As we know getting a good night’s sleep is essential, not just for our young children, but also for us as parents. Not a day goes by that I do not speak to a parent who is struggling with sleep routines. Calling in baby whisperers and Sleep specialists may be one solution, however, there are some simple steps that you can take at home that can increase your success in establishing good routines.
By Mrs Simone Cooke
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
Principal’s Message
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1. Establish clear bedtime routines – Put in place routines that help your child to relax before bed. A warm bath or shower, followed by dimmed lights, closed curtains and restful music sends a message to your child that it time for them to prepare for sleep. Half an hour each night setting up a calm sleep environment will ensure you save energy and time later in the evening fighting with your child to get them to sleep.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
2. Moving to a big bed – It is always difficult to know the right time to move your child from a cot to a big bed. If you find that your child is waking up regularly throughout the evening, it may be that they have outgrown their cot and this is what is disturbing their sleep.
16th September 2022
Dear Parents,
Wishing you many nights of restful sleep!
Principal’s Message Continued…
3. Try not to change sleep schedules – We find that our children settled extremely well for their sleeps each day. This is because we are very consistent with their routines. Where possible try to stay with a regular sleep time. Sleep specialists reinforce the need to do this as “Sleep schedules are very important for setting our internal clocks and consistent schedules mean child will get sleepy and fall asleep around the same time every day” Melzser (2009) Try to look for cues such as eye rubbing, yawning or crying which will help indicate your child’s preferred sleep time. Over tired children will not settle as well as those whose parents recognise their sleep windows and settle them in this time.
4. Don’t think staying up late means sleeping in – For parents of early risers it is easy to think that letting them stay up later will mean they will sleep for longer in the morning, but this is a myth. Children’s internal clocks will kick in no matter what time they go so sleep at night.
Make moving to the new bed an exciting time for your child, but be clear that they are not to get out of bed without you, so that clear guidelines and expectations are established from the start. Consider placing guard rails on the open side of the bed, until they get used to their new sleeping arrangements. A guard rai can also discourage children deciding to get out of bed and roam the room when they should be sleeping.
Please recognise that young children, who are active all day still require a rest period at school. Unfortunately, just cutting out an afternoon sleep does not solve the problem of children going to bed late. Children who are overtired will also resist going to bed on time and the school rest period is an important part of our children’s days if they are to get the most out of their afternoon programmes.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
1st April 2022
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Deep Blue
By Ms Emily Chacon
This week for literacy we continued our consonant digraph letters of th. The children engaged in a worksheet which had 4 different pictures that had ‘th’ in them, bath, path thumb and moth. The children then cut out the letters and glued them into the correct position under each picture. Digraph and phonics blending will help the children focus on each sound rather than just guessing based on the beginning of the word. Over time, regular practice of this phonicsblending strategy will help the children read with better fluency. That allows them to focus less on decoding and more on comprehending what they're reading.
Stage 4R + D
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This week the children continued their journey of sustainability and caring for our ocean. Our three main words this week were reduce, reuse, and recycle. Thank you to all the families that donated their old t-shirts, the children had a wonderful time learning how to take something old and turn it into something new. The children sat one on one with their teacher and were guided into the steps to make a bag. Firstly, we cut along the seam to remove each sleeve, then we cut a bigger whole where the head usually goes. Lastly, we cut upwards, creating little tassels at the bottom of the shirt. For the final step we had to tie knots with the tassels to close off the bottom of the bag. As a finishing touch the children could choose to sew on a bead for decoration. The children loved this experience and enjoyed using their bags, some even used them to carry their water bottles down to each mealtime.
As one of the table activities the children extended their skills in cleaning, by picking out the rubbish on the beach using tongs. Developmentally, this activity promotes hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, helps to establish hand preference and builds strength in hand muscles.
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 6 Stage 4D
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 7 Stage 4D
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 9 Stage 4R
Mathematics
Stage Four began their maths learning journey with a shapes investigation. Throughout the week, the children engaged in a range of activities including building shapes with paddle pop sticks, forming letters using tessellating shapes and creating beautiful works of art by tracing around shapes.
Afterwards, the children participated in an activity that allowed them to use their thinking and creative skills together to produce a colourful art piece. The children were asked to find a number of shapes around the classroom to trace before using oil pastels to colour in each shape. Many of the children practiced great concentration and focus as they traced around each shape as accurately as possible. Throughout the lesson Stage Four explored their spatial awareness as they experimented with the placement of the shapes on their paper. At the end, the children spent time admiring each other’s works and pointed out their achievements to their peers.
