Preschool News Week 11 Term 1

Posted on April 12, 2024 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

It’s been a fantastic first term, everyone has settled into the swing of all things Currambena, coming together as a community of learners.  There are some exhausted preschool people at the moment, so it’s great to be able to stop for a couple of weeks, recharge, and get ready for an action-packed term 2!

On Thursday we all headed down to the craft room for the first time for our craft session with Chris. After a tour of the craft room all the children settled into working with clay. We look forward to children seeing the process of their piece of clay being transformed into something they have created.

Cubby house making, performing, weddings, dinosaurs, cooking, solving problems in play, group time agreements and behaviours, exploring the wider Currambena community, mastering the art of crossing the monkey bars are just a few of the many interests the children have been interested in this term.

Our astronomy unit is in full swing. This week we’ve begun learning about nuclear fusion. It’s been fantastic to relate some of what we are learning in astronomy into our preschool program. Just like stars we need hydrogen in the form of water to sustain us throughout the day. Many of the children relish the idea of drinking their water bottle and getting a refill after a “water alert” is announced to the whole group to let everyone know that, just like stars, they are filled with hydrogen, to keep them hydrated throughout the day. Next term we’ll review what we’ve learnt in first term and continue with this unit of work.

Pillow fighting has continued to be of interest to many of the children this week. It’s a great way to engage in rough and tumble play in a controlled way, as well as being lots of fun.

Cooking has been a highlight of the term. We’ve all now mastered the art of baking vegan cupcakes and learnt a lot along the way. The children are so involved in cooking that we’re embedding it into our program, with a focus on healthy eating next term. We’re planning on introducing a cooking roster to the sign-up sheets on the main wall, to provide all children with the opportunity to get really involved with cooking. With the cooler weather approaching, we hope that next term we can begin making some special meals that we can enjoy eating together as a group.

Lastly, thank you to Benji’s family for the donation of a Down syndrome doll and to Stevie’s family for the donation of some sea creatures. Both have been popular and well used addition to our program.

Wishing everyone a great school holidays. We look forward to the children returning next term for an action-packed term 2, it’s a huge one!

Love

Lisa, Abi and Katrina

 

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The Purple Hearts Term 1 Week 11

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Vincent

Hi all,

We had a fun filled week to finish the term.

On Monday, we went to the park to play with Sarah, Jess and Amelia’s classes. The children spent time climbing the trees, eating some food and playing games with the older children.

The children loved their last swimming day, walking back to school in the drizzling rain and sitting under the heater with lots of blankets as we ate ice blocks.

We had a farewell pizza party for Lucy, Cat brought some pizzas and sweets in and we visited Amber’s classroom to have a joint farewell.

Our excursion was a highlight of the year so far. The children loved roaming May Gibbs property – looking at a place from the past with lots of old things. As well as a great space to play with some dress-ups and toys.

We finished our week off with Jamie and Lucy chairing the school meeting and watching our class movie – Rio.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing you all in Term 2!

If anyone has skills with sewing – I have a pair of curtains donated that need to be shortened. Please let me know if you can help.

Kind regards,

Vinnie

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Jess’ Class Week 11 Term 1

Posted on April 12, 2024 by jessk

Hello families,

Thank you to Sarah D and Susan who covered me on Monday and Tuesday as I was at home in bed with the virus that is making its way around the class. I heard it was a successful few days with a visit to the park, fabulous PIP presentations, and a final swimming session for Term 1. If any parents videoed their child’s PIP, I would love a copy emailed to me if you are happy to share.

Our visit to Tambourine Bay was a glorious day and there are heaps of photos for you to view in our shared Google Folder. The children were beautifully engaged in all the activities on offer and it was wonderful to share the day with so many parents.

The children marked the last day of term with a favourite pyjama/movie day and snacks to share!

Term one has been a wonderful start to 2024 and I think everyone is now ready for a good rest to build energy for next term.

Wishing everyone a beautiful break.

