2020 Newsletter Term 04 | Issue 01 – Farmhouse Montessori School

19-23rd Oct – Parent teacher conferences: Kindergarten
Wednesday 24th Oct– School Tour: Primary Campus – 9.30am
Tuesday 27th Oct – Grandparents & Special Friends Day: Preschool Campus *Cancelled
Thursday 29th Oct – Grandparents & Special Friends Day: Primary Campus *Cancelled
Friday 30th Oct – Grandparents & Special friends day: Preschool Campus *Cancelled
16-27th Nov – Parent Teacher Conferences: Yani & Aikya
Wednesday 18th Nov – School Tour: Primary Campus – 9.30am
Friday 20th Nov – Parent Cocktail Party 7pm – Cancelled

Click HERE to see further calendar dates.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4. The busiest term of the year, but undoubtedly the most fun. I hope you are keeping safe, staying connected and taking time out to check in with nature, your family, and yourself. Once again, if there is any way we may be able to help, we are only a phone call away.

After 38 years in operation, this year Farmhouse Montessori School sees its first ever graduates leave the Primary School and embark on their journey into high school. A journey that involves many components including the foundations installed at home and the crucial formative years of the preschool. Although our preschool and primary campuses may be several kilometres away from each other, the synergy between our classes, teachers and families has never been more evident than this week.

This week in preparation for 2021, our Kindergarten children from North Balgowlah began their transitions to the Primary campus at North Head. As the transitioning children arrived for the first time, they were met with the familiar faces, comforting smiles, and words of confidence from peers who graduated a year before. They were shown around their new environment, shown where to hang their hat and what time snack occurs. It was amazing to see these connections take place.

But deeper than that, the culture of the children, their temperament, resilience, and independence shone through. They were aware of how to respect the environment, they understood that mistakes were part of learning and that there may be times when things do not go their way. They were aware of the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and their intention. Almost immediately clubs were formed, projects were put into action and future plans were laid out for us all to see. It was truly inspiring.

The hard work of the families, the teachers and the children themselves was clearly evident. What was more striking was that even though our campuses were on different sites and our staff worked in different environments, our culture and expectations of what education truly means were truly in sync. Our children are not only learning how to achieve academically, but they are learning how to achieve socially and emotionally. It was this week that we saw that no matter what class your child resides in at Farmhouse Montessori school, no matter what age or which teacher was at the helm, educating the whole child is what our teachers do so well.

Have a wonderful weekend ahead.

– Gavin McCormack

Sorting and matching are cornerstone activities in the infant community. Children have a natural desire to make sense of their world, and the child’s sensitive period for order peaks between the ages of 18 months to 30 months. Sorting and matching activities allow the child to practice this sense of order, and the prepared activities in our classroom encourage the child to isolate and use their senses one at a time in order to refine them. A large part of our year focuses on developing the visual sense, using sight to sort coloured objects, match three-dimensional objects to cards and to sort objects into categories. This term we have begun to explore the baric sense (weight) and thermic sense (detecting differences in temperature).

Matching and sorting activities are critical in assisting the child to develop a range of logic and thinking skills which build the foundations for later scientific and mathematic concepts. The visual memory and discrimination involved and the identification of patterns, relationships, and similarity/difference help children to learn about early mathematical representation and problem-solving.

– Corinne, Debbie & Sarah

Coming back to school after the holidays is a happy time for all the children as there are lots of stories to tell about the adventures they had over the two week break. Reconnections with friends were made with the classroom humming to the sound of children chatting while they worked. Social and emotional learning is important at this age as the children are developing the ability to care for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, and handle challenging situations. Providing the child time to develop these skills is important. There are many opportunities to develop these skills throughout our day with playtime being a valuable period for the children to practice conversation skills, negotiating rules of games, role play scenarios and problem solving. Play is the opportunity for the child to express their individuality both social and emotionally.

– Amanda & Teresa

This week we did an art investigation into Vincent Van Gogh. This began by listening to Oscar story about his experience seeing Van Gogh Alive. We read a story about how Vincent was given a bunch of sunflowers by a young friend where he was staying. In repayment he painted his famous Sunflowers. Cooinda talked about the bright colours and textures used in his paintings. Cooinda class became mini van Goghs and painted their own sunflowers. They all took a sunflower seed home to grow. Cooinda also loved the story how Van Gogh put candles in his straw hat to see the stars at night to paint starry night.

