Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Lindfield Vol 22 Issue 11

Principal’s Message

By Mrs Kath Boyd

Dear Parents, Here we are at the end of Term One! It has been heart-warming to witness the gains each child has made since the beginning of the year. Congratulations to the magnificent teaching teams for the exceptional educational program they deliver. I am extremely proud of and thankful for the eight Core Teachers whom I work alongside. Thank you to Jasmine (Kitchen Manager), Rob (Gardener/Handyman) and Luan (beloved 2IC) for the valuable contributions you both make to our school. From Monday 18th April, our new Enrolment Officer & PA to The Principal will be joining us …. welcome to Reddam ELS Lindfield, Chenise!

The staff and I are so appreciative of the support we receive from you, the families, every day. Members of the Reddam ELS Lindfield Parents Social Committee continued to tend to the Eco Garden, which is flourishing beautifully with all this rain!

As we wrap up the Term 1 Provocations, I have no doubt that our children now have a deeper understanding of who they are and where they belong (in the context of their family, Reddam and the wider community). Term 1 highlights for me have been: Stage 1 – Witnessing our littlest ones develop resilience, confidence and mobility. Also seeing the Stage 1 parents trust and work together with Miss Heather, Miss Charity and their teaching teams to achieve marvellous results.

Stage 2 – Watching the toddlers delve into sensory & musical activities and, each day, explore the outdoor spaces around the school campus with unbridled delight.

Pictured above: Isla (2E) creating her fairy garden.

Stage 3 – Observing these children mature emotionally, contribute to whole class projects and welcome new friends into our ELS with open arms.

Stage 4 – Seeing the preschoolers investigate, hypothesise and discuss a myriad of fabulous scientific experiments and creative art experiences.

Public Holidays: Our school will be closed on Friday 15th April (Good Friday), Monday 18th April (Easter Monday) and Monday 25th April (ANZAC Day).

Principal’s Message Continued...

By Mrs Kath Boyd

I look forward to Term 2 alongside our devoted teachers, who are already preparing the next provocations. As a staff, we will endeavour to focus on the enhancement of skills within each child, which encourage the development and love of: 1. Imagination: ‘Children need the freedom to appreciate the infinite resources of their hands, their eyes and their ears, the resources of forms, materials, sounds and colours.’ L. Malaguzzi 2. Education: Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.’ Marian Wright Edelman 3. Play: ’Play is the highest form of research.’ A. Einstein 4. Possibility: ‘The wider the range of possibilities we offer to children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences.’ L. Malaguzzi April Vacation Care Program: Monday 11th – Friday 29th April 2022 Week 1: Australian Authors

Week 2: Outer Space

Week 3: Mythical Creatures

During these three weeks we shift into ‘Holiday’ mode and have lots of creative activities planned to give the children a ‘break’ from their usual routine. Stage 3 & 4 children do not need to wear their school uniform. This afternoon you’ll receive a flyer outlining the daily events. Please read through this document carefully as children are encouraged to come to school in costume or bring something special to school on particular VCP days.

Term 2 Important Dates * Term 2 Commences - Monday 2nd May * Mother’s Day Celebration - Friday 6th May (9am - 10am) * Grandparents & Special Friends Event - Wednesday 29th June (9am – 10.30am) * Term 2 Concludes - Friday 1st July Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and a safe, relaxing Easter break.

Pictured below: Hannah & Angelina (4R) exploring Colombian Music with ribbons.

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Stage 1R

By Heather Gaskell

“Of the five senses, smell is the one with the best memory.” (Rebecca McClanahan) 1R have been investigating the sense of Smell and how true it is that smell evokes the strongest of memories! Cut grass still brings back mental images of the warm summer days of my childhood, laying around enjoying life, young and carefree. Our room has had some of the most yummy aromas floating around … from fragrant spices to earthy herbs (some of these were from our own gardens). Of course then there were the sweet smelling teas (mmm - I love a good cup of tea). Our little ones have used their olfactory organs to the maximum, enjoying the many sensory activities we presented. It started with some cool, yummy vanilla yoghurt into which they were able to add spices and herbs, which they then mixed and swirled the mixture … allowing the aromas to surround them. We talked about whether it had a sweet or spicy scent.