Writing with tessellating shapes
In literacy groups Stage Four discovered that tessellating shapes are a pattern of shapes that fit together perfectly without any gaps. To test out this concept the children were invited to create the letters of the alphabet using a variety of different shapes and prompt cards. Each child keenly identified the letters presented and used their problem solving skills and visual spatial reasoning to create each letter of the alphabet.
The Stage Four children love getting their hands messy and being creative. To inspire this interest further the children were invited write numbers in ‘fairy dust’. To create our special fairy dust we added salt, food colouring, and glitter. Then we placed the fairy dust in trays with wooden numbers and paint brushes which the children used to write and represent numbers in the dust. This made for a very magical experience where the children discussed everything they know about fairies!
By Ms Sarah Ross
obegin our investigation, we discussed the difference between two dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects. This led to a group discussion about identifying two dimensional shapes and their properties. The children learnt that each shape has a different amount of sides and corners and that these amounts help to indicate what each shape is.
Identifying Shapes
Fairy dust number writing
Stage 4E
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 12 Stage 4E
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Every child loves role play experiences so this week we created a role play dinosaur land. Each child then had the opportunity to participate in role play experiences using these props as they wished. Some children preferred to replicate the noise and loud T rex while other children preferred to become a flying Pterosaurs. The ‘dinosaurs’ then had to source food (according to a herbivore or carnivore diet) and had the opportunity to roam the earth looking for volcanos and other dinosaurs. It has been a great privilege to observe the children in the representation of how they see dinosaurs and putting what they have learnt into practise.
Counting and simple addition and subtraction was available this week, with a dinosaur theme. The children had the opportunity to count and group the dinosaur figures in colour categories and dinosaur diet groups, working in pairs and also individually. Using a variety of different groups/categories allowed the children to expend their cognitive knowledge by learning how to think in different ways.
At the drawing table this week, the children observed a visual representation of the environment where the dinosaurs roamed. We then offered Texta’s to the children to draw their own Prehistoric Land. First we talked about the colours that we would use before starting and decided that green, brown and orange would be the best colours. To add to this experience, the children also decided to add dinosaur footprints to their picture. Using paint soaked sponges, the children chose the matching dinosaur figure to their drawing, dipped it’s feet in the paint and then stamped the feet across the page. It was another experience of process art and adding layers to their artwork.
The Prehistoric World
By Ms Riina Andrew
This week the children participated in a palaeontology experience. We dug and brushed away the sand to reveal dinosaur bones. Ashton W and Wesley were very excited to find ‘lots and lots of bones’. Leo Z and Emma discussed the types of bones that they thought would be in the sand and Alexa, Valentina and Megan worked together to order their findings in size groups. We found lots of treasures in the sand and were inquisitive to know more about the Prehistoric creatures that roamed our world and the habitats that existed.
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Our writing table had us practising our letter writing skills and our phonic knowledge. Sounding out the letters phonetically, we extended our awareness of pronunciation of each dinosaur name and discussed the fact that some of the dinosaur names rhymed with each other.
Stage 3/4
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 17 Stage 3/4
The children had the opportunity to further develop their handwriting skills as they followed “F is for Firefighter”. The more opportunities we provide in letter formation and pencil grip practice, the better equipped children will be in not only writing but many other areas of development, such as the self-help skills of eating, opening lunch boxes, dressing/undressing.
The children enjoyed making playdough cupcakes and choosing a number flame, showing their teacher, then arranging the number of candles into their cupcake. This early mathematics activity assisted children to recognise numbers up to 20, using the flame numbers as visuals.
“A small spark can start a great fire”
Housekeeping
During our literacy sessions, children were shown a selection of photos around what safe and unsafe, a picture of a smoke detector and shown what number to call in an emergency. 3E children are extremely aware of fire safety.
One of this week’s activities included a simple homework activity to do with family at home, if you have not already done this activity, please try to and return the page to one of the class Teachers so we can talk about it with the children in the last week of Term.
By Ms Brooke Fox
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Emmet Fox
Stage 3E
With the weather warming up we please ask that your child comes to school with sunscreen on. Staff will reapply during the day and will continue to ensure your child is drinking water and wearing their hat.
We also did a simple fire painting activity, The children mixed red paint and glitter on their hands then rubbed it onto a piece of black paper. A lot of conversation around the feel of the paint on their hands and to be careful fire is hot.
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 3E
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Teaching our children about marine pollution can be difficult. It’s an unexciting topic for children and yet it’s so important to discuss the devastating impact of water pollution.
In another learning station the children were invited to Rescue Sea Creatures on a Fine Motor skill activity. We asked the children to help free the sea creatures from twisted and tangled pipe cleaner by using their fingers or scissors.
