11th March 2022
Principal’s Message
By Mrs Simone Cooke
Dear Parents, At Reddam, building confident, caring and well-rounded children means having a holistic programme that seeks to instil values and respect for both ourselves and others. Our “Grace and Courtesy” programme is designed to nurture values that extend not just to school but to life. Teaching our children the values we believe in, is reflected in many areas of our programmes, such as our lunch procedures. By seating children in a dining area, decorating the table with flowers and encouraging them to say “please” and “thankyou” builds respect for one another and encourages them to view mealtime as being an important part of the day. Having teachers modelling how to use utensils and how to hold conversations with those seated next to them also fosters a sense of community and guides them in understanding social expectations in relation to manners and behaviour. Our Teachers constantly seek to reinforce positive behaviours in our children and remind them of the importance of caring for each other. The children are reminded each day to use ‘gentle hands’, ‘kind hearts’ and to speak politely and respectfully to their friends. We teach our children to put up their hand and say “stop, I don‘t like it”, rather than hitting or pushing a child who is annoying them. Providing children with the resources needed to navigate difficult situations builds social skills and teaches them to become responsible and caring members of society. As Teachers we are striving daily to instil within the children mutual respect and tolerance for one another creating well rounded caring individuals who can navigate life’s challenges with resilience, empathy and understanding. We are constantly aiming to build the children’s socialisation skills and helping our children to understand the difference between making ‘good choices’ and ‘bad choices’. It is important when doing this that we focus not only on reminding children when they make a poor choice but also positively reinforcing children when they are making the right choices, so they are motivated to increase these behaviours. Reinforcing and praising positive actions and discouraging anti-social behaviour produces positive results in children and assists them in feeling good about their choices. Helping children to 1
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Principal’s Message Continued... self-monitor their actions and encouraging them to think about the consequences of their behaviour on others has many long term benefits, such as minimising stress, reducing conflict and encouraging good relationships with others. Positive reinforcement is tangible, and so is easily understood by even young children, it includes being openly praised with phrases such as “Great choice, Well Done” or “I like it when you share with your friends” or “Thank you for using your gentle hands”. It also includes rewards such as a smile, high five or hug or a concrete reward in the form of extra playtime, a Principal’s award at our assembly or perhaps a reward sticker. This acknowledges these behaviours and increases their desire to repeat the behaviour. Positive reinforcement techniques can be easily used at home and can assist in reducing the amount of threats and arguments used. Our teachers use positive reinforcement in a variety of ways, each and every day. Setting limits and expectations for behaviour means that we encourage our children to develop an intrinsic desire to want to help and assist others, to join their peers in activities and seek out attention through making good choices rather than through negative actions. Motivating children through small awards, displaying work or publicly praising a child can be a powerful way of reinforcing and commending children for the effort they are making to take responsibility for their actions. It can greatly assist in changing undesirable actions. It is important when offering positive reinforcement that this is valued and relevant to the individual. It must be consistent and immediate.
25th Oc
Promoting and encouraging self-regulation is an important part of our School readiness programme. Assisting children to manage their thoughts and feelings appropriately helps them to deal with strong emotions and enables them to negotiate difficult situations, particularly as they start Primary school and are surrounded with more rules and regulations. From an early age children are already able to begin to exercise control over their own behaviours. They start to self sooth, learn how to control their tempers and control outbursts. Talking about their emotions, encouraging them to name these feelings and discussing appropriate ways to react means we can start to limit frustration and over excitement. Offering children strategies to help them calm down and control impulsive behaviours means that children are more readily able to make friends, share, learn and develop independence. It takes patience and time and each child develops at their own rate, yet consistency , support and positive reinforcement means we are sowing the seeds that will ensure our children flourish and thrive!
