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January 2012
Issue no. 11
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Dates to Remember
January 20th - Last day of school
January 23rd-27th - CNY holiday.
January 30th - First day of School after CNY
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CNY Celebration Day
Friday 20th January.
Class times as normal.
K1 and K2 children can dress up in Chinese costume, and they will have fun in a dragon dance parade and making won ton with Miss Shelly.
Although this is a "children only" event, we will be sure to take lots of photographs for Mums and Dads!
Friday Hoppers are also encouraged to dress up and join in the fun!
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Staff Day January 3rd
Our Staff Day on January 3rd was spent reviewing and reorganising the materials and resources that we use at Leapfrog. This helped us to identify any 'gaps' in our provisions and where we would like to spend any new funding in the future.
A HUGE thank you to all the parents who volunteered to clean up and help on this busy day. It ensured that we were all very well prepared for the term ahead.
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Alisie's last voluntary stint at Leapfrog - we miss you Alisie! |
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Staff at Leapfrog
Welcome
Miss Shelly!
Mandarin EA
We are pleased to welcome Miss Shelly Zhou to our Kindergarten teaching team as our new Mandarin speaking Educational Assistant.
It has been great having Shelly with us in the run-up to Chinese New Year, as the Kindergarten children learn all about traditional Chinese customs and traditions. Shelly is even letting us have her family recipe for making wan tons on Friday!
Shelly has been introducing the children to Putonghua and teaching them the happy New Year song 'xin nian hao'.
After Chinese New Year, Shelly will be using Mandarin when interacting, playing and chatting with the children and we will be designing and developing our Mandarin program further, in order to link with our special 'themes', numeracy circle times etc.
Kristrun has left the Leapfrog staff team to join forces with Hulda at Annerley, although she will still be involved as Johanna's Mum and remains in close contact with us on an advisory basis.
Rachel has taken over the management role which Kristrun oversaw, whilst still being very involved in the classroom.
We wish Kristrun all the best in her future projects and thank her for everything she did here to improve our systems at Leapfrog.
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We are looking
for a full-time Educational Assistant
The ideal candidate should exhibit the following skills and qualities:
· A positive approach to the role
· Have a genuine interest in the children as individuals, and in their intellectual, emotional and social development
· A good 'team player', one who is prepared to follow instructions and listen to advice · whilst also showing initiative, the ability to 'think ahead' and to plan and share ideas
· A person who is trustworthy, responsible and reliable, with a
good sense of humour
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A Big THANK YOU!
- to the Ayson family for the 'pink bike' which has been a huge hit with children in both kindergarten and playgroup,
- to the McCann family (Aibhe & Euan) for their donation of wonderful books,
- and to the Croce family for replacing some of our bag hooks, and fixing both the playground fence and the broken awning.
We really appreciate the time and skill it took to do this (especially the awning!) and you saved Leapfrog a lot of money!
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Kindergarten placements for 2012/13
Although we are only in term 2 of the 2011/12 school year, we are well under way in organising our Kindergarten placements for the next school year.
The first round of K1 placement offers have been sent to parents, but if you have a child who was born in 2009, and you are interested in Leapfrog for their Kindergarten years, please give me a call as a second round of offers will soon be made.
Interested parents are always welcome to arrange a time to come into the Kindergarten class and have a chat to Louise about our programme. There is also lots of information, including our Handbook and a full Curriculum, on our website.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO PARENTS OF CURRENT K1 CHILDREN:
If your child is now in K1, but will not be staying with us for the next school year, I would be very grateful if you could let me know as soon as you are able to.
Thank you
Ailish
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All of us here at Leapfrog wish you a very happy New Year of the Dragon
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Xin Nian Kuai Le
新 年 快 乐
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We were all very excited about the 'Bear Hunt' last week! The bus trip from Sai Kung went smoothly and we all enjoyed the ride. Simon, (Annice and Gemma's Daddy) sang for us the whole way and we had great fun. After two spins in the bus around the theatre we managed to get into our front row seats within a few minutes. The 'bear hunters' appeared on the stage and took us through the wavy grass, wet river, muddy mud and finally through the deep dark cave. It was a scary moment when the bear was about to appear. Some children wanted to go home at that stage - but that quickly changed when a gigantic TEDDY BEAR appeared on stage! It was a great show and just perfect for our little group of students.
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New Look to Leapfrog!
Our Christmas Present from TESCO
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We liked our Playground before..... |
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....... but we LOVE it now! |
We cannot believe the results of our Christmas holiday makeover, thanks to a very generous grant donation from Tesco! All our outside areas are now covered in a wonderful safe material that has transformed the playground. Thank you Tesco!
