Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 27 by Reddam House Sydney

Dear Parents, From the time they are born our children start to build their numeracy skills. This takes place from watching and experiencing numeracy in everyday play and learning experiences. It begins with them hearing us counting their fingers and toes and starting to recognise basic shapes in their environment. Very quickly they are soon able to identify and compare ‘big’, ‘medium’, ‘small’ and understand concepts of ‘over’, ‘under’ and ‘next to’ and make one -to -one connections between numbers and objects. Every day our teachers build these skills by playing counting and sorting games, singing number songs, but also by providing play experiences that allow children to see numbers being used in their day -today

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mathematically long before they enter Kindergarten. You will observe even our very young children actively engaged in problem solving, reasoning, sorting, classifying and using strategies informally. The sandpit is a wonderful place to see numeracy in action. Using large buckets, pans and sieves encourages children to explore shape, size, capacity and weight as they play. The children explain that they are digging ‘deep’ or ‘shallow’ holes and quickly learn if their bucket is ‘empty’ or ‘full’. The children will often add in natural elements such as sticks, stones, shells or leaves and you will see them sorting these into different criteria, positioning them to make curved or straight lines, patterns or shapes, all of which is teaching them important foundations for numeracy.

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

Principal’s Mrs Simone Cooke

Message By

9th September 2022 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1

1st April 2022

REDDAM

When setting up their weekly Provocations our teachers seek to build upon children’s natural curiosity to learn. Research shows that even very young infants have the ability to extend from basic number recognition to a more complex awareness of ordinal relationships, which involves numbers ordered by size. Yet early maths is not just about rote learning but instead it is about open-ended play that encourages to solve problems in real situations. In Stage 2R our children have been making gingerbread men and measuring out ingredients, comparing the number of buttons on their gingerbread men. Our younger children have been sorting and classifying using loose parts to count, order and create patterns. Filling containers, grouping objects and taking ownership over their learning. Our Reggio Emilia approach to Hands-on-learning and problem solving using concrete materials is far more effective than using a worksheet of numbers, which are passive and uninspiring. Offering open ended exploration with inviting materials and using a prompt, question or problem, allows children to experiment and problem solve at their own pace. Physically learning by sorting, classifying and manipulating materials allows children to understand how numbers work in the real world. This consolidates 1:1 correspondence, helps them understand the 2

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Principal’s Continued…

EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

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By Ms Emily Chacon

great way to further educate the children in the importance of protecting our beloved ocean. It has been wonderful to see the children truly understanding the beauty of the ocean and how we as a community can work Thanktogether.you to all the families for bringing in their bottle caps! The children have been very busy reusing them for different art assignments. Over the week the children have been painting bottle caps green, yellow and brown. As they have been drying, Miss Emily has been gluing them together to create one giant turtle! We are very excited to see how this project turns out.

Another project was more individualised, the children were asked to choose a bottle cap and imagine it into something else. The children then drew their image around, some creating into a turtle, fish, octopus and seahorse. Next week we will be continuing our Reduce, Reuse and Recycle program. I have asked all families to please bring in any old t-shirts that they no longer will need. The children will be using them to create something new, a shopping bag!

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This week we are exploring sustainability and protecting our ocean. Throughout the sea, animals and plants rely on each other to survive. But marine animals, plants, and their homes are facing problems that upset the natural balance. We once thought that the ocean was too big for us to harm, however we now know that humans have done a lot of damage. To begin our group time I asked the children what their ideas could be on ways to save the ocean. As last week we explored sea creatures habitats within the ocean, it was amazing to see the children creating that link between their homes and the dangers of destruction to coral reefs and crippling food chains. Continuing our focus on 'The Sea Book' by Charlotte Milner, we explored overfishing, melting ice, rising sea levels and coral bleaching. Through the book we discovered why the sea is getting warmer which then melts the ice, which then raises sea levels and how that affects the turtles laying their Followingeggs.

Stage 4R & 4D

on from this class discussion the children were given a board, pens and paint and were asked to close their eyes. Miss Emily asked the children to focus on one area, warming water, coral bleaching, overfishing, or rising water. The children were then encouraged to think of a way to inform people of these dangers our ocean is facing. Using the materials provided the children then got to work creating their posters.

"No This"Clean"Turnoverfishing!"offthelights"uptheocean!"experiencewasa

Deep Blue

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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 6 Stage 4R & 4D: Deep Blue

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 7 Stage 4R & 4D: Our Oceans

Before coming together to build our tower the children shared their ideas with each other and were surprised to discover how each of their peers envisioned the tower differently. Taking all these ideas with us the class came together to build the tower and oversee each other’s contributions. Each child was so proud to see how their balloon contributed to a strong and stable tower.