– Jenny, Jo & Angela

Welcome back to Term 4 everyone and what a wonderful week it’s been to work outdoors. It’s amazing how the garden changes in two weeks and the children get to now reap the rewards of their labour’s. We’ve had lots of mulberry picking (and eating), harvesting of the cherry tomatoes and picking herbs for a smell and taste memory game. As the children are naturally curious their questions lead to investigation and research and their own ways of representing their learning through individual projects of collaborative groups. Some children just prefer the peace and quiet of being out in the fresh air to do their work!

Looking forward to a beautiful term ahead.

– Dawn

Great to see the children come back into the classroom with fresh energy and excitement to great each other after the term break.

This term, we are enjoying some structural additions to the classroom. We have received new carpeting throughout the room, some new shelves, a new art area, and the development of the much anticipated Kitchen Classroom next door. A HUGE thanks must go out to the Bilaud, De Flou and Pavageau families for all their efforts on the kitchen project. The children, teachers and After School Care team are thoroughly looking forward to using this space regularly for lessons.

In Class, topics we have started to explore thus far have been on a broad spectrum. Some examples include but are not limited to The Great Civilisations, The Anatomy of Flowers, The Story of Money, Native Plants, Continued Math and Language Studies and Art Mediums. Also, children have been ecstatic to start weekly swimming lessons for sport on Thursdays and regular Friday Pottery Club.

Notably, this week, we have started welcoming children who are transitioning in preparation for their start with us next year. It has been fantastic for everyone to meet their new peers, with the Aikya children naturally embracing the opportunity to begin new friendships and make the new children feel at home. Simultaneously, it has been an exciting time for some of our older children who have started their transition visits into Yani.

It has been a beautiful start to a busy school term ahead.

– Harshitha, Toby, Phillipa & Thomas

A few students from Yani are assisting the year 1’s, 2’s and 3’s in pottery club. So far, we have made lady bugs, caterpillars and spiders out of plasticine. This club is every Friday at 1:45 till 2:30 in Yani’s art room. Everybody enjoys the class and has fun being able to express their creativity through art.

We had a company called Interrelate come and visit us to talk to the year 5’s ad 6’s about positive body image and we also had an all-girls talk on how girls’ bodies change. These talks were interesting because we got to learn about becoming a woman and how all boys and girls can think positive about their body image.

The last week of term 3 we had a STEM challenge. We built bridges from only 100 paddle pop sticks, glue and string. We had two tables that were separated 30cm apart and our goal was to build a bridge across the gap of the tables and hold at least one pound. All the bridges we made, managed to succeed. It was fun watching everyone’s different creations hold the weight.

In year 4’s flower lesson we learnt all about the different parts of the flower. We dissected the whole flower and stuck each part to a piece of paper and wrote the names of what they were. It was really fun because we got to take apart the different parts of the flower and I just found that really cool.

By Travis, Maya and Isabel

– Laura & Jessica

Dear Families,

Highlights over the last fortnight

Cooking Club

This term we are so very excited for the schools new Kitchen! We would like to say a very big thank you to the parents that helped organise and put together the kitchen and let you know we will be sure to make as much use of it as possible! Over the past fortnight the children have enjoyed cooking up a storm in their new kitchen. The first week we made our all-time favourite dish pancakes. The second week the children enjoyed rolling their own sushi to enjoy for afternoon tea! We aim to implement cooking club at least once a week within our program. Please feel free to send through any recipes you think we may enjoy!

Ranger Discussion

Last Thursday we were lucky enough to witness the rangers setting up an inflatable pool in preparation for the backburning over the weekend. The children were quick to ask if they could have a swim in it once it was full! The rangers explained to the children that it was going to be filled with water for the helicopters to collect from. The children all eagerly listened and asked questions about the process of backburning.

Update on our Community library

During Term 3 the children began to design our mini Community library and write a letter to the harbour trust for approval. Over the school holidays our lovely assistant Co Ordinator Ella was organising a plan with the harbour trust to ensure the project would commence in term 4. We have since been given approval and are going to commence the construction of the library this term. We cannot wait to keep you updated with our progress and share some of our much-loved books with our local community of readers.

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