April 2020 Newsletter
Dear Families,
How are you all coping during these unusual and demanding times?
All educators and myself are so appreciative of the ongoing support felt throughout these stressful weeks. I am proud to be a part of this reciprocal community and know that because of it, we will get through these uncertain times and be here on the other side.
Thank you for all the special gestures and offerings you have provided. At Puss in Boots we aim to continue to provide high-quality education and care for your child, engaging in play and enjoying each and every day!
We are so lucky to have such great, hardworking staff whose dedication to the centre and the children is very much appreciated. Very special heartfelt thanks to them all, especially Leisa and Trish who are doing an amazing job keeping the centre running so well. Communication is vitally important at this time and Leisa and Trish are doing this admirably. It keeps us all on the same page and and helps to ease your concerns, so please talk to them if you are worried about anything and they will do their very best to help you.
The challenges in the previous and present weeks have been the hardest in my professional life, so I thank you for your ongoing loyalty and support.
Until next time. Stay safe, well and happy and thank you all again for allowing us to care for and educate your children – it is a great privilege.
Kindest Regards,
Pamie
Owner/Director
Puss in Boots Staff for 2020
Nursery: Miss Linda, Miss Satoko, Miss Ellie & Miss Elle
Toddlers: Miss Grace, Miss Chanelle & Miss Manjit
Junior Kindergarten 1: Miss Jess & Miss Erica
Junior Kindergarten 2: Miss Chris & Miss Leanne
Kindergarten 2: Miss Dora, Miss Tricia & Miss Renee
Preschool: Miss Tracy, Miss Nicole & Mr Jack
Support Staff: Miss Sue, Miss Carmen, Miss Andrea, Miss Joanne & Miss Emma
Upcoming Events
22 May – Loud Shirt Day – Dress in your brightest and craziest shirt (all rooms)
19 June – Crazy Hair Day – Wacky, fun and crazy hairstyles (all rooms).
3 July – Crazy Odd Sock Day – wacky colours and crazy sock designs (all rooms)
17 July – Face Painting Day (all rooms)
17 July – Rainbow Clothes Day (all rooms)
Dates to Remember
26 & 27 August (Wednesday/Thursday) – Centre Photos (All Rooms)
10 October (Saturday) – Parent Educator Interviews – 9.00am to 12.00 noon
29 November (Sunday) – Puss in Boots Family Christmas Picnic – 9.00am to 11.00am
5 December (Saturday) – Morningside Preschool Graduation – 1.00pm to 3.00 pm
Please read the notices around the centre for more information.
Extra-Curricular Activities
- Tennis – Every Tuesday 2.5 yrs to 5 yrs
- Billy’s Buddies – Every Wednesday 2 yrs to 5 yrs
- Physikids – Every Thursday 2yrs to 5 yrs
If you would like your child to attend please add their name to the displays in the foyer.
(These activities will be resumed once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted)
Reminders
- Haircuts (Tuesday monthly) – please add your child’s name to the form above the sign in/out attendance sheets in the foyer.
(Haircuts will be resumed once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted)
- Update of family details/contact numbers/new address/change in emergency contact persons. Should any of these changes occurred please advise Trish.
- Update of Immunisation records. Please provide the MyGov record to Trish so she can update your records. Please be advised if your immunisations are not up to date Centrelink will cancel your CCS.
Babysitting Services
At Puss in Boots Early Childhood Learning Centre we offer a babysitting service to our families. If you wish to take up the offer please email Trish at admin@pussinboots.qld.edu.au with the details and we organise one of our educators to babysit your child/ren.
It is now a Child Care Centre policy for families to sign an agreement which needs to be completed and returned prior to the babysitting occurring. An agreement will be emailed to you when your babysitting request is received at the office.
Our rates are below:-
| One Child | $25 per hour |
| Two Children | $30 per hour |
| Three Children | $35 per hour |
| Four Children | $40 per hour |
| Five Children | $45 per hour |
What’s happening at Puss in Boots…
Nursery
The past two months have been extremely challenging for everybody as we are going through this world pandemic. Our lives have dramatically changed in many ways, which is very difficult. We have adapted well and will continue to keep up with the recommended guidelines to keep us and our families safe. We are all remaining positive and encouraging towards each other which is absolutely vital to help get through this. We have a roll to do as childcare educators and we will continue to do it.
