playfulpups | Eco-Kids Preschool

Land, Air and Sea Transport

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THEME

Land, Air & Sea Transport

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COLOUR

Blue/Navy

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SHAPE

Diamond

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NUMBER

5

j

LETTER

Jj- Jet

This week we learnt all about Land, Air and Sea transport! This is definitely a theme that appeals to the BOYS in our class a lot more than the girls and the boys had a great time running around pretending to be aeroplanes, motorbikes and helicopters. The sound effects were very impressive!

We were super busy with our art this week! We did some stamping. We make a shape boat for art. We learnt a new song called “aeroplanes all in a row.” We are also busy practicing for the concert.  So, the Pups were hard at work this week!

Please can I remind you to LABEL your children’s clothes, especially jackets and shoes. It warms up dramatically during playtime and often our Pups take their own jackets off and leave them wherever they happen to fall. If things are not labelled it becomes almost impossible to find. Some of the older children often see things lying on the playground and then take it to where they think it belongs and it lands up going on a journey home with 6 different children in a totally different class before we finally track down a missing item. PLEASE try help us help you by LABELLING your stuff, even with a ball point pen on the tag. Also remember NO toys to come to school.

Please also pump the immune boosters and probiotics.

Have a super weekend. Take care and keep warm!

Next week’s theme is Recycling

WE WANNA KNOW ...

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Dates to Diarise:

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon

16 June: Youth Day

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day

23 June: Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Jet Setters!

The Farm: Farm Animals

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THEME

The Farm: Farm Animals

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COLOUR

Red

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SHAPE

Circle

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NUMBER

4

j

LETTER

Ff – Farm

Another great week, with the theme being On The Farm- Farm Animals! I hope your little ones have been singing your ears off with “Old Mac Donald!” and naming all the animals and sounds they make because we sure have been learning and practicing in class!

For art this week, our Pups made sheep and the Pups did some cork stamping.

We also got our Pups to participate in a threading activity this week which is a fantastic activity for promoting fine motor development in young children. It requires concentration, thinking skills, encourages the use of the pincer grasp between the thumb and forefinger and naturally strengthens the small hand muscles that are vital for holding a pencil to write with, later on.

On Thursday morning we took our Pups on a nature walk down to the ponies where they got to see Troy and Frankie. We asked the Pups what colour the ponies were and some shouted “green!” We are getting to know all our colours but some Pups just seem to have a favourite colour and everything they see is either green or orange! How cute?

We danced, sang and played some super fun games like skipping games and ten pin bowling which was so much fun.

We hope you all have a super weekend ahead, keep warm and safe. See you back on Monday!

Next week’s theme: Land Air and Sea Transport

How did the farmer find his wife? He TRACTOR down!

Dates to Diarise:

Hearing Tests TBC

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Pups!

The Farm: Fruit and Vegetables

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THEME

The Farm: Fruit & Vegetables

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COLOUR

Blue

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SHAPE

Circle

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NUMBER

3

j

LETTER

Vv – Vegetables

The Pups had another great week at school playing, learning and having fun!

This week we learnt about The Farm – Fruits and Vegetables. The Pups got to taste all different kinds of fruit. We played: Guess what this fruit and veg is? And to our surprise our Pups did so well, they could name mostly everything; from the simple names such as apples, grapes, potato to the more difficult such as spinach and broccoli, well done Pups! This is an awesome game to play with your Pup at home, while you are cooking up a storm!

We also spoke about how our fruit and vegetables grow with seeds, soil, water and love!

For art this week, we did some fruit and vegetable stamping. They are just too ADORABLE and we know they are trying their best. We also did some string painting which a good fine motor skill

We concentrated a lot on concert practice this week, listening to and learning our songs.

It’s getting much cooler here and we can definitely feel the icy air here at Ecokids and with Winter being here, along with it comes all the sickies. We are doing whatever we can to teach our Pups that they need to cough in their elbows, not lick their toys and to wash hands as often as possible so that we don’t spread germs! Our Pups are still so tiny so they are the first ones to catch anything flying around in the air which is out of our control. We just need to help them fight against it and let their bodies immune system fight against the germs. Thank you all for keeping your babies at home and sticking to our sick policy, we appreciate it and it helps us fight the spreading of germs. We hope all our Pups who were at home this week are recovering nicely and that they are ready to be back at school next week, we’ve missed them so much!

We are still finding that a lot of clothing hasn’t been labelled, please, PLEASE label everything as we can’t always keep track of who wore what! Items that are not labelled will be put into the lost property box.