When we asked the children what kind of rubbish they found at the beach most of them said plastic bottles and lids. Based on this information we set up an activity for the children to clean the ocean by using fishing nets and collect all the lids from the ocean. The learning opportunities out of this activity were: development of fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, concentration and environment awareness.
The plastic and papers had really polluted the water on our sensory bin. It was around the animal’s necks, arms and legs. We discussed what happens when an animal gets stuck in plastic waste. Using plastic tweezers and scoops to remove the plastic from the water the children untangled any animals caught in the plastic. We had the chance to compare the quality of the water before and after the clean up.
Friendly Reminder:
Looking After Our Environment
Next week is the final week for term 3 and to celebrate this milestone we will be having a dress up day on Wednesday and face painting day on Friday.
Stage 2/3 & 3R
By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes
We introduced an ocean pollution sensory bin as an activity to teach about pollution, the ocean and the effects it has on marine life. It was 100% hands-on, which means our children immediately understood what pollution is and what it does to the ocean ecosystem, and the animals that live there.
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL Stage 2/3 & 3R
Stage 2/3 & 3R
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In the classroom the children again recreated the race across the river, with trays of blue rice as the water and silhouettes of each animal hiding beneath the surface. They were asked if they could recognise each animal by its shadow, and if they could find matching pairs for all thirteen animals. Some preferred to use the cut outs as miniature toys, acting out dramatic scenes and interacting with each other through their chosen creatures.
At the start of the term we asked families to suggest stories from their cultures that we could use as inspiration for our provocations, and one of these stories was the origin myth behind the Chinese Zodiac. The story tells of a time where all the animals were gathered to race each other across the river, and the order in which they finished became the order of the zodiac. In group times we retold the story, and the children loved acting out each of the animals and their actions in the race.
During the early years it is crucial that children are exposed to the cultural backgrounds not only of their own families, but also to those that make up they wider community. A focus on inter- and intra-cultural wellbeing is important in fostering children’s holistic social and emotional development, and promoting a sense of respect and appreciation for their heritage and that of others. Folklore and fairytales are the oral history of their cultures, and embedded in these rich and fantastical stories are truths that transcend cultures.
When the race was over we had a celebratory dance party, and the children loved moving around the space either as their animals or as themselves!
We extended this by making masks of the twelve animals of the zodiac, as well as the cat who slept through the race and didn’t finish! We took the children outside and they each chose which animal they wanted to be. As we read the story we asked them to act out their animal’s actions in the story and lead their friends in roaring, hissing, mooing, neighing, oinking, and cock-a-doodle-dooing!
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Stage 2R
By Ms Madeleine Grant
The Great Race
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 28
Stage 2R: The Great Race
| ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 29 Stage 2R
Our first sensory activity involved bright blue modelling clay, natural wooden materials and recycled materials. The children enjoyed the open ended nature of this activity as they could make and create anything they wanted to. We focused on naming the different materials used and colours of the objects. This activity was great for strengthening fine motor skills and language development. It was amazing to see the children’s imagination come to life as they played and explored using these materials.
Stage 1E
art for this week was based on our provocation and we created a fun and exciting “fingerprint” art piece. The children each had their picture taken in a position resembling them holding a bunch of balloons. The picture was printed and cut out , once this was done the children were assisted in sticking their picture on a piece of white paper. We then used a black ink pad to create fingerprints resembling balloons. The children had a great time during this process and loved seeing themselves in their art piece.
We look forward to exploring and learning all about aviation next week. Wishing you all a great weekend.
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Our second sensory activity was based on some detective skills and exploring using a magnifying glass. The children each had the opportunity to play and investigate a tub with blue rice and blue wooden sticks. They enjoyed using the magnifying glass, especially seeing how things enlarge when using it. At this age children's critical- thinking skills and fine-motor skills have developed to the stage where they can start using simple tools. The magnifying glass was a great tool for the little ones to explore with. Some of the children were very surprised once they looked through the magnifying glass, they are also becoming more aware of their individual achievements when they have mastered a certain activity.It was great to see them express a sense of pride and happiness once they had achieved an Ouractivity.creative
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs
This week in Stage 1E the children explored and investigated what being part of the police force is all about. We created our very own jail, police station and crime scene in our dramatic play area. The children had a fantastic time developing their imaginative skills while pretending to be police and discovering while playing with our little world police station and vehicles.
Housekeeping: As parents are once again allowed to place their child’s bag in their locker and collect them can we kindly request that you ensure you take the correct bag home as the children share lockers.