In regards to safety, control and prevention, our hygiene practices throughout the centre have been vigorous. For the children we are ensuring all hands are clean. Using soapy water or wipes and then the alcohol-based hand rub. We are sanitizing and sterilizing the room each day.
This has not stopped us from having lots of fun in our Morningside Nursery room. We can see the children’s creative and artistic skills when doing beautiful paintings and drawings. We made cute little bunny rabbits for Easter and the children wore rabbit ears. They showed curiosity and interest throughout this experience. We had Teddy Bear’s Picnic! This gave all the children the opportunity to bring in their very own teddy bears to enjoy for the day and to show friends and educators their favourite Teddy Bears from home. Draxx had the largest Teddy Bear and the children were fascinated with the size of the Teddy.
It’s amazing to see the children develop many skills. Our main one has been physical skills have progressed from crawling to walking! Edwina has reached a big milestone.
We would like to welcome Aurora and Skylah to Puss in Boots family and we are very excited to have twins be part of our Nursery. We are looking forward to getting to know them.
We celebrated World Book Day which was lots of fun! Tommy and Edwina brought in their books – The Gruffalo and Koala.
Thank you, Miss Linda, Miss Satoko, Miss Ellie and Miss Elle
Toddlers
We cannot believe another two months have gone past so quickly and we’ve seen great development in all areas with all of our Toddlers!
We would like to welcome Vaiya and Russell to Puss in Boots and the Toddler room since our last newsletter. We also would like to congratulate Charlotte and Karter for their big step moving up to Junior Kindergarten 1 and welcome Emily and Atticus to Toddler room. Transitioning to a new environment can be a bit scary for children at first. Emily and Atticus followed the toddler’s actions and positive behaviours really well and settled into the room in a matter of seconds! We’ve noticed both of them have already made friends and enjoyed their days a lot!
Arts and crafts have been one of children’s biggest interests in our room at the moment. Miss Chanelle has introduced a lot of different experiences such as balloon painting, lantern painting; chalk drawing, stamping etc. We noticed Oliver, Indira, Charlotte, Hugh, Caleb and Vaiya have demonstrated great talents and engaged and enjoyed in the experience with creative ideas and even work collaboratively with peers! It is truly amazing how often children volunteered to be the “first” to be involved with art experiences! In order to boost the positive atmosphere for our community, Miss Chanelle also invited Toddlers to demonstrate their creativity by painting some pictures for our community.
Throughout these two months we’ve noticed the children have developed a variety of skills in all areas. There are lots of self-help skills happening everyday to show the children’s independence such as feeding themselves, getting on the chairs, getting upstairs for hand washing by holding the rails etc. The toddlers have also learnt to be generous and caring towards their peers and to share their toys, pick up hats for others and even giving others a cuddle when someone was upset! We are also aware that children have developed dramatically in their gross/fine motor skills and confidence as they love to climb, run, walking on the stepping stones for balance and even joining in our yoga sessions for a good workout to keep healthy!
The Toddlers also had a play day down in Junior Kindergarten 1 playground to explore the equipment and environment. Vaiya, Alice, Jonah and Indira were so excited to go up and down the new slides and tested their limits; while Shiloh enjoyed the sensory experiences picking up bark and putting the bark on the slides as a way to explore nature! We saw lots of smiles, laughter and curiosity happening and we will continue to provide it for their development!
Music and singing Nursery Rhymes are almost part of the daily routine. Jonah and Shiloh always displayed great voices while singing. They would request and sing along to songs “Ba, Ba Black Sheep” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” are popular and on our permanent song list!
We also like to thank our parents’ support for our Teddy Bear Picnic Day. The children loved sitting out on the balcony in dress-ups and sharing food with their Teddy Bear! March and April have been tougher months for all of our families and for the educators and the biggest motivation each day is to see beautiful smiles from families and children during drop off and pick up time! We are so privileged to give cuddles and receive cuddles with little ones as it is the best way to express our love and care to the little ones. We would like to say a big thank you to all families for your generous support throughout this difficult time!