Reddam House ELS moving to new system called Xplor As you are aware we are moving to a new sign in/out system soon called Xplor. This will mean once we switch over we will no longer need to use Qik Kids Kiosk as Xplor will have all of this information integrated into one app moving forward. Please note you will still have access to Tapestry. Through the new Xplor Home app you will have access to: • View your statements at any time (our admin will still continue assist families with statements when required)
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Principal’s Message • •
Sign your children in/out using a QR code (our teachers will still have the capability of signing your child in & out) Request casual bookings (ideally we would still like you to communicate your casual day requests & changes to days directly through enrol.stleonards@reddamels.com.au as we navigate the new system)
Our go live date has been delayed, and we are now intending for 21st March date as we are still processing the new CCS sibling discount through Qik Kids before we migrate over. Communication on how to download the app and a training package was sent to parents on Monday 7th March, and on the Tuesday 8th March you would have received an invitation email subjected “Welcome to Xplor” to set up your Home Account. Once you have created your password, phone number and PIN we please ask that you download the Xplor Home app. You will be able to see your family's information once we go live. Please email Michelle Kellett enrol.stleonards@reddamels.com.au if you did 25th Oc not receive either communication.
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Stage 4R
Ms Lauren Doughton
I am SAFE “Safety first is Safety always’ One of the most important things we can do as adults and teachers is protect our children by educating them about safety. Teaching children simple strategies about keeping safe can help them build confidence, resilience and empower them to be safe in a variety of situations. Research shows that if we teach children about safety it can;
Reduces the likelihood of a child entering into an unsafe situation. Clearly demonstrates how to respond to an unsafe situation. Increases a child’s sense of confidence and in doing so increases their resiliency. Increases a child’s knowledge of their personal rights i.e. “I have the right to feel safe with people”. Increases the likelihood that the child will speak out if they feel unsafe and tell someone they trust. Can interrupt or prevent grooming. When we talk about safety it doesn’t just relate to one area of safety children should be aware of all kinds including road safety, water safety, general household safety, stranger danger, sun safety, internet safety, personal safety and so on. Over the last two weeks stage four has been looking at all areas of safety. We have talked about road safety and what is involved in being safe on the road. One being to hold an adult's hand when crossing a road and to look left and right another looking at different signs that affect how the world runs ie Stop signs, slow down for animals signs etc. We dived into this topic a little deeper and had discussions on different signs we see in the community and once we had the discussion the children were able to write and create their own safety sign. Another area of safety we looked at this week was safety around the home and how to respond to different scenarios. Everyday this week we put the children into three groups and each group was given a scenario and the children had to act it out. The most important part of this activity was ensuring the children used their past knowledge of safety and work through the scenario. We taught the children to call triple zero and what to say when they get on the phone to the operator. This activity has bought out a lot of confidence with the children. It is not easy getting up in front of your peers and acting out. Finally I taught the children about CPR and how to perform it when it is needed. I am very fortunate to own a training manikin and the children were able to practice the compressions and breaths (30:2). They realised it isn't easy to perform CPR and it takes a lot out of you. This is a skill that I believe we should be teaching our children in a safe way from a young age to ensure that they are prepared for any emergency.
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Stage 4R
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Ms Lauren Doughton
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Stage 4R: CPR & Emergency 000 calls
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Stage 4R: Safety Signs
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Stage 4E
By Ms Sarah Ross
Tsunamis Extending upon our investigation of earthquakes last week the children learnt how earthquakes under the ocean can cause tsunamis. In our reading groups and discussions, the children were amazed to learn about the size and speed of a tsunami and spent an extended time observing images of the enormous waves. Afterwards, all the children shared their interest in creating their own tsunami images. The children demonstrated their creativity as they crafted a mixed media art piece using; paints, markers, glitter, glue, and cotton wool. First, the children drew the outline of their tsunami with a marker and filled it in with different shades of blue paint and glitter. Many of the children noticed that when a wave crashes parts of the water turns white due to all the bubbles forming as the wave traps the air underneath it. To display this in their artworks the children used glue and cotton wool at the top of their tsunami where it was about to crash. How does a wave move? Young children learn best by engaging in hands on, real world activities. This process of learning takes place through action and doing. In our tsunami learning journey the children were encouraged to explore the functions and patterns of how waves move. We did this by pouring coloured water in bottles and with the lid firmly screwed on the children practiced rocking the bottle from side to side to simulate a wave. Many of the children noticed that before the wave could occur the water had to move back to one side of the bottle for the wave to come crashing back. As young children learn through exploration, their senses are engaged through physical participation in learning and they begin to develop an understanding of their world. Throughout the lesson the children used their different senses to think of words to describe the waves including; blue, scary, cold, salty, big, and crash. Literacy To extend upon the use of the adjectives the children used to describe the waves they created Stage Four were invited to come and practice writing the words themselves. The children spent time observing how the letters are formed and even sounded out the phonemes of the letters in the words. We are so proud of Stage Four’s determination and focus in developing their literacy skills and many of the children shared their eagerness in continuing to learning to write, read, and sound out letters!
