REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER Principal’s Message
4th November 2022
By Mrs Simone Cooke
Dear Parents, A tower that reaches for the sky, a bridge for the Gruffalo or house for a mouse... wherever you go across the school you will see our children building and constructing, at play with blocks. If you take time to watch children building with blocks you will notice that there is quite a developmental sequence in their ability to construct. As toddlers they will move from being barely able to stack two blocks on top of each other to being able to construct elaborate well balanced buildings. Blocks are such a wonderful open-ended resource which allows children to develop their problem-solving skills through trial and error. Not only do blocks allow children to expand their imagination as they create whatever castle, pirate ship, bridge or spaceship they wish, blocks are wonderful aids in building spatial awareness and fosters problem solving . In addition to building concentration and patience, blocks also encourage social interactions. It is not uncommon for us to find a large group of our children spontaneously sitting on the ground together and building an intricate building, making suggestions to each other on what block is needed to balance the moat they are designing or working together to get the tower to the tallest height possible. Building can be challenging and it requires perseverance as they deal with ever falling blocks. It is therefore so lovely to hear the children’s squeals of delight when they accomplish a difficult feat and create a masterpiece and discover that it was worth the effort working together for a common aim. REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
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Principal’s Message Continued… Whilst duplo blocks, lego and magnetic blocks can offer children endless hours of fun, don’t forget the importance of giving your child simple wooden building blocks as these are wonderful for building fine motor and balancing skills and perfect for these wet rainy days when children are looking for a challenge. Offering blocks that are different shapes and have curves and points adds extra challenges and means children will need to sort through the blocks classifying and sorting them to find the pieces that they need. If you watch your child at play you will quickly be able to see what developmental stage of block play they have reached.
REDDAM LEARNING SCHOOL DEVELOPMENTAL EARLY STAGES OF BLOCK PLAY ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER STAGE 1: EXPLORING BLOCKS
1st April 2022
At this first stage of exploration children explore blocks by carrying, pushing, holding, dropping, hauling and repacking. Children are learning about the texture, shape, orientation and weight of blocks. STAGE 2: BUILDING STACKS AND ROWS. During this stage of play, children lay the blocks on the floor in rows, either horizontally or vertically with much repetition. Children will usually play alone or near other children, but rarely co operatively. In this stage children are learning about balancing, patterning, one to one correspondence, stability, ordering and sorting. STAGE THREE: MAKING BRIDGES Making structures begins at this stage as children make a bridge. (Children form a space between two blocks and then place a block on top to span the space). During this stage children are learning about balance, symmetry, spatial concepts (top, bottom, up, down) and geometry concepts. STAGE FOUR: ENCLOSURES Children play with blocks in such a way that they form enclosures. It can be seen with blocks that are put together to close up a space. At this stage children are learning spatial concepts (inside/outside) architectural features (interior /exterior space, parameters and borders.
STAGE FIVE: COMPLEX BLOCK STRUCTURES Children use their imagination to create elaborate designs. They build structures with symmetry, balance and decorative elements. At this stage children learn about balance, proportion, symmetry and patterning. Of course the most enjoyable part of building with blocks is being able to crash it all down loudly at the end!
