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Early Learners

Dear Families of the Early Learners Room.

The children have been busy bees these past few months celebrating different events and working on their own skills and knowledge. The Early Learners have been working on their fine and gross motor skills as well as interacting and communicating with their friends during play. We have explored the different seasons of the year, engaging in art and craft experiences to learn about each season. The Early Learners celebrated Best Friends Day and Crazy Costume Day in the month of June with their friends.

In July the children participated in NAIDOC week, Pyjama Day and Teddy Bear's Picnic, taking part in lots of fun activities to celebrate these events. We also held our own Olympic Games and engaged in art and craft activities in honour of Olympics Week. What a fun-filled few months it has been in our Early Learners Room.

Thank you, Miss Maddison and Miss Emily.

Junior Early Years

Hello and Welcome to the Junior Early Years Room.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new friends Bryan, Ayesha, Enzo, Taylah and their families. Over the past few months the children engaged in many experiences such as Crazy Costume Day, NAIDOC Week, Pyjama Day and Teddy Bear's Picnic. We have been focusing on healthy eating habits in our room, the children name all the different fruit that they eat each day during morning tea.

We have extended on the importance of Healthy Eating by creating activities such as painting our own version of green leafy vegetables and creating a healthy eating food basket collage. In the next months to come we will be continuing our Healthy Eating activities through fun, learning experiences. We will be working closely with the children on the room routine and self-help skills by building their independence and confidence as they begin to grow and become comfortable doing more things by themselves.

Thank you, Miss Jill, Miss Nour and Miss Sandy.

Early Years

Welcome to another Newsletter edition of the Early Years Room. Over the past three months we have been following the children's interests, working on self- help skills and on vocabulary skills. We have explored our numbers and colours over the last term and we will continue on our learning along with shapes, weather, seasons, time of the day (such as morning, afternoon and evening) and days of the week. In the month of July we explored the importance of NAIDOC Week and also participated in special events including Crazy Costume Day, Teddy Bear's Picnic, Mini Olympics and Pyjama day.

We are continuing our toilet training journey with many of the children in our classroom. We would like to remind parents to please label all children's belongings. Please contact us anytime if you wish to discuss your child's development and learning. Thank you to all our families for all your support.

Miss Christina, Miss MIchelle, Miss Torrie and Mr Hayden.

Thank you, Miss Bec and Miss Sonya.

Pre-Prep

A big welcome to all of our Pre-Prep families, including our new friends Saphira, John, Summah and Andre!

The last few months have been very busy for the Pre-Prep's as we have continued expanding our letter, number, shape and colour recognition. The children have also been learning how to say their first and last name, and some of the children have been learning how to write their first name.

During the month of June a group of the children went on an excursion to the snow which was a fantastic experience for the children as they enjoyed making and throwing snowballs and building a snowman. In July we were visited by the Dental2You Clinic where some of the children saw the dentist to have their teeth checked, counted and cleaned. This prompted a lot of discussion about the importance of good oral hygiene. The centre was also awarded with the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant in July where the funds will be used to continue expanding our vegetable garden for the Pre-Prep children to engage in. The children also celebrated NAIDOC Week, Pyjama Day and Teddy Bear's Picnic during the month of July.

Over the coming months the children will continue working on their already developing self-help skills which will support a smooth transition to big school. We are hoping to commence the Transition into Prep (TIP) program in Term 4 which will provide the children with the opportunity to visit a local school to familiarise themselves with the school environment.

We would like to thank all of our Pre-Prep families for their ongoing support. If you have any suggestions for things you would like to see incorporated into the Pre-Prep program, we welcome all suggestions.

Thank you, Miss Courtney and Miss Kara.

Before and After School Care / Vacation Care

Greetings parents, during the past few months our Schoolies have made new friends and met new educators, explored new environments and shown more confidence during vacation care. The children have explored a variety of fun activities in and out of the centre, as well as learning about the aboriginal culture through NAIDOC Week celebrations.

