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Edition 5

August News Directors News Sparkwell Woodlands Ivy Town School Club Mike s Meal Turkey Curry Staff News Montessori Information Red Rods Dates for your diary

I should have warned everyone I was going camping in Cornwall and the weather would change Hopefully the sunshine will return soon We hope you are all having a wonderful summer making amazing memories with your children The nurseries have been quieter over the summer but we have been busy with our planned improvements The decking at Sparkwell is nearly complete and looking amazing The new shed and playhouse will be added in a couple of weeks and a new internal fence is on order At Ivy Town we have a new internal fence after many issues with our previous one This new fence and the one on order for Sparkwell is from a company called Community Play Things who are known throughout the early years sector as supplying superior wooden products There is an interesting mixture of solid see through fencing and shelving which the children have enjoyed exploring Woodland s roof for their outside patio area is being fitted Bank Holiday Weekend and the school club is having a makeover before we reopen in September We recently visited a local nursery in Plympton called The Willow Childcare Center and in September we will be visiting Childfirst nurseries Visiting other high quality settings and discussing with fellow owners managers enables us to share best practice and learn from each other We bring new ideas back to our settings to improve them further sharing the inspirational practice we have seen We also welcome visits to our settings so we can share our Montessori practice and ideas to enable independence and how to create a child led environment Tracey and Caroline

Laura We have been very happy to see the benefits of growing our own vegetables and fruit Recently we picked potatoes and the children have been showing us how independent they are by washing peeling and cutting them all by themselves ready to enjoy for lunch The pears and apples are growing very well on our trees and we will keep looking after them until they are ready to pick and eat In the over 2 s area they have a new self care station with face cloths mirror and tissues to encourage the children to independently wipe their nose or face This has been such a hit with our 2 3 year olds and they are using this area well when needed The new layout has been very popular with the children in both areas it has allowed the babies to watch the older children and interact with them while still in the under 2 s area Our school leavers were happy to be able to go to the old school to watch Sparkwell s got talent They enjoyed watching the acts that the children performed to everyone We are currently looking at how we are kind to others and have been reading a book called The Rainbow Fish which the children have enjoyed listening to and discussing after We would like to welcome Riley and his family to our Sparkwell setting We are going to be moving on with our continents and looking at Africa The children have already started to look at animals that live in Africa and we will be trying to learn an African dance Fun in the garden

Claire This month has been quiet but busy month The children have been enjoying a lot of mark making activities this month thy have used lots of different materials to discover what marks they make It got very messy at times The children have taken a keen interest in the musical instruments and dancing to music especially the Shark song and some staff members They have also enjoyed looking after our new pet snail which the children have named Tony The children have been helping to feed and clean out Tony on a daily basis The children have enjoyed small world play set up in trays Lauren has set up a variety of different experiences such as under the sea textures and a lighthouse seashore Playing with a friend In September we will be looking at space and our continent will be Asia We will also be welcoming our term time children back and our new starters

Hannah Breakfast and After School Club What glorious weather we have had we hope you have all had a fantastic summer holiday and we are very excited to see you all back in September Over the summer Holidays I have put some ideas together along with the children s help for some exciting activities such as how to grow a gummy bear leaf rubbing yoga and much more We will be cooking delights such as bagel pizza apple dippers on a stick and jam tarts Please can we just remind you that breakfast club starts at 7 45am and that for insurance purposes we can only accept you child from this time If your child ren are going to be absent on the days they are booked in please text or call the school club mobile which is 07432672823 This mobile is only turned on during operational hours 7 45 9 00 am and 3 00 6 00 pm Or you may log it on your child s Famly account as sick or holiday We would like to welcome all our new starters to school club We are delighted you have joined us

Gail We have had a lovely sunny month at Ivytown with lots of nature walks and outdoor play We have said goodbye to some children who have gone on holiday before starting school in September It has been delightful to hear about the childrens lovely summer holidays with family and seeing posts on Famly Its great to be able to discuss it with the children and look at the pictures together The children have been creating lots of junk modelling again and were very excited with the huge boxes that came with the new fence The under the sea theme has been very popular and is a current interest of the children They especially enjoyed making sea globes and jelly fish to put on the windows in nursery I m not sure who is more excited but on Thursday we are seeing a donkey at the residential home we also had a lovely visit at the start of the month too Becky has been working with the two year olds having lots of fun getting messy with gloop water and sand For the new term we will be looking at What I d like to do when I grow up as children have shown an interest in this We would love parents relatives friends We would like to to talk about occupations welcome Maxmillian Sloane with our children Please let Benjamin Nathaniel Frank us know if you can help and their families to our Ivy Town setting Painting with a friend

