Principal’s Message Continued...
By Chrsitine Irwin
In our second week Kindy Farm came to visit Reddam and even though it was a damp and drizzly day the children thoroughly enjoyed meeting the animals and the farmers who were caring for them. I am sure you have seen some great photos of the children patting and feeding all their new farmyard friends.
The children were also involved in planting seeds in our vegetable gardens and tending to our plants within our playgrounds. Overall, the team and the children really enjoyed the vacation period as we prepare for Term 4 2022.
Class Photos
A reminder that class photos will be taken in October. The group photos will be added to your child’s portfolio which will be given to you at the end of the year. We ask that stage 3, and 4 children wear their school multiform on the class photo days.
Class Photo Dates
Tuesday 25th October 2022
Wednesday 26th October 2022
Thursday 27th October 2022
2023 Enrolments
We are now looking at enrolments for 2023 , please look out for an email in the coming weeks from Chenise and I
Looking forward to chatting with you soon,
Christine Irwin Principal
2
By Heather Gaskall
Hello our beautiful families and welcome to Term 4 our final term for the year, goodness how time flies when you are having fun. This old saying is so true, we have all had a brilliant year and our gorgeous little babies have grown and matured so much over the year. Our little ones are vastly different from their first days of drop offs when there were plenty of tears. Now they happily walk in the door eagerly looking for what awaits them. This term we are following the children's interest in animals, they all have shown such fascination when we have had the animal figurines out for them to explore. So we are going to follow that and give them the opportunity to take this exploration a step further and introduce some further knowledge along with the fun.
We have started our look into the Wide World of Animals with Dinosaurs and Extinct Animals as the children’s interest is always peaked when Dinosaur’s are around.
Vacation Care
We have had so much fun during this vacation break with so much happening. Our first week focused on ‘Our Community’ and the children had many exciting visitors over the week. We had visits from the Firefighters, the Police and special visits from Dentists. The children had the opportunity to meet and greet our visitors when they came and we incorporated many activities during the week to develop ideas of our community. With the Police we demonstrated how the Police are our friends and we can turn to them for help at any time. The Firefighters demonstrated the stop, drop, cover and roll technique in case of a fire to the children and of course bought their engine for the children to marvel at. Additionally, the Dentists brought along their very toothy dinosaur to show the children how to take care of their teeth. This first week we also started hatching our eggs of chickens and ducklings, the children loved their daily visits to see if any or how many had hatched.
Our second week of vacation care was ‘Spring has Sprung’ and we had a visit from a petting farm which was the highlight of the week. The children loved seeing the animals and being able to pet them all, the rain did not damper this experience at all. The petting farm tied in beautifully with our hatching eggs. The children became quite attached to the hatched chickens and the duck over the weeks. During this week we allowed the children to investigate planting seeds and see them grow as part of their spring experience. They planted their own seeds and helped to water them. Hence, they were able to see them sprout and grow. Moreover, we made a beautiful window collage of spring flowers as well as investigated the life of a bee and explored caring for our pets.
Now it's on to Term 4 where we will delve into the big wide world of animals. The children throughout the year have expressed an interest and delight when we have had the animal figurines out. Therefore, we are going to follow this interest by exploring animals and sealife more closely. We will be investigating animals as groups, such as working animals, sea animals, animals that fly, and nocturnal animals. This all starts with Dinosaur and Extinct animals.
Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend! Heather, Doris, Jenny, Jaycel, Anne & Vianne
Stage 1R
3
“I love my job only when I'm on vacation.” Unknown
Stage 1R:
5
6 Stage 1E:
Stage 1E
By Charity Acera
“Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives.” (Thomas Berry)
This Vacation Care program has encouraged our young eager learners to focus more on the importance of the natural learning environment as well as giving great importance to the special people that keep us safe and healthy in our community.
Week One’s focus was on highlighting the importance of ‘community helpers’ and studying their roles in society. In the context of emergency situations, it is crucial to prepare children to recognise and trust community helpers who are trained to serve and protect like doctors, nurses, firefighters, teachers, transporters and the police. Therefore, this week in Stage 1E we celebrated these community helpers who live and work in our community and ensure that the community stays healthy, safe and happy. The children in 1E were able to experience and explore the amazing lives of these modern heroes through dramatic play, sensory learning, and storytelling by our lovely dentists Dr. Dominic and Dr. Mel Aoud (Stage 3 Parents) as well as great real life demonstration from our brave and diligent firefighters and police officers.
