September 2018

The Competent Child (part 2) The term ‘the competent child’ may be seen as opposite to earlier child development images of the child as needy and not yet fully competent. When we talk about ‘a child’ and what we believe a child is or our view of children and early childhood we are also saying much more. We are not only talking of ‘the child’ or ‘children’ we are also expressing our perspective as an adult or the perspective of the Society and culture we live in. We construct ‘childhood’ according to our views. Dewey theorised ‘that children learn from doing’ and that learning environment both indoors and out-doors should provide opportunities for children to be active and interactive participants in learning. Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development held that we should observe children and scaffold their learning to stretch them beyond what they already know. Following positive psychology and the work of Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi we would believe children learn best when they are happy and have uninterrupted time to follow their ideas and questions to be given opportunities to reach a State of Flow. Loris Malaguzzi says ‘The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking. A hundred. Always a hundred ways of listening, of marvelling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine” . Through seeing the child as an empty vessel, as not able, not competent, requiring that knowledge be fed to them Malaguzzi believed that children’s innate drive to explore and create is taken away. The competent child is seen as possessing the desire for knowledge and learning and life, always seek-ing and open to the new, constructing theories to interpret reality and hypothesising to understand reality. Our role as adults and educators is to listen, and provide provocations and risky play, to provide opportunities for children to create their own knowledge, their own understanding, to test their own abilities and develop their own skills. Neuroscience now reinforces the ideas of many early childhood researchers and theorists that the human brain is a ‘work in progress’ beginning before birth and continuing across life. For school age children being able to read, write and add is knowledge but competence is much more than this. As well as having knowledge children need to feel and believe in their own competence. Children need to be able to use the knowledge they gain over time, to seek create new knowledge. Children are naturally motivated from birth to learn through play. In the context of play, children explore, experiment, discover create and problem solve. As an active engaged learner, children develop confidence in their own ability, to do their best at whatever they seek to learn, to be resourceful and resilient. The purpose of our newsletter ‘editorials’ is to provide information, ideas and thoughts on current practices and professional reflections in early childhood learning and development to provoke further interest and discussion. Some further questions about the ‘competent child’ reflections might include: How do we listen to non-verbal children? What ideas do children reveal in their behaviour? If we see with a child's eye, hear with a child's ear, and feel with a child's heart will we see the competent child from birth? What are your thoughts, questions and ponderings? Email: childcare.waite@adelaide.edu.au

PARENT NEWSLETTER

Board and PAG Matters 2018 Adelaide University Childcare Services Inc (AUCS) meets on the last Monday of the month. Next meeting for 2018 is Monday 22nd September. The 2017-18 audit report was presented and accepted. The Parent Advisory Group (PAG) The WCCC PAG has changed meeting days to Monday. The next meeting is Monday 15th October. The policy review has been finalised. Interviews for a new Director are being held on Friday 28th September. The recruitment panel will includes two parents and a staff member.

New babes Congratulations to

Alice, Ross and Audrey (R1) on the birth of Emma

25/9/18

A big thank you To all the families who attended the working bee on Saturday 22nd September. You r time is

greatly appreciated and we can move into summer having refreshed and dressed Pilyabilyangga. To everyone who donated to ‘pajamas for farmers’. Our gold coin donations for drought relief

during Book Week raised $180 which purchased 5 small bales of hay, a $50 food voucher and several fuel vouchers for drought affected farmers in SA for farmers in South Australia.

Diary Dates Early closure at 4.30pm

Wednesday October 31st End of Year closure

6pm Friday December 21st 2018 until 8am Monday 7th January 2019

Parent evenings– October We have two parent evenings planned for October. The focus of these evenings is supporting parents in their role as the primary educators and carers of their children to promote the wellbeing of the whole family. We will have guest speakers who can support families with two areas of learning and parenting that we are frequently asked questions about; sleeping and toileting. Toilet Time Monday 22nd October 6.30-8.30pm Debbie Atkins will present an interactive session on Toilet Time. Debbie is an occupational therapist and aims to work in partnership with families and allied professionals to promote the development of toileting skills for the long-term health and well being of children and young people. Debbie says “Learning to use the toilet is an important developmental skill for all children. It is not just about developing physical control, but also sensory awareness, communication skills and social understand-ing. Being able to use the toilet contributes to the child’s independence, physical comfort, self-esteem and social integration with their peers.” Sensible Sleep Solutions Monday 29th October 7-9pm Dr Sarah Blunden from the Paediatric Sleep Clinic based in Adelaide, South Australia is an expert in diagnosing and managing sleep problems in children and young people Dr Blunden has spent the past 10 years researching, treating and lecturing on children's sleep both nationally and internationally, as well as delivering education and information sessions to the community, educators and health care professionals. Dr Blunden is recognised as an authority on children's sleep and is widely published in the field. Please register on the parent notice board. We also invite you to bring a friend. Places will be limited and to assist with cost friends will be asked to pay $10 per attendance.

Living in the techno age Does your child use technology? How much TV time is OK for children? What programs are appropriate at what age? Do you have a tablet that you allow your children to use? Have you considered what apps are appropriate for young children? Parents want their children to have a healthy lifestyle with healthy food, exercise and a wide range of valuable experiences, but often forget that healthy neural development must take into account screen time and the impacts on the wiring of developing brains in response. The Australian Government Department of Health provides guidelines for physical activity and sedentary behaviour. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines#npa05 The Recommendations for children 0-5 years are:

Children younger than 2 years of age should not spend any time watching television or using other

electronic media (DVDs, computer and other electronic games).