We hope you and our Pups have a lovely weekend, keep warm and we will see you back at school on Monday.

Next week’s theme: On the Farm – Farm Animals.

See you at Sports Day tomorrow!

Dates to Diarise:

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our ha-PEA children!

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

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THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

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COLOUR

Black

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SHAPE

Square

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NUMBER

1 & 2

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

This has been the most amazing week for so many reasons! We missed our Pups so much over the holiday and it’s just so amazing to have them back! We sure have had a ton of fun at school this week even though it was such a short week. There was so much to learn about! Wow! This Wild Animal theme is such a fun and interesting one.

We began our art piece by making a pair of binoculars to take on an adventure walk to see what “pretend” wild animals could see. We also made a paper plate lion … this was a lot of fun and we have decided to keep it for our Art Expo.

We did a lot of puzzles building this week and the Pups are really getting good at this activity.

Thank you all for bringing in recycled materials to rebuild our art supplies. Please continue to set aside anything we can use for art. Please also bring us any toys you are throwing out. We can always find a home for them, if not with us, then with one of our charities.

Then BOOM we went straight into our new week.

Mommies and Babies and Mother’s Day

Colour: Black

Number: 1

Shape: Square

Moral Conscious: Mommy knows best – respect authority

Then, it was Mommy week! The kids LOVED it! All the children had a great time playing mommy or daddy and it was so lovely to see their nurturing natures come out. Children are so naturally gentle and kind! And they know what to do when they see a baby and a pram. It was adorable. Don’t be scared to buy your boy child a doll if he wants one – they are practicing to be great, hands – on dads! We chatted about mommies and what they do for their children, the names of animal mommies and their babies (for example, a dog and a puppy!) and we chatted about where a baby grows, what a baby needs and how to look after a baby.

We made a special present for mom this week. We were out in the sunshine planting a very special plant for mom and made a very special card for mom that we attached to the plant. This was a great sensory activity even though some little bodies weren’t so eager to get their hands dirty. We also made an amazing lip balm for you moms, out of Vaseline coconut oil and honey.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable week and it is great to be back.

A few reminders in general:

Keep nails short, to avoid scratching accidents.
Start your child on a multivitamin like Crèche Guard (if you haven’t already) to try beat the winter bugs going around. Also, please refer to the Sick Policy and keep children who are ill at home so we can minimize the spread of colds and flu.
Label, label, label EVERYTHING! … In winter there are many more items of clothing coming to school and during the day as it warms up, we tend to remove layers and then things get very easily mixed up and sent home with the wrong child. The playground looks like a cupboard at the end of playtime as the children strip off layers and just drop them as they warm up. Lazarus then brings us what he thinks is ours based on size but it would really help if everything had a label. Keep warm and get back to us safely on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend. We look forward to another fun week of learning.

Next week’s theme is: The Farm: Fruit and Vegetables

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

Dates to Diarise:

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

We Missed These Faces!

Autumn, Birds, Migration and Easter

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THEME

Autumn, Birds, Migration & Easter

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COLOUR

White

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SHAPE

Cross & Oval

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NUMBER

Recap

j

LETTER

Oo – Oval

I can’t believe Term 1 is over already. It has gone by so fast it’s incredible!

We are so proud of our Pups and how well they have adjusted and adapted to our school and their classroom, and we are very proud to say that there are almost no more tears in the mornings!

This week we learned about Autumn. What happens to the leaves during Autumn? What happens to the temperature and weather in Autumn? And all about the birds, called swallows, that come out during Autumn time!

For our Autumn art, we used red, bronze and gold glitter, sprinkled it onto a laminating sheet, helped our teachers push it through the laminator and assisted the Pups cutting the smaller of the 3 leaves. We then strung them up and made a beautiful Autumn leave mobile.

We also learned about Easter this week. Because there is so much to learn about Easter, we decided to stick with the fun stuff like the Easter bunny and eggs (all the other stuff will start next year when they are a little older and are more able to understand). We learned a very cool song called the bunny pokey. We put our bunny ears, paws, noses, tails and whole self in and out and shook them all about.

We made a paper plate Easter bunny and beautiful Easter card, and melted chocolate to make Easter Bunny suckers.

All-in-all we have had a super successful term filled with fun and learning! Thank you for being amazing parents and for trusting us with your Pups!

We hope you have a lovely Easter weekend and a wonderful school holiday! See you all in the new

Wishing All Our Christian Families And Friends A Happy And Blessed Easter ...

