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NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
A Note from the Director
It hard to believe that we are in the last quarter of 2018 already and have less than 3 months till Christmas! We have had a reasonably sunny and mild weather for the first month of spring which has meant more outdoor experiences in our beautiful new outdoor space. We are in for some rain over the next week or two, which is also very welcome. The Educators are on full steam ahead for the remainder of this year in prepping the children to their different transitions in 2019. The Dragonfly Educators are in full swing with their Transition to School program both in the academic sense as well as the socio-emotional development and independence of the children. We have been very fortunate to have an independent teacher approach the centre offering her services. Amanda Caserta is a stage one teacher who has had varied experience working in different schooling systems all over Sydney for many years. She is currently employed at a prestigious Sydney independent school. She will be holding a parent workshop for us here at the centre on Wednesday 10th October 6:00-7:00pm. She is a wealth of knowledge and will be discussing the practical strategies parents can employ with their child before school. I highly recommend that families of children going to school in 2019 to come along this invaluable session. Please RSVP to Lisa or Sana by Tuesday 9th October. Over the past few months we have commenced the Community Pantry project for our immediate centre families and in the hopes of reaching our community outside of the centre. It has been a real success so far and hope to continue making a difference in our community. Please do not hesitate to take what you need and give what you can. On our staffing front, it’s also a pleasure to inform you that both Miss Caitlin & Miss Leanne have completed their Diplomas earlier this year. They both have a strong passion and dedication towards the early childhood education and as a result have shown a commitment to upskill. Congratulations to both our lovely educators. 2019 Placement Request Form We are in the process of organizing our rolls and placements for 2019. This is a good chance for you to tell us what your care requirements are for your child in 2019. I recommend giving in your form as soon as possible to secure your desired days as we have had families miss out on required days this year due to centre being at full occupancy. Please fill out the attached form and hand to Lisa or Sana by Wednesday 31st October 2018.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
[email protected] Holidays
With the end of year quickly approaching, we would like information about when families are taking leave. This will allow appropriate allocation of staffing over the December-January period. Please note that in order for your child’s spot be reserved for them during the family holidays, it is centre policy that full fees are payable during that time with centrelink subsidy still being received.
Finally, we would like to invite you to an Introductory Essential Oils class for Aurora parents & friends on Friday evening 16th November 2018 6:30pm. Leave your to-do list, your kids with grandma, and kick back for 90 minutes of relaxing aromas, and family friendly oils education.
Shunanda Scott is a mum of three young kids, one with Sensory Processing Disorder, and is passionate about supporting families to use essential oils to reduce stress and bring more calm into family life. During the class she will discuss how oils can be used for the following areas:
• Immune support • Sleep • Focus & attention • Mood & stress management, calming & emotional support
You will also find out about what sets doTERRA apart from the rest, and how to get quality oils at wholesale prices.
It’s a relaxing, fun & casual class, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions specific to your individual concerns.
All attendees will receive a free gift of Wild Orange Essential Oil. Please book your spot with Lisa or Sana by Monday 12th November.
Wishing you all a wonderful couple of months. Stay well. Dalal Lim Director
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
Centre Manager Report…
Dear Families,
I would like to thank you for your continued participation in our many fundraising events over
the last 2 months. We believe it is very important to help our children to recognise the
importance in caring for others, showing compassion and kindness and to help others in times
of need. We are now moving into our busiest time of the year and we have many events to
look forward to over the next 3 months. I encourage you all to read carefully through the
newsletter and mark these into your calendars.
During the month of October, we will begin filling placement requests for bookings for 2019.
Please fill in the attached form as soon as possible and return it the centre. Please remember
that we do our very best to fulfil all requests, however this is not always possible. You will
receive a confirmation of booking which will also need to be signed when positions are
allocated. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Important Reminders
Children safety
It is important to be aware, that it is illegal to leave babies and children unattended in a car-
even for very short periods. Please do not leave any baby or child in the car during drop
off and pick up as this we are obliged to report these incidences.
Phone Calls
Could we request for families to keep phone calls to a minimum during the down time for our
children. This is usually from 12:30pm-2:00pm. This is the time that we settle the children for
either a sleep or a rest. This is a very important time that allows their little bodies to revitalize
and recharge before the busy afternoon session. If you would like to call and ask about how
your child is doing, please do so before 12:30 or after 2:00pm.
