Walkthrough Opportunity

Dear Princes Early Learning Centre Families,
As you are aware, due to unforeseen difficulties with our building schedule we were not able to share our new centre with you prior to the end of term. We know that many families are keen to show their children the environment but we are still not able to have young children on site, with staff and builders still present adding final touches.However we will have an opportunity for families to visit before the beginning of term.You are invited for a half hour walk through with your child on the morning of Thursday the 16th of July or Friday the 17th of July between 9.30am and 10.30am. Please note that due to ongoing works visits will not be possible outside of these times. If you would like to visit us during one of these times please notify Jeanine of your intention to visit via e-mail (we are not yet in phone contact) at jdry@pac.edu.au We thank you for your understanding and are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday or Friday.
Kind RegardsThe ELC Team

Transition Morning Venue

Dear Parents,
please note that the transition morning on the 23rd of June will be held at Little Princes NOT in the new (and as yet, unready) Early Learning Centre. This transition morning is for:
*students who will be new to Prince Alfred College
*all current Flinders Room boys
*all children in the Pirie room who are scheduled to move to Flinders Room in July.
I apologise for any confusion previous information may have caused.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

OSHC on the Last Day of Term

Dear Parents,
The 26th of June is a pupil free day in the kindergarten. If your child requires Out Of School Hours Care please retrun your completed slip to Mel Bishop as soon as possible.
Thankyou
OSHC staff

Personal and Social Education in the Pirie Room

Dear Parents of Pirie Room students,
in the final two weeks of term we will be talking with the children about bodies and personal space. We have begun this discussion by working together to complete human body puzzles. This has sparked some interesting ideas about the difference between boys and girls and has highlighted how much our students already know about the functions of different organs underneath our skin. It has also been a great opportunity to discuss personal privacy and looking after our own bodies. We have discussed at length how the parts of people bodies that are underneath their clothing is private and also reminded the children about appropriate toilet etiquette. We have been pleased by the earnest and open responses and fantastic problem solving strategies that children have suggested.
We hope that the children initiate some discussion at home, perhaps about how lungs help us, why it's important to eat healthy food and drink water or why it is OK to want privacy sometimes? We hope you are as impressed as we were by the children's sensible and honest thoughts.
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop

Changing Landscape

Dear Parents,
you may notice in the next two weeks that we are beginning to pack up our Kindergarten. Whilst this will not effect the children's programs it may effect the lay of the land in the Pirie Room. We have moved a bank of lockers that used to stand in front of the office window to the other side of the room to create a safe bay to store packed boxes. If you discover your child's locker missing just look directly across the classroom and you will See where they are hiding!

A Little Help

Dear Parents,

We are looking for some parents who have a hour of spare time in the morning who could help us. We have had a number of children's books arrive for the new centre and were hoping that there may be a few parents who would like to spend some time helping us cover them. If you are interested in staying with us for a little while in the morning please e-mail Mel Bishop at mbishop@pac.edu.au

Thank you in anticipation
Kindergarten Staff

Last Borrowing Week for the Semester

Dear Parents,
please note that this week is the last week children can borrow books for the semester from the Library.
Can we please ask Pirie Room families to return Library books any day next week to the basket below the pockets. Please keep your library bags.
Can we please ask Flinders Room families to return Library books any day next week to the normal Library basket but please keep your library bags.
Thank you
Kindergarten Staff

Fifth Disease (Slap Face)

Dear Parents,
a student in the Kindergarten has contracted Fifth Disease (slap face). Symptoms, when they occur, include mild fever, cough and running nose, which may or may not be followed by a rash (often children look like they have been slapped on the face, hence the name) .
Women's and Children's Hospital information tells us that Fifth disease is a viral infection caused by the human parvovirus B19 and once the rash appears the person is no longer infectious. Children do not need to be excluded from school unless they are feeling unwell or uncomfortable.
Please note that pregnant women, particularly in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, who have been exposed should contact their doctor immediately.
Please note that people who are immune suppressed may remain infectious for many months after the rash appears.
To aid in minimising the spread of Fifth disease in our centre we will be reiterating with the children the importance of washing hands and not coughing and sneezing on others and ask for your assistance in reinforcing this at home.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Parent Information Evening for Pirie Room Parents

Little Princes Kindergarten is holding an information night on Monday the 22nd June from 6.00pm – 7.00pm in the Preparatory School Library. The evening will consist of time to provide details of the move, issues that have arisen, answer questions you may have and time to meet with your son’s teacher in the new centre. There will also be information about the physical layout of the centre so that you are able to orient yourself in the first few days of opening.
We hope to see you there
Regards
Neil Andary

Pupil Free Day 26th June

To assist us in the move to the new Early Learning centre, the Headmaster has granted the last day of term, Friday the 26th June, as a pack and move pupil free day. If your child normally attends on a Friday and this Pupil Free day poses problems for you, the school has engaged our Out Of School Hours Care Staff to provide care for children during their normal day time attendance.
To confirm your place in Out Of School Hours Care for this day you must complete and return the reply slip attached to the letter dated 11th June in your child’s pigeon hole and return it to Mrs Mel Bishop.
Regards
Neil Andary

A Fantastic Flinders Farewell

Dear Flinders Room Parents,
As you are already aware the Flinders Room Farewell will be held on Thursday the 25th of June. Due to large numbers in previous years we have moved this event to the Eric Freake Memorial Chapel. Tea and Coffee will be available for parents before the event and we will have a wonderful the wonderful Dwayne from Festival Photographics on hand to record your child’s special moment and also to take family photos at the conclusion of the event. Dwayne always flatters us by recording stunning shots and his photos are available to be viewed on the festival website.
Many families invite grandparents and special others to this event and often choose to have a special family lunch at the conclusion. Can you please let myself or Amanda Rees know if you are planning to take your child for lunch to celebrate the end of Kindergarten and the move to “big school”!
Warm Regards
Alexandra Marcus

A View From Above

To celebrate the college’s 140th year we will be recording the student body in an aerial photograph. This photo will occur on the front oval in front of the main building on Tuesday the 11th of August at 12.00pm.
If your child does not normally attend on a Tuesday and you would like them to be part of this photo please put this date in your diary. On the day it is important that you drop your child at Kindergarten at 11.30 on that day. Parents will be asked to wait inside the Kindergarten until we return from the photo so that they may take their child home. All students will be required to wear their Kindergarten top and black or navy pants (definitely no jeans please)
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

Outstanding Enrolment Forms

Dear Parents,
Some enrolment forms for our new Early Learning Centre are still outstanding. I would strongly urge any families who have not completed these forms to do so immediately. This will ensure your child’s place and your choice of days. It will also help us confirm staffing and allow staff to know which children will be joining them in their new classroom.
Thanking you in advance
Mel Bishop

Tennis for Flinders Students

Dear Parents of Flinders Boys,
Our tennis coach, Libby Sims, offers group lesson for children of Reception age and above. She currently has some spaces available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays as of the beginning of term three. Boys who will be in Mid Year Reception will be eligible to join. If you are interested in Tennis coaching for your son please leave a note and contact number with Ms Marcus or speak with Libby directly.
Thankyou

Transition Dates

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
as we move closer to the end of the semester teachers have begun to speak with some children about their moves to a new classroom. As you are already aware we provide children with both planned and spontaneous opportunities to build a greater understanding about moving to their next class and in some cases, new teacher.
On the Tuesday the 23rd of June we will hold our end of semester "Moving Up Day"

• We would invite all Flinders Room students (regardless of the days they normally attend) to a transition morning with their new Mid Year Reception teacher, Mrs Tania Crawford. The boys will stay with Mrs Crawford from 9.00 am until 10.55am and will require a snack.
• We would invite Pirie Room students scheduled to move to the Flinders Room in July(regardless of the days they normally attend) to a transition morning with their new teacher, Ms Alex Marcus. The children will stay with Ms Marcus from 9.00 am until 10.30am and will only require a snack if they do not normally attend on a Tuesday. If your child does not normally attend on a Tuesday please arrive to collect them just before 10.30 so Ms Marcus may dismiss them directly to you
• We will also enjoy the company of some new families that will be joining our three year old students in July and hope that they enjoy their morning with us.

