What is a celebration?

“It’s when you put stuff up” said Oliver G
“You celebrate with the whole world” said Alex
“You might put a Christmas tree up” said Charlie
“It’s kinda like a party” said Fletcher
“ …or like a birthday” said Max
“You are really happy” said James B



Dear Parents,
As part of our ongoing unit called “Celebrations across the Nations” we will be looking at two final celebrations. Of course Christmas will be one of those and we will look at why and how people celebrate this joyous season.
The other celebration that we have begun to investigate is Halloween. Halloween is not a traditionally Australian celebration and can be a worrying celebration because of the perceived “scary” nature of it. Therefore we would like to explain to parents how we have begun to introduce it to the children and some of the activities we plan to involve the children in.

• Halloween is a harvest festival. We will be teaching the children about what “harvest” means and looking at how farmers provide us with food. We hope that the children will gain an understanding that Halloween is to say thank you to the earth for giving us such wonderful food.
• We will focus on pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns but will not be giving any undue attention to things such as witches and vampires etc…
• We will be cooking with pumpkins and using their seeds in mathematics activities
• We will be holding a dress up day in week three and will be allowing the children to trick-or-treat at other classrooms. Children will receive 4 treats (3 lollies and a fruit bar) and will be able to choose 1 to eat during class time but the rest will be taken home for parents to supervise.
• We will bob for apples (in only enough water so that the apple can be pushed against the bottom of the tub and still be poking out the top of the water. This activity will be extremely closely supervised) and corn cob printing as part of the investigation into traditional harvest festival games…that should be fun!
• We will be reading lots of Halloween books that will include traditional Halloween characters but that are not scary in content. These include:

Maisy’s Halloween (a focus on dressups)

Ten Little Witches (a counting book)

Mog’s Vegies (a focus on healthy eating and harvest)

The Big Pumpkin (a focus on working together)

Halloween Dress Up Day

Wednesday the 31st of October is dress up day for Wednesday boys. We welcome all creatures except super heroes. Children can come in their costumes ready for a trick or treat! If your child’s costume is a bit difficult to move about in they may like a change of clothes to change into later in the day.

See You Later Mrs Taylor

The time is approaching for Sarah Taylor to leave us to take maternity leave. Sarah’s last day is Friday the 9th of November and we hope to farewell her in style (please check your son’s pigeon hole for more details). Sarah has been an outstanding member of staff whose cheery and fresh approach has been a great asset to the Kindergarten. Sarah has been typified by loyalty, professionalism and a genuine desire and ability to understand and meet all the needs of the students in her charge. Sarah will be greatly missed but we look forward to her continued contact and involvement with Little Princes but above all, wish her all the best for the safe delivery of her first child.
Good luck Sarah, we will miss you.

Kindy Craft – Flinders Room

Dear Flinders Room parents,

• As part of our investigation into harvesting food we plan to make cress heads. If you have any old stockings or glass jars we would love to use them for this activity.
• As part of our Christmas craft Flinders Room boys will require a large Milo or coffee tin (the type with the metal lid that is pressed close). Please pass your son’s named tin directly to a teacher.
  

Thankyou
Mel and Amanda

Parking

Dear Parents,
You will notice that on some days some parking outside the front of the school has been cordoned off to allow trucks access to the school for the building of the new gymnasium. These works have received approval from the council but will mean that on infrequent days fewer car parking spaces are available at the front entrance to the school. This will only happen a number of times in the next term but are all in an effort to have our gym completed for student use as soon as possible. We thank you greatly during this time for your understanding and suggest that if you are having any difficulties finding a park that there are more parking spaces behind the school using the back gate entrance.
Thank you again for your patience

Flinders Room Drop Off

Dear Flinders Room parents,
Please ensure that a kindergarten staff member is present at 8.30 before you leave you child in the morning.
Thank you
Mel and Amanda

Asimo the Robot

ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), the Honda Humanoid is coming to Adelaide on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of November. Come and see ASIMO the robot at Rymill Park. A wonderful "boy centred" experience.
Where: Rymill Park (Corner of East Terrace and Rundle Rd)
Saturday Times: 10.30am, 12.30pm. 2.30pm, 4.30pm, 6.30pm
Sunday Times: 9.00am, 11.00am, 1.00pm. 3.00pm, 5.00pm
Tickets: Are free (the tent is limited to 350 seats) and available for allocation one hour before the first show each day and then two hours before each of the remaining shows and can be picked up from the Merchandise truck.

Welcome Back!!

Wooo Hooo! One more sleep! We hope your are all as excited about the start of term four as we are. We hope you all had fabulous holidays and your children are ready and raring to come back to Kindergarten. We are certainly looking forward to seeing them... see you tomorrow!
The Kindergarten Staff

Preparing for our 2007 Christmas Nativity

Dear Parents,
We have begun preparation for our Christmas Nativity that we are presenting in week six this term. This week you will receive an attendance form in your child's pocket or locker. Whilst all Little Princes students are invited to join us for the morning, due to flexible attendance patterns it is important for us to ascertain exactly which children will be attending on the day of our Nativity. Please complete your child's attendance form and return it to your son's teacher as soon as possible. Children will be assigned roles only after their form has been returned. We will be informing all parents of their child's role in the Nativity and any small costume requests.
We are also looking for some mums, dads, grans or grandpas who are a whizz on the sewing machine. We need to sew 25 small white shifts with a bit of elastic in the neck before the end of week four for our stars, angels and candles. (They are very straight forward, we promise!). Please come and see a staff member if you are able to give us a hand. Material will be available from next Monday (unless anybody has a big bolt of white cotton collecting dust in a corner of the sewing room!)... I know it's only November but we are starting to get the tinsel tingles already!! :)

Boys' Education Forum

Dr Michael Thompson is acknowledged as a world expert on boys' education and he is also the author of "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys". Members of the school community are invited to attend the Boys' Education Forum, featuring Dr Thompson tomorrow (Tuesday the 16th of October) in the School Assembly Hall. Please RSVP to the school receptionist on 83341200 if you would like to attend. A gold coin donation would be appreciated.

2008 Reception Class Requests

Dear Flinders Room parents,
As the year draws to a close I am preparing class lists for students moving onto reception. Many different factors are taken into account when preparing these lists and it is helpful for me to know if parents have any specific requests. I take into account all written requests and do my best to accommodate them however may not be able to meet each of them. Please let me know in writing as soon as possible if you have any points for consideration.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

"The First Five Years" Sessions

Dear Parents,
Our sessions entitled "The First Five Years" begin in week two this term. We had many requests for some form of parent education course to be offered at school and this one comes highly recommended by other PAC parents. The information sessions are over six weeks and cost $75 per person. Whilst we had an overwhelming verbal response from interested parents this has not turned into formal registrations. We require 16 people to run the sessions. If you know that you want to attend the evening sessions please let your son's classroom teacher know as soon as possible as we would prefer not to have to cancel the sessions.
Thank you
Kindergarten Staff