This has given our lucky Leapfroggers even more freedom to express themselves physically in an even safer environment. Louise tells us why this is so important for our children......
Physical Development at Leapfrog Kindergarten
At Leapfrog, the children have plenty of opportunity to play outside in our wonderful grounds, should they choose. We have places to run, to jump, to skip, to chase, to play ball, to hide, to climb, to slide, to drive, to paint, draw and print, and to play with sand, play-dough and water. Why is it important? - good habits, such as having a balanced diet and taking regular exercise, developed in the early years, helps to safeguard a person's well-being throughout the rest of their lives
- children who are able to master gross and fine motor skill, balance and coordination can explore the world around them with greater confidence
The Adult's Role - support children's understanding of how exercise, diet, sleeping and hygiene promote good health, for example during mealtimes or at bedtimes
- observe the children's developing skills, giving praise when a child experiences success, and offering encouragement and guidance if greater perseverance is needed
- arrange and provide time and resources in which a child can explore and test their body's capabilities, and which will also allow them to take 'manageable risks', thereby also developing their awareness of safety and danger
Practical Ideas to Support Physical Development in Young Children in your Family Setting - allow your child the time and opportunity to do things for herself, for example, when feeding or dressing
- let your child develop fine motor skills by giving them blocks, modeling clay, crayons, paintbrushes and musical instruments
- provide a range of construction toys of different sizes and made from a range of materials such as wood, rubber or plastic. Ensure that these can be fixed together in a variety of ways, such as twisting, pushing, slotting or magnetic force
- take your child to playgrounds and open spaces where she can run, climb and jump, and use equipment at a range of levels from the ground in order to develop gross motor skills
- introduce challenging new skills-based activities such as a curved chalk line for balancing along, a target at which to aim beanbags, throwing, rolling, kicking, hitting and catching games involving balls
- enroll in regular swimming, dance, games or gymnastics classes
- lead by example - by being an active and involved parent. A weekly family walk is a great opportunity to spend some quality time together
- finally, the Change4Life website has a great 'fun generator', with loads of ideas for physical activities, both indoors and out.
Louise |
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A wonderful end to 2011
So much fun was had by all who managed to attend our Christmas party at the end of last term. Thank you very much to all the parents who contributed to a delicious buffet.
Please click on the photo for more photos from our fantastic Christmas party.
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Leapfrog Lai See this CNY!
Many thanks to those of you who have already returned the lai see packets to Leapfrog.
We are hoping to replace all of the chairs here at Leapfrog, and we are asking parents to donate $100 per child towards this initiative.
It would be wonderful to have all new chairs in keeping with our wonderful new flooring, so please give generously!
If you have not yet received the letter and lai see, please let us know, and we don't mind receiving the money after Chinese New Year if necessary!
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Playgroup News
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Playgroup children have had a busy January experiencing our new sensory programme.
So far we have explored feathers using a song by Wendy Jenson, colours and scarves with a new rainbow song and balloons as an introduction to numeracy.
The Hoppers and Tadpoles have been busy making decorations for Chinese New Year including lanterns, dragon masks, blossom and mandarin tree collages and red packets. We will be celebrating Chinese New Year on Friday 20th January so the Friday Hoppers are welcome to dress up for the occasion as we will be having fun learning how to lion dance!
Hoppers have enjoyed listening to various 'Spot' stories by Eric Hill including 'Spot's First Walk' and 'Spot goes to School'. We will look forward to more of his stories after Chinese New Year when I will bring in more new sensory activities including 'The Meadow'and 'Sensory Snake' for the Tadpoles. We will be looking at transport as our art and craft theme after CNY so see what different kinds of vehicles you can spot over the holidays!
Our new Super 2s have made a great start striving to be independent and learning to do simple tasks in preparation for Kindergarten. We have also enjoyed acting out 'We're going on a bear hunt' by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.
Kung Hei Fat Choi everyone!
Pam
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Kindergarten News
We hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas, and welcome back to another wonderful New Year at Leapfrog!
On their return to school, the Kindergarten children have lost no time at all in starting to find out about the new Chinese year, which will be the year of the 'Black Dragon'.
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Finn and Marco |
We have identified and discussed the twelve animals that make up the Chinese horoscope, and our art and craft projects have included designing dragon toys and masks, and making shiny lanterns, 'Chinlian' cuplets for arranging around the door and the whiteboard, as well as the traditional 'lai see' gift packets
Miss Shelly has helped us to learn a special Chinese New Year song, and the more energetic amongst us have been choreographing our own imaginative dragon dances!
All of these activities are geared towards fulfilling our objectives of understanding and respecting cultural differences whilst actively participating in Chinese customs.
Following the break from school at the end of January, our next topic will be 'Transport and Machines'.
Louise |
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