Nov 2012 - Raffles International School

Lakes Garden Nursery
Nov 2012SEC-
News from the Lakes Garden Nursery
Dear Parents,
I just can‘t believe that we are already in the first week of November and that our children
have completed almost two months of the nursery year. How time flies! It seems like just
yesterday that some children dragged themselves into the nursery, making their way to the
classrooms with protests and tears!
I cannot help noticing the contrast now— happy faces walking in every morning and
reluctant bodies unwilling to leave the nursery in the afternoons. Now I see mothers having
to coax the children to move towards the gates at home time!!
During the month of October the children have been very busy with the topic ‗All About Me
and My Senses‘. They have also participated in events and celebrations – Pink Day was
observed on Thursday 4th October 2012 .
The children, staff and parents came in pink clothes to
support the brave women who battled with cancer.
Teachers had set up activities related to the colour pink.
Although the children are too young to understand the
relevance of cancer and the colour pink, they did
comprehend that the day was dedicated to good health.
GENERAL
CASA 1
CASA 2
CASA 3
CASA 4
CASETTA 5
TODDLERS 1 & 2
The social aspect of Eid was celebrated with much gusto
on October 24th. The teachers decorated our Reception
area very enthusiastically to keep to the sprit of the
festival. Parents and visitors were offered Arabic coffee
and dates throughout the day to the background of
Arabic music. A festive ambience was indeed created.
In the classrooms as well the mood was extended and
children dressed in traditional Eid outfits enjoyed the day
with their friends. Besides the planned activities, they
had class parties with songs and games. They then
enjoyed the delicious Eid specialities. Thank you to all
parents for sending the goodies and helping to make the
event special.
31st October saw everyone dressed in
Orange and Black!! Children had fun ―Trick
or Treating‖ with their friends. Some of
them did such wonderful tricks and kept us
all amused.
Masks and Pumpkins were painted and
decorated with much excitement!
Let‘s now take a peek into the classrooms to see how the children spent the month of
October.
For a start they have been learning to adjust to nursery rules and routines.
Here you can see our little Lilies standing in a
line, waiting to get their water bottles at the
end of their outdoor playtime. The teachers
use a ‗clap‘ signal for the children to clean up
and get to the assembly area when it‘s time to
go inside. It‘s a pleasure to watch the little
ones understand this signal and follow it
perfectly.
The Lilies really had fun bathing dolls as one of their
activities related to the topic ‗Myself‘. They focused
on the different body parts by using sponges for
cleaning and naming each part. They were also
encouraged to use different words such as: Wet/Dry,
Dip/Squeeze.
The children are quite attracted to the use of
props during Circle Time. Here you can see
them playing the peekaboo game using the song
‗Who‘s come to school today…...‘
Cherry Merry!
The toddlers pasted red crushed paper for making
cherries as one of their creative activities. Focus
was on Red colour, size and counting how many
cherries each one had on their card. They sure had a
‗Cheery Cherrysome Day‘!
This month the Orchids class enjoyed the topic ‗All about me‘.
The children learned about the five senses:
Sight: They used magnifying glasses in the garden to look for tiny insects. The children
discovered that we see with our eyes and when we
look through the magnifying glass everything looks
bigger! The teachers mixed blue and yellow play
dough, so the children could see the colour change.
Hearing: They used different musical instruments
and different voice levels to understand the concept
of ‗loud‘ and ‗quiet‘.
Touch : To experience this sense the children
indulged in a lot of messy play! Through this they
learned new words-slimy, gooey and soft. Words—liquid/solid and melt were related to the
yellow ice cubes painting activity. This also exposed the children to the sensory experience
of ‗cold‘, ‗wet‘ and ‗hard‘.
Taste : Children were encouraged to taste a bit of
salt, sugar, coffee powder and a drop of lemon juice
to understand that our tongue can differentiate
between flavours. The children have now added
words—salty, sweet , bitter and sour to their ever
growing vocabulary!
They also sang rhymes ‗Baa baa black sheep‘, ‗Rolly
Polly‘, ‗Mr. Sun‘ and many more. Shapes explored were
‗circle‘ and ‗triangle‘.
The children enjoyed games
focusing on physical development.
Activities involved Brain Gym, a
little yoga, and sequenced physical
activity (climb, slide, balance,
crawl in and out of the tunnel, hop,
crawl into the tunnel again and
then chase Ms Maha !!)
The Violets class loved sensorial play. You can see
them enjoying the feel of cooked pasta. Squishy, wet,
soft and cold are words they learned along the way.
Who wouldn't want to participate in a Puppet
Show?! This activity kept the children
thoroughly engrossed—another form of
interactive learning!
The Violets believe in the joys of sharing in
each other‘s happiness. Eid was celebrated with
gusto!
The children from the Sunflowers
class have been busy with various
activities. They enjoyed this session of
role play—pretending to be doctors,
nurses and patients. Ms. Krish talked
about emotions and feelings when
visiting a doctor. She also reinforced
the importance of taking turns,
respecting each other and using soft,
gentle hands.
Children painted their feet and used this to make
the wings of the butterfly. They giggled with
delight when they felt the cold paint on their
feet. Some of them were ticklish and
wriggled their toes.
Colours red, blue and yellow were reinforced.
Language development was encouraged by
comparing the size of the children‘s feet.
Every mother from the Sunflowers class got a
beautiful pink heart with pink crepe paper on it
from their child saying ―We Care‖. This was made
by the children to celebrate ‗Pink Day‘.
Eid was celebrated with enthusiasm.
Children wore crowns with stars
and moon shapes on it
They made Eid cards. The
