Thursday, October 22, 2009

Follow the playway on Twitter

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The Playway is now on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/theplayway

Sunday, October 4, 2009

theplayway News October

We are nearing the end of 2009! How fast does time fly? At the playway, we’ve been busy playing with the children and through play motivating them; giving them age appropriate stimulation, assessing them and planning the activities to keep them busy and happy always. Time flies without a warning!

Play is the tool, play is the key... What are the benefits of play?
Play is to a child what work is to an adult. It is through play that children learn about their world and the things around them. Play allows the children to explore their environment, gives chances to understand how the world works and how they can relate to it. A child can express feelings and emotions through various types of play activities far easier and earlier than they can express through words. The child naturally learns what he/she has to while being happy at play. It is stress free and allows the child to express any fears and confusions and it is while they are at play that professionals can monitor them and assess their development. This is the benefit of play.

At the playway, we witness the benefits of play. Our children are all autonomous learners and they are developing steadily and consistently. We observe and note the process of their play, not only the finished product.
Giving children the space and freedom of expression are the keys for development. Accepting them and their capabilities and treating them as unique individuals make a huge difference too. Never compare your children and force the other to behave like another. The stress such force build can cause very bad effects in later years.
“Give your full attention to the child and do not limit their play activities, especially imaginative play, other than for safety reasons. It is important that adults join children in play activities, but only when asked”, say Karen DeBord and Nick Amann in their article Benefits of Play. This clearly shows us intervention is unhealthy. Therefore I believe that everyone who deals with young children should have at least a basic training as to how best they can promote positive play and positive attitudes on children.
Please have trained care givers at your child’s service all times as it is important your child gets proper care all the time! It is their right!!

Welcome
We are delighted to welcome little Adhithya, Yousuf, and Shanaya to the playway. They complete our play circle. Hope they will have a great time at the playway.

Also a big welcome hug goes to Ms Menasha Paranavithane who joins the playway in October. She is a product of Ladies’ College, Colombo 7 and has completed her Associate Degree in Environmental Sciences & Management at ANC. She will enter Monash University, Sunway Campus shortly to complete her HRM degree which she currently follows at the ANC. She will remain with us till December 2009. She assists the teachers at the playway as she has a keen interest in under- fives.

Bye, Bye…
Ms Gayani Nelson takes time off from the playway for practice teaching. She is currently following a Diploma course in Special Needs Children at the Dept of Vocational Studies Ladies’ College Colombo.
She will be re-joining the playway staff in January 2010 with more qualification in hand. She has been a loving and a caring teacher. We will all miss her.

Flash Back: Gardening at the playway


The children had a very keen interest in sowing their seeds and caring for them. Within days the seeds germinated and the children were able to witness the tiny plants. Soon they saw longer stems and greener leaves. At the end of the week they were able to take their plants home for further care.
Apoorva has witnessed flowering of her bean plant previously planted in the classroom. She keeps a closer look at the beans that grew out of the bean-flowers. Well done, green fingers!!!

October is here…


Flash Back: the Salad Day at the playway was a hit when both teachers and children had a firsthand experience in cutting and mixing all kinds of garden fresh vegetables into a scrumptious salad.

Flash Back: To market, to market to buy a…
The children at the playway had a remarkable day out at the imaginary market the teachers created in the lawn on the 30th. The buying and selling were at a peak and the parking-lot was full.

Our Current Theme

Our current theme remains the same as we shall expose the children at the playway to many different types of planting strategies like sponge gardening, home gardening and terrariums. We will also focus on gardening with this months’ fieldtrip by visiting a Plant exhibition at the Viharamahadevi Park. The children will be exposed to many types of plants, leaves, flowers and fruit there. From there they will be taken to the main park where they can run, play and have a great time with each other.

Dear parents, please help your child to collect different types of flowers and leaves (dried or fresh) to paste in their scrap books. Please send these items on the Oct 15, when they will be able to compare and contrast the differences between them.
Also, if you have large plastic see-through containers (used) that can be used as a base for a terrarium please lend them to us so that we can build our terrariums with the children and return the containers shortly. E.g.: Used large water bottles, small glass fish tanks etc.

Happy, Happy Birthdays!!!
03 Oct Dimitri
Dimitri will be 3 years old. We hope he will have a super birthday!
20 Oct Aunty Amaal
Our wishes go out to Aunty Amaal on her 27th birthday!



Dates for Your Diary
Thursday Oct, 08 Pink Day! Dress me in Pink…
Thursday Oct 15 Leaves and flowers for my scrap book
Wednesday Oct 21 Field Trip to Viharamahadevi Park (Tentative)
Wednesday Oct 28 Car Wash
Friday Oct 30 Dress me like a Veggie!

Have an Optimistic October…

Director, the playway nursery