September & October 2014 1

Little Pearls Educare Newsletter

Greetings & Kia Ora

Yeah!! Daylight saving. Which means spring is in the air, and now that we’ve turned the clock back one hour the evenings will be lighter and longer. It’s such a nice time of the year where we start spending more time outside, planting our summer gardens, going for walks and putting some of our winter clothes away...

Welcome New Families/Whanau

Abdurrahman, Angelina, Annisa, Bella, Benjamin, Camellia, Hanaa, Jana, Lokkie, Humzah, Miessha, Panash, Siunipa, Winny, Yahya, Yusuf. We welcome all our new families/whanau to Little Pearls. We as your children’s educators look forward to building good relationships with both your children and you. If you have any

queries, questions etc. please don’t hesitate to ask Taner (Managing Director), Nazife (Supervisor) or one of your children’s educators.

Sun Protection Policy

It is Little Pearls’ policy that all children and staff are required to wear a sunhat, sun block and suitable clothing at all times while outside during the summer months, between October and February and at other appropriate times. We have a strong “NO HATS, NO PLAY” policy.

We ask all parents to please provide a named sun hat for your child that will stay at the centre, as the winter ones are now too warm for them. Thank you.

Policies

We regularly review centre policies and at the moment we are reviewing Sun Protection, Sleep Under and Over 3 years policies. We would like to hear your comments and feedback because your contribution is very important to us. The policies are displayed on the front entrance – by the sign-in sheets. Please feel free to read over and comment. If you are happy with the policies but do not want to comment, please sign anyway so that we know you have read them. Thank you.

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Holidays

Holidays are just around the corner. If you are planning to take a holiday over the Christmas period, please look out for the forms that will be appearing on the entrance locker by the sign-in sheets and advice us by ticking the dates that your child will be on Holiday. Thank you.

Children’s Clothing

With a lot of the children’s clothes looking the same as well as being the same size, you can end up with either the wrong piece of clothing going into your child’s bag, or it could go missing by accident. So please remember to name all your child’s clothes with a permanent marker so there is no mix up.

Could you please put two sets of spare clothes in your child’s bag just in case your child needs more than one change of clothes.

Diwali Festival

Diwali, the "festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.

We would like to say a big “Thank you” to Darshana, Panash’s mum, and her friend, for coming into the centre and making Rangoli decoration at the bottom of the deck steps. They did a great job and Rangoli looked very beautiful. Rangoli is a form of art in which patterns are created using dry rice, coloured sand or flower petals, on the floor near entrances and corridors to welcome goddess and guests.

Thank you to Naga, Aadhya’s mum for showing us how to make Diya (clay lamps) on the day.

We would like also say a big Thank you to Amber, Saisha, Panash and Aadhya’s Mums for the yummy food and sweets that they shared with us for Diwali. Little Pearls’ Teachers visited Aadhya’s home on this occasion. It was a great opportunity for the teachers to be part of the celebration and gain better understanding of the way that Diwali is celebrated. Thank you to Naga, Devandhra and Aadhya’s Grandma for inviting us to be part of your celebration. Our aim for the future is to visit our families on their special occasions as we feel part of the family.

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Family/Whanau Day

Let’s get together on Saturday 8th November 2014 between 2:00pm to 5:00pm here at Little Pearls. All you’ll need to bring is your family and a delicious dessert to share (please make sure the dessert is suitable for vegetarians). We are going to provide chicken kebab, rice and salad. It is a day for all the children to come along wearing their favourite dress up.

This gathering will give you the opportunity to meet your children’s friends and their families which can often lead to life-long friendships. Little Pearls Team would be happy to see you all there. Please RSVP by Thursday the 6th of November for catering purposes. Thank you.

Self-Review on Literacy

Self-review is an opportunity to evaluate the impact of teaching practice on children’s learning.

We are currently undertaking a self-review on the subject of Literacy. It is a year-long project. It’s aim is to improve our use of ICT (Information Communication Technology) in order to support and extend literacy learning of tamariki/children, and be used as a communication tool between teachers and whanau/families.

We are working with Gillian Fitzgerald from ELP (Educational Leadership Project Ltd) who has over 20 years teaching experience in kindergartens. Gillian visited our centre on Monday the 20th of October and spent the whole day observing us through a literacy lens. She talked to us while at the centre and also took photos of some children and our environment in relation to literacy. We received positive feedback from Gillian and visited her workshop on Wednesday the 22nd of October to gain more

information about the project we have been focusing on. Gillian will be visiting our centre again on December the 4th.