Dates to Diarise:

7 – 10 April: Easter Weekend

11 April: Holiday Club Starts

27 April: Public Holiday (No Holiday Club)

28 April: Last Day of Holiday Club

1 May: Public Holiday (No Holiday Club)

2 May: Staff Return (No Holiday Club)

3 May: Term 2 Starts!

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

First Term Done And Dusted!

Occupations and Science

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THEME

Occupations & Science

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COLOUR

Blue & Yellow

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SHAPE

Circle & Rectangle

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NUMBER

Recap

j

LETTER

Xx – X-Ray; Ee – Explosion

Occupations and People Who Help Us:

We have had so much fun this week learning about occupations and people who help us. Doctors, dentists, hairdressers, firemen, policemen and so many more. We got to see what each job involves and what they offer, and on Friday, we got to see the kiddos dressed up as their dream job. We had everything from a fairy to a firemen, motorcycle winner, doctors, judges, chef and builders. They looked absolutely amazing!

We have been so busy this week with developing our fine motor skills like threading, puzzles and playing with playdough. These activities are highly recommended for our Pups to do even at home. The more these little hands do the faster and more developed these skills with improve.

Our art activity this week we choose to make a police car which the Pups had lots of fun painting and I helped them with the finishing touches.

Can you believe there is only one and a half weeks of term 1 left! How the time has flown by!!

PLEASE remember to label ALL your child’s belongings even their shoes. There are still many unmarked items being sent to school and when all the kids are on the playground and items are not marked it makes it difficult to find there way back home at times.

Next week’s theme: Science Experiments

Science and Experiments:

For a new theme, it was by far one of the favorites! We introduced the Science and Experiments theme to try and get our kiddies more involved in science, and they loved it! There was excitement from day one and we were constantly asked “when are we going to do that one?”

For our first experiment, did the crazy comb and water. The science is that the atoms in your hair have more electrons, which are negatively charged, than protons, which are positively charged. The electrons build in the hair due to friction. Did you know? Forensic scientist sometimes examine combs to solve mysteries! Hair samples, which contain DNA, often serve as useful evidence when determining if a person was at a crime scene.

Second experiment was called Holy Hair. Rubbing one substance against another substance causes a buildup of electrons. The wall is a neutral until it comes into contact with a charged substance like a balloon. Its electrons are repelled by the negatively charged balloon, making it positively charged – causing the balloon to stick.

Our big experiment was our volcano.

We tried a few other small experiments which we sent on the Pups WhatsApp group.

We hope you have a lovely weekend. See you all on Monday and remember next week is our last week of Term 1 and it’s a 4 day week.

Next week’s theme:

Autumn, Birds and migration and Easter

Sharing our EcoLove this Easter ...

Dates to Diarise:

6 April: Haircut Day & Break Up Day

7 – 10 April: Easter Weekend

11 April: Holiday Club Starts

27 April: Public Holiday (No Holiday Club)

28 April: Last Day of Holiday Club

1 May: Public Holiday (No Holiday Club)

2 May: Staff Return (No Holiday Club)

3 May: Term 2 Starts!

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Pups!

My Pet

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THEME

My Pet

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COLOUR

Black

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SHAPE

Diamond

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NUMBER

3

j

LETTER

Pp – Pets

Woof-woof! Meow! Sssss! Tweet! These are the sounds we heard this entire week. It has been so much fun this week seeing all the pets that came in through these school gates! There were so many wonderful animals visiting us. The children had such fun seeing and touching them!

We played a game where we showed the Pups pictures and asked them which pet was their favourite?

We had fun talking about all the different pets you can have and what pets the Pups have at home! Some of them definitely know the names of their beloved pets – too adorable! It is lovely to chat to the children about these everyday things and see how they learn. We spoke about looking after and feeding your pet and making sure they are always happy and safe.

During our art activity we explored some messy play. We made some salt dough and created some adorable little pets which we will be keeping for out art show. Two little hands experiencing all the dough between their hands and fingers. Some pf the Pups loved this experience but others didn’t seem so sure about this squishing and squashing the salt dough. All we did, as the teachers, was encourage the Pups to play and enjoy this experience. We eventually helped the Pups create some salt dough pets. So cute!! We also did some marble paint rolling for art which the Pups also thoroughly enjoyed! What another wonderful week of learning, singing, dancing, and playing!

Please remember to label everything and send a change of clothes to school with your child (please start including a long sleeve top and long pants, and a warmer jacket, as the weather can turn so quickly) and please remember to trim nails this weekend.