We appreciate your cooperation in these matters.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
Headlice alert!
Unfortunately, these pesky little creatures are back again! Please check your child’s hair
regularly and carefully. Head lice are often difficult to see, so if you notice your child scratching,
this is often a sign that there may be eggs and/or lice present. It is best to check in a well-lit
area such as outside in the sun. Thanks for your co-operation 😊
Save the date!!! Preschool graduation will take place on Wednesday the 12th of
December at 5pm sharp.
The children and family Christmas party will take place on Friday the 14th of
December at 4pm
October/November Events
• Wednesday 10th October – Transition to school information evening 6pm
• Wednesday 17th of October- Lets Count information session 5.00pm
• 22nd-26th October- Pink Week (Breast cancer awareness fundraiser)
• 29th October Grandparents day morning tea 10am
• 7th of November -Diwali festival
• 23rd of November-White Ribbon Day
NEWSFLASH!!
Our annual Transition to school night will be taking place on Wednesday the 10th of
October at 6pm! The evening will be presented by a kindergarten teacher and there will
be lots of useful information about school readiness. We would love to see all of our
preschool parents there.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
Educational Leader Report
During the month of October, our educators will be busy preparing end of year summaries for
the children. For the children who are leaving to commence school in 2019, these summaries
will be in the form of NSW Department of Education Transition to school Statements. These
statements are completed by the teachers in the Dragonfly room and then are given to the
families to fill in a section as well. The documents are then given to the child’s school to assist
in the transition process and to provide valuable information to the children’s new school.
The children who are not going to school in 2019, will receive a Developmental summary
report which will highlight each child’s interests, achievements and progress for the year. If
you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress, please arrange a meeting
with your room leader.
Let’s Count Program
Over the next few weeks we are pleased to announce that
we will be implementing a new mathematics program at
Aurora called “Let’s Count”. The key message in the Let’s
Count program is ‘Notice, Explore and Talk about
Mathematics’ and has been developed by the “The Smith
Family”.
The program has been developed for children aged 3-5 years (Preschool children) and the
aim of the program is to improve children’s engagement and outcomes in math and improve
parent’s confidence in helping their children to learn about math in their home environment.
Most importantly, this program develops positive attitudes towards mathematics and helps to
foster the idea that math is fun! “Let’s Count” has a strong emphasis on family engagement
and participation, so I am inviting any parents who are interested in participating in the
program, to meet with me on Wednesday the 17th of October at 5.00pm. Please let me know
if you would like to attend.
Lisa Magner
Centre Manager & Educational Leader
Early Childhood Teacher
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
Oral Sensory Development
Our senses send messages through receptor cells to our brain, using our nervous system to deliver that message. Taste, or gustatory perception is one of the five traditional senses that belongs to the gustatory system. Taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue.
We taste food using both our sense of taste and smell. We need our sense of smell in order for our sense of taste to work properly – if you hold your nose shut while you eat, the taste won’t be as strong. It’s why food sometimes tastes plain when we have a cold and our nose is blocked up. Our tongue can have 2,000-8,000 taste buds on it! There are four kinds of taste receptors on the tongue – bitter, sweet, salt and sour. For a child, their sense of taste is much stronger than an adult’s. The sensory receptors in our mouths allow us to perceive temperature, texture (e.g. smooth like yogurt, hard like a potato chip, or a mixture of textures like cereal with milk), and taste (e.g. sweet, salty, bitter, sour).
What does this have to do with my child’s development?
Our brains also receive lots of proprioceptive information from the joint of the jaw as we bite and chew different foods that provide different types of resistance (e.g. a crunchy carrot, a chewy piece of candy).
Oral sensory processing also contributes to the way we move our mouths, control our saliva, and produce sounds for clear speech. The way our mouths perceive sensory information helps us eat and drink in a functional, adaptive way and allows us to enjoy and participate in mealtimes with family and friends.
Healthy Oral Sensory Processing
Children with healthy oral sensory systems typically eat a variety of foods with a range of tastes and textures. They are willing to try new foods (within reason…it is common for young kids to avoid certain foods like green leafy vegetables and certain kinds of meat).
Kids with healthy oral sensory systems can tolerate eating foods with mixed textures like cereal and milk or vegetable soup and are able to tolerate tooth brushing and visits to the
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
dentist with minimal protest. A child with a healthy oral sensory system does not need to seek out additional oral sensory experiences (e.g. chewing) in order to regulate his behavior.
