Aurora Early Learning Centre |
BLOG
0 Comments
The process of Transitioning to School is an area that often brings a great deal of concern and worry for many families. Parents often express concerns about whether their child 'is ready' for school.
Each child is an a unique individual and should not be compared to the progress of another child. We have a strong focus on individual development and through observations, conversations with children and conversations with parents, we are able to develop goals for each child to work towards, to help with their progression towards school readiness. Over the last few years, extensive studies and research has been undertaken in the area of school readiness. The majority of professionals in our sector agree that the most important factors in school readiness include the following areas: - - Self-help skills and Independence. This includes the child being able to dress and undress themselves, put their own shoes on, look after and put away their own belongings. It is also very important that children are able to go to the toilet independently. - Social skills. It is important that children are able to interact well with other children and to play collaboratively and co-operatively with other children. Children should also be able to demonstrate a developing a sense of empathy and care towards others. - Curiosity and an interest in learning. Children are naturally curious and it is important in early childhood that this curiosity is encouraged and fostered. Children who are ͚ready͛ for school display an interest in learning new concepts. These are the skills that we are focusing on in our Preschool Program. In the upcoming months the children will be participating in a variety of experiences to help with their progress towards school readiness. - Self -Serving at lunch - Sign -in sheets for the children - Lunchbox week. This will occur during each month from now until January. Children will select their lunch order and then practice the routine of unwrapping their sandwich and eating independently. - School Library Visits - Role play/ dramatic play school - School Canteen practice - Heathy Harold Incursion 'Harold͛s Thankful Heart' We will continue to help children with self-help skills by encouraging the children to try to put away their own belongings, put their own jackets/jumpers on, toilet independently and help to pack away. We have also teamed up with a kindergarten school teacher who has many years of experience working in a variety of school setting and is currently working for an independent school who is happy to come out and speak to our families about the practical dos and don'ts when teaching their child before school entrance. This is lined up for the end of October and more information for our preschool families will be available closer to the day. So keep your eyes out for this informative night. We are your partners in your child's early development and are happy to answer your queries as we come closer to their start of their formal academic life. Written by - Lisa Magner Early Childhood Teacher Educational Leader Today, the children from the preschool Dragonfly room were very lucky to be a part of the primary school little library visit. The children were encouraged to bring their favorite teddy from home to be a part of the school excursion.
When the children arrived at the primary school library, they were very excited to be visiting the school and engaging in many fun teddy bear picnic themed craft activities. The preschoolers were gathered on the ground for group time with the deputy principle Kathy Price. Together the children listened to a very funny story called “I need to wee”. This book encouraged the children to put their hands up and let their teachers know when they need to go to the bathroom, as these are vital and fundamental developmental skills needed before starting kindergarten. The children were then involved in some fun dancing to the theme song “Teddy bears picnic”. After the story was finished the preschool children were able to choose from many fun activities such as collage and colouring in big pictures of teddy bears. The children were also able to create large cardboard roll shapes teddy bears and made beautiful teddy bear masks to wear with the assistance of some lovely and very helpful year 6 students. The children thoroughly enjoyed the visit. We look forward to arranging another library visit next term sometime in mid-July. Look out for a Pirate theme visit next term to continue our transitioning program. Huge thanks to Blacktown South Public for your much appreciated collaboration with us. On the 27th of May, our preschoolers from the Dragonfly room, enjoyed commemorating National Sorry Day. National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on May 26th each year. This day gives people the chance to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities. Stolen generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities. As this is an important topic and one of which the children will continue to embrace and expand on their knowledge through their schooling years, the teachers of the preschool room where very eager to engage and involve the children in many Indigenous themed activities such as textural hessian painting using natural elements such as leaves, twigs and stones and indigenous themed coloured paints which included red, black and yellow. The black symbolises Australia’s Aboriginal people and the yellow circle represents the Sun. The red represents the Earth and people’s relationship with the land.The children were able to use a visual guide that included many symbols and pictures that represent indigenous meaning and storytelling. The preschoolers also were involved in reading special ‘dream time’ stories for group time and dancing to beautiful cultural indigenous music throughout the day and looking at many beautiful indigenous traditional paintings to assist them in their play dough play.
What a massive year we have had this year and what huge achievements our beautiful preschoolers have made. Today we celebrated those wonderful achievements and these amazing little people who have graced our classroom.