Nature provides such wonderful opportunities for learning and we wanted these resources to be available and accessible to the young generation. Week Two of the Vacation Care Program is all about the wonderful benefits of exploring the natural alongside our young eager learners. By using the magnifying glasses, our little researchers discovered different things related to spring such as flowers, bees, beetles, leaves, pots, chopped woods, and pinecones. This activity greatly reflects EYLF Outcome No. 4 as children develop confidence in experimenting and exploring by becoming active and involved participants in learning. As part of our theme ‘What Grows in the Garden?’, our young learners were led to the nursery garden. The children observed and discussed what grows in the nursery garden and tended to the vegetables. They also had a nature walk inside the school grounds and observed the garden and bushes. Our little explorers made their nature walk fun by walking on a stepping log. These activities help the children develop coordination, body awareness, and encourage them to observe with all their senses.
Positive interactions of nature and the environment teach children about their place in the world, and how they can protect it throughout their lifetimes. More so, participating in rich, meaningful and inquiry based experiences will allow opportunities for the children to develop their curiosity and build enthusiasm in their own learning.
7
Thank you for your time reading
May you all have a great weekend!
Charity, Resie,May, Rowel, Yashoda and Mary
8 Stage 1E:
9 Stage 1E:
Stage
By Sara Haddadi
During the first week of VCP, 2R learnt more about community helpers. The children were urged to reflect more deeply and show gratitude to all those in their community who work to keep them secure, healthy, nourished, and educated.! We had visits from our local police officers, firefighters, and dentists to our school. The community helpers are so interesting for our little ones. They enjoyed learning about and discovering what they do to help our community, the equipment they need for their jobs, and their uniforms.
The teachers aimed to encourage the children to think critically to know what it means to be a helper. Helpfulness is an integral part of good social development, and there are many excellent ways for children to practice being helpful. This week, we promoted safety by teaching our little ones how to ask for help and, just as significantly, who to ask. By getting to know our community helpers, 2R was inspired by those who work to make our world a better place to live.
During the second week, the teachers discussed farm life, the food that can be grown in fields, and farmers' roles in 2R to gain an appreciation for where their food comes from and foster a deeper understanding of caring for animals. The teachers talked to the children about farm life, the food that can be grown in fields, and farmers' roles to gain an appreciation for where their food comes from and foster a deeper understanding of caring for animals. The children had the opportunity to grow different seeds and do some gardening. By spending time in the garden, caring for plants, and producing their own food, they were able to learn new skills, enjoy themselves, play, and grow more confident. The highlight of the week was when real farm animals visited our school. Children's feeling of empathy, accountability, and belonging to their world was created via this rich experience. Children learn about nature, ecology, and the value of protecting the environment while simultaneously developing these abilities while taking care of an animal. We aimed to nurture children's curiosity about animals and invite connections and involvement with the living world around us.
2R
10
“The moment I decided to follow instead of lead, I discovered the joys of becoming part of a small child’s world.” (Janet Gonzalez Mena)
We hope your weekend will be very much enjoyable. 2R Team
11 Stage 2R:
Stage 2R:
13 Stage 2R:
By Mia Doan
The highlight of Week 1 VCP, Our Community focus was a visit by a fire engine. We learnt about how firefighters keep themselves safe in the fire using yellow safety jackets and pants, safety boots, masks with air tanks and big helmets. We reinforced our knowledge of emergency contact and how to call/yell for help. We appreciate the first responders’ bravery and thank them for coming to see us!
Furthermore, we also met Dentists Dominic and Melanie who taught us about the importance of oral health and how to keep our teeth clean. We were also excited from seeing the Police, Carl and John. They told us that when we need police help, we can call ‘000’ and we can ask them to help us.
Other days of the week, we explored our community, the people, culture and community helpers around us. Learning about the community enhances our children's sense of identity as well as sense of connectedness. The children were encouraged to think more closely and appreciate all of the people in their community who work to keep them safe, healthy, well fed, and educated!
The highlight of our VCP Week 2, Spring is Sprung focus was petting farm animals. There were ducks, chickens, llama, goats, sheep, bunny, and guinea pigs. We had a blast patting and observing farm animals' features such as llama only has two toes.
The children had chance to explore living things that we frequently spot in our school garden. We started off the day with a range of activities on provocation table. We observed a small fairy garden with wooden blocks and mini beasts which live within the environment. Extending on backyard landscaping in the garden, our children were invited to use their senses and gardening tools to plant or move beautiful flower from pots to pots. These model sensory experiences enhanced the children's understanding of the features of the environment and small living things around us.
Enjoying the season of new beginnings, we explored the lives of birds and their life cycle. Our urban bird watchers tried to guess and recognize the familiar bird that they have seen around the city or in the community, for example, kookaburra, rainbow lorikeet, cockatoo and galah. Even though we live in a busy and hustling city, many native birds are thriving here.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mia, Xanthe, Shandie, Chloe, and Jing
Stage 2E
14
15 Stage 2E:
14 Stage 2E:
By Grace Nolan
“Dinosaurs put our place in the world into perspective,” Matt Bonnan
Our first week during the Vacation program focused on ‘Community’. Our table experiences changed to allow the children to experience aspects within their community such as the dentist, firefighters, police officers, the cultures around us and our school community.
