Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

PJ Library

On Tuesday we had a visit from Wendy Dolowitz from PJ Library who came to read beautiful stories to the children to celebrate Jewish Book Month. The stories that Wendy read all had a Jewish theme and the children loved the interactive way Wendy told the stories.

We recently learnt about the opportunity to connect to a PJ Library Radio mobile app, which contains free access for young children to be able to sing, dance and explore Jewish culture, values and Chagim with more than 2000 songs from hundreds of musicians from across the globe. Parents can download the app on their mobiles.

Special features include:

• Shabbat: Celebrate Shabbat with a diverse range of songs from Friday sundown until Havdalah.
• Lullabies: As the sun goes down, PJ Library shifts to slow songs, lullabies and bedtime melodies (And there is a timer on the app)
• Holidays: PJ Library Radio offers an array of music to celebrate, reflect and learn.

Breakfast and Pyjama Day

What a fabulous and much-anticipated morning we all had. The weather was just right for snuggling up and keeping warm in our pyjamas. The children and teachers were so excited and looked fabulous in their pyjamas. We started the day on our beds hugging a special soft toy, playing with our torches and making patterns on the ceiling, while listening to relaxing music. We watched two Aboriginal Dreamtime stories on the big screen: Tiddalick the frog and How the moon was made. This proved to be a big hit! This was followed by sharing two very special shadow books on the overhead projector: The game of light and The game of shadows. Finally, we were woken up with fairy dust by our fairy teachers, who invited us to a very special and delicious Kornmehl breakfast. The breakfast consisted of cereals, dinner rolls and spreads, fruit, banana muffins and a glass of Milo. We all had a lot of fun and a most enjoyable morning.

Thank you to Mel Shilbury, Sam Schwartz and Candy Mervis for your help in getting ready for the day, and to Danny Stein for shopping for all the delicious food.

Little Scientists workshop

On Thursday afternoon, Kornmehl hosted an interactive Science workshop for 20 Educators. The workshop covered a variety of scientific topics and encouraged the teachers to experiment hands-on in this workshop. Everything we learnt exposed us to exciting possibilities to share with the children in our care in a fun and interesting way.

Joanne Dooner – Is your child ready to be a reader?

The Kornmehl Centre Emanuel Pre-school will be hosting an informative evening with Joanne Dooner, co-founder of Get Reading Right. Joanne will share the foundation skills for pre-literacy and explore how you can encourage your child to get ready to be a reader. The talk will be held on Thursday 30 August at 7 pm in the Millie Philips Theatre at Emanuel School.

The cost is $10 per person and will include coffee and cake. Please feel free to share this with friends from outside of the Kornmehl community. Bookings are now open at https://tinyurl.com/pre-literacy

All welcome.

Bush School

This week our Seashell younger group were finally able to enjoy their first Bush School visit to Centennial Park. The children were very excited and eager to get going on their walk down to the park. Carrying their own back packs, they were accompanied by their teachers and volunteer parent helpers.

The Seashells delighted in being able to play freely in the outdoors and discover what their Bush School classroom had to offer. We were amazed at how settled and happy they all were from the minute we arrived. They explored the space and straight away became involved in creative and imaginative nature play experiences.

The article below highlights why taking children into a natural setting is so important:

Vitamin N (for Nature)– The essential guide to a nature-rich life by Richard Louv

Vitamin N is a complete prescription for connecting with the power and joy of the natural world. It is a dose of pure inspiration, reminding us that looking up at the stars or taking a walk in the bush is as exhilarating as it is essential, at any age.

Louv (The Nature Principle) proclaims the many advantages of reconnecting with nature, for children and adults. Some benefits of spending time outdoors, include reduced symptoms of ADHD, alleviation of anxiety and depression, decreased obesity, and improved immune system functioning.

Louv reinforces the concept of building resilience and the importance of taking small, manageable risks.

Suggestions for families include:

Grow outside. Make time for free, independent play for children, allowing them to explore and find answers on their own. Explore hundreds of traditional and new ways to connect your family to nature, including games that will not be digitised.
Create a restorative home or workplace. Use native plants, indoor living walls, and a variety of other biophilic design techniques to make your home and garden a place that improves the health of your family.
Reduce stress. Use nature time as healing time to escape the pressures of daily life. Designate an outdoor sit spot as a place to read, think, meditate and be mindful.
Enhance fitness. Exercising outside offers more psychological and physical benefits than an indoor workout.

Raise resilient children. Taking children outdoors builds their resilience and ability to manage risks safely.
Boost creativity. Playing and learning outdoors, building forts and tree houses, helps children develop their problem-solving skills and creative thinking.
Balance the virtual with the real. Children who spend more time outside use more of their senses and develop “hybrid minds” – maximising the skills that come from both the virtual and the natural world.

Jeans for Genes Day

On Friday we raised money for Jeans for Genes Day. The children and staff all came to Pre-school in their jeans and we collected $115 for this very worthwhile cause. Thank you to all our families for supporting this important community event to raise money for children who are born with genetic diseases.