Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Lindfield Vol 22 Issue 9

Principal’s Message

By Mrs Kath Boyd

THANK YOU to all those families who joined our Harmony Week celebrations by dressing their child in orange and/or making a generous donation. We raised close to $200! Special mention to one very generous Stage 4 child who donated all his ‘Tooth Fairy money’ to the Northern NSW Preschool Alliance Flood Drive.

“It’s important to see the value in routines, actively involve children in them, and look for learning opportunities in everyday experiences.” (Karen Winderlich) Routines are a constant in all our lives, and this is especially true during childhood when there are routines around eating, sleeping, personal hygiene and many daily activities. These rituals often happen at the same time each day and involve the same procedures . . . therefore routines are like instructions that guide a child’s actions towards a specific goal. Even the most ordinary routines have extraordinary benefits for young children. The simple action of washing hands after every toilet break or holding hands whenever they cross the road helps children to be healthy and safe, and these kinds of daily rituals are instrumental in teaching physical, social and emotional skills in a child’s early years.

Good routines have a positive effect on how children feel and behave, and together, parents and teachers play a part in establishing positive routines and using everyday actions to teach lifelong skills. Families can complement our ELS routines at home to support their little one’s learning and development. Routines can be used to achieve many positive outcomes, but two of the most important purposes are ensuring children are healthy and safe (e.g. making sure they’re clean, rested and well-fed) and helping children learn positive, responsible behaviour (e.g. how they manage themselves and interact with others).

As well as helping adults to streamline schedules and get essential tasks done, a good routine has a positive influence on how a child thinks, feels, acts and interacts. Routines provide regular opportunities to: • Extend a child’s thinking, problem-solving skills and language development.

• Build close and respectful relationships with trusted adults and other children.

• Support a child’s wellbeing and sense of belonging, e.g. ‘knowing what will happen next’ helps them feel safe and emotionally secure.

• Encourage a child’s independence and autonomy as they learn self-help skills.

• Support a strong sense of identity and make children feel connected.

Pictured above: Mia, Liam, Felix, Kyle, Easton & Manee (3E) exploring the tuff tray.

Principal’s Message Continued...

By Mrs Kath Boyd

Routines are a key way to teach under five physical skills, like doing up their own buttons or filling up their water bottle; and they also teach positive social skills, such as taking turns, sharing, learning to wait, helping others and communicating verbally. Routines also give children a sense of purpose, helping them feel confident, in control and satisfied at what they can attempt and achieve on their own. These efforts and successes can be celebrated at home and in the school environment; and all in all, a lot of important learning and development can take place during routine moments.

What kinds of routines are followed at Reddam ELS Lindfield to achieve positive outcomes for the children? From the moment your child places their bag in their locker and says ‘Good morning’ to their friends and teachers at drop-off, they’re following good child care routines, and our teachers are keenly aware of the importance of these routines throughout the day.

Routines are used to stimulate the children’s thinking and enrich their learning, just like free play or organised activities do. For example: • Children learn about maths and sequencing by counting plates, learning when a cup is ‘full’ or ‘empty,’ and following the same procedure when they pack toys away.

• Teachers encourage the development of language skills by naming each item that’s being used to care for plants in the gardens, discussing daily actions one-by-one and talking about what comes next.

• Self-help skills are encouraged at school and this could involve children scraping their own plate at the end of lunch or placing their shoes on the rack before rest time.

• Daily activities like mealtimes and story time are also opportunities for children to practise the positive social skills that will benefit them now and when they go to Primary School.

There’s also the option of creating complementary daily rituals (e.g. if your child tends to plants at school, you could get them one for home); and positive social skills (like sharing and waiting) can be practised at home, at the ELS and everywhere. All of our 8 Core Teachers would happily explain some of the good routines that are followed during the school day, and reciprocally, please share home routines that can be carried out at school with your child’s teachers.

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend.

Pictured below: Angus and Ryan L. cooking in the Mud Kitchen.

2

Stage 1R

By Heather Gaskell

“What people see is never the end of what should be seen.” (Heritage James) This week we have continued our look at the 5 Senses, with sight being our focus for the week.