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Stage 4E
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By Ms Sarah Ross
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Stage 4E: Creating Tsunami artwork
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Stage 4E: Wave experiment
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Stage 4D
By Ms Emily Chacon
I am SAFE This week the children have further been exploring their interest in safety. Throughout the week we journeyed through the importance of fire safety, water and general safety. Using a PowerPoint as a teaching tool, the children were able to explore visually, the importance of understanding evacuations and their ability to call for help when needed. To follow on from our group time, we broke down into smaller groups and were given a random scenario, for example, ‘Daddy has gone to work, Mummy has fallen in the kitchen. She is not waking up’ The children were allocated a teacher and encouraged to explore and act out their options to get safety. Whether it be going to a neighbour or calling 000. Once the children were confident with their answers, everyone came together to act out their price to their peers. This experience was a great way for children to gain understanding when in a emergency situation, as well as advocating for further development in confidence in public speaking. Our table activities reflected on safety, including food safety and personal safety. In our dress us corner the children were free to explore safety gear and equipment. This was such a hit with the children that we will be keeping it out for another week. During a group time we educated the children in first aid, and the courses that teachers, swim instructors and people of the community go through. Miss Lauren is a swim teacher and we all came together for her to demonstrate administrating CPR on a dummy. She explained that as you must give 30 compressions and 2 breaths. Afterwords the children were given a chance to give 30 compressions. Although it was quite tricky for the children to do, it was a wonderful learning experience for them. Next week we will be exploring I am HEALTHY!
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Stage 4D
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By Ms Emily Chacon
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Stage 4D: Safety Roll Play & Dress Up
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Stage 4D: Fire numbers & table manners
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Stage 3/4
By Ms Riina Andrew
Exploring Egypt This week, we continued on with our provocation of Egypt. The children have been very interested in mummies and how they are wrapped in bandages and placed inside the pyramids. We also decided that the mummies would be very rich as they had treasures and gold coins with them inside the pyramids! As the weather has not allowed us much outdoor time, we decided that it would be a good idea to bring the sandpit inside! Together we filled small trays with sand and bought them into the classroom. We then used these sand trays to foster our knowledge of Egypt (being of a desert location) to use the sand to sculpt our own pyramids! Some children suggested that we should wet the sand to make is stick together so we could keep a pyramid shape, while other children used small stones and paddle pop sticks to mould their creation. Each masterpiece was as individualised as each child! At group time, we discussed the types of dress that the Egyptian people wore. We explored books and pictures of women and men and the fantastic colours and style of their attire. We then dressed ourselves up in similar items and pretended to be Egyptian people! The painting table had us finishing our Cobras. We completed the painting and when that paint was dry, we cut the paper plates in a spiral pattern. The snakes are on display, climbing up a tree, which is where we decided it would be best to display them. To complete the experience, we looked at a large world map and searched for Egypt. We all knew where Australia was and were very interested in Sydney of course! We searched for Egypt and I gave the children clues on what colour it was and what size it is.
