Sunday, November 27, 2011

Year End Fairy Tales at the playway, December 09, 2011


Year End Fairy Tales at the playway, December 09, 2011
Dear Parent,
As mentioned in the NovDec Schedule, the playway will present fairy tales as the year end drama component!
Please be informed that this event is organized to give the young learner the confidence to come on stage and present himself/herself. We as Educators of Early Learners prefer children’s spontaneous actions to directed ones. Therefore, at the playway, we encourage children to come up with most of the actions while directing them where it is only necessary.  The characters were decided with the same idea in mind.

A special note of thank you: I am assisted by the staff at the playway, together with Yulia Edirisinghe, Editor of Monash University Student Association
( 2011/2012), Melissa Aluvihare, past President of the Literary Music and Drama society of Musaeus College Colombo and Kalani Kulathunga, Head Girl/ Vice President Literary, Music & Drama society of Musaeus College ( 2009/2010) in this event. Thank you ladies, for your patience, creativity and services.
Suggested Costumes: Please be advised that we would like to use mum -made costumes ( simple/ comfortable &  inexpensive) for all the characters for it will give a unique touch and a great feeling for the child…Please feel free to discuss how well we could do this (as soon as possible) as we need to have the costumes  ready by December 06 , at the playway.
Yours sincerely,
Neelika  Edirisinghe
28.11.2011

News - November 2011


November & December Birthdays!!!


We are delighted to announce that little Naqeeb will be celebrating his second birthday on November 22. Hope Naqeeb will have loads of FUN with his friends at the playway!!!
Aunt Eranthi will celebrate her birthday on the November 23! Hope she will have a memorable birthday celebration too!!!
December birthday boy, Aditya will be five on 19! Hope he will have a fantastic birthday too!!!
 We take this opportunity to wish all of you a great year ahead! May all your birthday dreams come true!!!
Reminders!!!  Please be informed that the playway Fruit Breaks are on every Tuesday and Thursday. It is advised that you send your child his/her favourite fruit / fruit juice ( fresh juice please) on these days as we want children to have a positive attitude about fruit intake!!!
We encourage Brunch on Fridays! (Please send rice/ pasta/ noodles/pancakes or an assortment of items to choose from)
Normal Snack Days…Please try to send a variety of food items ie: yogurt, cheese, home -made sandwiches ,green gram, roti  or egg omelets  instead of sending one thing for a period of time. Very young children tend to get tired and could develop a negative attitude towards food if repeated for a period of time. Therefore, make sure your child’s pack of snack is interesting please!!!!
Also, please note that snack times are very special at the playway as we treat it to be the best time your child socializes with his/ her peers!!! Your child could gain a lot of self esteem if he/ she could enjoy what he gets as his/ her snack!!!
Dates for your Diary…
Friday 25 November ( Tentative)
Spend the day at Guruge Park- JaEla
Wednesday, 07
Open Day for Parents- Please sign up
Thursday, 08
Open Day for Parents- Please sign up
Friday, 09
Christmas songs and Fairy Tales…
Friday ,09
Play Halts for 2011…
Thursday, January 05
* Teachers back to work at the playway
Monday, January 09
Play begins for children…
Wednesday January 11
New children arrive…

Hope you will have a Nice November and a Delightful December!!
Neelika Edirisinghe

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

News Sep - Oct 2011


Hi everyone!
We are delighted to extend a warm welcome to little Naqeeb and Prajjan who joined the playway in September. Hope the two will find the playway interesting and stimulating.
The children at the playway, have been exploring every nook and corner of the Letterland for the whole of last month. They have been very keen in finding out more and more about the characters of the Letterland. Therefore, we have decided to remain in Letterland for another month. Thus the Topic of Inquiry for month of September too is “Landing on Letterland”.



