Excursions

In the past week, all three groups have been on excursions into the wider community. Both the Seashells and the Dolphins have been to the zoo and the Starfish went to Calmsley City Farm.

The build-up to the excursions consisted of discussions, sharing of ideas and thoughts about what we might see and do as well as involvement in making beautiful creative artworks. On our return, there has also been much reflection and follow-through.

The children and teachers travelled on the Emanuel School bus, Otto, which was a huge highlight of the trip. On our arrival at the zoo, we found a shady picnic spot to have our morning tea. We walked around and saw the elephants, lions, giraffes, gorillas and lots more animals including the new tiger enclosure. We were all so excited to see the elephants, especially the new baby elephant, Tukta. 

We watched the seal show and the Dolphins got to go to the bird show as well.

Just before we left to come home the children went on the Sky Safari. The views were spectacular and we all had a great time.

Our excursion to the farm began with a tour of the farm nursery, where the children got to pet and look at lots of different baby farm animals. We then all had a go at milking a cow. We learnt about different kinds of cows, such as Brahman, Jersey and Highland. We visited the sleepy pigs and went on a very bumpy tractor ride around the farm. We also saw a camel, donkey, lamas, koalas, wallabies, wombats, turkeys, ducks and chickens. After lunch we had a stockwhip demonstration, followed by a working dog show. The dog herded all the sheep into an area and we enjoyed the sheep shearing show. Wow – so much in one day! It was a beautiful day and the Starfish children were engaged, enthusiastic and involved.

Many thanks to all our wonderful parent and grandparent helpers. We really appreciated you joining us on all these excursions.

Kindy orientation

The children have been excited to participate in orientation visits up to Year K at Emanuel School. They have entered the classroom confidently and are eager to explore their new surroundings and get to know their teachers.

This week is their last visit, and we thank Carmen Yunis and Carrie Grieves for welcoming the children and making them feel comfortable and safe.

National Recycling Week

We are very excited about National Recycling Week coming up. We invite all parents to join us during the next few weeks and spend time with your child on arrival in the mornings, making something out of the recycled materials provided. We will provide glue, tape and paint. We hope you will enjoy the time to construct something together. We are looking forward to displaying all the amazing constructions during our concert weeks.

Playball

Playball this term has continued to provide the children with many different gross-motor activities and ball skills. The coaches, Jenny and Al, are able to challenge the children physically and extend their skills. The children look forward to Playball on a Monday and enjoy their time very much. This term parents are invited to an open session of Playball to observe what their children have been learning.

The Starfish open lesson will be on Monday 13 November at 9.30 am.
The Dolphins open lesson will be on Monday 20 November at 9.30 am.
The Seashells open lesson was held on Monday 27 November at 9.30am.

Concerts

The children from all three groups have begun preparing for our end-of-year concerts. They are getting very excited to perform for their Mums and Dads.

The Seashells concert will be held on Wednesday 6 December at 9.30 am in the Pre-school. Morning tea will be served after the concert.

The Starfish and Dolphins Concert and graduation will be held on Thursday 7 December at 6.00 pm in the Lehrer Family Building, Multi-Purpose Hall of Emanuel School. A light dinner and snacks will be served afterwards in the Pre-school. The concerts are for parents only.

Bush School family picnic

We invite all Kornmehl families to join us at Centennial Park on Monday 11 December for our final Bush School experience of the year. This will take place from drop off until about 11.00 am. Please bring some snacks and drinks. Come and experience the wonders of nature with your children.

Building emotional resilience

Emotional resilience is our ability to maintain an even, consistent and predictable approach. Emotionally resilient people understand what they’re feeling and why. They are therefore in a better position to control their own behaviours and reactions. Their optimism and belief that they are in control of their lives help them to avoid erratic behaviour and be consistent. They don’t see themselves as victims. When obstacles and challenges arise, as they inevitably do, emotionally resilient people are optimistic that they will overcome the challenges and grow and learn from them. While we’re probably born with a certain amount of emotional resilience and it is part of our personality and predisposition, it can be further developed. This is an important concept and belief.

 What does resilience look like? 

There’s probably not one way to describe what resilience looks like and, of course, no-one is resilient all of the time. There are some characteristics that we might expect to see in a child who is coping well or is resilient. For instance, they might:

• use positive self-talk for encouragement
• capably express their feelings and thoughts
• not hide away from strong feelings
• have helpful, age-appropriate strategies to manage their emotions if they are upset
• rearrange their plans to work around an unexpected situation
• use a trial-and-error approach in their daily life
• remain hopeful and keep on trying if something doesn’t work out
• know when to stop trying if they decide the effort is not worthwhile
• actively ask for help if they need it.  

Can you build resilience to specifically help kids deal with stress? How might schools and parents achieve this?

Building resilience really comes through the development of social and emotional skills, which include coping skills. These are the same skills that will help children deal with stress, so it follows that building resilience will really help kids deal with stress. When teaching social and emotional skills (such as understanding and managing emotions, getting along with friends, and making good decisions), it can be useful to draw on some of the actual stressors that children are facing in their real worlds. Schools have a range of social and emotional learning initiatives they use to explicitly teach these skills and practise them throughout the school day. This way, they can learn practical skills to use in the real world. It’s also important not to ignore basics like helping children sleep and eat well, as we know these are associated with stress.

Educators and parents can play a really important part in their modelling and approach during stressful times. Children learn (and take cues) from the adults around them, so it’s important for adults to be mindful of how they approach stressful situations and the skills they use to resolve challenges. They can also play an active role in supporting children during stressful times. They can do this by facilitating problem-solving steps to work through situations positively. Over time, these skills can then be developed by the child so they are able to more independently resolve difficulties. Chatting about what happened afterwards can also help to reinforce the learning and remind the child that things can turn out okay even when it’s been a bit stressful.

The focus on social and emotional skills is really important for children’s resilience. These are the skills that help children to understand themselves, to manage a wide range of emotions, and to seek help when necessary. Teaching children to accept that all feelings are okay is an important aspect of this, and enables them to express things such as frustration or worry.

https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/health-and-community/enewsletter/building-resilience-cope-stress

WIZO tzedakah collection

On Friday, the Pre-school collected tzedakah for WIZO – World International Zionist Organisation. This money is sent to Israel to help brighten the future for those in need. WIZO supports women, children, families and the elderly in communities across the country.

Many thanks to all our Kornmehl families for their generous support.

Happy birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Miri Kuper (5) and Nadav Mermelshtayn (4). We also wish a very happy birthday to Justine Robertson, who celebrates her birthday on the weekend.