Panda Class Blog - 27th November


Dear Panda Class Families,

We hope you are well!

We are very happy to formally welcome our Class Parent Volunteers:

Panda Class AM:   Ivy & Steven (Rosalie's parents) and Jin (George's Mum)

Panda Class PM: Venus (Klaus's Mum) and Pooja (Kiaan's Mum)

Thank you for collaborating together as class parent groups; it means a lot to us.

Here's our update from the Panda Classes:

We are very much looking forward to seeing many of you this Friday, 29th November, for our Shared Learning Day!

The children are eager to show you many elements of their learning as part of our current unit, Sharing the Planet. 

As a reminder please take note of the following details:

  • It is not a normal full-session school day. Families are invited for a 45-minute session. 

  • We invite up to 2 grown-ups (parents and caregivers welcome!) to accompany their child to the shared learning day.

  • Non-uniform/casual dress: Children are welcome to wear their own clothes to school, but no costumes or character dress-ups, please.

  • Please be reminded that we are unable to provide parking.

  • There will be no bus service on that day, we ask for your understanding and assistance on this exceptional occasion.

Over the past week, we have been learning about recycling and reusing materials. We have linked this to our recent creation station activities in open play, as well as our snack water bottles amongst other examples. The Pandas have been working together to sort out selected materials and put them in the right recycling bins. Many of them have mentioned they already do this at home, which is fantastic to hear!

Each Panda class has been winning kindness hearts! These hearts have been an incentive to show kindness to one another. When we first started this project, we discussed what we mean when we say the word 'kind', and we also had a chat about what their special treat could be once they won 10 kindness hearts. 
Collectively, they liked the option of baking gingerbread men,  so, we have been busy baking gingerbread men and learning about some scientific changes along the way! We hope the children enjoy eating them with you at home tomorrow! Well done, Pandas! 

During open play, the Frog classroom has been hosting a collaborative creation station, using larger boxes with buttons and tape.  These have been transformed into trains, cars, boats and all sorts of other types of transport! This week it's turning into a Christmas creation based on a tree!

The Panda classroom has been hosting snack and various fine motor threading activities on the carpet, as a relaxing and calm space after snack.

The Dolphin class has been extremely popular as a vets role play! It is great to be able to see the children collaborate with their K1 peers on a larger scale by extending the role play area.

Shaving foam using coloured marbling dyes has been a super sensory activity for the children in the Monkey classroom for our non-rainy days. During rainy days, it transforms into a fantastic space for music and movement to move our muscles and be active. 

Outdoor play on the good weather days has included our loose parts mud kitchen, parachute play, chalk drawing and climbing on the big steps and climbing frame. 

Here are our class photo albums for you to view:

Panda Class AM

Panda Class PM

And our Spotify Album is Here. 

Some important dates for your diaries from our recent Newsletter to Parents from Hillside:


Save-the-Date: 

Hillside Winter Picnic

We cordially invite all families to join us at our Hillside Winter Picnic on Wednesday, 11 December. It will be an informal social event as it's the first social community gathering with all the families. We want to provide an opportunity for families to mingle and enjoy the time together. We will run two separate sessions for the morning and afternoon classes.

The logistics:

  • We will meet all families directly at Repulse Bay Beach. 
  • 9:30-11:15am (morning classes) and 12:30-2:15pm (afternoon classes)
  • Meet your class teacher by your class picnic area (in front of all the restaurants)

What to bring:

  • Wear your choice of festive colours and comfy clothing
  • Water and a light snack
  • A picnic mat
  • Buckets and spades
  • Sunscreen and sunhats
  • We plan to run a bake sale on this day, with all proceeds contributing to enhancing the children's excursions and learning experiences (e.g. paying for the sports day venue in February). Please bring some cash to support this fundraiser. 

Please complete the trip eNotice to confirm your attendance. You can access the Gateway eNotice via the ESF App, and see a "new eNotice to fill in now."

We are looking forward to seeing you all!

We will soon complete our Sharing the Planet unit, and shall now be focusing on winter celebrations over the next couple of weeks. We will be weaving much of the knowledge we now have from the unit with our festive activities!

Wishing you a good rest of the week!

Best regards,

The Panda Team

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