After the expansion and activity of summer, the rain and cooler weather over the autumn equinox helped us to begin our inward journey, a process that continued this week at Preschool, with our wonderful autumn festival under the branches of Grandfather Fig. When we come together to celebrate with reverence and joy, the seed of renewal begins to grow and nourishes us all, as individuals and as a community.

We've been noticing the changes in the light during our autumn mornings, with mist in the air and the cattle egrets flying above, along with the fairy wrens, sparrows and Happy Harold Heron. The Tibouchina Sisters have been greeting us as they dance in the teasy breeze, as have our King Sunflowers, with their golden glow.

With the cooler weather, we enjoyed a walk to the creek to visit the gnomes, and the wee fairy folk. We were lucky enough to see many of Mother Nature's special gifts, including mushroom rings, orange fungi and Spindle Spider webs, and we collected some bark, sticks and twigs to make homes for our beeswax mushrooms.

Back at Preschool, the children painted liquid amber leaves to invite their parents to our autumn festival, taking as much care as Little Starry Amber, the autumn fairy.

The pumpkins have grown abundantly in our Preschool garden, perfect for our Rolly Polly Pumpkin game, followed by pumpkin and mushroom pizzas, which we all enjoyed with fresh basil from our garden.

 We look forward to meeting up again in the new term, ready for more adventures.

Susan Denney
Preschool Group Leader

Here at Playgroup, orderliness and rhythm plant the seeds for good habits, starting in these very early years. Here are Satori, Ezra, Pandora, Sahara and Ariel (at top), who have joined our new Wednesday group this year, practising cleaning the table after making ‘crunchy buns’ and doing a wonderful job.

We have some older children in our Tuesday group who are very familiar with our Playgroup routine, allowing others, who have started more recently, to imitate the more experienced children. Lily, Raffaella and Isiah are taking great care in their work or is it playing and being purposefully active…

We have been planting beans and pumpkins. Bodhi is absorbed in ‘tucking his little seed into its warm bed’ and Jasmine is watering her plant ever so carefully.

Rosewood Cottage has a veranda with a railing and this has been a great test for many children to practice their gross and fine motor skills; social/emotional skills such as taking turns; balancing; hand-eye coordination and being aware of each other. Despina, Pandora, Sonny and Sahara proudly show us their skills.

Hunter and Liberty both have baby siblings and in their self-directed play we can observe how they imitate - looking after the dolls and doing some busy work.

At the end of the Playgroup day, after so much busy work and learning, it is time to sit down and rest and books and stories are wonderful opportunity for a more inward and quiet experience.

Warmly,
Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

We are off to a wonderful start in Birdsong Kindy. The children are quickly realising why our Kindy is called Birdsong as they meet many new bird visitors daily! Merrily Magpie has been to visit, as have the Butcher Bird Brothers, Willy Wagtail, Chitter and Chatter the Rainbow Lorikeets, the little wren family and more. We are grateful for their visits and spend quiet time each day listening for their songs and surprises, thanking them by singing songs of our own. We acknowledge and celebrate Mother Nature’s gifts and the wonderful world around us.

The children have quickly settled in to our Kindy rhythm and are participating enthusiastically in our drawing, craft, painting and baking lessons. They are capable, persistent and ready for a challenge! Play is passionate and busy. It is a delight to observe new friendships being made, old ones changing and deepening, as well as a general love of fun permeating through the group, connecting our class as a whole. We are having a very jolly time, with lots of smiles and laughter, just right for the Kindy year!

Despite the ongoing heat, we have begun to notice changes around us as we transition into the autumn months. We are learning new autumn songs and looking forward to beginning our preparations for our Autumn Festival to be held at the end of term.

With love from Kat and all at Birdsong Kindy

All of the Preschool groups are settling in nicely with new and old friends, enjoying story and song,
laughter and fun, and our lush green environment. The Banksia Rose Preschool children went down to Crystal Creek to keep cool during the hot summer days of the first weeks back. They found no water, but there were many of Mother Nature’s treasures under her tall, shady trees and in the little nooks and crannies. Back at their room they splashed in the paddle pool and rested in the gentle breeze on the verandah.

The children were also excited to have a visit from Greg, our Golden Hat Gnome, who came to Preschool with his handy tool belt to take care of a few things which needed fixing. The children watched with wonder and provided Greg with a steady stream of sustenance - cups of tea, glasses of water and even a crunchy bun! 

Susan Denney
Preschool

A year at Preschool is a journey shared with each child, their family and educators. We have had an amazing year and, as the children have grown, so has the Preschool - into a flourishing, nurturing space where everyone has a part to play.

As the end of the year rushes towards us, we endeavour to create space for quiet reflection. It is important for the young child to maintain a steady rhythm, with plenty of rest, which will hold them in good stead over the holiday season.

We have some big changes in staffing underway for 2019, with the much respected and admired Danni Noad, Sandy Dobbins and Karen McKinnon all finishing with us at Preschool at the end of the year. It is too difficult to put into words what Danni, Sandy and Karen have added to our Preschool community in their time with us.  They are much loved and will be greatly missed. I am sure that the fortunate children and families who have gotten to know them will feel the same. We wish all three the very best for the future and the best of luck for their new endeavours.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of the families and children that create our Little Shearwater community. For the children going on to Kindergarten, we will be giving you lots of waves over the Preschool fence when we see you next year! I wish each family an enjoyable holiday season.
Craig d'Arcy
Preschool Coordinator

Shearwater students proudly showed their year's work to families and friends during the School's annual Open Day at the end of November - a breathtaking display of colour, creativity, beauty and incredible energy.