If you have any questions about the timetable outlined above please contact me at mbishop@pac.edu.au

Kind Regards

Mel Bishop

Early Learning Centre Handbook

Dear Parents of Students moving to the new Early Learning Centre in July,
Please note that ELC parent handbooks are now in children's pockets in the Pirie Room.
Thank you
Jeanine Dry

Family Photos

Dear Parents,
thank you to those of you who have sent in your family photos so far, you may have noticed some hanging from the family tree in the Pirie Room. We do intend to also use them for other projects and would urge any who have not already sent them to send them to mbishop@pac.edu.au .
Thank you
The Kindergarten Team

Art Mirrors Life - Our Trip to The Art Gallery of South Australia

Next week Thursday students will be visiting the Art Gallery of South Australia. This will be a big adventure as we plan to walk into town! After arriving, the students will split into two groups and walk through the art gallery to observe pictures about family groups. Students will require a small snack in a zip lock bag (NO lunch boxes please!) and a throw away drink ie: fruit box.
To complete the adventure we will be heading back to school using public transport.
To make this trip a success we require the help of lots of mums and dads (with some small change for the trip back on the bus!). Due to the fact that we will walk beside North Terrace we will require at least one adult hand for each child. Thank you so much to those of you who have who have already returned your slip and are willing to help. It is important to note that we cannot take younger siblings with us on the trip or prams. Due to the amount of walking involved we suggest flat comfortable shoes.
We suspect that after this trip students will be very tired and so if you are coming to help and would like to take your full day child after the trip has finished please let your child's teacher know.
We have been in contact with the public transport agency who assure us they will be prepared for us on our return journey so now all we have to hope for is blue skies! We are currently working on a contingency plan in case of rain.
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop and Pip Cooper

In the Flinders Room

This week we decided to take our classroom outside! We set up a home-corner style classroom for the boys to experiment in. Paper, whiteboards, writing utensils and a daily roll were put out for the students to use. All the boys were very eager to use the roll, and to be ‘the teacher’. This activity provided the opportunity for boys to experiment with writing and drawing, to read to each other on the mat and to experiment with giving directions and instructions. It was wonderful to hear the boys use appropriate language to connect this experience with the known daily routine of the classroom.
‘Today is T,t,t Tuesday!’ said Federico as he put the tags up on the board.
He went on, ‘Today is sunny, and today, Clark has Show and Tell.’.
This is the usual morning routine that we follow each day.
Jasper and Lachlan were recording family names on the whiteboards.
‘This says Jasper Antonas, Dad Antonas, Mum Antonas and now Basil Antonas.’ He read proudly.
‘I’m going to write Marcus. That’s my brother’s name.’ said Braheem, before writing the letters S-A-M on his board. ‘Now I’m going to write Dad’s name. He’s called Uncle Pauly.’

It was a wonderfully empowering time for the boys. They read, wrote and chatted confidently and took a lot of pride in their work. Many boys involved themselves in tasks that they would sometimes be more reluctant to try. It was lovely to observe!

Big Boy’s Playground!

As part of our transition for the Mid Year Reception class, we have been playing with the big boys during their lunch time. This has helped the students build their confidence and get to know their new surroundings, in a way that feels safe and secure for them, before the big move to Reception. Next week, we will begin visits with Mrs Crawford and will eat in the Courtyard Café!

Sing Sing!

Music is a wonderful way to captivate learners. We use a pack up song each day to make packing up more fun. Some of the students in the Flinders Room have enjoyed the music so much, that we now have a ‘grooving’ song after the pack up song. This provides a chance to dance and sing and move to the music. We love to look at ourselves in the mirror, especially when we have our microphones out!

Swine Flu and Travel

Dear Parents,
As you are aware this weekend is a long weekend and Kindergarten will be closed on Monday. I know that many families have planned exciting get always over this period. It is therefore timely that I remind families that SA Health requires that children visiting known countries of swine influenza concern or the Melbourne metropolitan area stay at home in isolation for seven days after returning.
Please help us keep our school flu free. The College would appreciate being advised of holiday travel arrangements, particularly for overseas travellers during the upcoming term break, to affected areas so that the School can manage this issue more effectively. If applicable, please telephone Jessica Steel with destination and return date to Australia on 8334 1294 to register student(s), parent contact numbers and details of travel.
We thank you for your understanding in this matter

In the Pirie Room

Learning through sharing knowledge and experiences is one of the most powerful ways children learn. The old adage “two heads are better than one” certainly rings true in our Kindergarten. When children share knowledge together, engage in discussion, work together on a project or work on separate projects while communicating on a common goal they often arrive at a greater understanding than when they first began. We call this a plurality of understanding…big words for a simple concept…together we learn more.
Above you can see Henry and Henry working together on a painting. The painting was initiated by Henry N. Henry G stood beside him, suggesting ideas and improvements until in the end Henry N asked Henry G to join him at the easel to improve the painting. The final painting was a conglomeration of both of the boys idea and a more complete picture of a steam train than either boy would have completed on their own. Another example are these two pictures of roller coasters. Mayson completed his first and inspired Harrison to attempt a similar picture. Mayson gave Harrison advice as to how best to use the paints and brushes. Mayson in turn was so inspired by Harrison’s finished product that he is going to attempt a new and improved roller coaster next time he sits down to the paints!

Parents and Friends Quiz Night and 140th Year Celebration

Dear Parents,
The combined PAC P&F have organised a 140th Celebration Quiz Night for the 15th August at 7.00pm. This is always a great night with a lot of fun and great prizes. This year it will be conducted by Quiz master Chris Rebbeck in the John Dunning Sports Centre with tickets at $20pp. So get a table together and join us for a bit of brain busting and a few laughs.
Regards
PAC P&F Association

Tuck Shop Bags

Dear Kindergarten Parents,
We would like to ask for your assistance with a small matter. If your child is having a lunch order please take a bag from the drawer at the sign in desk at the Kindergarten and complete it at school. Large amounts of bags are being taken from the drawer and taken home. Whilst this is convenient it means that there are no bags left for others. It also means that only a very small percentage of bags taken are actually returned as a lunch order and we are unable to keep up with the demand.
Thankyou for your understanding
Preparatory School Tuck Shop

Enrollment Forms

Dear Parents,
thank you to those who have returned their new enrollment forms. Please keep them coming in. We would like to begin to finalise staffing arrangements for the new centre as soon as possible and do require attendance numbers to aid this process.
Please note that if your son will be in his final six months of Kindergarten with us he is required to attend a minimum of four mornings.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Transition to Mid Year Reception

Dear Parents of Flinders Room boys,
In the final weeks of this term Flinders students will meet their new Mid Year Reception teacher, Mrs Tania Crawford, informally in their classroom. Tania will visit the boys to get to know them better, read stories and will even introduce the boys to school assemblies. These visits will be coupled with the transition experiences provided by Ms Marcus to best prepare the boys for the new class.
Boys will spend an entire morning with Mrs Crawford and Ms Rees on Tuesday the 23rd of June. If your son does not normally attend on a Tuesday he is welcome and encouraged to join us for the morning. Tania will also be holding an informal coffee and information session for parents that afternoon (Tuesday the 23rd of June) beginning at 3:15pm. This is an opportunity for parents to ask any housekeeping questions or clear up any queries.A formal Parent information night for Mid Year Reception parents will be held on Wednesday the 22nd of July beginning at 6:30pm.
Regards
Mel Bishop and Alex Marcus

