REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER Principal’s Message
Thankparents,youto
all our wonderful parents for joining us for our Father’s Day celebrations today. We really appreciated having so many of you join us for our sausage sizzle and obstacle course fun, the children were so excited to include you in their outdoor play and we hope you had the opportunity to meet our new parents and enjoy the celebrations.
Dear
including
By Mrs Simone Cooke
Whenhopping.it
2nd September 2022 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1
It was wonderful to see our parents’ navigating hoops, tossing bean bags and kicking soccer balls, demonstrating to our children the importance of physical fitness into daily routines and assisting our little ones to build their gross motor skills and confidence in climbing, balancing, skipping and comes to physical fitness we are important role models for our children, as it is from us that they learn the importance of balancing physical activity with sedentary activities such as screen time and television. Here at Reddam our children enjoy regular unstructured and physically demanding outdoor play, which ensures that they are developing healthy habits that sustain them through life. A strong body of research indicates that providing children with regular burst of physical activity, not only improves their concentration skills but also allows the brain to recharge. Each day our teachers set up a range of gross motor activities that encourage children to be physically active in the playground.
Principal’s Continued…
Message
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
Additionally, at Reddam, we provide the children with a range of intentional classes such as Physical Education lessons, My Gym gymnastic and movement classes and Yoga lessons to build and develop their Fundamental Movement Skills. These skills are important building blocks for more complex skills that children will develop throughout their lives as they participate in games, sports and recreational activities. These skills include stability skills such as stretching, bending, twisting and balancing and locomotor skills such as jumping, running, hopping, galloping, skipping and side stepping.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
1st April 2022
It is important to acknowledge that children do not naturally learn how to correctly perform Fundamental Movement Skills as part of their normal growth and development, so providing frequent and supported opportunities to develop these skills is of great benefit to young children. Even in the winter months, we continue to encourage our children to engage in these physical activities and continue their outdoor play. Please rest assured our teachers will always ensure that children wear their jackets outside on cold days. Please also assist us in ensuring that your child does not come to school in too many layers as this can restrict engagement in gross motor tasks. We will always ensure your child is kept warm but bundling children in so many layers that they can hardly move can restrict physical play. It is also important to recognise that children have high metabolisms and lots of energy which means they tolerate the cold better than adults do. Being physically active is a crucial part of healthy growth and development which also releases endorphins that creates happy children. Crawling through tunnels, riding bikes, balancing on beams and negotiating steps all have the effect of building self-esteem and confidence in our children and builds positive connections with sport and physical fitness.
Additionally, children benefit from developing manipulative skills of catching, underarm and overarm throwing, kicking, striking and stationary dribbling. Each week in our classes our teachers try to focus upon intentionally teaching of one of these skills. The earlier these skills are introduced and practiced the more competent and confident children become at incorporating these into their own play.
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 4 Happy Father's Day!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 5
Father’s Day
Happy
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 6 Happy Father's Day!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 7 Happy Father’s Day!
What do you see?
On our light table the children had a free flowing exploration with a book, visual stimulas images of various sea creatures and a variety of small world ocean animals. They children had the opportunity to use their cognitive skills to match up the sea animals to the cards in front of them. The experience allowed the children to explore at their own pace, either individually or with a peer, developing their understanding of the world around them. Ms Emily Brazel
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The Deep Blue
Drawing and labelling a whale
The children were able to practise their writing skills and as well practise their tripod grip in their preferred hand. It was lovely to see all the children use their language and communication skills to talk to their friend next to them about their whale.
This week the children used the fine-motor skills alongside their sense of creativity to draw and label a whale. Firstly the children participated in a whole group discussion involving whales and other mammals of the ocean. We discussed with the children what a mammal is and how they differ from other creatures, for example they are hot blooded. Afterwards Miss Emily draw a large whale on the whiteboard, labelling each body part with the children. Once this was complete each child had the opportunity to create their own whale before labelling it. This experience encouraged children to look, listen and take in information in a group setting before putting pen to paper. This activity allowed the children to look at the whale that was drawn on the board before re creating it on paper themselves. Drawing teaches creative problem solving. Along with visual analysis and concentration, drawing encourages your child to solve problems creatively. When he or she draws, your child must determine the best way to connect body parts, portray emotions, and depict specific textures
Stage 4R By
To further the children's curiosity of unique sea life, the children created sea urchins using playdough and purple sticks. This encouraged the children to strengthen the small muscles in their hands which is a key development in learning to write using a pencil. They also were able to practise their fine-motor and creative skills.
“An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment” -David Attenborough
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 10 Stage 4R: The Deep Blue Sea
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 11 Stage 4R: The Deep Blue Sea
In addition, the children spent time viewing word and picture cards resembling a variety of building materials and tools. During our provocation play each child visited our drawing and writing table to create their own pictures and labelled them as they went.