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Stage 4R
By Ms Emily Brazel
Letter Recognition Letter recognition refers to the ability to visually recognise letter of the alphabet through hands on learning. Letter recognition is important as it enables children to figure out the connections between printed text and spoken language. This week the children engaged in an activity where they were invited to create the first letter of their name using glue and pom poms. Firstly the children were asked to glue the first letter of their name in a capaital letter before sticking the pom poms on stop. After this was completed and dried each child came back to their art piece and wrote the rest of their name using a white pen. It is important that children are beginning to write their name for primary school next year as name writing practice should give kids a strong sense of achievement and set them on the right path to reading and writing success in primary school. Encouraging children to write letters from an early age will improve their communication, social and handwriting skills, and teach them what they need to know about writing and structuring letters. The benefits of letter writing: • Increases clarity and broadens perspectives. • Eases feelings of loneliness and isolation. • Develops a sense of accomplishment. • Strengthens friendships and family bonds. • Creates joy for both the receiver and the sender. Drawing and creating my family During the week the children have been looking at who they are and what they like about themselves in order to build upon their self confidence in preperation for primary school next year. As an extenstion of this the children were invited to partipate in a group time experience where they were asked to draw the members of their family, using their langauge skills to articulate to their teacher who is part of their family. The children used their creative skills for this experience, developing on their tripod grip and fine-motor development. It was really lovely to hear the children talk to each other throughout this group experience, discussing the members of their families to one another. Once they were finished the children then practised their literacy skills by writing the different family they have drawn, developing on their letter recognitin and sentence structure. Water play fun!
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Stage 4R: Water Play Fun!
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Stage 4R: Forming Letters
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Stage 4E
By Ms Sarah Ross
How Do I Pack My Lunch? “Learning about healthy lifestyles, including nutrition, personal hygiene, physical fitness, emotions and social relationships is integral to wellbeing and self-confidence” – Early Years Learning Framework. This week Stage Four continued their getting ready for school learning provocation with a focus on healthy foods and packing our lunch boxes for school. This began with a discussion all about healthy and sometimes foods. The children were eager the share their knowledge with each other and we all agreed that fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods for our bodies. Afterwards, each child was invited to draw, colour and paint a picture of their favourite fruit. The children used black markers for the outline, then coloured their fruit of choice with crayons and used watercolour to fill in the background. This proved to be a lovely reflection of all the healthy foods the Stage Four children like to eat and once their work was dry the children viewed each other’s works and compared what types of fruit they enjoy! Following our exploration of Stage Four’s favourite fruits we discussed which foods we would like to pack in our lunch boxes for school. Below are some of the responses the children shared. What would you pack in your lunch box? “White rice and sushi” – Amelia “Vegetables to make us big and strong” – Thomas “Bread because it make us strong” – Henry “Vegetables, bananas and noodles” – Augusten “A sandwich” – Ethan A “Broccoli soup” – Lydia “Cauliflower and fruit” – Flynn “A giant sandwich with cheese, lettuce and salami” – Azure “Rice, meat, strawberries, grapes, mandarin, bread and lettuce” – Charlotte “Chicken and corn soup” – Winnie “Unicorn sandwich with salami” – Serafina “Sandwich” – Helena “Bread and egg” – Yuno “Cheese and broccoli sandwich” – Zavier “Bread and cream” – Ethan M “Broccoli and meat” – Aiden “Orange and grapes” – Hilary “Bacon sandwich” – Albert “Corn and egg and lettuce sandwich” – Ria Many of the children shared the idea that they would make sandwiches for their school lunch. To extend upon this idea the children were invited to make their own sandwiches using a dramatic play kit. Each child spent an extended time acting out the steps necessary for making a sandwich including; spreading butter on their bread and assembling the sandwich with fillings of their preference and then pretending to eat their creation.
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Stage 4E: Making Sandwiches
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Stage 4E: Fruit Painting
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Stage 4D
By Ms Emily Chacon
When I Grow Up! This week we explored further into numeracy! As we had done a whole unit on this throughout the year, this week was a fun revision week. For group time the children gathered with their activity book, inside was a worksheet in addition. As a group the children were encouraged to count the number of circles. Then using a pencil, they wrote the answers on the side. Kindergarteners develop a foundation that will equip them to learn for the rest of their academic lives and math skills are particularly important. Addition and subtraction prepare children for learning about other math topics, including multiplication and division, in school. As a group we created a mind map of ‘what makes a good friend?’. It was amazing to see all the children’s creative ways of being a good friend. “Being friendly” “Play with them if they are lonely” “Helping them if they get lost” “Tell them your name” “Sharing” Children need to learn friendship skills. As children play with others, they build skills that help them with friendships now and in the future. These are skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperating, listening to others, managing disagreements, and seeing other people's points of view.
