REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER Dee’s Message
25TH FEBRUARY 2022
Dear Parents and Caregivers, None of us likes to fail. After all, when we set out to try something new, we hope to make a success of it and to gain some sort of mastery over it. However, as life soon teaches us, failure is an inescapable part of life – it’s what we do with it that makes all the difference.
movements, in the songs they sing, or in their perfectly imperfect artworks. One only has to think of their first faltering steps towards an outstretched arm, or of feeding themselves for the first time, or of any number of small miracles which take place in their little worlds each day.
Now, while the children are still young, we have an invaluable opportunity to help them shape their attitudes towards failure. They are at a stage in their lives where everything is a new adventure and where there are new things to try each day. Their small bodies are growing rapidly, which means greater strength but also some ungainly attempts at mastering those limbs which sometimes seem to have a life of their own.
As adults, we have a choice of how to approach the trials and errors our children experience on a daily basis, along with the inevitable tears which accompany some of those moments. Our response in those moments will lay the foundation for how our children see ‘mistakes’ in the future and how they set about rectifying them and working on constant refinements.
One person has said “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.” This is perfectly encapsulated in the lives of the little people in the ELS, who will spend ages trying to get one task right, whether in their physical
The Urstrong organisation, which encourages healthy and happy relationships, makes the point that “Time and time again, the little people in our lives say and do the wrong thing. That’s because they’re still learning and they’re human. Just like us adults,
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sometimes their impulsive, knee-jerk reaction is the opposite of what they meant in their heartof-hearts.” Their suggestion is a wonderful one and an apt reminder to all of us adults that we too don’t always get everything quite right. The people at Urstrong suggest just two simple words: try again. Whether in mastering a physical task, or in the way the children might sometimes do something inappropriate in their interactions with their peers or siblings, there should always be an opportunity to ‘try again’. Undoubtedly, most of us can look back on our own lives and remember moments when we might also have wished that somebody could have encouraged us with those two simple words. Have a great weekend! Dee Pitcairn Principal
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The Nest (1R)
Kiri Winders, Helena Zhang, and Min Pattarasiritanarat
It was a rainy week in the Nest, but our time indoors didn’t stop us from having a load of fun! The children have been exploring plants and nature outdoors, so we decided to bring nature indoors. Teacher Kiri bought along some of her left-over Valentine’s flower petals and added some large smooth stones for the children to have a sensory activity to touch, feel and smell. They were given the opportunity to place the petals and stones onto a white board to create a piece of art! Olivia really liked this as she placed her rose petals out onto the board. Alexander took a frangipani flower, held it up and tried putting it in his hair! Teddy P and Capri worked alongside each other to create their pattern and Atlas enjoyed tasting the water on the large stone!
Teacher Min added a sensory water mat to the classroom for the children to touch and feel. They loved the experience of walking and crawling over it exploring all the little water objects inside. Later in the week, we introduced some playdough with the leaves and petals for the children to explore and create. Sensory play is an important part of our curriculum as it encourages learning through exploration, curiosity, problem solving and creativity. It helps to build nerve connections in the brain and encourages the development of language and motor skills. It is also a wonderful way to calm and sooth the children as they squish and manipulate the dough with their little hands, igniting their sense of creativity. We look forward to exploring more of our senses through play in nature.
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The Nest (1R)
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Fledglings (1E)
By Tatiana Botrel, Jane Teh, Marina Moliboga and Nadia Breus
Sensory Activities Over the past few weeks, we have focused our learning experiences in the special celebrations – Australia Day, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. As we explained in our Provocation Letter, this first term in the Fledglings is all about promoting activities that will make them more familiar with our school environment, encouraging the development of their identities. It is about creating connections at school, either with the teachers or with their peers. It’s about making them feel supported.
Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity. Children feel safe, secure, and supported. EYLF, 2009 Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing. EYLF, 2009.
