Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 20

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL LINDFIELD NEWSLETTER Principal’s Message

01/07/22

By Christine Irwin

Dear Parents, As we come to the end of term 2 and wrap up the interest projects that the children have been investigating, the educators have been reflecting and discussing some of the outcomes that the children have achieved throughout the term. The team have observed new interests emerging from the children and are beginning to discuss the concepts that may be the focus for next term.

Winter is certainly upon us now and the children have been enjoying time outdoors in the sunshine. Soccer games and building with natural items from the playground have been a wonderful free-play experience where the children have taken the lead and collected items in the environment to build and create with. Playing games with rules such as hide and seek, soccer and chasing games have been a daily occurrence with our older children whilst our younger explorers mastering the art of climbing and balancing whilst negotiating their interactions with others.

We have added some natural climbing resources to the stage 4 playground area with a meeting circle located near our new digging patch under our tall gum trees. This meeting circle is a tradition to our first nations people as we continue to learn on the lands of the Cammeraigal clan or tribe of the Guringai people.

It has been interesting to watch the children explore these natural items adding and adjusting small wood biscuits and large logs to suit their needs whilst also respecting others ideas and collaborating together to master their creations. We have also added some of the wooden logs to the back corner of the playground amongst the greenery and trees . I look forward to seeing how the children use this area in their play and how they utilise nature with creativity and imagination. We will be adding more natural climbing logs and stumps to the stage 3 playground where we already have some great benches that the children move around to inform their play.

Principal’s Message

(continued)

By Christine Irwin

Stage 3 children have also been added to their (courtyard) with new plants in our concrete pots. This has added another dimension to this area that the children enjoy spending time in throughout their learning day. The team has also added a visual art unit with a variety of mediums for the children to use in the outdoor area. This has been incorporated into stage 3’s learning time with children accessing this space during indoor experiences.

“Outdoor learning spaces are a feature of Australian learning environments. They offer a vast array of possibilities not available indoors. Play spaces in natural environments include plants, trees, edible gardens, sand, rocks, mud, water and other elements from nature. These spaces invite open-ended interactions, spontaneity, curiosity, risk-taking, exploration, discovery and connection with nature. They foster an appreciation of the natural environment, develop environmental awareness and provide a platform for ongoing environmental education.” (EYLF, p. 18).- Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority November 2021.

The team are looking forward to the vacation program which we have worked together to brainstorm ideas and thoughts about the children’s interest and emerging skills. The concepts that were decided upon are • • •

Week 1: How We Move Week 2: Boxes and Construction Week 3: The Arts

Looking forward to chatting to you soon.

Have a fabulous weekend!

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Stage 1R

By Heather Gaskell

‘A Writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.’ (Samuel Johnson) We are finishing our voyage into the wonderful world of books with a beautiful shiny story book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. This engaging story has allowed us to participate in some delightful provocations based on fish and aquatic life. We even created our very own ocean life in our room. The children have often looked up during their meals to inspect the sealife hiding amongst the beautiful blue ocean we created.

One of these activities the children engaged in was to try a simulated fishing experience. Where they could practice their fine motor skills. Learning to use a magnetic fishing rod to catch the magnetic fish. There were also a lot of eye-hand coordination skills being used to hold their rods steady enough to hook the fish. They could then place the fish into containers and the educators helped the children to count how many fish they had caught.

Another morning the provocation table was set to entice children to play with sea creatures. The children were invited to a cloud sand fishing sensory experience where they manipulated the wooden fish and other sea creatures in the tray. They made sounds while moving the fish in the sand tray. The children were also encouraged to sort out fish according to their colours.

We provide the children with many different forms of sensory experiences throughout the week and our fish and sea life focus has allowed us to present to the children a large variety. Another provocation that welcomed the children was an ocean themed slime. It was full of sensory stimulation, as the children were feeling a variety of textures of the materials such as smooth rocks, bumpy sea shells and slimy slime, and seeing different colours of the sea animals. Also, they were practising their creativity by creating the sea world they wanted. The children have enjoyed immersing themselves into this world and have happily participated in the many activities we have presented to them this week. We have incorporated many forms of fishing from magnetic fishing to using fishing net scoops to scoop colourful slippery fish out of the water.

All of these have provided our little ones with a chance to use their imaginations, eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. Even the act of holding the rods and scoops helps to improve their grip strength for later when pencil grip comes along. It is amazing just what they can develop and learn just from playing with some colourful fish.

Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend Heather, Doris, May & Jaycel

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Stage 1R

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Stage 1R

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Stage 1E

By Charity Acera

“We must credit the child with enormous potential and the children must feel that trust. The teacher must give up all his preconceived notions and accept the child as a co-constructor.”