Paper aeroplanes affords many opportunities for learning in young children from the designing stages, to building, and then flying the planes. First, the children drew designs of what they would like their plane to look like and then came together as a class to observe and follow step by step how to make their own plane using paper folding techniques. This was a great opportunity for the children to work their fine motor muscles as they used their fingers to press down on the paper to make crisp folds. Stage Four demonstrated their resilience throughout as they made continuous attempts to perfect their Afterwards,aeroplanes.thechildren took their planes outside to race and to see which planes could fly the furthest. Ms Sarah Ross

Engineering

In the second week of our Engineering learning journey the Stage Four children were faced with some engineering challenges where they discovered how bridges are made, built and designed paper aeroplanes and worked collaboratively to create a structure made entirely of balloons! Balloon Tower Stage Four were presented with the challenge of designing a tower made completely from balloons. We discussed the importance of having a structure that wouldn’t fall down and what materials we could use to make our balloons stick together. The children came up with many ideas including; glue, blutac, cement and sticky tape. As a class we decided that sticky tape was most likely the best option.

Next, the children were provided with paper and pencils and were asked to think about what our balloon tower might look like and to draw their design ideas.

How are bridges built?

During discussion and literacy groups the children explored an informative text about how bridges are designed and how features such as; piers on beam bridges, and triangle shapes used when designing truss and suspensions bridges can make these bridges Afterwards,stronger.thechildren were presented with the challenge of building their own bridge over a pretend river using Lego. In partners and individually the children worked alongside each other to create a series of bridges using the techniques learnt in our literacy group. Each child demonstrated their ability to persevere and problem solve as they perfected their bridge design.

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Designing paper aeroplanes

Stage 4E By

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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 10 Stage 4E: Engineering

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 11 Stage 4E: Balloon Towers

During the art session this week, we started working on our process art experience. The children first discussed the colours that we would see in the environment of the Prehistoric World. We then had a vote and decided that yellow, orange and green would be the best! We then took a roller and tried our best to roll one line of each colour of paint across our page. It took a lot of concentration to get the line straight but we got the hang of it very quickly. We then took a look at a variety of dinosaur shapes and tried to label each one and decide which one would be the best one to draw, cut out and paste onto our painted background. At the numeracy table, we played a game of ‘Roll the Dice and move your Dinosaur’! Each child had a mat with a variety of dinosaurs listed down the left side. Each player took a turn of rolling their dice and adding a dinosaur figure to their mat. The first player that completed the line of dinosaur figures was the winner. The game was such fun that we played over and over again, challenging each other! 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

The Prehistoric World

This week, 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 14 Stage 3/4: The Prehistoric World

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 15 Stage 3/4: Dinosaur Discovery

Thank you for encouraging your child to only bring soft sleep toys from home. Please ensure your child’s hat and other clothing is clearly labelled with their name, to assist with children’s identification of their personal items.

During our literacy sessions, children watched a digital representation of the book “The Most Magnificent Thing” by Ashley Spires, this funny book offers a perfect example of the rewards of perseverance and creativity. The children were given wooden tapping sticks and listened to a variety of different cultural music.

Stage 3E By

Remember we have two specialist classes each day, so please don’t rush to get the first class. 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 are smaller groups of 8. Ms Brooke Fox

There's A Bit of Handmade in All Of Us

Lots of construction and building has taken place in the 3E classroom. The dramatic play allowed children to express themselves in character, dressing up as carpenters, donning protective eye wear and using wood working tools, such as hammers, chainsaws, planer (of course only toys representing them). Attention to conversations around what they were using to build supported children’s thinking and communication skills and extended their vocabulary, The dramatic play was a huge hit in the classroom. Our arts and craft activity this week combined the use of P.V.A glue, wooden paddle pop sticks, small wooden match sticks and black paper to create a house. The children used the items to create their own houses. To extend children’s knowledge in early mathematics they created towers with a variety of wooden construction blocks. The children were encouraged to measure their towers with rulers and educators introduced the concept of numbers having meaning.