It has been an emotional day as we bid farewell to children we have had in our care for a while.. Whether they've been with us for 2 years or 2 months, we have felt the pangs of bittersweet emotions at seeing them all grown up and ready for big school. We wish all our Dragonfly children transitioning on to school every success in the many years of formal education to follow. We can only say a small prayer and wish a small wish for the wonder and intrigue they possess to never leave their little hearts and minds. So as the poem says: ".... So take off now and spread your wings, soar to new heights, learn new things. Just remember, as you do, Someone's very proud of you".. Congratulations Class of 2015! The word 'Father' for most of us conjures up many warm happy feelings and memories. Being a dad is a special honour bestowed on men who have bourne children. However it is also a term used to describe and identify other men who have so bravely and honorably stepped up to the role through a marriage, adoption or even foster care. In our busy lifestyles today, often parents leave the role of raising or looking after children temporarily to the grandparents. And so we also honour the Grandad who very often steps in to assist.. Whether it be to drop off and pick up children for preschool and school, take his grandchild out for a meal and a play or even rush to the shops to buy something the child may need and the parents can't afford. Today, we celebrated all these amazing men in our children's lives here at Aurora ELC. We had both dads and granddads attend. It was wonderful to watch the pride in children's eyes when their father or grandfather (or both) walked in to their room. It was heart warming watching those men who are often busy making a living, pull up a little chair, sit and do some craft with their children. Thank you to all the dads and granddads who have taken the day/hours off their busy schedule to come along today. The best thing you can give a child is your time. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL DADS. Enjoy Sunday with your precious families. It was a pleasure welcoming our families with children transitioning to school in 2016 to an information night about getting the children school ready. It was equally as pleasurable having the stage 1 deputy principal from Blacktown South Public School come and present to our families about school expectations and procedures. The hot topics discussed today included: - school expectation of student skills. - routine at school. - the role and importance of social and communication skills in your child's future success at school. - importance of self help skills. - how Aurora's curriculum is designed to facilitate development of skills required for school, based on developmental play. - enrollment and orientation procedure. Where to from here? - we are starting a mid year assessment protocol on all our children within the next fortnight. - families with children transitioning to school in 2016 will be given the opportunity to have a Parent-Taacher interview to discuss assessed skills and formulate a goal to work on in the next 6 months. - lunch box week will commence once a month from now till beginning of school. More information will follow. - introduction of a 'news' group roster amongst our preschoolers to establish idea of public speaking, confidence, communication, appropriate questioning skills and listening skill. Looking forwards to collaborating with you in regards to your child. Today, we celebrated our first milestone birthday. Thank you to all our families and friends that have braved the cold today to come and celebrate with us. We got to showcase our beautiful and continually evolving physical space and how we set up the rooms to encourage exploration, intrigue and learning. Our Educators got chatting with the families about our philosophies, our programs and our passion. Nothing more enjoyable than seeing the children run around, laugh and play as we all shared a meal together. There was a real feel of our community coming together and we loved every moment. Thanks again to all our families for making our first year an amazing one. Looking forwards to many more working together in caring, prepping and teaching our little ones to get them ready for their future. Can you believe we are nearly ONE! We celebrate our 1st anniversary on the 21st July 2015. To commemorate this occasion, we would like to invite families to our first birthday open day on Saturday 18th July from 1-4pm here at the centre. You will have the opportunity to chat with our experienced educators about our programs and philosophy, see firsthand how our activities are set up to target specific skills and get to meet the interior designer and see perspective works that are in the pipelines. This event is open to the public, so feel free to bring along families that may be interested in enrolling their children in the centre. A BBQ lunch will be available and some vegetarian options for our families that do not eat meat. The children will also be entertained with face painting, balloon sculpting and other activities as you take a walk around the centre and get to speak to us. Please RSVP by Wednesday 15th July for this event for catering purposes.
The job of a Mother is often not given much thought in our busy day to day running around... But simply put, the world would come to a halt if mums decided to stop putting in the huge work into their families. Our Aurora children and staff wanted to show our appreciation and love towards all our mums, grandmothers and great grandmothers today.. And that we did 💕 It was our pleasure today to welcome some of the important women in the children's lives to share a morning tea, chat and play games. We thank all the mums who took a few hours off from their busy schedules or paid employmeny to come along today. It sure put a massive smile on your children's faces. Wishing you all a wonderful day with your family on Sunday. |
Archives
January 2021
Categories |
Aurora Early Learning Centre - Copyright 2021
www.AuroraELC.com.au ph. 02 8889 4010 |
Proudly powered by Weebly
|