From the Director of Early Learning

Dear Families,

This week is a very special time for the team at the ELC. The ELC Christmas Picnic is one of the rare times that our entire community gathers together to celebrate our amazing children. The Friends of ELC are busily organising the catering for what is sure to be an amazing event!

We will be selling a number of items including sausages in bread, cupcakes, water and Zooper Doopers. We will also be operating a bar, which will be offering champagne, beer and wine.

To make this event as easy as possible for families we encourage you to bring your picnic rugs!

We ask that families arrive at 5pm – the concert begins at 5.45pm, so please make sure you are seated on the lawns ready for this by 5.40pm. We will gather the children to their areas at 5.30pm.

Don’t forget to tell your extended family members that they are welcome!

Dress for Children

Please dress your child in their party clothes. This is a special occasion and whilst there are no costumes, we think that their special ‘going out’ clothes make this event extra special. Feel free to add your Christmas colours or additions to the outfits if you like.

Supervision of Children

During the concert the children will be supervised by the educators. At other times parents will be responsible for their own children.

Raffle

We are having a special Christmas Raffle so please bring along a few gold coins. There will be great prizes to win including a laptop and vouchers.

We look forward to seeing you all on Friday night!

Kind regards,

Kate Mount

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Vacation Care

Could parents please complete their Vacation Care bookings forms ASAP to assist with staffing requirements. If you read the attached form, you will notice that we will be providing the service right up to Christmas and reopening again on Monday January 9. This is to provide our working families with as much support as possible. Miss Redmond and Miss Kay have been organising the program in preparation for this special time at ELC, and it’s sure to be plenty of fun!

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Christmas Giving Tree

The gift of giving to others at Christmas is one that we truly value. This year the Friends of ELC are organising the Giving Tree for new toys and food items to be donated. We ask that you please do not wrap these items.

Visit our piazza to view this magical tree!

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ELC Dates for the Diary

• Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 14 November 
• Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 21 November
• Hat Ceremony: Monday 5 December, 8.30am
• Final ELC Day: Friday 9 December
• Vacation Care commences: Monday 12 December

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News from the Stonyfell Room

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We are edging closer and closer to the end of the year in the Stonyfell Room and we have been working hard to prepare for our end of year Christmas Celebration. The children have been enjoying practicing their songs and embracing the Christmas spirit!

Christmas is a special time in the ELC as we enjoy many aspects to celebrating this time of the year, especially decorating our play rooms.

This year in the Stonyfell Room the educators have decided to tie Christmas into our Unit of Inquiry. Over the past two terms the educators and children have been exploring and using recycled materials. We have been empowered to transform everyday unwanted items in to something new. The educators decided to offer a provocation to the children:

We are not going to buy any Christmas decorations this year for the Stonyfell Room, we are going to make them instead.

This provocation has been a wonderful motivation for us to be creative and use our imagination, as well as being able to reuse many resources that may have otherwise been thrown out. We have been working together to transform paintings and artwork into paper chains and garlands. We are currently redecorating a range of boxes to turn into a Christmas tree for the room!

This process has allowed the children to collaborate together, problem solve and be creative. Alongside making our decorations we are building a deeper understanding of the meaning behind Christmas. It may have been simpler to go out and buy decorations, however this doesn’t teach our children to be grateful and develop gratitude.

We will be continuing this process throughout the rest of the term and we hope you are enjoying watching our room transform in preparation for Christmas.

Laura Reiters

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News from the Bell Yett Room

This term as part of our inquiry, People can create systems to learn together, the children have been investigating systems in our ELC, including homes and communities. We have been developing the children’s understanding that systems can have a positive impact on our planet and that we can take responsible action by sharing our systems with others. We have been intentional about our learning environment ensuring the teaching and learning strategies we use promote children’s thinking capacities.

“The learning discoveries included the recognition that systems thinking helped children become self-regulated learners capable of taking on different perspectives and making connections as they actively engaged in the learning process.”

Developing Very Young Systems Thinkers – Waters Foundation

Through our Morning Meetings we have been introducing the concept of a system and familiar systems that we use to help us in our everyday lives. We have been inviting the children to engage in systems, record them and share it with others.

Last week we put the provocation to the children, ‘what is a system?’

“It is something that you do.”  Elsie

“It’s when you have an idea.” Molly

“It’s when you wash your hands and wash the soap off and dry them.” Audrey

“Morning Meeting and saying hello to the friends.” Lila

“Recycling is a system.” Hannah

“We make play dough with Miss Boccaccio, and that’s a system.” Kyan

Through our art lessons with Ms Casson the children have developed a fabulous iMovie about the system of recycling. We look forward to sharing that and many other systems with you between now and the end of the term through our ePortfolios.