Housekeeping

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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 18 Stage 3E: Wooden Materials

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 19 Stage 3E: Building Houses

Stage 2/3 & 3R

The Deep Blue Sea

Just like layers of the earth, the ocean has layers too. During our group discussion we talked about how the ocean is divided into 5 different layers, just like a piece of cake. These layers are called ocean zones. The zones are distinguished based on how far sunlight can travel from the ocean’s surface. Our learning stations supported our learning about the deep blue sea and it’s layers. We studied the different creatures that we can find in each layer of the ocean and the children were invited to paint the creature that they like the best. We explored the coral reef by setting up an invitation for the children to make their own amazing three-dimensional coral reef designs on a Coral Reef STEAM activity. Using pipe cleaners, playdough and beads the children used their fine motor skills, creative thinking and problem solving skills to create their own coral reef sculptures. Coral reefs are living structures found underwater and are home to a diverse group of sea creatures. Coral reefs are fragile. Boating and pollution can damage coral reefs. Next week we will be discussing ocean’s pollution and how we can keep it clean. It’s a daunting topic but if we create awareness early we can guide our children on how to look after our beautiful Planet.

By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes

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How much do we actually know about the ocean? It’s full of salt, it covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface and we have only explored about 5% of it. In fact, more people have travelled into space than have ventured into the deep sea. A piece of curiosity, to date, only three people have gone to our ocean’s deepest point.

The ocean is one of the final frontiers of human exploration and it is home to more than a hundred million different species of the most mysterious creatures on our planet. This week we explored our enigmatic deep ocean a little better.

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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER Stage 2/3 & 3R: The Deep Blue Sea

Stage 2/3 & 3R: Ocean Discovery

To give them the experience of baking and preparing the gingerbread men we also made playdough with the spice mix. They were given baking trays, rolling pins and various cookie cutters and encouraged to recreate the cooking experience as they played. The cookie cutters were a challenge for some, as they required multiple steps to ensure the shapes were cut evenly, but they showed great perseverance and soon were able to create gingerbread stars, hearts, animals and Thepeople!Gingerbread

This week our focus fairytale was the classic story of The Gingerbread Man! During group times we retold the story, asking the children to act out scenes such as the mixing, kneading and baking of the dough, and all the people and animals running to catch the gingerbread escapee. We also read The Lamington Man by Kel Richards, which tells the classic story with an Aussie twist. We then got the children together to make their own gingerbread men! They were fascinated as we retold the story and elaborated on each step the old man and lady took in baking their treats, and asked each child to help add an ingredient to the mixing bowl. Cooking is a fantastic way of introducing mathematical concepts such as measurements to children, as well as demonstrating scientific processes through ordering and following instructions.

Stage 2R By

As they got to work we asked them questions to extend their mathematical knowledge through counting, sorting and sequencing. They identified the colours and shapes, counted how many gems they had used, and were encouraged to think about why they chose to place each gem where they did. There were no right or wrong ways to go about this, and the range of results showed the diversity in their individual thinking and expression. Ms Madeleine Grant

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The Gingerbread Man “Run, run, run, as fast as you can!”

Having the freedom to complete tasks in their own way is so important for young minds, and we didn’t want to restrain their creativity.

Once everyone had a turn they watched as the flour, sugar, butter and spices were mixed together, turning into a thick ball of gingerbread cookie dough! We then rolled it out onto baking paper and cut it into person shapes, and the children were given M&Ms to personalise their treat!

Man’s gumdrop buttons was the inspiration behind our numeracy activity, where they were given cardboard cut outs and an array of sparkling gemstones. Some used them to make a line of buttons, others created eyes and a mouth, while some went all out and completely dazzled their gingerbread men!

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 26 Stage 2R: The Gingerbread Man

| ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 27 Stage 2R: Making Gingerbread

Our first sensory activity involved discovering and playing with yellow and red rice.

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“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

Our second activity was our fire sensory bag. We used a large zip lock bag and filled it with yellow, orange and red paint. Once we placed it on our light table the children were each given a chance to draw and explore the bag using their fingers. Sensory bags help young children develop their sense of touch and finemotor skills as they manipulate the paint around the bag. The sensory bags also help build neural connection within the brain and helped the children maintain their focus and attention.

The children enjoyed this song and all participated in doing the actions. As part of our literacy this week we read the book, “Spot goes to the Fire station” written by Eric Hill. This fun and interactive book followed the journey of Spot wanting to be a Firefighter just like his Grandpa. The children had so much fun listening to this story.

- C.C Cummings

To add more texture we also included shredded yellow, red and orange cardboard. They had a great time scooping up the rice and picking up the shredded paper and sprinkling it out of their hands. This activity was great for sensory stimulus and fine-motor skill development. We also worked on our vocabulary by naming the different items used and trying to explain the texture, colour and sensation.

During our provocation group time the children had the opportunity to dress up like a firefighter and we sang the much loved song, “Hurry , hurry drive the fire truck.”

This week in Stage 1E the children enjoyed learning all about being a Firefighter. They absolutely loved playing with our little people set up, fire trucks and enjoyed sensory activities and creative art during this provocation.