We have enjoyed looking at various colours, finding hidden objects with magnifying glasses and looking at the world through a kaleidoscope.

The children have delighted in investigating the many experiences we have provided this week.

The week started off with us being explorers, hunting for bugs and creepy crawlies hidden on our provocation table amongst the natural pine cones, acorns and I think I may have seen a coconut lurking there too. The children used their magnifying glasses to search and inspect, deciding which particular bug they had found. We discussed the many colours on the different bugs. Then we hid them again so we could do it all over again, the more times the more fun.

We also provided the children with mirrors so they could look at themselves. This was a marvellous experience and the children enjoyed looking behind themselves with the mirror. It took a minute or two for the children to work out how they could see us behind them or on the angle. We also took time to look at ourselves and name our facial features . . . which did bring on some giggles as one or two got mixed up.

We introduced the children to some science with a Celery Colour experiment. The children are starting to recognise when our special table comes out and eagerly gather around waiting to see what fun we have lined up for them this time. Firstly, we had glasses of food colouring and discussed each colour with the children, Then we helped the children to put the celery stalks into the food colouring and placed them on the windowsill to watch the colour creep up the stalk.

Another science experiment was carried out later in the week with milk and food colouring. The children took the initiative to gather around the table once again and watched step by step as the cows milk was poured into the tray. Then different colours of food colouring were added.

After which, the children took cotton buds dipped in soap and ran them through the milk. This made amazing colours and ripples in the mixture and the children had the chance to observe cause and effect by themselves.

Next week we venture into the sense of touch.

Heather, Doris and Resie

3

Stage 1R: Look! What Can You See?

4

Stage 1R: Exploring STEAM Concepts

5

Stage 1E

By Charity Acera

“It takes a village to raise a child.” (African Proverb) The African Proverb does produce a clear message of citing the whole community as an essential factor in the growth and development of its young generation. The relationships that are built from community involvement develops the child’s self-esteem and happiness which are strong foundations to flourish and succeed in life. Also, it gives them a sense of belonging that is crucial to the development of their identity.

Giving importance to this powerful message, our 1E learners were introduced to the important local community areas and vital community helpers they live with. Purposefully, we explored significant places in our community such as the local gardens and pet shops. We invited our young friends to explore a range of learning spaces wherein they can practice their social interactions, imagination and communication skills be it verbal and non-verbal cues with their peers and teachers.

We have observed beautiful sharing with the soft toys, we’ve witnessed infectious giggles during proactive dramatic play activities in this inviting indoor set-up. Following their fun collaborative play, we engaged them in a role play experience of pretending to be gardeners taking care of our luscious gardens. Gardening is a healthy, fun activity for children. Children develop new skills and learn about science and nature from growing their own food. As for this week, it was all for appreciation of our natural and constructed environments as we engaged them in exploring both natural and man-made elements, such as natural leaves, water beads, rubber ducklings and frogs, and natural wooden blocks.

Additionally, our enthusiastic learners had an interesting time exploring the local community gardens through a sensory experience of manipulating and investigating a garden sensory tray using water beads, pond play and mixture of natural and man-made resources. Experiences such as these are excellent for introducing the environment as part of learning and investigation amongst the children as well as enhancement of their fine motor skills. Such a sight to see, they were so eager to do it their way demonstrating a strong sense of agency.

Following their sensorial learning, we engaged them in a process art experience using leaves as a painting tool. Emphasising on the prickly texture of the pine needle leaves and green colour for the paint, promoting language and speech enhancement amongst the group.

Next week will be more about community helpers that help us and make our lives easier by providing us with their goods and services.

Charity, Fatima and May

6

Stage 1E: Our Little Community Helpers

7

Stage 1E: Leaf Painting

8

Stage 2R

By Sara Haddadi

“Sight is a faculty; seeing is an art.” (George Perkins Marsh) This week we started to observe and understand the world around us through our sense of sight.

Exploring our sense of sight is challenging to put into experiences and activities as we ‘see’ all day long and use this sense as our primary sense to explore on an everyday basis. To explore this sense further, we created some one-colour sensory bins for our little ones to explore. The teachers encouraged discussion about all the items 2R could see and talked about other things in the world around us that are in those colours. These learning experiences supported children with their language development, cognitive growth, fine motor skills, problem-solving and social interaction.

