Dear Parents,

A big warm welcome to all our new families who have recently started at Bear Park Parnell. We hope you and your child are settling in well. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

It was wonderful to hear all your positive comments and feedback about the parents evening, it sounds like you all benefited and enjoyed yourselves. Thank you very much to those who attended this evening.

It’s hard to believe we are half way through the year; the winter months are definitely upon us now! Can you please make sure your child comes equipped for the cold weather we are now experiencing, for example a warm jacket, and suitable shoes so we can still get outside. Also a friendly reminder to name all your child’s clothing (including socks) and check the lost property box regularly. It is very hard to keep track of unnamed clothing.

Stories from home…

We really value your view and perspective about your child’s learning and development and therefore we would like to invite and encourage you to make contributions to their portfolios. We have ‘story from home’ forms that you can use as a format or of course you can develop your own style! These stories can include photos but don’t necessarily have to, and you can be as detailed or as simple as you feel comfortable doing. We really appreciate the contribution those of you have already made to your child’s portfolio.

We have set up a display on the window between the foyer and Fantail dining room about ‘stories from home.’ This is to show the links between Bear Park and home as well as display a couple of different examples. Take the time to have a look, perhaps this will give you some ideas…!

Upcoming Events…

Parent teacher interviews are scheduled for the last week of July. This is a time for you to speak individually to your child’s teacher about your child’s development, progress and interest areas. We have decided to have the Morepork interviews on the 24th of July (Thursday) and the Fantails on the 25th of July (Friday).

Updating contact details…

We are currently in the process of updating each child’s contact details. The following page is a form for you to fill out with any details that have changed since your child started at Bear Park. It is vital that we have the correct details so that if there is an emergency we can get hold of you.

What’s been happening?

In the Fantail room (baby room) Hiromi, Cristiana and Yvonne have been very busy with the investigation into light. The children have been exploring on/off concepts and have just discovered the shadows created when objects are placed on the windowsill behind the curtain. The ‘what makes me, me’ questionnaires have also been presented and are now displayed on the wall. The Fantails have also been exploring paint and are currently working on a joint ‘masterpiece’ with all the children. Make sure you browse around the room to see the new documentation that is being displayed on the walls.

In the Morepork room (toddler room) Jeya, Katja, Nasreen and Kelly have been focusing on their light project as well. The children’s interest in exploring the OHP and its functions, moved onto shadows, then the movements of the shadows and now they are busy exploring shadows in the outdoor environment as well. A group of children are also very interested in gardening. They watched our bean plants grow and were fascinated with the flowering. When ready, they picked the beans for Dorothy to cook and enjoyed steamed beans for lunch. Later they noticed the dry beans, so they picked the seeds and have started to grow the beans from scratch. What a remarkable journey for them. Make sure you browse around the room to see the new documentation that is being displayed on the walls about both these projects.

That’s all for now,

Thank you from the Bear Park team