Lastly for our creative art this week the children enjoyed our “Firework” art piece. We used black paper, a cardboard roll cut and shaped into a star formation, white paint and glitter. The children each had a chance to use the cardboard roll as a stamp, dipping it into the white paint and stamping their fireworks onto the black paper. Once that was completed they used the glitter to decorate their firework. The children had a great time during our creative process and absolutely loved using glitter. We look forward to exploring the occupation of “Police” next week and wish you all a safe and enjoyable weekend. Ms Justine Heydra

Stage 1E By

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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 1E: Fire Sensory Bags

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 31 Stage 1E: Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck

Stage 1R By Ms

Yes! We have jumped back into time this week as we investigate dinosaurs. With our mini archeologists digging through the sands of time, looking for evidence of the past. Everyone was very enthusiastic about this sensory experience as it had sand, green paint and of course lots of dinosaur figurines and a brush so that our little hands could unearth lots of hidden archeological treasures. This task offered many opportunities for skill development, building fine motor control, collaboration, sharing and turn taking. Whilst harnessing our children's curiosity and encouraging them to be inquisitive and explore! We then moved onto o lots of art this week, where we took a dinosaur that we liked the most created our own footprints and portraits. The artwork it very much open to interpretation as you can imagine! Everyone did really well to grip the paint brush and we all love the cause and effect of making marks and strokes on the paper. Every week our Babies are showing that they are willing learners and are becoming more and more confident in their daily skill development. Amanda Felton

Dinosaurs….Roar!

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 33 Stage 1R: Roar!

This week in drama downstairs we continued learning about different types of animals. I brought in the book called "Animal Pants". In Stage 1 we looked at all the pictures and made the animal sounds. Ethan showed us his cat meow. I then asked the children if we should go to the zoo to see if animals really do wear pants. We then danced to "Going to the Zoo". Well done to Ellie who loved to dance. When we arrived at the zoo we met many different animal Puppets. I asked the children if they were wearing pants and encouraged them to say "yes or no". We finished the lesson fishing with our ribbon sticks. Florence was very good at fishing!

We received a message from the Lion about how to save Naia. We put all the objects we had found into the cauldron to create a spell, the Queen (teacher in role) appeared and Augusten suggested we throw the potion! Then all frozen stone turned back to people. Ashton showed us how to be still and stone-like. This then transported back home. All the children loved this week's adventure some even said it was their favourite! Everyone is looking forward to what next week brings. Ms Laura Hudson

Drama By

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Stage 2 and 3 also read the book "Animal Pants" Harper laughed a lot at the Octopus and Liam said animals don't really wear pants. We sang and danced to "Going to the zoo" which they loved. We then went on an adventure in the zoo. We met all the animal puppets then we had some problem-solving to do! When we arrived at the cheetahs enclosure we couldn't see it! Perhaps it has escaped in the zoo someone left the enclosure door open?? Let's go and find it. Eshaan suggested we had to run really fast to catch it! Then we found a sad Tiger that had lost its baby Cub. Matilda suggested we looked under the rock and we found it! Albert loved the tiny cute baby tiger. In Stage 3 and 4, the whole class created an improvisation imaginary journey to Narnia. We began the lesson by discussing what a wardrobe was. Catherine explained it was like a cupboard. We all came up with different items we would find in the wardrobe. Liam suggested jackets and clothes. We also came up with shoes, undies, and toys! We then began our adventure. Each child chose a character they would be entering Nania. We used magical chalk to draw the wardrobe and entered. Next, we revisited the skill "Mime" to get through the wardrobe to Narnia. Stella mimed out snow falling when we arrived. We then received a message from Aslan and we had to collect many objects to defeat the witch and save Narnia. A pearl from the sea; the breath of a dragon; the hair of a unicorn, sugar drop from the fairy, and a golden egg from the goblin. Each child came up with their own way to find the object. Lia suggested we swim with the mermaids to get the pearl. Rowan asked the fairy very kindly to borrow some of her Themagic.children used their bodies and worked together to make the shape of the cauldron.

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This week the children had been extra productive, because Stage 4 and 3/4 get to navigate their own learning by choosing between Baby Shark or Jingle Bell. A number of students in Stage 3 learnt a special tailor finger exercise which resembled the famous Bach's song Minuet in G. Stage Baby, 1 and 2 enjoyed soundtracks of the past 70 years, from "Titanic" to the piano's cover of "As it was" by Harry Styles. Many of them showed their enthusiasm by bouncing and clapping. I will be bring in a Ukulele next week. Looking forward to next week!