our spring newsletter and what a busy period the last - Noah's Ark

24 Pages·2013·3.95 MB·English

Welcome to our spring newsletter and what a busy period the last three months have been.
There are a number of “housekeeping issues” to mention, starting with the news that Noah’s Ark
is joining the cashless society.
New payment system:
Long Day Care, Playschool, Play & Learn.
As from the beginning of next year, all accounts will need to be paid in advance and we will
accept payment for accounts by any of the following methods: direct debit, direct deposit, over
the counter using your credit or debit cards only, or by telephone using only your credit card.
Long Day Care Payment Information.
Accounts for the commencement of Long Day Care, 2014, will be sent out on 1st December 2013
and will due for payment by Tuesday 7th January 2014.
The next accounts will be sent out on the first day of care, Tuesday 7th January, and will be due
for payment Monday 20th January, and from then on the billing day will be the 1st Monday of
each fortnight.
This will bring us in to line with the billing practice of most long day care centres.
All bonds will need to be paid prior to your commencement in Long Day Care.
These new payment arrangements will assist us to keep our costs as low as possible and will
result in a faster and safer collection system for Noah’s Ark.
Sick children:
Parents with sick children are asked not to bring them to day-care as this always has a flow on
effect for others.
Playground:
The planned upgrade to our playground areas has been put on hold for the time being as a recent
inspection from ACT Gov. representatives have identified a number of minor issues that need to
be rectified prior to other work commencing.
I am currently seeking more information from our landlord the ACT Gov. on a commencement
date.
Toy Library:
Thank you to all the families who participated in the Woolworths Earn and Learn voucher
scheme this year. With a late start we still managed to obtain enough vouchers to select a
wooden kitchen, some aluminium cookware and a few other bits and pieces free of charge, which
will end up in the Toy Library
We are currently in the process of progressively replacing the toys in our Toy Library, and hope
to have a functional well stocked and exciting range for the kids early next year.
‘Bye Rachel!
Sadly for us, but wonderful for her, we said a temporary (I hope) farewell to Rachel from the
Sugar Gliders room last week as she is going on maternity leave. All the best from us all Rachel
The new website:
Our new website is almost operational. The site will eventually provide you all with greater
access and information to your children’s education, more recent news and happenings from
Noah’s Ark as well as being a marketing tool for the centre.
A reminder to contact Jess about your day care needs for next year if you haven’t already done
so.
Christmas closure times:
Noah’s Ark will be closing for the Christmas period on Friday 20th December and re-opening for
business on Tuesday 7th January.
Donn McMichael
CEO
Director’s Report
Welcome families to the spring edition of our centre newsletter. It is great to finally have some
warm weather which we are all enjoying with outside experiences.
Long Day Care Program
Over the last few months we have been working towards our quality improvement plans. The
areas we are focusing on are in relation to both quality area 1: The Educational Program and
quality area 3: The Physical environment. The room leaders and myself are currently reflecting
on our program and planning practices and working alongside the PSC to develop our delivery of
the Early Years Learning Framework to ensure a more consistent approach across the centre. In
group training with the assistants we are focused on the physical environment. We have begun
to reflect on our current environments and changes that could be made to make our rooms more
aesthetically pleasing with opportunities for curiosity, exploration and educational learning.
School photos
November is the month for centre photos! They will take place from Monday 4th through to
Thursday 7th November. As mentioned in my recent email regarding photo’s the group shots will
be taken on particular days so you are more than welcome to bring your child in for the photo if
they do not attend on that day. The days and times are as follows;
Possums - Monday 4th November – 9.30am,
Wombats – Tuesday 5th November – 10.00am
Sugar Gliders – Wednesday 6th November – 10.00am
Koalas and Joeys – Thursday 7th November 10.00am (Koalas), 10.30am (Joeys)
I will be receiving more information from “Sandpit” photographers in the near future that will
give details on photo packs, pricing and ordering. These will be handed out in your child’s room.
Children’s week
The week of 21st October- 25th October is Children’s week. The rooms will be organising
activities each day to celebrate this occasion.
Monday 21st – Crazy hair day
Tuesday 22nd – Cooking day
Wednesday 23rd – PJ’s day
Thursday 24th – teddy bears picnic with a BBQ in the park
Friday 25th – Dress up day
More details of each event will be given in the next few weeks leading up to children’s week.
Placements for next year and Shut down period over Christmas
I have had a few families asking about our shut down period over Christmas. We will close on
Friday 20th December at 6pm and re-open on Tuesday 7th January. During the month of January
we will be operating the school holiday program for those children not returning to Noah’s Ark
once the first school term begins and those requiring different days until preschool starts. All
rooms will begin as new from January 7th 2014. Confirmation of your child’s days will be sent out
in the next few weeks. Please note that some families may be required to choose different days
depending on availability. Families will be given preference if they already attend the days they
require that fit within the new policy requirements and then on a first in best dressed basis.
Parent Teacher interviews will be held in the last week November and the first week
December.
Cheers, Jess
POSSUM'S

SPRING

EDITION

Fun
 with

our

FAMILIES

Daddy's

Day

Picnic

Alfresco

Arvo

tea

Possums News

Yippee it’s spring! In the past few weeks we’ve been taking advantage of the early warm weather
by taking our babies for many outside experiences such as; free play, morning & afternoon tea,
our very special father’s day picnic, art & crafts, and even an exciting kite flying experience.

