Nara Pre-School has been undergoing a large extension and transformation this year, and we are very excited that the works are finished and that we now have a wonderful new facility for our staff and children to enjoy.

Every year, during Education Week, Nara Pre-School holds an Open day for prospective families to come and visit us.  This year we are planning to incorporate a ‘Grand Opening’ of the newly renovated facility as part of our Open day.

It is with great pleasure that the Nara Committee of Management invite you to join us at the ‘Grand Opening’ of the new Nara Pre-School.  This is a very exciting time for Nara, as the past and present  Committees have worked tirelessly  for the past 10 years to get us to this point.

Details, as follows :

Date : Saturday 26^th May 2012

Address : 2 Stanley Avenue Mount Waverley

Time : 10am – 1pm.

Cutting the Ribbon Time : 11.30am by     Michael Gidley, State Member of Parliament Waverley and

Stefanie Perri, Monash Mayor

We look forward to seeing you on the 26^th of May.  There will be plenty to do for the kids with face painting, balloons, animal farm and jumping castle.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me directly on 0417 059 022.

Yours faithfully,

Carolyn Thorburn

President of Nara Pre-School Committee of Management

Working Bee

There will be a Working Bee on Sunday 15^th April commencing at 10am.
More details comming up soon…….

Open Day

Nara Open Day has been scheduled for Saturday 26^th May 2012.  We are booking entertainment for the children for the day.  This is a special chance for all of the Nara families to come and visit our newly renovated premises.  More information to follow.

We need as many families as possible to assist with our Parent Working Bee next Term – Sunday 10th October.  We will be adding new tanbark to the playground, with a load of tanbark being delivered.  Many hands make for a quick and fun morning for all!  More details to follow.

2010 Parent Survey:

Thank you to the families who completed our annual Parent Survey.  Results are currently being collated.  We will include a summary of results in our next newsletter.

Building Renovation:

Nara Committee is looking into the possibility of organising joint funding from state and local government to extend and renovate our building.  We will keep you informed as this matter progresses.

Term 4 Fees:

Term 4 fees are due by Friday 17th September (the final day of Term 3).

Our preferred payment option is internet direct debit.  Cheque payment is also available.  Although payment may be made by cash – we very STRONGLY DISCOURAGE this, as it poses security risks for the kinder.

Congratulations Cheryl:

Congratulations to Cheryl Coady (currently on maternity leave) on the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Maeve.  Apparently our lucky 3 year old children have already met Maeve.

Transition Reports – for four year old students:

Last year the government brought out compulsory Transition Reports for kinder teacher and parents to complete together.  These are a tool to help your children make the transition from kinder to school with ease.

During Term Four, I will be preparing these and sending these to parents.  There are a couple of sections that parents are required to complete and sign.  I will send these initially by email (or on paper for those parents without email).  Parents and schools will also receive a paper copy of the final Transition Report.

To make this a smooth process I am requesting that you reply as soon as possible after receiving each part of the transition.  I will be sending out instructions.  Any queries, please ask.

Vanessa.

Kindergarten Enrolments:

Don’t forget to confirm your 2011 offers as soon as possible, in order to secure a place.

Enrolment queries?

4 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Carolyn Thorburn – 0410 043 721

3 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Christine O’Rourke – 0410 043 713

Fundraising:

Thank you to everyone for another great term of support!  We have had a very successful chocolate drive and have appreciated everyone returning their money so fast.  Next term we have labels and the toy catalogue coming.

Deliveries of Tea Towels and Picture Plates are due in the next few weeks.

For your diary – don’t forget to book in our Christmas Family Fun Day, Sunday 5th December, with lots of entertainment for everybody.

“Tooth Tips”:

Did you know?

• It is best to avoid using lollies, sweet biscuits or chocolate as treats or rewards for your child.
• A treasure jar full of balloons, stickers, crayons and toys is a great idea for special rewards or treats for your child.
• A handy snack idea is to keep a “snack box” in the fridge.  The box should contain healthy foods such as pieces of fruit, vegetables, cheese and small sandwiches.  This helps establish health snacking habits.