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Stage 4D
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Stage 4D
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Stage 3/4
By Ms Riina Andrew
Aperture and Photography – Photographic Studio Today we participated in an experience that was created from a new interest by dressing up and participating in a photo shoot. Valentina, Annabelle S, Zac, Rohan and Linda took turns of moving through the make-up chair, costume studio and dressing room to complete their look for their photo session. We had lots of fabulous costumes and photo shoots and the children all assisted each other to choose an outfit that was just right! Using a real camera, the children took turns of photographing each other in different poses and also used a variety of props to complete their session! This interest came about as the children were interested in the professional photographers that came to visit us at school a few weeks ago. We all enjoyed watching each other have their photos taken and wanted to experience it for ourselves as well. To include a Numeracy Experience in the program, the children were encouraged to take a number card of their choice from a basket. The children were then asked to tell the teacher which number was on their card and place the same number of loose parts on that card. When they had finished with the loose parts, the children were offered the camera and took a photo of their creation. Again the children were excited to see their creation in digital form on a camera and had lots of questions regarding how the photo can get off the camera! We also participated in an experience progress art where we first drew a picture of ourselves and our favourite thing. Using a fine black marker, the children were encouraged to think about their work before starting to sketch. When each child was finished, they were offered watercolour paints to fill in their drawing. Each child chose a variety of colours and some children mixed two or three colours together to create their own! Each piece of art was individual as each child and is proudly on display in the classroom!
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Stage 3/4: Staging Photoshoots
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Stage 3/4: Numeracy with Loose Parts
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Stage 3E
By Ms Itzi Garcia
Dinosaurs! During last term we observed the children had were particularly interested in dinosaurs. Based on their interest we started reading different books about dinosaurs. The children were curious about the characteristic of dinosaurs, where they came from, where they lived and what they ate and the journey of investigating dinosaurs began! Many of the children were able to name the dinosaurs that they knew as they drew them. The children were also able to recognise them by their characteristics when they were creating Dinosaur Land in the trough with dinosaur toys. The children used books as a springboard for further discussions with their peers about their favourite dinosaurs, with many of these discussions leading to more questions. What have you discovered from our investigation about dinosaurs? Morgan “They are flying dinosaurs bigger than birds” Aaron “Dinosaur run very fast” Finn “I like T-Rex the most, because it is my favourite dinosaur” Ethan Z “I have so many dinosaurs at home” Ethan G “Dinosaurs can stomp” Claire “But they cannot jump” Mylan “T-Rex has a very big mouth” Caelie “Dinosaurs don’t exist anymore” James “Dinosaurs can fight with other dinosaurs” Sophie “Yes, they can fight but T-Rex is the strongest one” Ethan C “Dinosaurs are strong” Alexandra “They are strong and dinosaurs have very big jaws” Sofia “And they also have big teeth” Joseph “Dinosaur can eat you” Ella “You can see dinosaurs at the museum” Henry “I’ve seen a dinosaur skeleton” To demonstrate the children’s learning about dinosaurs, each child was able make their own timeline to highlight how long ago the dinosaurs were alive as well as to show the period in which they lived. Since the timeline creation, they have were able to demonstrate their new knowledge through play, even going on a dinosaur hunt! The children were telling their peers that they were going to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and suggested which dinosaurs they would find. After we read some stories about dinosaur’s children recognised that some of the dinosaurs had similar features, but different names. Children had the opportunity to compare some dinosaurs and weigh them using our scales displayed in the room. REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
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Stage 3E: Outdoor Fun
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Stage 3E: Dinosaurs
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Stage 2/3 & 3R
By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes
Welcome to England “London bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady Build it up with sticks and stones Stick and stones, sticks and stones Build it up with sticks and stones, My fair lady.” London Bridge was falling down and to help built it up again the children used their engineering skills to make sure the bridge was looking nice and strong. Using the STEAM principles we invited the children to build a London bridge by using cups and popsicle sticks. We had a very serious tea for royals with real tea and honey. We baked scones from scratch, we poured tea, and sipped with our pinkies out. We had macaroons and cupcakes while we had royal conversations. Tea parties are excellent learning opportunities, as well. They are a great way to practice introductions, social talk, and general etiquette, which are part of the grace and courtesy program at Reddam. As royals we had to use our tea bags as tool for painting. And so, we collected different types of tea bags so we could experiment how rich the colour could be. The children quickly figured it out what they were meant to do and picked up the tea bag by its string and started plopping it onto the paper. They moved the bags back and forth and left beautiful trails on the paper. During our group discussions the children were introduced to a whole new world of Queens, Kings, princesses and all the royalty. We learned about why the Queens and Kings use their crowns and their meaning. We also took the chance to explain to the children that we no longer have a Queen and Charles is the new king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Discussing around the world topic foster empathy and acceptance in children as well as allow them to develop their cultural awareness and feel like they belong to a global community. Children are naturally curious and accepting.