By Ms Justine Heydra
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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 32 Stage 1E
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Our little ones are all so engaged in listening and following along during storytime. It has been really lovely to see everyone so willing to absorb and learn through story telling and being so engaged in their learning 1R
Stage
This week our provocation has been focused upon learning more about animals, we decided to take a look at dogs and so we enjoyed a range of lovely stories and explored the popular literature of Lyndley Dodd and the popular Hairy Maclary series. So over the fence we went into Donaldson’s Dairy…we followed Hairy Maclary’s mischief making adventures around town. Jumping and climbing over and through fences. Chasing cats up trees. Yes, we had a great time! This series offers lovely rhymes and repetition which is wonderful for building our children's language skills.
The Adventures of Hairy Maclary
By Ms Amanda Felton
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL 35 Stage 1R
To finish I introduced a magical wand. We had to pretended it was a very heavy, like we were strong men and women. Each child had a turn trying to lift. We had to struggle lifting it. George and Felix did a great job doing this by making noises and shaking their arms.
Stage 2 and 3 combined Dance and circus.
This week in drama Stage 3-4 had a visit to the Circus! We began the lesson by sitting on the parachute and I asked the children what a circus is and what we could find there? Some suggestions were clowns with red noses, clowns being silly, jugglers, animals, flame throwers and unicycles! Well, done everyone.
The babies and Stage 1 also discovered some movement today. We found our heads, shoulder, knees, and toes and stretched like a butterfly. Sonny had wonderful butterfly wings. After our stretch we had to wake up and danced to "Dingle Dangle scarecrow". Layla was very good at sleeping and jumping up to wake up! We then used our imaginations and discovered different types of walks to the "Imagination song". Arti showed us how to move like a tiger!
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Drama
In Stage 2/3 We then turned the parachute into the Meri go Round. We had to hold it, whilst we walked and ran around until I said, “change direction”. We danced to "Whenever I hear the music" Abigail did a wonderful job listening and doing all the actions. The other half of the class had a turn balancing the spinning plates and we swapped over. Michaela showed us how to balance the spinning plate and Lachlan balanced it on his head.
We then shook the parachute and used our imaginations to transform the parachute into a merry-go around. We all walked in a circle slow, then faster and faster and even went the other way. Ethan and Flynn in Stage 4 went so fast they fell over, but they got straight back up with a big smile on their face!
Stage 2 danced to "Rock a bye a bear" and "Jump forward and back". Hayden danced so well and jumped so high! Thank you to Madeline who helped me sing the welcome song. I brought in some ribbons for a tight rope where we had to balance across it! Each child had a turn balancing and walking on their tippy toes. Liam showed us how to balance.
Stage 4 then learnt some circus skills. Half the class learnt how to juggle, starting with throwing the ball up and catching it, then throwing from one hand to another I described it as imaging there was a rainbow from one hand to the other and they had to throw it over the rainbow) Nicholas and Xavier were good at catching their juggling balls. The second group had a turn with the spinning plates. We had to try and balance them, we tried to spin them and to make it harder the children walked with them. Betty said hers was a little umbrella. We then tried to balance them on our heads, Lucy could balance it on her head!
In Stage 3/4 Lucas balanced it on his knee and was wonderful at balancing the spinning top, well done! The groups then swapped over so everyone had a turn.
Circus Week was a great success; everyone had such a fun time and I think it might be the new favourite lesson :) Thanks everyone for such a fun week.
We began by warming up our body by doing the butterfly pose and touching our toes.
Next, I then turned into a clown (wearing a wig). She taught everyone to lead with different parts of their bodies in a walk. We led with our tummy, nose, bottom and leg. Sara led with her bottom and couldn't stop giggling. We then became silly clowns and tried to balance on one leg and then fell over. Well, done Megan who could balance for a very long time! I pretended to be a very silly clown and kept bumping into everyone and falling over. We all had a turn doing this. It was very funny; Lucian loved this a laughed a lot.
By Ms Laura Hudson
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By Mr Alan Tang
Piano lessons at Reddam ELS were a little bit different. I had brought along a Tenor Ukulele with me to expose the children to more musical instruments. Many children misunderstood it as a guitar. The children learnt that Guitar has 6 strings and is bigger and Ukulele has 4 strings. Ukulele is an instrument often associated with Hawaiian, however, it originated in Europe and was introduced to Hawaii in 1879. The children enjoyed "somewhere over the rainbow" a classic Ukulele song by Israel kamakawiwoʻole. Stage 3, 3/4 and 4 also revised on Jingle bell or Baby shark. A number of students did finger exercises which resemble Minuet in G by Bach, and next week I will introduce the extra G to make the song sound complete. This method is much easier for the children at this age group to process musically. Stage baby room, 1 and 2 enjoyed a combine Piano and Ukulele concert. The children were responsing with great excitments this week and the Ukulele will different be part of the piano lessons from now on :) Thank
Piano
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My GymREDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 40
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 41 My Gym
