April Newsletter 2015

 Inside this issue:
1. April Newsletter 2015
2. Happy February Birthday
3. Teach Children Problem Solving
Skills
4. Physical activities
5. Breast feeding! great for mom and child
6. Dental care for young children
7. Story time… the best kind of time
8. Newsletter – babies (raindrops)
9. Seashells
10. Twiglets
11. Pebbles
12. Music Newsletter
13. Calendar
Everything We do.. We do for our Children …
And their learning.
!
Dear Parents,
It has been a wonderful beginning and a prosperous term for Odyssey Nursery Khalifa City A. We
could not have been so successful without the dedication and support of our staff and parents.
Thank you for all the parents who took time out of their busy lives to fill in the “Parents Survey”. If you
haven’t done so yet, please do take ten minutes to tell us all about your concerns and opinions. So
far, the results were so POSITIVE and a HUGE compliment to our curriculum, care and standards.
We continue to enroll and register for next term and September 2015. Please make sure to register
now since places tend to fill up pretty quickly.
!
tti
TEACH CHILDREN PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
As children strengthen their social skills, they meet some challenges in sorting squabbles and fights
with their peers along the way. We seem to always point out the things that they mustn’t say or do,
“Don’t yell,” “Don’t hit.” Pointing out the things they need to do or say might escape our mind.
Here are various ways where we can help:
1. Ask your child to calm down and take a breath before reacting.
2. Agree to talk later since it could be hard to talk about something and solve it immediately
when angry.
3. Talk about the problem children feel better when someone listens and understands their
honest feelings.
4. Apologize! “I am sorry”, is always a great way to help your children own up to their mistakes.
5. Find a solution, this is a great way to help children understand that solving a problem may
prevent it before it actually occurs.
As parents or caretakers, we try and impose a solution rather than allow children to find their own.
This may help them use the needed tools and social skills later in life. PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
Physical activity for young children is an essential
skill for early brain development and learning. When
parents model and practice through their daily lives
the importance of riding a bike, walking, playing
outdoors, exercising, dancing, swimming and playing
in puddles children will likely grow up appreciating a
healthy life style.
BREAST FEEDING!
GREAT FOR MOM AND CHILD
What could be so beneficial about breastfeeding?
Did you know that breastfed babies are protected
from infections and illnesses such as diarrhea, ear
infections and chest infections? They are also less
likely to grow up as obese children. Breastfeeding
decreases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
(SIDS).
Mothers not only create a stronger bond between
them and the child when they breastfeed, but are
less likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer. DENTAL CARE FOR
YOUNG CHILDREN It is extremely important to begin hygiene habits at a
early age since a child’s last baby tooth falls out
very
around the age of 12. If children lose teeth at a very
early age due to decay, it is most likely that the next
tooth will have dental problems as well. Flossing
could begin as early as 2 years of age preventing
bacteria that will escape the toothbrush. Brushing
without flossing is like washing half the body and
leaving the rest of it dirty. STORY TIME… THE BEST KIND OF TIME
When I ask parents about reading with their children, many parents reply that their children are too
young to read, don’t listen, turn pages and throw the books away. My answer is to all my parents
that there is nothing like reading aloud to your children. Not only are we building their reading skills,
and helping them love books, but expanding their vocabulary and thinking skills.
1. Read regularly every day for 10-15 minutes at bedtime peacefully to end the day.
2. Curl up on the couch with a good book of their choice.Take turns choosing a book.
3. You will find that they love to read a favorite book over and over again.
4. Children love hearing YOU read aloud. Asking them to turn the pages while you read may keep
them interested in the book.
5. Go slowly and comment on the illustrations.
6. Choose books that rhyme so they can finish the sentences.
7. Change voices (loud, low, soft and squeaky)
8. Using your child’s name instead of a character in the book always brought a smile to my
children’s faces.
HAVE a super spring break. We are looking forward to seeing you at the beginning of term jolly, happy and
full of laughter.
Regards,
Janet Ghanem Odyssey Nursery Director
NEWSLETTER – BABIES (RAINDROPS) A big thank you to our lovely parents for trusting us with your adorable babies. During our journey
together in the past few months, we witnessed each single step our babies made. It was exciting to
prepare progress reports for each baby in order to let parents know how we assess and observe the
way they develop over the weeks. We are certainly excited to have more of such awesome moments
with our cute and cuddly babies. It is the most rewarding experience we can have at Raindrops; to
start a day with a baby’s smile.
In the month of March, we had fun exploring farm animals and plants through sensory play while
tuning into B-I-N-G-O and baby Einstein music with more farm animal sounds. This month, our
babies also have had the opportunity to spend quiet and relaxing moments outdoors in order to
enjoy the remainder of the cool winter breeze that will soon vanish.
