March
2016
Term Dates:
Term 1:
Older
Group: 25 January – 13 April
Younger Group: 21 January – 15 April
Teachers’ Update
What
a busy few weeks we have had here at kindergarten. The excitement has peaked in
the last few days with the arrival of our eggs in the incubator. We have been
so lucky to be here when some of the chickens have hatched and now we are
enjoying watching them in the brooder. They are getting bigger and more active
every day. This experience has been wonderful for both our older and younger
children and we have been able to make the most of the learning opportunities
both at mat time and in our displays. When you check out the chickens we would
love you to take time to read the display and share with your child.
This
interest in nature will be enhanced for our older group with a visit from Brian
Lawton, an entomologist, as well as a trip to Kiwi Valley Farm, to get up close
with the animals.
As
usual, summer has presented us with some fabulous days and we have enjoyed
getting wet in the lazy river and under the sprinkler as well as lazy
afternoons reading and playing games in the shade from our wonderful trees. How
lucky we are with our beautiful outdoor environment.
Beach Explorers
Our Beach Explorers expeditions have kicked off again
and the children are eagerly waiting their turn to come along. Don’t worry if
your child hasn’t been yet, we only take the oldest children, usually in the
term before they are due to go to school. Everyone will get to come when the
time is right.
These trips have a real focus on caring for the
environment and the role we have in looking after our Turangawaewae, our local
standing place.
Ride-a-Thon
We are coming up to our annual Ride-a-Thon, the first
of only 2 fundraisers that we hold during the year.
This fun event is a chance for families to get
together and to raise some money for your kindergarten. So bring the
Grandparents, Aunts Uncles and friendly neighbours along for a fun family day.
Date: Saturday 19th March
Time: 11-1pm
Place: Torbay Primary School
See the attached flyer for all the important details.
Parking
This is an on-going issue
outside kindergarten. If you have a
high-sided vehicle (this includes people movers, SUV’s and vans), please park
on the road. We have had a few near misses when people are trying to
back out of the car parks; they are unable to see the traffic coming down the
hill.
We have reserved the right
to park behind the teachers cars for families that have special needs. Please do not park there unless you have seen a teacher about this.
Dates to Remember
|
Date
|
Event
|
|
Tues 8th March
|
Committee Meeting
|
|
Thurs 10th March
|
Hearing and Vision (younger group)
|
|
Mon 14th March
|
Autumn Harvest Morning
Hearing and Vision (older group)
|
|
Sat 19th March
|
Ride-a-Thon
|
|
Wed 23rd March
|
Entomologist visit (older group)
|
|
Wed 6th April
|
Kiwi Valley (older group)
|
Hearing and Vision
Hearing and
Vision is a national screening service that happens in Early Childhood Centres
for all 4 year olds. All
children are seen once in the couple of terms following their 4th
birthday. They will only be seen again if there is a recommendation for a
follow up. When you enrolled at kindergarten you filled in all the paperwork
needed for these checks to be carried out. The checks are done in a fun and
interactive way with children playing a listening game and then wearing a
‘pirate patch’ and looking at shapes for the vision test. Our children find
this experience fun and non threatening as it happens in an environment where
they are already comfortable. If you would like to know more then please chat
to a teacher about the process.
There is no
need to do anything special on the day. The checks are carried out in our
normal session times for both the older and younger group.
Donations and fees
Since January 2015, all the
fee payments are now passed on to our Head Office at NAKA. This money goes
towards repairs and maintenance at an Association level. For example – our back
fence needs repairs and NAKA will pay for this rather than the money coming out
of our Kindergarten Fund.
The donation amount is now
even more important to the kindergarten as we use this for all resources-
consumables (paint, paper etc) and equipment (games, toys, furniture etc).
You will have received an
invoice for the term a few weeks ago. It would be great if we can get all fees
and donations in well before the end of term. Thanks very much, we really
appreciate your support.
Gate safety
When
leaving the kindergarten could you please check that the gate is closed
securely and make sure that only your
own children exit the gate with you. Last week a child raced out with
another family and straight on to the road. Please help us to make sure that
this doesn’t happen again
Labelling
Please take the time to label your child’s belongings,
including hats, lunchboxes and containers, drink bottles and clothes. This
helps
us to remind your child to return these items to their
bags during session.
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