Growing a Family Tree

Dear Parents,
In the coming weeks we will be supporting the children’s growing understanding of how a family tree works by attempting to construct a 2D family tree collage with your child. To support this we have asked families to supply us with portraits of family members. Unfortunately we do require them to be individual portraits. Although we know this is a difficult request we have tried to stream line the process by encouraging parents to send them to us via e-mail rather than going through the process of printing off hard copies and sending them in.
We have placed a letter explaining our request, complete with a sheet of highlighted family members we require, in children's pigeon holes. Please see your child’s teacher if you have any difficulties with this request.
Regards
Mel Bishop

Immunisation Records

Dear Pirie Room Parents,
We would appreciate it if you could provide us with a copy of your child's immunisation records. We are able to copy them at school if you would prefer to leave the originals with us at drop off for us to return to you at pick up time.
Thankyou
Jeanine Dry
Early Learning Centre Manager

Heart of Hearts

Karma for Kids presents the Heart of Hearts Gala Ball.
This event, partly organised by one of our own Flinders Parents and held to raise funds for children with heart disease will be held on Saturday the 20th of June.
A wonderful event held for an important cause, gather together a table to enjoy a four course meal including drinks and entertainment at the Sfera’s park Suites and Convention Centre Ballroom. Please contact Bianca Fiorentino for more information.

From the Pirie Room

We have been illustrating our families as part of our unit. This started a discussion about how to draw dogs.

“I can’t draw dogs” said Henry N
“To make a dog you need a square for a body and two legs at the front and two at the back and two on each of the sides and ears that go down to here” said Mason
“I know how to make a fish, round a circle and two eyes” said Jake
“Actually, two circles, one for the head and one for the body, two legs at the front, two legs and the back, two eyes and a nose, a mouth and red whiskers” said Jake
“They have a wet nose” said Darcy
“You don’t have to have a square, you can do a oval” said Henry Grey
“And the ears is a triangle” said John

We continued to talk about shapes in drawing and illustrated dogs from books and posters. This week we have used our drawings to inspire our work at the clay table. Children have been using different techniques to create the shapes needed to make a dog.

From the Flinders Room

As part of our unit ‘Our Family Tree: Out on a Limb’, we recently had a chat about our fathers and what their roles are within a family.
Is a dad just a dad?
William- ‘He is the oldest.’
Federico- ‘My dad is very special to me and sometimes he takes me out to the movies. Sometimes he talks to me. He has a day off when he has to play with me- we play Potato Head. It’s on Toy Story 1. For work he does some lights and he serves some money to someone.’
Mark- ‘He’s a father.’
Hugo- ‘He’s a husband. My dad’s not the oldest in our family. My cat is the oldest. My cat’s even older than my grandfather. I think it was 13 or something.’
What else can a dad be- dad, husband, father….?
Tom S- ‘Uncle.’
What’s an uncle?
Tom S-‘You need to have some friends who used to come over to your house to sort of connect up to you. They’re sort of in your family cause they’re your nephew.’
Mark- ‘You need to be an old man- like about 60.’
Lachlan- ‘Husband.’
Can a dad be a son?
William- ‘Dad’s are parents. They were sons but they’re grown up.’
Hugo- ‘They’re too old to be a son. They still have parents. They grow up to adults.’
William- ‘Actually they can because they still have their parents.’
Clark-‘He doesn’t actually just have himself. He has mummy, me and my sister and my dog. His mum’s still alive but his dads dead. His brothers and sisters, they died. They got really old and some of them, one got run over by a car and a few of them their hearts stopped beating.’
Federico- ‘You grow up and you marry someone. Then you become a human.’
Isaac R- ‘Our dads can actually be grandpas.’
Mark- ‘My dad is my cousin’s brother. My dad is his friend and his brother- Uncle Frank. They don’t live with us- they’re just our cousins.’
Jasper- ‘He can be a fire fighter or a doctor. He can be just a dad at home. He is mummy’s husband. He is Aunty Chris’s brother.’
Are you a son?
Kyle-‘Don’t know’
Thomas- ‘Cause our parents were born in someone else and their parents were born in someone else. Then they are grandparents. If they’re a boy they’re a grandpa and if they’re a grandma.’

Our New Early Learning Centre

Dear Parents of Students in the Pirie Room,
In the last few days you will have received a large yellow envelope in your child’s locker containing a new enrolment form for your child for the new Early Learning Centre opening in July.
Thankyou to all the parents who have touched base with me to clarify some issues. I would like to answer some common questions that have been asked in the last few days. As part of the move to the new centre there will be a change in management structure. I will retain my role as the pedagogical Director and continue to guide the development of children’s programs, teacher development, centre philosophy and involvement in the life of the greater College. My role will fall in line with similar roles in the Preparatory School and I will be Year level coordinator of Early Years. Mrs Jeanine Dry has been appointed to coordinate the day to day workings of the centre outside of the Kindergarten classrooms and will be responsible for many things including fees and enrolments. Therefore I have tried to answer some questions below that I feel I am able to give some clarification to. I would ask that if you have questions about fees, Child Care Benefits or tax rebates that you direct these to Jeanine as our new Centre Manager.

The New Enrolment Form
Why do we have to fill out a new enrolment form?
For licensing and accreditation we have had to make some adjustments to the current school enrolment form. We also require common and consistent paperwork across the centre and so are asking parents to assist us by filling out the new Early Learning Centre enrolment form.

Do we have to pay the $75 enrolment fee
If your child is currently already attending Little Princes you do not need to pay the enrolment fee.

Do I now have to renew my sons enrolment for Reception?
Boys who are currently enrolled at Little Princes in anticipation of moving through into Reception at PAC do not need to renew their enrolment with the College for Reception, only for their position in the Early Learning Centre using the new ELC enrolment form.

Please note that the stated return date for this document is Friday the 15th of May. Please disregard this date and instead return the enrolment form to us as soon as possible and this will allows Jeanine to confirm attendance patterns. I have already received feedback on the structure of our new enrolment form and are happy to receive any further feedback at mbishop@pac.edu.au

The Educational Kindergarten Program
Does my child have to attend full days?
The kindergarten program will continue in its current form, operating between 8.30am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday and will operate for 40 weeks a year, congruent with the PAC terms. Parents will be strongly encouraged to ensure that students are at Kindergarten before the program starts at 8.30am and to try and match pick up times with the end of sessions after lunch or at 3.00pm so that children are able to get the maximum benefit from the program.

Who will teach my child at Kindergarten?
The Kindergarten will be staffed by qualified teachers and assistants, most of whom are already at Little Princes. The staff will operate under the same planning and budget arrangements that help support the development of programs at Little Princes currently.

Will the Kindergarten program change?
The Kindergarten program designed for the children will not change. It will still be designed in units of inquiry using our curriculum from the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. It will continue to be influenced by the principles of the Reggio Emilia Project and we trust that you will see this both in our philosophy and the new environment we provide. We will continue to encourage children to experiment, consult, reflect, take risks and have fun during their day at Kindergarten. Students will continue to have specialist lessons and will still have the opportunity to use the facilities of the college such as the library, gymnasium and chapel. The final semester of the four year old rooms will mirror the current Flinders program with its emphasis on solid preparation for the move to Reception.

