IT IS NOT KNOWLEDGE, BUT THE ACT OF
LEARNING, NOT POSSESSION BUT THE
ACT OF GETTING THERE WHICH GRANTS
THE GREATEST ENJOYMENT. – C F GAUSS.
It’s hard to believe we are already in April! So many activities to
look forward to…We are all looking forward to the Easter Long
Weekend and hope you all enjoy a safe and relaxing break with
friends and family.
We will be having our annual Easter egg hunts in the lead up to
the long weekend, and family members are more than welcome
to join us in the festivities. Keep an eye on the noticeboard and
facebook page for more details.
Do you have a special skill or talent? Why not pop in and share
it with us one morning here at Attunga. The children love it
when their families get involved!
COCONUT LADOO IS
AN INDIAN SWEET
OFTEN PREPARED TO
CELEBRATE FESTIVALS
– PAGE TWO!
UPDATE CHILDREN’S INFORMATION More information on page 5;
April Newsletter
Children’s Book Day ------------ 13th
Baisakhi Festival ----------------- 17th
Pay It Forward ------------------- 21st
NATURE PLAY WEEK – APRIL 11 TO 19
Nature play is a term used to describe the
creation of simple play opportunities in the
natural environment. Nature play encourages
kids and parents to see the natural environment
as a place to enjoy, play, imagine, relax and
explore. READ MORE
Coconut Laddoo
Ingredients 1-cup suji (semolina) 1 1/2 cups grated fresh coconut 1 tin Milkmaid (condensed milk) 1 cup caster sugar
Method 1. Roast suji in a round vessel and when it starts turning light brown take it out and keep aside. 2. Add at least one cup grated coconut to the semolina and keep the mixture to cool down. 3. Keep rest of the grated coconut to wrap the laddoos. 4. Put caster sugar after a while and add ¾ tin milkmaid. 5. Mix well. 6. Make small balls of the mixture. 7. Roll the balls in the coconut powder. 8. Place it in the refrigerator. Laddoos are ready to serve.
Baisakhi Festival falls on April 13th or April 14th and marks the beginning of the solar year. People of North India, particularly Punjab thank God for good harvest. Celebrated when the Rabi crop ripens, Baisakhi is not confined too villages and fields only, but now has an urban presence. This recipe is just one that can be found at www.baisakhifestival.com
Book Review Tales of the ANZACs
This much loved book won the New Zealand Children’s Book of the Year in 1997.
Learning about the ANZACs helps young children understand the
life and times of Australia and its people. Building your child’s
knowledge about the traditions, facts and folklore of ANZAC Day,
the many real life stories of sacrifices and heroism of everyday
Australians will not be lost, but be handed down to future
generations. Young children learn best when they are highly
interested. The books chosen for this month’s review
are age relevant and full of interesting imagery and stories.
The Bantam and the Soldier By Jennifer Beck & Robyn Belton
It tells the story of “the smallest bantam” on a French farm, abandoned as the war gets closer, and a shy, homesick farmer’s son called Arthur “from a country on the other side of the world”. Arthur saves the starving bantam, feeds it and looks after it and names it Bertha after his niece back home. At first the other soldiers make fun of him, but then they adopt Bertha as a mascot too and start to hunt out grubs and worms for her. Bertha rewards them each day with “a warm, brown egg” and her resilience gives them courage and hope.
My Grandad marches on ANZAC Day
ANZAC DAY – APRIL 25
100 years on Anzac Day goes beyond the
anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915.
It is the day on which we remember Australians
who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and
peacekeeping operation.
GO TO THE WEBSITE
By Catriona Hoy
Simpson and his donkey By Mark Greenwood
A simple, moving look at Anzac Day and its significance, through the eyes of a little girl. A gentle story about families and the importance of sharing memories and remembering.
Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick demonstrates the ‘Anzac qualities’ of bravery, patriotism and sacrifice. As a veteran of the initial Gallipoli landing on 25th April 1915, he worked tirelessly in Shrapnel Gully carrying wounded soldiers from the battlefront to the beach hospital. In 24 days, under constant attack from artillery and sniper fire, he rescued close to 300 men.
Focus Article: Compassionate kids
Children have an inborn capacity for compassion.
Small in stature themselves, they naturally identify
with stuffed animals, other kids, pets, and
underdogs. The tricky part is that their empathy
must compete with other developmental forces,
including limited impulse control, which makes them
pull the cat's tail, and their belief that their needs
absolutely must come first, which makes it hard for
them to let their cousin push the cool fire truck.
But with so much hatred and turmoil in the world today,
it seems more important than ever to raise kids who can
understand and be kind to other people. Teaching this
doesn't mean lectures or visits to soup kitchens. It’s part
of day-to-day life: how you answer your child's
questions, how you solve conflict at the park, how you
nudge his or her growing capacity to understand and
think about other people. Temperament of course plays
a role—some kids are naturally more tuned in to other
people's feelings and difficulties, while others are a bit
oblivious. Either way, you have influence in fostering
your child's ability to empathize. Age by age, here's how
to do so in small, daily doses:
Monkey see - monkey do: As with much of our parenting,
it’s about modelling. If our kids see us showing empathy
and compassion, it becomes one of their values and
normal behaviour. Research has found that
compassionate parents raise kids who are nicer to their
peers.
