dec 2012 newsletter jan 2013 - child care center, … · dec 2012 – jan 2013 nola – dee child...

We welcome back

everybody and hope all

families had a great

festive break. Welcome

to all our new families

and hope you and your

family enjoy our friendly,

educational

environment. Please if

you have any questions,

speak to the staff in your

child’s room or

alternatively pop in the

office for a chat. We also

welcome any inputs or

suggestions and hope

you share your culture

with us and any ideas

are much appreciated.

Nola-Dee

Child Care

New Year new resolution

Newsletter Dec 2012 –

Jan 2013

New families Firstly, let’s extend a warm welcome to some of the new

children at our centre. Say hello to Zarmeen Chowdhury,

Gemma Goh and Ayaan Bhuiyan in Babies and Toddlers

room and also Shenal Porage and Tevin Edirisinghe in

Kinders room please make these children and their

families feel at home.

Birthdays Two of the children in our care had their birthday

celebration in the centre. One of them was Ira Gupat,

who had just turned one and Gia Lam, who had just

turned five.

Nola – Dee Child Care Centre 2013 Dec 2012 – Jan 2013

2

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Staff information There would be new staff arrangement for

this year for both Kinders and Babies

room. Polly and Queenie had changed

rooms for this year. Polly would now be in

the Babies room and Queenie would be in

the Kinders room. Please feel free to talk

to them for any suggestions with taking

care of your children and also any sorts of

suggestions will be appreciated. Queenie

is having her 3 weeks break starting from

28/1/13. We would also like to introduce

one of our new staff in babies room whose

name is Chamindi.

Illness As the typical Melbourne Weather is

occurring during Summer, children tend

to get sick easily. As part of the center’s

infectious control policy, when a child was

seen with fever symptoms during the day

in the center, educator would check the

temperature. If it is 37.8° and above,

parents would be informed

immediately. We would also separate

the child from the other children

during the day. Parents would need to

bring a medical certificate to ensure

that the child is fully recovered and

suitable to come to the center the next

day. Also parents would need to keep

their children under observation for

24hrs to see if they are capable to

come to the center. We understand that

it is not easy to take time off work or

study to stay at home with your sick child

but preventing spread of infection in the

center is only possible with your

cooperation to assisting us in providing

the best quality care for the children and

the staff.

To all families

Absences and Child Care Benefit Child Care Benefit is paid in certain

circumstances when a child is absent from

the Centre and a fee is still charged for those

sessions of care that the child was booked

but did not attend. Each child is eligible to

receive CCB for an initial 42 absence days

per financial year. These absences can be

used for any reason. Public holidays are

included in the initial 42 absence days as the

centre would have normally provided care to

the absent child on the public holiday and

fees are charged in respect of the absent

child for the day.

All the initial 42 days absence need to be

reported thus in order to comply with Family

Assistance requirements and the centre

policy, if a child is absent from the centre for

whatever reason, we would require our

parents to do the following:

1. Inform the centre either in-advance or

on the day of absence, if it’s on the

day, Please notify us no later than

10:30 am on the day the child will be

absent.

2. Sign for your child’s absence on the

attendance record as an

acknowledgement of your child’s

absence.

We would appreciate your cooperation in this

matter. Thanks.

Picking up late Please remember that your child must be

picked by 6:00pm. If you can’t pick up your

child on time, then please ensure you

authorize someone else and notify the centre.

Photo IDs would be needed for future

references. Late fees will be charged when

picking up after 6:00pm as $1.00 per minute.

Dec 2012 – Jan 2013 Nola – Dee Child Care Centre Newsletter

3

We run the kinder program same as the sessional

kindergarten. We have fully qualified staff in the kinder

room and 2 staff can cater for up to 20 children. We

provide children with opportunities to learn

through different activities and different

experiences for the hours that they are in the

centre, not just the 3-4 hours like the sessional

kinder.

Through a balance of play, intentional learning and group

participation, children can develop self-confidence and

self esteem.

Our program provides provisions that positively challenge

and enhance:-

Fine motor through painting, drawing, cutting,

manipulating blocks. Gross motor through water and

sand play, balancing beams, running, ball skills and

climbing. Math/science concept through block play,

construction building, games cooking, puzzles, water play,

collecting nature, experiments. Creativity – Our own

originality of thought or expression when manipulating

materials, constructing, painting, making music, dancing

and playing. Aesthetic awareness focuses on the

principles of beauty found in nature or environment.

