Tag: educators

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Exploring the wonders of Australia in ECE

One of the many amazing things we get to do with the Bonkers Beat programs is travel to visit centres and attend early childhood education events all over Australia. This is a privilege and an honour, and continually reminds us of the importance of embedding a strong sense of connection to this beautiful country we all share.

Just recently Bonkers visited Hervey Bay and Toowoomba in Queensland, and shortly he is headed to Perth for the upcoming ‘7 Stones’ workshop for Owners and Directors on 11 October (reserve your spot here)!

In this week’s blog, we’re going to explore a few ways of how you can incorporate an ongoing exploration of Australia into your curriculum.

Getting close to the local land

We’ve written about our love of Bush Kinder and even had its founder, Doug Fargher as a speaker at one of our Wellness Summits in 2017. Heading outdoors with children is a simple activity that is free and full of benefits. Explore the wonders of the local area’s parks or reserves and find plenty of Australiana to talk about, such as birds, plants, flowers and more. Don’t forget to share with children what you can learn about the traditional landowners and the indigenous name of the land too.

Share adventures

In many centres, we have children travelling with their families, and we always encourage them to share their stories! Is a child in your centre headed on a family holiday to the Gold Coast, Darwin, Sydney – anywhere? Ask them to bring photos or postcards from their trip when they return to allow all children to expand their knowledge about Australia. Some families may even be willing to share photos and adventures as they go via the centre’s private Facebook group so you can keep tabs on the trip with the other children!

Map it out

This one can work well with the previous suggestion as well as be incorporated into many discussions. Keep a big, prominent map of Australia up on the wall and throughout each term or the whole year you can add notes to it. Refer to the map frequently. If a child or educator is on a holiday, make a note on the map! If you’re reading a book that makes reference to a certain region of the country, find it on the map. Children can learn orientation skills and begin to grasp the whereabouts of each state and city of Australia through this map familiarisation – a wonderful skill!

Follow Bonkers’ adventures!

If you’re ever looking for an Australian journey (or international!) to share with children, Bonkers has had plenty of them. Visit our albums on Facebook and show children Bonkers’ journeys in various locations! His passion for exploring Australia is very inspiring!

While you’re on Facebook, we’d love for you to tag us in any Australian activities you get up to and we love to see new ideas too!

As mentioned earlier, Bonkers, Galina and the Bonkers Beat team are off to Perth for the widely celebrated ‘7 Stones’ free hands-on workshop – join us! Tickets are FREE for Owners and Directors and a limited number are available to claim at  www.bonkersbeat.com/7stones

Following Perth, the ‘7 Stones’ workshop is headed to Melbourne (19 October), Gold Coast (7 November) and Sydney (6 December). Jump online to secure your spot!

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Bonkers Beat Success Story Revealed, VIC: Increased Occupancy by 35% in 8 months!

Like countless childcare centres and kindergartens in Australia, Ellina from ‘Smart Oz Kidz’ was feeling the pressure that comes with a low occupancy rate. Struggling to find a way to stand out from the competition, Ellina knew that she had to take action, and that’s when she decided to try the Bonkers Beat programs.

Eight months ago, Ellina’s centre occupancy was sitting at around 60%. Today?

 Since promoting the Bonkers Beat music program at our centre we have reached just over 95% capacity”, says Ellina.

Adding weight to their curriculum, a strong point of difference and a sense of quality programming has appealed to families in the community and things just keep getting better.

In fact, it’s not just occupancy that has improved but the way the entire centre runs. Ellina credits the way the Bonkers Beat content and philosophy links to outcomes for the Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Framework. Not to mention, the visible benefits for children’s learning.

 Bonkers Beat has enhanced our educator’s approach to programming. The way the Bonkers Beat songs are to the world around us, which gives us great links with our programming and it ties beautifully with the framework”, Ellina explained.

The Bonkers Beat approach has even caught on with parents and families who are now more involved in their children’s early childhood education than ever before.

