2020 Newsletter Term 03 | Issue 02

Toddlers arrive at school not yet understanding or possessing the skills they need to build friendships and relationships. Within our little community, we spend so much of our day practising social and emotional skills formally and informally. As educators, we are constantly modelling good social practices, we play lots of games that involve turn-taking and listening, we give children the space to problem-solve together, and we practise how to have conversations and share feelings. After 6 months of practice, we have slowly started to see a shift from side-by-side parallel play to more involved and engaged play. It really is a beautiful thing to watch these children grow from toddlers into their own big person.

Children learn through repetition and consistency, so the next time you have to read ‘the very hungry caterpillar’ for the hundredth time that day, just know that you’re doing so much more than reading a story.

– Corinne, Debbie & Sarah

Dental health and having healthy teeth is an important part of our overall wellness. The Burbangana class have been learning about the ways we can keep our teeth and gums healthy.  From an early age, it’s important for children to understand the reasons we brush our teeth everyday. In the classroom we use fun activities to learn the importance of dental health to reinforce the learning that is happening at home everyday. The children have an understanding about looking after our bodies with healthy eating and extend their knowledge into healthy teeth and gums. We keep our teeth and gums healthy by; drinking water, brushing our teeth twice a day, eating healthy foods, only having sweets sometimes, and visiting a dentist for regular checkups.

Through discussions we learned about the reasons why we lose our baby teeth as we get older and why it is important to get into good tooth brushing habits now to protect our teeth as we get older.

– Amanda & Teresa

Children are by nature curious with a love of learning. Maria Montessori believed if we provide an environment that is supported and rich then children will teach themselves. A home interest in cobras spilled over into school and this interest extended to other students. By offering resources these friends turned an interest into an investigation and then a project.

– Jenny, Jo & Angela

New learning is often constructed on prior learning, the more we engage the children to articulate their knowledge the more we can understand their way of thinking and learning.
In the last two weeks we celebrated International Tree Day which involved lots of hugging of trees and discussion about how important they are to us.  This moved on to looking at our little apple tree, planted last year, which is just starting to bud and older children explained the life cycle of the apple tree to the younger ones.  We had fun trying different types of apples, learning their names and playing memory games with them.  We cooked the apples and made our own apple tree for the classroom.  This is when the children’s prior knowledge from previous projects came in.  Children decided we needed bees to pollinate the flowers on the apple tree, we needed ants to eat the rotting apples and we even needed a Wedge Tailed Eagle to nest in the branches because that child had listened to older children making a presentation the day before.  The children learn from each other, from their own research and curiosity, and it’s amazing to see them draw on their own knowledge and expand upon it building their confidence and self esteem.  Always amazing to follow the child!

– Dawn

Projects and inquiries provide children with the opportunity to guide their own learning. Children have a choice about the project topic and can follow their own interests. As children engage in project work, they learn about how the world around them works and develop confidence in their ability to figure things out. They learn how to work collaboratively with their peers as they seek for answers to their questions

As teachers, we can provide lessons, books and information and then it is up to the children to decide how best to complete the project. This requires some amazing higher-level thinking skills. Children are becoming independent workers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. While children may learn literacy and numeracy skills through direct instruction, they appreciate the value of literacy and numeracy skills as they apply them in purposeful ways to aid in their investigation.

There have been projects recently about a Wedge Tailed Eagle and a Koala. In both learning experiences, children researched facts and information first. They then decided what they could create to further their learning. This included small books, posters, masks, diagrams and took measurements to make a large piece of art. The children planned presentations to tell the other children about the Wedge Tailed Eagle and the Koala.

– Elizabeth

What a great couple of weeks! 

The term is in full swing with everyone engrossed in projects, lessons, use of the materials and thought provoking class discussions.

Being so lucky to have our school positioned in a national park, we have instigated weekly bush walks that tie into a variety of curriculum topics plus take advantage of our beautiful native surroundings and fresh air. This fortnight, students have been investigating topics such as Parts of a Leaf,Types of Leaves, Parts of a stem, Types of Stems, Rainforests and the History of Australia. This has proven fantastically popular with the children, changing up our classroom routine.

Within the classroom we have also enjoyed weekly ethics lessons with Phillipa, Behind the News sessions plus discussions on essential skills such as Love, Humour and Compromise with Thomas.

– Laura, Toby, Harshitha & Philippa

Last week we watched the NASA-SpaceX mission return home from space. This historic event was a 2 month mission, showing the two astronauts landing successfully. Our class gathered around the computer to watch this amazing event which has now started a few students to complete passion projects about space.

A lot of the Yani students have been working hard on their own passion projects. Some of the projects that we have been working on are about the lifecycle of wolverines, Flemish giant rabbits, a variety of sea creatures and the koala’s that were affected by the Australian fires at the beginning of the year. Some students are presenting these passion projects as an animation, power point and oral presentations.

Every Monday afternoon we watch Behind the News and discuss the topics as a class. We have watched a variety of different topics such as what is happening in our country with COVID, Hiroshima bombing, volcanoes and the life of giant cuttlefish.

The Year 4’s have been reading the book Wonder by R.J Palacio it is about a kid named Auggie who has been homeschooled for most of his life and is going to school for the first time. The book talks about the worries of starting school and other unexpected events throughout life. So far, he has been introduced, befriended various entities, and joined school. Personally, I think beginning a new school is quite daunting at times, but the book teaches us to be kind, include everyone and be excited for the unexpected. We are looking forward to finding out the end of the story.

By Oskar and Sam

– Claire, Jessica & Philippa 

Dear Families,

Highlights over the last fortnight

Over the past fortnight we have enjoyed spending most of our time outside! Since implementing our new health and well-being program Moovosity, the children have showed a strong physical well being alongside great leadership skills. We aim to include Moovosity within our program at least twice a week and have the children run the activities.

Band Update

To secure a spot in band please ensure you are booked into before school care via the kidsoft app or contact us via email or phone for any assistance. The first group will run from 8:00am-8:30am and will focus on children that play instruments out of school. The second group will then join the first group at 8.30am and will focus more on having a go at new instruments.

September Vacation Care

Unfortunately, we will not be running vacation care in the September school Holidays. Alternative vacation cares that will be running and are nearby are, Seaforth Public school and Manly Vale public school. Please let us know if you need any assistance with booking at another centre.

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 Sarah, Ella and all the OSHC staff at Farmhouse Montessori OSHC Centre