In the coming weeks, we are embarking on a Space journey with our babies in order to explore
planets and galaxies – stay tuned and join us as we begin the count down…
Regards,
Mal Gaa SEASHELLS Dear Parents,
March has been an exciting month for our “Seashells.” they were busy learning about Farm
animals as we transformed our sand play area to a small farmyard. We enjoyed listening to the
different sounds the animals make as well as identifying that makes the sound. In addition, we
enjoyed other activities such as:
• Creating together a small world farm which developed our social skills. We added real grass for the
animals to feed on and we had real milk in gloves in order to pretend milking a cow. These kind of
activities enhance our understanding of the world.
• During circle time, we sang ‘Old Mc Donald had a Farm’ learning the names of farm animals and the
sounds they make. We counted down through singing ‘Five Little Ducks’. And the stories we enjoyed
were “Red little Hen” and “What the Ladybird Heard”, enhancing our communication and language skills.
• We developed our mathematical knowledge by picking the apples from the tree and counting them
Moreover, we used the shape blocks to build the shed for the animals such as the cows, the sheep, and
the horses.
• We explored different materials such as flakes, cotton, and foam used these to decorate our animal
crafts.
• We used our imagination in order to build together a cowshed in the construction area. These activities
help develop our personal, social and emotional skills and our understanding of the world.
Nevertheless our Spring Season was even more exciting. We created together our own
garden and our activities were the following:
• We had our handprints in all rainbow colors and learned the color “Pink”. Then we reviewed
all the shapes and colors we learned during the term.
• We used our fine and gross motor skills to dig and plant some seeds. We also painted and
decorated a small garden with flowers and cotton trees in order to enhance our Personal,
Social and Emotional skills.
• During our circle time, we enjoyed singing “When the spring comes rolling In” and we
enjoyed counting and singing “One Potato, Two, Potato”. We read many stories. Our
favorite was “IF Only”.
• We planted fast growing seeds in small cups using cotton instead of soil, and the children
watched the growing seeds enhancing our understanding of the world.
• We used different shapes and colors in order to decorate the garden. We counted the
flowers, the birds, and the bees enhancing our mathematical skills. We got very excited on
our green day feeling lucky and working with green color in order to decorate our door piece.
The last week of March was full of joy! We enjoyed with our lovely moms when they visited the
Nursery for a High Tea Party. Children were busy making photo frames as gifts for their
Mommies. Thank you to all the moms for entrusting us with your most precious gifts…Your
children.
Next term we will start talking about Space. “Seashells” will learn the “star” shape and the
color Silver and gold, we will be talking about big and small. We will also be talking about the
Sun and the moon, darkness and light. We are looking forward to an exciting new beginning.
Have a great spring break. I can’t wait to see all of you back in my classrooms smiling and
happy all over again.
Regards,
Mrs. Ruba TWIGLETS Dear Parents,
Term two has been very busy in Twiglets class. I hope you liked all of the artwork that the children
did. The children have really enjoyed learning the words and actions to all of the new nursery
rhymes we have been singing. I hope you they sing them for you at home.
The children have made great progress in the last 5 weeks that I have been teaching in Twiglets
class. I am very much looking forward to watching the children grow and develop further in term
three.
The theme to start term three is ‘Space’. I’m sure the children will enjoy learning all about the
planets. We will also be doing some fantastic Outer Space artwork.
I wish you a fantastic Half term holiday with your family. For those of you that will be joing Spring
Camp, I hope the children have a wonderful time.
I look forward to seeing everyone in term three refreshed and ready to start a fantastic new chapter.
Regards,
Ms Catherine PEBBLES Dear Parents,
March was a wonderful month in the Pebbles Class. We were very busy with our two themes, 'On the
Farm', and 'Spring'.
We have spent time exploring different animals and the names for all their young. We explored using
paint the different types of animal footprints and tractor prints - which we could have easily continued for
days!
Our senses have been overloaded with a variety of textures to manipulate. We have played with brown
goo as mud, pasta as nests, lentils and seeds as well as plenty of soil and water to make mud pies.
We also concentrated on Lifecycles of animals and seeds. We read books such as 'The Hungry
Caterpillar', used role-play to help us display the lifecycle of the seed and discussed the cycle of frogs
and chicks.
The Pebbles class has been concentrating on using their fine motor skills, especially when using
scissors and pencil control. They have especially enjoyed painting and using the play dough too.
With Easter upon us the children were busy with many art activities. Decorating bunny hats to wear
whilst we had our egg hunt in the garden, experimenting with a variety of coloured cellophane to make
stripy egg patterns and we made lots of gorgeous chicks and bunnies using lots of different materials.
We enjoyed a lovely picnic in the garden on Thursday afternoon to start the Easter festivities and had a
super time celebrating the end of term.
We would like to welcome Annika, Bina, Chalee and Suhail to Pebbles class for the start of Term 3.
Wishing you all a super Spring Break. Take care.
