Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 34

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents,

By Mrs Simone Cooke

As we approach the end of the year our Stage 4 children are currently undertaking Kindergarten orientations and preparing for their transition to Primary School. Here at Reddam we have a very robust School Readiness Programme that runs for the entire year and encompasses all domains of learning and builds not just our children’s cognitive skills such as letter identification, writing skills, early numeracy, pencil grip and scissor handling skills, but also seeks to build children’s social and emotional development, ensuring they are well prepared for their entry into Kindergarten and beyond.

An important component of school preparation is supporting our children to develop their self – help skills and autonomy. This term the Stage 4 children stop having their daily nap and the teachers start to prepare the children by teaching them how to use a lunch box, reinforcing correct hand-washing techniques, inviting children to tie their own shoe laces, apply their own sunscreen and taking responsible for their belongings. This ensures that they enter Kindergarten feeling independent and confident.

Emotional regulation is another very important element of school preparation. Selfregulation allows children to recognise their feelings and manage their emotions and behaviours. The more confident and self-assured a child is prior to starting school the more they will be able to negotiate with others and build strong friendships, which in turn will provide them with a positive sense of self. In Stage 4 the children discuss how their actions impact others and the teachers actively promote the development of empathy and encourage making good choices and thinking of the consequences of their actions on others. This builds resilience, self-esteem and respect for themselves and others.

Principal’s Message Continued…

Teaching our children strategies such as how to introduce themselves to a new child on the playground, how to deal with conflict or aggressive play or overcome shyness, builds important socialisation skills. Learning how to share, co-operate and take turns and work with others prepares our children for the challenges of moving to Primary school by helping them negotiate larger playgrounds and engage in reciprocal relationships with others, ensuring that they can recognise and follow social norms.

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL

ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

1st April 2022

In Stage 4 we are already preparing the children for the tasks that will be required in Kindergarten, such as learning how to listen, concentrate and follow directions. Learning how to problem-solve, ask questions and think ‘outside the square’ lays solid foundations for our little ones as they move into formal schooling.

As a parent you can also assist with school preparation, the following suggestions from Starting Blocks can greatly assist the move between Preschool and Primary School.

• Talk positively and confidently about starting and attending school

• Speak with your child about the change in their daily routine, how will they get to school, what time they have to get up in the morning and what they will have in their lunch box

• Visit the school with your child before they start so they’re familiar with the classrooms, playground equipment, bubblers, toilets, sick bay etc.

• Meet the teachers that may be working with your child and speak about them positively to your child

• Tell your child about support systems that the school offers e.g. if there is a buddy system where an older child supports your child in their first year of school

• Read books together about starting school

• Attend Kindergarten orientation days.

• Be punctual and establish good attendance patterns for your child

• Develop family routines at home to support your child’s learning at school e.g. read with your child each night, help them with any homework and encourage them to go to bed at a sensible time.

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER

By Ms Emily Brazel

Developing Independence for Big School

This week the children continued in their school readiness with our provocation this week investigating lunchboxes and learning about healthy foods for school next year.

Learning and exploring healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle is integral to a child's wellbeing, health and self confidence.

Investigating and packing our own lunch boxes for kindergarten

Children were asked to bring in a lunchbox from home in order to develop their independence for kindergarten. The children were able to develop and strengthen their fine-motor skills, engaging in the real life experience of opening and closing lunch boxes correctly to support their independence during meal times at school next year.

For our group session classes this week the children were invited to make their own sandwiches to put in their lunch box to enjoy at lunch. They were provided with a variety of spreads; butter, vegemite, jam and honey. The children had the choice of what they wanted to make for lunch that day, using the knife correctly to spread on their topping. Once they had finished they were asked to choose then cut their bread into either halves, quarters or leave whole. Making something as simple as sandwiches can help your child learn and practise basic math concepts and build language. Cooking with children can help develop basic Math skills such as measuring or counting and following a recipe and method.

Let's find something healthy to pack in our lunchbox- A cutting experience

As an extension for the classes provocation; healthy eating, the children had the opportunity to practise their cutting skills, scissor grip and fine-motor skills, as they participated in a cutting experience. Teachers provided the children with coles magazines and a shopping trolley for this activity. This experience encouraged each child to practise their fine-motor skills, cutting skills and hand-eye co-ordination when cutting. It is important that children have the opportunity to practise their scissor grip and cutting skills in a preschool environment as it gives young children independent movements of each finger. Cutting with scissors works on the separation of two sides of the hand and strengthens hand muscles.