During the June/July school holidays we got to explore many fun venues and parks which included Queens park, Planetarium, botanical gardens and cinemas. Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions as well as COVID restrictions we were unable to attend some of the activities we had planned but rest assured we replaced these with exciting activities, games and sports at our Kidi Kingdom centre. The schoolies enjoyed creating and participating in obstacle course relays, treasure hunts, board games, races, basketball, soccer, tiggy and craft activities. As contribution to NAIDOC Week the children engaged in group discussions, sharing their thoughts about NAIDOC Week, learning various NAIDOC signs and their meanings, playing various cultural games as well as creating and decorating different cultural crafts to celebrate.

As the children returned back to school we encouraged them as they slowly settled back into school routine. Over the past few months the Schoolies have created some crafts to celebrate Teddy Bear picnic, the Olympic games and Pyjama Day.

We look forward to more celebrations coming up and hope to help the children with completing homework during Before and After School Care.

If you have any questions or ideas we would love to hear from you.

Thank you for your continuous support. Miss Christina.

Young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to.

This "million-word gap" could be one key in explaining differences in vocabulary and reading development, said Jessica Logan, lead author of the study and assistant professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University. Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don't regularly read books with a parent or caregiver. "Kids who hear more vocabulary words are going to be better prepared to see those words in print when they enter school," said Logan, a member of Ohio State's Crane Centre for Early Childhood Research and Policy. "They are likely to pick up reading skills more quickly and easily." The study appears online in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics and will be published in a future print edition.

Logan said the idea for this research came from one of her earlier studies, which found that about one-fourth of children in a national sample were never read to and another fourth were seldom read to (once or twice weekly). "The fact that we had so many parents who said they never or seldom read to their kids was pretty shocking to us. We wanted to figure out what that might mean for their kids," Logan said.

The researchers collaborated with the Columbus Metropolitan Library, which identified the 100 most circulated books for both board books (targeting infants and toddlers) and picture books (targeting pre-schoolers). Logan and her colleagues randomly selected 30 books from both lists and counted how many words were in each book. They found that board books contained an average of 140 words, while picture books contained an average of 228 words. With that information, the researchers calculated how many words a child would hear from birth through his or her 5th birthday at different levels of reading. They assumed that kids would be read board books through their 3rd birthday and picture books the next two years, and that every reading session (except for one category) would include one book. They also assumed that parents who reported never reading to their kids actually read one book to their children every other month.

Based on these calculations, here's how many words kids would have heard by the time they were 5 years old: Never read to, 4,662 words; 1-2 times per week, 63,570 words; 3-5 times per week, 169,520 words; daily, 296,660 words; and five books a day, 1,483,300 words.

"The word gap of more than 1 million words between children raised in a literacy-rich environment and those who were never read to is striking," Logan said. The word gap examined in this research isn't the only type kids may face. A controversial 1992 study suggested that children growing up in poverty hear about 30 million fewer words in conversation by age 3 than those from more privileged backgrounds. Other studies since then suggest this 30-million-word gap may be much smaller or even non-existent, Logan said.

The vocabulary word gap in this study is different from the conversational word gap and may have different implications for children, she said. "This isn't about everyday communication. The words kids hear in books are going to be much more complex, difficult words than they hear just talking to their parents and others in the home," she said. For instance, a children's book may be about penguins in Antarctica - introducing words and concepts that are unlikely to come up in everyday conversation. "The words kids hear from books may have special importance in learning to read", she said.

Logan said the million-word gap found in this study is likely to be conservative. Parents will often talk about the book they're reading with their children or add elements if they have read the story many times. This "extra-textual" talk will reinforce new vocabulary words that kids are hearing and may introduce even more words. The results of this study highlight the importance of reading to children. "Exposure to vocabulary is good for all kids. Parents can get access to books that are appropriate for their children at the local library," Logan said.

Source: news.osu.edu (2019, April 04). A 'million-word gap' Retrieved from https://news.osu.edu/a-million-word-gap-for-children-who-arent-read-to-at-home/