Bright Star Kids:

Bright Star Kids make organising easy (Plus 25% of every sale will come back to Nara Pre-school).

This year we’ve teamed up with Bright Star Kids as our fundraising partner.  They’ve got lots of great label kits to help stop your kids things getting lost or mixed up.  You’ll get great value with their range of labels and lots of extra deals, including 40 FREE Tiny (pencil) Labels for every child in your order and of course FREE postage on every order!

Shop Online and help us raise funds:

http://www.brightstarkids.com.au/index.cfm?fund=FDR426

Child’s Play:

Child’s Play Australia is offering Nara the opportunity to receive free education resources from their highly regarded range.  For any parent orders placed on the Childsplay website (www.childsplay.com.au) Nara preschool will receive a 20% credit.

Tupperware:

Watch out for a Tupperware Catalogue at Nara.  10% of all orders received will be donated to Nara.  A great chance to do a bit of Christmas Shopping!

Green Group (3yo) News:

Hi Families,

We have been having lots of fun this month at Kinder.

We got to see a real live puppet show about a Teddy Bear’s Picnic.  We laughed and giggled all the way through it and then even got to go back stage and be a puppet ourselves.

We have also just recently planted some seeds that you will see in our Kinder. We have talked about what the seeds need to grow – sunlight and water and even participated in a drama activity, using our bodies to be little seeds then slowly grow into a big tall tree.

Just recently we got a special visit from Cheryl and got to meet her little baby Maeve, who we were very excited about.

One of our favourite things to do at kinder at the moment is use the dress ups.  We have been fairies, princesses and pirates and have worked together really well to come up with some great story lines whilst being dressed up.

Coming up we will be hatching some chicken eggs!  We have to keep them warm in the incubator first and then we get to watch them hatch.  This will bring discussion around lifecycles, caring for animals and our environment, that we are very eager to explore.

Lastly we have been very busy putting some work, photos and documents in our personal portfolios so please, if you get a chance, take a peek at your own child’s one.

Regards,

Lainey and Pam

Red and Blue Groups (4yo) News:

Support Your Team Day

• Blue Group Tuesday 14th September, Red Group Friday 17th September
• Wear your favourite team colours from any sport

What a busy term we have had especially the last two weeks.  Some of the children’s interests have been bugs, birds, planting our vegetables, dog games, pirates and treasure maps. We have also made some apple muffins and squeezed some oranges.  The bugs were a big success with the children examining many different mini beasts and learning about camouflage, insects, spiders, worms, stick insects, large snails and cockroaches and so on.  Maybe you could spend some time reading the book we created with your child.

We also had our Fathers and Working Mother’s night.  We had half the parents of both groups attend.  Thank you for your support.   The children showed their dads some of the things they do at kinder and introduced them to their friends.   Parents spent time looking at the portfolios then to finish the night the children did a dance and helped to read a story with me.  The highlight was when some of the fathers joined in with the dancing!

Thank you to Emily’s dad for helping us prepare the veggie patch.  All the children in Blue group helped dig and rake the garden, then planted seeds.  Red and Green group have also planted some seeds.  Please take some time to have a look at our veggies with your child.  Also other parent helpers would be appreciated.  The children are helping to look after these small plants by watering them, looking at them and reminding each other to be careful.  Red group worked together to design and create our very own scarecrow – a wonderful suggestion from one of the children.

We have a student, Sankari, helping for three weeks.  Following on from discussion about birds, Sankari has sourced some eggs which we are trying to hatch.  This will take about 21 days, so look out for our little chickens just before the holidays. Sankari is also going to set up some bird feeders in the playground (away from the scarecrow of course!)

Please read the reflection books and the children’s portfolios to see some of the many other things that have been happening at kinder.

Library will be finishing at the end of the term so please return all books by the end of term.

Thanks,

Vanessa, Louise and Sarah

News Blog Feedback:

Do you have any suggestions or feedback for our news blog?  Perhaps an article you would like included, or some further information or a question on a topic mentioned?

Please let Kathie (news@narapreschool.org.au), Vanessa, Lainey or any member of the Nara Committee know.   All suggestions and input gratefully received!