Will my child be fed at Kindergarten?
The Early Learning Centre will have a kitchen and cook who will prepare meals and snacks on site for all children. Kindergarten staff are looking forward to this change as we see meal times as another opportunity for an exchange of ideas and discussions about food, being healthy and looking after our bodies. You will have noticed that last year we swapped our long bench tables for round café tables at Little Princes. This was to allow children to see each other across the table and facilitate the opportunity for children to exchange ideas. Our move to the new centre will complete our plan for positive change to our meal times. Children will no longer have to try and find each other behind lunch boxes and negotiate for space. Not only will children be able to sit down to a healthy meal, snack or treat prepared by the cook but will also work towards growing some of our own food and including it in our menu.

Will my child stay in the same class they are currently in?
In our move to the new centre we will double stream our four year old classes. This means simply that we will have two classes of four year olds. This allows children to spend a year with their “Flinders Room” teacher, something that studies show us to be beneficial but to date we have been unable to accommodate. Students will be primarily placed in their four year old room according to their expected entry into Reception. This will allow children to form a close bond with the group that they will move to school will as we currently encourage as part of our Flinders Room program.

The Role of Extended Care
Whilst the Kindergarten will relocate it’s premises, there will also be added extended care opportunities for our children, that are specific to their needs in place of our current OSHC and vac care programs for parents and families that need them. For three and four year old children this will not be run by current teaching staff or during Kindergarten time. After 3.00pm children who cannot be collected will have time to wind down, have a break and a snack with extended care staff in much the same manner as our current OSHC service that we offer in the Prep School. It will have the added advantage of the activities and programs that occur during this time designed particularly to the needs of this specific age group.

I feel sure that there are many other questions still waiting to be answered and some that I have not listed here because I am not able to answer them. Please e-mail me or drop in for a chat if you would like to talk more about the Kindergarten program in the new centre. If you have any further questions about fee schedules or extended care please feel free to contact my colleague Jeanine Dry.
Work continues slowly but steadily down on the corner and I must honestly say that I am enthusiastically waiting for the day when I can share with you the new Kindergarten rooms and wonderful surroundings that are currently being constructed for your children. I thank you all again for you honest and prompt feedback and hope that the answers above have helped allay some fears.
Kind Regards
Mel Bishop

Dear Mums,
Thankyou to those of you who attended our Princesses Morning Tea. The children enjoyed it and we hope it made you feel special. We would like to thank Leabrook Bakery for the wonderful scones, Trish, Nancy and Ken from Housekeeping for setting up our delightful tables, Jude Searles and Brendt Parisi for help on the day, the boys for all their preparation and the mum’s for their donations to a good cause. Thanks to your support we raised $300 for breast cancer research.
The wonderful folks at Festival Photographics were so enamoured with the photos that they took of students with their mums that they felt compelled to print them all off and send in a free copy to all families who had a photo taken on the day. Festival Photographics are not paid to come to our events so if you like the copy that you received from them and would like another please visit their website and purchase one from the company.

Regards
Mel Bishop

Top Tales

Dear Parents,
We have new children’s literature available from Top Tales. Please feel free to browse through the books in the basket at the sign on desk. If you wish to purchase any of these reasonably prices books please record your order on the green sheet and complete a credit card form and pass it to your child’s classroom teacher. Top Tales regularly provides us with reasonably priced, good quality children’s books and offers the Kindergarten a discount on books for our Kindy Library with every book sold. After eagerly scouting through this months collection staff would recommend

*Shark by Usborne Books
*Mummies are amazing by Catriona Hoy and Annie White
*Litterbug Doug by Ellie Bethel (next in the series from the popular Michael Recycle!)

Happy Shopping
Regards
Kindergarten Staff

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Kindergarten after our Easter break and thankyou for all the wonderful Easter eggs staff received before the break. It has been lovely to see the children excitedly coming back to Kindergarten after the break. We were thrilled to hear about all the visits from Easter Bunny and relieved that he was able to find everybody, even those in Western Australia or the few who spent Easter with Nanny and Grandpa!

We would especially like to welcome Henry N, Peter, Connor, Zachary, Aadi and their families to Kindergarten and hope that they all enjoy their first term with us. We hope that this is beginning of a long and successful journey at the college.

During the break we were thrilled to hear of the arrival of Christian’s new baby sister, Isabelle. Happily Mum and baby are doing well and we pass on our congratulations to the whole family.

This term children will be engaged in a unit of inquiry entitled “Our Family Tree”. Thankyou to all the families who have returned their family tree sheet, it has already proved very helpful as children have begun to illustrate their understanding of their family unit. For those families who have not yet returned their family tree sheet you can find this sheet in the light box on the right hand side of our blog site. Please download it, print it off, complete it and return it as soon as possible to assist us with our work in the classroom.

We are also looking for some other bits and pieces to help us with our exploration of family rolls and would be thrilled if anybody could help us with the following:
*Toilet or gladwrap rolls
*Old jackets, hats, gloves, special shoes, handbags or purses, belts, ties etc… for the children to use as part of their family dressing up corners
*Baby bits and pieces such as bottles, bibs, bouncers, rattles etc… also for our dramatic play corners

We would also appreciate it if families could please return any outstanding portfolios to classrooms so that children may begin adding this terms work.
We are looking forward to an exciting and busy term ahead
Thankyou
The Kindergarten Team

The Princesses Tea Party

Calling all Mums!!
It’s time again for our annual Princesses Morning Tea in celebration of Mothers Day. The children have been working very hard to complete an invitation for their mums and a special surprise for the day. We would love to have you join us:

On – Thursday the 7th of May
At – 11.00am in the Assembly Hall Foyer
Wearing – something pink and a hairdo that will accommodate a tiara!!
With – a small donation for Breast Cancer Research
For - Scones, tea and love!
RSVP – as soon as possible to mbishop@pac.edu.au

If your child does not normally attend on a Thursday we would still love to see you both. Please drop your child at Kindergarten at 10.50 and make your way to the Assembly hall Foyer. We hope to see you there
Regards
The Kindergarten Team

Keeping Your Child Healthy

Dear Parents,
As winter approaches it is timely to talk about working together to keep children healthy. Particularly in light of the recent worries about Swine Influenza we would like to engage your help in keeping our Kindergarten a healthy place for students, parents and staff in the coming months. For those that are interested in the school response and recommendations in response to Swine Flu please visit the college website and download the Swine Flu Precautions letter addressed to parents from our Headmaster, Mr Kevin Tutt

In the Kindergarten itself we have been talking to students about how to prevent germs from us reaching others.

We have been:
*encouraging children to be extra vigilant with tissues
*ensuring that children and staff wash hands with soap after each sneeze or nose blow.
*talking with children and practicing how to cough into our elbows. (This allows germs to be killed in the washing machine rather than being spread on our hands)
*wiping down door handles and door plates twice a day with disinfectant
We would ask that you help us by:
*keeping children who show cold-like symptoms at home until they are well
*sending your child with a tissue or handkerchief in their pocket and talking with them about how and when to use it
*encouraging your child to cough into their elbow when they are at home as well (making sure their mouth isn’t poking out the other side! It’s tricky and takes a bit of practice, ask a staff member if you are unsure what this means)

Thankyou for your support
Kindergarten Staff

International Day of the Family

Dear Families,
In recognition of the International Day of the Family we would like to hold an informal gathering for students and their families at 3.00pm onwards on Friday the 15th of May outside the Prep office on the top oval playground. Bring along a bit of afternoon tea and your Mum, Dad, big and little brothers and sisters and come for a play on the big playground. Feel free to join us for this relaxed get together to mark an important day.