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Stage 3/4
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By Ms Riina Andrew
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Stage 3/4: Pyramid sculpture & Egypt role play
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Stage 3/4: Creating Cobra snakes & writing
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Stage 3E
By Ms Bianca Lazar
I Can Measure Exploring different types of measurements is a fun way to engage young learners. Children start understanding the world around them and the differences between objects. This week in Stage 3, we had a variety of practical learning experiences, including a simple measurement exploration learning table that was perfect for encouraging all kinds of hands-on learning with various measurement tools! Our measurement table included a wooden ruler, different types of measuring tapes, a kitchen scale, and a thermometer. It has been such a delight to watch the children explore all the measurement tools on each other, as well as different objects within the room with such excitement and contentment. What can you see? Owen: “Measuring” Faris: “I can see measure” Sophie: “I can see a measurer over there. I can see measuring” George: “Measuring, like daddy’s” Gisele: “Measuring taper” Charlie: “Fixing” Sofia. A: “Measuring tape” Alex: “I have this at home” Measuring Weight On another table there was a balancing scale and loose part materials to encourage children to discover weight. This learning experience facilitated children to compare the weight of different natural and processed objects. Children realised certain items were heavier than others and made the arrow on the scale lean left and right. Furthermore, children began developing the vocabulary of measurement and comparison, using terms such as bigger, smaller, longer, shorter, heavier, and lighter. Measuring Height Throughout the week we gathered as a whole group to introduce standard measurement tools such as a measuring tape to measure the length and height of objects. When I asked each child to stand against the wall, I showed children how to correctly measure height, making sure the top of the children’s head is lined up with the start of the tape measure and followed right down to the bottom of their feet. This measuring height activity is a great opportunity to talk about the concept of measurement and use measurement related language to describe who is taller or shorter or whether they are the same. We discovered that Morgan is the tallest and Gisele, Jake and Aneilia are the shortest in Stage 3!
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Stage 3E
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By Ms Bianca Lazar
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Stage 3E: I can weigh, measure & count
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Stage 3E: How tall am I?
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Stage 2/3 & 3R
By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes
Inside the Human Body Has your child been asking a lot of questions about their body lately? At school we have been so curious about our bodies. Lots of questions and observations have been made. Fostering the sense of curiosity is one of the most important aspects of the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Following the curiosity approach we set up tis week some simple anatomy activities to teach our pre-schoolers all about the human body. It’s incredibly important to teach children about their bodies and how to take care of them. This knowledge will help them stay healthy and also help them to communicate more clearly with us when something is wrong. We introduced the children to a stethoscope and made a mini lesson out of it. We read all about the heart and what it does through various books, including Usborne’s First Encyclopedia of the Human Body and Hear Your Heart. Then the kids played with the stethoscope for quite some time. We also invited the children to perform a heart surgery. Using a pair of tweezers they had to pick up hearts and place them on the jars provided. We took this opportunity to practice our hand eye coordination and fine motor skills. During our group discussion the children were introduced to organs, we went over the names and function of each organ. After that we tried an organ matching game. Matching is a crucial early math skill that preschoolers need to master. It helps develop a range of thinking skills and builds the foundation for later mathematical and logic concepts. It’s also a great way to introduce new vocabulary. In the art atelier we decided to make some x-rays. We started by looking at all of the bones in our hands prior to making this craft. Then we asked the children to lay their hands on a piece of black construction paper and trace around them along with a few inches of their arms with a white chalk; them we used some Q-Tips to act as bones and let the children glue them into place. It’s so important to understand how your body works and how to take care of it. Even from such a young age, we can teach our preschoolers the ins and outs of the human body.
