Angaston CHILD CARE & EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
NEWSLETTER August 2017
DATES TO REMEMBER
Book week 21st – 25th August
Father’s Day Celebrations 1st September
Photo Day 18th September
Grand Parents Morning Tea 25th September
School Holidays 2nd Oct – 13th Oct School Holidays 16th Dec – 29th Jan
Is your child up to date with immunisation?
Remember that children who are not immunised will be excluded during any outbreak of a government scheduled preventable illness within the centre
CHILD HEALTH
Nutrients in food: When talking about food, you’ll often hear people refer to the word nutrients. Is the food full of nutrients? Is it a nutrient-rich food? Are you getting your recommended daily serves of nutrients? What are nutrients and why are they good for you? Nutrients are the substances in food that our bodies process to enable it to function. Your nutrient requirements are influenced by factors including your age, growth stage and activity. Nutrients are so small that they can’t be seen by the naked eye. Nutrients can generally be broken onto two categories: Macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, fats; and Micronutrients – vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, vitamin C. Nowadays there are many nutrient poor foods available – this means they don’t contain much nutrition that your body needs to function. Rather, the food is full of energy (kilojoules) but it’s not nutritional. This means that the food will provide your body with energy (kilojoules) so you won’t feel hungry, but it’s void of other essential nutrients that your body needs to function. Drinks: Drinking fluid is essential to stay alive. Water is the best fluid for our bodies as it helps regulate our temperature, aids digestion, assists in the transportation of nutrients around the body, helps kidney function and helps with the elimination of waste products. Water also cushions our organs and joints, helping prevent injury and pressure. Water is vital for survival. Children should be encouraged to drink water from an early age. If they are, it is likely that this good habit will continue into adulthood. Dehydration can result when a person does not drink enough fluid. This can result in poor concentration, an increase in stress, headaches, lethargy, dry itchy skin and constipation. Sugary beverages such as fruit juice, cordial, flavored mineral water, soft drink and sports drinks are high in sugar and contain very little nutritional value, so they should be limited. Milk is a healthy alternative to water and is a nutritious choice. Read our fact sheets to learn more about healthy fluid choices for children. 5 Food Groups: The key to healthy eating is to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods from each of the 5 food groups. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating displays the 5 food groups on a plate, in the proportion that you should be eating them throughout your day. If you eat a variety of foods from each of these groups, your body will receive all the nutrients and vitamins it needs to function. The five food groups are: Dairy: the foods in this group are excellent sources of calcium, which is important for strong, healthy bones. Not many other foods in our diet contain as much calcium as dairy foods. Fruit: fruit provides vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and many phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants), that help your body stay healthy. Grain (cereal) foods: always choose wholegrain and/or high fiber varieties of breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, etc. Refined grain products (such as cakes or biscuits) can be high in added sugar, fat and sodium. Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds: our body uses the protein we eat to make specialized chemicals such as hemoglobin and adrenalin. Protein also builds, maintains, and repairs the tissues in our body. Muscles and organs (such as your heart) are made of protein. Vegetables, legumes and beans: vegetables should make up a large part of your daily food intake and should be encouraged at every meal (including snack times). They provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants) to help your body stay healthy. For more information, please visit: http://healthy-kids.com.au/food-nutrition/
CATERPILLAR ROOM
Hello families, time has flown by so quickly and we can’t believe it is already August! Firstly, Carissa our lovely educator would like to announce that she is having a baby in December. We are extremely thrilled for her and Michael and look forward to watching Carissa’s baby belly slowly grow. We would like to welcome the new children that have started in our room and we thank our new families for taking the time to do orientation before starting. The orientation process gives children and staff the time to bond and feel a sense of belonging in the room before their initial start date. The children have shown a strong interest in the environment this month. The under 2’s were given Violas from Amanda; one of our educators, the children reused plastic 2 litre milk cartons, reused soil and planted the Violas by themselves. We have them on display out in the under 2’s play area, so pop in and have a look at their lovely creations. We are also re-growing carrots and replanting them as the heads sprout. The children are showing a strong interest in making sure they get watered daily and love watching them grow. It’s been lovely to hear that some of our families are doing the same at home now also. We are also exploring messy and sensory play with paint. The children have enjoyed choosing their own bright colours and getting their hands dirty. The children have had a keen interest exploring colours and shapes through painting and pasting. This has helped the children to develop and improve their gross and fine motor skills, coordination and concentration. As you are hopefully aware, during your child’s day of play and learning, we as educators take written observations of your child covering all areas of learning. These observations are in your child’s personal folder which is available for you to view. Please feel free to view your child’s portfolio at any time. We also welcome any comments or suggestions from parents and care givers which can be written on the bottom of the observation form in the section “Parent Feedback”. Outcome 2: Children are connected and contribute to their world – Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment.
Suzy, Carissa & Jessica
COCOON ROOM
Continuing on from last month, we are still focusing on the children’s self-help skills. The children take turns in setting up for meal times, clearing up after meals, scraping bowls and taking the dishes back to the kitchen. This month we will also be focusing on the children and their learning. Allowing the children to choose their own learning and following on from their own interests. Child-led learning and experiences; we have found; are a great way to connect to the children on many different levels and allow us to discover their likes and interests outside of the centre. For a few children, this has led to gross motor skills such as climbing, balance and risk-taking activities. We will be following the children’s leads into their learning and creating a play space they can explore and enjoy.
Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners – Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity
Andrea & Nikita
PRESCHOOL
This month we have been focusing on ‘Identity’. We have recently just finished looking closer into the word ‘Citizen’, ‘Community’ and have been inspired by many Reggio Emilia experiences such as: experimenting with clay, different interpretations, construction and looking at the finer details. This inquiry topic can be found on display within the Preschool parent corner, please feel free to have a look. We are now moving onto Identity and have been acknowledging that we are all the same in many ways yet different in our own unique way. Throughout this term, the children have been experimenting with their faces and different features of our faces. We have removed half of our faces to draw on the other side; this has helped us understand our own selves in more detail. Following the Reggio Emilia approach, we will be developing a family tree and will also be taking separate parts of our facial features and looking closely into how we can re-create those using a range of materials. Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity – Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities
Emma
KIDZ ZONE
I am now starting preperations for the next vacation care program in October. If you have any suggestions on things we can make and/or do, please let me know as your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Amanda
JUST FOR LAUGHS
Have you seen our Facebook page? We try to upload what the children are doing each day. We have had great feedback from families as they get to see what their children are doing throughout the day whilst they are at work. Look us up and like us on Facebook at: Angaston Childcare & Early Learning Centre.
Sharon
OUR COMMUNITY
We are continuing to build strong community bonds with the wider community as we look to continue providing high quality care and a sense of belonging. We would like to say a big thank-you to the Good Shephard primary school for allowing us to use the HUB facility. We are also grateful for our connection with the Angaston primary school and the Angaston kindy.
Sharon