Mrs. Laura CATCH THE STARS! Dear Parents,
The children had fun growing like beans and dancing like flowers during our music sessions under the
theme "Spring"! Tchaikovsky's graceful music was very much appreciated; it even revealed the inner
dancer that lies within our children.
Now, fasten your seat belts, we are taking off from the green earth in order to reach outer space!
The children in Seashells will continue to explore our "Space" theme around music & movement and
singing. They will enjoy pretending to astronauts and hopefully catching some stars on the milky way!
The children in Twiglets will also explore music & movements along with musical exploration. They will
discover the fantastic work of Gustav Holst who composed "The Planets", a seven-movement orchestral
suite that gives opportunity for different kinds of emotions and movements to be expressed. We hope
you will have the chance to listen to it too as it is one of the sources of inspiration of the legendary music
scores of "Star Wars"!
The children in Pebbles will also discover the theme around "The Space". However, due to their growing
interest in the musical tale entitled "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokoviev, we will keep one foot on earth.
Almost all the characters have been distributed and, surprisingly, we are still looking for our hero, Peter.
Casting is open dear Parents!
Regards,
Mrs. Glenda Chers Parents,
Durant les deux dernières semaines de Mars, nous avons célébré la venue du printemps pendant
laquelle les enfants ont exploré les joies du jardinage: ils ont planté des graines, décoré les pots de
plantes, pris soin des fleurs et recrée leurs propres petits jardins ! Les couleurs verte et rose étaient
de mise et l'apprentissage du cycle de vie d'une fleur était au programme.
A la rentrée d'avril, les enfants d'Odyssey décollent de la Terre pour aller découvrir l'espace !
Les enfants de La Rosée (1-2 ans) exploreront ce thème autour du mouvement. Ce n'est pas chose
facile que de marcher comme sur la Lune et de danser comme les étoiles filantes ! De nombreux
jeux qui éveillent les sens seront également mis à la portée des enfants car c'est de cette manière
qu'ils apprennent le mieux.
Les enfants de Brins de Laine (2-3 ans) appréhenderont essentiellement le thème de l'espace
autour des arts, avec la découverte des formes (le rond, l'étoile) et des couleurs singulières qui
caractérisent notre univers (l'argenté, le doré).
Enfin, les enfants des Bourgeons (3-4 ans) aborderont ce thème à travers la pratique de chansons
et des lectures appropriées. Le travail d’ “écriture" continuera avec l'apprentissage de leurs prénoms
respectifs en lettres capitales. Egalement, les enfants participeront à des activités qui leur
permettront de comprendre notre monde et en particulier de savoir "où" se trouve l'espace par
rapport à nous, à Khalifa City !
Nous vous remercions pour votre soutien constant et vous souhaitons de bonnes vacances !
Cordialement,
Mrs. Glenda Chers Parents,
Alors que nous arrivons à la fin du second trimestre, je suis fière de voir tout ce qu’ont
accompli nos enfants/élèves ainsi que vous, parents pour différentes raisons :
- Maintenant ils sont parfaitement adaptés dans leur nouvel environnement
- Ils connaissent le déroulement de la journée en classe, écoutent leur professeur et participent à
toutes les activités éducatives et ludiques
- Ils ont fait d’énormes progrès dans leur apprentissage et continuent à le faire. J epeux entendre
certains enfants chanter en français et comprendre l’arabe alors que ce ne sont pas leurs langues
maternelles, ils connaissent également les couleurs, les formes…
- Ils adorent aller dehors et explorent complètement le jardin
- Je vous félicite car, en tant que parents, vous faites votre maximum pour apporter à votre enfant
une alimentation équilibrée. C’est si important pour leur développement et leur vie future. Si des
parents ont des idées de menu à partager, n’hésitez pas !
Voici différentes informations :
- A la fin du mois prochain, la crèche aimerait offrir aux parents une temps de table ronde avec
Janet, moi ? et une psychologue. Faites-nous savoir quel thème vous voudriez voir aborder.
- Numéros importants :
a) Healthplus à Al Bandar : 02 557 18 18 Le Dr Bushra travaille dans cette Clinique
b Al Rahba hospital : (urgences pédiatriques) 02 506 44 44
c) Seha clinic à côté de GEMS : dentistes pédiatriques, vaccinations gratuities
d) Ambulance : 998
e) Fire : 997
f) Police : 999
Je vous souhaite une excellent camp de vacances ou de belles vacances
Laure, infirmière puéricultrice
APRIL
2015
Wild ground bun, one of the earliest flowers of spring, spread its
brightness in a carpet of pink in
the fields.
National Kite Flying Month
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 1 April fool’s day 5 6 12 7 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 27 28 29 National Day of
the
Netherlands 11 17 National Day
of Syria 23 18 24 Earth Day 4 10 16 26 3 Prisoners
International
Day Blowing Bubbles
Day Classes Resume
Saturday School
Librarian
Day 9 2 Christian
Anderson’s
Birthday (18051875) 8 Friday 25 Flying Kite Day 30