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

After our nourishing winter break, the children of Birdsong Kindy came back rested and ready for busy Kindy work. As we transitioned from the cold winter months into spring, we heard the stories of Wallow Whale and his family, who made the long journey from the icy southern waters to the warm waters of Golden Bay, where Mama Whale would have her baby. Along the way he met many new friends, including Diver Dolphin, Careena Green Turtle, the Rainbow Sparkle Fish and of course, passed by Blink Wink Lighthouse. We learnt many new songs of the sea and the children’s clever hands began finger knitting the rainbow colours that will eventually be woven together to make the shell of their very own turtle.
To finish our Wallow stories, the class took the bus to visit Blink Wink, and to look out for Wallow and his friends and family. It was our lucky day, as the water was clear and we saw many whales splashing and waving their tails. The children will tell you that we saw more than 100 whales ("what’s the biggest number, Kat?") as well as Diver and Silver Seagull, and Busy Bush Turkey. We finished the day with a picnic and a play in the park. Fun was had by all.
Now, spring days have arrived! A big thank you to all the parents and staff who contributed to a wonderful Spring Fair, helping all our children to celebrate and welcome the change of season. Now in Birdsong, we sing of the birds, bees, butterflies, and rain! We hear the stories of Lady Spring’s Garden as we begin our preparation for our Spring Festival, when we look forward to celebrating with our families again.
Kat Barwick
Birdsong Kindergarten

We have been very busy at Playgroup this term, thanks to lots of teamwork and help. We have been experimenting with making our own stepping stones, leading from the veranda of Rosewood Cottage, over the bridge and eventually to the cubby house and sandpit. We've still got quite a bit of work ahead of us, but it is a lot of fun and it looks great too. Thanks to Beverley Clark for the inspiration and materials for our stepping stones project and for donating silk that she dyed with her wonderful color experience. Big thank yous also to Vanessa, for expertly sewing the two big pieces of silk together, and to Ken for digging in all our pavers.
Carina Haliday
Playgroup Coordinator

Well, what a transformation in our garden over the holidays! A big thank you to all of the busy bees who gave their time and effort to help to make our playground come to life. And an extra BIG thank you to Alex, Bel, Malika and Huon for their vision and dedication. From all the children, now and to come... our deepest appreciation.
Susan’s group discovered the cubby house and it was a huge hit... it became a house, a cafe, a food stall, a caravan. The children swept and cleaned and watered the plants, they made a path and a garden, and came up with some great ideas for extensions, having picked up on the enthusiasm, creative inspiration and imagination that poured into every corner, detail and brush stroke - a veranda, front steps, two levels, an umbrella for their cafe and many more wonderful ideas.
The new boat, Bella Rosa, took Susan's whole class on a journey together across the silvery seas, amidst the frolicking whales. A few children fell overboard and Officer Elias jumped in the rough seas to rescue them while the deck crew all gathered together with their ropes to offer support.
Then, Sandy’s group went fishing on the boat. They gathered some logs to have a fire and cooked up a feast. I'm sure there will be many more adventures to come!
Craig d'Arcy
Preschool Coordinator

Hummingbee Kindies have been busy with seasonal activities this term…we’ve tucked our Golden Daffodil Bulb Babies into their cosy winter beds and care for them each day; some are starting to tentatively pop up their little green heads already!
We have been preparing for our Winter Festival... rolling beeswax candles, and constructing our ‘little houses with starry windows and a fireplace inside’ for our lanterns, to shed a little light for us at this darkest and coldest time of year.
Our fingers have been busy learning finger knitting and making all sorts of things from our stories using modelling beeswax.
Outside we have loved stretching our bodies and exploring what new things we can do with long-rope skipping and our new monkey bars. Thank you Alex for building them for us!
Thank you, too to Zach and Willow’s families who donated rocks for a new dry creek-bed in our playground, and to all the kindies who loaded and pulled trolley loads of rocks into our garden! Our mud-pit continues to be a favourite play-space and is transformed every day with a new play-story, construction and sculpting in mud.
Crystal Creek provides us with opportunities for cooperative play…like moving a huge tree branch to make a bridge to help us cross the water to Crystal Treasure Corner.
Our garden has provided bounteous gifts for baking day – silverbeet, shallots, basil, parsley, tomatoes, mint and lemongrass for warming teas and we have beetroot, zucchini and peas coming on for next term's baking days. Above all, we enjoy our native mulberry, with her tiny pearl-like fruit and the little cubby she provides beneath her branches.

Playgroup is a place to share and support each other, to create friendships and learn from and with each other.
Adele and Solae (pictured above) are having a cup of tea together and chatting away like they see their parents doing. They have moved from parallel play, where the children sit beside each other and copy each others play, to actively seeking out friends and engaging in co-operative play. These are wonderful social and emotional milestones observed and celebrated by parent and educator in Playgroup.
We had a woolly day at Playgroup recently. Tzivonit and her son Tamer brought in their one-week old lamb Daisy. Daisy Lamb is always very hungry. She wears a nappy while she is inside, just like a baby, and needs to stay close to her adopted mum. Thank you Tziv for this wonderful experience. Also thank you to Joss for showing us how to spin wool into yarn and a big thank you to all our wonderful families for sharing these special moments.
Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

At Preschool we have been feeling the cool Autumn breezes and noticing the leaves around us turn golden, orange and red. There is always busy work to do. We have been washing crystals to notice the different colours and patterns; working together to plant new trees and making mandala designs from some of the flowers in our garden. Some of us are making binoculars to take on walks. All of the children enjoy walking to Grandfather Fig tree and to different parts of our beautiful School grounds. Not to mention, it’s great to play with our friends and to have lots of fun.

Autumn at Birdsong Kindy has been busy and full of surprises! Much to the children’s delight, we came back after our holidays to find new play equipment in our garden. The children have been dedicated and brave as they master new tricks, helping and encouraging others along the way.
We have been watching as Mother Earth weaves her Autumn Blanket, filled with earthly treasures in red, orange and gold. We have begun to make our own Autumn weaving (pictured above), thanking Mother Earth for her abundance of gifts as we weave, in and out, in and out, getting our fingers ready for more weaving tasks to come.
We have made and flown our own kites, watching them dance and play in the Autumn breeze; dyed our craft bags with colourful star patterns, and finished finger knitting handles, ready for us to sew on. 
As well as all our busy work, there has been such deep, rich creative play at Kindy and as the days are cooling, we are grateful for the gift of friends to warm our hearts.

Our groups are settling into steady rhythms as we enjoy the autumn time. The children are building firm relationships with each other and with our educators. We have been exploring, creating, working together and enjoying our amazing environment. It is such a big step for young children say goodbye to mums and dads and be placed in our care for the day. We feel so privileged to have your trust and support.
A representative of the Department of Education undertook an inspection of Little Shearwater Preschool in February. We are pleased to be able to report that we have been rated as meeting all of the National Quality Framework standards.  The officer wrote in summary -
Your service is commended on its achievements in providing quality outcomes for children. In particular, the provision of a thoughtful and well organised environment and educator's respectful and ethical practice towards the children, demonstrate your service's commitment to quality.
Craig d'Arcy
Preschool Coordinator

The new year and Term 1 are in full swing here at Rosewood Cottage Playgroup as we welcome new families and 'old' friends alike.