grow this term as they run off into the playground at drop off time and speak in front of their peers at group mat times. The term ahead will no doubt fly with several school orientation days scheduled to help promote a smooth transition from pre-school into prep. Eliza and Jessica are beginning to fill out the extensive transition statements, which, once combined with the family section completed by you, will hopefully complete an accurate picture of your child’s interests, areas of strength and areas they may need assistance with.

The first week back of Term 4 is “World Space Week” which is always a very popular interest and we will incorporate it into our program by making a space station for dramatic play and a variety of space art activities! We have organised a visit from the puppet show “Dreamer in Space” to extend this topic! You may like to incorporate an outing to the planetarium at Science Works in the school holidays as a preview to our space interest?! Other special events planned for Term 4 include an excursion to “Dinosaur World” in Somerville and more local outings with the implementation of our new “Blanket Excursion Form”. We also hope to pursue learning about our bodies and how they work. If you work in the health industry and would like to contribute to the program in some way it would be greatly appreciated! Have a safe and enjoyable break and we look forward to seeing you in Term 4 for “the run home”! Eliza, Jessica, Kerri, Jessie, Kristy, Nat and Kellie :)

Seals, Sea Stars, Penguins, Lobsters & Dolphins

4 Y E AR OL D PHOTOS Term 3, 2015 News

Seals and Sea Stars

4 YE AR O L D TEACHERS REPOR T Term 3, 2015 News

Seals and Sea Stars