Art of the week involved children creating beautiful patterns using paper towels, food colouring and pipettes. This art experience was wonderful for helping support children and their understanding of colours and using a pipette helped them develop fine motor skills including building hand strength and coordination too.

Furthermore, 2R observed how volcano eruption occurs with our Rainbow Volcano Dinosaur Small Worlds. This experience was a science and sensory play with great imaginative play.

Children showed real interest in making as big an eruption as they could by adding more vinegar and experimenting different ways. This experience nurtured the imagination, encouraged creativity and provided children with the opportunity to relive and process different experiences in their lives. The teachers could observe them creating stories with dinosaurs and exploring different scenarios through play.

Using wavy boards, children experimented with mixing colours and creating new ones. They used pipettes and liquid watercolours to create colourful and interesting art and enjoyed seeing how the colours mixed and blended together.

The teachers have witnessed how our room environment and our learning programs have affected children in so many effective ways. We have seen children developing friendships as they hug each other, imitate each other, follow each other or 'parade' around and dance together. We recognise their positive attempts 2R make to initiate friendly behaviour and support them by coaching them to develop the specific skills necessary for developing friendships and treating them with respect and kindness, even in difficult situations, as we believe that the way children treat each other depends on how they have been treated themselves.

Wishing you a weekend full of pleasure, love, laughter, and bliss!

Sara, Vivian, Lizzie and Indi

9

Stage 2R: The Young Observers

10

Stage 2R: I Can See a Rainbow

11

Stage 2E

By Mia Doan

“When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” (Fred Rogers) It is significant to create a safe environment and build secure attachments to encourage children to talk about their feelings and emotions. From daily interactions and conversations, we can guide children to identify their feelings, openly express them and cope with negative feelings healthily by role-playing, asking reflective questions and suggesting positive behavioural choices and self-regulation techniques. Our Feelings focus provided the children words to name and describe their feelings that helps them understand their feelings, behaviours and self-regulation, and navigate the world with confidence, empathy and appreciation.

How can you feel loved? This strong and affectionate feeling can be expressed through a cuddle, a smile, holding hands and nice words. What is happiness? Happy children learn better! We incorporated all of the children's interests into our daily activities to promote their engagement and enjoyment in learning. However, sometimes, we experience unpleasant and unknown feelings such as confusion, disgust, sadness and frustration. How to cope with these negative feelings positively?

Merging behaviour modelling into literacy experience prompts positive behaviour and strengthens oral communication skills. Children's story books, group-discussion, colour code and symbolic language are power sources to guide social skillfulness and understanding feelings and emotions in young ages. Together, we read a wonderful story called The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. One day, Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl and 2E friends showed him what each feeling means through colour.

Red = Angry Green = Calm

Yellow = Happy Black = Scared

Blue = Sad Pink = Loved Rainbow = Confused

We also enjoyed reading the popular When I’m Feeling Series of Tracey Moroney. These stories aim to help children better understand their feelings visually and verbally in different situations. After our story we expressed and shared our feelings using an emotional chart. We first made a facial expression to represent each emotion. We then asked each of our friends one by one to place their picture next to the emotion that most represents how they are feeling. This chart often changes throughout the day as our little friends' feelings change.

At the provocation table, 2E children were invited to multiple sensory and manipulative activities relating to colours of feelings from red volcano eruption expressing our anger, yellow sand ‘La La Land’ happy experience, to a sad, alarming issue - blue ocean pollution and confused rainbow-colored monster jelly.

Interestingly, we went on a colour scavenger hunt. Some were interested in dark colours, others loved lighter ones. We went on a big walk and hunted for objects that have the same colours as our colour card. We found a lot of things in nature and man-made objects. Another day we went on a magnet hunt when they engaged in a trial and error process to test which object has magnetism with a magnet wand. We walked around the backyard with a goal to find two magnetic objects.

At the art table, we engaged in the process of art in which we created a monster colour from a watercolour palette.

Children had a choice to choose different colours and mix them all together on their paper. Then, we glued some eyes and mouths on our emotional monster.

Have a colourful weekend!

Mia, Xanthe and Tracey

12

Stage 2E: Inside Out Sensory and Manipulative Experiences

13

Stage 2E: Colour Monster Artwork and Magnetic Hunt

14

Stage 3R

By Grace Nolan

“Being in touch with other adults and families also helps children to see that not all families are the same. This gives your child a sense that there are lots of different values, routines and ideas in the world.” (Raising Children, 2020) Moving outwards again, this week we focus on our local and wider community. Using the Lindfield community as inspiration parks, cafes, restaurants, food banks, supermarkets, libraries and post offices! As a class we also have been discussing our wider community, specifically how to help and contribute to those in need. Stage 3R families have brought in non-perishable food items such as canned soup, rice and pasta, using these items we transformed our dramatic play corner into a ‘Food Bank’ with Educators engaging in dramatic play by modelling how to ‘donate’ and ‘receive’ the food. Once we have collected all the donations, we will be passing them on to a ‘Food Bank’ organisation specifically for those who have been affected by the floods.

On our sensory table we used the local ‘Gelatiamo’ sign as inspiration for the children to engage with the sprinkle ice cream using playdough, cones, pom poms, scoops and sprinkles! The children were very focussed with this one, with friends sitting and playing for extended periods of time and sharing their own experiences of getting ice cream and discussing their favourite flavours. Another playdough sensory experience saw children using coffee flavoured playdough with coffee grounds, this was followed by asking the children what they get at the cafe with their mums and dads, here are some of their responses: Avery: “I love babycino and chips.”

Vivvie: “Coffee” Miss Chloe : “Cappuccino” Bryan: “Coffee” Chloe: “Cappuccino” Olivia: “Hot chocolate” Aiden: “One black coffee and a babyccino.”

Harvey: “Coffee and marshmallows.”

Myra: “Cappuccino” Ellie: “Babycino” Angus : “Li Li, it’s very hot” Natalie: “Strawberry” Hugo: “I get baby chino and marshmallows.”

Sebastien: “Babyccino with marshmallows.”

Michael : “Chino”

In the small groups this week the children have been engaging in a lot of dramatic play experiences that encourage verbal communication, social interaction, turn-taking and sharing of ideas. One experience saw children sitting at a cafe, with an Educator taking their order. The children then had babycinos while discussing their own experiences at cafes and being around the community.

To provide mathematical concepts within an experience, one group made muffins which encouraged the children to measure out the ingredients, count the chocolate chips on top and follow a written procedure. Whilst mixing and making the muffins, the children recounted times when and where they’ve had muffins before such as at a cafe, bakery or even at Grandma and Grandpa’s house!

Incorporating explicit small groups that help children’s emerging literacy skills saw children using alphabet cards to match with community helper cards such as ‘Police, Ambulance, Firefighter’. The children identified the letters first before then saying the helper cards out loud to try and match the letter sounds. This experience challenged the children as they matched letter and letter-sound.

Another experience used the book Dragon Post by Emma Yarlett to demonstrate the different kinds of letters and expose the children to environmental literacy. Using the book as inspiration, the children were encouraged to make their own letter using a variety of different materials to draw and mark-make. Educators then dictated the letter to provide meaningful letters and valuing the children’s voices.

Next week we will continue to explore Our Community & Harmony Week.

Grace, Carina, Chloe, Shandie and Margaret

15

Stage 3R: Exploring Communitiy Services (Part 1)

16

Stage 3R: Exploring Communitiy Services (Part 2)

17

Stage 3E

By Georgia Galvin

“Antarctica is otherworldly, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Stark, cold, beautiful…” (Mark Hopper) Throughout this term, the children in Stage 3E have developed an increasing interest in the natural world around them. In order to foster this connection to the world, our Educators have chosen topics which align with the children’s interests. This week, we focused on The North and South Pole (Antarctica and the Arctic Circle). We explored the animals and weather of The Poles as well as the impact of climate change on these icy environments. We also extended upon the children’s interest in science by completing experiments focused on ice and temperature.

The North and South Poles are very sensory - in terms of the way they look as well as their temperatures. Our classroom was full of sensory experiences this week and the children heavily gravitated towards these. Our first sensory experience invited the children to engage in small-world sensory play - with one small-world based on Antarctica and the other based on the Arctic Circle. By including both locations in our small-world play, the children learnt about the differences between the two Poles. Our second sensory experience invited the children to melt ice using vinegar. When the ice began melting, the children could see there were animals in the melted ice!

The children also enjoyed a range of creative experiences today which related to The Poles. The children were invited to create an Inuit Inukshuk in order to learn about the Indigeous Peoples who live in the Arctic Circle. An Inukshuk is a large human figure, built out of large rocks. Inukshuks symbolise a welcoming gesture, as well as signalling friendship, security and hope. The children were also invited to create the Northern Lights by using watercolours and ice. Using an ice-cube as their paintbrush, the children used large brush strokes to create the effect of the beautiful northern lights.

In order to foster the children’s understanding of climate change, our science experiments this week focused on temperature and ice. During our Morning-Meetings, the class had many discussions on temperature, weather and what can happen to ice when it gets too hot - it melts. Additional questions such as “What does ice melt into?” prompted the children to extend their thinking and discuss that melted ice turns into liquid. Our science experiment involved placing three ice cubes in a tray into the sun, and placing an additional three ice cubes in a tray into a shady, cool location. The children were encouraged to predict which ice would melt faster and the children correctly guessed that the ice placed in the sun would melt faster. We extended upon the experiment by measuring how much liquid was present in the trays when the ice melted. On completion of our experiment, we discussed how rising levels of water is an impact of climate change.

As we aim to follow and foster the children’s interests in the natural world, next week we will take a trip to Africa to discuss animals, weather, climate change and people.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Georgia, Nat, Connie, Kai and Intisar

18

Stage 3E: Exploring the Sensory Poles

19

Stage 3E: Arctic-Inspired Creative Art

20

Stage 4R

By Veronika Roth

“Having lost the count of years in its memory, the pine stands firm on its roots that have ferociously dug into the earth.” (Excerpt from An old pine tree by Yu Chih-Hwan) South Korea is a place where traditions and technology are equally embraced, where skyscrapers loom over ancient temples, and where a busy pace of life is offset by the serenity of nature. South Koreans are extremely proud of their country due to its history and colourful heritage. Our exploration of the country focused on the following themes: South Korean flag: Tae-geuk-gi, displays a red and blue circle in the middle and represents the means that everything has an opposite - like day and night, north and south. The black symbols represent things that make up our universe - heaven, earth, water and fire. These colours dominated the sensory activities for the week, including loose part colour matching onto the flag and blue and red slime exploration.

Traditional clothing is called hanbok and includes a wrap around dress, loose-fitting top silk shoes, a decorated headband and a small drawstring purse for females. Traditional male clothing consists of a loose-fitting top that covers the arms and upper body, a topcoat to keep warm, a short jacket and wide, baggy comfortable pants. Miss Rebecca brought in her collections of traditional children’s clothes and of course the children were eager to try the beautiful pieces on feeling the softness of silk on their skin.

Hangul - South Korean alphabet: The writing system involves the learning of calligraphy, meaning beautiful writing. On our light table, the children freely explored the unfamiliar form of literacy.

Korean kimchi: A side dish that is served with every meal. It is spicy and dour at the same time and is made of cabbage, cucumber and radish. Throughout the week, the children were challenged to cut cabbage leaves to pieces with a scissor, which they added salt to and left it to ferment for a few hours.

Red pine tree: In Korean culture, the pine tree represents longevity, honour, strength and wisdom. Many of these beliefs are reflections of the traditional cultural views and beliefs. The beauty, serenity and strength represented by this firm standing tree inspired the artwork for the week. The children represented a tree branch and applied a variety of art resources and techniques with the use of one single colour: black, Graphite pens, crayons, charcoal and black paint with thin brushes completed the stunning nature piece.

Korean hacky sack: This game began in Korea over 2000 years ago and is called jegi. The children were involved in two smaller groups making their own shuttlecock by cutting pieces of cotton wool and threading it through the disc.

Playing the game with our own made materials was priceless!

Taekwondo: A martial art known for its fats, high, spinning kicks. The word taekwondo means ‘the way of the foot and fist.’ The simple instructions by Miss Veronika invited the children to learn basic poses. The children asked to try the uniform called dobok on and pretended to be professional Taekwondo masters.

Through our travels, we feel our week goes by fast and we wish we could spend more time in one destination, as there is so much more to learn about each and every country we visit. Maybe someday the children will travel to these destinations and will remember our learning and explorations.

Next week, we are off to Egypt!

Veronika, Rebecca and Rowel

21

Stage 4R: Introducting Korean Taekwondo and Greeting Manners

Traditional

Hanbok,

22

Stage 4R: Korean Traditional Game: Jegichagi (Hacky Sack) and Korean Red Pine Artwork

23

Stage 4E

By Lauren Hall

“The best things about Sydney are free: the sunshine, the harbour and the beach.” (Russell Crowe) This week our class learnt about the landmarks and the cities around Australia. Using our wooden map of Australia, we identified each state and territory, and the major cities within each one. We learnt that our capital city is Canberra, where the politicians gather at Parliament House to make important decisions for our country. In Cairns, Far North Queensland, tourists can snorkel and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef, and in the middle of Australia sits Alice Springs and the famous rock, Uluru. We also looked at some funny “big things” around Australia including, The Big Banana, The Big Merino (sheep,) and The Big Pineapple. The children were most familiar with the iconic landmarks in Sydney including the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Centre Point Tower, and Luna Park.

Our books of the week included A Bag and a Bird by Pamela Allen. We read how a young boy and his mother planned a day trip from their home in Kirribilli, to the Botanic Gardens on the other side of Sydney Harbour. We followed their footsteps across the Harbour Bridge, past Circular Quay and the Opera House, and finally to the gardens where they unpacked a picnic. The children shared their anecdotes about when they enjoyed a trip out in Sydney too. Next we read Opera House Mouse by Jean Chapman, where a mouse climbed to the top of the iconic sails where he could see the whole harbour below. He was very brave to climb so high! Our favourite story of the week was Possum Magic by Mem Fox. We followed Grandma Poss and Hush all around Australia as they tried different “human food.” As the possums visited each city, we placed the food on our wooden Australian map to continue familiarising ourselves of where each city is located. All this food made us very hungry, so we decided to make lamingtons and pavlovas for our afternoon tea. Yum, yum!

During our morning sessions, the children explored the sensory water trays featuring a backdrop of Sydney Harbour, with colourful soy fish to scoop up with fishing nets. The children counted how many fish they caught and categorised them into coloured groups. Red playdough was also provided for the children to mould, roll and create outback scenes for groups of kangaroos. Our exploration trays featured the Daintree Rainforest, with green lentils to pour and scoop, a cassowary bird, insects and green ferns. The children role-played with the animals and rearranged the materials to create habitats for them.

In our construction corner, the children created multi-levelled cities by balancing blocks on top of each other and creating the Sydney train routes and roads around it. The children demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of what Sydney looked like as a whole, making distinct locations for each or the landmarks around the harbour. At our art station, the children were inspired by Australian artist, Ken Done. We studied his vibrant paintings of Sydney Harbour before creating our own interpretations of our beautiful city. It was lovely to observe the children taking such pride with their artworks.

Thank you for coming on our adventure around Australia!

Lauren, Priya, Doris and Connie

24

Stage 4E: Australian Cities and Landmarks

25

Stage 4E: Possum Magic Cooking Experiences

26

Playball

By Coach Lauren Guttman

This week in Playball, we warmed up with “funny runs”. I placed cones on one side of the court and the children stood on the opposite side. They did “funny runs” to the cones, ran around the cones with hands on their knees, hopped on one foot, galloped, skipped and the list goes on! I then placed the cones in a straight line and we zig-zagged the cones, going in and out, in and out – a wonderful activity for crossing the midline.

The cones were then placed in the shape of a circle. We marched around the circle; at one point, we even danced around the circle. When I blew my whistle, the children balanced one foot on the cone, remembering to keep their arms stretched out to help us balance. I let the children know that if we fall, “we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and give it another go.”

Next, we played a series of games to help us with basketball skills. First, a ‘Shadow Game’ where the children pretended to be my “shadow” and copied everything I did. Next, we practised bouncing Mr Ball – we know that we have to wait for Mr Ball to pop up! And last, practised doing chest passes where we lined up and the children passed the ball to me.

Next, I strapped a basketball hoop to my back and ran around the court! The children giggled as they ran after me and tried to throw foam balls into the basketball hoop.

To finish, I rolled the foam balls across the court and the children had to try and catch them before they reached the opposite end! Well done on excellent footwork skills guys, keep it moving!

What a fun lesson. Can’t wait for next week!

Thanks champs!

27

Mandarin

By Chloe Lin

We began our Mandarin lesson with Hello, Ni Hao to welcome the children to class. I asked the children to stretch out their arms and legs, ready for another lesson.

In Stage 2 we revisited the animal memory game from last week. I placed 5 animals on my whiteboard. We developed our language skills by naming each animal in Mandarin and stimulated their cognitive skills by asking the children to guess which animal was missing, and attempt naming it in Mandarin. I introduced this game to Stage 3 and 4 and was very impressed with their memory skills!

Next, in Stage 3 and 4, we counted 0-10 in Mandarin and sang some of our favourite songs like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Elephant, Elephant, Where is Your Trunk? In Stage 2 we sang the elephant song and they loved using their arms as their own elephant trunk!

Stage 3 had a go at an “I can” game, where they became butterflies, robots, and flowers. In a matching game, Stage 3 were encouraged to match the magnet foods to either the “healthy” or “unhealthy” section on the whiteboard. Well done Stage 3 on a great demonstration of your awareness of healthy eating!

To finish, I showed the children some colour cards. The children took turns at naming the colour in English and then in Mandarin.

Everyone was rewarded with a sticker for another excellent lesson!

28

Drama

By Xanthe Wills

This week in drama we continued on with our theme Bears, Bears, Bears! With the well known story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenburg. On the parachute today, Stage 3 and 4 answered my question: What do you like to do on the weekend?

Stage 1 are still getting used to drama and becoming confident with new objects and concepts. This week we played peek-a-boo under the parachute and had a visit from LaLa the Koala.

In Stages 2, 3 and 4 to begin our lesson we read through the bear hunt story together. I asked the children if they wanted to come on a bear hunt with me and they all answered “yes!” Before going, we needed to pack an imaginary bag. The children came up with ideas on what we might need. Some suggestions included hats, sunscreen, food, water.

We also packed a towel (in case we got wet), and snow gear (just in case we came across a snowstorm!).

As we started the hunt, I gave the children different ways of moving through the story song: walking backwards, jumping, skipping. We mimed going through the long grass (swish, swash), through the mud (squelch, squelch), through the lake (splish, splash), and through the snow storm (hoo,woo) to try and find a bear. I always try to encourage the kids to say the words with me, and as we progressed through the song I started to leave out words for example “We can’t go _____ it, we can’t go _____ it, we have to go _____ it!”

And see if the children could fill in the blanks. Lastly, we came to a cave. We used tiptoes to sneak through. Oh no! We came across a big bear… We had to run away! I tested the children’s memories by asking them to remember how we got to the cave and asked them to guide me back through the snowstorm, lake, grass, and mud. Everyone giggled as they hid under the parachute blanket in safety.

After getting back from our bear hunt, Stage 3 broke off into 2 groups. One group were the bears and the other the hunters. The bears stayed very still as the hunters approached.

When the hunters came across the bear they ran home, just like in the story, and hid under our parachute blanket for safety! Stage 4 will have a chance to do this activity next week in our final lesson on bears.

Everyone was rewarded with a stamp for excellent participation in drama!

29

Happy Birthday!

A very happy birthday to our children who are celebrating their special day this week. We wish you all the best!

24/03 - Riley (1E)

25/03 - Marcus (4R)

30