Fathers’ Day breakfast

We celebrated our Fathers’ Day breakfast on Monday morning with 60 very excited children and 60 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, Leona McGee, Naama Merritt and Manda Isenberg for their help in preparing the breakfast. It was delicious and almost every last piece was consumed by our hungry kids and dads. Thank you must also go to  Sharon Miller and Gail Stein for shopping for all the ingredients for Fathers’ Day. All your help is very much appreciated.

After breakfast, it was special to see the dads relaxing with their children by reading a book, playing with playdough, building with blocks, playing in the sandpit, flying paper aeroplanes, having a back massage, doing box construction or target throwing together.

Each dad received a beautiful pencil holder as a special gift as well as a personalised card and heartfelt message.

Rosh Chodesh Elul

Over the past two weeks Adam Carpenter has been popping into the Pre-school to blow the Shofar for the children and 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.

Early Childhood Educators Day

On Wednesday, we acknowledged and celebrated all our wonderful educators at Kornmehl.

The purpose of Early Childhood Educators Day is to recognise and celebrate the work of early educators working in long day care, community care and preschool services, for their enormous contribution to the wellbeing and healthy development of the young children in their care.

Early Childhood Educators Day is a day to acknowledge the valuable work of the early years’ educators in educating and caring for tomorrow’s leaders.

Families at Kornmehl joined us in thanking all our wonderful educators by adding a love heart or star to our ‘Appreciation Wall’. Each educator received a gorgeous gerbera flower and a certificate acknowledging their commitment, dedication and passion to Early Childhood Education. I am proud to say that many of our Kornmehl Educators have been at the Pre-school for nearly 15 years!

Ryan about Renee: “I love her curly hair and I like making wires with her. She plays the guitar and I like to sing with her. She is funny and makes me laugh.”

Maddy about Alex: “She helps us do things and she is always one of the beautiful teachers. She is a really pretty lady. I like making things with her and drawing with her. She is the most specialist lady in my heart!”

Toby about Danielle: “I like it when she makes stuff with us like insects. She is so kind to me and always says hello.”

Zella about Justine: “Sometimes I cuddle her and she is special and does nice things with us and says nice words to me. I like to draw butterflies with her.”

Simon about Claudia: “She makes cars and buses with me out of boxes. She is very kind and caring to me. She is in the Starfish group.”

Dalia about Laura: “I love her doing everything which I ask her such as, ‘Can you open this Laura?’ She just opens it. She gives me lots of hugs. I like to draw with her.”

Grace about Lindi: “I like playing with Lindi like making snails with play dough.”

Isabelle about Marlene: “She looks after me and she keeps me safe.”

Hannah about Heather: “I like to give her cuddles. She plays with me.”

Amy about Julie: “I loved it when we celebrated her birthday. Julie is special because she helps everyone and is kind.”

Ellie about Joanne Woods: “She really helps everyone and she gives us the iPads to play ELLA in the afternoon.”

Courtney about Joanne Sank: “She looks after all the children. She helps us with our lunches. She keeps us all safe.”

Message from a parent:

Dear Kornmehl staff

I’m not doing drop off or pick up today so can’t add to the Appreciation Wall, but I still want to express my appreciation to you all. I’ve said this many times, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but you all know how I feel about you – you are an amazing bunch of women, with incredible skill, dedication and love in teaching and caring for our children. Both my boys flourished at Kornmehl. We couldn’t ask for a better Pre-school. Kornmehl is a beautiful community and we’re going to miss it so much next year!

Keep doing what you’re doing, your hard work does not go unnoticed!

With love, Naomi

Outdoor Classroom Day

On Thursday, we participated in Outdoor Classroom Day. This involved the children spending 90% of their day outdoors. Lucky for us at Kornmehl, the children do get a good deal of playtime outdoors every day as well as when we go to Bush School. We have a strong focus on the outdoors and exposing the children to natural environments.

On Thursday, the children all began their day outdoors and this continued. For morning tea, we all enjoyed time around the bonfire eating baked potatoes and toasting marshmallows. We went for a walk out the gate to Peace Park; we played with mud and clay; made a bug hotel; created potions and lotions using natural materials like berries, figs and beetroot; sat on the Big school deck and looked down onto Kornmehl to draw our garden and were inspired by Andy Goldsworthy to create some beautiful stick installations. We had our weekly music lesson with Mrs Longney outdoors too and even rested outdoors in the afternoon.

Anyone who has seen the impact that learning and playing outdoors has on children knows how powerful such experiences can be. Learning outdoors creates lasting memories, helps build a greater awareness of the environment, provides more opportunities to think independently, and gets children feeling challenged and excited by learning. Children are more active when they play outdoors – it is essential for their healthy development and enjoyment.

Lessons learnt outdoors, whether Maths, Science or a language, often stay with us for life. Being outdoors helps children focus, boosts creativity and imagination, and can simply be more fun.

Play is important too. Children who have the freedom to play today — making friends, getting lost in the moment, having fun — are better prepared for whatever tomorrow throws at them. Playing helps children build friendships, test their own boundaries and solve their own problems. It’s central to a child’s development and to their enjoyment of childhood.

National Child Protection Week

National Child Protection Week has been co-ordinated by the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), with the support of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The campaign aims to engage and educate all Australians to understand they have a part to play in keeping our children and young people safe from violence, abuse and neglect.

NAPCAN works to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. 

National Child Protection Week is a wonderful opportunity for everyone in the community to think about how we can work together to keep all children safe. 

Importantly, we want to remind everyone that:
• we all have a part to play in protecting all children
• even small actions can help to improve a child’s future
• by building stronger communities, we are creating safer environments for our children. 

How can I start playing my part to protect children today (and every day)?
• Be a good role model for children.
• Be kind to children, parents (and yourself).
• Take the time to really listen to children and believe them if they tell you something.
• Learn about what help services are available so you can support others if they need help.
• Don’t judge other parents and families. Remember that we’re all trying our best.
• Look out for all children, not just your own.
• Be a friendly, helpful member of your local community.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help or to ask someone if they need help.

Teachers play their part to protect and care for children and young people in their community by building relationships with their students and showing that they respect and value them.

Parents play their part to protect and care for children and young people in their community by showing how to have respectful relationships.

Assembly visits

This term, Kornmehl has attended two K-2 assemblies. The purpose of this is to expose the Starfish and Dolphins who are going onto Year K next year, to what they can expect when they are at ‘Big School’. Attending assemblies gives the children a taste of what is to come. It helps them to develop a sense of trust and belonging and assists in the transition process to Year K.

Student visitor

Please join us in welcoming Ha Phan, a stage three Diploma student from TAFE. We hope her time with us will be rewarding. Please make her feel welcome.

Happy birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Noam Greenberg (5), Elianah Brock (5), our Educator Marlene Einfeld and Administration Assistant, Maria Moses. We hope you all had a very special birthday.