Kornmehl
Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl
Deborah Blackman talks
Deborah Blackman’s workshop, held on Tuesday night, was informative, giving Kornmehl parents tangible and hands on skills and strategies for keeping children safe and opening communication with their children about protective behaviours. Deborah also spoke to the children on Wednesday and Thursday morning reinforcing these same messages.
Some of the key messages were:
- Good and bad feelings and recognising these.
- Good secrets and bad secrets.
- Private parts are private.
- Safe and not safe touches.
- Always tell an adult.
- Safety network – tell your child who their safe adults are (four to five people).
- Encourage open communication about any topics.
- Have conversations with your child about which adults are safe to care for them and to go in their car, without your permission (for example, grandma).
- Have regular conversations about the “safety rules.”
- Validate your child’s feelings.
- Always give your child the message that you believe in them
Thank you to all the parents that attended this important and informative session.
Purim
We have introduced the story of Purim to the children. We are exploring this Jewish festival through many different languages: music and song, drama, drawing, collage, painting, emotions, language, puppets and more. We use a range of three dimensional props and puppets to bring the story to life and set the scene:
“In the land of Persia, in a little town called Shushan… there was a king named Achashverosh, who lived in a palace with a queen named Vashti…”
The festival of Purim is such a bright, happy, and fun one, full of different sensory experiences. The shaking of the rashanim, the creation of brightly coloured masks, the dressing up in colourful clothes, as well as the sweet and tasty Hamantaschen.
The classrooms have been a hive of activity, as the children immerse themselves in the creative activities on offer. There is a festive atmosphere in the rooms as the children delight in trying on different silly wigs and masks as well as making good use of the shakers to create some noise… all in preparation for our Purim Parade on Monday 25 March 2024.
Arava Twining Program
The Pre-school has been participating in a twinning program with Gan Parpar in Ein Yahav in the Arava in the South of Israel since 2021. This is a very exciting partnership, that connects our Pre-school in Australia, with children just like them in Israel.
This past week, we introduced the children to this program. The children in the Starfish and Dolphin groups all drew pictures to introduce themselves to their new buddies in Israel. These have been sent to our friends together with some Australian soft toy animals, and a large box of books kindly donated by PJ Library. Each child in Gan Parpar will receive two PJ Library books to keep and take home and share with their families. They are stories relating to Purim and Pesach. There will also be about 10 books for the educators to keep in the Gan to use with the children when at Pre-school. We hope they will love receiving this package from us.
We have set up an Arava corner in the classroom, to deepen our connection to Israel and to have a visual for the children to associate with the Arava, and in particular Israel, as a country for the Jewish people.
We are very excited to be able to extend our knowledge and association on a deeper level, by connecting with a Gan (Pre-school) in the Arava region, as well as connecting the children to Israel in a meaningful and authentic way.