Children develop aesthetically as they respond to colour,

textures, sights and sounds of their environment.

Language & Literacy - Staff encourages understanding,

questioning, following of directions, listening and respect

when in conversation with others. Provisions that achieve

these are: - sharing time, storytime, songs, finger plays,

games, poems, drama, writing and children to

children/adult interactions. Also different language

awareness through cultural books, pictures, magazines,

music, CD/DVD and spoken language.

Incursions are arranged to complement the children's

learning.

The benefit of kinder

program in long day

care

Do you

know?

At sessional kinder,

children only go for 3-

4hrs per day, 2 to 3 days

per week. The learning

opportunities through

play were just the few

hours a week. However,

in the childcare setting

of kinder, children

would be given the

opportunity to learn

throughout the day, for

at least 4 hours per day

and the learning

opportunities would be

maximized throughout

the week.


4

Quality Assurance:

Back at the end of November our centre went through the new Quality Assurance Assessment and Rating process. The purpose of the National Quality Framework assessment and rating process is to determine whether and at what rating level services meet the National Quality Standard and the requirements of the Education and Care Service National Regulations and the Education and Care Services National Law.

During this process, we had one assessor come out to the centre for 1 day and spend time in the rooms, watching the educator’s interactions with the children, our daily routines and procedures and the programming formats within each room. As a centre there are over 300 points that need to be marked off during this 1 day visit. These points are broken into 7 Quality Areas and the centre is given a rating on each quality area and then an overall centre rating. As this is a new system, we are currently one of 250 centres to be selected in the trial period, which means our results are not published.

The rating levels are as follows:

Rating level Abbreviation

Significant Improvement Required S

Working Towards National Quality Standard W

Meeting National Quality Standard M

Exceeding National Quality Standard E

With most centres falling into the Working Towards category I am extremely pleased to share our results with you.

QA1: Educational Program and practice Meeting NQS

QA2: Children’s Health and Safety Meeting NQS

QA3: Physical environment Meeting NQS

QA4: Staffing arrangements Meeting NQS

QA5: Relationships with children Meeting NQS

QA6: Collaborative partnership with families and communities Meeting NQS

QA7: Leadership and service management Meeting NQS

Overall Rating Meeting NQS

As a centre we are extremely proud of our results and believe it reflects the hard work that we put in everyday to care for, nurture and scaffold your child’s learning and development.


5

Christmas and Year End

Celebration On 20th December 2012, our children were given a

fantastic treat. It was a very special day filled with

colours, laughter, yummy food and Christmas jingles. Yes,

it was our annual Christmas and Year End Party!

In the morning, children had some free activities and their

parents accompanied some of them. For morning tea, we

made mini pancakes served with maple syrup. The older

Kinder children then helped our staff to make the mixture

for another delicious treat to bring home – homemade

Christmas chocolate.

As the children engaged in a number of Christmas-themed

activities – playing with Santa memory cards, pasting

Santa faces and other activities – one of the parents, Mia’s

mummy Hitomi, arrived to paint the children’s faces.

Soon, some of the children bore resemblances to tigers,

crocodiles, butterflies and even Christmas ornaments!

The children also entertained their parents with a

selection of popular children’s songs

and Christmas jingles. What a delightful group the

children were, singing their hearts out and moving to the

beat of the songs.

After a very special Christmas lunch, Santa Claus himself

dropped in for a visit, much to the delight of the children.

Everyone, children and staff alike, received a special gift

from Santa. Soon after, a balloon twister made an

appearance. The room was quickly filled with various

objects – swords, dogs, cats and more. The children were

absolutely thrilled.

It was certainly an unforgettable day for the children and

their parents. To the parents who have brought their own

goodies to be shared with others, a big “thank you” from us

here at Nola-Dee ChildCare Centre. The event wouldn’t

have been that successful and enjoyable without your

support and contribution.


6

Welcome to our first Newsletter for 2013. I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year that filled with happiness, good health and exciting new adventures. Welcome Alma and Jordan that have started at the kinder room this January 2013.

Summer:

This month, we have been so busy in learning about the summer season such as

where we go? What we see? What we eat? How we feel? and what will happen

if the weather is too hot?

Children were very good in recalling the places that they went, the activities

that they did and the food that can make them feel better in this hot weather.

Also, they are able to express their thoughts (verbally) clearly while they sharing

their ideas with their friends in the group time.