We have noticed in these past weeks that the Fledglings are enjoying participating in sensory activities. For this reason, this week we promoted lots of different experiences that invited their participation in an array of activities. In the Atelier, the children used a sensed playdough to create shapes using cookie cutters. This is a resource we have offered in the Atelier a few times before, but only now we can see the children participating with more enjoyment and excitement, as they are less hesitant to touch the dough. The children also created colourful paintings on the easel. Painting vertically gives the children a different perspective about how to create art. Some children enjoyed tapping their paint brushes on the paper, while others worked strokes patterns, taking the paintbrush up and down. There was also the eventual handprint, as they enjoyed feeling the different texture on their hands. When children participate in sensory activities, it encourages them to develop social, physical, language and cognitive skills.
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Fledglings (1E)
By Tatiana Botrel, Jane Teh, Marina Moliboga and Nadia Breus
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Stage 2
By Daniella Gosty, Shauna Corry, Sarah Noone, Roberta Sokame and Joyce Matsui
As we promote creativity within Stage 2, the atelier becomes an environment for the children to explore. As the room layout fosters learning, it also includes space for group play and for individual play. With this in mind, a natural way to support learning through play is to divide our room into activity areas. In such a room, children make smooth transitions in their own time much as they would at home. Our room has areas under the headings ‘small world’, ‘creative’, ‘sensory’ and ‘fine motor’. This continuous provision enables them to develop their own routines and follow their own interests. Recycled and natural materials are excellent additions to commercial art products. The children have their own independent access to these, along with the trays on the racks. We must always bear in mind that the process is more important than the product. Creative activity here builds children’s confidence and selfesteem. It opens avenues of discovery – as when a child is thrilled to realise what happens when blue and yellow paint mix!
following along with his/her eyes as he/she adds colour or lines. Later these skills will enable the child to read left to right, form letters and even add up columns of numbers! Under the headings ‘small world’, ‘creative’, ‘sensory’ and ‘fine motor’ the art room has categories of interaction – intended play on tables and surfaces and spontaneous play through the children having access to the toys in the child-friendly storage units. The children love to explore them and find their own new interests as the boxes change over time, with new toys with new themes comes new interest. As the year progresses the children and the atelier grow together, flourishing with interests and personalities taking the lead.
The art room is an accessible and organised area with intentional items such as mirrors. They are so important for self-expression and self-awareness Art, and this specialised space, helps young children to develop both gross and fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are essential for a child’s school readiness and include providing practice with hand-eye coordination; bilateral hand use and using small hands and fingers to grasp markers, crayons, and brushes and create scribbles and marks. Using markers, for instance, can help a child to develop eye tracking by REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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Stage 2
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Stage 3
By Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Jason Corrigan and Sarah Garderner – Ventura
This week, the children were introduced to the book ‘The things I love about school’. This book shares simple examples of positive thinking about the everyday situations which children experience. There are so many things to love about going to school. This book begins our first week of our Term One provocation ‘Our Story Begins’. The children have happily expressed their excitement about being in a new stage and having a new class, exploring new resources, areas and books. Our provocation this term is called: ‘Our Story Begins’ This provocation not only reflects a new chapter on the children’s learning journey but also encompasses their shared interest in books and storytelling. This provocation will allow us to plan activities around the children’s growing interests and curiosities. Loris Malaguzzi said: “Stand aside for a while and leave room for learning, observe carefully what children do, and then, if you
have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different from before.” The children in Stage 3D were posed the question, “What do you love about being in Stage Three?” Avalon: “I like sitting with my friends eating my lunch.” Gabriel: “I like playing with the big yellow digger”. Phoebe: “I love drawing something.” Esther: “I like just building the Lego.” Coen: “My school is playing with diggers and the sandpit.” Matilda: ‘I like the slide in the playground.” Emily: “I love drawing my name and doing pictures.” Marley: “I like big mirror in my classroom.” Sergio: “I love my friends and going down to the playground and racing.” Maxwell: “I am happy at school.” Margot: “I love getting to play with my friends in the playground.”