Miss Resie provided another stimulating sensory bouquet experience for the children, some sweet colourful jelly. The children were able to plunge their hands into the wobbly mixture, squashing it until the aromas erupted from the flavours of the jelly. Miss Doris set up a beautiful provocation of fruit tea bags and scented herbs for the children to explore. They enjoyed examining and manipulating the various herbs such as rosemary, sage, mint, coriander and demonstrated their curiosity of the herbs and tea bags. Our artwork for the week was just as interesting, again we used a variety of spices and herbs creating a very aromatic creation. We assisted the children in painting their paper with glue then gave them the choices of which herbs and spices they wished to sprinkle on their paper.

During our final week of the term we explored the sense of Taste and revised some of the children’s favourite experiences. They have taken great delight in exploring the Farmers’ Market we have had on offer all week. The children demonstrated their curiosity by tasting, squeezing, touching and rolling them around. They also engaged in pretend play by gathering up their items and putting them into the cloth bags, just like Mum and Dad do in the grocery store. We compared the textures of the skins and discussed which are hard and which are soft. A very interesting experience for our little ones, we even used some for painting. Don’t worry, none has gone to waste - any that my bunny did not eat went to feed our worms which in turn feeds our garden beds.

As our first term comes to a close we reflect back on how our class has grown and how well our beautiful little ones have settled. From their first day (which was probably more daunting for Mum and Dad) to today when some of our little ones just run in the door, excited to see what is on offer! It has been a marvellous journey which I for one have enjoyed very much. Doris, Resie & I look forward to extending that interest and excitement in Term 2, where we will be focusing on Literacy and looking at popular nursery rhymes and children's books.

Heather, Doris and Resie

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Stage 1R: What Scents Can You Smell?

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Stage 1R: Spices and Fruits Creative Experience

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Stage 1E

By Charity Acera

“It is not about smart children, it is about happy children, who have the courage and confidence to pursue and learn things dear to their hearts.” (Alexandra Eidens) This week we explored My Favourite Fruit and Vegetables as part of our Term 1 provocation theme All About Me. Sharing this information and exploring the children's favourites helps the children make meaning and express ideas. The children were motivated to explore and interact with the world. These earliest attempts at communication eventually develop into the ability to share observations, insights and opinions.

A creative activity was also introduced to the group as they were prompted to use real vegetables such as carrots, pears and cucumbers as tools for creating colourful patterns and making marks on paper. Not only did this add words to their vocabulary banks but also it allowed them to appreciate fruit and vegetables in a creative manner.

It has been such a lovely week of experiencing and appreciating the world we live in. The teachers have been inspiring these young learners to take an active interest in and celebrate the beginning of their early learning journey. As we end Term One, we continue to focus on providing a welcoming, secure and safe learning environment for the 1R children.

They are exposed to activities that build self confidence, discover their self-identity and most especially create a sense of belonging to a group and their community. Alongside their teachers, they celebrated their individuality and realised that every person is unique and special. As well, the children also learnt about their active participation in the community, broadening their understanding of the world in which they live.

On behalf of the Stage 1E team, I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation for your continued support and trust with your children's early learning experience. The community we have built in 1E is a great reminder that we all can live in harmony, despite differences, and inspire these young children to become respectful and productive members of the community. Hooray for Term One and cheers for Term 2, 1E families!

Wishing you all a great weekend!!

Charity, May and Fatima

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Stage 1E: My Favourite Fruit and Veggies

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Stage 1E: Stamping Veggies Creative Art Experience

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Stage 2R

By Sara Haddadi “Music proposes. Sound disposes.” (Babette Deutsch)

This week, 2R focused on their sense of Hearing. The teachers simply explained to 2R that our ears allow us to explore sounds through vibrations. Vibrations are very small and quick movements that go back and forth, like ocean waves or a string moving up and down. Once these vibrations enter our ear, they are sent to our brain to make meaning out of them so that we can understand the sound.