The children meet a new Letterland character very often at the playway and are inspired by their characteristics. Due to the great interest the children have in these friendly & stimulating characters, we decided to have the children dressed up as their favourite Letterland character on the Children’s and Elders’ day in  2011 ( tentative Friday, September 30)
Flash back
August 04
Play began: the playwayers were welcomed by the Letterland characters
August 09
Show & Tell at the playway: children brought in their own Letterland recourses to show and tell their peers. That was an amazing collection. Thank you parents for being interested in your child’s interests.
Everyone was so… enthusiastic about the prospects of landing on Letterland.
August 17,
Cookery at the playway: the playwayers were very busy frying “o” as in Omelets and making “o” as in Orange juice. The teachers got a lot of help from the children throughout the cookery lesson.
“The Omelets and the Orange juice were Hot Hits”.
September 02,
the playwayers had a great Ramadhan festival with sweets sent by Ishaq’s parents. Thank you for the sweets Mr and Mrs Jaleel!

Aunty Amaal read them a story about the festival and gave them a chance to taste fresh dates delivered from the UAE. Thank you…

September, 09
Donations were handed over to Ms Jithangi Ranasinghe, Drama Instructress at the Russian Centre who is a voluntary officer at the Cancer Hospital Children’s Unit and who is our link to the Cancer hospital children’s ward.
The Organizing Committee ( Light a Life Programme) invites everyone who donated materials to join the children at the exhibition (at the Children’s Cancer Ward) on the Children’s Day 2011. A letter regarding this will be sent in due course.

Happy Happy Birthday:

Many, many Happy Returns to
Little Aniq who is celebrating his 3rd Birthday on September 12
Akaash who is celebrating his 5th birthday on September 26      
Baby Hannah who is celebrating her 2nd birthday on October 05                             
Little Sarah who is celebrating her 3rd birthday on October 07
And Limath who is celebrating his 4th birthday on October 18

We wish you all Super Fantastic Birthdays

Special Announcement:
Please be informed that the parents are requested to pick their children on time. It is vital that the teachers get required time to get ready for the next day with materials and schedules. The team works till late to put things together to give your child a first class experience at the playway. We sincerely hope you will understand the situation.
Your cooperation in this regard is greatly appreciated.

Shown below is the Time Schedule to help you pick your child:

Children who are 1 1/2- 2
At 11.00 a.m.
Children who are 2-3
At 11.30 a.m.
Children who are 3+
At 12.00 noon

Welcome: We are delighted to welcome Ms Nipuni Yogananda who has a   Diploma in Early Childhood Education from Shalford Teacher Training Institute, Colpetty. She is a product of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, Ms Eranthi Welikala who has a Diploma in AMI Montessori Method of Education from the Good Shepherd (St Bridget’s Convent Colombo). She is a product of Ladies’ College Colombo, Ms Sajitha Amaranayake who has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of Colombo, who is a product of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo and Ms Deharshani Perera who has a Diploma in AMI Montessori Method of Education from the Good Shepherd (St Bridget’s Convent Colombo) and who is a product of St Bridget’s Convent Colombo. They join the playway this term to strengthen the team with quality, creativity and colour.
On Leave: Ms. Farina Suleiman takes five week overseas leave to drop her daughter, Sabhaa at King’s College, London for her higher studies. Farina will be back with us in mid October. We wish her and her daughter safe flights and a great time together.
 The photographs taken by the official photographer, Mr. Nishendra, at the Summer Dance on Planet Earth (in July 2011) can be purchased individually from him on request. He will be visiting the Russian Centre with the photographs and the photographs will be displayed on a bulletin board at the entrance.


Thank you so… much
Thank you so much for the contributions you made for the children affected with cancer in Sri Lanka. We hope that the materials you donated will keep the children busy, making them forget their illness and severe pain.

Cordial Invitation…
You are invited to visit the art & craft exhibition at the Cancer Hospital Children’s ward on Saturday 01 October. A letter regarding this will reach you in due course.





Feed Back: We are honestly proud as a team to get positive feedback from the parents throughout the year. The parent conferences in June2011  was a time we actually got time to sit and talk with each and every one of you for longer period of time on various matters that matter with your child’s progress  through the year. We thank the parents who promptly sent us the completed feedback forms with a high degree of positive remarks. However; some of them have not come back to us. Please fill and send them back as fast as you can as your comments are very important for us to grow as a team. Please take a few minutes of your schedule for this purpose and treat that as one of the priorities as a parent. We are waiting…

Dates for your diary…
Friday, September 16


Plant a Tree Day: please send a margarine tub to plant a seed to take home
Wednesday, September 21

Cookery Day: Meal for Munching Mike
Friday, September 30


Children’s & Elders’ Day Celebrations at the playway
Invitations will be sent in due course for Grands. Till then please keep the date free.