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Stage 2/3 & 3R
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By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes
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Stage 2/3: Heart beat tracing
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Stage 2/3: Doctor role play & listening to the heart
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Stage 2R
By Ms Madeleine Grant
Letters Of the Alphabet This week’s letters gave us an opportunity to link the provocation to our grace and courtesy programme, as we taught the children about the importance of minding our P’s and Q’s! As the children become confident in their language skills, it is important that words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are prominent in their vocabularies, to ingrain respect and politeness in their interactions with others. Throughout the days we asked them to use their big, loud voices and say the magic words whenever they could during mealtimes, class time, and during play. P is for Painting This week was all about art! The children were invited to participate in a variety of painting activities, both structured and open ended to provide them with a range of creative outlets throughout the week. We brought back our collaborative artwork from earlier in the term, and the children were so excited to work together and add even more colours to the huge canvas. Our morning activities were unstructured painting and colour mixing exercises, which allowed the children to approach the tasks at their own pace and find their own ways of play through experimenting. Painting is something that young children really enjoy, and it is also great for their physical and cognitive development. Using a variety of painting tools helps with their fine motor skills, and helps them practice components of pre-writing such as grip refinement and hand-eye coordination. It also encourages creativity, expression, and allows them to explore cause and effect in a relaxed, child-led way. Q is for Question
During our group times we often ask the children questions to let them decide what we will be doing. At this stage we ask simple questions such as “What song should we sing next?” or “Which book should we read?”, but as the year goes on we will start asking more complex or abstract questions to encourage discussion among the class. This week we wanted to get them to start asking their own questions and extending their sentences by phrasing demands as questions. During mealtimes if they want more food or water, instead of using gestures or one to two words, we asked them to repeat after us “Can I have some more, please?”. On top of the grace and courtesy element, this gets them used to using longer and more complex sentences, which greatly benefits their language development. R is for Rainbow Our structured painting activity for the week connected to the letter R, as the children created rainbow paintings! In groups of six they found the table set with six placemats, each with a palette of paints in shades of a primary or secondary colour. They chose their colours and began making their artwork in either red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple. After a while they were asked to put their brushes down and pass their palette to the person next to them, so that everyone ended up with the next colour in the rainbow spectrum. Through this we wanted them to show their sharing and negotiating skills, especially as each had chosen their favourite colour but now were being asked to give somebody else a turn. They added their new colour to their painting, and we asked them to notice how these two colours blended into each other. We then passed the palettes around again, so that each child was left with a unique combination of colours that both blended together and contrasted with each other. We hope you have a great weekend and sunny weekend, and look forward to next week where we will be exploring S if for Shapes, T. is for Treasure, and U is for Umbrella! If the rain does return, we ask you to bring in umbrellas, raincoats and gumboots for some wet weather play!
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Stage 2R
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By Ms Madeleine Grant
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Stage 2R: P is for painting
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Stage 2R: R is for rainbow
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Stage 1E
By Ms Justine Heydra & Alessia Angilletta
Animal Habitats - On the Farm “If we want our children to move mountains, we first have to let them get out of their chairs.” ~ Nicolette Sowder This week is Stage 1E the children enjoyed their first week on the farm. The classroom was transformed into a mini farmyard and the children had an amazing time exploring and discovering.
Our sensory activities this week focused on developing the children’s fine-motor, coordination, concentration and multitasking skills. They had so much fun with all our activities. Our first sensory activity was washing our dirty cows, This activity was great for fine motor -skills, language development, and was both messy and fun. We gave the children tubs with soapy water, a tooth brush and some farm animals. They were asked to wash and scrub the farm animals. They all loved the bubbles and water, and our farm animals are all super clean now. Another great activity the children got to enjoy was our chicken coop egg rolling activity. The aim of this activity was to collect an egg or pin pong ball from the basket and place it on the top ramp of the chicken coop. Once the children let go of their egg or pin pong ball they could watch it roll down the ramps and fall back into the basket. This activity was great for language development, social interaction, concentration and coordination. We also introduced the children to our classroom cow "Daisy" and they each had the opportunity to pretend "Milk" Daisy. This activity was great for fine-motor skill development and worked the small muscles in their hands as the children had to perform a squeezing motion with their hands. They also practiced their coordination and concentration. As part of our outdoor play the children could also explore our farm tuff tray that had different farm animals and a variety of rice, sand and bark together with natural wooden materials to simulate a farm environment. This activity was great for their social and language development as they were all interacting with the animals in make believe play or saying a few words to the friend playing next to them. During group time our focus song was “Old Mac Donald” which the children enjoyed singing and loved doing all the animal sounds too. We also played different farm animal sounds over our speaker and ask the children to identify them. We are looking forward to further exploring The Farm with your little one next week. Wishing you a great weekend
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Stage 1E
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By Ms Justine Heydra & Alessia Angilletta
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Stage 1E: Washing muddy cows
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Stage 1E: Milking, chicken coop & corn painting
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Stage 1R
By Ms Amanda Felton
Five little ducks “Five little ducks went out to play”, our animated mother duck and her 5 ducklings played their part so well. This kept the children engaged and entertained as they enjoyed the experience of learning a new song/rhyme. The children enjoyed a great sensory activity based on the mother duck and her ducklings. We used our sensory table with some blue water, sand and all our ducks. The little ones really enjoyed this sensory exploration activity and loved splashing the ducks in the blue water. They also liked the texture of sand between their fingers and had a great time exploring. For our creative art activity the children further explored our five little ducks theme by painting using a paint brush and two/three little ducks. This activity helped develop fine motor skills and the children had great fun during their creative art time.