Writing instructions for our sandwich

Continuing on from our sandwich making the children discussed as a group the step by step instructions that they followed. After our group discussion the children worked independently to write down their ingredients, equipment and method on paper. The children were able to reflect back on what sandwich they had made for their lunch and practise their fine-motor, tripod grip and writing skills. During this experience we spoke as a group about letter formation, sentence structure and capital and lower case letters.

By Ms Sarah Ross

Getting Ready for School in the Morning

This week Stage Four participated in discussions about packing their school bags, getting ready in the morning, and their new schools! Recently we have been focusing on the children’s self-help skills and independence as we get ready to transition between different environments throughout the school day. Many of the children have realised that it is important to have a few tries before asking for help as they can usually achieve simple goals such as finding their hat on their own.

To extend upon the children’s organisation skills and independence the children were invited to engage in a craft activity where they used scissors to cut out items they would need to take to their new Primary School and glued them on their pretend school bags.

Following our craft activity, the children gathered for a group discussion about what they had learnt and the important items they need to pack in their school bags each day.

What do you need to pack in your school bag?

“My lunchbox, water bottle and a hat” – Hilary “Food” – Charlotte

“My lunchbox and a toy for news” – Ethan M “Crayons, glue stick, lunch, school uniform, ruler and scissors” – Azure

“My hat, lunch and water bottle” – Dylan

“My jacket and dinosaur “ – Albert “Pencils, a ruler, a glue stick, water bottle, a hat, and a jumper” – Augusten “Water bottle, crayons, scissors, and glue” – Meili “My lunchbox” – Leo “Bacon burger and cuddly panda” – Henry “A lunch box that has fruit in it” – Thomas Stage Four have demonstrated such pride in caring for their belongings “My hat” – Ethan D “Lunch box and water bottle” – Winnie

Getting dressed

During our previous discussion many of the children noted that is important to wear our school uniforms to school. This prompted a fun activity where the children dressed dolls in different types of uniforms. Each child had a lovely time acting out and role playing a day at school with the dolls and demonstrated their creativity as they mixed and matched the clothing. What school am I going to?

The Stage Four have been very eager to share the names of their new schools with their peers and many children have already visited their new schools for orientations. With this exciting interest in mind the children were invited to draw pictures of what their new schools look like and write the names below. Each child demonstrated their ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand for an extended time. This skill will support them greatly as they embark on their new learning journey in the new year!

Stage 4E: What School Am I Going To?

Stage 4E: Getting Dressed for School

By Ms Emily Chacon

When I Grow Up!

The benefits of a school readiness program really are invaluable. It builds a solid foundation for later learning which will help your child to thrive academically. But beyond that, it develops confidence, independence skills and the emotional stability children need through the promotion of healthy behaviour.

Throughout the week the children explored the concept of making and bringing in their own lunches from home. The children were very excited to bring in their lunchboxes!

Firstly, the children were encouraged to wash their hands, get their lunchboxes and lay out their paper towels. Following instructions is important in helping children learn new skills and function well in different environments. Instructions can teach children new skills step by step or let them know what to do next.

Once ready the children were given two slices of bread and the choice between cream cheese, butter, vegemite, jam and honey. Using a knife, the children were able to one-by-one, spread out their chosen fillings. When complete they cut their sandwich to the desired size and then place it into their lunchbox, along with some pretzels as a snack.

At lunch time the children were very keen to taste their yummy sandwiches!

During our literacy lesson, the children were encouraged to think back and recount their sandwich making session. A recount is the retelling or recounting of an event or an experience.

As a class we wrote out the list of ingredients needed, the equipment and the method. Sharing information about a past event develops 'decontextualized language'. This is the ability to talk about something that happened in another time and place and is important for higher level language and literacy development. Recounts also develop the ability to structure language. The children really seemed to enjoy this experience, as they were able to discuss their creations with their peers.

Friendly Reminder

Please ensure you bring in your child’s plain white t-shirt for painting. We will begin decorating next week.

Stage 4D: School Readiness

Stage 4D: Making My Own Lunch

By Ms Riina Andrew

What is Your Movie About?

