2019 Newsletter Term 03 | Issue 04

This week we have started practising Yoga in the Elouera classroom. The children have thoroughly enjoyed their introduction and are requesting to do it every day!  When children practise yoga it increases their confidence, builds concentration and strengthens growing bodies.    Yoga teaches how the body and mind are interconnected and how we should be aware of our selves. When children are engaged, focused, having fun, while practising yoga, they are in the present moment.

– Corinne, Debbie & Sarah

Last week we had a special visitor to school, Uncle Laurie, who shared with us his knowledge of the Aboriginal peoples who live in our area. After a Welcome to Country, Uncle Laurie told us that the Gamaragal people are the traditional owners of the land our school is on. He shared with us the meaning of Guringai, man and woman, along with some traditional hunting tools which included the opportunity to hold a boomerang that was over 200 years old.

Uncle Laurie then showed us how to make face paint using ochre before getting a fire started for the Smoking Ceremony. He then spoke to us about the smoking ceremony and it’s importance to the Aboriginal people to cleanse the land creating a path for fresh beginnings. Smoking ceremonies are only performed using the leaves of the yellow blood wood gum trees.

Everyday in the Burbangana classroom we perform an Acknowledgement of Country at the beginning of our morning yarning circle.

– Amanda & Teresa

The children have been participating in a study of their skeletons with Jo. This week the Museum in a box arrived with lots of skeletons, X-rays and books. The children were so excited. They have learned songs, dances and plenty of facts about their bodies. We were so lucky to have a visit from Matthieu’s mum who came to school to show us how we can move our bodies to make them stronger using Pilates. She brought in a large skeleton and we were able to see how our bones move our bodies. Understanding how their bodies move empowers small children to make decisions about their own physical needs.

– Jenny, Jo & Angela

It’s not hard to engage children if they have an interest or a passion for something and the majority of children love nature, being outdoors, growing plants or learning about animals which makes my role easy!  These things are relatable, interesting, encourage curiosity and the desire to research and learn more.  The photos I’ve chosen show children engaged in learning about land and water forms and drawing their own island and a lake.  Listening to them sharing their stories of times they went on holiday to an island or have seen a lake make the shared experience more concrete.  

The turtle photo came from a Little Eco Warrior who has a particular passion for caring for turtles on this day he wanted to draw a picture, label it and do some writing about turtles.

The Caterpillar Café came from a child wanting to grow a little garden for butterflies.  We planted flower seeds and they carefully watered the seeds to watch them begin to grow.  Along came a child who wanted to make something for the caterpillars so she created the Café.  When asked what are the plastic bottle tops for she replied “they choose their leaves from this side and then they find a seat!”  Love it!

– Dawn

Thank you for all the Dads who attended father’s day. All the children had a wonderful morning with you and loved sharing stories about what they did on Father’s day. We also spoke about what we enjoy doing with our Dads and how they are special to us. 

During book week, we looked at the illustrator and author Quentin Blake. We discussed how all his drawings look similar in all his books and how he had his own style. This led onto discussions about all the people involved in making a book from the first idea, to getting a book to be edited and published. We have been very interested in writing this week and have been creating our own stories and poems. We spoke about why we write stories and the purpose of our writing. 

– Elizabeth

Term 3 is coming to an end and, even though we are very excited about the holidays, we are also sad to say good bye to another amazing term of learning and having fun in the classroom. 

The students in Aikya have been very busy with different presentations such as experiments on gravity, grammar boxes and racks and tubes amongst others. 

As part of the Cosmic Education curriculum, children have studied Fundamental Needs of People. This lesson is designed to help children understand that people everywhere have the same basic needs even though those needs are fulfilled in different ways by various cultures. This worldview is at the core of Montessori philosophy and cosmic education – encouraging peace, understanding, and respect for people all over the world. 

In French, children have been learning expressions and vocabulary about clothing and parts of the body amongst others. Children are really enjoying these lessons and learning a lot! 

Last week, we had the amazing opportunity to be part of a conservation talk at school. Viyanna is a experienced zoologist who kindly offered to come to our school to talk about her work in North Head Sanctuary and to encourage students to participate in three different projects that will be taking place just outside our school. We are so lucky to be part of this beautiful and very special national park! The projects will be to build insect hotels, to monitor bandicoots nests and to dig a pond for frogs to live in. The children in Aikya were very excited about these projects and are currently working on research projects on Barking Owls, Easter Pigmy Possums and Bush Rats, finding out why they are endangered and how we can protect them. 

Lastly, we would like to thank everybody for their support on the Open Day back in May. With the money we fundraised, we were able to buy some new games and equipment for the children to play with. Some of the things we bought were Lego and boardgames.

We would like to wish everybody a wonderful holiday! 

– Samantha, Laura & Philippa

On Thursday 5^th September we did Art history on Cubism, we are drawing the different time period each week. We drew faces of people from front on, side on and from every angle, then we had to draw a line down the middle of the face that we drew, so we had two halves of the face.  It was so much fun!

Milly, Claudia, Mena and Isabel have been sorting out all the books in the library. They have been working hard, putting the books in alphabetical order and coding them so we have a library that is a lot more structured.

The animal kingdom project (run by Leo and Xavier) has been successful. They possessed the ability to easily combinate factual with colourful styles. Xavier says quote “It took a long time, about a month and some of the drawings were hard, such as the elephant, they’re hard to draw. Hard.”  Leo said, “Hard work and relief is what got us through.”

The Manly Fun Run has recently raised over $2000 for the Bushlink charity. The Manly Fun Run has provided an outstanding job for Manly dwellers and schools. A lot of people dressed up for the event, the theme being ‘The bush’. Though a great number of people dressed up, a few came in running clothes. All in all the run was fun, hint in the name…

By Oskar and Daisy

– Claire, Jessica & Philippa 

Dear Families,

We hope you are as excited as we are about our upcoming vacation care program! The program has been distributed via email if you have not received a copy of the program you can log on to our website primaryOshcare.com.au to access it. Bookings can be made through the My Family Lounge App, our early bird discount is only applicable if you book in before the 11^th September. Thanks for your participation if you have any further questions in regards on where to access these forms/ how to provide it please do not hestitate to ask!

This week the children enjoyed playing various board games such as twister, hungry hippos and yahtzee. With old storage cupboards being removed the children now have a more spacious area for inside activities, feel free to come in and have a look! The children have also enjoyed games of soccer and dodge ball out in the play area, showing strong team/ leadership skills. Next week we intend to start walking and exploring club though need to ensure all permission slips have been returned before we can do so!

Next Week Events:

12th September – RUOK Day
15th September – Sustainable house day 

If you would like more information about Primary OSH Care or our centre and how to enrol, please visit our website www.primaryoshcare.com.au

From Amanda, Sarah and all the OSHC staff at Farmhouse Montessori OSHC Centre