2R manipulated a variety of musical instruments to create music and expressed themselves through sounds. The teachers actively modelled different ways of playing with these musical instruments. We played simple repeated patterns, like “big bowl, middle bowl, small bowl.” We commented on our own playing using language that described the sounds we were making and the ways we were playing. We introduced music concepts like ‘fast and slow’, ‘high and low’, & ‘loud and soft’, talked about pattern, pitch, tone and rhythm, and used open-ended questions to stimulate discussion and thinking about the music and sounds. Inspired by maracas, they made musical shakers using recycled materials. They really enjoyed getting involved with decorating them and were so delighted to use them afterwards to create music.

Moreover, the little ones listened closely as they used colourful spray bottles to spray coloured water onto rice bubbles. As the water hit the Rice bubbles, they put on their listening ears and listened very closely for the crackling sound. The rice bubbles sounded like little tiny firecrackers with each and every spray of water. Practising our listening skills influences our ability to learn and greatly influences our social skills as listening is a crucial part of a conversation. The spray bottles children used were also perfect in strengthening their little muscles in their hands as it was quite tricky to push the lever in and out as it had quite a bit of resistance but with a little perseverance, they all were able to ace the skill.

Furthermore, the children discovered some musical jars to allow them to learn and make noise (music) in the process and explore and investigate sound waves and pitch. In this experiment, 2R observed that when the jars were all empty, the vibrations and the sounds were all the same. Adding different amounts of water to the jars caused the vibrations (and sound) to change. Art of the week invited 2R to bring the noise into art. They used paint brushes wrapped with bells to paint and learned all about colour mixing too.

It has been a great term building friendly and trustworthy relationships with 2R children and their families.

The teachers incorporated their knowledge in planning environments and experiences to support children’s development and ensured positive outcomes for all children. Fostering 2R’s sense of belonging and creating an environment where learning can thrive and remind the children that the world is a safe place, have been our main goals this term. As a result, 2R feel safe to share ideas with their teachers and peers and developed positive relationships, have shown multiple skills and abilities, gained powerful knowledge through play, are confident in applying their knowledge or skills to learn new things, are active contributors to their own learning and see themselves as powerful in their own learning.

We wish you all happiness and peace during Easter holiday. Enjoy to the fullest!

Sara, Vivian, Lizzie and Indi

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Stage 2R: 2R! 2R! What Can You Hear?

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Stage 2R: Jingle Bells Artwork

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Stage 2E

By Mia Doan

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” (Albert Einstein) Imagination is an essential component of childhood, helping children learn many important lifelong skills such as social, emotional, creative, physical, lingual, and problem-solving skills in children. Pretend and imaginative play provides opportunities for children to learn through discovering themselves, making sense of their social worlds and developing empathy and understanding for others when they actively engage with people and objects.

Especially, while 2E children are playing pretend with others, they are working on skills like cooperation, negotiation, collaboration, and sharing of responsibilities. It also helps a child’s self-esteem, giving them the confidence to be anything they want.

This week, 2E had a wonderful time exploring, riding on a magic train and using their imagination to enter a fairy/ fantasy world. On the unicorn and fairy land, the unicorns unearthed a new fascination for the children of the magical and mystical world. The children were engaged in imaginative play with a unicorn sensory bin filled with cotton sand like candy floss. The purple sand, flowers, swinging chairs, and fairies enticed our children to create imaginative scenes within this small world. 2E children were over the moon and started to dress-up like fairies and butterflies with magic wands.

Another day, we stopped at a pirate world. The small pirate world was set up with various shades of blue cellophane paper and sea creatures which presented the deep ocean and pirate’s galleon, treasure chest filled with gold coins, pearls, jewellery and wooden pirates. The children loved manipulating the pirate’s ship and followed the pirates to the treasure chest which was filled with coloured sand, pebbles, pearl necklaces, gold coins, small gemstones and some antiques.

Dragons capture our friend's interests as they look like dinosaurs with wings. The dragon's small world which was decorated with ancient-looking plants, barks, pine cones and wooden blocks. This play-based opportunity helped children connect their interest in mythical creatures with big and exciting ideas in their imaginations. We captured some movement where 2E children pretend to be dragons, roam and roar around the play space.