We are very pleased to welcome Lainey Walsh as our 3yo Teacher for the second half of 2010.  Lainey has proven qualifications and experience, making her a real asset to our children.  Welcome Lainey.

Cheryl Coady is currently on maternity leave – we will keep you informed as any “baby” news comes to hand.

Thank You:

• Thank You to Rachel Terkelson (mum to Eve in Green Group) for designing the flyers and billboards for our Open Day in May.
• Thank you to Australian Paper Recovery Ltd for the making the effort to personally deliver a secure document bin to the preschool at short notice, in time for a working bee.
• Thank you for Clare, Claire, Rosa, Michelle, Carolyn, Christine and Kate for cleaning up Nara’s paperwork and filing during the holidays.
• Thank you Wilson Transformers for donating some wooden “Cable Reels” for our children to play with outside.

Fundraising:

• Tea Towels – as we are still finalising some pictures we can still accept late orders until Friday 6th August AT THE LATEST.  Tea towels will be delivered the last week of term 3.
• Don’t forget to return money from Cadbury Chocolates by Friday 6th August.   Thank you.
• Picture Plates have been ordered, and are due back before the end of Term 3.
• It is a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but to get in early for your diary – Sunday 5th December is Christmas Family Fun Day with lots of entertainment for everybody and our last fundraising social event for 2010.

KindergartenEnrolments:

First round offers have been sent out for 2011 kindergarten places.  We recommend families confirm their 2011 offers as soon as possible, in order to secure a place.

Enrolment queries?

4 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Carolyn Thorburn – 0410 043 721

3 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Christine O’Rourke – 0410 043 713

2010 Parent Survey:

Our Annual Parent Survey will be sent to all families in the next few weeks.  Please complete and return the surveys promptly, as they provide important feedback to our teachers and committee.  Your feedback allows us to know what we do well and what we can improve upon.

To keep families informed we will provide a summary of Parent Survey results in a future newsletter.

2011 Idea?

Due to the difficulty some families have accessing 3 year old kindergarten, we were wondering if there was any interest in a Saturday program.  Perhaps for three or four hours each Saturday morning?

If you have any feedback or this interests you, please contact our 3yo Enrolment Officer, Christine, on 0410 043 713.

Waverley Cinemas:

In less than 12 months we have received:

• 25 double passes to the movies
• $50 cash
• $25 Subway voucher

All that – just from our parents, teachers and friends registering online!

Keep “clicking”, or START “clicking”.  It takes less around 10 seconds a day (you can only register once each day).

http://waverleycinema.com/program/club0035.php

2011 Session Times:

Our 2011 times and groups have been confirmed (please note Green and Blue group changes):

3YO – Green Group:
Monday 9:15 – 11:45pm, Thursday 12:45pm – 3:15pm

4YO – Blue Group:
Monday 12:45pm – 3:45pm, Tuesday 9:15am – 3:15pm, Thursday 9:15am – 12:15pm

4YO – Red Group:
Wednesday 9:15am-3:15pm, Friday 9:15am-3:15pm

“Tooth Tips”:

Clean Well:

• Encourage your child to try brushing their own teeth, but continue to brush their teeth for them, at least twice a day (after meals and before bed).
• Use a low fluoride toothpaste from two to six years of age unless otherwise recommended by a dental professional.
• Smear a pea-sized amount of toothpaste onto the brush.
• Encourage your child to spit out the toothpaste after brushing.

Mouth Checks:

• Mouth checks are suggested activities included in the 3½ and 4 year old health assessments with the maternal and child health nurse.
• It is recommended that dental check-ups start with toddlers.
• Consult your dental professional, maternal and child health nurse, family doctor or paediatrician for further information.

Road Safety:

Our next information board will be on road safety.  We also have some booklets and a DVD for parents to borrow.  We encourage you to consider and discuss safety with your children – safety in the car, getting in and out of the car safely and pedestrian safety.

Parent Library:

A reminder that we have a parent library that parents can borrow books from.  We have some new booklets on healthy eating and cooking for children and a family book that parents may be interested in looking at.   Our library is located in the yellow cupboard in our kindergarten foyer.