Nell Tierney and Leanne Williams

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News from Ferguson Room

Last week saw an exciting twist to our inquiry on systems. As we were exploring the routine of ELC and about to read ‘Pete the Cat: Rocking in my school shoes’, we were struck by the first page that described Pete and his belongings ready for school:

“I bring a bag”
“And a lunchbox”

Children began comparing what Pete had ready for school and what they bring to ELC. One child noticed something important:

“Where’s his drink bottle?”

We then switched our attention to what might be in Pete’s bag. We decided to look in our own bags to see what each of us brings to ELC. As we were exploring the bags, we discovered a problem!

“My mum forgot my hat!”
“My dad didn’t pack my drink bottle today!”

We wondered how we could help everyone remember what to bring to ELC.
Perhaps we needed a system when we get ready for ELC in the mornings?

“We could write a letter”
“Or make a card”
“Or a sign”

As children make more understandings about systems, we see them moving towards change – as some children have begun showing action towards this important part of their day:

“I packed spare clothes today”
“Oh dear, I don’t’ have a bag, just like before”
“I’ve got my hat today”

Children have been using these new understandings to make changes in their communication with others and are becoming more responsible for their belongings. We asked the children, who is responsible for getting yourself ready in the mornings?

Watch this space for something exciting to come home that will help create a system to remember what to pack each day. We hope that it helps build the same agency at home as we promote here at ELC.

Pam Foden

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News from the Hallett Room

This term the Hallett Room numeracy focus has been on ‘patterns’. Patterns are extremely
important in developing early algebraic thinking and reasoning, “General mathematical processes of representation, symbolisation, abstraction, generalisation and proof rely on initial pattern recognition and application in a variety of forms” (Bobis, Mulligan and Lowrie 2009).

Patterns are everywhere and are in many forms, so they are an accessible topic for our Hallett Room children. The children started with defining what a pattern is.

“A pattern is different things, then the same thing then different things then the same thing.” Sophie

“A pattern is zig zag, stripes, then zig zag then stripes.” Charlotte

“You can have patterns on shoes like I have because I have a rainbow and that is a pattern.” Tilly

“There are patterns everywhere, all around the world. Even skin. See spot, skin, spot, skin.” Isabelle

“You can make patterns with marshmallows on sticks, my sister did that.” Sophia

Following this discussion, we have been exploring patterns in a variety of ways; colour, shape patterns, artistic patterns, simple and more complex patterns. In small groups the children have demonstrated their understanding of patterns and the educators have challenged them to extend their understandings further. The children have begun to notice patterns around them, including in their food, on their clothes, in nature and in their man-made environment as well.

Last week, to help the children make links to their learning at home I gave them a ‘home work’ task. The task is to find patterns at home, take a photo of the pattern and email in 1-3 photos to me at scroston-melling@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.

The idea for the children is to then be able to share the patterns that they have found and to explain their understanding of the patterns to their peers. Explanation and justification can develop more sophisticated mathematical processes of generalisation and proof in later years (Perry and Dockett in Bobis, Mulligan and Lowrie 2009).

In the next few weeks we will also explore patterns in music using percussion instruments and in dance. Learning about patterns through a variety of ways helps children to develop a deeper understanding of pattern concepts.

Isabelle was right, “patterns are everywhere, all around the world.”

Sarah Croston-Melling

Hallett Room Shared Lunch

To farewell the Hallett children moving off to school next year, we would like to invite the Hallett children and their parents or carers for a shared lunch. The children will sing a few of their favourite songs and then we will have our lunch under the verandah and in the ELC garden. Please bring a plate of food to share – it can be savoury or sweet. We especially love to try savoury food from around the world!

**Please note, no nuts.**

Where: Hallett Room, ELC
When: Friday December 2, 2016
Time: 11:30-12:30pm
Bring: A plate of food to share

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Magic Moment

From the Director of Early Learning

Dear Families,

Providing leading, innovative early childhood education has been an ongoing commitment of the ELC. The educators are continually striving to deliver best practice across the centre. This cycle of continual improvement based on deep reflection is embedded in our practice. For several years we have been inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. With several staff experiencing first-hand this Italian pedagogy, we are able to authentically adjust the principles to blend in our Australian setting and culture. St Peter’s Girls ELC holds a very strong image of the child and of childhood. The value we place on giving visibility to this both within and beyond the ELC gives value to the learning that actually takes place. We are beyond being viewed as just looking after little children; the seriousness of our pedagogy lays the foundation for every child’s learning journey and, in particular, their position in society of being a significant person with so much to offer. We do not see the child for what they cannot do, but rather for what they can do. I am continually challenged when I hear adults talk about all that they have to do for the child – why is it that we cannot see firstly what the child has the capacity to do herself or himself.

During the October holidays my staff had the privilege of a visit from Professor Carla Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia. Those of you that have followed our ELC journey over the years would know that this would have been an incredible honour. Carla was Adelaide’s Thinker in Residence in 2012 – 2013. Following this she made several recommendations to the State, including the development of Prototype Services that could act as models for services endeavouring to incorporate the Reggio Emilia approach in their schools/workplaces. This includes not just a few schools and preschools, but also the Art Gallery and a group of Architects. St Peter’s Girls Early Learners’ Centre is one of these prototypes and regularly meets with the other prototypes to share our research. We follow the principle of Educator as Researcher to deepen our understandings of our practices and beliefs. We continually read, theorise, collaborate, share, question and endeavour to articulate our findings, wonderings and practice.

It was a morning of pure joy having Carla in our centre: for her to view the marriage of architecture and pedagogy, to see our environment so alive and transparent, our strong image of child, and emphasis on community with relationships at the centre. She loved all of the traces of years gone by and, in particular, loved the Friendship Garden and what it represented to us. Carla walked through each section of the centre, asking questions, provoking our thinking and challenging us. She delighted in our projects of inquiry and the journey we are travelling on. In particular, she highlighted our advocacy for the very young child and how beautifully we catered for two year olds in our centre. Carla commented:

“This ELC has to be respected. It is a wonderful place; it is so alive. It is a treasure.”

As we all sat together at our big, long table Carla congratulated us on our authentic work and our trust in ourselves to be so proactive with our continually changing pedagogy, which is driven by our research. She told us about the essence of the centre that she could feel. It was not something she could really explain in words; rather, a feeling she had! Her words of encouragement and provoking questions have given us a burst of excitement going into Term 4 in the ELC – it was indeed one of my proudest moments since being Director in this beautiful learning facility. I congratulate my team of educators for being part of this exciting event!

Kate Mount
Director of Early Learning

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ELC Christmas Picnic

Join us in the ELC grounds to celebrate the end of a fantastic year as we wish all our families a wonderful Christmas.

5pm, Friday 25 November 2016

The Friends of ELC will have some food and drinks on sale, as well as a Christmas raffle. Bring your own picnic basket, rug, nibbles and drinks.

Lock this date into your diary so you don’t miss your children participate in this special concert. Extended families are very welcome!

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ELC Dates for the Diary

• Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 14 November 
• Reception Transition Visit for girls attending St Peter’s Girls’ School: Monday 21 November
• Hat Ceremony: Monday 5 December, 8.30am
• Final ELC Day: Friday 9 December
• Vacation Care commences: Monday 12 December

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News from the Stonyfell Room…

Exploring sorting and classification in the Stonyfell Room

“Numeracy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in everyday life.”   Early Years Learning Framework

Every term, each room in the ELC plans and constructs a numeracy planner that sits alongside our Unit of Inquiry, that supports the children to deepen their investigations and explorations.

This term’s focus in the Stonyfell Room is sorting and classification. This focus has allowed our children to begin to explore and understand the process of recycling. We have been introducing this concept during morning meeting and offering the children a range of materials both rubbish and recyclables to provoke their understanding of this concept.

We have been asking the children to express their ideas as to where we could put these materials and why?

Grace: “In the bin, we put rubbish in the bin!”
Hugo R: “They all go in the bin.”
Teddy: “Yes, over there in the bin.”
Penny: “I have a bin a home.”

Many of our children have the understanding of where to put our rubbish. However, we want them to start thinking about the difference between rubbish and recycling and how we can actively engage in this practice to take responsibility for our world.

The educators have planned an intentional experience to support us in unpacking this concept. We have offered the children a range of resources to sort and classify as they see fit. This has allowed the children to have multiple opportunities to revisit and create their own meanings. We can sort and classify items in many ways and by giving our children the opportunity to work in collaboration with others further assists them in developing their understandings of numeracy and how it is ingrained in our everyday world.

Laura Reiters

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News from the Bell Yett Room…

The educators in the Bell Yett Room have been extremely pleased with the deep understandings the children developed during our Term 3 inquiry, People Are Connected to our Planet. This has been particularly evident in the way they have embraced taking responsibility and initiative for recycling and reusing materials in the Bell Yett Room. With our delight, comes a challenge. How do we ensure that the children’s enthusiasm and learning does not stop with the end of a term? This led us to thinking carefully about how our Term 4 Inquiry could build on such previous successful learning. Our new Central Idea, People can create systems to learn together, has given us the opportunity to look at how we can share our knowledge and understandings about sustainable practices with others. Many of the children have been enthusiastically creating posters for their friends across the wider ELC. Other children have been helping to create an iMovie which we hope to share with the Junior School. We look forward to sharing these systems with you upon their completion.

If you would like to know more about our current Unit of Inquiry please use this link to login to your child’s ePortfolio: https://link.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.

We were extremely excited to announce the launch of our ePortfolio’s in the ELC in Term 4 2015. The ePortfolio’s allow us to share documentation and learning experiences; as they are happening. It provides a window into your child’s life in the ELC as educators share intentional teaching, specialist lessons and spontaneous moments through photos, videos, text and images of children’s creative expressions. The ePortfolio’s enable us to share more of the process of learning rather than just the end product.

It was wonderful for the educators to be able to share your child’s ePortfolio with you during our recent Parent Teacher Conversations. It was also beneficial to receive feedback from you in regards to this still relatively new communication system. Through this opportunity we discovered that while parents are very positive about the ePortfolios and all they offer, they often forget to login and have a look. It was through one of these discussions that a parent suggested that we provide a link through our eNews as a regular prompt for families. We would love to hear if you use the link above and if you have any other suggestions for improving our communications with you.

Leanne Williams and Nell Tierney

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News from the Ferguson Room…

Recycled Treasure

We thank our families for joining in with our treasure hunts at home! We have loved sharing the interesting collections and hearing great feedback about the joy children have had in participating in the experience at home. As we talk about often, your child’s learning is enhanced when we all work together.

In sharing their treasure bags, children are developing their communication skills and confidence. As they enthusiastically show everyone their finds, we can see their sense of pride and excitement. One thing that strikes us as fascinating, is their ability to happily share their items with the group. We don’t see a worry for what is their property, but more a willingness to involve others in their joy. The apparent learning this is bringing to the inquiry is awesome to see!

This learning has included:

• an awareness of others as they share
• the numeracy component of organising and sorting
• working collaboratively to establish creative ideas of what to make
• continuing the important notion of sustainability.

The Bell Yett children have discussed with us their ideas about recycling and ways to use materials again. This links beautifully with our ideas of looking after our planet, as we build the foundations of thinking about what it means to ‘waste’ materials.

Thank you again for participating in our program.

Pam Foden

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News from the Hallett Room…

The Year 5 musical, ‘The Little Mermaid’, was definitely a highlight of last week for the Hallett children. The colour, song and enthusiasm of the Year 5 girls swept us away into a world under the sea – it was truly magical! It made me think how lucky we are, to be part of a school. The week before we joined the Year 12 girls for their Celebration Day as they ran up the path to the Arts Centre for their final day. I explained in an email to Kerry Skinner, the Head of Senior School and Georgina Sarah, the Head Prefect, how connected the Hallett children were to this special occasion, recreating the magic in the Hallett Room later that day. Georgina replied to say that it ‘really is a tight knit community at St Peter’s Girls’.

So it is with great excitement that many of our Hallett children are preparing to start school. For those continuing at St Peter’s Girls, they will be continuing their learning journey knowing they are part of a special community full of joy, dedication and care.

Many parents ask me how they can best prepare their child for school with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy. It is great to playfully support and grow your child’s interest in literacy and numeracy in various everyday experiences however, the best skills that we can nurture in our children is a love of learning and a sense of agency. As International Baccalaureate (IB) learners we encourage children to act on their interests, to research the answer to their questions, to find out more and to listen to others. In the Hallett Room we encourage children to develop their independence by taking care of their belongings, having a try at doing something before seeking help and encouraging them to help their peers. As parents we can support children to develop independence by encouraging the children to carry their own bag, providing lunch boxes and drink bottles that the children can manage to open/close themselves, by encouraging children to dress themselves and by asking them to take responsibility for packing up their own bag at the end of the day. A good routine can assist children with knowing what to do and how to help them-selves. Please feel free to discuss this further with me if you wish.

How exciting it is to be in the Hallett Room at the moment, to be surrounded by children beaming with confidence as they prepare for the next step in their learning journey!

Sarah Croston-Melling

Hallett Room Shared Lunch

To farewell the Hallett children moving off to school next year, we would like to invite the Hallett children and their parents or carers for a shared lunch. The children will sing a few of their favourite songs and then we will have our lunch under the verandah and in the ELC garden. Please bring a plate of food to share, it can be savoury or sweet. We especially love to try savoury food from around the world!

**Please note, no nuts.**

Where: Hallett Room, ELC
When: Friday December 2, 2016
Time: 11:30-12:30pm
Bring: A plate of food to share

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Magic Moment