September 2020

Wednesday 2 September 2020 - a national celebration of Indigenous Literacy Day! 

Our educators and children were excited to participate in the national, virtual Youtube Live Premiere event celebrating Indigenous language and literacy.

At 12.30 pm on Wednesday 2 September, we watched parts of the 45 minute celebratory event live on Youtube. It was a fast-paced, highly visual celebration designed to engage the nation in the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' first languages. ILF Ambassadors, Jessica Mauboy sang an Australian favourite and Anita Heiss, Andy Griffiths, Alison Lester, Shelley Ware and ILF co-Patron June Oscar AO were joined by children and community members from Tiwi Islands and Jilkminggan in the Northern Territory and Bidyadanga in Western Australia - all sharing delightful stories and the value of language.  At 2 p.m. the early learners and primary section was broadcast.

In previous years the celebration has taken place at Sydney Opera House with children from remote communities, local schools, ILF ambassadors and supporters. This year, due to COVID-19, it was open for the first time to everyone - Australia-wide!

At Little Bee Howrah .......

The children’s interest in STEAM activities knows no bounds, not a day goes by that we’re not asked the question; “Can we do more science today?” From our youngest to our oldest child the wonder of science has everyone in it’s grip. Choosing from a range of elements and containers, the children are discovering how to mix, float or ‘explode’. Sammy (upon being asked the question “why do you think the oil layer is on the bottom of the jar?”) responded: “Because it’s dense!”

As well as our intentional teaching through purposeful play environments, our educators support the children to make many amazing and spontaneous discoveries all around the playground every day. Aiden, Will and Tommy discovered their shadows on a sunny day and decided to draw around them with chalk.

At Little Bee Airport .......

Baby Bees:

Throughout the month of August in Baby Bees we have been investigating lots sensory play, including making play dough, painting with herbs and smelling different scents.  This is in preparation for making our own bread with the thermomix; interestingly the children have shown enormous interest in the machine, the sounds it makes and swiping the screen as we work through different recipes!  We have also been investigating oral story telling with native animals and natural materials as part of our linking to Aboriginal culture. The Baby Bee children have loved watching us tell a new story every day and then having opportunity to play and investigate with the animals and the materials, especially outside in the sand and mud pit. We would like to welcome to the Baby Bee room Kirsten and Adriana, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring to us!

Honey Bees:

As part of our ongoing projects in the Honey Bee room we have been learning all about bread. We read the story “Bread” to the children which shows images with the process of how bread is made and where it comes from.  As part of our learning of Aboriginal culture, we moved on to make our own damper, a traditional Aboriginal food and have added different herbs.  We have observed that the children’s basic cooking skills have grown and we are seeing many positive interactions between children as their understanding of sharing and taking turns grows during the mixing and pouring.

The children have been enjoying playing with play dough and crayon drawing on the table, as well as exploring different materials and tools, including sticks, brushes and our hands and finger tips to make some beautiful paintings.  Outdoors we have seen lots of digging in the sand pit, riding bikes, exploring the cubby house and we have seen lots of climbing over our balance beam, bridge and tyres, developing the children’s confidence with our gross motor skills.

Exploring animals within our environments has been a favourite with the children growing in confidence to touch worms in the garden!

We offer a warm welcome to Allie and James as they join our educator team!

Bumble Bees

The Bumble Bee children have enjoyed the beautiful weather we have been having lately, playing on the bikes outside, digging and building sandcastles with each other, as well as making a variety of cakes with wet sand.

We have also been enjoying cutting experiences, using scissors to cut out food from catalogues and turning them into wonderful collages.

The Bumble Bee children have thoroughly enjoyed many cooking experiences through out the month including, making damper, pizza and cooking sausages on the fire!

We have continued exploring the garden and taken some short walks over to the paddock to collect sticks and leaves to create two Lean-to’s, which were traditional Aboriginal shelters in Tasmania.  One 'Lean to' is for the garden area outside and one for inside the bumble bee room which can be a quiet place for children to relax.   The children really enjoyed weaving bark together to create a big hut that they can sit in and enjoy too!

Busy Bees

Throughout the month of August we have been exploring a different kind of symbolism; the symbolism of music and how it might make us feel or effect our mood. We looked at the music we listen to on a daily basis at rest time and we were lucky enough to have Sam (our student) play his Chinese Violin. What an awesome experience this was!

We have been using a variety of tools and exploring the insides of a stereo and how it works and using hammers to hit nails into pieces of wood.

Paint, glue, string, glitter and natural resources, (such as: leaves, twigs and sand) as well as a variety of other different medias have all been used to create some wonderful masterpieces.

Queen Bees

What an amazing month we have had in August in Queen bees. We have welcomed a few new faces into our room and have very much enjoyed getting to know all the new children.

We have been expanding our knowledge and understanding of dot painting techniques.  In doing this, we have been using different tools to create our dot paintings like pencils, sticks and cotton buds. We also tried out different surfaces for our dot paintings, for example, bark (also used to thread our Gunya) and scallop shells.  The threaded bark will reinforce our Gunyah and ensure it holds securely together. By using bark and other natural resources we gain an understanding of the importance of land maintenance, sustainability and cultural beliefs and practices. Expressing ourselves with a connection to cultural practices strengthens our cultural identity through creative expression.
The children were given opportunity to discuss with us what story they would like to tell on the bark that they painted.  Creativity, whether through art, music or storytelling, can be the purest form of self-expression if fostered and nurtured in a healthy way. If a child is allowed to express himself or herself freely without fear of judgement, it will permit them to access and develop their intellect while affirming their emotional health. (Why creativity is important to children).

Nadine and Jonathon

We are super excited to announce Nadine is pregnant, due in March!!! We want to officially congratulate them and wish them all the best with their journey into parenthood. 