Fantasy narratives and rhythm books drew 2E children’s attention during group-time. Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Clinton Gregory's Secret by Bruce Whatley, song books Portside Pirates by Oscar Seaworthy and Magic Train Ride by Sally Crabtree & Sonia Esplugas took us on lively imaginative and unforgettable adventures aboard.

Watching, listening to, and engaging in everyday occurrences has proven to be a fruitful way of assessing our 2E children's development. Through warmth, positive interactions and genuine relationships, the children’s friendship and levels of engagement in the Term 1 flourished. Social interactions, shared-reading routines, literacy-rich activities and structural learning experiences change the pace of language and cognitive learning.

The learning process becomes visible when our young children start to share ideas, initiate conversations by asking questions, share social experiences, and contribute their bags full of knowledge during group discussions.

Thank you 2E friends for wonderful learning experiences throughout Term 1!

Happy Easter!

Mia, Tracey, Xanthe, Shandie, Jaycel, Connie and Indi

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Stage 2E: Magical Mystery Tour

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Stage 2E: Wandering in Wonderland

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Stage 3R

By Grace Nolan

As we wrapped up the term’s provocation this week, the children were able to engage with Our Older Generation with a focus on our big grown-ups and grandparents. During this term, we have been in talks with St. Peter’s Retirement Village and the children have been rehearsing songs with actions and Auslan to sing with a group of the elderly residents. This week the children were able to explore their grandparents and the older generation experiences that they might enjoy doing.

Our sensory experiences saw children using ceramic tea cups with rooibos tea water play, the children commented on the smell and loved pouring the tea from the scoops into the cups. This experience was extended upon during our small learning groups with children taste testing different teas. Whilst sitting at a table together, the children were given small cups and were poured three different teas - rooibos, peppermint and strawberry & mango. The children used their senses to explore the different kinds, the heat using their hands, the aroma using their noses, the colour using their eyes and the taste with their mouths. The rooibos and strawberry & mango were the crowd favourites. During this experience, the children related drinking tea and coffee with their families, and even with their ‘Gong Gong’.

For this week’s creative art we focused on collaborating together to create a ‘family tree’. The children worked together over the five days adding hand prints to make the tree, grass and flowers. Once the painting was dry, in week 10 the children cut and glued pictures of themselves with their grandparents onto the ‘family tree’ while educators transcribed the names of their grandparents to accompany the photos.

Parents were also invited to add the names of the grandparents as each name is unique to each family. This was also a great way to encourage family input and involvement as they were able to view and add the children’s artwork.

In our small groups the children were invited to play some mini golf with Miss Chloe. The children responded enthusiastically as they lined up to swat balls into small pots on astro turf. This experience allowed the children to work on their hand eye coordination, fine and gross motor skills as well as turn-taking. The children also shared in each other's achievements as they cheered from the sideline when friends got their balls in!

A scheduled Firefighters visit also occurred with the local Gordon Firefighters visiting the park next door to the school. The children were in awe of the fire truck and firefighters as they sat beautifully and engaged in the discussions and activities firefighter Dan, John and Steve had for the class. This experience links to our previous week's provocation ‘Community’.

Our final week of the term was used as a reflection week, bringing back concepts and beloved experiences from the term. The children’s love for gardening and community was especially seen and as a result we have brought back sensory experiences including ice cream playdough, firefighter slime, garden letters and Kookaburra printing.

We thank all the children and families for a fantastic term investigating How I Connect with the World, as we saw a lot of parent contribution and child engagement.

In Term 2 we will look at the wonderful world of S.T.E.A.M. Grace, Carina, Chloe, Shandie, Margaret and Intisar

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Stage 3R: Sensory Experiences

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Stage 3R: Mini Golf and Creative Experiences

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Stage 3E

By Georgia Galvin

“I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains; Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains…” (Dorothea Mackellar) Children learn best when they are able to engage in experiences which relate to their interests and lives. To finish off Term 1, Stage 3E have been learning about the country we live in - Australia as well as the city we live in - Sydney. Through discussions, sensory, creative, literacy and STEM experiences, the children have been hands-on in their learning of our country and city.