Walking the Wall for Charity

Dear Parents,
We would like to encourage you to support one of our special mum’s who is taking time from her very busy schedule to walk part of the Great Wall of China to support the McGuiness McDermott Foundation. Jordan’s Mum, Karen will pull on her walking shoes in the near future. If you would like to encourage her please feel free to leave a donation in an envelope with the Pirie Room staff. We will then pass them to our P&F reps to collate for Karen. Please help her support this worthy charity.
Regards
Mel Bishop

The True Meaning of Easter

In the last week children at Kindergarten have listened to the story of the first Easter. We have learned about how Jesus died on the cross and then rose again. Every year we find that this provokes tricky questions from some children about the subject of death. This can be a little unnerving for some parents. Whilst we only touch briefly on the Easter story we do make an effort to answer any of the children's questions as honestly and positively as we can. We would like to share with you some of the things we say in the hope that it may assist you if your child chooses o speak about it at home.
We teach children about the permanency of death and how Jesus is the only person "who got to come back". This helps children understand that, after hearing about the story of Jesus, they can't expect others to be alive again after dying. It also reminds children that we have to look after our own bodies and make choices that keep us safe.
Children will often ask why people die and at Kindergarten we reinforce that people only die when they are very very very very very very very sick, very very very very very very very old, or their body is very very very very very very very broken (specialists in the field recommend the seven "very"'s so that children understand that you don't die from a cold, turning 40 or a broken arm!) We are very matter-of-fact in response to queries at Kindergarten and answer children's questions honestly without going into long detail (most children don't want this anyway). If your child is asking questions that you find difficult please feel free to have a chat with your child's teacher about how to respond to the subject.

Let the Water Flow!

Dear Pirie Room Parents,
Students have enjoyed the water wise bag immensely this term and particularly enjoyed sharing their findings with their friends. It has taken us longer to rotate the bag through the children than expected and so we would like to continue this project next term to allow all students to have a turn. If your child has not yet taken the water wise bag home for a visit they will be invited to do so next term
Thanks
Pirie Room Staff

Library Books in the Pirie Room

Dear Pirie Room Parents,
As we close on Thursday this week there will not be an opportunity to return Library books during our normal weekly Library lesson. We would be most appreciative if you would drop your child's library book into the library basket below the information pockets in the Pirie room and staff will return them to the Library on Thursday afternoon.
Thank you
Pirie Room Staff

Thankyou

Dear Parents,
Thankyou for the feedback and support we have received in the last few weeks in regard to hats. Many parents have chosen to leave hats at school in their child's locker and this has solved a lot of the ongoing issues so we would like to again, thankyou for your support
Regards
Mel Bishop

Student Hats

Dear Parents,
We currently employ a "no hat, no play" policy in the first and last term of the year to help protect children's skin and to assist them in learning about the dangers of too much exposure to the sun. The children are wonderfully responsive to this policy and try to be very vigilant about caring for their hat. However we do have ongoing issues with hats. Whilst staff are constantly reminding children about where to store them and assisting them to place hats in the correct locker our first priority must be the educational program, not hat storage. We do not check all hats before the end of the day and do rely on help from both students and parents to help us with misplaced hats. Although hats are currently regularly going missing, rarely do they actually disappear. More often than not the children put them in the wrong bag and the hat goes home with the wrong family for a few days before they realise and bring it back. With all maroon hats and mostly maroon bags it is a very easy mistake to make. Because of flexible attendance patterns, hats that have accidentally gone to the wrong home can take a week to be discovered.
We thank everyone for their understanding to date but recognise this problem is becoming very frustrating for parents. To help with this problem we would remind parents that school hats are expected to stay at school on the hook inside the child's locker overnight. This makes it easier to identify hats that really are missing and means that it is unlikely for wrong hats to go to someone else's house. We will continue to encourage your children to use the hooks and will have an in class focus in both rooms on improving this routine.
In the mean time, because of our "no hat no play" policy we have spare kindergarten hats that are regularly washed through our laundry service for children who have a missing hat to use.
Thank you for your understanding
Regards
Mel Bishop

Puppy Positivity

Dear Pirie Room Parents,
as we are sure you'll already be aware, we have been experiencing lots of dog role play on the playground this week. Students have enjoyed running around on all fours, looking for bones and creating puppy house. We have had visits from vets, police men rescue dogs stuck in the creek and many objects buried and dug up again.
Some parents have commented about the strange four legged behaviour they have observed at home, wondering if it something that should be encouraged.... and the short answer is YES!!
As teachers we have loved observing the children getting deeply involved in their dramatic play. It has encouraged children to communicate clearly to one another, negotiate, share and wait. It has encouraged children to work together, make group decisions and plan play scenarios. Students have recognised the emotions of others, experienced a sense of belonging and explored different perspectives.
Not a bad days work for a three or four year old! So to canine chaos we say yes!!

End of Term Arrangments

Dear Parents,
we have only three weeks left of term and so it is timely for a reminder about end of term arrangements. Kindergarten will finish for all students on Thursday the 9th of April at 12.30 pm(please note, the rest of the school finishes at 1.00pm) If you require care for your child for this half day and are already enrolled in After School Care please e-mail your booking directly to Cheryl on cbuck@pac.edu.au. If you already have a booking in place for that day we would appreciate it if you could e-mail Cheryl to confirm that you will be using your space. If you require care and are not already enrolled in After School Care please see Julie Porter in the front office to collect an enrollment form as soon as possible as spaces fill fast for this type of day.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Chocolate lovley Chocolate!

Dear Parents,
Around Easter time we often have many requests from parents for children to share Easter eggs with their friends. We feel this is a lovely idea but do have a few guidelines to help keep everyone safe.
Children create Easter baskets or bags and leave them in their classroom. If others would like to leave an egg or treat they may put on the Easter Bunny ears and make some deposits. Children are reminded that no Easter eggs may be eaten until Easter time and so on their last day of Kindergarten in week eleven they take their whole basket or bag home. We would then recommend that parents of children with allergies assess whether the eggs may be eaten... yum!
If you would like further clarification please see your child's teacher.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Our Next Unit

Dear Parents,
as the term draws to a close staff have begun to prepare for our next unit. Next term we will be investigating a unit titled "My Family Tree - Out on a Limb". We will be exploring the ideas of families, family roles and how children fit into their particular family. Unfortunately this can be very tricky for staff as young children do often have a limited understanding of how their family is inter connected to each other. It can also be difficult for staff to recognise unfamiliar names. So to assist us we have formulated a homework sheet for parents. It is a basic family tree that staff will use to help the project. It will be in pigeon holes this week but does not need to be returned until the last day of term. We would love it if you could bring it with you to the Parent Teacher interviews.
Thankyou
Good Luck
Mel Bishop

Week Eight in the Pirie Room

We had a very busy week in week eight with lots of trips, noise and excitement! We watched as the Clipsal track was prepared beside our classroom and listened to the cars screech around infamous turn eight on the corner of our playground. To escape some of the noise we visited the river Torrens on Wednesday and marvelled at the floating "paper" boats.
"Paper can float, that's why" said Harrison
Not everybody agreed so that will be a focus of investigation next week
We also headed to Henley to visit the Marine Discovery Centre. We were assisted by the wonderful year six students of Star of the Sea School and got to see lots of different marine life.

Closely observing a Port Jackson Shark We also continued to enjoy exploring water and after our visit to the River Torrens looked at how we can move and manipulate water

We also enjoyed dancing our water cycle. Above you can see us as we are evaporating. You should have seen us crash as waves!!We also particularly enjoyed the carpentry table this week. We made lots of planes and guitars!

Week Eight in the Flinders Room

Dear Parents and Friends,
We can’t believe that week eight has passed already! We have all been having such a wonderful time in the Flinders Room. We are working well together and some lovely friendships have been made. All the boys have been producing detailed and imaginative drawings, paintings and buildings. Don’t forget to come and view some of our amazing work that is now in our portfolios. They are looking great. The performances that we have seen at school recently have stimulated some great dramatic play. We have loved working with the Australian animal puppets to replay the story of Tiddalick and have even made some of our own!

Braheem helped get things going in Friday’s performance!!