 Everyone is just so happy to see children going home singing the songs and listening to music together. Parents are now more involved because with the music and the book, they get to explore it together and it’s a family activity. Families are definitely more involved in the child’s learning which is fabulous”, says Ellina.

The broad scope of the benefits the Bonkers Beat programs bring is exciting and inspiring, within the centre and beyond.

 One of our families, their oldest child is learning to play the piano and is now learning to play the Bonkers Beat songs – the whole family is participating which is so fantastic to see! And another child with us who is visually impaired. Well, the Bonkers Beat music has brought about such confidence and joy for him and to see that is just so rewarding and priceless”, shares Ellina.

Could the Bonkers Beat programs help your centre and children to flourish too? YES!

To see the program IN ACTION and gain an insight into how you can tackle your centre’s biggest challenges, claim your FREE TICKET to 7 Stones: Music Kinder in Action: the most practical half-day workshop for centre Owners and Directors.

 

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Bonkers Beat Music Program selected for the School Readiness Funding Menu

School readiness is such a vital element of early childhood education. It is within kindergarten settings that we lay the foundation to build a lifelong love of learning for children. This is why we are so excited and honoured that Bonkers Beat Music Program has been selected for the School Readiness Funding Menu!

What is School Readiness Funding?

The School Readiness Funding is a Department of Education and Training initiative in Victoria, giving all services with a funded kindergarten program across the state the opportunity to access funding for programs proven to enhance school readiness.

And Bonkers Beat Music Program has been chosen to feature in the menu!

According to the SRF website, the menu includes evidence-informed programs and supports that address the three priority areas for school readiness funding:

  • communication (language development)
  • wellbeing (social and emotional)
  • access and inclusion.

To find out when your kindergarten’s school readiness funding kicks in, take a look here.

Bonkers Beat recognised for developing school readiness

To be recognised for the amazing positive impact Bonkers Beat programs have on children as they make their way toward primary school is an honour — especially to be selected alongside a number of other reputable and inspiring organisations such as Kidsmatter, Yarn Strong Sista and so many more.

You can view the whole School Readiness funding menu here.

If you’re a Victorian kindergarten, this funding creates an exciting opportunity for you to invest in the quality of the early childhood education you offer, enhancing the outcomes for children, families, communities and your centre. In fact, no matter where you’re based, the very existence of this funding is a timely reminder of how essential school readiness is for the children in our care.

Explore the Bonkers Beat programs and discover for yourself just how effective they are in helping you give children the very best start in life: EarlyChildhoodEducationalPrograms.com.au

Spending your funding

The School Readiness funding menu is where all services in Victoria with funded kindergarten programs will spend most of their funding. This menu enables services to ensure they are accessing programs that have been validated for their effectiveness in supporting children’s development across those three vital areas of communication, wellbeing and inclusion.

When considering how to spend your School Readiness funding, assess what your service’s particular needs are and what will be the best fit for you.

It’s worth noting that the menu is available to all services, not just those receiving the funding. So, when you’re looking for programs and support to bolster your childcare service, this program menu is a useful tool to know that your choice is evidence-informed and supported by the department.

To discover more about the Bonkers Beat Programs, visit EarlyChildhoodEducationalPrograms.com.au

 

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Being an active member of the Early Childhood Education Industry

We all know how busy life is, meaning that leisure activities like reading books and magazines don’t often get prioritised. Thankfully, an exceptional early childhood industry publication means you can enjoy reading while also squeezing in some professional development!

Belonging Early Years Journal is a publication that is well worth taking the time to read – and we’re thrilled to be included in the latest issue! You’ll find featured across pages 20-23 covering all that you might be interested in about achieving an Excellent Rating.

The Belonging Early Years Journal is packed full of quality, engaging material for educators of all levels. If you are able to find the time to read an industry publication, make sure you take note of these interesting pieces in the Belonging Early Years Journal:

President’s Report on Page 4; The Importance of Teaching Gratitude on Page 12; and Teaching Children With ASD in Early Learning on Page 30.