Next week Monday is a school holiday and Tuesday is a Public holiday so it will be a 3 day week.

Have a stunning weekend, keep safe and see you next week!

Next week’s theme: Occupations and people who help us

We Wanna Know ... Are you a Dog or a Cat Person?

Dates to Diarise:

20 March: School Holiday

21 March: Public Holiday (Human Rights Day)

25 March: EcoKids Sports Day

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Happy Pups!

My House

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THEME

My House

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COLOUR

Green

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SHAPE

Square

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NUMBER

1

j

LETTER

Hh – House

This has been a beautiful week playing and exploring with the Pups. When I look back at photos of the Pups from just a few weeks ago, I can see so many changes already! Our Pups are reaching more and more milestones. There are many little ones starting to talk more and understand more language concepts. Often during the day we hear new words pop out of these little ones mouths and myself and the Playful Pups assistants are so proud and happy to experience these very special moments!

It’s been an eventful busy week talking about our different homes and that we get different kinds of homes. I truly believe home is where the heart is, as the saying goes. This week’s art activity the Pups painted a ready cut out cardboard house and we used some ice-cream sticks to make a door and two windows. We however are not sending this activity home as we decided to keep it for out art expo.

As the Pups do most week’s they totally enjoyed yoga with teacher Nicole.

Coach Dave is busy practicing a few activities for our sports day on the 25^th of March.

I hope you all have a lovely, relaxed weekend.

See you on Monday!

Next week’s theme is: My Pets

Reminder:

Dates to Diarise:

14 March: Pet Demo

15 March: Haircut Day

20 March: School Holiday

21 March: Public Holiday (Human Rights Day)

25 March: EcoKids Sports Day

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Home Is Where The Pup Is!

My Family

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THEME

My Family

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COLOUR

Purple

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SHAPE

Triangle

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NUMBER

1

j

LETTER

Gg – Granny

This week has just flown by so quickly! We spoke about families this week and how special they are to all of us. We discussed how different families can be and that some families are small and some are big but they are all very special. We watched a short little movie about families. We sang the finger family song.

The Pups had a lot of fun this week. We played with and experienced different textures of material cloth. We also made different games with the material like ‘peek-a-boo’ which made the Pups laugh so much!

Another activity was playing with carton rolls we left the Pups to free play with these rolls to see how creative they could be. We saw microphones, binoculars, garages for their small cars and even funnels come out of the Pups little imaginations!

We did some free painting for a background that we stuck some magazine cut out pictures of family. The Pups did the painting and sicking and I cut out the family pictures we found.

The Pups went to Yoga on Thursday which they always totally enjoy. Teacher Nicole always has such well-planned and thoughtful lessons for the kiddies.

This week at FunFit sports the Pups practised their colours with Coach Dave. He instructed them to climb through a specific colour tire. Once in the cave the Pup had to spot the tire Coach Dave was peeking through and then climb out. Such Fun!

Well another week gone by and another precious week spent with all of our little Pups!

Next week’s theme is: My Home

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

We Wanna Know ...

What is your fondest FAMILY memory?

Dates to Diarise:

8 March: Happy Hoppers Term Meeting

14 March: Pet Demo

15 March: Haircut Day

20 March: School Holiday

21 March: Public Holiday (Human Rights Day)

25 March: EcoKids Sports Day

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Playful Pups Family!

Safety

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THEME

Safety

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COLOUR

Red



SHAPE

Star



NUMBER

3

j

LETTER

Ss – Safety

This week we learnt all about Safety, such as:

Safety at school – We revised the classroom rules.

Safety at home – We spoke about the Do’s and Don’ts in all the different rooms.

Safety on the road – How to cross the street.

Fire safety – STOP DROP AND ROLL

For our art activity we made a tear and stick picture of a fire.

We focused on our number and colour of the week being number 3 and the colour red. We counted out all sorts pf objects and placed them into groups of 3 and we tried to spot as many objects in the classroom that’s red.

At yoga this week we sang the yoga song which the Pups warmed up to. The Pups practiced their poses and learnt a new stat pose.

Please take note of the following:

No toys allowed at school as this causes fights amongst the kiddies.

Please make sure to label ALL belongings.

A big thank you to all the moms and dads for all their love and support they show our EcoFamily.

I hope you all have a wonderful, calm weekend.

Next weeks theme is: Me and My Family

Sometimes We All Need A Break ...

Have a wonderful Mid-Term!