For Children 2 to 5 years of age, sitting and watching television and the use of other electronic

media (DVDs, computer and other electronic games) should be limited to less than one hour per day.

Infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers (all children birth to 5 years) should not be sedentary,

restrained, or kept inactive, for more than one hour at a time, with the exception of sleeping. The ACCM website is a valuable resource of information on research related to children and the media and provides reviews of recently released ‘children’s films’.http://childrenandmedia.org.au/

A different perspective—the value to children of mixed age groups “From an evolutionary perspective, the normal social play of children involves kids of various ages.” The age-segregated education and care environments that we have today developed from the middle of the 19th century and have expanded in the 21st century to the stage where many children are di-rected into a proliferation of age-graded, adult-organized recreational and sporting activities as well. We have come to expect that children are best grouped according to age and may even begin to worry about our children if they do not have sufficient age-mates. Research into mixed age groupings, where the age difference is two years or more tells us that children learn more from others who are older or younger than themselves than they do from age-mates. Experiences with younger children provide older children with opportunities to be the mature ones in relationships and thereby practice nurturance and leadership. Researchers have also found, not surprisingly, that children exert much more leadership when they collaborate with younger children in joint tasks than when they collaborate with age-mates. Teaching and learning are sometimes described as bidirectional activities, experiences through which the teacher and learner learn from one another. When older children explain concepts to younger ones in age-mixed play, they must share their previously implicit, unexpressed knowledge in a way that younger children can understand. This challenges them to explain the ‘how to’ in words as well as encouraging the children to demonstrate in a practical way that the younger child can follow. Younger children in age-mixed environments learn by watching and listening to the older ones. When children all nearly of the same age play a game, competitiveness can interfere with playfulness. contrast, when children of widely different ages play a game together, the focus shifts from winning to having fun and fun means learning. With an increase in single child families, wider age gaps between siblings and greater living distances from extended families many children today have little opportunity for mixed-aged play. Some schools utilise this knowledge of mixed age learning by having buddy systems when children commence school, others have shifted to have mixed age classes for reception to year 2. Since 2012 the Lady Gowrie Children’s Centre is Adelaide has had mixed age groupings for their youngest children 0-3 years. While some families were initially unsure of this change and how it would impact on their child they are now confident it has created a positive learning environment for all. It may be difficult for us to shift from the way we ‘expect’ things to be, looking at education and care settings through a developmental perspective, to one where we view children as managers of their own learning. However it is the children themselves who benefit most from mixed age groupings.

WCCC Green Page

National Op Shop Week September 30 - October 6 National Op Shop Week is an event that all Australians can take part in. It starts at home. It’s the time of year to do a spring clean, declutter your wardrobe and take unwanted items to your local op shop. When you do this you are doing your part and helping your community. Some charity shops will also take furniture or bric-a-brac, so there's lots of ways that you can donate. Remember 2 key things: Only donate items that you would not be embarrassed to give to a friend. A Charity bin is not a garbage bin The ABC’s War on Waste program reported last year that a huge 6,000kg – six tonnes! – of fashion waste is generated every 10 minutes in Australia. Op shops are also a great place for us all to shop and do something good for the planet. Textile production uses vast amounts of water, with the Tex-tile Exchange reporting that it takes more than 2,100 litres of water to yield just one kilogram of non-organic cotton. Happy spring cleaning and donating. You can also try clothes swapping. Adelaide Sustainability Centre is hosting a clothes swap party Friday 16th November. http://www.adelaidesustainabilitycentre.org.au/workshops/

What’s the buzz about bees Bees are under threat worldwide due to our increasing urbanisation and removal of natural habitat and the increasing use of pesticides in agriculture. Australia is home to a vast array of bees. Native bees are important pollinators of Australia's unique wildflowers and are a vital part of our Australian bushland. Species include the tiny native honeybees and a variety of solitary bees -- blue banded bees, teddy bear bees, leafcutters and many more. There are over 1,600 species of Australian native bees. These bees are divided into 10 major groups. Australian native bees can be many colours from black and yellow to red, metallic green or even black with blue polka dots! The majority of Australian bees are solitary bees which raise their young in burrows in the ground or in tiny hollows in timber, however, Australia also has 11 species of social native bees are tiny (3 - 5 mm), black and stingless! Stingless beekeeping is increasing in popularity and stingless bee honey is a very yummy bush food. The stingless honey bees are tropical and only live in warmer parts of Australia so are not native to South Australia. What you can find in SA are Blue Banded bees Teddy Bear bees (pictured), Green carpenter bees, Masked bees, Carpenter bees, Redd bees and more. For more information go to: http://www.aussiebee.com.au/ Learn more about attracting bees to your garden this spring Join Jenny Deans for a family-

friendly workshop to learn more about the special role of our native bees. native bees

how to care for our native bees All participants will have the opportunity to make their own bee hotel to take home and receive a ‘bee restaurant’ pack of native plants to plant in their own garden. Saturday October 6th 10am -12pm $25 per person at the Adelaide Sustainability Centre. Bookings at: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/native-bees-in-your-backyard-tickets-49803118468