Problems With Oral Sensory Processing
Some children struggle with processing and responding to the oral sensory information they encounter in everyday life. They may have a heightened sensitivity (hypersensitivity or defensiveness) to oral input, causing them to be resistant to oral sensory experiences like trying new foods or brushing their teeth. They may choke or gag during these experiences.
These children are often described as “picky eaters” and may have an extremely limited diet, restricting themselves to only a few familiar foods. Children with oral sensory processing issues may also refuse to use utensils to eat, disliking the feeling of a spoon or fork in their mouths.
Their resistance to oral sensory experiences can be accompanied by extreme emotional reactions (e.g. tantrums, fear, running away), making mealtimes and dental hygiene very difficult. These children may be referred to specialized feeding clinics for aversions and to expand their diets and tolerances.
Other children experience decreased sensitivity to oral sensory input (hyposensitivity). These children may require more oral sensory input in order to help them organize their behavior and pay attention.
They may bite, chew on, or mouth non-food objects (clothing, hands, fingers, pencils, toys) and even try to bite others. These children may require the use of chewy toys to prevent this type of behavior. They may make lots of noise with their mouths for extra sensory input (clicking, humming, buzzing), to the point of annoying or distracting the people around them.
Sometimes children who are seeking out more oral sensory input will stuff their mouths with food at mealtimes. Decreased sensitivity to oral input can also lead to difficulty with awareness of the movements of the mouth, including coordinating the movements needed for chewing effectively and drinking from a cup or a straw. It may affect oral motor planning and sound and speech production.
Our Favorite Oral Sensory Suggestions and Activities for Kids
Oral sensory input can affect a child’s levels of arousal and potentially even change behaviors, helping a child become more organized and responsive.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
[email protected] Alerting Oral Sensory Activities
Alerting oral sensory activities can bring more awareness and provide the sensory input kids need to focus and attend better at home and at school. Some examples of alerting oral sensory activities include:
• Vibration (battery powered toothbrush, vibrating toys on cheeks/lips)
• Play with mouth noises: buzzing like a bee, clicking tongue, humming, blowing raspberries
• Play with making faces in a handheld mirror or imitating others’ funny faces: open mouth wide, sticking tongue out, smiling, frowning, filling cheeks up with air
• Eating crunchy snacks (e.g. apples, chips, pretzels, popcorn, raw veggies, toast, graham crackers, granola)
• Eating snacks with sour/sweet tastes (e.g. Warheads, sour gummy worms, grapefruit or orange wedges, lemonade)
• Eating salty snacks (e.g. chips, pretzels, nuts) -Snacking on cold foods (e.g. ice chips, popsicles, frozen grapes)
• Trying snacks with intense tastes and temperatures (Hot Tamales, carbonated beverages)
• Oral sensory snacks
Calming Oral Sensory Activities
Calming oral sensory activities can help to calm the body, helping kids to regulate their behavior and function more appropriately for learning and other daily tasks. Some examples of calming oral sensory activities include:
• Sucking thicker liquids (milk shakes, smoothies, applesauce, pudding) through a straw
• Drinking from a water bottle with a straw or opening that requires sucking
• Drinking from a water bottle with a bite valve
• Resistive chewing
• Dried fruits, fruit roll ups, marshmallows, oranges, sultanas
• Blowing bubbles, blowing up balloons, or blowing whistles and other instruments.
Information sourced from www.theinspiredtreehouse.com
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
Hot from the kitchen…
Dear Families,
The seasons almost over which means new recipes and a new menu. We will be implementing
the summer menu as of the beginning of November.
We will also commence our School readiness training. Pre schooler
will be encouraged to ordering their sandwiches using our brown paper
bags one week per month until the commencement of school in 2019.
We will have a variety of sandwiches available to pick from:
Eggs and mayo
Cheese and salad
Chicken and salad
Tuna and carrot
I also encourage Families to bring in copies of recipes you use at home
and share them as we enjoy expanding our skills and experience to a variety of new foods. All
parents and carers are also welcome to ask if they want any recipes which we use at the
centre.
Lastly, a big thank you from myself and the team to the families that bring fruits for the centre.
Please encourage your children to bring a piece of fruit every day to share with their friends at
the centre.