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Stage 2/3 & 3R: Welcome to England
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Stage 2/3 & 3R: High Tea
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Stage 2R
By Ms Madeleine Grant
Extending Our Motor Skills This week our focus was on fine tuning the children’s motor skills, through activities that targeted different muscle groups and encouraged them to extend on the skills they will need as part of preschool readiness. The first was a pre-writing exercise using trays with a thin layer of coloured salt. The children were given thin paintbrushes, and asked to draw patterns in the salt. The fine tips of the paintbrushes allowed them to make careful and intentional strokes, and practice the coordination skills needed for future letter formation. The children were fascinated by the watercolour blowing art activity. They were given droppers and pots of watery paint, and were first asked to use them to squirt paint onto their pages. Then they were given paper straws and taught how to blow through them to send a stream of air through the paints and spread them across the paper! They loved watching how the colours seemed to burst as they blew, and enjoyed making the paint race to the edges of the page. The two parts of this project encouraged them to practice and refine their proximodistal motor skills. Through using the droppers they practiced their pincer grip, dexterity, handeye coordination and fine motor skills, while the straws targeted their oral motor skills including controlling their lips, cheeks, tongue and jaw muscles, as well as manually regulate their breathing and lung capacity. All these micro-exercises are great for strengthening and refining the components essential for proper speech, another key skill we are encouraging the children to develop through our show-and-tell activities! This week we began encouraging the children to come forward during group times to share with the class their family photos. The children are first asked to address the class by saying in their loud clear voices “Good morning/afternoon friends”, before holding up their photo and talking us through their thoughts. Using family photos has been a great way of getting the children to practice their speaking, as it is a topic very dear to them and allows many opportunities for further questions. First the children are asked to identify everyone in the photo, and talk about where the photo was taken. We extend this by asking them to elaborate on what they say; what do you love the most about your mum? What do you like to do with your dad? Do you like to play with your siblings? While formal public speaking can be daunting for everyone, providing them a set topic that they are comfortable with has allowed them to ease into the activity, and we are excited to continue over the next weeks and watch as their confidence grows! REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER
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Stage 2R: Watercolour Blowing
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Stage 2R: Salt Writing Trays
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Stage 1E
By Ms Justine Heydra
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.” - Mortimer Adler This week the children discovered and explored learning about planting, seeds, soil and enjoyed open ended play using loose parts. During our provocation group time we had an in-depth discussion on how plants grow, how we plant seeds and how we take care of our plants. The children are all already familiar with caring for our playground garden. The children often help us educators water the plants and pick up dead leaves, keeping our garden healthy and beautiful. Gardening is educational and allows the children to master and develop new skills which include, responsibility, understanding and self-confidence. During our sensory play this week the children each had the opportunity to plant, and water a flower, they also placed seeds into the soil and could play with soil and sand. This activity was great for sensory purposes as the children could feel the texture of the soil, seeds, flowers, leaves and petals. It also helped them develop hand-eye coordination. The children all enjoyed this very hands-on activity and enjoyed watering the seeds after they placed them into the soil. Secondly the children enjoyed an open-ended loose part activity, where they used a variety of natural wooden materials to play and create with as they pleased. Allowing children to direct their own play means that their motivation is intrinsic in that they are doing it purely to please