Green Group (3yo) News:

Hello to the families of Nara Kinder;

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Lainey Walsh and I will be the Kindergarten teacher for the 3 year old group at Nara for terms 3 and 4.  I have worked with children for five years and have  completed my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education.  I have my own little son, Harlow, who is eight months old and just gorgeous.

My beliefs and philosophy when teaching your children are very much based around the statement “play equals learning”.  I will strive to make all the children feel comfortable and valued at their kinder.  I believe that the early years are the most influential.  Setting a positive and stimulating environment with excellent role models is the best way to allow children to learn and further their development in all areas.  I will program not only for, but also with the children, by actively engaging them in experiences of their interest.  I look forward to getting to know you and all your children.

Please feel free to approach me about anything, even just to say hi!

Coming up – “Dove Puppets” Incursion Monday 9th August.

Regards,

Lainey and Pam

Red and Blue Groups (4yo) News:

We are now half way through the year and what a busy time that has been. The visit to Sussex Heights Primary school was a big success. The children experienced aspects of school life and enjoyed the walk home.  We have created a book on the visit, where the children have drawn pictures, told us their favourite part of the day and included photos.  Please spend some time reading this with your children.

The children have been hiding treasure for each other to find. They have been creating maps and also making hats and patches.  One group made a big ship out of the wooden box outside.  Also we have been reading stories on treasure hunts and Pirates.

The children have been playing soccer.  We talked about the rules of the game, about the countries that were playing and then the children talked to me about the yellow and red cards.  From this we made up some rules and if they were not followed, they got a card.  This then changed the way the game was played.  Some children made numbers in their team colours and attached them to their clothes.

The table tennis balls have continued being used outside.  The children have bought tubes/pipes to the steps, arranging these in different ways and exploring the direction the balls go.  Some children are using the wheelbarrows to tip the balls from the top of the step watching all the balls go in different directions, while other children are trying to catch them.

Throughout all of the above play experiences, the children have developed skills from the frame work ‘Belonging, Being, Becoming’.  Areas being developed include:

• Belonging to a group
• Becoming aware of fairness
• Becoming strong in their social awareness and emotional well being
• Researching, problem solving and investigating, using symbols
• Verbally and non-verbally communicating with others.

Thank you to one of our parents who donated some carrot seedlings which we have planted and watered.  They also gave us some seeds which we will plant as the weather gets a bit warmer.

Regards,

Vanessa, Louise and Sarah

Newsletter Feedback:

Do you have any suggestions or feedback for our newsletter?  Perhaps an article you would like included, or some further information or a question on a topic mentioned?

Please let Kathie (news@narapreschool.org.au), Vanessa, Lainey or any member of the Nara Committee know.   All suggestions and input gratefully received!

Don’t forget your library bag!  Blue group – Tuesdays, Red group – Fridays.  The children have opportunity to borrow a new book each week from our Nara Library.

KINDER PHOTOS:

Our kinder photos will be taken the second week of next term.  Please put the date above on your calendar.

WARM CLOTHES:

Outdoor play is important to the health and wellbeing of the children.  As part of our program we will be going outside unless it is raining.  Please make sure your child has appropriate warm clothes for outdoor play – a hat and warm jacket, or jacket with a hood is ideal.

If you feel your child is too unwell to play outside, they really should be kept at home, rather than attending kinder.

FUNDRAISING:

Thank you to all the families that supported the Monash Community Raffle.  Nara raised $673 – this money is being spent on some new outdoor play equipment.

Picture Plate and Tea Towel orders are in progress now.  These make terrific presents, and will be received back in plenty of time for Christmas.

Next term we will be sending Cadbury Chocolates home with families.  Again – thank you for supporting Nara’s fundraising activities – helping the Pre-School provide better educational resources for all of our children.

PLANTS, SEEDLINGS:

We would be grateful if any families could donate either indoor plants, or seedlings for our vegetable garden.

HEALTHY LUNCHBOX:

We still have some children arriving at kinder with processed and sugary foods in their lunchbox.   At Nara we encourage healthy eating, and ask that parents ensure that snacks and lunches contain healthy food such as sandwiches, fruit and vegetables.  Cakes and sweet biscuits should not be part of your child’s usual kinder snack or lunch.