Owners and directors, you may find the article Master Your Marketing in 2018 (Page 40) of particular interest – perfect to help you up your marketing game and shine among the competition in your area.

The full issue is here: http://belongingearlyyearsjournal.realviewdigital.com/

A new way to connect with other Centre Owners and Directors

During the 2018 ACA Victoria Conference, we met many Centre Owners and Directors and many spoke to us about their challenges. The common thread – owners and directors are always looking for support and keen to support each other.

These conversations inspired us to create a new Facebook Group specifically for Early Childhood Centre Owners. So, if you are a Centre Owner and would like to connect with like-minded people, get inspirations and practical tools, join our new Facebook Group – Early Childhood Centre Owners Connect.

We’d love you to be part of this supportive community, so join us here and join the conversation! Together we can achieve so much more.

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Saying THANKS on Early Childhood Educators Day!

As a career, early childhood education roles often do not receive the recognition and respect they deserve. The early childhood profession is one of the most important and the work the educators do is invaluable. Next Wednesday 5 September is Early Childhood Educators Day and we encourage you to consider taking the time to acknowledge the amazing educators in your life.

The work of early childhood educators is meaningful and vital for families. Parents choose to trust educators with their precious children and educators take great pride in ensuring the children in their care are getting the best start in life.

Educators also do so much to make parents and families feel special. Beautiful crafty creations for special occasions, new songs children go home singing and wonderful memories to last a lifetime.

So, how are you going to say thank you? We think early childhood educators deserve to know just how amazing they are, and Early Childhood Educators Day is the perfect time! These children have some ideas:

The Early Childhood Educators Day website has more ideas for families and children to explore how they could ‘say thank you’: https://earlychildhoodeducatorsday.org.au/families

Centres might like to explore ways to acknowledge the day too with these ideas. Even a wall or tree of thanks can be a simple but thoughtful gesture to allow families to write a note of appreciation to educators when they come and go from the centre over the coming week.

We would love to see your Early Childhood Educators Day celebrations. Please share with us via Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing facebook page your ideas, or even use the official hashtag #EarlyChildhoodEducatorsDay so we can all explore the festivities around this occasion.

 

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What’s your favourite childhood book?

Book Week is coming up from 18 – 24 August, bringing the perfect time to focus on the incredible benefits and positive impact of books and reading on people young and old.

A special childhood book can be a beacon of joy throughout your entire life. Think about your own early years and you can probably recall one or more books that have stuck with you ever since. To celebrate Book Week, why not get educators to share a favourite childhood book with children at your centre?

Three reasons we love reading

1. Literacy is vital

Learning to read and developing reading comprehension are essential skills for life. If you can encourage a love of reading and books in children, you are giving them one of the most valuable tools possible.

2. Reading benefits other areas, like numeracy

Researchers found that reading provides benefits to a child’s overall education, not just literacy. Even formal tests showed higher scores for children who were read to more often at age 4 and 5, including improvements in numeracy!

3. Books are full of knowledge

Reading books doesn’t just improve your ability to read — books are full of knowledge and facts that enable children to learn just about everything! In fact, for a child who isn’t overly interested in books, start with books on their favourite subject to spark their interest.

Three books with a positive message

If you need some extra inspiration for new books to try in your centre, here are just five that are not only a great read but also have a really positive message embedded within them:

The Way We Have Fun: This book isn’t just about a family holiday — it tells the story of a family who takes off on a family trip armed with devices like smartphones tablets and laptops. But only when these ‘essentials’ go missing do they realise where the real fun is!

The Rainbow Fish: A beautifully illustrated story that takes the reader on a journey to discover the true meaning of beauty and friendship.

Little People, Big Dreams: This series of books takes you through the stories of the lives of some of the world’s most amazing and inspiring people, such as Marie Curie or Mother Theresa. Educational and full of inspiration!

Make Book Week a time for your centre to focus on the importance of literacy and the magic of reading for children and adults alike!

We look forward to finding out more about your favourite books, so share them with us on our Facebook page.