We have also been building on the children’s gross motor skills by setting up obstacle courses to
encourage large muscle movements such as; running, climbing, sliding and crawling. Recently we
introduced new experiences to our course that focus on balance, a mini trampoline and stepping
buckets. Our babies are very active and do not require much encouragement for outside fun, as
soon as we’re sun ready and the door is open a smidgen they almost tumble out.

Following their own interests, some children like to try out the planned experiences while others
relax on the mat and enjoy the weather.

The children also enjoy exploring the sensory aspects of nature, feeling the grass, clover
flowers, dirt, and sand through their fingers, hair and in their mouths’J. For some, taste is the
popular sense to explore nature with. Some children have shown an interest in the wild flowers
in the garden, picking and sharing them with their educators, very cute…J

To reflect on our spring experiences we have created some great art and crafts. The children
created their own beautiful spring blooms which we will soon have in full view on the windows to
brighten up our days.

The babies have a little window into their community; they enjoy watching the native flora and
fauna as well as the people and pets that pass by.
We look forward to lots more exciting experiences aheadJ
Wombats News

Hello from the Wombats Room. Firstly I would like to thank all of the parents for making me
feel so welcome as I stepped back into the familiar shoes of Wombats Room Leader. I am only
able to work Monday/Thursday/Friday so on Tuesday and Wednesday either Ashwini or Julie
have been in the room. Despite this change the Wombat Children are very settled and happy in
the room.

We have been enjoying some lovely spring weather and are getting to play outside. The children
are loving this and are definitely becoming more adventurous in their climbing. Could I please
remind parents to provide a named bucket style hat, not a cap, as the weather gets warmer.
We will be applying sunscreen at least twice a day before we head outside. Please remember to
supply your own named cream if your child has sensitive skin.

As part of our learning we have been focusing on self- help skills. These include encouraging the
children to wash their own hands and find their own lunch boxes and drink bottles at meal times.
This then extends to packing up our lunch box and clearing our plates at morning and afternoon
tea time.

Our interest-based focus has being on animals. The Wombat children love reading stories about
animals and guessing what animals they are and what sounds they make. You would have noticed
some lovely artwork appearing on the walls over the last month. The children have been very
excited when we start setting up a table for craft. Much of this work will go into the children’s
portfolios, however we will send some of it home for you to display.

Enjoying some dress ups on a rainy day. It’s also fun to climb in the box and pretend it’s a boat.
Thank you to all the Dads, Mums and Grandparents who came along to enjoy our Father’s Day
afternoon tea with us.

Using our imagination and driving a bus the children moved the chairs into this position and
talked about driving a bus. Some other great uses of our imagination have been role playing with
buying and selling ice cream at the shop.
Story time, the Wombat children are requesting more and more stories during our group times.
They enjoy predicting what is going to happen next.

Alex
Sugar Gliders News
Now that we are in Spring we look forward to the flowers blooming and the variety of colours
around us. We also get to grow our vegetables and fruit and spend quality time in the garden,
which once again gives us a lot of exercise and energizes us.

Kenny Koala’s Visit: Kenny Koala visited us on the 15th of August. Children were
taught about road safety. He also spoke to them about stranger-danger. The

highlight for children was the beeping of the horn and the flashing of lights on
the police car.

Cooking: Rachel our educator made Apricot balls with the Sugar Gliders. In addition to this
Brenda cooked coconut rice. The children took part in these sessions and enjoyed them. They

are looking forward to more sessions such as these.

Art Work: We have done a variety of art work in our room, in addition to gluing, and pasting
activities. We have also made see-saws where the child’s photo features at the end of the see
saw. All art activities are displayed in our room from time to time.
Show and Tell: The introduction of ‘Show and Tell ‘in our room has made a great impact on our
children. A few children have brought items made with their parents to talk about. A child who
recently visited Hawaii brought back photographs of him swimming with the dolphins. Another
child who visited Europe spoke about his trip with his parents and grandparents at length, and
also took great pride and happiness in sending the carers a lovely picture postcard. At one of his
meals in a hotel in Europe he was asked a question by his granddad, and he smartly replied a
little later saying “I must not talk when my mouth is full”, telling granddad that his carers told
him this!

