2019 Newsletter Term 04 | Issue 04

Christmas is one of the many celebrations we celebrate throughout the year, when we discuss Christmas in the classroom we really try to explore the culture of Christmas and what it means to celebrate Christmas as part of our community and families. Inevitably with our age group, this discussion comes back to presents and gifts. Instead of focussing on receiving gifts we cultivate a discussion about giving and sharing and how this might make people feel.

We have discussed the giving tree and the presents for the children at Dalwood house, we helped Keith pack the food hampers we collected for Rotary and we have spent a lot of time making special gifts for our families. Last week we baked gingerbread cookies, not to eat, but to share and giveaway to all the mummies and daddies in the Foyer.

The children have been forming deeper connections and understandings about what this season means and how giving can make people feel happy and loved, and after all isn’t that the real magic of Christmas.

– Corinne, Debbie & Sarah

The Burbangana classroom is celebrating Christmas around the world. Over the past couple of weeks we have been lucky enough to have some parents visit and talk to us about Christmas celebrations in Germany and Mexico. We have discussed the many different ways we celebrate Christmas in Australia from Carols by Candlelight to fresh seafood lunches and hot Christmas puddings. The children are recognising that Christmas in Australia is in the summertime but in the Northern Hemisphere it is wintertime.

With less than two weeks until our end of year concert our rehearsals are in full swing. The children are enjoying learning some new songs and we have heard many families have had a sneak preview to our performance. We look forward to sharing it with you all.

Last week our Monday/Tuesday group went on the excursion to the Kuringai Wildflower Gardens. We had a fantastic time learning about different plants and Dreamtime stories of a turtle and blue-tongue lizard. Our bus ride home was made more exciting by following the storm that had brought down many trees along Forest Way and Wakehurst Parkway. It was an experience we wont forget anytime soon.

We would like to wish all our families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

– Amanda & Teresa

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Cooinda class. As we have celebrated so many festivals during the year for the children this is another celebration. Celebrating cultural events allows children to feel part of the global community and therefore develop their sense of belonging.

Christmas for most of us is a special celebration and for us it is the sense of family. In Cooinda class some of our children will be leaving our school and branching out into a bigger community. For us this is always an emotional time as your family becomes part of our family during the years you have been with us. However, the children are ready to go out and make a mark in the world, lead the fight for global understanding, tolerance and environmental care and continue to be lifelong learners. The future is very exciting. So, we wish you all a wonderful Christmas. It is always a real privilege to teach your children and share the world around us with them.

– Jenny, Jo & Angela

As we head to the end of year concert the children are busy and very excited to make sure everything is clean, tidy and ordered.  There is lots of secret business going on so I can’t tell you too much but the children have put so much effort into the preparations. They have also taken it upon themselves to scrub, wash and polish everything they can.  We have harvested the last of our vegetables, enjoying making tomato and basil salad and silverbeet frittata which was yummy.  As we intend to post our bread tags for wheelchairs next week we played a little maths game today. To estimate how many we collected we counted out little piles from 1 to 10 and then in 10’s and think we have over 5000, so thank you very much! The dental collection has also been a great success, again thank you for your support.

I am grateful for a wonderful year that has been filled with curiosity, fun and learning. Its been a pleasure and I wish you all a beautiful time over the holidays and good luck to my little eco warriors who head off to ‘big schools’ I’ll miss you, keep spreading the word and come back for a visit sometime.

– Dawn

There has been an interest into contour lines, landforms and water bodies shown on maps. We studied the map of Africa and looked at the key for the map. This included: deserts, mountains, grasslands and rivers. Some children made their own maps and added the different environments. We had a discussion about animals and wildlife that live in each habitat. 

We have been dividing amounts equally and discussing how to share out objects. We have been using the division board and golden beads. We role played being a shop and giving everyone an equal amount of apples. 

The deck area, garden and classrooms are looking very beautiful in preparation for the Christmas concert. The children have been scrubbing, sweeping, polishing and raking to get their environment looking clean. These activities are wonderful for fine and gross motor skills and concentration. 

We had a wonderful day at the Ku-Ring-Gai wildflower garden. The children were told beautiful Aboriginal dream-time stories and learnt about the people who took care of the land before us. We went for a very scenic bush walk, where the rangers showed us nests, types of flowers, plants and their uses and how to make face paint. We saw a blue tongue lizard, monitor lizard and a long-necked turtle. There was much discussion about weather after a big storm approached as we got on the bus. There was an interest in lightening and thunder and strong winds. 

As the year comes to an end, the Kindergarten children are reflecting on the individual progress they have made. The children should be feeling very proud of all their achievements and the journey they have been on. We have had a wonderful year and I wish everyone all the best in their next chapter. Have a lovely summer break and a relaxing Christmas! 

– Elizabeth

During the past two weeks in Aikya, children have had the chance to visit Elizabeth ́s Farm, one of the oldest homes in Australia built for the young military couple John and Elizabeth McArthur and their growing family in 1793. As students were guided through the property, they discovered that the household lived without the benefits of running water, bathrooms, electricity, appliances or paved roads. The children had a great time learning and discovering the property.

In French, children have been practising their song for the Christmas concert, as well as learning new vocabulary of insects. They have been working with three-part cards on hands on activities. Music with Evergreen has been fantastic as well. Children have been developing their listening skills and singing voices through different songs and playing a wide variety of instruments.

The students in Aikya have been getting to know each other a bit better thanks to their Friendship Booklets. They have been choosing a different partner to sit with at lunch time every day and have been asking three different questions to each other in order to know more about that person. They have really enjoyed it!

We would like to wish everybody a very merry Christmas. We hope you have enjoyed this year as much as we have. Have a lovely time over the holidays; we are looking forward to seeing you back next year!

– Samantha and Laura

The whole school went on an excursion to Elizabeth Farm. When we got there, they told us about Elizabeth Farm and its history and told us to imagine that we were in the 1800s. They made us pretend that the owners John Macarthur and Elizabeth Macarthur were still around and that we were the convicts. We all had to get dressed up as the convicts would have all those years ago and called us “Lads, and Lasses” (boys were lads and girls were lasses).

We did all the work that the convicts would have done back then such as: cleaning up (sweeping and wiping), cooking, washing the clothes in a bucket, learning how to set the table (with entrée plates, main course plates, soup bowls and spoons) and we also had to recognise four different bells: one for the bedroom, another one for the living room, and two for the living room. It was a great experience to see how they lived back then.

Toby’s Mum Emma visited us one afternoon to do some planting and make juice with the celery that we picked from our garden. We got to plant the beans and some people picked the celery to make the juice and we put apple, orange and other fruits in it. Emma taught us how to care for our garden like weeding, watering the garden and how to properly plant. We all enjoyed the juice!

By Sam. E and Darcy

– Claire, Jessica & Philippa 

Also just a reminder that your child care account, enrolment and booking information has been moved to the new online system – iParent Portal. You can no longer use My Family Lounge. By now you should have received an invitation email with your new iParent Portal log-in details. If you have not received this information, please contact us using the contact information below. If you have any questions regarding this change or require further assistance, please speak with your Service Coordinator, alternatively contact us on 1300 832 695 or at customerservice@primaryoshcare.com.au.

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

Merry Christmas from Amanda, Sarah and all the OSHC staff at Farmhouse Montessori OSHC Centre