Talking about what we’re thankful for: While it may
sound a little “Brady Bunch”, psychologists claim that
simple dinner time conversations about the positives in
our own lives boosts happiness, well-being and health.
Embrace the good: Acknowledging people who are
what’s termed “morally inspiring” has been found to
improve people’s feelings of connection to one another
and their sense of purpose.
Being nice feels nice: Researchers have measured the
amount of the feel-good chemical oxytocin that humans
can produce when they’re compassionate. Help kids feel
that by encouraging them to do a good deed or be kind
to others.
Recognise your kids’ acts of kindness: If your child
shares their toys or comforts a sad friend,
acknowledge it and talk about how that act made
everyone feel as well as what the feelings could have
been if the act of kindness hadn’t happened.
Have a family pet: Being nice to animals has been
found to help develop compassion as often a child’s
relationship with a pet is the first one in which they
learn to understand the feelings of others. Research
has found that children with pets had higher self-
esteem and were more popular with their classmates
because they were more empathetic.
“If you want others to be happy, practice
compassion. If you want to be happy,
practice compassion.” - Dalai Lama
Read more of these articles here:
www.parenting.com/article/raising-a-compassionate-child
and www.kidspot.com.au/Preschool-Behaviour-How-to-
bring-up-compassionate-kids+7090+33+article.htm
Health & Safety: Easter Drive Time
As the April long weekend nears many of us are planning
to pack up the family and head off for a day or even the
whole weekend. Ensuring you arrive at your destination
safely is paramount. As we all know driving with bored
and unhappy children can make it harder for you to
concentrate and drive safely.
The following tips might help:
Have a chat while you drive. Talking helps pass the time
and distracts your child. Discuss what you’ll be doing
when you arrive, point out sights through the window,
have a singalong or recite some nursery rhymes.
Position your child’s car seat so that you and your child
you can see each other, if possible. If your child can see
your face, they are less likely to get bored or feel lonely.
Praise your child for good car behaviour, such as not
wriggling out of seatbelts or harnesses, not distracting
the driver and not playing with the locks.
Easter Foil Art
Mention your child’s good behaviour several times during
the journey. For example, ‘I like driving the car when you
keep your seatbelt on – that’s great behaviour’.
Provide plenty of safe distractions, such as CDs or audio
books to listen to, and soft hand-held games to play with.
Snacks and drinks are also a good idea.
Below are some age specific ideas to keep children
entertained in the car:
Babies: Give your baby a rattle or musical toy to play
with, hang a mobile above the baby capsule/car seat,
keep a few soft toys with you – you can rotate them so
your baby will occasionally get something new to look at.
Tie a couple of your baby’s favourite toys to her seat with
a ribbon, so if she drops them she can get them back.
Make sure the ribbon isn’t long enough to go around her
neck.
Toddlers: Have some toys and books within easy reach,
give your toddler something to eat and drink on the way
– make it a ‘car picnic’. Point out interesting things you
pass – for example, ‘Look, can you see the train? Where
do you think it’s going?’ If it’s a long trip, stop every little
while and let your toddler have a run around.
Pre-schoolers and older children: Count the cars, horses,
bridges or other things along the way. Guess how many
you’ll see before the next town, Sing some favourite
songs. You can even try to make up some new verses for
them, Play guessing games – for example, ‘I'm thinking of
an animal that’s big and grey’.
It is that yummy time of year when there is lots of nicely wrapped chocolate scattered around our home. Instead of throwing out the foil, recycle it. It doesn’t matter if it has been unwrapped neatly or torn it can all be used.
Materials needed: Easter foil wrapping, Permanent Marker, Clear contact, Scissors.
Collect all of your left over foil wrapping.
Before peeling off the back of the contact ask your child for some picture ideas. Draw it for them on the non-sticky side with permanent marker.
Peel off the backing and show your child how to stick the foil onto the contact. Allow them to finish their artwork.
Once they finished stick another piece of contact over the back or stick it onto a piece of cardboard ready to display.
Hint: Print of an outline and trace it onto the contact.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
It is our duty of care to ensure that we are prepared to
act quickly and responsibly in the event of all
emergency situation types. To do this effectively we
need your help.
If any of the following information has changed since
enrolment / re-enrolment (January) please contact us
as soon as possible:
Your address & contact details
Authorised emergency contacts
Emergency contact phone numbers
Any changes to your child/children’s health
information
Authorised persons given permission to collect
your child / children
Persons authorised to consent (or administer) to
medical treatment
Authorised Educator/s to take the child outside the
education and care service premises
Details of any court / parenting orders
Thank you.
Email:
Phone number:
How can we
make your
newsletter
even better?
What
information
would you like
us to include?
Attunga Cottage CCC
Ph: 0295341625
Update Children’s information
Just a reminder that the Centre will be closed
for the long weekend on Friday 3rd April and
Monday 6th April. We will be open and
operating throughout the school break as
usual.
Don’t forget to bring along your family
portraits for our family tree. We are also
inviting children to bring along a photo of
their bedrooms as part of a story program the
children have been participating in for our
room display. More information can be found
on our facebook page.
We’re madly going through our policies as
part of our annual review. We are hoping to
have made our way through them all by July
this year. If you have any suggestions
regarding our centre policies please let us
know.
Full policy details can be found online at
www.attungacottage.com.au and in our
centre policy manual located above the
children’s lockers. Please remember that your
feedback is VERY much welcomed!