Immunisations

Are your child’s immunisations up to date? Did you know the current national immunisation schedule states children should have immunisations at; birth, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 4 years. If your child is not immunised as per the national immunisation schedule you may lose your Child Care Subsidy and be ineligible to claim it back at the end of the financial year. 

At Little Bee we issue reminders to families on a monthly basis, we ask you support us by bringing in your child’s health record book or a copy of their immunisation status from Medicare. Thank you. 

Enrolment Form Update and Bookings for 2021

The weather is warming up, the days are getting longer, there is lots of talk around 'school' in 2021, and it will not be long until the end of the year!!!  Next week we are sending out our 'booking forms for Education and Care in 2021'. There will be a copy emailed and a paper copy in your family communication tray, as we understand families may not have access to printing.                                

We request all families return the form by Monday the 5th  of October, even if you require the same days of education and care next year (as this will assist us with allocating vacancies to current families requiring additional days and vacancies for siblings and new families).

We also request families return the 'enrolment update form' including risk minimisation plan (if applicable), as we are required by the National Quality Framework to update our information from families annually (even if there is no change), in particular around permission for children to undertake routine excursions, e.g. to the park. We understand this will be time consuming for families and thank them in advance for their support in ensuring our records are as up to date as possible.  I'm sorry we will be unable to confirm 2021 places until they are completed.

Parent and Special Person's Help!

Would you like to come and spend some time with your child throughout the day? Do you have a hidden talent? Or would just like to come and play? Parents are welcome to visit the centre at any time throughout the day. However, if you would be interested in doing parent help in your child’s room, please let us know and we can schedule a time that suits you and the routine of your child’s room. Please remember we need all visitors to comply with our COVID visitors protocol, thank you.

We will be holding parent/educator conferences with the purpose of ‘walking you through’ your child’s learning journey (through our project work) during 2020.    

Conferences will be held via zoom early December across two evenings (date to be confirmed), interviews are 15 minutes per child with the educator team who has worked on your child's project. 

All families will be emailed an invitation, inviting you to participate in the 'zoom session' on the evening and how to sign up to a time for your parent/educator conference.  This will provide specific instructions on how to book your appointment online.  Every family will be able to select the educator team who has worked directly with their child(ren) on their action research project and chose a time preferable for their own family. This is the third year we have offered conferences (although the first time online) and last year was a huge success, with many families feeding back their enjoyment in sharing their child's learning journey.  We look forward to another successful year of conferences in December!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our fabulous Educators for the amazing dedication and commitment you provide everyday for Little Bee families and your colleagues.  We have a wonderful team of educators who believe in life long learning and continually strive to offer the best possible outcomes for children and their families within our Little Bee community.

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!  

Let’s Show Our True Colours for children with Cancer by participating in Footy Colours Week at Little Bee and offering a gold coin donation!

When: Monday 21st September – Friday 25th September, 2020

Footy Colours Day is a national fundraising campaign held during the month of September where participants are encouraged to wear their favourite team’s colours and host an event at their school, organisation, group or club to raise funds for children with cancer.

Funds raised through Footy Colours Day help young learners continue with their education while receiving treatment for cancer through Fight Cancer Foundation’s education support programs.

The programs were developed in 2005 to address the gap in educational support for children and young people living with cancer.

Please give generously to make a difference in the lives of children living with cancer and wear your team's colours with pride during this week at Little Bee!

Time for hats

(Although, the weather doesn’t indicate it at the moment)

We would like to remind families that Little Bee is a ‘SunSmart’ accredited Centre’. In Tasmania being SunSmart is a whole year approach:  using sun protection when the UV is 3 and above and safe sun exposure for vitamin D. We check and record, (from The Cancer Council’s Website) the daily UV index. The UV graph is displayed in each room for all staff and families to view and monitor the predicted times of high risk.

When the UV reaches 3 and above the following procedures will be followed:

• Families are required to provide a legionnaire or broad brimmed hat for their child or purchase a Little Bee hat.
• Should a child arrive to care without a hat, they will be given a note home and provided with a hat from our clean spare hats (for that day only).
• Should a child refuse to wear a hat, our educators will persevere in using positive reinforcement. If the child continues to refuse, the child will be able to play inside or under a shade structure only.
• All educators will wear broad brimmed hats and sun protective clothing.
• Families are encouraged to apply sunscreen to their child before leaving home each morning.
• The centre will provide SPF50+ broad-spectrum sunscreen and with signed parental permission, will apply sunscreen 20 minutes before going outdoors to play in the morning and again in the afternoon. Sunscreen will be reapplied every 2 hours, if outdoors for extended periods.

We would like to remind families to ensure they pack their child a broad brimmed or legionnaire style hat as soon as possible.  With the weather warming up the Cancer Council recommends light long sleaved tops or at least tops which cover their shoulders to protect them from the sun (no singlets or shoe string straps please).  Also, children must continue to briing sturdy shoes, to protect them during high risk play. We have some Little Bee hats, and limited supply of t-shirts and long sleave tops for sale, if you would like to purchase any, please ask ($15 per item, sorry cash only).

Information for Review

We are currently reviewing the following policies and/or procedures:

6.12 - Transitioning Processes

7.1 - Confidentiality and Privacy

7.2 –Governance and management of Little Bee Centres

7.3 – Quality improvement plan process

7.4 – Performance improvements and counselling

7.5 – Performance management and appraisals

7.6 - Complaints and grievances

 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

These are the links we are promoting this month: 

Cancer Council: cancertas.org.au

Immunisation schedules: immunise.health.gov.au

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 Development 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 Professional Development meeting will be held online in September if you are interested in participating, please let us know.

All families are invited to join our Committee, 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.