At the sensory table, we laid out red and yellow slime along with trucks and cars to represent the important firefighters. Their visit to the school was a hugely anticipated visit and the children demonstrated great listening skills and attention. The police visit was also a special experience as the children asked questions and learned about their role in the community. The playdough placed out represented the black, blue and white for our police.
The visit from the dentists spark discussions surrounding healthy and sometimes foods as well as the best brushing techniques. The children then practised those skills using tooth brushes, beans and playdough!
The theme for the second week was ‘Spring’ which allowed the children to don their gardening gloves, grab their shovels and to plant veggies and herbs in recycled ice cream containers. The children were excited to revisit gardening and demonstrated their knowledge of plants, plant needs and how things grow.
The children were visited by the petting zoo which saw many children excitedly petting alpacas, sheep, goats, bunnies and ducks! This was paralleled with our chicken and duck eggs that arrived at the beginning of VCP, by the end of the second week we had 5 chickens and 1 duck. The children loved visiting them and having a play!
Welcome to Term 4 where we will be exploring everything Animalia. To start off this provocation we observed the children’s interest in animals during our ‘Auslan Animal’ group times, as well as the children’s dramatic play role playing as dinosaurs. From here, the teachers sought out to find how much the children already knew about dinosaurs and what questions they might have.
During our morning meeting we posed the question “What do know about dinosaurs?”
Avery: “Dinosaurs eat fruit”
Harry May: “They eat grass and trees”
Michael: “My mummy dropped her glasses and the dinosaur wanted to eat her glasses” Dylan: “T Rex”
Sarah: “Triceratops has three horns… and Pteranodon”
The room was set up with a variety of dinosaur based experiences. Our long table we had dinosaur sorting and matching, dinosaur counting and a small world dinosaur excavation with paintbrushes. On the sensory table we used slime and loose parts to mimic a small volcano world, on other days we used play dough with dinosaurs to stamp to demonstrate the beginning concepts of fossils!
Our small groups this week included engaging in numeracy concepts such as informal measuring. Firstly, the children looked at a dinosaur book and each picked a Dinosaur to measure using the small blocks. Miss Grace modelled how to start from the tail to measure lengthways, some children were able to measure the height of their Dinosaur as well! The children then counted the blocks to see how long or tall their dino was.
Another group went outside to practice drawing, identifying shapes, extending their fine motor skills and engaging in discussions surrounding dinosaurs. Using the large dinosaurs, chalk and brown paper, the children were encouraged to trace the dinosaur's shadow. This experience allowed Miss Carina and Miss Anne to model and discuss how to use varying shapes to create a complete picture.
On a walk around the campus, the children were able to bask in the natural grounds of the school different trees and plants. The children were engaged in meaningful discussions about which plants dinosaurs would eat if they were herbivores. Harry asked the question "Do dinosaurs eat grass?".
Using these questions and what the children know already, we plan to use a childs’ webbing to explore further avenues of our inquiry next week and beyond.
Stage 3R
15
16 Stage 3R:
By Natalie Horstman
During the first week of our vacation care program, the children were able to explore the different people and places within our local community. The children responded well to the fire truck arriving down Wolsey Road, where they learnt about the number to call in an emergency, how to ‘stop, drop, cover and roll’ if there was a fire and where the ladder and hose is located on the truck. Also, the children mostly enjoyed the visit from the dentist as they were able to practise brushing their teeth and begin to understand the importance of healthy eating and ensuring to engage in physical activity. Furthermore, the children continued to engage in various small group activities where they could match different cards to words of other important people in our local community including the vet, doctor, nurses and road safety assistants. This allowed the children to make meaning from pictures and establish connections to real life roles and occupations. They were able to listen to different stories, talk to real life policemen and engage in various role playing opportunities.
During the second week of our vacation care program, the children started to explore different things that grow around us. They were able to partake in meaningful discussions and brainstorming sessions about what grows and where. For example, “Tomatoes grow” “babies grow” and “flowers grow” were some of the many ideas from the children. Also, the children actively contributed to a sustainability activity where they were required to help plant some seeds including carrots, celery and cucumber; and begin to watch them grow! This allowed the children to begin to understand the process of seed germination and what actually happens in the soil. The children responded well to the farm animals arriving, where they could practise using their gentle hands and show kindness towards the animals that arrived. This led into other activities and conversations surrounding how food gets to our plates from the farm! They were super excited to engage in a cooking experience where we made some yummy banana muffins. This experience allowed the children to be part of the ‘making process’ and understand the different steps involved in cooking. Furthermore, the children continued to observe and analyse other changes that occur in their environment like the weather! They are becoming confident and enthusiastic about predicting the weather and looking at the pattern across the day, from cloudy to rainy and sunny!