Thank you, Miss Grace, Miss Chanelle and Miss Manjit
Junior Kindergarten 1
Hello Junior Kindy 1 families!
What a full on but exciting 2 months we have had! We have welcomed Charlotte and Karter from toddlers to our room, whilst sadly saying good bye to Martin and Georgia as they moved their way up to Junior Kindergarten 2.
We started March off with an excursion to the Hawthorne Park, where the Junior Kindergarten 1 children were able to explore their world and comment on all the different things that they could see outside of Puss in Boots. All the children were on their best behaviour and had an amazing time!
We’ve also been loving all the family input being brought in, Thank you! With this input we have been able to extend on the children’s interests through arts and crafts and any other related activities.
The Junior Kindergarten 1 children have participated in a variety of exciting events over the past two months, including face paint day, rainbow clothing day, Harmony day, Teddy bears picnic, and Easter with an exciting Easter egg hunt in the playground. Through these events the children were able to express and feel comfortable with their identity. All the children thoroughly enjoyed getting involved in these activities.
Cooking day was a big hit, cooking up fried rice. All the children helped assist Miss Erica as they prepared all the ingredients before being cooked. The children celebrated their achievement by demolishing the yummy fried rice they prepared.
With all the exciting activities happening, the children have also enjoyed engaging in a variety of activities, including watering the garden, building with blocks, using imagination in home corner, dinosaurs and musical instruments.
Over the past months we have been really focusing on the children’s verbal skills, by doing flashcards, stories and songs to help enhance their skills. We are very proud of our Junior Kindergarten 1 children and how far they have come over the past two months with their verbal skills and communication.
Wow what an amazing two months we have had! I would like to thank all the families that have brought back the curriculum feedback; it has helped us improve Junior Kindergarten 1 as a whole. Also, just a reminder to all families that you are more than welcome to add personal strengths to our strength tree located next to the fridge in Junior Kindergarten 1.
Thank you Junior Kindergerten 1 families for an amazing two months and for trusting us with your loved ones. We are looking forward to the upcoming adventures and milestones to be made at Puss in Boots.
Until next time.
Thank you, Miss Jess & Miss Erica.
Junior Kindergarten 2
Welcome Junior Kindergarten 2 Families.
The last two months have seen many changes to Puss in Boots including Miss Chris being absent. We have been keeping her in the loop with Facetime calls. Miss Chris has also popped coming in for visits to keep up her connections and relationships with the children.
During the month of March, the children embarked on many different activities such as painting, where the children used many different tools to paint with such as forks, cotton buds and many more. We engaged in many group times and one-on-one discussions. We expanded our understanding and knowledge of transportation, built many constructions with the wooden and Duplo blocks and much more.
In April, we continued our one-on-one discussions, role-play, Legos and picnics. We even had a very special visitor to Puss in Boots who left plenty of chocolate Easter eggs around. YES! it was the Easter Bunny! The children loved the Easter egg hunt!
Our Friday Fun Days for the month of March were Harmony Day and Rainbow Clothes Day which saw the entire Morningside childcare centre enjoying the days immensely!! Friday Fun Days for April were dressing as their favourite character from their favourite books from home as well as bringing them in to share with their friends.
Junior Kindergarten 2 educators will be focusing on toilet training over the next few months to prepare children for the next stage in their development. If you would like any resources or literature that you feel may assist you at home in toilet training please let me know and I will organise this information for you.
Last of all, please feel welcome to pop in and have a chat with us. If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions please pass them onto us. We are always looking for ways to improve our practice and your input is vital for us to continue to provide quality care
Thank you, Miss Leanne, and Miss Chris
Kindergarten 2
Greetings to all the lovely families!
It has been a challenge over the last couple of weeks due to Covid-19. Our vital role as Early Childhood Educators has not changed and we are continuing to provide high quality care and education for our children and families
Kindergarten 2 children and educators continue their hygiene practices to ensure all stay safe. We have enjoyed sleeping and resting outside in the fresh air and we will include this in our program moving forward.