Our sensory experiences during Week 9 (Australia-themed week) invited the children to use their senses to learn about the different landscapes we find in Australia. Each day, a different landscape was chosen for the children to investigate. For example, on Monday, the children were invited to investigate ocean-themed trays which were filled with Australian sea animals, sea plants and photographs of Australian oceans. On Wednesday, the children were invited to investigate a desert-themed tuff tray, which was filled with yellow and orange sand, stones and Australian native desert animals, as well as a variety of Australian desert photographs. Each time a child approaches a sensory tray, they do so of their own intrinsic motivation. However, our 3E teachers endeavour to sit with them during their sensory play in order to scaffold discussions on these sensory environments.

During Week 10, the children were engaged in a variety of discussions which focused on our home city of Sydney. These discussions focused on Sydney’s iconic (and very recognisable) landmarks, landscapes, climate as well as our very important community services - such as firefighters, postal workers, grocery workers and more. When scaffolding our discussions, the children were shown a variety of photographs which showed landmarks and landscapes and were encouraged to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences. Many 3E children shared they had seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge, been to a famous Sydney beach, completed a bush walk in a Sydney National Park or have seen a show at the Sydney Opera House. Discussions are a great way to ensure each child feels valued for their contribution and can help develop a child’s self-esteem and sense of belonging within a classroom - something which is very important in Stage 3E. Thank you for a wonderful Term 1, Stage 3E! We are so excited to continue fostering each child’s learning, developing, self-esteem and sense of Belonging, Being & Becoming throughout Term 2.

Have a great weekend!

Georgia, Nat, Connie, Kai and Intisar

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Stage 3E: Learning about Australia and Our Community (Pt 1)

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Stage 3E: Learning about Australia and Our Community (Pt 2)

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Stage 4R

By Veronika Roth

“Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained and delighted.” (Dr. Seuss) Dr. Seuss’s idea of children’s needs reflect our learning journey over the past weeks. Through our provocation I belong to my community - who we are the classroom embarked on a weekly voyage exploring countries and cultures relevant to our class community. Touching on our sense of belonging, through these provocations the children were challenged to think outside their immediate environment described by Bronfenbrenner (1974) as a child’s microsystem and develop their understanding of the broader world around them, called the macrosystem. His Ecological Systems Theory (1974) explains that a child’s environment is a nested arrangement of structures each contained within the next, which emphasises the importance of these arrangements to be identified and explored. This proved to be challenging at times as we skipped from one continent to another, defining cultural identities and differences. Most importantly, this term has definitely brought entertainment and delight to our learning every day.

As we conclude this term, during Week 9 we visited the exciting country of Colombia. Its vibrant lifestyle, colourful clothes and astonishing wildlife occupied the learning focuses for the week. In line with Carnival Barranquilla, which is held in Colombia this week, we’ve explored Latin-American music with colourful ribbons and relevant instruments dancing in the classroom. The children engaged in making their own carnival masks as their art object, applying the vibrant colours defining the culture. On our tables, colour mixing, coffee bean sensory trays, colourful feathers with playdough and Colombian-themed literacy words invited the children to explore. Learning about the largest rainforest, the Amazon involved the class to work collaboratively to identify and group animals living in the rainforest region according to their natural habitats within the four layers of the rainforest: forest floor, understory layer, canopy layer and emergent layer.

In the final week of this term we concluded our travels by coming back home to Australia, exploring its unique landscape and learning about the different terrains the continent offers, such as ocean sides, plateaus, desert, mountains and rainforests. We explored the way of living in Australia near water, on the farm, in the outback, and made a note of famous natural and manmade landmarks. The Acknowledgement of Indigenous Australians and the identification of native animals was also part of the week's learning.

We would like to congratulate the 4R class for spending a wonderful first term together, embarking on a journey of learning amongst well-known and newly welcomed friends. We are excited for our new adventures awaiting ahead in Term 2.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Veronika, Rebecca and Rowel

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Stage 4R: All about Colombia

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Stage 4R: Welcome back to Australia!

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Stage 4E

By Lauren Hall

"Your dreams when you are little are the force that keeps you going." (Evonne Goolagong) Term 1 is coming to an end and the children have well and truly settled into our classroom. This term our provocation was called, Belonging - I Call Australia Home. Our class explored the indigenous cultures of Australia, the history of colonisation, our native flora and fauna, Australian artists, landmarks, immigration, culture, and inspiring Australians.

Australia has produced many “famous Australians” including athletes, entertainers and artists. We started our weekly provocation by reading Evonne Goolagong’s biography, and how she dreamed of becoming the first female, indigenous professional tennis player. She practised every day for many years before she won Wimbledon in 1971 and became number one in the world. Evonne won the title again in 1980 and has inspired young indigenous tennis players including Ash Barty. Inspired by Evonne’s tennis career, the children learnt to play their own game of tennis out on the verandah. The children took turns to use tennis racquets and make contact with the ball, and then used "pretend" racquets (paper plates glued to paddle pop sticks) to continue practising their swing and keep their balloons in the air. We may have some future tennis stars in our class.

Next, we read about Australia’s most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly. Bushrangers were armed criminals in the 1800s who rode away on their horses after committing their crimes. Artist Sidney Nolan loved hearing stories about Ned Kelly as a young boy, and when he started painting, he created a series of artworks which featured the bushranger’s silhouette. Other famous Australians we learnt about included entertainer, Dame Edna who is recognised by her eccentric glasses and purple hair. The children constructed their own sparkly specs and proudly paraded around the classroom in them. We also read about opera singer Nellie Melba, country singer Slim Dusty, cricket legend Don Bradman, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, and Olympic gold medallist and swimmer, Ian Thorpe. We concluded our provocation by reading Cathy Freeman’s autobiography, Born to Run. At the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Cathy was chosen to light the Olympic torch, and proudly walked around the track holding both the Australian and Aboriginal flag after winning a gold medal in her four hundred metre running event. What an inspiration!

Our class has been on a big journey of ‘belonging to country’ as we explored different aspects of Australia each week. After reflecting on our provocation, the children were invited to share what they enjoyed learning about the most.

"The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House." (Ryan L.) "Dreamtime stories." (Charlotte) "Countries in Australia (Aboriginal lands) and Uluru, the big rock.” (Jasper) Thank you for a wonderful term of learning together. Where will our learning journey take us next term?

Have a safe and happy Easter break!

Lauren, Priya, Rebecca, Tas and Doris

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Stage 4E: Inspired by Australian Athletes

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Stage 4E: Ned Kelly Artwork

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Playball

By Coach Carla

My name is Carla and I stepped in for Lauren today to have some Playball fun!

We warmed up our bodies by collecting some crazy cockroaches (little plastic balls) that were running around the court. The children practised their throwing skills by pushing their little plastic balls up to the sky, using their knees as a starting point. Next, I set up the tunnel facing the sky and we all did our best to throw little balls into the opening of the tunnel. The children know that we don’t just “drop” the ball in- we use energy and THROW it in. It’s very tricky but we all did so well!

Next, we played the Bunny and the burrow game. The children all stood in their own hoop and I instructed them what to do – “jump into the hoop; out of the hoop; jump over the hoop; walk around the hoop; hop around the hoop.” I went faster and faster and faster until the children were jumping all over the place. We all tried to spin our hoop, wait for the hoop to fall onto the ground and then jump into the hoop.

For Stages 3 and 4, I challenged the children by placing a number of hoops on the court and instructed as to how many children needed to jump into each hoop. First, we all found our own hoop, then 2, 3, 4, 5 in each hoop. It was interesting to watch the dynamic and decision-making process! The “Shark and the Island” Game extended on this – we were sharks swimming in the ocean. When I blew my whistle, the children needed to find an “island” (hoop) as quickly as they could! Each time we restarted the game, I took a hoop away. It became tricky to find a hoop!

