Little Bee Newsletter

July 2019

DoTERRA essential oils will be introduced at Little Bee from Monday 15th July

As part of our long standing work on gratitude at Little Bee, our educators have reflected as a team and we are very excited to be introducing ‘DoTERRA pure essential oils’ to our centres with the purpose of creating a calm and tranquil atmosphere during sleep and rest times.  We aim to support the children to experience emotional peace and a heightened sense of wellbeing.   In addition to this, we hope to support the children, families and educators at Little Bee by minimising air born pathogens and reducing the spread of germs in our environment. 

 

We have chosen the ‘DoTERRA’ oils as we want to make a conscious, considered decision to use natural and pure products in the hope to achieve our health and wellbeing goals. 

Some of you may already use DoTERRA oils at home and we would love to hear about your experiences with the oils. 

 

The oils we will be introducing in each play space during the day are the protective blend and respiratory blend, otherwise known as 'onguard' and 'easy air'. The oil we will defuse at sleep and rest time is ‘lavender peace’.

 

As with any new products, we have completed some research into the holistic benefits of introducing oils within our play spaces. 

 

If any family member has an allergy which you believe may be affected by use of the oils, please contact us immediately so we can revisit our choice of oils. 

 

We have spoken to another education and care service who defuse oils in their play spaces and have received wonderful feedback on their experience.

 

Please find attached a link to a DoTERRA ebook ‘Essential oils and children’ which is a fantastic read and will answer many of the questions you may have.  It details the historical uses of oils for promotion of health and wellness, how essential oils are likely in many of the products you already use, the safety guidelines, how the oils are tested and safe when used properly, DIY recipes, uses and applications, cooking with oils and much more...

 

Another wonderful thing about the ‘smell’ associated with the oils is that the oils can create positive anchors between Little Bee and home, especially if families decide to use similar oils at home.  If you have any further questions or concerns, please see us.

School Holidays are nearly here!

Second term school holidays have begun (Monday the 8th of July). Are you lucky enough to be heading away for the school holidays? If so can you please let us know, this assists us with rostering (and also meals at Little Bee Airport). Thank you

Little bee is proud to be a Move Well, Eat Well accredited Early Childhood Service, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to embed the Move Well, Eat Well program within our service. One of the key messages from the program is the importance of ‘Move, Play and Go’ throughout the whole year. We are very passionate about engaging children in ‘huff and puff’ play every day. During the winter months, it can be very difficult to keep active. The Move Well, Eat Well website: http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/mwew/families has an array of information for families. However, we are encouraging families to get out and about and explore what’s on within the local community. Some ways we suggest keeping children moving in winter include:

  • Going to your local indoor pool
  • Turning up the music and engaging your children in dance
  • Rugging up and accessing local parks, bike or walking tracks, bonus being they tend to be quieter this time of the year and the children tend to love scootering and bike riding!!
  • Organising a get together at an activity centre, e.g. Meal Machines Cafe & Play Centre, Eastside Activity Centre, Inflatable World, Supatramp, Woody's Skate & Play
  • ‘Google’ fun exercise games to play with children and the ideas and suggestions are plentiful.

Most children enjoy any form of active play if it is with a family member, as long as children are huffing and puffing at the end of the activity, it has been beneficial to their health and well being.

 

NAIDOC (National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee) week is next week - Sunday 7th - 14th July

Little Bee continues to work on embedding the cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities into our daily practises. Over the past few years we have celebrated this special time by:

  • We enjoyed inviting in past children (from our first few years of opening) to complete a mural of art work.
  • We designed and made a ‘yarn centre’ for oral story telling times in our outdoor area and the children’s animal mosaics can be seen on the surrounding rocks.
  • Continuing to incorporate works from Aboriginal artists into our programs and learning experiences.

* Attending the Aboriginal Community flag raising ceremony each year. 

This year the event will be held at Risdon Cove at 11.30 a.m, Monday the 8th of July.