Fun times in the Morningside Kindergarten 2 room have included celebrating special days like Face Painting Day, Harmony Day, and dressing up as their favourite character. Friday 20th March was “Rainbow Clothes Day” which was a great way to celebrate friendship.
We enjoyed a “Teddy bears Picnic” which was so much fun! The children enjoyed eating ice-cream, drinking babycinos with marshmallows with their teddy bears. All of the activities were great and it was a successful day. Kindergarten 2 recently went on an “Easter egg hunt” and the children all enjoyed going outside to see if the Easter bunny had come to visit our garden. It was a big surprise when they found so many Easter eggs. All these activities allowed the children to engage in conversations and share stories about what they’ve done.
We would like to give a big thank you to all our families who continue to support and enhance our curriculum by providing “family input” and feedback in so many different ways, it’s very much appreciated.
Thank you, Miss Dora, Miss Tricia & Miss Renee
Preschool
It’s hard to believe that we are almost in May and what a turbulent time it has been for us all! We hope this finds you all safe and well and coping with the very different world we now find ourselves in. Preschool is going along well and it never ceases to amaze us how easily children adapt to change. They have all been wonderful with the changes that have happened in routines over the last few weeks. We would like to welcome Maria, Grace and their families to our Morningside Preschool at Puss in Boots and look forward to getting to know you all. Due to “the virus” (as the children call it!), we have been spending our days outside enjoying the beautiful weather. It has been a great learning curve for Mr Jack, Miss Nicole and myself to adapt our inside curriculum to fit our outside setting, but an enjoyable one none the less.
During the last few weeks we have had our Teddy Bears Picnic and celebrated World Book Day. Our Teddy Bears Picnic was a wonderful day with everyone including our Educators bringing a favourite friend along and the babycinos were greatly enjoyed by all. For World Book Day we had some wonderful costumes and lovely stories to share. Over the holidays Miss Nicole, Mr Jack and the Preschoolers did some gardening, planting some strawberry and flower seeds. We look forward to seeing the results. Lots of different styles of painting have also been undertaken by the children as well as cutting and threading to keep up the development of their fine motor skills.
The Preschoolers have also taken part in a lot of community activities over the last few weeks (see below). They did some chalk drawings on our walk ways at Puss in Boots to add some happiness and good wishes to our families’ days. They also took part in Project Happy Rock, spreading good cheer amongst the community by painting rocks and putting them in parks. The children also did some beautiful artwork and messages of good wishes which were turned into fridge magnets. These were dropped in our neighbours’ letter boxes to share some good cheer in these strange times. The feedback had been just wonderful!
Thank you everyone as always for your contribution to our curriculum in the form of Family Inputs, Show and Tells and photos. It is always much appreciated and adds lots of variety to our day. For those of you who have not yet returned your Morningside Kindergarten Program paperwork which was sent out at the start of the year, having that returned ASAP would be greatly appreciated as it gives us vital information about we need to work on during the year for your children’s school preparations. In addition to this, a family photo for our board would also be appreciated as this is a source of conversation for the children.
Take care and stay safe.
Thank you, Miss Tracy, Miss Nicole and Mr Jack
Kindness & Community Spirit
At Puss In Boots we believe showing care and love at an individual and community level can help us get through this uncertain time. So, it’s more important than ever to be kind and stay connected. Most importantly, it is times like these we must keep a look out for our neighbours. In spite of the worry and social isolation, a random act of kindness may be all that is needed to bring a smile to someone’s face.
Our children and educators have been involved in a Kindness and Community Spirit project promoting connectedness with our neighbours. A message for all families in our community is to keep smiling and never give up hope for a brighter future.
Our children designed and created paintings and drawings to send to our neighbours. We also added a positive-message fridge magnet in the envelope. Our educators walked the streets posting 300 envelopes into our neighbours’ letterboxes.
Over the past week we have received our first letters/ emails and telephone calls from our neighbours to thank the children and centre for their thoughtfulness. We can’t believe how much our little act of kindness has been so loved and appreciated.