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Stage 3
By Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Hannah Corrigan and Sarah Garderner – Ventura
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Stage 4
By Jane Pledger, Sandra Carberry, Nina Bergel,Yuliya Ginis and Bri Rees
Winnie the Pooh once said, “As soon as I saw you, I knew a great adventure was about to happen”. The provocation for this term, in 4R class, is ‘Celebrating Me’. This inspiration is based on learning about children as individuals as well as their peers in a welcoming and supportive environment. This also includes being present in the child’s life whilst celebrating big and/or small milestones and sharing them with their family. Following Children’s Thinking and Interests ‘Interests’ refer to subjects, ideas, things, topics and events which stimulate the curiosity of the child. These interests are used as springboards for the learning program, making sure that the curated experiences are fun, hands-on and interesting. As we maintain an emergent curriculum, these occurrences involve teamwork among children and adults as they both explore each child’s interests and express their own theories and understandings through a variety of representative mediums.
supported. The children explored some of these amazing experiences during the previous weeks such as: Planting Vasia’s sweet potatoes in our Reddam Garden; Researching Yanni’s questions on the computer about seaweed from his trip to Red Leaf Beach; Watching Eva's video from her farm and rainforest adventure; Listening to Finley's weekend story about the Botanical Gardens; Listening to Luca’s news about a "yellow spikey caterpillar” that was sitting on his mum's car; Observing Alexander’s centipede, sea snail and stink bugs that he brought to school;
We conduct a group reflection discussion each week as part of our group time and use this as an opportunity to ask the children for their suggestions and expectations for the coming weeks. The children eagerly share their thoughts on what they like to play and learn in school. These discussions have paved the way for enthralling and exciting learning experiences and projects. One of our first projects this year began with one of our child’s statements on her first day at school: “I love Nature!”, followed by another child bringing living things each day for his show and tell. The ‘Learning Through Nature’ project is a joyful process where the children are actively engaged and REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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Stage 4 Presley’s snails from her garden; Vasia’s leopard slug named Rosie. Through this project, the children were invited to record their observations in our Nature Diary by drawing and writing descriptive words. When we talked about the importance of keeping all living things where they belong, Alexander reassured everyone that he would return his sea snail back to Camp Cove Beach after school. It is such a great feeling to watch our children working together to investigate, research, record, ask questions, share their knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and future plans, as well as working out their own thinking and celebrating everyone's achievements in our yarning circle each morning. Fleet (2017), as mentioned in Anthony Semann’s article, encourages teachers to view children differently and assess their ways of being in a more ethical and respectful manner. She invites us to consider the following statements: “Follow children’s ideas, not interests; Explore children’s thinking, not chatter; Investigate children’s theories, not behaviour.” Similar to Malaguzzi’s (2002) perspective, as highlighted in Reddam House ELS’ adaptation of the Reggio Emilia Approach, children are viewed as “strong, capable and resilient, rich with wonder and knowledge.” He believes that “every child brings with them a deep curiosity and potential and this innate curiosity drives their interest to understand their world and their place within it.” As long as we sincerely listen to the children, it will be easier to keep them engaged and make them more responsible for their own learning. Children’s adventures around our wonderful country of Australia Project To extend the Australia Day celebration and make it more personal and meaningful, I initiated a process of collecting information about the children’s adventures around our wonderful country of Australia and making the ‘ABC Australia’ book for further learning. This collaborative work became another significant project in our room with the families emailing children’s quotes and photos and with our children proudly talking about their adventures. This is an ongoing project where our children are given the moment to share vivid and thrilling narratives as they recall pieces of information that sum up their real-life tales. REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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Early Learning School Drama This week in Drama the children had fun exploring animals from under the sea and in Stage 3 and 4 we visited the Arctic, learnt about Arctic animals, listened to the sounds they make, created shapes, revisited what mime means and the children made up their own songs from pictures. In Stage 1 and 2, this week’s Drama lesson was an adventure with our imagination through the circus! We explored all types of marvellous performers in the circus troupe as well as working on big reactions as the audience. Hallie and Marlo did some great clapping, and, in the Fledglings, Harriet was the best juggler! They also learnt a new song to sing. It’s a song with lots of different actions and requires lots of listening. The words go: ‘wiggle and wiggle and stop’ x2. We played lots of different variations including dance and dance, freeze, hide and hide and boo, and shake and shake and stop with the parachute. Each class performed a 3-minute circus to finish the lesson. It was spectacular! In Stages 3 and 4 I told the children that over the next five weeks we would be visiting different places in a machine. We started by discussing how we might make a machine, what it will look like (shape colour, special items like jewels etc) then we created a couple of shapes using our body. Next, we discussed if the machine has any sounds. Each group made their own shape and sound for a machine, and we are going to recreate these over the next five weeks to go on a number of adventures. They were all pretty excited.