(Loris Malaguzzi) Seeing our children capable of doing things and exploring their imagination is so gratifying. It gives us pride that they have taken agency and have become active participants in their own learning journey. The trust we have put out in them as educators and as parents have brought positive results such as their exceptional enthusiasm during group time, their willingness to participate in learning groups, and their openness to taking on new challenges and concepts.

This term’s focus on developing a sense of being in our children through exploring the limitless world of ‘Imagination’ has supported this purpose of guiding the children to discover their maximum potential in their early learning journey. We have allowed them to freely express themselves through sensory learning experiences, construction, creative art activities, and dramatic play. We have provided them with playbased opportunities that encourage them to discover, create, improvise and imagine...simply to enjoy being. Being a child that is joyful, learning and discovering the possibilities of the world.

Last week, we explored the wonderful world of felt. It allowed the children to creatively learn about the different themes, stories, and concepts using felt fabrics. Not only that it explored their sense of touch and sight but also increased their likelihood of developing creative imagination skills through the use of these tactile resources. Additionally, our last week of term was all about revisiting the most loved themes of the term. Revisiting learning deepens the understanding and appreciation of the concepts learned. Singing I Can Sing a Rainbow and immersing ourselves in the world of underwater and dinosaurs were just some of the topics reviewed and re-enjoyed by the children. Not only did this bring wonderful memories but also gave them the opportunity to reflect, extend, and create new understandings of the concepts and most especially gain new knowledge about the environment.

On another note, I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation for your continued support and trust in your children's early learning experience, specifically for the past successful terms. Your confidence in us and your warmth inspire us to provide purposeful and meaningful early childhood learning experiences with your wonderful children as we learn alongside them.

A gentle reminder, the Vacation Care Program will commence next week. This time will surely be another three weeks of fun and learning!

May you all have a wonderful weekend and holidays ahead!

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Stage 2R

By Sara Haddadi

“"The animal is a conduit for learning to be human: some propose that it is only through the animal that we recognise our humanity” (Jill Bone) This week, the 2R children explored the complex and busy lives of farm animals. They enjoyed investigating the environment in which these animals live and deciphering their features.

Children's learning benefits significantly from interactions with and care for animals. It offers them exposure to practical life skills they can utilise in the future.

2R engaged their imaginations and senses to learn more about farm animals using our various farm-themed sensory experiences. As they played, they invented worlds of their own where animals could talk; they practised their communication and used their dramatic play abilities to create their own stories. Playing with farm animals also enhanced their social skills when they played alongside their peers. The children had great fun pulling the pigs and piglets from the sticky mud and manipulating the muddy slime. This learning experience promoted fine-motor skills and investigation. Moreover, they showed great interest in cow-themed sensory trays using black and white slime along with cows that were hard to spot as they were almost camouflaged in the slime.

Furthermore, the teachers set up an engaging milking dramatic play station for the children to learn about where milk comes from. 2R would squeeze on a glove with tiny little holes in the bottom of the fingers to extract white paint from the “udders” to simulate milking a cow. Through pretend play, children can learn a lot about themselves and the world around them. When the children are offered play-based experiences along with loose parts, their ingenuity truly surprises us. It shows that as adults, we don’t think outside the box nearly enough, and when we step back and allow the children to play and follow their lead, they can use their imagination and be active learners while creating their play. We believe in co-constructed learning and consider and treat the child's knowledge and understanding as valid while willing to share and develop our own ideas. This approach helps children be confident, take ownership of their learning, take risks and develop their creativity.

This term, the teachers took advantage of the bonds children form with animals and their fascination with all things related to nature and helped them develop essential life skills. We encouraged them to create a sense of empathy, responsibility and belonging within their world.

2R learnt about nature, ecology, and the value of protecting the environment while simultaneously developing these abilities by learning and caring for all these living creatures.

Have a great and safe weekend, everyone!

Sara, Vivian, Lizzie, Connie and Jaycel

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Stage 2E

By Mia Doan

“We had forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the Earth as its other creatures do.”

(Barbara Ward) Throughout this week, we parked our school bus in a beautiful city - Sydney, to explore the Urban Ecosystem and the land we share and live on. We engaged in various construction activities, investigated domestic and city animals’ habitats, and reinforced sustainable practices. The children visited a range of landmarks in Sydney through visual images and books. They were able to tell the name of famous places and shared the experiences they spent with their families. The learning experiences also strengthened children’s sense of identity, belonging, community, and place through connecting their social experiences and prior knowledge.