Exploring materials Stage Four began their exploration into engineering this week by exploring a range of materials and discussing their purposes and strengths. This was introduced through the fairy tale of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ where the children learnt the importance of using quality materials and methods to build structures. Afterwards, the children engaged in a discussion group where they shared their knowledge about what materials could be used to build a house. Following our discussion Stage Four were invited to experiment with different materials to build structures including; construction sticks and Lego bricks. Stage Four demonstrated their creativity and resilience as they persevered when trying to connect pieces that were more challenging.
Engineering
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“My house is made of bricks” – Thomas “My house is made of glass” – Ethan A “My house is made of wood” – Leo “My house is made of atoms” – Azure “My house is made of sticks” – Serafina “My house is made of metal” – Flynn Happy Father’s Day! Over the past couple of weeks Stage Four has been working hard to create beautiful gifts and cards for their Dads. It has been lovely to hear the Stage Four children share all the special things their Father’s do for them and how much they appreciate them.
To extend upon the children’s interest in engineering and construction the children were invited to design a house using stamps and ink. This proved challenging as it was important for the children to line the stamps up accurately so their picture would resemble a building. All the children created amazing designs and practiced their handwriting below by documenting the material their house would be made out of.
Youngs children’s connectedness to family is crucial in developing their sense of belonging and identity. The inclusion of the celebrations and discussions surrounding Stage Four’s Father figures and parents in their lives this week has brought much enjoyment and each child has learnt something new about their peer’s families.
The Stage Four children wish all the Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles and Father figures a very Happy Father’s Day this Sunday! Ms Sarah Ross
Stage 4E By
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 14 Stage 4E: Father’s Day
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 15 Stage 4E: Engineering
After exploring the different spaces of the ocean and the sea creatures that live within, the children were encouraged to draw their own. They were asked to pick a habitat and draw it, once finished they coloured in and wrote the name.
Stage 4D By
As many of the children have begun their reader program, we explored the various sounds letters make when put together. We focussed on th, sh, and ch sounds. As a group we split the board into three columns, we then wrote th, ch and sh at the top. The children were then encouraged to say words beginning with those sounds. Once finished the children were then encouraged to write it down on their paper. This experience is to further encourage the children to develop their reading abilities and hopefully allow for easier sounding and recognition during their reading time. Ms Emily Chacon
Some places are brimming with colourful life and others are like enormous deserts. Across the sea, animals and plants depend on each other, as well as where they live to survive. - the arctic - coral reef - underwater forest - middle of the ocean - dark and deep - sea shore
Deep Sea
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This week we have explored the ocean habitats that various sea creatures call home. This week we have been exploring the various ocean habitats that sea creatures call Wehome.first read through our ‘The Sea Book’ by Charlotte Milner. The book describes the various spaces in the sea, some are hot, some cold, deep areas, and shallow ones.
As we have discussed in the past, the ocean is important to humans for many reasons, one of them being that it is a source of food. For a fun activity the children were invited to wash their hands and sit at the table. A plate and serviette were placed in front of them, and the children watched as Miss Emily wrote all the ingredients on the board. We firstly spoke of what ingredients we were using from the sea, that being seaweed and tuna. Following the instructions, the children lay out their seaweed sheets, flattened out their rice, cucumber, carrot, and tuna (if they chose), then began to roll it together. The children were given the choice of mayo and soy sauce and it was then time for the best part, tasting! This experience will be an introduction to next week’s topic of sustainability. Fishing is important because fish are an essential part of many people’s diets. But if too many fish are being caught too quickly, it creates a problem.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 18 Stage 4D: Deep Sea Explorers
Stage 4D: Under the Sea
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The children began showing an interest in dinosaurs both through their discussions and their play time together. We talked about the word prehistoric and the children expressed their prior dinosaur knowledge through group discussion. This was a great way to gauge the children’s initial understanding and was helpful in planning our program over the course of the next few weeks of Workingterm. on fine motor skills can be challenging, so this week we looked at dinosaur bones and recreated our own skeletons as a way of encouraging the children to further develop these necessary skills. Each child chose the picture of the dinosaur that they wanted to use as inspiration and then used glue and paddle-pop sticks of different sizes and lengths to create their art work. We created a large variety of different dinosaur skeletons but the most popular skeleton was the T-rex!