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Reasons to get outdoors even when it’s cold and rainy

When winter just starts to seem too chilly to bear, a tropical getaway is a must… Of course, that isn’t always possible so for most of us we need to find other ways to warm up!

Parents and educators alike can relate to the challenge of keeping children entertained, engaged and warm in the winter months. Rainy days, in particular, can leave educators and parents feeling frustrated – not to mention children, most of whom love to run around outside!

Thankfully, avoiding heading outside when it’s cold and rainy is unnecessary! As we like to say, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing! In fact, spending too much time indoors is how many coughs and colds are spread throughout winter. Get your gumboots, coats, scarves, gloves and beanies and get outside!

Here are a few reasons why spending time outside (even in winter) is a great idea:

1. Mood booster

The winter blues is a real thing and is often attributed to the increased time spent indoors which translates to less exposure to natural light and vitamin D.

2. Fresh air

Fresh air and getting amongst nature can give your immune system a much-needed boost. Flush out your airways with some cool, crisp winter air and reap the rewards. In fact, babies in Sweden are almost always bundled up for naptime outdoors to gain the benefits of the fresh air!

3. Get moving

It’s no secret that we tend to be more active outdoors, and that goes for children and adults. With more room to move, getting outside means more physical activity which will benefit your health and mood right away.

An outlet for indoors

If the weather really is too severe to brave the outdoors, there are plenty of ways to get active and boost children’s overall wellbeing while indoors.

Daily yoga practice is something we do at Bonkers Beat daily, and it can be enjoyed indoors or outside. If you’re not sure about how to do yoga with children, start by checking out our Yoga Cards, designed especially for children with simple instructions and engaging illustrations.

Want an effective release for children’s energy while inside? Turn the music up! Get moving to your Bonkers Beat music CDs or any music that children enjoy! Music and dancing enable self-expression, a physical outlet for emotions and is just good fun! Take a look in the Bonkers Beat shop here.

 

 

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Special offer for your new financial year resolutions

For centre owners and in fact any business owner, the end of financial year is a time for assessing financial and business goals.

The new Child Care Subsidy has meant further challenges for a number of centres too, with some potentially losing families as a result of their change in subsidy.

With the busy admin of getting tax time sorted and switching to the Child Care Subsidy system nearly over, it’s time to focus on your new financial year resolutions!

We think every business should take the opportunity to create new financial year resolutions – it’s a perfect halfway point in the year to consider how your child care centre can be even better.

To help you take your centre to the next level, we’ve got a special offer for your new financial year resolutions!

Make the next financial year your best year ever!

Parting with a lump sum of money is never fun. We don’t like to do it and we’re guessing you don’t either! So, don’t! We’re offering you the opportunity to start the new financial year right by implementing multi-award-winning music and wellbeing programs in your centre with a simple, affordable monthly fee.

Special Offer: New Financial Year Resolution

This offer enables you to avoid paying an upfront fee and only pay an affordable monthly fee to secure the Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing programs in your centre from 1 August 2018 through to December 2019! That’s 18 months of the highest quality, ongoing professional development, training and support for your entire team!

  • No upfront fees
  • Easy monthly payments
  • Award-winning programs
  • High-quality training and support for your whole team for 18 months!

NOTE: This offer is only available to centres who join the program before 1 August! Submit your interest now.

Embed the most innovative, world-class music program in your centre to boost your occupancy, enhance curriculum, motivate educators, improve NQS rating, engage parents and stand out in this crazy busy marketplace.

The increasing number of child care centres across the country means that standing out from the rest is more important than ever. Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing Programs ensure you do just that! Increasing occupancy is just one of the many outcomes of our educational programs.

Families and communities now understand the incredible benefits of music, movement, yoga and meditation, and our programs enable you to expertly embed these powerful benefits into your centre immediately!

Remember; if you want to incorporate a world-class award-winning program in your centre for an affordable monthly fee and enjoy amazing benefits for your centre, your staff and families and children for 18 months, you have to register before 1 August 2018!