teachers talked about the social side
of the festival—how to bring
happiness to others, spreading
good will and how families get
together on this day.
They discussed what people do on
the day of Eid- wearing new clothes,
greeting people, tasting yummy
dishes made for Eid.
Shlok and Lucas share an ‗Eid ‗moment and
the Sunflowers wish everybody ―Eid
Mubarak‖.
The Roses class have settled well and are ready for
more activities.
They explored the colours yellow, red and pink and had
fun dabbling with the colours.
Rhyme Time—singing ‗Wheels of the Bus‘ and
pretending to be in a bus . The children followed
Ms. Analyn‘s instructions, thus gaining control over
their motor
skills.
―Row, row, row
your boat gently
down the
stream…
and enjoy
bonding with
friends.‖
Exploring the
senses!
Sophie and
Jaisahej enjoy
the moment!
Amira is happy
to use her fingers and indulge in some finger painting!
They are learning to share space and
material!
Arabic classes
are such fun
with Ms Randa!
―All About Me- is this how I looked when I was a baby ?‖
―And … look at
me now, I am
grown up and can
build the Burj
Khalifa all by
myself!‖ says
Sienna.
What an amazing month this has been for the
Daffodils!
Ms. Hinal joined our team as the teacher for
the Daffodils class. The children, parents and
staff have made her feel welcome. Besides
the children and her getting to know each
other, the class has been full of new and
exciting activities.
Sharing happy moments with each other! The
children enjoyed making fruit salad as part of
their activities for the topic ‘My Senses‘.
Camille and Victor engrossed themselves in
activities related to the topic.
―Eid Mubarak!‖ is what the children said before
enjoying the delicious delights sent by all of you.
Dancing is fun! It gives the children a
chance to express themselves through
music and movement.
Indoors or Outdoors—The Daffodils enjoy it all!
Nikolaos is full of concentration building and balancing the
blocks while in the other photograph his friends Farrah and
Isla are just seizing the moment!
Outdoors on a lovely day!
Bernadetta and Zaid enjoy the challenges of
the ‗climbing frame‘
The play house is another favourite with
the children. They often lose themselves in
a realm of make believe.
―Would you like to come in and play with
us?‖ Vivan asks his friend.
The Daisies have been super busy exploring their senses during the month of October.
They have been playing listening games and have been recognising different sounds around
the classroom, at home and in the environment. They made their own musical sound shakers
and enjoyed making their listening ears. What fantastic listening ears the children have
during story and circle time!
Listening and recognising
rhyming words in their names,
stories and words have been
a big part of their
communication, language and
literacy development this
month.
For the sense of smell
children got the opportunity
to smell lots of familiar and
unfamiliar products including
food, spices and bath products. The Daisies made a lovely smelly flower craft.
During the sense of taste the children had a great day cutting up fruit and making a fruit
salad. They tasted lots of fruit including star fruit, grapefruit, mangosten and passion
fruit. They explored the texture of the fruit and used associated words to describe the
taste. For the sense of touch the children created a collage made of different textures.
Making foam prints and playing with the play dough is a favourite with most of the Daisies.
Shapes explored in October were the square and the triangle. The Daisies have been
focusing on counting objects up to 10. They also focused on the colour red and orange.
Concepts covered were ‗loud and quiet‘. The chatterbox was also introduced this month
with great success. The children got the opportunity to make their own chatterbox at home
and got to put something special in it to talk about for ‗show and tell‘. Well done Daisies!
During the month of October
the children have been
learning all about when they
were younger and they have
been reading their special ‗All
about Me‘ books. Thank you to
all the parents for creating
these wonderful stories . The
class will continue to enjoy
reading them next month.
Outdoor activities are
looked forward to
each day. The boys are
enjoying water play
and Milan is having a
great time with the
hoola hoops and balls.
In November they will be starting the topic ‗Books, Stories and Rhymes‘ and will be
exploring a story or a rhyme weekly incorporating the 7 areas of learning. If you have any
story books that you would like to share with the class they promise to look after them!
This month we are looking forward to celebrating the birthdays of:
Darcy Chelmik, Talia Dillies, Tuva Sahai and Yuvakshi Modi from the Orchids Class
Arjun Potkar from the Violets Class
Cecelia Gonzalez, Taymour Hebeishy and Ved Kedia from the Roses Class
Bernadetta Mazzetto, Leana Siraj and Zaid Tabarani from the Daffodils Class
Carter Amos from the Daisies Class
We will be celebrating the social aspect of Diwali on
November 12th. If you wish, you may send your children in traditional Diwali clothes. The teachers will
encourage children to make cards and paint Diwali
lamps.
Our topic for the next six weeks is ‗Books, Stories and
Rhymes‘. If you would like to come in and read a story to
your child‘s class or would like to share any topic related activity, please let me know so
that I can arrange a suitable day and time.
A few gentle reminders:

Please swipe your child‘s ID card every morning and afternoon

Please follow our Infection Control Policy and do not bring your child to nursery if they
are unwell

Please send only healthy snacks and lunch
I would like to add a little note: Now that the children have settled, it will benefit them to
follow a fixed daily routine at home and nursery. Kindly drop off your child latest by 9 am.
This will help them get into the flow of the morning activities in a calm manner. Also,
bringing the children later in the day disturbs the class routine.
Your co-operation is appreciated and I would like to thank you all for your support.
Sincerely and with Kind Regards,
Jyoti Navre
Vice Principal
Lakes Garden Nursery