Dates to Diarise:

24 – 27 Feb: Mid Term Break

28 Feb: Back to School

2 March: Smart Squad Term Meeting

8 March: Happy Hoppers Term Meeting

14 March: Pet Demo

15 March: Haircut Day

20 March: School Holiday

21 March: Public Holiday (Human Rights Day)

25 March: EcoKids Sports Day

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Always Keeping Our Pups SAFE and Happy!

My Emotions and Valentine’s Day

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THEME

My Emotions & Valentine’s Day

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COLOUR

Pink, Red, White

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SHAPE

Heart

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NUMBER

2

j

LETTER

Ll – Love

This is such a sweet theme. All the children give hugs all week and today was just so special – seeing them all in their pink, red and white outfits, handing each other sweets and chocolates and flowers. What a lovely, loving and special bunch of children come to EcoKids!

The Pups have been adorable this week, learning about the BIG emotions – HAPPY, SAD, EXCITED, ANGRY, SCARED. We spoke about each of these feelings and about situations when we would be likely to feel them. We sang “If you’re happy and you know it!” more times than we can say, making the faces as we went along. When we are sad in the song, we say “Oh no!” When we are angry, we stamp feet. When we are excited, we shout “HOORAYYYY!” We had a lot of fun making faces! These children are young but so perceptive – it is astounding how much they are learning.

For art this week we made you a beautiful Valentine’s Day card – we hope you love it! It was made with loads of love from your Pup to you. Then we made you some delicious biscuits with sprinkles. This was a lot of fun and it kept the Pups and myself very busy. The kids made a heart that they collaged with different red pink and white bits and bobs. Please see the pictures.

For FunFit Sport this week, Coach Dave created a mini obstacle course for the Pups. With coach Dave’s watchful eye the children climbed up the jungle gym, crossed two bridges and then slid down the slides! Awesome job Pups!

Yoga Thursday this week the Pups did their warm up stretches and did an upper body and core strengthening activity. After that they did skateboard pulls. The benefits of this activity is to balance and control and to try noy fall off the skateboard. Working their core and back muscles by keeping their backs straight and their heads up, this has the same concept as tummy time. Well done Pups you did a great job!

Have a stunning weekend, keep safe and see you next week!

Next weeks theme: Safety

ROSES ARE RED, VIOELTS ARE BLUE ...

We just loved boogying with you!

Dates to Diarise:

20 Feb: Fire Drill

21 Feb: Curious Crew Term meeting

24 – 27 Feb: Mid Term Break

28 Feb: Back to School

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

We ADORE our Pups!

Healthy Eating, Etiquette and Manners

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THEME

Healthy Eating, Etiquette & Manners

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COLOUR

Orange



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

1

j

LETTER

Ff – Food

One of the cutest things to hear is a child spontaneously thanking you or saying please for something. It makes our little teacher hearts so proud! We are so impressed with the lovely manners our Pups have! This week was all about healthy eating, manners and etiquette. Needless to say we didn’t get to etiquette much – although we did use meal times as a chance to discuss things like staying seated, no feet on the table, no playing with food and using a spoon or a fork… We encouraged our children to use lovely manners and always say please and thank you!

We had a lot of fun with our art activity this week. We made an orange foot print of the Pups feet to turn it into a carrot. Needless to say this was an eventful and fun activity. Some of the Pups loved the feeling of their feet being painted as others found it sensitive. We had great fun with this activity and the Pups thought it was so much fun running with paint all over the floor. This was not the plan but as it goes with such small kiddies the mess is always so much fun for them.

For FunFit sport this week, Coach Dave gave a lesson on balancing. He gave each Pup a chance to balance on the tires. Although this seemed a bit scary at first, they all became very confident. Great job Pups.

Yoga is becoming easier with the Pups now as they are becoming familiar with teacher Nicole – They did general stretching and poses to warm up their bodies. They blew the magic windmill using deep inhale and exhale breath, also known as our balloon breath. They ended off with their butterfly song.

Please take special note of our upcoming events at school:

Flip flop day on the 17^th February
Valentine’s day disco on 14^th February

The children are all settled now and are familiar with our daily routine already. It is amazing how much and how fast they can learn.

Next weeks theme: My Emotions and Valentine’s day

For our Fussy Kiddies ...

Plate pics and LOTS of colour often does the trick!

Dates to Diarise:

14 Feb: Valentine’s Disco

15 Feb: Haircut Day

20 Feb: Fire Drill

21 Feb: Curious Crew Term meeting

24 – 27 Feb: Mid Term Break

28 Feb: Back to School