Volume 24 Issue 25 19 Aug 2016 15 Av 5776

Kornmehl

Matthew Doyle

Aboriginal performer Matthew Doyle visited the Pre-school last week. Matthew’s performance was interactive, informative and lots of fun. We learnt so much about Aboriginal culture. Firstly, Matthew showed us his two didgeridoos. One had a low sound and one had a high sound. He told us it is made from wood from a gum tree and the termites eat into the wood and make it hollow inside. Matthew played the didgeridoo for us and showed us how to make different animal sounds with it. He made bird sounds like a cockatoo, kookaburra and owl, as well as animal sounds like a dingo and kangaroo jumping. The children were very good at guessing the animals. Matthew told us the didgeridoo has three other names: yidaki, larrawa and Yigi yigi. Matthew played the didgeridoo with the tapping sticks and the children had to clap along and stop when he stopped. This was a great listening game.

Matthew then showed the children two really long boomerangs.      He said the boomerangs are used for dancing, singing and even playing music. He played the boomerangs to an Aboriginal song and the children joined in by singing and pretending to put on wings and be a sea eagle. Matthew told us how boomerangs are also used to tell stories and can be made into different shapes to represent different characters in a story e.g. a rainbow, a fish, a snake, a bridge, a hill     or a bird.  Matthew explained to the children that some boomerangs are called returning boomerangs and come back to you when you throw them. These boomerangs are smooth on one side and curved on the other side. The children were fascinated by this concept. Matthew showed the children a long seedpod and showed them how they are used as shakers to make music.

The children got up and did a sea eagle dance with Matthew around the room to the tapping sticks’ rhythm. Matthew, with the help of Justine, showed the children the actions  to a story about catching fish in a canoe. This was very rhythmical and interactive and the children loved dramatising the story.

At the end of the show the children lined up to have their hand or face painted with an Aboriginal symbol, either a sun, snake, rainbow or dots. Matthew used special face paint that the Aboriginal people make by crushing rocks called ochre. What a fantastic and interesting morning we all had. Thank you Matthew for coming to visit us.

Burger Centre

The Dolphins and Starfish will visit the Burger Centre on Tuesday      23 June and Thursday 25 June respectively. We are looking forward to singing and dancing for all the elderly visitors.

Care Packs

Our Care Pack project is well on the way and we have had a fantastic response from many schools in our local and wider community.      

We are busy sorting and counting them, ready for delivery in Week 7. Many thanks to the families from Kornmehl and the Emanuel School for contributing to this worthwhile project. This is a wonderful way for the children to learn the true meaning of chesed and Tikkun Olam.

Father’s day Breakfast.

We invite all our special dads to join us on Monday 5 September from 8.30am to 9.30am for breakfast and a chance to share some special time with your child at Pre-school.  We are looking for three more mums to come in on Monday 5 September at 7.30am to help us prepare the food for the breakfast. Please let Terry know if you can help in any way.

Holiday care

We will be holding holiday care in the upcoming school holidays for all Kornmehl children on Tuesday 27 September and Thursday 29 September from 8am to 4pm. Please enrol your child as soon as possible. Forms are available from Terry.

Bread Tags

For the past three years the Pre-school has been involved in collecting bread tags and recycling them by sending them to South Africa to buy wheelchairs for people who are disadvantaged and cannot afford to buy one. It has been wonderful seeing the enthusiasm and commitment from the children and families for this worthwhile project.  We received a lovely email thanking us for our contributions to this project:

I am overwhelmed and humbled that these tags have travelled across the ocean. I feel excited that children in Sydney are aware of the plight of so many homeless people in South Africa.  Your tags are used, by a process of bartering and recycling to purchase wheelchairs.  To date, we have handed over 19 wheelchairs.  Please continue with your collections.                                                                                                                  

I tell the children at our school that this is a Mitzvah that they can personally do.  They don’t need money from their parents – just to put a Tupperware or zip lock bag into the bread bin, and whenever a tag is available, it just gets popped into the bag. I am still smiling at the generosity of your involvement in this hugely worthwhile project.

Carol Cesman – Grade 6 Teacher at Yeshiva College, Johannesburg

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Harry Nathanson (5), Henry Lambert (4) and Noah McGee (5). We hope you all had a wonderful day.

We also wish both Heather Marshall and Claudia Rodaro, our wonderful educators, a very Happy Birthday too.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Ori – Grandparents have children, because on Friday nights, we are their children.

With Grandparent’s Day approaching, we decided to have a little chat about grandparents, who they are, what they do and how you become a grandparent. 

Nava: They sit and watch you on the stage.

Ori: To be a grandparent, you have to take care of yourself a lot, then you’ll get old and become a grandpa.

Jessica: It’s when parents, when they’re old, turn into grandmas and grandpas. They get lots of birthdays and get older and older and older.

Jack: When they’re about daddy’s age, or 15 or 14, they start to stop growing bigger and taller.

But how do you get to be a grandparent?

Liam: So you’re young and then you grow older and older and then you get so old and then you’re a grandparent.

Jack: They actually start to shrink when they get older.

Liam: Zeida has a beard.

Harry: Mine drink Coke.

Noam: They like helping.

Kian: You have to help them a lot, to give them food.

Do grandparents have children?

Jessica: Parents who were before children, they become older and when they be so old, they turn into grandparents.

Nava: Yes! My daddy! Cause Tete and Pops are his mummy and daddy.

Jack: My Nona and Grey, they’re daddy’s and Aunty Nicky’s son.

Nathan: When grandparents get older and older, they kind of die.

We celebrated Grandparents Day on Wednesday and Thursday morning this week. The Seashells delighted their appreciative audience with their cute songs and dances and enjoyed morning tea together with their special guests.

The Dolphins and Starfish sang on the stage in the PAC to a full audience and sang with confidence and enthusiasm. Our special guests joined us for morning tea down on the Kornmehl deck. The feedback received from grandparents was very positive and the smiles on their faces during this time was evident of a very special and beautiful time shared together.

Many thanks to all our parent helpers – Debbie Lyons, Nadia Kaye, Amanda Isenberg, Carly Rothman, Claudia Brock, Zoe Boothman and Mariana Hill for their delicious baking and help in setting up on the day, as well as the canteen for their delicious catering.