Moreover, children were given the chance to express their thoughts non-

verbally through art and craft. They created some icy-pops, colourful fish, beach

collage, paper plate Sun and cork stamp apple tree. Additionally, children drew

the place that they went to and they made a poster about summer season

together.

Themes: We are starting off the New Year with our summer and Australia

Day themes. We have been doing lots of art and craft, handwriting

activities, stories and songs. In addition, we also did some science

experiments and mathematics activity to increase their interests

and knowledge in Science and Mathematics.

Kinder Room Learning

Experiences:


7

Summer season &

Sea creatures

We are now very knowledgeable about summer season, beach and sea creatures. We also learnt that the job of our firefighters do when they are trying to extinguish the bush fire. Making icy-pops: Children were provided with different colours of pre-cut icy-pops and popsicle sticks. They were encouraged to mix and match the colours and created their very special icy-pop for this very hot season.

Cork stamp apple tree: Children were using different strategies to stamp the red and green apples on the tree. Most of them were using the provided corks to stamp on the pre-drawn tree. However, some of the children were so creative as they printed the red, and green apples by using the little finger and the cork. They created different sizes of the apples. One of them even told the educator there were some yellow apples on the tree because it was still unripe. By doing this activity: Children were practicing their fine motor skills by using different tools for art and craft. They are developing their imaginative and creativity too!


8

Where our feet take us to during summer? As children were talking about where they were going during this summer time, they were encouraged to draw their ideas (express non-verbally) on a piece of paper. After that, the educator would write down what the picture is about and children would paste their pre-cut feet (educator traced it beforehand) on their

own drawing.

Beach collage: During this summer, most of the children went to the beach with their families. So, they were told to make a collage about the special beach that they went. They were given two types of paper (crepe papers and colour papers), cotton

and sand for the beach collage. Furthermore,

children were working together to create a large beach collage for decorating the window. One of them painted the Sun, another child cut out all the drawing and created the umbrella and some of them made the boats for the sea. They cooperated very well.

Sun painting: Children were invited to make the Sun. First, they pasted the pre-cut triangle shapes on the paper plate. Then, they painted it with the orange colour. While they were doing it, they were telling the educator that the Sun made the weather hot. So the educator took the opportunity to explain how the Sun is important for our life.

Off to School End of this month, some of our friends (Gia, Summer, Jasper and Rennie) are going to primary school. We had loads of great memories together and wishing them all the best in their future life.


9

Festival Fun:

In January, we have celebrated Australia Day, the official national day of Australia. Children decorated

their own Digeridoo, Boomerang and dot painting kangaroo. They also painted the Aboriginal flag and Australia flag. Celebrating this festival gave us a great excuse to look at the basic Australia history during group time to build upon children’s knowledge about the country that they are living. . Before starting these art and craft, children were shown the pictures of Boomerang and Digeridoo from the

Internet. At first, only one or two children were able to recognise it. After educator introduced these aboriginal art and craft, children started to guess what it is used for?, who use it?, how to use it?, and who is aboriginal?

Once the children get more information about Australia and aboriginal, they were encouraged to try

out the aboriginal style of painting, dot painting. They used the cotton sticks and primary colours (red, yellow,

blue, green and black) to decorate their unique Boomerang, Digeridoo and kangaroo. Furthermore, children were also painted the Australia flag and aboriginal flag. They were painting the flags patiently by using the paintbrushes. While they were doing it, one of the children asked, “Why there were so

many stars on the Australia flag”.


10

Make a colourful fish: Throughout the first two weeks, we have been mentioned about what we can see in the beach. On week three, educator read a story about the creatures under the sea. As we have been talking about the different type of fishes in the sea, children were told to decorate the fish with the crepe papers. Most of them were very patient in pasting it as they were taking their time to paste it one by one. When they completed their artwork, educator cut out the fish and hung it on the net.

Kinders love Science: Before we started the experiment, educator asked the children what is the meaning of ‘sink’ and ‘float’. A few of the children gave examples of the items that sink or float which mean several of them had some knowledge about it. So, the educator explained the meaning of ‘sink’, ‘float’ and ‘experiment’ prior to trial. Every child was given an opportunity to predict and test out whether the item is sinking or floating. They were

having fun in doing this kind of activity as they did it twice in a month!

Upcoming events: In February, we will be doing more art and craft, stories and songs about the Valentine Day (14/02) and Chinese New Year (09/02-24/02). Also, we will continue with the handwriting and spelling activities with those who interested in it.