Kind regards
Nadia Tawil
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
The Bumblebee room has been participating in a variety of different projects and
community events over the past few months. Some of the highlights have been
Science week from the 13th to the 17th August, Book week from the 20th to the 24th August,
Father’s Day morning tea on the 3rd September and National child protection week. The
children have also been engaging in a range of room projects such as ‘Let’s dance, spring and
community helpers”
During science week, each day the Bumblebee children participated in a large variety of
science experiments. A lot of the experiments in the Bumblebee room focused on chemical
reactions as this is what the children took the most interest in. The Bumblebee’s favourite
experiment from the week was the erupting Volcano using bi carb soda, vinegar, red food dye
and of course a sand Volcano! The interest in science week has now led to more science
experiences in our weekly program as well.
4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation,
hypothesizing, researching and investigating.
From the 20th to the 24th August the centre participated in book week. During the week the
Bumblebee children came dressed up as their favourite book characters and engaged in a
variety of book themed experiences. The Bumblebee’s favourite stories from the week were
Dear Zoo, Thelma the unicorn, Where is the Green sheep, room on the broom and of course
We’re going on a bear hunt. The children enjoyed dressing up every day and got into the spirit
of their characters. The educators had just as much fun dressing up as the children did!
5.2 Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
On Monday 3rd September the dads of Aurora came to the centre to celebrate Father’s Day!
On their day there was a delicious morning tea and lots of fun activities for the children to
complete with their dads. The experiences were book mark making, photo booth fun,
playdough, ring toss/ bean bag toss, painting photo frames and many more! Thank you to all
of the dads/ grandparents and even mum’s who came and celebrated Father’s Day at the
centre!
Miss Caitlin
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
It has been a busy time in the Dragonfly preschool room during the months of
August and September the children have engaged in many activities during this
time.
During the month of August, the children enjoyed participating in science week from the 13th
of August to the 17th. The pre-schooler engaged in experiences that helped promote their
curiosity skills and inner explorer’s and investigators. The children experimented with foam,
food dye, density, cause and effects and mitosis throughout the week.
The children also had a great time celebrating Book week from the 20th to the 24th of August,
the children and staff had a fantastic time dressing up and reading special stories that children
had brought in from home during the week. The children extended on their language skills by
participating in dramatic role play and re-enactments from their favourite stories such as “The
Three Billy Goats Gruff” “The Three Little Pigs and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
From this experience the children have started to delve into the interest of bugs and insects,
the preschool room will also be re-creating the story of the “The very hungry caterpillar”
through creative mediums.
During the month of September, the Dragonfly room enjoyed celebrating Father’s Day with a
special father day “morning tea” The children were busy during the week creating some
beautiful hand painted gifts for their daddies.
The class was also busy celebrating “child protection week and White balloon day” The
children were engaged in activities to help understand concepts of ‘stranger danger and
special authorities in our community’.
Dramatic role play, and pretend play has also been a very popular interest among our pre-
schoolers. The children are building upon their communication and self-agency skills through
these play concepts and ideas. The children have been engaged in creating “pizza shop play”
areas. Little doll house play areas and even operating mini ice-cream shops using recyclable
materials and props in their play. These are all wonderful opportunities for the children to build
upon their language skills and engage in shared and turn taking play.
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
We look forward to the next couple of months with the preparation of school readiness, lunch
box week and the transition to school information night.
Miss Sana, Miss Lisa, Miss Lani
NEWSLETTER 186 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: (02) 9671 2669
2019 Placements Request
Dear Families
As this year is coming to a close, we would like to know of your care requirements for the next year. Please tick any applicable services you need from our centre during year 2019:
I would like to continue for my child/ren as per the current arrangement and booked days
I would like to increase days of care for my child/ren as of / /2018. Please give details. Please complete a Change of Care Form.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I would like to decrease the days of care for my Child/ren as of / /2018. Please give details. Please complete a Change of Care Form.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I would like to withdraw my child/ren as of / /2018. Please provide a reason:
Please complete a ‘Withdrawal Form.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) Child Name: ____________________________________________________________
(2) Child Name: ____________________________________________________________
Parent Name: ____________________________________
Parent Signature: _________________________________
Please return this enrolment up-dating form to the centre by Wednesday 31st October 2018.
Sincerely yours
Management