Mike s Meals Turkey Curry Dairy Soya Free Ingredients For the Paste 6 cloves garlic 2 white or red onions Ground Cumin Ground Turmeric Oil Tomato puree Salt Veg oxo made per instructions although not all will be needed For the Curry 700 grams diced turkey leg breast or mixed 1 red and 1 yellow pepper Turmeric Oil 1 3rd of a Pineapple 1 sachet of creamed coconut or quarter of a block Tablespoon of plain flour or corn flour Method For the Paste Heat a pan and then once hot add some oil and heat Fry off the onions and garlic and keep moving if you burn garlic you ll end up with a bitter taste Add in some tomato puree Turmeric and Cumin and leave to cook out for a couple of minutes Add in some of the vegetable stock and then leave to simmer until a paste is formed Your curry paste is then ready For the curry Heat a pan on the stove then once warm add in some oil Sweat off the turkey stirring constantly for a couple of minutes then add in the curry paste Mix the paste in well then leave for a couple of minutes and stir in a table spoon of cornflour or plain flour then add in some blended pineapple a sachet of creamed coconut and season with some Turmeric then top up with water Bring to a boil then simmer until the meat is tender Stir in the peppers leave for a couple more minutes or until the peppers are soft

Staff News We would like to welcome Zara to our team from the 3rd September Zara will be managing our invoices and will be based at our Ivy Town setting on a Thursday and then will be picking up emails telephone messages in between Zara previously worked as a nursery nurse and then an administrator for a nursery before having her own bundle of joy At Ivy Town Mollie has joined the team Mollie has just started on her journey to becoming a qualified early years practitioner and will initially be volunteering a couple days a week At Woodlands we welcome Emma who will be embarking on her apprenticeship working both in the school club and the nursery Emma has recently completed a degree in dance so we are hoping to put this interest to good use Our children do love to dance At Sparkwell Gabbi as decided to have a career change and we wish her all the best with this Fantastically Jessie is returning after playing football in Canada We will be putting those football skills to good use with the children increasing their ball skills Jessie is also keen to begin her level three in childcare Laura Claire and Briony will all be attending level three safeguarding training in the autumn term Gemma H Eve Laura Gail and Claire are progressing well with their qualifications Featured Staff Member Sheridan Before working at Little Orchard Montessori I have held several roles throughout my 7 year career I have been a deputy manager in a local village near my home town where I progressed my knowledge of childcare I started off as a student and worked my way up to level 5 FdA Early childhood studies I then moved onto run a holiday club in Plymouth where I completed my level 6 BA children s schools and families I have worked for Little Orchard Montessori nursery since January 2018 since starting I have been in the under two s room and have loved every moment of it All of the girls at Ivytown have been very supportive and welcoming I enjoy working for Little Orchard because of the constant support from the team and directors we all have a great relationship making everyday enjoyable and fun

Montessori Information Red Rods The Montessori red rods introduce a child to the concept of length The rods only differ in length and begin with the smallest being 10 cm increasing by 10 cm until finally a metre long With the red rods the child is exploring visual discrimination and muscle memory when feeling the length As the child carries the rods and builds with them they learn that the 10cm rod is smaller than the one metre rod The child brings carefully carries the rods to a floor mat and places them randomly They are then shown how to compare the rods and build the stair from the smallest to the largest rod Once shown how to build the stair with the rods the child is free to choose them whenever they wish and create all sorts of constructions the only limit is their imaginations A favourite extension of the red rods is creating the maze Once the maze has been built the children take it in turns to walk the maze and back again This is quite a challenge but to increase it further the children can try and balance a bean bag on their head or a glass of water and not spill it It s usually very funny with lots of laughter

Dates For Your Diaries Term Dates August Bank Holiday 27th August Autumn Term 3rd September 14th December Half Term 22nd October Christmas Closure 24th Dec 1st Jan inclusive Spring Term 7th January 5th April Half Term 18th February Easter Bank Holiday 19th and 22nd April Summer Term 23rd April 19th July May Bank Holiday 6th and 27th May Half Term 27th May Summer Bank Holiday August 26th We are closed for all Bank Holidays and for approx a week at Christmas Contact Details Director Caroline caroline lucas littleorchardmontessori co uk Zara Invoice queries admin littleorchardmontessori co uk Tel 07549066082 Please contact managers direct regarding changes to sessions extra days and holiday notice Sparkwell Laura sparkwell littleorchardmontessori co uk Tel 837883 Woodlands Claire woodlands littleorchardmontessori co uk Tel 658567 Ivy Town Gail ivytown littleorchardmontessori co uk Tel 893498 Jumper T Shirt Purchases Would you like to order a jumper or T Shirt for your child in purple with our logo on Please let us know via email or message on Famly T Shirt 6 95 Jumper 8 95