We survived Clipsal this week and kept our cool in the traffic troubles. We visited the Marine Discovery Centre on Wednesday, and on Thursday, ventured to the River Torrens.
Thank you to the parents who to accompanied us on these excursions.

What a fun but very busy week!
From the Flinders Room

Pirie Library on Friday

Dear Parents of Pirie Room Students,
we are asking for your help to get us to Library on time. Please assist us by placing your child's library bag in the library basket just inside our front door before you leave on Friday mornings. It is a very time consuming task to check 25 individual bags and is stopping us from getting to Library on time.
Thank you for your understanding and assistance
The Pirie Room Staff

Last Call for Square Bottles

Dear Parents of Pirie Room Students,
as the term draws to a close we are getting close to making our wave machines as a final investigation about water. If you have not already sent a square bottle to school with your child please send a named one to school if you are able.
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

shiny shiny

Easter time is drawing near. What a wonderful time of year for children with sweet treats wrapped in shiny paper. We love using shiny Easter papers in our art. If you are one of those people who like to flatten out the paper after you have unwrapped an egg then you are our new best friend! We would greatfully receive any non scrunched egg papers for our art trolley. If you have some please pass them to your child's classroom teacher.

Week 8 Excursions

Dear Parents,
We have a busy week ahead of us with a host of excursions for both rooms to keep us away from the noisy Clipsal track.
The Flinders Room boys will be going to the Marine Discovery Centre at Henley on Wednesday and then going to observe the River Torrens and it's weir on the Thursday.
The Pirie Room boys will be going to observe the River Torrens and it's weir on Wednesday and then going to the Marine Discovery Centre at Henley on the Thursday.
We are so grateful for the overwhelming response we have had to our request for parent helpers. Unfortunately we have had such a good response to the Marine Discovery Centre we have had to turn some parents away and are making an effort to contact all parents concerned. We thank you for your understanding and look forward to including as many parents on our next trip as possible.
Thank you
The Kindergarten Team

Pirie Room Get Togethers

Dear Parents of Pirie Room Children,
The Pirie Room P&F representatives have scheduled the following functions
Monday 6th April - Coffee Morning at Nano Ready 2 Go (23 Ebenezer Place) at approximately 9.00am after drop off. Little ones are welcome (lots of room to run!)
Friday 24th April - Lets Bowl!! A great way to get to know each other in a fun environment. Bowling at AMF Woodville Bowl at 7.30pm. Cost is $31.50 and includes bowling, finger food, a beverage and lots of fun! Adults only, please RSVP by 20th March (please place your rsvp in the orange Pirie Room box in the Kindy Foyer)

Parent Teacher Interviews

Dear Parents,
We would like to give you advance notice that we will be holding parent teacher interviews in week 11 on Monday the 6th of April and Tuesday the 7th of April. Please look for a schedule sheet by the sign in sheet next week to choose a time slot appropriate to you.
Thankyou
Mel Bishop

Evenings with Steve Biddulph

Steve Biddulph is one of Australia's best known family psychologists and highly recommended reading by the staff of our centre. His seminars are not to be missed and we are lucky to have him presenting in Adelaide in June. He is presenting three seminars at the Salvation Army building at 277 Pirie Street. Each seminar costs 32$, tickets must be pre purchased and are available on line at www.salvationarmy.org.au/adelaide.

Evening One: Raising Boys - Wednesday 17th June, 7.30pm

Evening Two: The Secret of Happy Children - Thursday 18th June, 7.30pm

Evening Three: The Road to Manhood - Friday 19th June, 7.30pm

We highly recommend Steve and encourage you to avail yourself of this not to be missed opportunity.

Nuts and Illnesses

Dear Parents,
We would like to remind all our families that we are a nut free centre. We don't allow tree nuts (except coconut) and are particularly conscious of peanuts. Please do not to send loose nuts, peanut butter or nutella. We ask you to observe this rule to help us protect children in our centre with life threatening allergies to nuts.
We would also like to remind families to please let us know when children are away with communicable illnesses (eg: diarrhoea, measles, conjunctivitis, flu and colds, rotavirus, chicken pox, cold sores etc...) This helps us protect children in centre who have compromised immune systems and our newly pregnant mums.
Thank you for your understanding
Mel Bishop

Traffic Arrangments

Dear Parents,
We are currently in Week Seven of term. As you may already know, during Week Eight we have some road closures around our centre due to a large sporting event. Please check the local paper for road closures and times closer to the event. From past experience we would suggest that you give yourself more time to get to school from the 17th of March but particularly from the 19th of March to the end of that week. We understand that it is a difficult task to get students to school on these days and would ask that if your child will not be coming to school on these days due to the disruptions please let us know via e-mail on mbishop@pac.edu.au
Thankyou
Kindergarten staff

In the Flinders Room

We have been having fun with our buddies from Mr Pearce's class

Guess Whooooooooo?

Building great structures

Experimenting with polymers

and investigating the properties of ice

Phew, what a busy week!

Outstanding Portfolio Folders

Dear parents of students who attended Little Princes in 2008,
We would like to quickly remind any families that have not yet returned their child's portfolio from last year to do so as soon as possible so that we can begin to transfer your child's work into them.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Dave the Plumber

Students of the Pirie Room would like to thank our resident PAC plumber, Dave for coming to visit us last week, with everything, including the kitchen sink. Dave showed us how taps work, how to unblock drains, which pipes are for clean water and which pipes are for dirty water and he also showed us a P trap for keeping smells down where they belong! It was very informative and he even left us a video of the inside of the drain down at our own Fiddian Wing, very interesting.

Thanks again Dave

Greedy Greedy Greedy

Tidalik the Frog sat down at the billabong to take a drink. He drank and he drank and he drank until there was no water left anywhere in the whole world. Last Tuesday we enjoyed seeing the world of Tidalik come to life as two actors performed this traditional story for us. We saw what happens when one person thinks all the water belongs to him and we watched as the animals tried to trick Tidalik into opening his greedy lips. At the end of the show the performers poured the water (a beautiful blue curtain) out of Tidaliks mouth all over the audience.

The students of Little Princes sat absolutely enthralled for the duration of the performance and there was so much talk about rivers and who they belonged to we have been encouraged to take a trip to the River Torrens to observe what has happened to Torrens Lake... I hope we don't meet Tidalik on the way!

Goanna tries to trick Tidalick into spilling some drops of precious water

Wonderful Wetlands

wow, who knew that a brown pond could be such an important environment that supported so much life. Our trip to the Urrbrae Wetlands was a real eye opener. We discovered all sorts of mini beasts living at the bottom of the pond, they were so small we had to look at them through microscopes which was very tricky! We also went fishing with Phil our guide and for those of you that are fisherman, I'm sure you'll be impressed with the Pirie Room catch, 15 fish in 15 minutes!.... and they were thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big!! We learned about the importance of reeds and bull rushes and how they clean the water like toothbrushes clean teeth! Thank you to all the parents who joined us, without you it wouldn't have been possible.Scraping the bottoma scientist at work our fish!!

Community Service for the Young

Dear Parents,
Modelling good community service to our young children can never start early enough. Showing our young charges that we care about others in the community and do things to help sets a wonderful example. However all to often it is difficult to find age appropriate opportunities for our boys to participate in. However with the recent fires in Victoria have come two perfect opportunities for three and four year olds.