Head to http://www.earlychildhoodeducationalprograms.com.au/ to read more about what is included and the benefits and make the next financial year your best year ever!

Or email us at info@bonkersbeat.com

 

 

 

 

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Connecting with the environment and self through yoga

Connectedness is a powerful feeling for adults and children alike. Creating connections with ourselves and others is important for development on many levels. Connecting with the environment is vital too. So how can we make these connections? One enjoyable and a highly beneficial way is through yoga.

The benefits of yoga anywhere, any time are amazing. While we have explored the many benefits of yoga for children before (take a look here!), taking yoga practice outdoors can offer further rewards. Let’s explore a few of them.

Three notable benefits of yoga outdoors

1. Reset an overloaded brain

Yoga is always a useful tool to relax, but taking it outside can actually enable the brain to recalibrate. Our bodies see nature as our natural environment and adding in the mindful activity of yoga or meditation while outdoors takes that calming effect to the next level.

2. Boost immunity

Fresh air is essential for good health, even in the colder months. In fact, many common colds are caused by spending too much time in confined indoor spaces. Take your deep yoga and meditation breathing exercises outside with children to gain the benefits of that fresh oxygen in their systems and yours.

3. Feel at one with nature

Children can use their observations of the outdoor environment to inspire their yoga. Standing tall like trees, stretching to the sky. Stretching to the side like a tree in the breeze. Many yoga poses use animals and nature so it makes sense to combine the two in real life!

International Yoga Day is coming up on Thursday 21 June — if you don’t currently practice yoga with children in your centre, maybe this could be a good day to start. Our  Bonkers Beat programs are incredibly valuable tools to help you bring the benefits of yoga for children (and adults) into your service too.

Enjoy your yoga practice and watch for yourself as children experience the physical, mental and emotional benefits of yoga and meditation combined with being outdoors.

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You are a part of Bonkers Beat Music Kinder success story

Getting the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder and our award-winning programs to where they are today has not been an easy feat. Over the last nine years, long days (and nights!) of hard work and immeasurable passion have been behind the creation of something truly special that has impacted the early childhood education industry in Australia and beyond.

That’s why, when we found out we were one of only 55 early childhood services across the country to be honoured with an Excellent Rating from ACECQA, we had to celebrate!

Last week we invited families from our centre and local community along with highly regarded guests from within the early childhood sector, to attend Bonkers Beat Music Kinder to join us in marking this achievement.

Families and early childhood professionals came together for the celebration

What a lovely evening we had! Presentations and beautiful words were a delight to hear from a number of our wonderful guests. You can see the images from the night here on Facebook.

We kicked off the celebrations with some delightful singing from the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder children. The enthusiasm was undeniable! The children are the reason behind everything that Bonkers Beat stands for and so it was important to have them front and centre in our receipt of the Excellent Rating.

Rhonda Livingstone, ACECQA’s National Education Leader, was in attendance to officially present the award. She spoke highly of Bonkers Beat Music Kinder and our programs, particularly how they are having a far-reaching impact on children’s education all over the country. We were so touched by your recognition and kind words Rhonda, thank you!

Alina Dan, from Alina Dan Consultancy and Holistic Approach, has been a valued colleague to Galina and to the Bonkers Beat family over many years. Thank you, Alina, for taking the time to fly down to celebrate with us too! Alina made a speech applauding Galina’s commitment, the contributions of the parents of all Bonkers Beat children and their commitment to laying the best possible foundations for their children’s bright futures.

One of our current parents was brave enough to present to the crowd as well. Josie Katakouzinos talked about her experience as a parent with a child at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder and how the music and wellbeing-based programs have had an obvious and powerful impact on her son throughout his early childhood development. Josie noted the benefits of being able to carry through the educational and behavioural strategies her son receives through the programs at kinder while at home too. Thank you, Josie! And thank you to all Bonkers Beat parents and children, past and present. Your continuous support is amazing and invaluable.

Here are a few images for your from Bonkers Beat Excellent Rating celebration.

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