On a thrilling roller coaster of fun and excitement, we explored the lives of other living things in the city through beautiful books, such as The Subway Mouse by Barbara Reid, Gary by Leila Rudge, Cat Dog by Mem Fox & Mark Teague, and many more. After a few weeks of learning about wild animals and their environment, we observed the life and adaptations of the ‘city’ animals. We explored the lives of wild birds in the city. Our urban bird watchers tried to guess and recognise the familiar bird that they have seen around the city or in the community, for example, kookaburra, rainbow lorikeet, cockatoo, galah, and a giant bird - the pelican.

A Bird and a Bag by Pamela Allen greatly emphasised the importance of sustainability and encouraged the children to take care of our environment. To raise the children’s awareness of sustainable practices, magnet recycling bin sorting boards were introduced. These boards help children to recognise the bin system based on colour. They used a magnet pen to move the food waste/plastic items/rubbish into the correct bins.

Extending on the beauty of these books and the children’s imagination and creation, the children were invited to build their own city with wooden blocks with shaving cream or paper cups and popsicle roads.

Connecting to the children’s interests in the construction vehicles, we represented construction zones for sensory play by using brown rice, wooden blocks, small tree logs, and different types of construction vehicles such as cranes, excavators, bulldozers, diggers, road rollers and dump trucks. The children used the construction vehicles to manipulate and pick up stones, blocks and various other things and move them about the area. This activity was a highlight of the week.

Construction-based activities encourage children to express their ideas and expressions via a range of media and materials. The City Block Painting focus was to recognise geometric figures by choosing basic shapes from the wooden blocks in a variety of sizes to create a 2D abstract dream city. In creative art processes, artistic communication does not merely focus on final products but on the processes of making, selecting, and presenting.

Thank you 2E children for a wonderful learning journey. We can’t wait to see you thrive in the Vacation Care Program.

Have a wonderful holiday ahead!

Mia, Tracey, Xanthe, Shandie, Chloe, Jenny, Marlon and Connie

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Stage 3R

By Grace Nolan

“Maths knowledge is useful for all of us—from children to adults—in all aspects of our lives. When parents and teachers get excited about maths, then children get excited about maths. When we emphasise learning, and embrace mistakes, then children get excited about learning.” (Masters) Using Mathematics as a starting point to include numeracy concepts whilst still incorporating the children's interests this week proved that children really do learn through play. In our morning meetings we asked the children questions that invite them to think critically about mathematical concepts such as ‘big vs small’ as well as using our new wooden date keeper to discuss how mathematics is used for measurement and that a calendar is a measurement of days! The children were asked “What is the BIGGEST thing you can think of?” The children answered: Oscar: “A tree.”

Avery: “A biggest strawberry.”

Myra: “A tree.”

Chloe : “Big teddy bear.”

Edmund: “A milkshake.”

Michael : “An iPad.” Aiden: “A big apple” Harvey H: “A mat, like this big!“ Luka: “A big mat.”

Angus: “A milkshake.”

Harry: “A dinosaur!”

Hana: “A house.”

Our table experiences this week build upon the children’s interest in dinosaurs with ‘Dino Counting’ that encourages children to use one-to-one correspondence counting as they place small dinosaurs under cardinal numbers. To extend upon this, we offered similar experiences with pom poms and muffin trays with cardinal numbers placed at the bottom with tongs to build fine motor strength and hand eyecoordination.

Providing children the opportunity to explore numeracy organically through sensory-based experiences encourages co-construction of knowledge between peers and starts discussion using mathematical language. Over the two weeks our sensory table has transformed into a space where children have been encouraged to make their own playdough. Placing all the ingredients and materials to make their own, the children have had to measure out the flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil and water to mix in their own trays.

This was a lot of fun and also very messy which was a highlight! Another sensory experience saw friends using measuring cups, measuring spoons and funnels to transport and count beans from one container to another.

Observing the children’s growing interest and intrinsic motivation to start writing, drawing and markmaking, this week we provided the children with whiteboards, markers and magnetic cardinal numbers.

The children were able to extend their fine motor skills as they draw, mark-make and attempt to write numbers. Continuing to foster the children’s emerging literacy skills and interests, the classroom has added a Writing Centre which also aligns with our school’s inspired Reggio-Emilia Approach. The children have been able to independently write and draw, extending their own interest in writing and giving them a sense of agency.

In our small groups over the past two weeks, the children have been combing the outdoor environment with numeracy concepts as they go on a ‘Number Hunt’ to spot different numbers around the school, both intentionally and spontaneously, as well as collecting natural resources in groups i.e. 5 leaves & 4 stones.