PHOTOCOPIER:

A huge thank you to Caroline Aldred and her work for donating their photocopier to the kinder.  The staff report back that they don’t miss the constant paper jams from the old copier!

NARA OPEN DAY 2010:

Thank you to parents and staff for helping organise and host a successful Nara Open Day.

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS:

2011 enrolments – central enrolments with Monash City Council close on 30th June.

Enrolment queries?

4 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Caroline Thorburn – 0410 043 721

3 Year Old Enrolment Officer – Christine O’Rourke – 0410 043 713

“TOOTH TIPS”:

Eat Well

• Offer healthy snacks between meal times such as fresh fruit pieces and yoghurt, cheese and dry biscuits, chopped vegetables and sandwiches.

• Limit sweet sticky snacks, such as fruit/muesli bars, sweet biscuits, lollies, chocolate and fruit strips.

Drink Well

• Encourage your child to drink tap water every day (this provides the benefit of fluoride).
• Limit sweet drinks, including fruit juices/drinks, soft drinks and cordials (either bought or home-made).
• Offer plain milk in a cup (reduced fat plain milk may be encouraged from two years of age).

• A bottle is not necessary after 12 months.

GREEN GROUP TEACHER:

With Cheryl commencing Maternity Leave earlier than expected, our 3 year old group has been very lucky to have Jane as a teacher until the end of this term. We are in the process of appointing a new teacher for our three year olds for the last two terms of the year, and hope to be able to give you an update soon.

GREEN GROUP (3YO) NEWS:

It is with great delight that I join Green group in the absence of Cheryl.  As reported to you in my short news letter I have taught at Brentwood Preschool for 16 years teaching both the 3 & 4 year old groups.

I am quickly getting to know the children’s names and would love families to introduce themselves to me and chat about your child when helping on duty or after the session.  Please feel free to see me after the session if you have any questions or queries about the program or some information that may help with your child’s time at Kindergarten.

I, like many other teachers in Melbourne, am getting to know the new Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Program and am incorporating many learning aspects into our program over the next few weeks.

I look forward to working with your children and discovering their learning interests.  Please feel free to email the preschool about what your child is doing and what they like as it all helps with my planning.  If you would like photos of your child at preschool please send an email to me at the preschool and I will endeavour to forward photos to you for your records.  Please put your child’s name on the email.  nara.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au

I am starting a take home book for the children to get to know each other.  Pam and I will add some information about ourselves to this book.  Have fun reading it when it comes to your house.  This helps the children learn the names of their peers and allows us to learn a little about their likes and interests.

Happy Parenting,

Jane Raymond and Pam

RED AND BLUE GROUPS (4YO) NEWS:

Following the dinosaur visit (which was a big success) the children have been talking about fossils, size, and volcanoes.  (Heather made a volcano with the children, using bicarbonate soda).  The children made many objects relating to dinosaurs and we also created a book about what we liked about the visit.

We have been cooking, planting and talking about healthy eating.  Whilst exploring bubbles, we have looked at their movement in the air, their shape and colours.  From this other experiments occurred with balls – blowing table tennis balls/marbles and experimenting with bouncing and rolling the balls using ramps and different surfaces.

The children have been matching and sorting objects, using lots of language during these experiences.   This has lead into looking at shapes and colours as well as different animals.

The children have also been using lots of boxes to form creations, drawing many pieces and some are exploring letter and word shapes.

We are talking also about making books and writing stories and the children are becoming interested.

Again we invite interested parents to share their skills with the children.  We are especially interested in cooking, and can organise the ingredients.

With almost half a year completed, the children are learning and changing quickly.  You are welcome to discuss your child’s progress with us, either in brief, or by making an appointment with Vanessa.

Also, Vanessa may be contacted by email –  nara.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au .

Regards,

Vanessa, Louise and Sarah

FEEDBACK:

Do you have any suggestions or feedback for our news blog?  Perhaps an article you would like included, or some further information or a question on a topic mentioned?

Please let Kathie (news@narapreschool.org.au), Vanessa, Cheryl or any member of the Nara Committee know.   All suggestions and input gratefully received!