Volume 27 Issue 5 02 Mar 2018 15 Adar 5778

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

Purim

What an incredible time we had on Thursday morning. The children have enjoyed learning about the Purim story and making mishloach manot, masks, rashanim and hamentashen.

We had some wonderful creative costumes, which were just right for all our young charges. It was lovely to see some brave parents come dressed up too and getting right into the spirit of the day.

The children enjoyed shaking their rashanim very loudly as we sang, danced and clapped to the Purim music.

A big thank you to Philip Einfeld from Puppetoons, for a fantastic, entertaining and interactive puppet show. The puppets were magnificent, and both the children and parents enjoyed the show and a delicious morning tea of hamentashen. We exchanged our Mishloach Manot baskets with a friend, thus fulfilling 1 of the mitzvot of Purim. A big thank you to all the staff and parents who helped make the day such a resounding success! We thank all our parent helpers who came in on Tuesday and Wednesday to bake hamentashen with the children – Shelly Millingen,  Nicky Abitz, Leona McGee, Odin Kaye, Naama Merritt and Emma O Hana. Your help is very much appreciated.

Open day

The Pre-school will be holding an open day next week on Wednesday 7 March for all prospective families who would like to visit our Pre-school to see what we offer, walk around our lovely classrooms, meet the Director and chat about our programs and philosophy. The morning will run from 9.30 am to 11.0 0am. Please book in to attend at: www.emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au/enrolment/open-days/

Programs and documentation

It’s important for parents to know that the educators spend time each week having a team meeting. The educators from all 3 groups have a team meeting, where the program for the week is discussed and planned, taking into consideration the interests of the children and the group. The needs of individual children are also discussed, and much time is spent reflecting and reviewing goals for each child as well as group dynamics.

This program is available for all parents to view next to the lockers for each group. Please feel free to contribute ideas to our program by writing on the parent feedback section of the program or discussing it with the educators or by writing on the Parent Contribution form on top of the lockers. We value your input and collaboration into our program.

The educators also have non-contact time off the floor each week where they write up observations and reflections and post these on Educa for parents to read and enjoy. Educators also use this time to plan goals for each child as well as to write up documentation to make learning visible for parents.

Music at Kornmehl

Each week the children look forward to their music lesson. This year the children are enjoying lessons with Alex Hone, who takes them every Friday after Shabbat for a 30-minute interactive music lesson.

We will be focusing on developing musical pitch and rhythm through a combination of songs, speech rhymes and games. We will also experience musical concepts such as high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow and the beat through a wide range of musical activities.

The lessons are fun and interactive, and we thank Alex for his enthusiasm and wonderful lessons.

Year K visit for shabbat

On Friday, Year K Eilat – Mrs Grieve and Morah Shirley’s class visited Kornmehl for Shabbat. How wonderful it was to see so many familiar faces. Our Shabbat table consisted of a mix of Kornmehl children and Year K children. How happy and proud they all were to sit together and share in the special songs and brachot of Shabbat. We are very lucky and privileged to all be on one campus so that special times like these can be shared together.  

Munch & Move

Two years ago, we were awarded full recognition for successfully implementing the Munch & Move program.   This included monitoring healthy food and drink in children’s lunchboxes, including fruit and vegetables for morning tea, encouraging children to learn about healthy eating choices, providing at least 25% of time spent at pre-school engaged in physical activity and encouraging lots of opportunity for fundamental movement skills such as walking, running, jumping, catching, kicking, throwing etc. as well as offering very limited screen time when at Pre-school. The Munch & Move program also incorporates lots of singing, dancing and movement to music. We encourage parents to continue to reinforce the Munch & Move principles at home. The Munch & Move website also contains wonderful information and resources for families:

www.healthpromotion.com.au/Munch_and_Move/Munch&Move_home.htm

Kornmehl Family Picnic

The Kornmehl Family Picnic will be held this Sunday morning – 4 March from 9.30 am at Centennial Park. We look forward to seeing all our Kornmehl families for a relaxed, sociable time together.

Self-regulation

What self-regulation is … and isn’t

Self-regulation is not simply self-control. It is the ability to manage our energy states, emotions, behaviour and attention: the ability to return to a balanced, calm and constant state of being.

Lack of sleep, noise, flashing lights, an argument, certain foods, stress and trauma can all throw us off balance. Our energy depletes and managing our feelings, behaviour and attention becomes more difficult.

Self-regulation is vital for children to manage life’s normal ups-and-downs: for concentration, social relationships and learning. It is a major task for a young child to regulate their feelings and behaviour consistently.

In order to be able to learn and play, children must be able to maintain alertness and focus at the right level for a task or situation. Self-regulation involves being able to recognise if our alertness is at the right level, knowing how to maintain it and knowing how to change it if it is not at the right level.

As adults, we have learnt many strategies that allow us to adjust our level of alertness, such as getting a coffee or going for a run in the morning to ‘wake us up’. Children often have not yet developed these same techniques and so their level of alertness may not be at the right level for the task they are doing.

Key factors assisting children to develop their capacity to self-regulate

  • having predictable routines and clear boundaries
  • being with calm adults who provide safety and security
  • being listened to and acknowledged
  • watching the adults in their life manage their own feelings and behaviour
  • knowing the names of feelings and being able to identify their feelings by name
  • having adult support when they are upset, tired or angry
  • having unstructured time to play and learn at their own pace.

What causes self-regulation difficulties to occur?

The reasons difficulties with self-regulation arise can include lack of adult attachment figures, sensitivities in the child’s body, stress and trauma. These difficulties can result in tantrums, fighting with peers, not following adult direction, worry, anxiety, withdrawing from social situations and turning away from parent, carer or educator.

What children need

We can support children finding the task of self-regulation too difficult by:

  • showing empathy and care
  • being close by until strong emotions pass
  • teaching children calming strategies
  • increasing ‘feel good’ hormones through exercise, healthy diet and plenty of rest
  • creating environments that support the child’s capacity to self-regulate, for example allowing the child to run, climb or do physical exercise to help regulate their bodies
  • pushing, pulling, tugging, towing and/or carrying heavy things.e.g. the groceries, some books to their room or help lift the laundry basket
  • providing sensory experiences or toys to help the child calm down is also a good strategy e.g. soft squishy toys, or spiky balls.
  • Other ideas might include eating a crunchy snack or having a warm shower in the mornings before school.

www.kidsmatter.edu.au/early-childhood/blog/what-every-child-needs-learning-self-regulation