 

This year it is even more special as we begin our journey of making a centre Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

A Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is a formal statement of commitment to reconciliation and the need to develop relationships, respect and opportunities in our play rooms, around Little Bee and with the community. We will develop our RAP using the Narragunnawali platform to register existing initiatives and begin our new journey.

 

Establishing a RAP Working Group

This will involve a diverse group of Little Bee families, educators and interested Community members, who are both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal in working together to develop the RAP.

 

How can I be involved?

 

We are seeking expressions of interest from families to join our working group!

If you would like to be a part of this group, we highly value your opinions and input.  With family representatives, we can ensure our RAP supports the opinions and voice of our families and children attending Little Bee.   

The working group ensures the responsibility of implementing reconciliation initiatives, we take a reflection survey to assist with planning and develop a vision for reconciliation at Little Bee. 

We understand that everyone's time is very precious and we do not expect meetings will take much of your personal time.

Please email us if you are interested in joining us, as always we are extremely grateful! 

 

You're invited...

Our next Professional Learning Session will be 'The Gum Nut to Buttons' session held at Little Bee Airport, on Wednesday 23rd July, from 6-8.30 p.m.

We do have a couple of places available if any family members would like to join us on the night and learn all about the histories of Aboriginal peoples in Tasmania. 

Please email Emily at Little Bee Airport ASAP if you would like to join us...

Creative Multicultural Experiences 

As families would be aware, once a week at Little Bee Howrah and in the Bumble, Busy and Queen Bee rooms at Little Bee Airport, we have a multicultural session with the children, the aim of this experience is to provide the children with an opportunity for conversations around cultures, traditions and histories. 

 

As we head into July and begin our RAP, we will be focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and traditions during these sessions.  

 

We are very lucky that we have Wendy and Naarah (mother and daughter) coming in to share some traditional Aboriginal songs and dances with the children at Little Bee Airport next week.  Wendy is originally from Wyndham, the northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, but moved to Tasmania where she had and raised her children.  Wendy and Naarah are very passionate about the culture and history of their people and about future reconciliation.

Thanks so much Tania (Queen Bees) for organising this visit for us!  We are sure it will be very special and we are very grateful!

 

If any families, at either centre, would like to share your ideas, participate or lead a creative, cultural session for us (if you play an instrument or have a special artistic talent, enjoy singing or dancing) please see a staff member, as we would love you to join us!

What's been happening at Little Bee??

Howrah

Lots happening here at Little Bee Howrah; a recent excursion to Woolworths Shoreline was very exciting. We all walked so safely, holding onto our partners hands until we reached the supermarket. Dale the Manager showed us all around behind the scenes. We checked out the butchery, bakery and the fridges, before watching a huge truck back up and unload. The best part was a fresh fruit platter and some yummy donuts at the very end.

We are well into our projects and the children are enjoying acquiring new knowledge and skills as they play in our stimulating environment. One journey has involved children mapping the progress of beans and seeds germinating in cotton wool and water. There was amazement and delight as they progressed and grew to be big enough to transplant into tins.The children are now predicting how long they will take to grow, as well as how big they may get. Lots of practical and exciting science in action here at Little Bee Howrah.

Airport

 

Queen Bees

Over the past month in the Queen Bee room we have given the children many challenging and creative learning environments in which they have been very eager to participate in.

One of our exciting learning's has been learning all about recycling and how can we use recycled items in many different ways.   

As part of our main discussions, the children decided they wanted to draw a recycling bin.  The drawings were really fabulous and looked at different perspectives of the bin and how it is a 3-dimensional object.  We decided we wanted to make our drawings bigger and so we projected one of the children’s drawings on to the wall using an overhead projector to see its shadow.  The children were then very excited to draw the bin in its enlarged form.  It is displayed right inside the door in the Queen Bee room.  We have now glued lots of plastic lids onto it. A massive thank you to the families that collected so many lids for us.

Please also come in and have a look at our nature balls, we have created these as part of our learning's on our natural environment. 