Today the class decided to try their hand at writing their own movie. They were each given a sheet of paper with five film image boxes to draw in. Each child first hypothesised about a good story line before starting to draw in the film boxes. Carefully the class started to draw in each box and then explained to me, what the characters were doing in each box. I was then able to scribe for each drawing of what was happening in the story to create a movie. These are their stories:

• ‘Mini Jump’ by Rohan

• ‘Batman’ by Samuel

• ‘Fairy Land’ by Annabelle S

• ‘Unicorn’ by Linda

• ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Alexa

• ‘A Princess’ by Peta

• ‘A Rainbow Elsa’ by Valentina

• ‘The Trolls are actually Monsters!’ By Milo

• ‘The Rescue Team’ by Tianze

• ‘Frozen Story’ by Spruha

• ‘Fire Truck’ by Patrick

• ‘The Butterfly’ by Alaya

• ‘Cars’ by Junso

• ‘Scooby Doo’ by Matthias

• ‘The Wiggles’ by Sarah

• ‘Snail on a Whale’ by Ashton W

• ‘Red Riding Hood’ by Elizabeth K

• ‘Hugo at the Train Station’ by Hugo

• ‘Cinderella’ by Alizay

• ‘Elsa’ by Megan

• ‘Peter Pan’ by Jane

• ‘Dinosaurs’ by Jack

• ‘Bluey’ by Annabelle B

• ‘Robo Cars’ by Leo G

• ‘Madagascar’ by Wesley

• ‘Kungfu Panda’ by Lucien

• ‘Gabby the Doghouse’ by Joshua

• ‘Marcus and he Magic Tree’ by Marcus

• ‘My Butterfly’ by Elizabeth L

• ‘Coyote’ by Mabel

We had a wonderful time working on these!

Stage 3/4: Photography Action Cards

By Ms Itzi Garcia

Racing Cars

Based on the interests of many of the children, Stage 3 were involved in a racing car environment where children could enjoy a diverse number of experiences.

Play is an integral part of childhood, allowing children to learn and develop. Toys are some tools we offer to our children for entertainment, but also to help them learn and engage in creative and constructive play. Toy cars, trains, taxis, buses, diggers, and other toys of a similar nature were all popular choices. The children were encouraged to relate them to their own surrounding environments, becoming more familiar with different roles and functions they play within the local community and the world. Play with toy vehicles can benefit children in several different ways; first and foremost, they offer entertainment and provide hours of fun. Creative play gives children the freedom to create a world which is not constrained by reality – during creative play anything is possible and of course it is the toys which provide the props in this fantastical world. Playing with vehicles offers open-ended play, allowing children to exert some form of control on the objects around them and express their own will within an appropriate, controlled, and safe environment.

Following our week of cars, we started talking about road safety and the importance of signs, viewing different signs and their purpose in keeping us safe when we are on the street or in the car. During our morning group times, we were brainstorming about the different ways to be safe on the road, the rules we need to follow and the different road sign they already know.

“Red light make you stop, and green lights let you go” - Franco

“I’ve actually never taken the train” - Summer

“In the train you don’t have to sit down” - Charles

“I know about safety road, my Mummy and Daddy put the seat belt on me every day” - Sophie

“You can cross the road when the light is green” - James

“If the police said you need to stop you stop” - George

“Do the trains have red lights and green lights?” - Claire

“But mummies can also drive the car. My Mum broke my car so we can also take the train” - Caelie

“You cannot drive the car; daddy drives the car” - Owen

“I took the train to get ice blocks” - Aneilia

“I can see the train from home” - James

“You need to wear a seat belt when you are in the car” - Morgan

Throughout the experiences children were developing their creativity skills and were capable to transfer their knowledge from different situations allowing them to make connections and comprehend the real-world.

Housekeeping: 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. Please ensure all items are labelled with the child’s name.

Stage 3E: Road Safety

Stage 3E: Racing Cars

By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes

Welcome to Italy

When children, and many adults, think of Italy, delicious food comes to mind. Pizza, spaghetti and gelato are all, of course, amazing Italian foods. Yet there is so much more to Italy. This amazing country has a rich history. As part of our “What a Wonderful World” provocation, our class learned this week about the Italian culture, traditions and geography. Of course, we also had a fun food party as well.

We really didn’t think the children would have a problem getting interested in Italy. There’s no shortage of things to know about this old, artistic and cultural country. But what better way to start than making some yummy pizzas. Using customised felt we added mushrooms, peppers tomatoes and lots of cheese to our pizzas.