Science Week: The children got to do a number of activities relating to Science. We did an
experiment on Floating and Sinking and the children were happy to see how light objects float
and heavy objects sink. We also demonstrated measurement where two half cups make a full
cup. We did a painting where we explained to our children the concept of how we get a third
colour when we mix two colours. We also made a volcano with play dough. We had dinosaurs
arSocuienndce t
 wheee kv
 olcano and small trees as well. We used bi-carb of soda, vinegar and coloured water
to demonstrated the eruption of the volcano. Children were amazed to see the lava spill out and
requested the carers to repeat the eruption several times.
Book Week: We were honoured to have had our valuable parents

come in and read a book to our Sugar Gliders. The children also

  asked relevant questions at this session. The bonding between
parents and our children was very noticeable. We extend our

heartfelt gratitude to these parents who have taken time off
their busy schedule.

Father’s Day: The Sugar Gliders honoured their dads on Father’s Day by making three items for them. We made a tie with
words of a Sugar Daddy on one side of the tie and on the other side each child got to sponge paint the tie, and using glue

they stuck buttons on the tie. We then used a ribbon to enable dad to put the tie on. In addition to this we made a pet rock.
The children got to choose their colour rock and decorate it with googly eyes and strands of wool for the hair etc. We had

the trunk of the tree printed and for the leaves the children had four hand prints painted in green affixed on it. At the end

  of the sheet “Happy Father’s Day 2013” was printed. Our children enjoyed doing these items for dad.

Visit of the Fire Brigade on 18th September: The Fire Brigade visited us on Wednesday 18th
September. All the four officers who visited us were happy to answer a number of questions
posed by parents and a few children. It was a lively session. The children were happy to see the
firemen spraying the tree with the water hose and the flashing of lights on the fire engine. It
was a great session, as it enlightened the children to act appropriately in the event of a fire.

Farewell Party for our educator Rachel: A surprise party was organized by Brenda D’Cruz the
room leader of the Sugar Gliders. This was discussed at the Parent-Teacher Meeting on the 3rd
of September. We had a great party on Friday the 20th September where we honoured our dear
Rachel for her hard work, dedication and love for our children. We wish her well and hope she
has a safe confinement. Brenda, Ashwini and Gail take this opportunity to thank our dear
parents who are always behind us in all our activities, and for all the love and support they give
us from time to time. Above all we thank them for having kept the secret of the farewell party
from Rachel. Thank you heaps.
Brenda
Koalas News
Hello everyone,
Hope the winter months were kind to you all as we welcome this beautiful spring season. The
Koalas have started blooming with confidence, knowledge and the keenness to learn. Thus most
of the activities, stories, group times, excursions/incursions and the setup of the room were
restructured to cater for developing minds.
The Koalas were engrossed with dolls and imaginary play during the first part of the quarter, so
we then organised bathing baby experiences, as well as bathing our room dolls during role-play.
The children were given turns helping to bath babies Layla and James which they found very
interesting and entertaining.
Most Koalas have been inquisitive and asking many questions showing their readiness to learn. As
such Melissa is borrowing educational books to assist with teaching children and promulgate
learning. We have read books dealing with feelings, healthy eating, and animals from different
regions, biodiversity, and of course about dinosaurs (due to popular demand). This also triggered
children’s responsiveness as they started bringing their own books from home to share.
We had a visit from the Reptile Man as well as from Marvin the turtle. The children really
enjoyed learning about these creatures and having hands on experience touching and feeling
them. The children were able to remember and recall many of the reptiles later on when
described by the educators.
The Tuesday group went on an excursion to Floriade. There they were able to pat the farm
animals, go through the maze, visit the garden of gnomes and have a lovely picnic on the
grounds. It was wonderful to see the children being very gentle with the flowers and animals as
they caressed them. It was also educational as the children smelt the flowers, looked at the
pollen, felt the soft petals and enquired regarding the behaviour of certain animals.
We went on several nature hunts and used much of that material in our craft activities. The
Koala children painted rainbows and did blossom tree crafts that are still on display on the wall,
we are currently adding to this display. They made paper flowers to make a beautiful bouquet to
name a few of the undertakings requiring fine motor and cognitive skills.
The children participated actively in NAIDOC week which was aimed at understanding and
recognising our Aboriginal community. They made boomerangs, dot paintings, read Dream Time
stories, looked at their art and took turns playing the didgeridoo. We still listen to and do the
actions to songs such as “Inanae” and play the tapping sticks on a weekly basis as an ongoing
learning experience and to appreciate our culture.
We have also been engaging children in pattern and sequence recognition using beads, drawing
them on white boards and asking them to complete the series. This is done in order to help them
grasp logical thinking to be ready for preschool. In addition, we play memory games during quiet
time to increase the brain capacity to recall.