 

Busy Bees

In the Busy Bee room, we have some very fun filled days with many exciting and interactive experiences happening and we can see a diverse amount of learning occurring. Through our projects and experiences, the children are showing an increasing capacity to apply a wide range of thinking strategies to engage with situations and solve problems.  We see the children adapt their play, as they dress up in many different outfits from our huge 'dress up' basket.  This has encouraged the children to engage in dramatic role-play based on their own real life experiences.   

We can see that the children are creating positive friendships with each other and with the new materials and spaces in our room.   We have been enjoying making mud, decorating and threading beads on tree twigs and learning how to do up and undo buttons.

One of the most wonderful changes to our routine recently has began with the children serving lunch to their friends in small groups.  The children are doing this with great pride and we have witnessed some beautiful interactions, as they carefully dish the food and offer it to their friends.

Bumble Bees

The children have been participating in lots of arts and craft experiences, such as; brush painting using a variety of different colours and brush sizes, painting from a dangling clipboard – this experience used lots of hand eye coordination as the clipboard swayed about every time the children got the paper with the paint and we have also begun spray painting using spray bottles.

 

The Bumble Bee room has been very lucky to be given a large variety of new resources to explore and play with. We have a new home corner with lots of china bowls and plates as well as new dress ups. The children have been very engaged with our new materials and been participating enthusiastically in dramatic role play experiences both indoors and outdoors! 

 

As we continue on with our projects, we are focusing on learning new skills and consolidating our existing skills. These include: dancing and creativity, social interactions by building with different materials, moulding beds out of play dough, exploring lots of different sensory experiences and cooking food out in the fire pit as part of our learning's on risky play!

 

Honey Bees

A big thank-you first and foremost to Lee-Anne and Geoff (Mila’s Grandparents) who were so kind in donating their time to come in and share parts of their Aboriginal Culture; a song, story and traditional paintings.  We are very grateful and hope you will be able to share more with us in the future.

 

Our new room mascot:

Grateful Harry went on a lovely Holiday with a family to Melbourne. While in Melbourne they visited the Zoo and Grateful Harry decided he had so much fun that he would stay and begin a new journey in life with the other Animals! 

We would like to introduce our new room mascot.  The children very excitedly picked out his name, Leslie the Grateful Lion! Leslie looks forward to making some wonderful memories, as he goes on adventures with the Honey Bee children and families.

 

This month we have had a big focus on the arts, and children have enjoyed a wide variety of experiences.   

Nadine offered the children an opportunity to participate in a string painting!  She has been working to strengthen the children’s hand-eye coordination and palm muscles to use scissors to cut paper. In the lead up, we have been strengthening hand and finger muscles by using other methods that have the open close motion; like tongs. Once the children have become confident in the open and close motion, they are offered scissors with play-dough.  This is an ideal starting point for cutting as it has a nice soft texture to cut through. 

Sofie has been exploring with several children how we can produce sound from a piece of paper, using the drumsticks and a tin pan on paper as stimulus, with each hit of the drumstick to the pan, the paper moves and creates musical sounds.

 

Megan has sourced a wide variety of household mugs, side plates and a coffee machine, all real-life materials, in which all the children are enjoying engaging in imaginative role play based on their own real-life experiences.

 

Rachael has found and shared with us some beautiful natural resources, those that can be found on the beach and in the bush.  The children enjoyed touching and exploring these objects, and we created paint brushes using sticks and sections of leaves for the children to paint with.

 

Chantelle has been focusing on how physical development experiences can build a child’s confidence and emotional well-being.  She has started to paint wooden blocks with the children, and they are enjoying sharing their creative expression.  Chantelle has been encouraging and observing children to interact and engage in environments together, as they climb, build and even ask for the action songs they would like to sing. One of those action songs has been “sleeping bunnies” and the children love this!

 

 

Baby Bees

Over the month of June, the Baby Bees have continued on with our adventures in the wider  community.  We have enjoyed engaging in lots of outdoor play, including: exploring mud experiences as part of mud week celebrations.  We’ve watched, with great intrigue, through our window as the older children cooked marsh mellows around the fire pit.

The children have participated in crayon drawings and continue to engage with a variety of materials, including paintings involving material.