Stage 3E
18
Wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend! 3E Team
19 Stage 3E:
Stage
By Hazel Whybrow
During week one of our vacation care program, we discussed our local community and were lucky enough to have visits from police officers, firefighters and dentists. The children loved our visit from the police officers and spent the afternoon afterwards pretending to be police officers and recalling information from their visit, “Call 000 and then we will come”, “Police officers, there is a boy and girl lost we need to find them”, “I can help you!’. The firefighters showed us their truck, turned on the lights and showed us the fire house. We were very eager to tell the firefighters that we know what to do if there is a fire, “Tell a grown up” “Call 000”, and we learnt that if there is a fire we need to ‘Stop, Drop, Cover and Roll’. During our dentist visit, the children were reminded of the importance of caring for their teeth and got the opportunity to practice brushing Maggie the Dragon’s teeth.
Over the two weeks of vacation care program we also got to watch chicks and ducklings hatch. We checked on them each day and watched as they hatched out of their shells. Once the chicks were big enough, we brought them into our classroom for a visit. The children showed off their ability to be caring and respectful as they used their gentle hands to pat the chicks and remained quiet so the chicks would not be scared.
In the second week of our vacation care program we enjoyed a visit from some farm animals. We got to pat an alpaca, goats, sheep, guinea pigs, ducks, chickens and a rabbit. The children very curious about all of the animals and asked Farmer Kayla many questions such as, "What is the bunny's name?" "Is the alpaca a boy or a girl?" "What does it eat?" "Why is he so big?" "Do you live on a farm?" and "Why is the goat doing that?". Throughout the week we also visited our vegetable gardens, planted our own seeds, and researched how food gets from the farm to our table.
We had a wonderful time during our vacation care program and we are looking forward to Term 4!
21
4R
Miss Hazel and Miss Rebecca
22 Stage 4R:
By Lauren Hall
What a brilliant time the children had during this Vacation Care Program. Our first week invited the children to share their culture with the class. Leonardo brought in a drawing of the flags of Brazil and Chile to introduce his family’s countries of origin. Olivia wore her beautiful Chinese han style clothing called ‘Hanfu’, accompanied by a fan with flowers on it. Hanish wore his Indian clothing and he said, “I always wear this jacket when I go to temple.” Ishann his Indian clothing too and brought in an Indian hat, some sticks, and he showed us how to tap them. On Tuesday, the local police visited to teach the children about general safety. They taught us to call 000 in an emergency and the children were reminded that if they are ever lost or in danger that the police are there to help. Next, the policemen showed us “safe symbols” including the blue sign that represents the police station and a red cross for an ambulance and hospital. We then had an important discussion about “stranger danger” and to always say “No!” “Go Away!” and “Stop!” really loudly. Our conversation moved onto the importance of road safety, following the traffic signs, and always wearing our seat belts whilst in the car. The children were so excited when they saw the fire engine parked outside of our school. We listened to the local firefighters explain how to call 000 in the event of a fire, and then they showed us the special equipment they use including their heavy, yellow uniforms, their hard hats, boots and oxygen masks. Then they taught us how to “Stop, drop and roll!” if we are caught near a fire and can escape safely, and reminded us that every home should have working smoke alarms. The children were then invited to explore the fire engine and see how the huge hose worked. Our local dentists and school parents, Mr and Mrs Aouad came in to teach the children about oral hygiene. They recommended that we should brush our teeth for at least two minutes, including our gums and tongues. The children then took turns to brush the dragon’s teeth too.
Our second week was just as fun as the children embraced springtime and how everything in our gardens is starting to emerge. We read That’s Not a Daffodil by Elizabeth Honey, about a boy who planted a single daffodil bulb and learnt to be patient as it bloomed into a golden trumpet. We then planted some daffodil bulbs of our own, along with some yellow, orange and red nasturtium flower seeds. On Wednesday, we were lucky to have a petting zoo visit us, where the children patted each of the farm animals. There were goats, sheep, an alpaca, chickens, a rabbit and guinea pigs. We also observed our ‘Hatch and Grow’ baby chicks who were growing bigger each day, allowing the children to learn about the life cycle of chickens and the various stages of growth. We also learnt the names of many farm animals and their young, learnt that cows and goats are kept for milking, chickens produce eggs, and sheep provide wool. Our class then investigated what fruits and vegetables can be grown and harvested on farms. We learnt that apples, pears and oranges are grown in large orchards, corn and wheat are grown in crops, and some farms specialise in specific produce such as strawberry farms that allow people to pick their own produce. We concluded the week by starting our own “Beanstalk Project.” The children germinated their own green beans, inspired by the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk. Will our beans grow as tall as the clouds too? We’ll have to wait and see this term.
Thank you for a wonderful Vacation Care Program!
Lauren, Priya and Jenny
24
Stage 4E
Stage 4E: 25
Stage 4E: 26