Thanks to Noni Hazelhurst, Borders bookstores are doing their bit for the bushfire appeal. Help your child choose second hand good quality books from your bookshelf that you no longer use or go into borders to choose and purchase a new book to donate. You can ask your son to think about the types of stories he likes at Kindergarten and therefore about the types of books another kindergarten might need. Borders will match the retail price of all donated books up to $200,000, which will go directly to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
Borders will donate all books to schools and libraries in fire affected communities. This commences Monday, Feb 23. see more at http://www.borders.com.au/community.asp

The Teddy Bear Drive, instigated by Barbara Braxton in 2003 for the Canberra bushfire is being re launched by school librarians across Australia. They are asking that you collect new (or good quality, clean second hand) teddy bears to send to Lilydale so that they might be able to bring a little joy and comfort into the lives of the children affected by the bush fires. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk to your child about helping another child who has lost their own teddy in the fire. This is a very personal and tangible way for your child to feel as though they have helped. Teddy bears will be distributed via the Relief Centres, initially, and also through Public Libraries in the affected areas. Mt Lilydale Mercy Secondary College, in Lilydale has kindly agreed to be the postal address and a drop off point for the the Appeal.
Please send all bears clearly marked "TEDDY DRIVE" to

Mt. Lilydale Mercy College
120 Anderson Street
Lilydale
VICTORIA 3140

A Sunny Start to the Day

Dear Parents,
As students become older and move into the Flinders Room we do encourage them to become more independent and the new Flinders boys have done a wonderful job living up to these expectations. However, even though they are now far more capable in the mornings it is still a kindergarten expectation that parents stay with their son's until 8.30am. We also encourage increased responsibility for their own belongings and work and expect them to participate in more projects that span across days and weeks and so, often, work is left in the classroom that is still being worked on. If you have other siblings with you in the morning at drop off time, please help us by keeping a very close eye on them as it is very upsetting to our older boys when something is ruined or broken accidentally.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

A Flinders Update

Dear Flinders Room Parents,
Thank you for your support throughout the first few weeks of term. The boys have had a wonderful start to the term and we are all having fun! Thank you for waiting a few weeks to hear from us. The boys will be helping us with the content of our blogspot and it may take us a little while to all agree on which part of our learning we would like to share with you. There is too much going on!
Some important points first though….
* Don’t forget our excursion to the Wetlands is on Monday.
*If you have not made a time for the health checks in Week 9, please check the sheets out the front of the Flinders Room.
*We would love some more objects for our sound table each week. This is a great way to encourage further sound development with your son.
*We will be sending the Waterwise Bag home each Thursday or Friday. Please send it back as soon as possible so we have plenty of time to share the bag with the class.
*Thank you to Edy and Alice for supporting the P&F by being the Flinders Room Class Reps. There is a parent details sheet outside the room that we would appreciate you filling in.
*The boys are loving dancing to the pack up songs that Clark brought in. If anyone has any other songs to contribute, please send them in.

Next week is going to be very busy!!!! We will not only have the excursion on Monday, but an incursion on Tuesday with a performance of Tiddalick. Tuesday is also Pancake Day. We will be learning about the ‘Pp’ sound also, so we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to take up Mon’s offer of pizza making and have Ppppp pancakes and pizza for lunch. The rest of the week will be spent recovering from all of this!

And now to why we have been so busy in the Flinders room! The boys chose these items to share with you, as they were very meaningful experiences for them.

*We have been learning about many things through the story, ‘Hooray for Chester’. Fire safety, drought, water usage and feelings were among some of the aspects we have looked at. The main focus has been learning the days of the week. The boys have participated in a lovely picture story of Chester’s week. Adam shared his with the boys.

*The goop has been messy, but well worth it. This sensory activity not only feels good, but it is a wonderful chance for the boys to chat and be social. We are trying it with paint this week, so that our hands don’t change colour so much!

*The construction that has been occurring through the blocks, mobilo and gears has been fantastic. Here, the boys have made the connection to our unit of inquiry by making a ship. The project progressed over a number of days and involved many people. All the boys were amazed by the size and creativity involved. Well done boys!

Flinders Room Coffee Morning

Dear Parents of Flinders Students,
Please join us for coffee next Friday morning after school drop off at Villeroy
Warm Regards
Edy and Alice

Pirie Room Water Wise Bags

Dear Pirie Room Parents,
As you know, our unit of inquiry this term is “H2O where does it go?” To help us make links to the wider world we would like you to help us collect information about water. The children are very excited about taking home one of our “Water Wise” bags to help with our research.
In the bags there is:

· A clipboard where you will record your information
· A magnifying glass to do some detective work
· A book with songs, poems and pictures to share (your recording pages will be added to this folder too)
· A water sample bottle (to collect some pool water, pond or creek water – whatever you have in your backyard or home ie. bubble bath water!)
· A watering can for your child to wisely water plants at home
We would love you to encourage your child to:

· Draw a picture of what they like to do with water
· Take a photo of them using water or being water wise

These pieces of information will be used for our research and will be shared and then displayed in our room.
Please keep the bag for 1-2 days or a weekend, as we would love to ensure that every family has a turn during this term.
Thank you in anticipation for your help!
Kind regards,
Pirie Room team

Head Lice

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
we have had a case of head lice in the kindergarten. It is recommended that you check your child's hair and the hair of other family members for eggs or lice. Head lice is passed by direct contact and has absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness. Anyone, adult or child, can get it. Please look in your child's pigeon hole for recommendations and an action plan.
Thank you
The Kindergarten Team

Measles

Dear Parents,
as you are aware there has been a case of measles in Adelaide in the last week. Measles is now such a rare occurrence that even one case warrants head line news. It also means it is hard to predict how it would affect the smaller members of our community so we are keen to keep it at bay. Please keep an eye out for any unexplained rashes and let us know if your child is absent because they are unwell and a rash presents.
Thank you for your vigilance
Mel Bishop

Thankyou for your generosity

Dear Parents,
Thank you to those who responded to the call for donations for the PAC Fire appeal. Our trusty year seven students visited us this morning to collect the last donations and were very proud to announce that the Prep school alone had raised over $5000. This combined with the secondary school meant that we have an estimated amount of over $11000.
As parents we all understand the devastating losses our friends over the boarder have experienced in the last week and I think I speak for all when I say our heart goes out to them.
Thank you again for every penny.
Mel Bishop

Pirie Room P&F News

Dear Pirie room parents,
As the year is taking off to a nice start we thought it would be a great idea for the mums, previous and new, (dads are always welcome too) to get together for our first coffee morning.
It's a fantastic way to get to know each other, especially with so many new families joining us this year.
Jude and I already have boys in Reception but our little ones are new to the Pirie room this year and we are eager to meet all the new faces that we have been seeing around and I’m sure many of you feel the same.
As everyone’s situation is different, we will try to arrange varied days throughout the year for our coffee mornings so that everyone can hopefully attend at some point or another.
We would like to book our first date;

Friday 20th February, after drop off around 9am
Sparrow kitchen & bar @
10 O’Connell St, North Adelaide.
Directly opposite the old Adelaide Hotel where Cibo restaurant used to be!

Please RSVP by Tuesday the 17th of February so we can book a table. You are welcome to call or text Brendt on 0404 836 540 or email brendt.parisi@shm.com.au or Jude on 0417 857 032 or email judithsearles@bigpond.com.

Also if you are happy for us to contact you directly in future via phone or email rather than leave a message in the boys pigeon holes, please send us your details so we can put them on file.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Brendt Parisi & Jude Searles
Class Representatives
Pirie Room - PAC

P.S.....For anyone who is interested in attending the "Blues & Reds Cocktail Party" on Friday the 27th of March, please let us know! Its in support of Depression Awareness and being held at the National Wine Centre from 8pm till late. The cost is $85 per person and "Acoustic Juice" will be keeping everyone entertained throughout the night. Being an official function, it's guaranteed to be a great night out, so we hope to see you there as well!