We then played the Playball version of “dodge-ball”. The children ran around the court and tried to tap me with a ball!

We made a Playball “fruit salad” where we practised our catching skills. I asked which fruit the children would like in their fruit salad and they stretched their arms out in front and scooped the ball (fruit) into the “fruit salad bowl” (our scooped hands).

We then placed a ball between our knees and tried to walk trying our best not to let the ball slip – the children were waddling like little penguins. We tried putting a ball between our feet and jumping up to the sky!

Thanks for a very special lesson today and for being my friend!

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Mandarin

By Chloe Lin

This week in Mandarin, we warmed up our voices with Hello, Ni Hao. Stage 2 sang ‘The hello song’ like a motorbike, a train, and a fire engine!

In Stage 4, we began by counting 1-10 in Mandarin and then learnt a new song: Counting friends. In this song, the children learnt how to say “Where are you?” and “friend” in Mandarin. The children loved this song, so they repeated it 3 times while following my hand movements. Afterwards, we sang our favourite Mandarin animal songs with dance movements to reinforce vocabulary of numbers, body parts and animals.

Repeating our favourite activity from last week, I showed the children some colour cards and then asked the children to repeat the names of each colour in Mandarin. I taught the children how to say “What is this colour?” Then, I introduced the rules of the game and put the colour cards on the mat. I named two children and gave each of them a flyswatter and took out a finger puppet. The two children needed to look at the colours on the finger puppet and then respond quickly by swatting the same colours on the mat. The children had lots of fun swatting the colours!

To finish the lesson, the children had an opportunity to choose a surprise egg and open it to see what was inside. The children repeated the name of each item in Mandarin. This activity helped the children to get familiar with a range of Chinese words, such as bus, soccer, polar bear, burger, peach and motorcycle.

Everyone was rewarded with a sticker for an excellent effort in Mandarin!

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Drama

By Xanthe Wills

This week in drama was our third and final lesson on the theme Bears, Bears, Bears!

Stage 1 and 2 started the lesson by singing the popular song Rock-a-bye Your Bear” They were encouraged to sing along and follow the actions. In Stage 1, Madeline was very brave to have a go at “peek-a-boo” under the parachute, and Henson had a smile on his face the whole time while we sang songs.

Stage 2, 3 and 4 explored the theme of Bears with help from the popular nursery rhyme Teddy Bear’s Picnic” Extending on our ideas from last week, we used our imagination to walk/ jump/ skip through the woods and arrive at our picnic (on the parachute) where we found lots of soft toys. Stage 2 are becoming better at following the leader, and we are beginning to introduce walking in rhythms and freezing. We had a lot of fun singing along with the song while we were walking, and when we arrived. At the picnic we discussed what food might be served and pantomimed eating some of the foods. Icy Pole had joined us for the picnic and he wanted us to put on a show for him and some of his friends. The children lined up the toys so that they were sitting like an audience. We were reminded of the skills we had learnt a couple of weeks ago and discussed “What makes a good audience?” We made sure the audience was facing the front and sitting nicely. We then showed the toys how good we are at balancing on one leg up high to our knees, and out behind us. Stage 2 practised their bows for the toys and then helped to pack away.

Stage 3 and 4 then turned into their very own bears. We talked about what foods bears might eat, and what happens to bears during the winter. We mimed eating some delicious fish and then finding a cave to hibernate in for winter.

Stage 3 and 4 have just started to work on the concept of the Hot Seat. This is where they are asked questions about their character, and encouraged to come up with creative answers.

Today our character was the bear in the cave. Stage 3 were asked simple questions like “what colour are you?”, and “What food do you eat for dinner?”. Stage 4 are asked to stand and reply in sentences. Some questions asked were “What is your cave made out of and how do you decorate it?” And “Do you live with anyone at your cave?” We will be working on hot-seating throughout the year.

Well done to all for finishing our Bears theme! Next week we will have a look at Fairy Tales.

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Happy Birthday!

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

04/04 - Harvey (3R)

04/04 - Michael (3R)

07/04 - Cassia (4E)

04/04 - Burhan (4R)

10/04 - Hamish (2E)

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