Haven Newsletters

Sun Room

Hi Sun Families, 

 

Wow, how fast has this last term gone. I can't believe we have one term to go and then were at the end of the year. What a fun fill term we have had with some incursions and quite a few special events.

Just a quick reminder that with the weather starting to heat up, we ask if you could please make sure there is a few changes of clothes in your children bags as we will start to get water play out again when the weather is appropriate for it, thank-you.

We welcomed Jeremy and Thomas to the Sun Room and we look forward to getting to know them.

We also said goodbye to our friends Mariana and Charlotte H and wish them all the best at their new centres.

 

Incursions

Rowville Library Visit (8th August)

We had the wonderful Michelle come visit us from Rowville Library. She read some beautiful stories to the children and they were in awe of her the entire time. 

The Lizard Wizard (13th September)

We also had the fantastic Monique from The Lizard Wizard come out and visit us along with some of her beautiful animals that we were a lot to look at, pat and even hold some. She brought 2 bearded dragons, 1 blue tongue lizard, a children's python, a big python, a turtle named Boris and a baby sugar glider. The children got to hold the lizards and have a pat of the snakes, turtle and sugar glider. Monique was so patient with the children and happy to answer any of our questions. 

Special Events

NAIDOC Week - 4th July - 8th July (Ann- Maree)

NAIDOC week is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn and understand more about our First Nations culture and history and explore the theme "Get up! Stand up! Show up!.

We set up two experiences, once focusing on the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. We worked on our colour recognition and what the colours symbolises and represent. Along with this experience we had two book on offer for the children to look through. These stories were "My country" (highlighting the joys of nature and emphasises forming a connection with place) and "Welcome Child" (Celebrates all children and how special they are). 

The other experience looked at several Indigenous symbols, such as, water, rainbow, people and clouds. The children got the opportunity to trace these symbols with their fingers and with educator support we had conversations about what the symbols means. They were slo able to recreate these symbols or interpret them through our sensory tray and sand sticks. 

Pyjama Day - 22nd July

For this week we invited all the children and educators of course to come dressed in their comfiest pyjamas. Us educators do love this week as well because who doesn't love to come to work in the pyjamas. 

Jeans for Genes Day - 5th August

To help support this cause out are experience was painting out very own creations on actual pair of jeans. The children did a beautiful job and we had so much fun together. These jeans are now hanging up in our room and look wonderful. 

Science Week - 15th August - 19th August

For this years science week, we did 4 experiments. 

On the Monday we did the volcano erupting with Lesley. They took all the things they needed to the park and the children watch on as Lesley placed baking soda, dish soap (for an extra foaming effect) and red food colouring to the volcano. Then the vinegar was added and all the children enjoyed watching the eruption happen. 

On the Tuesday Lesley did the moving balloon experiment. this experiment is all about air and thrust. Lesley blew the balloons up while they were on the string and then let go. Th children watched as the balloons were pushed along the string.

On the Wednesday, we did the skittle experiment together. We got skittles, plates and some water and all heading over to the big mat. We places the skittles around the edge of the plate in different patterns and poured a little bit of water on the plate and waited for the magic to happen. The children makes the skittle colour run and creates a Rainbow. The children enjoyed watching and saying all the different colours they could see. 

And to finished Science week, Nicole brought her popcorn maker in and we made popcorn all together. The children really enjoyed watching the popcorn pop and make a mess. The children were smiling and giggling during the cooking process and really enjoyed eating it at the end.

Book week - 22nd August - 26th August

During book week we invited all the children and staff to come dressed up in thier favourite book characters and to bring along their favourite books to share with thier peers. The children were very excited to come in and show us thier costumes. 

Fathers day/Special Persons day - 2nd August

What a fantastic afternoon we had with our children's fathers and special people. Thank-you to everyone that come along, it was lovely to have you. 

Indigenous Literacy Day - 7th September (Ann-Maree)

The aim for Indigenous Literacy Day is to celebrate and promote the revitalisation and preservation of literacy for children and raises awareness about the educational struggles face by Australia's First Nations communities.

To support this learning, we focusing on the story "Welcome Child" by Sally Morgan. This story explores the Leo a family has for a new child. The illustrations focus on birds and that is how we set up this provocation. We added birds, feathers, nests and coloured stone and visual from the story. The children had a wonderful time making whiter own nests and this event extended to making a birds nest outside. 

Footy Week - 19th September - 21st September

Thank-you to everyone that came dressed in thier sports colours

Big Chefs help Little Chefs

Scotland - Shortbread

For the month of August we visited Scotland. The children got the opportunity to make shortbread biscuits which originated in Scotland many centuries ago. Each child got the opportunity to add the ingredients into the bowl and and the help miss it all together. The children then enjoyed eating the biscuits for afternoon tea. 

China - Vegetable Spring Rolls

For the month of September we visited China. the children got the opportunity to make vegetable spring rolls. In the spring rolls we had cabbage, carrot, onion, garlic, water chestnuts and vermicelli noodles. Each to the children got the opportunity to spoon the mixture onto thier wrapper and wrap it up. These were a bit tricky so the educators did have to assist. We all enjoyed eating these for afternoon tea. 

Term 4 Events and Incursions 

  • BaleGrow Incursions 13th October
  • Diwali  24th October
  • Halloween 31st October
  • Melbourne Cup 1st November
  • National Recycling Week 7th November - 11th November
  • Remembrance Day 11th November
  • Library Visit Incursion 17th November

 

Thank-you all for reading and we look forward to term 4 with all of you :) 

 

Demmi, Ann-Maree, Caitlyn, Nicole, Danni, Charlotte, Lesley & Isabelle