Top Tales New Arrivals

Dear Parents,
our newest box of Top Tales children's literature has arrived and will be available to look at at the the sign in desk next week. Top Tales offer good quality children's books at very reasonable prices and also give the kindergarten bonus points for book purchases for our little library with every purchase made.
In this box Lola and Charlie make another appearance as the look after a guinea pig and there is a wonderful mouse story for anyone who has ever felt scared! If you would like to order books please mark your choices on the green sheet and don't forget to fill in a credit card slip and hand it directly to your child's teacher.
Thank you and happy reading
Mel Bishop

A change of date

Dear Parents,
our trip to the Urrbrae wetlands has been postponed to later in the term. Eligible students will receive a consent form with relevant details in their pigeon hole this week.
Thank you
Mel Bishop

Welcome Back!

We would like to warmly welcome back our Little Princes students and have been thrilled to hear about the wonderful things you have all been doing over the holidays. We would also like to welcome new students joining us for the first time. We have really enjoyed getting to know you over the last five days and are sure that you will all be a friendly and inquisitive addition to our classes.
We have also welcomed two new staff members.
Miss Alex Marcus has joined us as the teacher in the Flinders Room. Alex comes to us with a wealth of experience, most recently teaching in the Junior Primary section of our own Preparatory school! She has a strong desire and preference to work in early years. Already she has shown us a dedication to her new role and genuine love of the boys in her care.
In the Pirie room we are joined by Miss Emily Meacham as an assistant. She has joined us with a great deal of experience in early years. Emily is a quiet and caring professional who is very responsive to children’s individual needs, both emotional and physical.
We feel sure that you will help us by showing these two new staff members the support and trust you have always so graciously given to us.
On that note, in the rush of the end of term last year there were many parents and families who spoiled all the staff at Little Princes that we did not get to thank personally. Thank you for your gifts and thoughts but most of all, thank you for letting us spend a year with your little ones, the pleasure was all ours.

H2O, Where Does it Go?

This term we are investigating a unit entitled “H2O, where does it go?”. With the students we plan to explore water and it’s properties, share knowledge about where water can by found and how we like to enjoy it and investigate why water is precious and how we can conserve it.
Each classroom has a “water watcher bag” for students to take home for the weekend to record details about water in their home. You can help you child with this project on their weekend by helping them count and record information, take photos, draw pictures or write stories. We will use this information as part of our maths program in class. All instructions will come with the bag and each child will have an opportunity to take it home once during a semester.
To help us with our work we are asking parents to collect
*any square jars (eg: olive oil bottles) and their lids
*green, grey, blue, white or clear plastic shopping bags
*interesting natural items from visits to the beach
During the term we also plan to take a number of excursions to different water environments. Whilst details for all of them are still to be confirmed we do know that we will need a strong parent presence to assist us with supervision and would welcome any offers of assistance. Please note however that we cannot take younger siblings with us on trips. We plan excursions on different days in order to allow all children to participate in one. On some excursions, children who do not attend on the scheduled day can join us at the venue with a supervising adult however some venues do not allow extra numbers and are only available for children attending on that day. Whilst we do do our best to spread these activities across days we often restricted by availability of venues or programmes.

In the classroom

The Flinders Room had a wonderful start to the year. The heat, blackouts and lack of air conditioning was challenging at times, but the boys coped well. They participated in lots of fun activities to help keep them cool, such as throwing water balloons and eating iceblocks. The favourite was apple bobbing though. Come in and look at our beautiful photos of this activity. Flinders students also kicked off the term with observations of those who live in an aqua environment with the introduction of two fish…we can’t wait to find out what the children name them!
The Pirie Room have been learning a poem about how to enjoy different places with water simply called…
Water

I like water in my bath
I like to have it hot
With a swish and a swosh
On my arms as I wash
And my face all steamy hot.

I like puddles on the path
I like the splash of the rain
And the pilp plop plip
As the raindrops drip
Till the sun comes out again.

I like water anywhere
But, the best it seems to me
Are the waves as they roar
On the sandy shore
As I paddle in the sea.

Unknown.

We asked student’s whether they preferred to play in the bath, rain or sea and received a variety of answers but Kalan’s was of particular interest.
“I like water in the drain” he stated
“Yes, I like to play in the rain too” responded the teacher
“No, not the rain, the water in the drain” reinforced Kalan
These comment sparked an interest in the listeners and we began to debate the role of the common sink drain and where water went after it emptied through it. Mason explained to us his theory about clean water going down one tube while dirty water went down another. We wondered where that water went and how it might affect others.
“I think the fish would like my toothpaste actually” decided Regan!
And so an investigation begins!

Hot Weather

Dear Parents,
Thankyou for your support during our spell of exceptionally hot weather. As stated, we have limited our door play, on some days over 40 degrees, not going out at all. Please continue to send icy water, this has been a cooling treat. We have had some issues with our air conditioning that have now been resolved but while we are now cool and comfortable there is no need to send children in thick singlets, particularly children who stay full day.
Thankyou to Regan’s mum for the cool icypoles on our record breaking 45 degree day…yum!

Some hints to help our term get off to a great start

• Please return your child’s portfolio
• If your Pirie child stays full day please ensure their sleeping bag has been returned
• If you have not already received an e-mail alert we do not have your e-mail address. Please pass it as soon as possible to your child’s teacher to ensure effective communication through our blog site
• All families have raffle tickets in their pigeon holes in support of our art show
• Please ensure your child’s hat is named and in his locker
• Please note that children are only allowed to bring show and tell once a week. Flinders Room students have a scheduled day, please see the schedule note.

Library

If your child does not attend on a Library day you are still invited to visit the Library and borrow a book at a convenient time for you. Children must have a PAC library bag to borrow books and Kindergarten children are allowed to borrow one book at a time.

Parent and Friend Class Representatives

At the start of each year we ask for new representatives from the Kindergarten for the P&F. These people are instrumental in helping organise social functions for parents, coffee mornings, parties etc… They also take a role in helping the kindergarten fund raise. Thank you to the people who have stepped into these roles this year. Your new class reps are:
Pirie Room
Brendt Parisi and Jude Searles
Flinders Room
Edy Mizgalski and Alice Newton

Dates for your Diary

Thursday 5th February – Our rescheduled Information Night. We hope to see you at 6.30pm
Friday 6th February – Cocktail party and drinks for new parents only
Tuesday 10th February – Excursion to the Urrbrae Wetlands (Tuesday students only)
Tuesday 24th February – Tidilick the Frog incursion 9.00 – 10.30am (all students are invited, if your child is not a Tuesday child please RSVP at mbishop@pac.edu.au)

Nut Allergies at PAC

Due to the large number of students with severe nut allergies in the Preparatory School - PAC Preparatory School is a “Nut Aware” school. Nut products are not stocked in the Prep School Canteen or used in the school kitchen.
It is important that there is a strict avoidance of nuts in order to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction. We are asking for your help in providing these students with a safe school environment.

Any exposure to nuts may cause a rapid life-threatening allergic reaction that requires emergency medical treatment. To reduce the chance of this occurring, we ask that you do not send any products containing nuts to school with your child. (Please note: products with the “may contain traces of nuts” disclaimer are not included in this exclusion) If your child has eaten nuts before coming to school, please be sure that your child’s hands and face have been thoroughly washed before entering the school.
We appreciate your support of these procedures. Please contact the school if you have any questions.
Thank you for your co-operation.

Neil Andary
Head of the Preparatory School

Absences

Dear Parents,
It is always helpful for us to know if your child is going to be away. Please feel free to e-mail us ahead of time if your child is having a planned absence. In the case of illness we always appreciate a quick call to the front office where Julie or Ann will pass the message to us. If possible please let Julie or Ann know what illness your child has so that we may keep an eye out for similar symptoms in other children to keep the spread of infection to a minimum.
Thank you
Mel Bishop