themselves. The selection process promotes independence and consideration and the motivation to complete the activity comes from within. Benefits of self-directed play are: - Sense of wellbeing and competence - Understanding is enhanced - It can support team work and learning from peers - Children learn maths, literacy and science while experiencing with materials - Children learn to make their own connections This week some of the children also created their own spontaneous learning activity. While we were playing in our outside garden some of the children stumbled upon some earthworms. They were very excited about their find and wanted to share their discovery with their class friends and educators. Miss Pamela placed the earthworms into her hand and each child had the opportunity to explore and view the earthworms from a close distance. Spontaneous play or learning activity happens when the children interact with their environment, resources or people around them without the planning or intervention of an adult. Through spontaneous play or activities children learn to expand their physical, cognitive and emotional strengths and the experience allows them independence, while they develop their own interests. The children absolutely loved this activity and were all very engaged and excited. Wishing you all a fun and safe weekend!
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Stage 1E: Nature and Block Stacking
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Stage 1E: Gardening
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Stage 1R
By Ms Amanda Felton
A Spot of Gardening! It is wonderful weather and let’s head straight to the garden for our intentional learning. We reflect upon how plants start their life as babies. Our more experienced and toddler babies really took to this experience. Been able to use gardening tools and show our coordination as they make movements and see the effects of lines in the soil. Seeds been added to the soil changed the way they viewed their understanding of their sensory experience. We talk to to the Babies about how seeds grow and why we need seeds. They found it very interesting and they were such willing participants. They also found doing their art was a great hoot, as they found it also interesting to paint with wooden forks. That are to represent gardening tools. Our Babies were challenged to make lines and marks in the paint as it required a bit more thinking skills to coordinate the movements. My Gym was loads of fun as they enjoyed new challenges that really help them to strive for their understanding, confidence and ability to become coordinated for a lifetime. Well done Babies keep going, everyone is doing well!
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Stage 1R
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Drama
By Ms Laura Hudson
This week in drama class was all about Bears! Stage 1 dusted off the flying carpet and went on an adventure through the woods. We marched, jumped, and walked through to the 'Teddys bear picnic'. We arrived at the picnic and had a visit from a teddy bear who had lots of food. The teddy bear was a ballerina and wanted to put on a show so we clapped and joined in dancing to 'teddy bear teddy bear'. Bianca showed us her ballerina tippy toes. Well done to Winston and Kane on their first lesson who joined in for the parachute and cuddled the bear. Stage 2. Also went on an adventure through the woods the children hopped, jumped, and skipped, Caroline showed us her tippy toes which led us to the picnic. We played a memory game. Miss Kat took one item away and we had to try and remember which food was there. Then we used our bodies to discover the difference between big daddy bears, mummy bear and baby bear. Gabriel stopped loudly for daddy and softly for baby. Stage 2/3 Acted out the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears. We got to act out all the different characters. We even used props (real plates) for the porridge. Anthony showed us how hot the porridge was by making a funny face. Mara fell over because the chair broke and Angelina rolled on the floor to mess up the bed. Stages 3 and 4 lessons were all about Goldilocks. We acted out the story and even changed parts of the story! We changed our voices and bodies to become different characters. Flynn had a low voice for daddy bear, Franco had a soft voice for mummy bear and Dianna had a squeaky voice for baby bear. Zemira showed us how little the baby chair was using her body. We ended with picture postcards of the house and the woods. Well done everyone, the bears were a big hit!
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