Jess

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Amelia’s class Term 1 Week 11

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Amelia

Hi everyone,

Term 1 done and dusted! It has been such a lovely start to the year, and I feel so grateful, as a new teacher, to have a fantastic, enthusiastic, energetic and creative group! As the Term has progressed, and we have worked on community building and connecting with new people, I have seen a real camaraderie and kinship begin to grow amongst the children. The children from Vinnie’s group last year have adapted so well to a new environment, and have been resilient when facing new challenges and unfamiliar routines. I have started to see their confidence and independence grow and can’t wait to see how they progress even further in Term 2! Our elders have enjoyed taking on more responsibilities and being supportive to the younger children. They all take a lot of pride in sharing routines and agreements, and passing on their knowledge as elders.

We have had a lovely final week together, starting with the Year 2 PIP presentations. They should all be so incredibly proud of themselves for getting up there, in front of a big group of people, and speaking courageously. The PIPs themselves were a huge learning curve and involved a lot of skills that the children have not explored much so far. They held themselves beautifully through this process and produced amazing posters that showcased all of their learning, research and hard work! Congratulations to your first PIPs!

On Thursday, Jess and I took our groups to Tambourine Bay, starting with quite a long bush walk. For a lot of the children, this would have been their first bush walk at Currambena, but despite the cold and the wet ground, we arrived at Tambourine Bay park  (relatively) dry and in high spirits. Susan organised a fantastic dip-netting activity for the children in the creek, where they searched for different insects to identify. Thank you again to all of our parent helpers for both joining us on the bush walk, and for organising the BBQ lunch, and to Archana who is always a fantastic support to the children. Jess and I are so pleased so many of you were able to join us for a very impromptu community gathering, it was fabulous to see you all there!

I hope you all have a lovely and restful holiday, I will see you back for Term 2!

Love Amelia xx

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Sarah’s Class Week 11 Term 1

Posted on April 12, 2024 by sarahm

And that’s a wrap people! Term 1 week 11 is done and dusted!!

We’ve had a very creative time this week which has included lots of wonderful treats. Monday morning we threw all working plans out of the window and headed to the secret garden. Along with Vinnie, Jess and Amelia’s groups we (spontaneously) walked to the garden on this glorious morning to play. All 4 classes engaged and played together swinging, running, climbing trees, sitting chatting and playing handball. Thankyou Vinnie for inviting us to come along. For the remainder of the day we watched an amazing documentary on Rivers. It is narrated by the American actor Willem Dafoe and the musical score is played by the Sydney Symphony orchestra. We learnt more about the importance that Rivers play in our world and how they have been used over hundreds of years. We paused along the way to discuss the use that Dams play and the effect they have on the Rivers which have been dammed. The filming and cinematography was amazing as it traversed Rivers across the globe. While the film was playing the group used pastels to create drawings of what they saw and took time to complete their posters on their National Park.

After swimming on Tuesday, both Wendy’s and my group lined up to buy ice blocks at the pool. We had the last of our project presentations on this day too. As I mentioned last week, Meg was with the group on Wednesday and she said they had a delightful day making bridges with paddle pop sticks and rubber bands and then tested their strength. Thankyou Amber and Cat for pizza on Wednesday, I heard that was a yummy surprise. On Thursday, the group presented their National Parks posters and we did our Big Clean. Friday, there was much excitement regarding going up the street to buy lunch and thankfully, this ran smoothly. The children were prepared, responsible and efficient getting to their chosen food venue and making it back to our meeting spot. We then put our movie on and, when finished, had the playground almost to ourselves while the other class groups were watching their movie.

As we wrap up the term, a fond farewell to Amber and their family and to Jo (teacher and assistant) who all leave Currambena for the next adventure and chapter in their lives. We wish you the very best and hope you come back to visit.

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!

Love, Sarah

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Wendy’s Group Week 11 Term 1

Posted on April 12, 2024 by wendyp

Hi everyone.

A wonderful week to finish the term! We had so much fun at the zoo on Wednesday. Thank you so much to Sarah, Sido, Candice and Gina for driving and coming with us for the day. I am sure the children would have been tired after all the walking! Each of them chose an animal to draw and make notes about as a part of our investigations of animal adaptations. We will continue with this early next term.

We have also worked on multiplication this week and some of the children are confidently multiplying three digit numbers by two digit numbers using the vertical formal algorithm already. Needless to say, knowing the times table facts is an enormous help with this. It would be great if you could help the children revise these facts during the holidays, maybe in those moments during car trips. As I explain to them, saying it aloud in their own voices over and over again finally gets it into the brain so that if someone says the first part (eg 6 x 7) the answer pops into your brain without you having to think at all. That’s when you know you’ve memorised it… and even then it’s good to practise regularly to keep the memory fresh.