11

Baby/Toddler Rooms Learning Experiences:

Sorting out the shapes Throughout the month, children enjoyed playing with the sorting out shape toys that was

on the table. Children enjoy the trial and process of fixing the different shapes into the

different whole of the toys. Children love to move the blocks around to check out which of

them matches the holes and when they actually got some of them into the whole, they were

very happy and they were giggling with the educator. Some of them needed help from the

educator and some of them can easily do it by themselves.

Songs about summer During this month, children learnt different songs in relation to summer such as “Hurry

Hurry, Drive the fire truck” and also “It is summer time”. Children enjoyed with doing the

motion and action of the songs. It was also easy for children to follow the lyrics and actions,

as it is full of repetition of words. Please feel free to sing with them and let them do the

action with you.

Construction legos Throughout the month, children also enjoyed playing with the construction legos where

they get to built their own big buildings and make their own construction up. Children

enjoy the process where they get to stack up the legos together to make their own little

building. They also enjoyed looking at the colourful legos that was on the floor and sharing

so that they can play with each other.


12

Summer Art and Craft As you can see in our babies room, we had a wall covered with beach theme and a wall

covered with a big sun. It was because it is summer time and we talked about different

things in relation to summer. Children made a beach together by using paint and they

paint different objects such as crabs, seashells, starfish, beach balls, sands and sea. They

also painted orange and yellow on butcher paper and educator cut it out to make a big big

sun. Children had great fun with it.

Australian day Art and Craft As one of the big events happening during January, children get to do different art and

craft in relation to Australia. Babies were given with Australia map to paint and they

paint it with green colour using the sponge. Children also enjoyed painting with Aboriginal

flag where they get to learn how to paint one side at a time. Children also enjoyed with

doing painting on Kangaroo where they get to cover the whole kangaroo with brown paint.

They had great fun doing different painting and they were happy about it.


13

Dancing time During the playtime in room, children enjoyed doing dancing in a group either by playing

a CD or by singing themselves. Children enjoy humming to the songs and also following

with the sounds made by educators. They also enjoys moving their body and dance to the

rhythm of the songs. They enjoyed releasing their energy and also imitating the actions of

the educator. They had great fun with it.

Group time Children enjoys group time together where they get to read books, sing songs and even

just playing together. They enjoyed the accompanied with each other where they get to

have physical interaction with others and also for the toddlers, communicating with each

other. Children also enjoy the time where they were group together and being focus with

one thing together. They enjoyed the time a lot. Children also sing, “Twinkle Twinkle little

star” in Chinese together and even though they only some of them could sing out the song,

the rest of them follow the motion of the educator with the action. action of the educator.


14

Cooking Area Children enjoyed playing at the cooking area where they pretended to be cooking their

food. Some of the babies and toddlers enjoyed the corner very much that most of the time

when they went into the room; they walked quickly towards the cooking area. Children

also enjoyed playing with the bags where they pretended to go for shopping. When

educator asked them what are they doing, they said, “I am going to shopping”. They then

keep on showing the bag to their friends and also the educator.

Outdoor play As the weather condition during Summer were very extreme, with either too cold of rainy

days or either too hot with a huge sun, children restricted to

go outdoor to play most of the time. So when they do get a

chance to play outside, they enjoyed it very much. They fully

ulitized the play area where they get to do lots of running,

playing and jumping around. They also enjoyed driving the

bicycle.


15

Firefighter song:

This is a song that you can sing with your child, doesn’t matter if they are a kinder or a

toddler, as educator from both room had been singing with them for the whole month during

January and they also know the action for this song. Please feel free to sing it with your

children during your spare time.

During this month, there was some news about the bush fire. Educator decided to teach children intentionally about the safety and how the firefighters put out the fire.

Below is the children’s favourite song about the firefighters:

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck (Hands on steering wheel)

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! (Ring bell)

Hurry, hurry, turn the corner

(Lean to the right) Hurry, hurry, turn the corner

(Lean to the left) Hurry, hurry, turn the corner (Lean to the right and left) Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

(Ring bell)

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder (Pretend to climb ladder)

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder


Hurry, hurry, squirt the water

(Pretend to spray hose) Hurry, hurry, squirt the water Hurry, hurry, squirt the water


Slowly, slowly, back to the station

(Lean slowly to the left and right) Slowly, slowly, back to the station Slowly, slowly, back to the station


Hope you enjoy our newsletter for this month.

From Nola-Dee team.

dec 2012 newsletter jan 2013 - child care center, … · dec 2012 – jan 2013 nola – dee child...

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