The Prehistoric World
The final experience this week, was the Letter Match table. Each child was offered a sheet of paper with dinosaur themed pictures and blank boxes. The children were then encouraged to letter match from a plate of letters. Naming each letter and sounding out each letter phonetically was another great way to explore our ‘Prehistoric World’ provocation. Ms Riina Andrew
Stage 3/4 By
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As the T-rex was the most popular dinosaur amongst the children, two small tables were set up with a wooden t-rex skeleton to inspire an observational drawing experience. Each child observed the display first before attempting to put Texta to paper. We concentrated on the teeth size, foot size and of course the size of the teeth. Our group discussions then led into the topic of carnivores and herbivores. Most of the children already displayed some prior knowledge of this subject but were eager to learn more. Together we created a list of dinosaurs that were carnivores and a list of dinosaurs that were herbivores. To foster this topic further, we used picture cards to group into categories of diet and physical attributes, such as, tail length, neck length and teeth size!
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 22 Stage 3/4: The Prehistoric World
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 23 Stage 3/4: Dinosaur Discovery
Toys From Home Thank you for encouraging your child to only bring soft sleep toys to school, this is so helpful to encourage the learning that is happening at Reddam.
To expand children’s knowledge on the uses of metal the children went on a metal search in the classroom and school. In small groups, when the children found metal, they recorded it by making a mark on their team’s whiteboard.
Stage 3E By
Metal
Remember we have two specialist classes each day, so please don’t rush to get the first class as we have two. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday the first class runs from 8:30- 8:55, the second class is from 8:55-9:20, however keyboard on Thursday is later, first class starts at 9:30 and consists of smaller groups of 8. Ms Brooke Fox
Housekeeping
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Using scissors, the children cut the chenille part of the pipe cleaners off to discover what was at the centre of the pipe cleaner. The children were asked what they discovered in the centre. Their responses included "wire and metal." The children then manipulated the pipe cleaners by bending them into different shapes, adding aluminium foil to explore the malleable characteristics of metal by making creations using foil, and pipe cleaners to bend and manipulate into a variety of shapes. The children used their imaginations and creativity to interact with the materials and objects.
The children used their fine motor skills to tear and/or cut aluminium foil into small pieces. The children had to coordinate their hands and wrists to manipulate the scissors to be able to cut or tear the foil. The children then used the cut up and torn foil to cover the letters M.E.T.A.L. Doing this helped the children understand that letters are a special category of symbols that are part of writing. It also helped demonstrate letter formation.
This week the children explored the element of “METAL”. The children were shown a digital representation of what metal is. The simple video explained the qualities of metal, such shine, hardness, and mailability. Children had the opportunity to explore assorted metals, during our morning meeting, such as coins, necklaces, and instruments.
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 26 Stage 3E: Exploring Metal
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 27 Stage 3E: Exploring Metal
Based on the children’s answers we set up activities for our beach exploration. Our sensory bin this week was very relaxing. Using natural resources such as sea salt, shells, glass beads and water the children had the opportunity to explore some of the beach elements and pretend play. We invited the children on a Starfish painting activity. The children were able to explore our beach provocation by using natural elements and their creativity. We started by letting the children use paintbrushes to colour their starfishes. We placed some liquid watercolours in shallow cups, put some paintbrushes nearby, and let the children do their thing. By using smaller paintbrushes the children are also able to work better on their fine motor Incorporatingskills.science and maths into our program the children were invited to investigate the properties of seashells. When introducing this activity, we began by letting the children explore the shells with their hands and magnifying glasses. We discussed the properties of the shells such as their shape, size, texture, and colours. The children quickly noticed a shell with barnacles on it and wanted to know more. We asked the children what kind of picture, or imprint, they thought the shells might leave behind if we stamped them onto some playdough. Eager to find out, they immediately began to claim their favourite shells to explore with. Some children decided to smooth the playdough with a rolling pin before exploring. Once the surface was smooth, they began to stamp their shells, recognizing the different imprints they left behind. They pushed the shells into the dough, making the outlines of the shells. Next week we will be exploring the deep blue sea and answering some questions that arise from this week’s provocations. Ms Gabriela Guimaraes
This weeks adventure was at the beach. We started by asking the children who has been to the beach, all hands up. Then we discussed which creatures we could find at the beach and how the beach looks like. Here are some of the answers:
Stage 2/3 & 3R By
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At The Beach
“We can see shells at the beach.” – Harrison Yiu “I saw a mermaid at the beach.” – Mara Kandikara- White “Lots of sand.” – Joanna Loy “Me and my dad saw a crab digging a hole.” – Matilda Hogarth “Fishes swimming in the sea.” – Arush Graham “Scuba divers.” – Charlie Partyka “I like to build sandcastles with my brother.” – Hannah O’Reilly
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 30 Stage 2/3 & 3R: At The Beach
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 31 Stage 2/3 & 3R: At The Beach
At the tables the children found sensory bins with jungle leaves and lots of mini bananas! They used large tweezers to pluck the bananas from the tree. The tweezers challenged them to work out their hands and squeeze them just enough to grasp the bananas but not so hard they broke! Once they had picked a banana, they decided if they would feed it to the hardworking turtle, or if they would also share it with the cheeky monkey! Ms Madeleine Grant
Filipino Folklore: Si Pagong at Si Matsing
This week Ms Ailene shared with us the Filipino folktale Si Pagong at Si Matsing, or ‘The Turtle and the Monkey’. During group times she retold the story to the children, and prefaced this by introducing them to the language and culture of the Philippines. She explained that the story is originally in Tagalog, and taught the children the Tagalog names of the characters, the turtle pagong, the monkey matsing, and the banana tree punong saging.