This week we’ve done our unit 7 in textbooks and everyone contributed to cleaning up the room, getting ready to go to the shops and watching a movie on Friday afternoon. It was very impressive to see the concentration and determination from everyone.

Over the holidays, please help your children to remember to read to themselves. Of course, it’s also wonderful if you read to them, but very important that they read as well, always choosing a book which is easy for them to read alone as well as engaging. Thanks!

I hope you all have a very restful and happy holiday. Stay safe and well.

Love,
Wendy

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School Meeting Week 11 Term 1

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Vincent

Chaired by Lucy and Jamie from The Purple Hearts

1. Banana Costumes by Crafty – We might have the 42 costumes needed for the 42 people interested in taking a costume home. If you have a sibling at Currambena, you might only get one costume per household. If more people are interested there are lots of banana hats left over.

2. Handballs by Wendy – A reminder that the person who borrows the handball is responsible to return it.

3. Goodbye by Vinnie – Another special goodbye to Amber and Lucy, we will miss you and wish you all the best!

4. Farewell by Mabel and Louie – Farewell to Jo, our amazing teacher!

End of school meeting. Preschoolers first.

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Photo of the Week 10 Term 1

Posted on April 6, 2024 by alejandral

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Preschool News Week 10 Term 1

Posted on April 5, 2024 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

We hope you were all able to enjoy the easter long weekend. There were some excited people returning to preschool this week with tales of easter egg hunts and stories of visits from family or adventures to extended family houses.

The wetter weather hasn’t dampened the children’s eagerness to play, with dramatic play continuing to be a big part of our day. This week, the interest in dinosaurs and weddings has continued and the children have engaged in some research on both topics. We’ve begun looking at how weddings are celebrated around the world with the children delighting in the fact that in Papua New Guinea pigs are exchanged instead of rings. We’ve also looked at how weddings are celebrated in India and Sri Lanka as well as the US. Children have had the opportunity to design their wedding outfits and cakes as well. During our mock wedding ceremonies, the children have been signing their mock wedding certificates and enjoying their pretend wedding receptions, which have been a great opportunity to request their favourite songs. Preschoolers still show great interest in dinosaurs, and it appears like the T-Rex is the dinosaur that most of them are familiar with and keen to learn more about. This week we learnt that they are closely related to chickens and crocodiles.

The children have delighted in using their journals over the last couple of days. Many of the children new to preschool this year have just discovered they have one and are keen to add to them. We’ll be focusing on working in journals next term so it’s great to see how excited the children are in working in them.

We also started a unit of work of Astronomy. We’re doing this each afternoon after end of day activity. All the Elders in preschool participated in astronomy last year so are somewhat experts on the topic. This week we are learning about what happens when a star dies.

We’ll be popping up a list of end-of-term cleaning duties that we need assistance with. For anyone looking at clocking up maintenance hours please place your name down next to one of the tasks.

Love

Katrina, Lisa and Abi.

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Vinnie’s The Purple Hearts Week 10 Term 1

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Vincent

Hi all,

The term is coming to an end and the children have been excitedly discussing some end-of-term activities.

Some of the things we have voted on are watching the movie Rio on the last day of school, having a farewell pizza party for Lucy on Wednesday afternoon, and eating an ice block after swimming on Tuesday.

Of course, we have also been discussing our excursion on Thursday to Nutcote Cottage. The children have been agreeing and discussing which cars they will travel in. Thanks to everyone for volunteering to help, I have sent an email to you with more information.

This last week we have been learning a new number grid during the morning routine. We practised representing numbers in different ways, as well as looking at the number before and after.

Every day this week we looked at our sentence of the week. The children are learning what a sentence needs and are given different sentences to focus on for the week. On Monday we sing our sentence song/chant, and the children watch me write the sentence. The next day the children help me. Wednesday and Thursday, the children have a go and I help and then finally on Friday, they try by themselves in their writing book.I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing you this Friday at the school social.

All the best,

Vinnie

 

 

 

 

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