The University of Auckland Research Project

We are happy to announce that Dr Marek Taser (lecturer) and Rebecca Hopkins (research assistant) will be working alongside with Little Pearls staff members and selected preschool age children as part of her PhD research project. They both came to visit our centre on Monday the 13th October and talked to us about her research project. This project investigates what it means to be child and how childhoods look in contemporary urban Auckland, from the perspectives of children, whanau and

eraly childhood teachers

Dr Marek is a lecturer in childhood studies and early childhood education with a focus on the philosophy and sociology of childhood, and the history of education/childhood. He is a registered teacher in New Zealand and since the 1990s has taught around the world in diverse settings.

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Programme Planning

Please have a look at the programme planning boards and other notice boards that are hanging up, in and outside your children’s rooms. They are full of interesting information about our children’s current interests for the month.

The under-2's have been enjoying “Whanau Time” which involves a variety of action songs, and nursery rhymes. Mat time is a daily routine, babies love it! It helps babies develop language skills with different sounds of language. Great way to bring classic literacy in at an early age. Some of our favorites are “Wheels on the Bus, 5 Little Ducks & Twinkle Twinkle". We also integrate Te Reo Maori songs such as "Kina Kina” &

“Tena Koe" and many more. The teachers & babies make every mat time fun and loveable!

The children in the over-2’s room have been keeping busy in October exploring the notions of “Magic” and “Science”. Arthur C. Clarke, a British author, inventor and futurist says that “Magic’s just science that we do not understand yet”. This quote has been driving the planning for the month.

The children experimented with magnets and objects that can get drawn by a magnet. They have explored the nature of colour and tried to create and name their own colours and shades by mixing different colour dyes together.

The children also explored how elements can change with the effect of other elements, by participating in scientific experiments to answer several questions: What vinegar does to an egg? Do plants really “drink” water?

Many of the children also explored the notions of solid and liquid, ice and water, melting and thawing. They created and helped crystallise some snowflakes, which later made up a beautiful chandelier!

During the last week of October we are planning to learn some magic tricks to really see if there is any difference between science and magic.

Natural Resources

We are always on the lookout for natural resources. So please when you take your children to the beach, gardens, on bush walks etc., take a bag with you and help your child collect shells, drift wood, feathers, pinecones, pebbles, river stones and anything else you might find of interest for your child to bring back to the centre.

Photos on Flickr

Have you seen your children’s recent photos on Flickr? If you haven’t please visit Little Pearls web page then go to Newsletter/Parent Info section and click the Gallery Page to see updated photos of children in action.

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Staffing News

Taner and Nazife will be going on holiday to Turkey from 11th of December 2014 to 18th of January 2015. If you would like to reach them during this period you can e-mail them contact@littlepearls.org.nz.

The other directors of the Little Pearls will be around and looking after the centre during their absence time. Their names are Dr Faruk and Dr Hatice Balli and they are both senior lecturers at Massey University.

You might also be seeing Yalcin Solak (the CEO of the Pearl of the Islands Foundation) and he will be around. Kelly Lambert (our professional support person) will continue to visit our centre and talk to staff regularly as well.

Please do not hesitate to talk to one of your teachers or our directors if you have any issues or concerns.

Time Management

We noticed that some of the children who are enrolled for the 20 Hours ECE session, have been brought earlier or picked up later than their enrolled times. It clearly states on the Enrolment form that

“No child is able to be brought into the Centre before the sessions start time - must arrive within the first 15 minutes of the start time.

Every child must be picked up from the Centre before the session end time – must be collected within the last 15 minutes of the enrolled time”.

Optional charges are a request for a payment that parents may choose whether or not to make for a specific purpose, which can be one-off or ongoing”.

Children’s Well-Being

We do hear concerns from our parents about children’s sickness from time to time. Especially if the child is having a first experience with a childcare centre. It is true that children in childcare do get sick more often. However, research shows that this can lead to fewer days off school when they’re older. Children do pass infections to each other easily within a group setting such as childcare, particularly during the winter months. It can't be prevented entirely, unless children stay away from the centre. There are steps we can all take to minimise the chances of illness while at the centre. We also have a policy of not allowing sick children to attend. There is an article on this subject on the notice board. You are welcome to take a copy for your information.

Birthdays

September

Annisa, Drea, Easton, Humzah, Rose

October

Muhammad