Here at Playgroup, we were very lucky to have a visit from ‘Sunshine Susie’ with her magical biodynamic potion. We all helped stir the potion and then after an hour sprinkled it all around the Rosewood Cottage gardens. Mirabai and Lottie are investigating the potion with Susie (above).
 
Steven and Willa are grating beetroot together for our lunch. Dad is using the big grater and Willa is practicing her hand eye coordination and fine and gross motor skills on the small grater.
 
Quinne is deeply engrossed in is solitary play. His train track has stepped up to the next level as he has discovered adding blocks creates a kind of viaduct.
 
The groups are very busy making felted butterflies and everyone is joining in - beginning with observation, for one of our youngest children, Amber.
 
Another end of the year is approaching fast and many of our families are getting ready for Preschool next year. I feel very lucky to have been part of so much learning, building of friendships, sharing of happy times and deep intimate experiences. A big thank you to you all and the warmest wishes.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

Our Hummingbee Kindies thoroughly enjoyed an outing to visit Wink Blink Lighthouse and to watch Wash Wallow Whale and his family travelling North to where the waters are warm… back to where Wash Wallow was born.  “It feels like we’re flying!” one child commented as we began their first journey together on the school bus.

We have spent a whole term finger-knitting, weaving, feeding and sewing our beautiful Grandmother Shellyback Turtles - a wonderful long-term ‘will’ project. The children have discovered the pleasure and satisfaction of making something beautiful which requires perseverance and thoroughness. “My heart feels so filled up with love and excitement” was how one child described the moment she realised her turtle was almost finished. The children now want to make a story about the adventures of their turtles - a lovely reflection of the children feeling a sense of belonging and togetherness as a group, preparing to head to Class One next year.

Our Spring Festival last term began with the children and parents making flower crowns. We then shared some of the songs from our stories about Queen Honey Hum’s Happy Humming Hive, the Golden Palace.

This term, our garden has been lovingly sprinkled with a biodynamic preparation, known at Kindy as Star-Secret Sprinkles, to help Mother Earth nourish her soil and plants. The sense of wonder was tangible as the children stirred then looked at their wet hands to see if they could see the star sprinkles! Our potato harvest gave a bumper crop, which the children took home to share with their families for dinner.

Sand play, mud play and water play are becoming favourite activities at outside playtime, to keep us cool as the weather warms up again. We continue to stretch the capabilities of our limbs, trying new things on the monkey bars, balancing and pulling heavy loads for the garden.

This week we begin a woodwork project, making paddle boats, with lots of sanding, painting, sawing, hammering, tie-dyeing the sail, tying knots to secure the anchor and then finally launching, at the end of term, when the children will be well and truly ready to launch off on the next step of their own exciting journey into Primary School!

The Hummingbee Team

Alex Korobacz from Bare Hands Carpentry recently completed stage two of our Preschool playground equipment with the support of the dedicated families who took part in our holiday working bee. A big thank you to Alex and Bel (parents of Malika) and Magnum (Zion and Isis), who were hard at work nearly every day. Also to Tam (Matchum and Tommy), Nikolett (Maya and Leila), Rich (Yasmine), Jacob (Willow and Isi), KDN (Tula) and Thomas (Mattea), for their hard work sanding, sawing, digging and varnishing/oiling. Also to Bel (Malika), Elyse (Dylan), Jo and Matt (Francis and William), Claire (Matchum and Tommy) and Rachelle (Willow and Isi), for food and drink deliveries to keep everyone's energy flowing.
A BIG thank you to our beloved Frankie for his skill and care as he zipped in and out of our gardens with the tractor, digging holes, clearing ground, moving logs and removing one of our plants to make room for our Crystal Castle. A BIG thank you also to Ken and Sunshine Suzie who, with love and dedication, ensured the surrounding gardens were ready for the adventures of our precious little ones when they arrived back from their holidays.
Our Therapeutic Space has also been completed over the holidays - a big thank you to my own boys, Malcolm, Jared, Connor and Jordan, for volunteering their time. The Therapeutic Space will provide all the children at Preschool and Playgroup with an opportunity for quiet time, when needed, complete with cuddles from our guinea pigs, Scuffles and Rosie Beautiful Flower.
Our deepest appreciation from all Preschool staff,
Craig, Sandy, Suze, Danni, Antoinette, Gabe, Karen, Susan and Kaz

The young child learns through imitation and through social play with peers. ​For our Preschool children, this term (as always) has been a time of ‘doing’, with imagination and creativity. You can see from the photos above all of the amazing things we have been doing including: climbing and exploring in Grandfather Fig tree; working together to make cubbies; helping to take care of our guinea pigs; reading stories to each other and going for adventures sailing on the sea. 
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With the arrival of spring, we have started to notice new growth and new creatures joining us in the garden. The following is one of our favourite spring songs, (sung while we all hold onto the waist of person in front and make a great big caterpillar line!).

Many Legs Caterpillar
Has many, many, many, many legs.
Many Legs Caterpillar has many, many, many, many legs.
Across the garden he does run,
Following the light of the golden sun
With all his friends, he does roam
Until he finds a place for a cosy home…
Many Legs Caterpillar has many, many, many, many legs.
Many Legs Caterpillar has many, many, many, many legs