We have offered the children many ‘loose parts’ and different shaped and sized boxes to support their creative play and to build upon the skill of problem solving!  Many children have enjoyed threading and this experience has supported the children with increased muscle strength in the fingers, as well as assisting with hand/eye coordination.

Malou and Eva have been spending time singing their traditional songs with the children, Eva has also bee playing her wooden flute, they children were amazed.

Give Me 5 for Kids Fundraiser

A very big thank you to all our families and staff that attended our Movie night and Give Me 5 for Kids Fundraiser. It was lovely to see all the families enjoying the movie, many of them in their pyjamas, enjoying some popcorn while they watched. Thanks to our wonderful educators who attended and joined in the fun, Paddington 2 is certainly one for children and adults of all ages!!!

 

We raised a massive $550 between both centres!

Fever in children at Little Bee:

As illness seems more prevalent in the winter months, we thought we would include an extract from our ‘dealing with infectious diseases and illness’ policy;

 

Fevers in children are very common. It is imperative to the child’s health that we treat them correctly. A normal temperature for a child is up to 38°C. If a child’s temperature is over 38°C their parents will be notified. If the child with a temperature is displaying normal behaviors (seemingly well and happy) there is no reason to treat them. If the child is displaying symptoms of being unwell and behaviours other than their normal, happy, healthy self, then there is reason to treat the fever. Give water to the child and paracetamol upon permission from the parent or guardian. Further monitor and record any other signs or symptom of illness.

However, if the child is 3 months or under, their parents will need to be phoned and medical attention sought. If a temperature reaches above 39°C in any child, the parents will be required to collect the child (administering paracetamol will be offered to the family as an interim treatment).

National Immunisation Program (NIP) Childhood Schedule 

 We would like to remind all families of the ‘No Jab, No Play’ policy. Families will not receive child care subsidy if their child is not fully immunised. Please see information around the Centre regarding immunisation schedules or chat to us if you have any questions and we will source additional information for you. Please ensure you provide the centre with copies of your child’s immunisation records as they are updated.       Thank you For more information please visit: immunise.health.gov.au  

Child Care Subsidy

The new financial year is upon us, we are now able to accurately inform families of their out of pocket expenses. Please, please check you invoice very carefully to ensure your child care subsidy is correct and your payments are on track, if you think something is not quite right or have any questions please ask us.

Inflatable World Fun!!!!!!

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou to the many families at Little Bee Airport who came along and shared in the celebrations for our 10 year anniversary at our Airport Centre!  

We had the most amazing time and the feedback we have received from families has really reflected this.

The evening saw all children and adults enjoying themselves and we are sure there was some very tired bodies at the end of the evening!  Check out our website for more photos.

Fee Increase

A reminder to families, our fee increase came into effect Monday 1st of July, so if you haven't seen an increase in your fees by Monday the 8th, please let us know. As our system automatically generates changes, your invoice is the easiest way to pick up a change in your account.        Any questions please ask.

Earn and Learn

Thank-you so very much for your support collecting Earn and Learn stickers for our centres!  

We have to have our stickers amounts in by this Friday. 

So far we have 21,092 stickers between centres and still have a few more sheets to count up... 

What an amazing achievement!  Well-done everyone! 

We look forward to sharing with you the new sports equipment we have purchased for the centres. 

Information for Review

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

5.2 – Positive interactions with children

5.3 - Behaviour Guidance

6.1 – Safety and access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

6.2 – Delivery and collection of a child and refusal of authorization for a child to leave the service

6.3 – Bookings, cancellations, fees and operating hours

6.4 – Partnerships with families

 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: 

  • NAIDOC Week: www.naidoc.org.au
  • Healthy Kids Check: www.dss.gov.au
  • Immunisation: immunise.health.gov.au
  • The Move Well, Eat Well website: http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/mwew/families

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

Educator 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 professional learning session will be held on the 23rd July, if you are interested in attending, please let us know.

All families are invited to join our Family and Friends 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 our staff members if you are interested.

5 Llanherne Drive, Cambridge Tas 7170
03 62 48 5994

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