“Making mess is a poor choice” - Harry “Monkey was lazy and rolling around” - Felix What are some good choices?
The children tested their engineering skills as we made a house for the turtle in our own banana tree! The tree was made from a vase of tall sticks and leaves, with the turtle and his bananas perched on the branches. The children were given jacaranda twigs and shown how to carefully place the twigs between the branches so they balanced and made a shelter for the turtle. They worked in pairs and had to collaborate and communicate to ensure their shelter wouldn’t fall out of the tree!
Stage 2R By
“Turtle is good choice, I like the turtle” - Iris “I play with Gussy because he is my friend” - Hugh “A good choice is ‘please’ and ‘thank you’” - Caroline In the story, the turtle prepares for a storm by building a strong house in his banana tree.
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In the story a turtle and a monkey each plant banana seeds. The turtle is honest and hardworking, and grows a beautiful banana tree, while the monkey was lazy and didn’t care for his, so nothing grew and he stole the turtles bananas. Through the story, the turtle’s hard work is rewarded, while the monkey faces the consequences of being lazy and taking advantage of others. We then asked the children to think about examples of good and poor choices, either from the story or from their own experiences. Through this we are encouraging them to build their confidence in speaking in front of others, and extend their language skills by speaking about things they are familiar with. We also observed how their wonderful little minds are making connections between the concepts we are learning about, transferring and adaption information from one context to another. What are some poor choices?
| ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 34 Stage 2R: The Turtle and the Monkey
Stage 2R: The Banana Tree
When children are playing in smaller groups there are so many benefits such as ; Allowing children to develop social skills at their own pace, allowing the children to build up their emotional confidence, encouraging physical play, supporting the children's creativity and imagination and lastly the children learn so much through role-play.
Secondlyprovocation.this week we decided to focus a little on the amazing bonds the children are forming with their peers and educators. This week we wanted to also showcase their outdoor play and how much fun they have playing alongside and with one another. It’s fascinating how quickly toddlers go from playing on their own to playing alongside or with their peers. Their imaginative play at this age is endless and they are all starting to say more words or communicate using body language and play.
This week in Stage 1E we enjoyed another fun filled week exploring and discovering new things about our community helpers provocation “Chefs” . The children had a great week “eating the rainbow and learning new songs about healthy eating. The children had the opportunity to extend on last week’s “pizza making” experience with a sensory pizza oven activity and they got to dress up like a little chef. The children all loved and enjoyed this activity and have definitely acquired a love for cooking during our “Chef”
Lastly, the children enjoyed creating their Father’s day gift (Parent appreciation gifts) during the week. They loved painting their large popsicle sticks and with a little help for their educators we glued the sticks into a beautiful frame for their photos. The children picked their own pom poms and had a wonderful time creating their gifts.
“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”
We look forward to exploring and learning all about Firefighters and Police during our community helpers provocation next week. Ms Justine Heydra
Outdoor play is also so important for children at this age as playing outside gives your children the chance to explore their natural environment and have adventures. Children play games, test their physical limits, express themselves and build their selfconfidence when engaging in outdoor play. Outdoor play is also great for building gross-motor skills, agility and balance and allows children to use all five senses.
Stage 1E By
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- Cesare Pavese
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 1E: Friendship and being kind
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 1E: Community Helpers - Chefs
Stage 1R
By Ms Amanda Felton
The Babies furthered their investigation of animals by learning all about cows! They engaged in make believe play by feeding the cows hay and grass as a group experience, and were very engaged and shoed great social etiquette for such a young Thereage! was lots of toughing and playing with the cows and sensory materials, along with loads of smiles and baby chatter. Each of them also explored their fine motor skills by using their pencil grip, trying their hardest to grasp the texture and practice their coordination as they marked their paper as they drew their cows. Drama was fun as they enjoyed a magical journey contoured on wearing different shoes! My Gym challenged the babies to use their gross motor skills by walking on the river stones and a ladder, a great way to build their physical skills and confidence at the same time! Yoga was full of movements that represent our moods and engaged the children in a group sensory experience. They created flower shapes with their bodies, stretched and posed, and tickled their toes!
Housekeeping Can our wonderful parents please put extra change of clothes in the children bags and and label everything. Well done everyone, it has been amazing fun!
The Cow!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 1R: Cows!