We also took the opportunity to make real pizzas, the children were super excited about all the steps involved in making their own pizzas and it was such a successful activity. Cooking can help children learn and practice some basic math concepts and build language skills. And eating meals with you can help build their self-confidence and lay the foundation for healthy eating habits.

In Italy we also built the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We started by explaining to the children about the history of the tower and how the tower was built as a lookout during World War II. It was a simple engineering project were the children had to use the STEM principles. We used uncooked spaghetti as the tower and using their fine motor skills the children had to add beads to it without letting it fall.

While in Europe we took a quick detour and visited the City of Lights, Paris. During our group discussions we talked about The Eiffel Tower and The Louvre as two of the main attractions. We investigated some famous paintings, and our favourite was “The Mona Lisa” painted by Leonard Da Vinci. The children were so intrigued by this painting, as we all are, and they had they own ideas of what Mona Lisa was doing in the painting. Here are some of the answers:

“She is looking at me, Miss Gabby” – Amelia Cortes Peña

“She is smiling” – Harper Buzzel

“Miss Gabby she is crying’ – Harrison Yiu

“She is playing the freeze game” – Emilia Mackenzie

“She will eat some pizza in Italy” – Arush Graham

“I think is a boy with long hair” – Madeleine Constable

Ciao!

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS

Stage 2/3 & 3R: Travelling to Italy and France

By Ms Madeleine Grant

We Have Confidence!

This week we returned to refining the children’s fine motor and pre-writing skills with more activities that were challenging and rewarding. At the first table they were given cardboard stars with holes punched through them, and various lengths of wool and twine. They were shown how to carefully poke the thread through the holes, and pull it out the other side, and repeat the steps to create threaded patterns!

The next task was revisiting their printed name cards, this time with playdough! We showed them how to roll the playdough into long, thin snakes, or pinch off tiny pieces so they could use it to ‘colour in’ their names. Through this they were asked to think about their spatial awareness and use their critical thinking to decide how much or little play dough was needed to fill the letters.

Our show-and-tell has been going wonderfully, and the children are so excited to see their family photos and stand up in front of the group to share them. Public speaking can be daunting at any age, especially for children still mastering their speech and language skills! Last week when we began the exercise most children clammed up in front of the class, but this week they are starting to gain their confidence as they use their big, loud voices and respond to prompts from their teachers. It’s wonderful to hear them articulate their thoughts, and funny to see what they choose to focus on and how they express themselves:

“This is me and my daddy and my mummy and my baby Ava, so cute!” - Aydin “That’s the beach and the water. I have a beautiful red dress with a bow” - Claudia “It’s mummy, daddy, Ashton, Jacob, Hei Hei. We have mouths” - Harrison “Daddy is holding me and mummy is holding Charlie and we are happy” - Harry “It’s Rhysie mummy and Rhysie daddy and Rhysie” - Rhys

As well as practicing speaking skills, we are also encouraging the rest of the class to show us their best listening skills. They are being taught of the importance of being attentive and respectful to each other while someone is speaking. Once each child has spoken about their photo, we ask the group if anyone has any questions or comments they want to share with the class. This is a great way for them to show their listening and retention, and turns the public speaking exercise into a dialogue.

We will continue sharing our family photos for show-and-tell and group times, and encouraging the children to expand on their thoughts and begin asking each other meaningful questions. For those who haven’t sent in a family photo please email one to me at madeleine.grant@reddamels.com.au!

Stage 2R: Star Threading

Stage 2R: Making Our Names

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL

Stage 1E

By Ms Justine Heydra

This week in stage 1E, we have continued our Term 4 provocation. The children have been enjoying investigating nature and this week we had a closer look at different layers of bark from various trees. The children loved feeling the bark as some were soft and some were rough.

The benefits of using natural resources in children's play and learning include;

- Natural materials stimulate creativity and imagination by providing open ended play experiences.

- Children can explore natural materials with all of their senses, such as feeling the bark.

- Engaging in natural resources supports the children to care for natural environments and develop respect for living things.

- Natural resources have infinite uses in supporting children's problem-solving skills.

- Natural resources allow children to be resourceful and sustainable through finding ways to reuse and recycle.

Our creative art process this week was a bright green, yellow and white painting the children created by using flowers. The children loved that we used real flowers and this activity helped develop their fine-motor skills, sensory skills, numeracy skills (As we counted the flowers) and increased the children's self-esteem as they enjoyed the process and were very proud of their individual achievements.