On the back veranda, the children were given large wooden domino blocks and cardboard letters to count and match. The children showed great enthusiasm for the wooden blocks as they practised counting the black dots, saying the number and finding the corresponding number to place it under. The children were able to subitize some of the domino blocks and recognise which dot formations were the same or different.

Thank you for such a great term!

Grace, Carina, Margaret

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Stage 3R

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Stage 3R

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Stage 3E

By Natalie Horstman

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

– Robert Swan, Author This week, the children extended their learning of the animal world by focusing on The Impacts of Climate Change. Last week, we investigated the topic of ‘Domestic Animals’ and explored some of the most common ones including cats, dogs and rabbits; and peculiar domestic animals including rats, snakes and spiders. Whilst exploring this topic, the children learned the difference between wild and domesticated animals and engaged in discussions about ways that we can protect them. When responding to picture books the children questioned ways they could protect wild Arctic animals such as polar bears and penguins. In order to foster and extend on children’s understanding of this topic, this week's learning experiences aimed to promote a deeper understanding about the impacts climate change has on the lives of animals. Climate Change describes a change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time. The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the global average, causing the ice that polar bears depend on to melt away. Loss of sea ice also threatens the bear's main prey, seals, which need the ice to raise their young. Having an understanding about the impacts of climate change is very important in order to prepare children to live sustainably for the future.

Our morning meetings focused on learning about what climate change is and how it causes natural disasters including floods, rising temperatures, bushfires and droughts. These natural disasters can cause significant devastation and destruction to animal habitats. To further promote the children’s engagement with the topic we introduced stories including The Polar Bear Paddle by David Bedofrd and Karen Sapp; Flood, Fire, and Drought by Jackie French. Our table experiences invited the children to explore the impacts of climate change through sensory, literacy-focused, dramatic play and STEM learning. Our sensory experiences invited the children to explore a drought-themed sensory tray filled with cornflour, farm animals, dried leaves and wooden stumps. Our STEM-focused experience invited children to engage in dramatic play using polar bear figurines and ice. The children actively took on different roles and engaged in discussions about where the animals go when their habitats melt away due to rising temperatures. Our literacy-focused experiences allowed the children to configure a complicated wooden shape puzzle, developing the children’s visual discrimination skills, shape recognition, problem-solving and contributes to children’s hand-eye coordination development.

Next week, we will be learning more about ‘Sustainability’ and how we can actively work towards a sustainable future.

Enjoy your weekend!

Indi, Nat, Kai and Connie

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Stage 4R

By Veronika Roth

“The five senses are the ministers of the soul.” (Leonardo DaVinci) This week's provocation in our class focused on the learning of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. On our tables this week, the children were invited to explore their senses in a variety of ways: • •

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The cloud sand, which is a gooey, stretchy substance, invites to engage in applying the sense of touch and seeing. Alexander said, "It feels like a soft cream and gummy bears."

To experience hard and soft, the children used hard, uncooked spaghetti in water and observed the change of the pasta becoming softer as it soaked up the water. Ari said, "It was soft because it was in the water."

Experimenting with ice through the eyes of Dominique: "The salt melts the ice. It was soft and cold and turned into liquid."

Estefania explained her creative experience with the mirror and gems sense of seeing experience: "I made a tree with the stars and the flowers on the mirror. I liked the colours on the mirror." he creative art experiences invited the children to represent their five senses by drawing a self -portrait. Looking at their own self-reflection in the mirror offered the children to take charge of their own learning and understanding creatively represent themselves on paper. he playdough and modelling clay manipulation encouraged the children to use their sense of touch engaging Jackson as he commented, "Make the playdough around my hands to make it round." Lily added, "I made a cookie monster with eyes and mouth and ears and hair.”

The variety of spices on our smelling table invited the children’s sense of smell to identify each spice. he musical instruments have been frequently visited this week, as children scaffolded their interest and skill throughout the week starting with free exploration of each instrument and the sound it made, to accompanying instrumental music heard from the iPad. A group experience of tasting red and green apples challenged the children to predict and differentiate between the tastes sweet and sour.

Thank you for a wonderful term of learning about the human body and its systems. We are looking forward to our new learning adventures in Term 3.

Kind regards, Veronika and Rebecca

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Stage 4E

By Lauren Hall

“Cherish the natural world, because you’re a part of it and you depend on it.”

(David Attenborough) To conclude our term’s provocation ‘Being – Exploring Our Earth,’ the children investigated a variety of rainforests around the world, categorising the animals that inhabit the four distinct rainforest layers - the forest floor, the understory, the canopy and the emergent layer.

