Terry Aizen, Director Kornmehl

Fathers Day Breakfast

We celebrated our Fathers Day breakfast last week with 60 very excited children and equally excited Dads. The atmosphere in the room was warm and filled with so much energy.

Dads and their kids enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast prepared by a few very capable mums. Thank you to Mel Shilbury, Caren Ottaviano, Sofia Husni, Alisa Pincus, Debbie Lyons, Leona McGee, Anita Weinberger and Ksenia Khersontseva for their help in preparing the breakfast. It was delicious and almost every last piece was consumed by our hungry kids and dads.

After breakfast, it was special to see the dads relaxing with their kids and reading a book, building with blocks, playing in the sandpit, flying paper aeroplanes, colouring in paper ties, having a back massage or doing woodwork and box construction together. Each dad received a beautiful personalised calendar as a special gift to treasure for the next year to come.

Rosh Chodesh Elul

The past two weeks Adam Carpenter has been popping into the Pre-school to blow the shofar for the children, talk to them about the sounds the shofar makes and why we blow the shofar in the month of Elul. Thank you Adam, we love it when you visit us.

Rosh Hashanah

We have been learning about the festival of Rosh Hashanah and all its beautiful rituals and traditions. We have been learning lots of new songs related to this rich festival. The children have been working on their shofar blowing skills and through perseverance and practice are beginning to master it.

On Tuesday next week we are walking to the post box to post our special Rosh Hashanah cards to our families to wish them a Shanah Tovah.

Next week Friday, we are visiting the shofar factory, where each child will learn how to make their own special shofar to keep and take home.

Mini Olympics

The past two weeks have been a frenzy of wonderful learning and investigation around the Olympic Games. The children have been highly charged with energy and enthusiasm and keen to share information and knowledge about the different sports.

Each group has been working on making their own Olympic torch and we have worked collaboratively on designing and making a cauldron out of paper mache to light at our Mini Olympics. We are looking forward to seeing all our Kornmehl families at our Mini Olympics on Sunday from 10am to 12.30pm on the basketball court.

Some of our events will include the egg and spoon race, the sack race, the hobby horse race, obstacle course, gymnastics, hurdle race, shot put and basketball shooting. The children and older and younger siblings will be divided into colour-coded teams to compete in each event. We are looking forward to a fun and wonderful morning together with all our Kornmehl families.

Shabbat

This term parents have been joining us for Shabbat each Friday morning when their child is sitting at the Shabbat table. It’s always very special to share our Shabbatot with parents and we value this time together. The children always feel so proud and happy to have their mishpacha join us and participate with enthusiasm and joy.

Parent Involvement

Involving parents and grandparents in the life of our Pre-school adds enormous benefits and value to our program. We work hard to establish collaborative partnerships with families, recognising how important this is for each child to thrive, gain confidence and develop their emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing.

We invite parents to be a part of this journey through many different and varied avenues including Parent Club, Parent Partnership forms, Parent surveys, baking and cooking, gardening, reading books, sharing a talent or hobby as well as inviting them to have input into our program through suggestions and ideas shared with educators.

Educators recognise that families are children’s first and most influential teachers. Partnerships are based on the foundations of understanding each other’s expectations and attitudes, and build on the strength of each other’s knowledge.

It is very clear and evident to see as we approach the end of the third term, how happy and settled the children are, how familiar they are with routines and expectations, how friendships have been established, how much trust each child shares with their educators and how much wonderful learning is taking place through the creative arts, through music and movement, through imaginative play and outdoor explorations. The list is endless…the possibilities endless…the fun and learning endless!

We are thrilled to have parents accompany us on this exciting journey with their children!

Work Experience Students

This week we have welcomed two Tear 10 work experience students from Moriah College to the Pre-school. Both Laila Reuven and Jenna Ziman have spent a busy week interacting with the children and learning about what it means to work in an Early Childhood setting.

Sunscreen

As the weather is warming up, we need to remind parents to please start their sunscreen regime again. All children need to have sunscreen applied before they come in the morning. If necessary, we will apply again after lunch. Please also remember our rule NO HAT – NO PLAY!

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Jessica Lopis (5), Jordan Hill (5), Ethan Kachtan (4) and Maayan Misrachi (4). We hope you all had a very special day.

Terry Aizen, Director of Kornmehl