The children also found different ways in which to be artists in their outdoor environment. We used water and paint-brushes on our dark coloured outdoor walls to paint and allow the children open-ended creativity. They also enjoyed using both paint-brushes and their hands in our tuff tray mixture and they all had a fabulous time during this messy yet creative play.

Messy play is extremely important for a child’s development. It provides children with an exciting tactile and sensory experience that inspires their learning, language and creativity. Children learn best through experimentation and discovery and messy play encourages children to explore new textures and manipulate different materials through touch.

Wishing you all a safe and happy weekend

"Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves."

- Stephen Moss

Stage 1E: Bark Exploration

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL

Stage 1E: Natural Art

By Ms Amanda Felton

By the Sea!

Let’s go to the beach! We pretend to be by the seaside collecting seashells.

Getting our hands into the sand and feeling the sticky grains on our fingers. Investigate the smoothness and patterns on the seashells. We go deeper into our understanding of sand and where it comes from. As the Babies discover that sand and seashells go together and that seashells form sand over time.

It was certainly fun for everyone as some Babies thought it would be really great to throw sand everywhere as part of their learning and understanding of how sand works.

As an extension of learning the Babies moved onto artwork where they would paint their sand and seashells in watercolour. They did a wonderfully with their hand and eye coordination and practicing their dexterity movement skills with the brush.

Specialist Classes

We have been exploring My Gym, Drama and Music to broaden senses, physical coordination skills, imagination skills through playing and acting out different characters. Improving on our listening skills through music and understanding the different musical pitch tones on musical instruments.

The sandpit has been loads of fun. When we get out their to enjoy the sunshine in

Stage 1R: By the Sea

Drama

By Ms Laura Hudson

This week in drama we continued our 'Magic Carpet' ride. Stage 1 started by naming the colours on the parachute. We then pulled out the magic carpet and flew all the way to a Dinosaur Museum. I hid lots of fibular fossils around the room (footprints) and everyone had to find them and return them to me. We all learned the Dino song and finished with a visit from the Guinea Pug puppet. Well, done Ian who used gentle hands to pat the puppet.

Stage 2 also went to the dinosaur museum. We used our bodies to become different types of dinosaurs including- T-rex, Brontosaurus, Velociraptor and Triceratops. We gave each one a different sound or moment. We even linked different colours to different sounds, movements, and dinosaurs. Well, done Zac who stomped his feet loudly, Esha who snapped her hands like a dinosaur and Mason!

Stage 2/3 used the Fossil footprint cards to create our own song. If we saw the orange footstep, we had to stomp our feet, Green was T-rex arms and a big roar, Blue we had to fly and Red was chomping arms. We also discussed different types of dinosaurs, their names, their habitat, and what they eat.

Allegra showed us the brontosaurs’ long necks and Benjamin showed us how fast they could run. Well, done to Sasha and Amelie who had great rhythm!

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL

Drama

By Ms Laura Hudson

In Stages 3 and 4 this week the children read the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, highlighting key phrases. They then discussed the characters in the story. What is different about each of the goats?

The children used their bodies to show the different-sized Billy goats. Being aware of their personal space. They thought about the steps and whether they were lighter or heavier. Was the shape of their body bigger or smaller?

Next, the children participated in a simple performance of the story as I narrated. The children imitated specific creature movements and demonstrated their understanding of the story’s characters and setting. Some of the children including Mavis and Emma suggested changing the ending as we have in previous weeks with the other fairy tales.

I asked all the children to take on the role of one of the goats and I gave them a letter e.g., G, and to cross the bridge they had to tell the ‘Troll’, I played the troll, what word begins with that letter G e.g., grape, giraffe, gumboots, etc. (Stage 4) In Stage 3 I asked some of the children what the first letter of their name was. Well, done Giselle, George, and Grace they all came up with some great answers.

Another Fabulous week of drama, well done everyone! REDDAM

Piano

By Mr Alan Tang

This week stage 1 and 2 had a very special treat - an acoustic guitar. It was fine dining with Mr Alan on Friday with stage 1. While they were enjoying gourmet lunch by our beloved head chef Caleb Taylor, they were entertained with live music. Acoustic covers of pop music from the past 10 years were played. Stage 2 was loving the full size guitar as well. They were extremely focused again. Stages 3, 3/4 and 4 were taught how to read more notes on the treble clef. They had learnt how to read D. It is great to introduce reading music at an early age. It is great for brain development and potentially eliminates the fear of "Sight Reading" when they get

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL