kinder Archives

A refurb grand enough for the Mayor

28-03-2018/0 Comments/in Cire Children's Services, Cire News, Community Events, Community Support, Good news story, People in the community/by Cire

Cire Children’s Services kicked off the new year with a refurbishment of the kinder room at our Mt Evelyn campus. The refurbished area features individual learning spaces that encourage interactive play and early development of social skills. This valuable space is now a multi-age classroom where children have the room to explore with their friends and create their own adventures.

Our 4-year-old kindergarten room was officially opened by Cr Len Cox on Wednesday 28^th February 2018. We marked the event with a plaque which was unveiled by Cr Cox followed by a special morning tea.

“They’ve done a marvellous job.” Cr Len Cox Mayor of Yarra Ranges

It was an exciting day for everyone involved especially the children and staff of our Pre-school room. The children decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies for the morning tea which provided a great learning experience focusing on literacy, numeracy and science while they read the recipe, measured the ingredients and watched the cookies rise. The children couldn’t wait to sample some of their cookies to ensure they were up to their standards for our guests. Cooking is a simple task that can be transformed into a great learning opportunity for all to enjoy.

The room was beautifully set up with the children’s interests and needs at the forefront. There were displays of the children’s learning journey and lots of activities set up to showcase the learning that happens in Cire kindergarten. The kindergarten children and the team have worked hard to make their room a wonderful educational environment fostering individuality and creativity.

Thank you to everyone that helped with this event, our cook who made scones and prepared morning tea and special thanks to our kindergarten team and the children for all their hard work and for the yummy chocolate cookies. We would also like to thank the Cire maintenance team who managed the refurbishments and to everyone who attended to celebrate with us. Finally, thank you to Cr Len Cox for taking time out of his busy schedule to officiate our Kindergarten Room Opening.

For further information regarding Cire Children’s Services call 1300 835 235.

Books to get off to a good start

09-03-2018/0 Comments/in Cire Children's Services, Community Support, Donations, Good news story/by Cire

In February 2018, Cire Services were fortunate to be the recipient of a $200 donation from Wandin Rotary that was to be utilised for the purchase of educational products for the children from the Yarra Junction Children’s Centre. Both Cire Services and Wandin Rotary acknowledge the importance of literacy and language development in pre-school children and what better way to contribute to the children’s learning journey than through the magic of words.

Literacy is a key part of a child’s development. Talking, singing, playing sounds, word games, reading, writing and drawing with children is a fantastic way to set up sound literacy skills. Activities such as reading together, playing with rhyme and sharing stories can all assist in a child’s early literacy journey. These skills will prepare children for primary school and for the learning road ahead of them.

On Thursday 8^th March, Mr Warwick Bisley from Wandin Rotary attended the Yarra Junction Children’s Centre to present a collection of children’s books for the children to enjoy. Selected from the shortlist of books for Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards 2017, which were aimed at promoting “quality Australian books that help children get the best, most literate start to life”.

The books were selected from three award categories: “Birth to three years”, “Three to Five years” and “Indigenous children”. A total of 12 books were purchased. Some of the donated books included:

I Just Couldn’t Wait to Meet You- Kate Ritchie (Hannah Sommerville)
At the Zoo I see – Joshua Button and Robyn Wells
Animals in My Garden – Bronwyn Houston
The Ricker Racker Club – Patrick Guest(Nathaniel Eckstrom)
Mad Magpie – Greg Dreise
Hello to You, Moon – Sally Morgan (Sonny & Biddy)
1,2 Pirate Stew- Kylie Howarth
Colours of Australia- Bronwyn Bancroft

The children were fortunate to receive a special treat when Warwick stayed to read one of the donated books. All the children enjoyed listening to the story and admired the colourful images and afterwards Warwick was invited with the children to enjoy a yummy morning tea.

When asked about the books, some of the children expressed their thoughts.

Charlye-Rae said “I think they are great”, Sam described the books as “cool” and Matilda told her teacher “My mummy and Daddy would love them”.

In appreciation for the special gift, the children presented Warwick with a thank you card then a tour of the centre. Warwick described the centre as:

“One of the best preschools he has seen in Australia”.

We would like to express our thanks to Wandin Rotary for their generosity. We look forward to children enjoying the books for many years to come.

if you would like to know more about Cire’s Children’s Services click here or call 1300 835 235. Cire also offers tours of our centres located in Mt Evelyn and Yarra Junction.

The benefits of music and movement

26-05-2016/in Cire Children's Services, Cire News/by

UYCH Children’s Centre celebrated Lunar New Year on Monday. Being China’s biggest ceremonious holiday our centre was an abundance of activity all inspired by Asian culture. Traditional stories were told about the importance of families getting together to prepare for good fortune. On that note the children sang a Lunar New Year song about just that, good fortune called Gung Hay Fat Choy.

The benefits of music and movement
As described in the Creative Curriculum for Preschool Children by Diane Trister Dodge and Laura J. Colke. Children naturally love music! Whether it’s soft and soothing or a lively tune, children feel it both physically and emotionally. Throughout the early years, children are learning to do new things with their bodies. Young children are also learning that movement can communicate messages and represent actions. They begin to learn about the world by acting on objects and people, and they “think with their bodies” well before they think with words. This is why body movement is not only fun for children but also a good opportunity for them to solve problems. Singing or chanting can help make routine activities and transitions such as gathering children into a circle or group activity, smoother and more enjoyable. Music helps to set a mood. Quiet, soothing music calms and relaxes children, while a lively tune rouse them for energetic clean up time.

Music and movement are also social activities that help children feel part of the group. As children grow in their appreciation of the beauty of music and dance, they acquire a gift that will bring them great pleasure. Music brings another dimension of beauty into our lives. Music and movement benefit a child’s development in many ways.

Participating in a group
Social skills
Express emotions
Enhance self‐concept by sharing music and dance of each other’s culture
Refine listening skills, noticing changes in tempo or pitch
Awareness of movement and body positions
Creativity and imagination
Learn new words and concepts
Explore cause and effect
Develop large motor skills
Improve balance coordination
Improve small motor skills, finger play and musical instrument

UYCH kinder programs embrace this methodology by having a dedicated Music and Movement Coordinator, Toula who taught the children a dance using scarves and fans. Combining cultural props with music the event was a great way for the children to creatively express themselves. With scarves

flowing and many smiles on their little faces you could tell enjoyment was had by all.

Activities like these are a great opportunity for the children to engage in cultural experiences, here are what some of the children had to say:

“The words in the song were really good” – Grace

“I liked Toula’s dancing the best” – Caleb

“I liked the red fan” – Bailey

The Children Centre would like to thank Helen from the Yarra Junction Op Shop for her generous scarves donation.

If you would like to know more about our early childhood education services click here or call 03 5967 2776 Yarra Junction or 03 9736 1918 for Mt Evelyn

Renos and revamps for the Children’s Centre

15-07-2015/0 Comments/in Cire Children's Services, Cire Good news stories, Cire News, Community Support, People in the community/by Cire_Admin

You could recently mistake the UYCH Family and Children’s Services Mt Evelyn centre for being like a scene from the Block with all the renos and revamps occurring.

After recently being lucky enough to receive a grant from the Yarra Ranges Council to renovate the main bathroom facility for our toddlers and kinder children, works were well under-way throughout June to revamp, freshen up and re-create a new, more functional bathroom and change room. This particular bathroom had been in serious need of remodelling for a while now, so the council came out, got our ideas and hopes, and created a bathroom with their tradesmen that educators and children alike are loving. The new look and extra storage have already got educators making plans on how to make the most of what we have been given.

UYCH and the staff at the Mt Evelyn children’s centre would like to thank the Yarra Ranges Council for their generous contributions and Urban Maintenance Systems for their practical knowledge in helping us get a new bathroom facility, making our centre even more fantastic.

Our garden and play area also received a revamp with fresh new soft-fall being installed in the bottom area of the yard. As many parents with children in the older rooms know, it had been getting steadily muddier out there for a while. Now while mud play is great for children, under climbing equipment we need the soft-fall to meet regulations and keep everyone safe.

We had over 20 metres of dirt and mud removed by bobcat driver Simon from Dinkin Dirt and replaced with lovely new soft-fall, making the garden area feel so much more fresh and renewed. Shane was quite the attraction while he was there, the children were fascinated with his machinery and his work. Even the builders going in and out for the bathroom renovation didn’t get as much attention as the bobcat digging out the yard. When Shane started in the morning, children were trying to get a look out of our sleep room windows just to check out the new garden area. As the older children moved to their rooms they wanted to be outside at the fence watching. Shane did a very good job and had it finished before lunch, which meant more time for our children to check it out and play. Thank you to UYCH management, maintenance and Shane from Dinkin Dirt for re-creating our lovely yard area.

If you’re looking for a fantastic local children’s centre for long day care or kinder, visit click here for more information or contact 9736 1918 for more information.