Please note that the dates for your diary for month of October will be issued in October!


Have Sensational September & an Awesome October

Neelika Edirisinghe,
Director the playway 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

News- August 2011

Dear Parents,

Welcome everyone! Welcome August…
Hello, hope you had a fantastic summer holiday! The staff and I had a memorable holiday, relaxed, traveled and are back here to play…
Welcome: We are delighted to welcome little Hannah, Yumna & Sarah to our play circle. Hope all of you will enjoy being at the playway as much as we do having you here.

Happy, happy birthday:  Congratulations Yumna, you will turn two soon…Little Yumna will celebrate her second birthday on August 30. We wish her a very happy birthday. Many Happy Returns Yumna!
Create a whole world of Happiness through GIVING this season…


Come Show you are There 
by Neelika Edirisinghe
Come show you are there,
Not only where fun is there,
Share with the ones who do not know why they are stuck with cancers so
Remember they have no control  
of what has taken their life on hold
In this season, when you give…
Remember to lend a hand to babies stuck with cancer at HOPE…



Our Current Theme: Landing on Letterland. In August the playwayers will set out from the space and land on the most delightful Letterland, where letters in the English alphabet live. This is an all time favourite theme among preschoolers/ young and old learners. The characters live in the Letterland, will stimulate the young learners and create a great enthusiasm in them and a lasting experience with phonic sounds. The days at the playway will be divided in to many Letterland activities. Please be ready to assist your child/children to get the best out of this theme by providing them with the materials whenever we request. Your attention in this regard is greatly appreciated.
The language, number, PSE, PE, basic science, art & craft and rhythm &music will be in cooperated to the theme. We hope to turn the playway in to  MINI Letterland …
Dates for your Diary
Wednesday August 3
the teachers get ready to play…
Thursday, August 4
Play begins for the playwayers…
Tuesday, August  9
Show & Tell…( Please send an object which represent Letterland/ Letterland character/ book or picture about a Letterland character to school for your child to show and tell…)
Wednesday August 17,
Cookery in Letterland …
Friday, August  26,
Meet the Letterland characters at the playway
Wednesday, August, 31
Ramadhan- No play   P& B Holiday
Thursday, September 01
Tentative- Rhamadhan Celebrations at the playway
Friday, September, 09
Ramadhan a time to give a hand…Lend a hand to the children at the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama…

Have an awesome August,
Neelika Edirisinghe 
Director, the playway

Monday, July 25, 2011

Vacancies: Teaching positions at the playway

 
Teaching positions available
at
the playway, Colombo 7.
If you are suitably qualified and possess a dynamic personality please contact us immediately.
E-mail your CV to neelika.e@gmail.com,
call 077-2919386
Or
Post to: Director, the playway nursery,
No. 10, Independence Avenue,
Colombo 7
before July 30, 2011

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Joyous June!!!


Daddy, I Love You
Daddy, I love you
for all that you do.
I'll kiss you and hug you
'cause you love me, too.
You feed me and need me
to teach you to play,
So smile 'cause I love you
on this Father's Day.
Author Unknown
Welcome
We are so happy to welcome little Shaman & Senitha who join the playway this May. Hope you feel at home already. You make our play circle extra special. Thank you for joining the playway…

We warmly welcome Ms Shaistha Farook who joins us this June. She has just completed her Diploma in Early Childhood and Sub Primary Education at Ladies’ College Colombo. She is a product of St Pauls’ Girls School, Milagiriya. She enjoys teaching the very young children and finds working at the Infant area very satisfying. Please welcome her to the playway family.  Welcome Shaistha!

Happy, Happy Birthday (s)
We wish very Happy Birthdays to Hanaa who will be celebrating her third birthday on June 20 and Nikitha who will be celebrating his fourth birthday on June 26 2011. Hope both Hanaa & Nikitha will have loads of fun and heaps of surprises!!! Many, many Happy Returns Hanna & Nikitha!

Our Current Theme: “Out of this World…” remains the same as there is so much to explore…We are discussing about planets and earth to give the children an idea how important is it to save Earth from pollution to combine the knowledge about other lifeless planets and “Earth full of life” coinciding with the World Environment Day 2011. Please help you 4+ to create his imaginary planet using recyclable items found as house hold waste… the project is due on the Friday 17 June. If there are any questions please shoot them to Neelika.

Flash Back… ( A meaningful May)


Monday, 02 May
Play began. The children acted as Easter Bunnies with their bunny caps on them. They were treated with sweets brought to the nursery by aunt Zainab.




Monday, 09 May

Mothers’ Day Celebrations at the playway - Guest - Mums arrived at the playway for story time. The children enjoyed every minute they spent with the guest mums. Thank you Mrs. Fuad, Ayan and Aniq’s mum, & Dr Ramanayake, Nikitha’s mum for making the playwayers so happy…. Hope you too found it rewarding!
Also the children presented their mums with pairs of hand decorated slippers wrapped so dearly by them in pink paper to mark the Mother’s Day 2011. The little hands worked very hard to make the slippers look so adorable. Hope the playway mums loved the gift!

Tuesday,10 May

Show & Tell. The children brought toys to the playway with much enthusiasm. They showed them to their peers 7 shared their knowledge.
The children could explain the peers and teachers how the toys they brought relate to our current theme “Out of this World”. Thank you parents for buying (making them available for your children) meaningful toys & books. I was truly amazed to see the amazing collection of items that day. We had to hold many sessions of “Show and Tell” to go through all the items your children brought!!!

Friday 13,  May



Vesak at the playway…
Vesak was celebrated with an artist’s arrival to show how people make Vesak lanterns. The children were truly delighted to see him working with sticks and paper to create a wonderful lantern. 
Mrs. Jayasekara, Kehathi’s mum arrived at the playway to relate a story on Vesak instead, she had to go on to her fifth story before children allowed her to leave the playway. The colourful Vesak stories kept the children glued to her for a good half hour. Thank you Mrs Jayasekara for your time!





Wednesday, 25 May

A meal for the Aliens… at the playway. Thank you parents for your generous contributions to make the “Meal for Aliens” a reality. Thank you teacher- chefs and the baby chefs for working so… hard to make the meal so delicious… The “aliens” did not spare a grain of rice. However, as it is
always the case in this world, the aliens too preferred the  dish of  fried sausages to the dishes of fresh &  boiled vegetables and fruit!!!!

Tuesday, 31 May
the playway  group photograph was taken . The children and teachers looked very, very smart. Thank you so… much for being so photogenic everyone!

Dates for Your Diary

Monday, June 6
World Environment Day

Thursday, June 9,
Field Trip to the Planetarium, Colombo 07 (for 3+ Only) 2 to 3 year olds come to the playway for play…
Friday, June 10
Bikes and Tikes day. Please bring your bike or tikes to the nursery.
Wednesday, June  15
PBM Holidays. No Play.
Friday, 17 June
Please bring your “Project on My Own Planet” to the nursery ( for 4+ Only)
Monday, June 20
Daddy’s week starts- Daddies please sign up for a morning with the “Incredible Playwayers…”
Tuesday, June 21
Second Day of Daddy’s Week
Wednesday, June 22
Third Day of Daddy’s Week
Thursday, June 23
Fourth Day of Daddy’s Week
Friday, June 24
Fifth Day of Daddy’s Week
Tuesday, 28 –Thursday ,30 June
Parent Conferences! Please sign up for your appointment to discuss your child’s progress with the teachers. Sign Up sheets will be placed at the entrance from 16 June.
Tuesday, 05 July
the playway presents “Summer Dance on Planet Earth…”
Tuesday, 05 July
Summer Break. Play halts…
Thursday, 04 August
Play begins…


Have a Joyous June & July,
Neelika Edirisinghe,
Director, the playway nursery, Colombo, Sri Lanka