Little Bee Newsletter January 2022 |
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Happy New Year to everyone!! |
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A big welcome to all our new families and welcome back to our existing and returning families. We are looking forward to a very happy and eventful 2022, filled with fun, laughter and exciting new challenges for everyone at Little Bee! Leading into 2022, we thank our educators for your enduring commitment and dedication to children’s learning and thank all families for your continued support and partnership in assisting us to positively influence learning and build genuine, lasting relationships.
We also give a massive thanks to each and every child at Little Bee. The excitement we get every day as we see you playing, investigating and learning is truly fabulous. We can't wait to see the expressions of wonder and joy on your faces, as we observe you play and learn in 2022! We are thinking of all of our families, especially those who have contracted COVID 19 or been close contacts of those with diagnosed COVID 19. We thankyou for your support and understanding, for following guidelines, keeping us informed, and for many of you, going above and beyond what is required to keep us all safe. Some families are currently experiencing COVID 19 isolation at home and have had children who tested positive to COVID 19. They have kindly shared some of the early symptoms of COVID 19 that their children experienced, so other families can look out for this. This includes a lack of appetite (even to favourite foods), headache and night sweats. Symptoms are not limited to the above and will vary case to case, so please let us know if you or a family member experience anything different. Currently, the Health Department are deeming schools and early childhood services 'high risk' settings which means that if you receive a positive COVID 19 test result, then you must isolate for 7 days from your positive test result and potentially longer based on your symptoms. From days 8-14, you are not allowed to enter a high risk setting (which includes Little Bee). This means it is a minimum of 14 days from a positive test that you will be able to enter Little Bee. We will email families if this information changes. We appreciate you letting us know if you have contracted COVID 19, or if you are a close contact of someone with COVID 19. We already have many COVID 19 vaccination status certificates on file from families. Thankyou, we are so grateful for this, we really appreciate you letting us know your vaccination status. Please keep them coming in. |
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Congratulations to Petryce and Jake!!! We are so excited to announce the safe arrival of Imogen Joyce, wishing Petryce and Jake the most amazing adventures in parenthood. |
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What's been happening over the past month at Little Bee ....... Little Bee Howrah.... December at Howrah saw different forms of artwork take place. Using offcuts of different materials and colours of paper the children had the opportunity to collage, using the scissors and glue to cut and stick their desired shapes, creating magnificent artworks to share with their peers and families. We discussed all things holidays, with children sharing their knowledge of the different holidays and celebrations they participate in at home. Feeling festive, we mixed up some happy fun colours of paint and glitter and created some group artworks using the rollers and other painting instruments. With the weather being extra nice we spent lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine. Using collected rainwater from our tank, the children filled up different pots and pans, adding sand to some of the water creating different potions. December also saw us having to say goodbye to some of our dear friends who left us to get ready for big school next year. To those children and families, we wish you all the best and will miss not seeing you all. |
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At Little Bee Airport .... Baby Bees Ahhhh Summer!!!! We welcomed December with warm hearts and enjoyed every sunny day with lots of water play and dancing on our deck around the water sprinkler and bathing baby dolls. We loved being in the sandpit exploring all sorts of containers, filling them up with sand and sharing our work with our friends. The children’s confidence has grown to explore our playground and we have seen them investigating more play spaces, such as: the cubby house and the obstacle courses. At the beginning of the month, we focused in making bath salts to gift our Baby Bee families. The children actively participated in the process and enjoyed pouring the ingredients into the bowl, the smells from the essential oils, mixing and stirring using spoons and whisk. The children did such a good job! We hope our Baby Bee families have enjoyed their appreciation gifts. To celebrate this wonderful time of the year, we loved our Christmas related art and crafts. We did an amazing job painting and utilising tinsel instead of brushes! We also loved playing with our big inflatable baubles, kicking and throwing them around, as much as we loved dancing to Christmas songs. As we explored our felt Christmas tree (up on our wall) the children practiced their fine motor skills. using their fingers to grasp the felt-made ornaments and stick them back, re-arranging the decorations every day. We have welcomed some new baby Bees and farewelled some of our children to Honey Bees, with more to move up in the next month. Honey Bees The Honey Bees have welcomed the warmer weather of December with water play. We explored the running river bed, challenging our gross motor skills as we took turns with the pump and floated a variety of materials down the river. We had lots of fun engaging in role-play with water, washing the toy babies with face washes, and the cars and outside wall with sponges and brushes. The children curiously explored 'cause and effect' through creating a posting tree and cardboard tunnel that they placed balls and bean-bags through, observing where they ended up. We saw the children express themselves and their ideas through engaging in a number of art experiences; creating Christmas sponge paintings, glitter pictures, painting gum nuts, making tree decorations and exploring painting with a variety of different brushes (paint brush, tooth brush, kitchen brush). The Honey Bees also enjoyed participating in two cooking experiences where they enjoyed making and trying their own Ice-cream and Shortbread. |
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Bumble Bees This month has been spent enjoying a variety of arts. Some of these experiences included Christmas craft including, sponge painting and painting gum nuts. Shaving foam sensory exploration and painting of natural resources. We have been spending lots of time visiting the chickens and tending to the veggie patches. The chickens love our visits as we bring them loads of snacks, give them fresh water and lots of pats, we all love checking to see if they have left us any eggs in return. The veggies are growing nicely, we pulled some carrots and dug up some pink eye potatoes and cooked these up for lunch. Very tasty straight from the ground to our plate, an experience the children really enjoyed. The children enjoyed loads of water play which involved pouring, splashing and having a ton of fun exploring. We all had a great time dancing with James. while he played his didgeridoo. Busy Bees Summer, a perfect opportunity for the Busy Bee children to get out and about in our local community. We love to visit the local park and bush reserve, it’s a short walk out the back gate and across the paddock. The children get so much enjoyment from the swings, slide and climbing equipment. However, their favourite thing to do seems to be climb trees, the challenges of this natural obstacle provide so many opportunities for learning. There has been much research in recent years about the importance of nature play for children and the statistics indicating that children are now spending less and less time in unstructured play in nature or in contact with ‘wild’ nature beyond the fence. Spending time in nature helps children thrive. Naturekindergarten.sd62bc.ca/proposal. Queen Bees The month of December saw us farewell many of our Queen Bee friends as they begin their school life journey. Many of our friends bought in cakes, balloons, and games for us to play to celebrate their time at Little Bee. We also welcomed many new friends into the Queen Bee family. We offered many exciting and creative art and craft experiences with many focusing on a Christmas theme. Water colour painting, cutting and gluing collages, glitter play dough, decorating pinecones and our festive Christmas sensory table were all enjoyed together. These fun seasonal activities helped build new friendships and the children felt a sense of pride in their unique creations. We enjoyed the warm, sunny days outside with lots of water play experiences. Through pools created in the sand pit area, many splashed, jumped, ran, and laid about in the water. Building up their water awareness skills and releasing lots of energy. The children found water play invigorating and/or calming depending on the activity we presented. Trips to the local park were also greeted with much enthusiasm. Many Queen Bee’s climbed trees at the park for the very first time and were so amazed at their skills. We enjoyed basketball, soccer and footy together as well as shared the swings and took turns on the slides. We sat together under the trees and watched and listened to the birds and insects that flittered about close to us. It was such a special way to end our year together. |
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Please join us for a great day of Family Fun! Fully sponsored by Little Bee. |
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It is with baited breath that we wait and see what happens next month during the rapid COVID 19 spread across Tassie. It has certainly slowed many of us down as we continue to lay low and navigate our way through it. It still remains part of Little Bee's ongoing commitment to expand upon our Community involvement and to provide wider networking opportunities for families and children within the Little Bee Community. For this reason, we are continuing to sponsor our annual family twilight event at the races on Friday 11th February from 4 p.m. onwards. This is a COVID 19 safe event for families with ample indoor and outdoor space for maintaining safe physical distancing. We are providing tickets 'free of charge' for all Little Bee families and these will be available from the Howrah and Airport offices from next week! Please see us if you would like a ticket! |
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Loose Parts Play at Little Bee Airport! As we head into January 2022 we continue our journey to build even further upon our 'loose parts' resources. So why are we choosing ‘loose parts’ in our play? Do you remember building cubbies with branches and anything else you could get your hands on as a child? Loose parts in a play space will enhance our fixed play items already available and are one of the most valuable resources we can have. ‘Loose parts’ are items and materials that children can move, adapt, control, change and manipulate within their play. They provide a high level of creativity and choice, as there are endless possibilities for how they can be used. The theory of Loose Parts was developed in 1971 by Simon Nicholson who said that in any environment, the degree of creativity and inventiveness was directly proportional to the number of variables! Do you have any ‘Loose Parts’ we could use in our play space? Loose parts can be anything from branches, sticks, small rocks, pine cones, shells, tyres, ropes, pvc pipe, logs, wooden off cuts, craters, seed pods, stumps, nuts and bolts – the possibilities are endless. Most loose parts don’t cost anything to obtain, it could be things you already have lying around your home. If you can help us out, we would be extremely grateful, especially any large pipes or tubing is always a big hit with the children! We are also after any old electronic equipment, such as; old computers, printers, phones, stereo or radios, etc. that the children can pull apart and try and put back together using real work tools! A risk benefit assessment is available at the Centre for all of those more ‘risky play type experiences’ for families to access if you so wish. |
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Little Bee is closed on Wednesday the 26th January, due to the public holiday. |
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Keeping our children safe We would like to remind everyone the importance of wearing ‘Sun Smart’ clothes during the summer months. To ensure we are all working under the guidelines of our Sun Protection and Weather policy, we ask that all children please wear clothes covering their shoulders (no strappy tops please). Please make sure you provide a wide brimmed or legionnaire style hat to protect the whole face from the sun. Please make sure that your child brings along shoes with an enclosed toe (to wear while riding the bikes). Thank-you. |
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Information for Review We are currently reviewing the following policies and/or procedures: 2.12 – Pest Control 2.13 - Bomb Threat 2.14 - Emergency Telephone numbers 2.15 - Child Safety (Policy for Dealing with Suspected Incidences of Child Abuse or Neglect) 2.16 - Nappy Changing and Toileting Procedures If you would like to have input reviewing these documents it would be greatly appreciated, just let us know and we will forward copies to you. Please compose any suggestions you would like to make and place them, either in the suggestions box (at reception) or via email to: littlebee@littlebee.net.au. Information for families We hope to continue on with 2022 as calmly as we can in the current climate. Our chosen readings for the month are: - All about the benefits of tai chi, visualisation, yoga and stretching with young children
- Partnerships: The key to successful transition to school
If you would like a copy forwarded please email us and we will send an electronic copy to you. Other readings can be found on the internet from recognised sites, such as: kidsafe.com.au, rch.org.au, acecqa.gov.au, deewr.gov.au and kidswithasthma.com.au, healthinsite.gov.au Opportunities for Family Involvement Professional Learning sessions are held on a bi-monthly basis. They are to reflect on our current practices, work on our Centre’s Quality Improvement Plan and continue to maintain the highest standard of, education and care possible. Our next staff professional learning session will be scheduled in late February 2022, with learning on Quality Improvement and Creative environments, we are hoping we will be able to go ahead. All families are invited to join us. Your ideas and opinions are greatly valued and appreciated. Families are also welcome to participate daily in Workplace health and safety checks and/or compliance reviews. Please see one of the staff if you are interested. |
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We acknowledge and pay respect to the Elders past, present and future. The Traditional Custodians of Lutruwita (Tasmania) and pay homage to the traditional owners of the land our centres stand on, the Moomairemener people. |
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