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Stage 1R: Five little ducks sensory play
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Piano
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By Mr Alan Tang
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Piano
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By Mr Alan Tang
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Drama
By Katrina Maskell
This week in Drama, Stage 1, 2/3 had a visit from the travelling circus and had fun exploring animals and circus tricks. IN Stage 3 and 4 we visited the Artic, we learnt about Artic animals, we explored the shape of the animals, what sounds they make and made up our own songs from pictures. In Stages 1, 2 and 2/3 this week’s drama lesson was an adventure with our imagination to the circus! We found tightrope performers and tried to balance on the tightrope. Tilly made it all the way across. We saw Lions, Tigers and got to use our ribbons as elephant trunks. Rhys in Stage 3 showed us what noise an elephant makes. Dan showed us how to juggle! We also found the tallest people in the circus and pretended we were stilt walking, Olivia showed us her tippy toes so she could become taller like the stilt walkers. Caroline in Stage 3 showed us her shocked face when she saw the circus tricks and we went over different emotions they felt in the circus. Stage 1 we used our ribbons to become elephants, we make elephant noises and stomped like an elephant. We explored emotions with our facial expressions. We laughed at the clowns; Hugh showed us his big smile as he was happy to be at the circus. We also demonstrated our scared faces because of the scary lions and Zac showed us a shocked face when we saw all the circus tricks. We also played with the parachute, and everyone is becoming a lot more comfortable around it. In Stages 3 and 4 I told the children that over the next 5 weeks we would be visiting different places in a machine. We started by discussing what a machine is, what colour it is, how would it fly and what its body is like. Next, we discussed if the machine has any sounds? We all pushed the buttons and made funny noises. We explored sound scapes through the buttons and teleported us to the Artic. We opened the machine door and discovered it was so cold. Julian in Stage 3/4 told us we need to bring a hat; Jayden brought his jacket. We spoke about other warm clothes we might need. Once we were rugged up and ready, we went on an adventure to find different animals. I brought in some pictures of Penguins, Snowflakes, Wooly hats, Walrus’s, and Polar Bears. I asked the children what the word ‘mime’ means, some children remembered, and we mimed how these animals walk around the room. We then added what noise they made. Lydia showed us what noise a polar bear made; it was a very loud Roar. We continued with soundscapes by using their voices and body. We established a sound and a rhythm to go with each picture. Next, I split the children in half, we picked a few pictures and put them into an order and created their own song. Reading the pictures from left to right. One group performed and the other group practised being a good audience. At the end of our lesson, we sung a snowman song to the tune of I’m little tea pot. We did all the actions and Tahlia laughed a lot when we melted slowly. We went over what we learnt and finished with a smelly bin and raccoon puppet. What a fun busy week. I wonder what adventure we will go on next week.
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Drama
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By Laura Hudson
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My Gym
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My Gym
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