We ventured to the Amazon in South America, the largest rainforest on our planet. We read a funny story book called Poo! Is That You? by Clare Helen Welsh and together we identified many smelly animals including an anteater, a skunk, sloth, stink bug, stink bird and the smelliest flower in the whole world - the giant pelican flower. We also learnt that many of these animals use their scents to mark their territories, warn predators away and to protect themselves from being eaten.

The children were then invited to participate in a scavenger hunt on our school veranda. They paired up to find 18 Amazonian animals and there was much excitement as each animal was located. It was wonderful to see the children working cooperatively together. The next rainforests we investigated are located on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. We discussed how deforestation is one of the leading causes of how animals are becoming endangered. Logging, land clearing and palm oil businesses are just some of the threats to these Southeast Asian animals, especially to orangutans. Wildlife poaching and trade is still occurring with baby orangutans and tigers being captured and sold as pets.

Our interest in rainforests then took us to Africa where we learnt about the lemurs that inhabit the island of Madagascar, and the gorillas that live in the forests of central and western Africa. We also investigated the dry savannah learning that it’s extremely dry and home to many safari animals including elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, baboons, meerkats, zebras, cheetahs and hyenas. The story The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson, also highlighted some of the more unsightly animals we might find including the wildebeest, warthog, marabou stork, vulture and hyena. The children were then invited to paint their own interpretations of the savannah, using paint scrapers to move yellow and orange paint across their paper, before painting black silhouettes of trees and the animals they wished to include. The paintings looked very effective!

Term 2 has been filled with so many rich learning moments and discussions which have inspired our provocation each week. The children are well and truly settled into the classroom and we look forward to what Term 3 has in store. Our Vacation Care Program commences again during the school holidays and we wish our families a safe and relaxing time if you’re taking a family trip.

Lauren, Priya, Intisar and Jenny

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Music

By Andy Freeborn

This week in music, I introduced a new instrument to Stages 2-4: The Glass Harp.

As I unravelled the thin-rimmed glass from its safe keeping, I was met with some confused looks as to how I might make sound out of a glass. Some children prompted me to play the glass with a mallet, or asked me to flick it with my finger-nail and, to their credit, these were accurate approaches to creating a sound out of the instrument but not what I had intended! What I did next took each class, children AND teachers, by surprise. I asked “what happens when I add water to the glass?” Each class shuffled in, watching on with this odd and unfamiliar experiment. I placed my finger in the water and began to trace around the rim of the glass. Glass Harp creates an angelic, high pitched tone that rings around the wine glass and into the room. Stages 2 through 4 each exclaimed in their own remarks of fascination. I explained how it worked to each class, and before allowing children (and the very fascinated teachers- especially the teachers of 2R), to have a go.

I asked what would happen if I added more water to the glass. Stage 3 remarked that the sound might go higher, Stage 2 sat in silence as they gazed at the glass, and Stage 4 were bouncing with curiosity asking many questions about the technique. The more water I filled into the glass, the lower the pitch would bend, and the fuller the glass the more visible the vibrations across the top of the water. I hope some children have asked to recreate the sounds at home! This is a tricky technique to recreate, requiring the right amount of pressure. A few children across stages 2 through 4 were able to create a small sound, but everyone had fun nonetheless, trying to reproduce the angelic resonance.

Stage 1 had fun with a new box of instruments this week, and I reintroduced the melodica amongst the new drums, xylophones and shakers, allowing children whose curiosity called them to crawl forward and play the keys.

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Mandarin

By Chloe Lin

Today in Mandarin, we began by singing our favourite songs. I helped the children to count to 10 in Mandarin and we then sang about 1 elephant, 2 tigers and 3 bears.

I told the children that I brought two new friends with me to class but that they are very shy. I asked the children to sit so nicely. “Which dinosaur do you want to meet: blue or green?” I asked in Mandarin. We had to count to 10 in Mandarin to entice each dinosaur out. The children said “Ni Hao” to the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs didn’t understand English so we had to speak in Mandarin to them.

The dinosaurs were hungry so I taught the children how to say “My tummy is hungry.” I challenged the children to choose the right diet for each of the dinosaurs. Our friend the Triceratops preferred healthy fruits and veggies, while delicious meat was preferred by our friend Tyrannosaurus Rex. I explained to the children that the Triceratops liked to eat veggies and fruits because he has no sharp teeth. On the tray, I presented the children with lots of fruits and vegetables. We went through the names in Mandarin of all the foods on the tray. The children then had to pick the appropriate food to feed to the dinosaurs. The T-Rex was so happy when we gave him meat! In Stage 3 and 4 we practised phrases to say if they liked or disliked each type of food.

To finish Mandarin, the children were rewarded with a sticker for an excellent effort.

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