KOTA September 2014 Newsletter
Dear Parents
Welcome to the September edition of the KOTA newsletter for 2014.
Staff News
We have two new staff members working in the Toddler’s Room. Please welcome Connie and
Caroline to our team. Unfortunately Vino finished on Wednesday 3rd September unexpectedly
and will not be returning to KOTA. We all wish her the very best for the future. She will be
missed by all of us.
Chocolate Champions
Thank you so much to all our parents that have sold chocolates. At present we have raised
$560.00 for our centre. A reminder to parents that haven’t returned chocolate money or any
unsold chocolates to do so as soon as possible.
It’s Sun Smart Time!
Our Sun Smart Policy has taken place effect from the 1St of September. All children are required
to wear hats and sunscreen while playing outdoors. Every precaution is taken to ensure that
children are not playing in direct sunlight for long periods of time. Children need to wear
appropriate clothing and foot wear, eg: No Thongs or Singlet Tops. We are selling children’s
Bucket Hats in assorted colours. If you would like to purchase a hat for $10.00, please see one of
our friendly staff.
Fees
Office hours are between 8.30am and 5.30pm daily for fee payments. Direct Credit Card
payments can be set up weekly incurring a 1% surcharge if required. The preferred method in
paying your fees is by Direct Debit into our Bendigo Account ensuring that you are always 2 weeks
in advance with your payments.
BSB: 633 000
Account No: 116877366
Website Maintenance – calling all web experts
Many of you would be aware that KOTA has a website www.kota.com.au
From time to time the site needs to be updated with new information. If there is a parent who has
some experience with website maintenance, we would love to hear from you.
Dates to remember:
10th September: Jenny from Bunnings will be running a sustainability activity with the older
children.
15th September: Henny Penny (Chicken Hatching) will be arriving and will stay at the centre until
all the chicks hatch.
Thank you
Colleen and Linda
Baby’s Room Update
We would like to welcome William and Roisin to the Baby’s Room. We are very excited to build a
relationship with you and to build on your interests through play.
As the weather is getting warmer, could parents please start bringing appropriate hats and
clothing? Parents are also to apply sunscreen to their child before they come into the room. We
will leave sunscreen near the sign in sheet.
Over the past month we have been involved in Book Week and Science Week where the children
had the option of bringing in their favourite book and for science week we made volcanoes with
sand, bi-carb soda and vinegar, which the children showed great interest in. The children got to
read different stories that we bought into the room. We have found that most of the children are
growing fond of animals in our room so we have lots of animal books displayed. This is followed on
by parents telling us they have been visiting the zoo and the farm so we created another area in
the room which has farm animals and a farm house. The children have enjoyed playing with this
area and some of the children are great at knowing which sounds an animal makes.
The babies have also been showing great interest in our ball pit in the room. The children love
playing with the balls in and outside the room. When we are outside the children love to go on the
trampoline and the slide. The children are getting better at climbing up the steps to go down the
slide and are great at balancing on the trampoline.
We are looking forward to the nicer weather coming. Next week Tuesday the 9th of September,
Bunning’s will be coming out to the centre to provide sustainability on gardening for all children to
participate.
Thank you for taking the time to read the Baby’s Room update.
Toddler’s Room Update
This month has been a busy month of arts and crafts, with the use of different materials such as
creating our own rocket ship out of boxes, stain glass windows with cellophane, creating our own
people for our houses with boxes and paper towel rolls and the occasional pasting and painting
throughout the month.
Space has been a popular topic amongst the children and they have been discussing many
interesting things about space such as planets, rocket ships and aliens. As the children are very
much in touch with their creative side we have asked the children to think of ways we could
enhance our space area by creating items we could use to play with.
In recent events we said goodbye to one of our friends Jensen and we celebrated many birthdays
including, Adam, Ariana, Jacob, Lucas, Lucinda and Priscilla. The children made strawberry
cupcakes and were very involved in the process which included mashing the strawberries and
stirring it into the cake batter. We also had an incursion from Wildlife Exposure where the
children were able to explore many new and exciting creepy crawlies.
The children have also been focusing on creating their own play based experiences. This includes
making their own city, houses and people in block corner as well as making their own sky and what
they think goes in the sky.
Throughout the month the children have been engaging in parallel play with the use of home-corner
and doctor’s area.
This month we have continued to provide the younger children with sensory based experiences.
This would include the use of kinetic sand and a tub of soil and tan bark placed in our zoo area.
This month and ongoing we look to challenge each individual child to extend their interest further
by increasing the competency in activities and provide the older children with stimulating
appropriate activities to enhance their abilities.
We look forward to seeing where next month brings us. In the meantime we will be continuously
providing your children with new and exciting ways to contribute to play.
Thank you
Toddler Room Carers
Kinder Room Update
Dramatic play continues to play an important role in our program. Earlier in the month we set up a
hair salon as well as a cupcake shop. We have seen the children playing cooperatively as they have
shared their ideas and negotiated roles. Numeracy and literacy have also played an important role
as the children have explored menus and play money.
During construction the children have been creating some amazing cities mostly during block play.
We extended on this by creating a city out of recycled materials. This then lead to children talking
about construction sites and some of the different types of materials used to build houses. We
explored this further by creating our own construction site outdoors. This area has been a very
popular area that the children continue to revisit. It certainly has been a busy working area that
the children have enjoyed exploring in small groups.
We have had two incursions this month. On Tuesday, 5th August we had a visit from Tracy and
Stella (the Lost Dogs’ Home). Stella was a lovely border collie who was very friendly and happy to
meet us Tracy taught us some important information such as what to do if we saw an angry or
dangerous dog. We also learnt how to approach and handle a dog along with when not to touch a
dog. Stella also showed us all the different tricks that she can do. At the end of the session, we
all had a turn to give Stella a little pat and give her a high five.
On Monday 18th August, Xavier from Wildlife Exposure visited us with lots of different creepy
crawlies. It was an interactive and informative session that provided us with opportunities to find
out about different animals and the environments that they live in. There were lots of
opportunities to get up close, pat and even hold some of the creatures. Some of our favourites
were the stick insects, cockroaches, giant snail and of course the baby crocodile. The children
were brave and very eager to participate.
To extend on the experience we have started a project on mini beasts. We have been reading lots
of bug related books. A few of our favourite at the moment are the Very Hungry Caterpillar and
the Very Busy Spider. The children have been creating their own bugs and exploring bugs during
imaginative play. We have started a display area with all our work on mini beasts so far. As we
continue to gather ideas from the children we will extend our display area.
Cooking has also been playing a regular role in our program. Wednesday’s group made gingerbread
men which was a suggestion from Kai after reading the story. Last week we made pizza for
afternoon tea which the children really enjoyed. If you have any recipes that you would like to
share with us please bring them in.
Kinder staff - Louise, Cora and Lily
FUNDRAISING FITNESS SESSIONS
NOW AT MORELAND PRIMARY SCHOOL!
With the endless demands of work and life, it can sometimes be difficult to squeeze
exercise into our busy schedules. Research demonstrates adult obesity rates are still on
the rise, and so too are childhood obesity rates. The importance of healthy role modelling
for your kids is more important than ever. Moreland Primary School is proud to announce
that they will be supporting a new fitness fundraising initiative. Introducing Back 2
School Fitness. This program makes it easy for members of the local community of all
fitness levels to get adequate amounts of exercise each week in a safe and familiar
environment. It is kicking off Term 4 in the Moreland Primary school grounds. Back 2
School Fitness brings fitness to you at 6am Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s and 8am
Saturday’s, beginning Monday October 6th, 2014. To register and secure your place, please
visit www.back2schoolfitness.com.au