to go and explore so we decided that we would use our imaginations to go to the Arctic. We needed to get dressed up nice and warm so we wouldn’t get cold. Sarah, from Stage 3, wanted to go ice skating, so we put on our boots and skated around, twirling and balancing, while practising our freeze positions. I decided that on the last freeze pose they would show a scared face. But what were they scared of? Polar bears, walruses and BIG penguins taller than me? I brought in some pictures of penguins, snowflakes, woolly hats, walruses and polar bears. I asked the children what the word ‘mime’ means, and I was thrilled that most of them remembered from Weeks 1 and 2. For the next activity I asked for suggestions for actions for the pictures. I then held the picture up and the children mimed – they were fantastic at this! I wanted to develop the drama a bit more but do something they have never done before which was to create a soundscape using their voices and bodies. We established a sound and a rhythm to go with each picture. Next, I split the children up into groups. They picked two pictures each, put them into an order and created their own song, while reading the pictures from left to right. At the end of our lesson, we sat in a circle and shared our favourite parts of the lesson. We are working on sitting still and listening when our friends are sharing. Well done, everyone. I wonder where the time machine will take us next week?
First stop was the Arctic: what is it is like and what animals live there? Everyone was keen
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Early Learning School Drama
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Early Learning School Sport With this week's weather being pretty miserable it was excellent to give the Stage 3 and 4 children an opportunity to get their bodies moving during our sessions. It is great to see that the students have settled in nicely to our weekly sport session and they are arriving eager to learn new skills and practise the ones they have already been taught. There was a lot of focus needed for sections of our lessons this week, with nearly all of the games being new to the children. They did a fantastic job of turning on their listening ears and looking eyes, which made the activities very enjoyable. The children were introduced to the game ‘stuck in the mud’. One student was ‘in’ and the others had to try and avoid being tagged by them. If they were tagged, they had to stand very still, like a statue, until one of their friends crawled between their legs and freed them. This game was a huge hit with all of the classes. During this game the students have to simultaneously work on their speed, to try and keep away from the person who is ‘in’ and also their spatial awareness to avoid bumping into their friends.
every team sport. The children focused very well in following the zigzag lines that were marked on the floor with masking tape. We finished up our session this week by playing a game of ‘fruit bowl’. Here the children worked on their hand-eye coordination skills when they threw their bean bags into a bucket in the middle of the circle using an underarm throw. There was a lot of emphasis on aim and control as we started quite close to the bucket and took steps out to increase the distance of the throw. It was excellent to see a significant improvement in underarm throwing this week.
Next up we worked on our posture and balance with our zigzag crab relay. Children were told a story about Charlie and Cathy the crab who need to get to their lunch at the end of the zigzag obstacle course. The children had quite an imagination when creating the burger ingredients for our crabs to eat. In teams the children practised their side slide along the zigzag obstacle course to get to the end. The lateral movement involved in a side slide is a pivotal fundamental movement skill used in nearly
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Early Learning School Music In Stage 3 and 4 this week, we opened our lesson with our Expression Circle. This process involves asking how we're feeling and why, but it's also important for me to encourage independent thinking when our children are expressing how they feel – so they have to think for themselves and not copy another answer. While sitting on the floor, we practised our clicking again with 'Three Bear Rap'. Focusing on that fine motor movement between the thumb and middle finger is a challenging task but some of our kids are getting there! We sang this through at different tempi to see if the children could keep up and stay in time with the beat. Once through our warm-ups, we stood up and sang through our 'Good Morning Song' and scales on 'So' and 'Te'; singing in intervals and getting our articulators firing with the quick tongue movements on 'Te'. Both stages are quite confident with their
actions in 'Do Re Mi', so now we are practising at picking up the tempo and trying to keep in time while still remaining in unison. This usually falls apart as we get faster but fills the room with many laughs. It's lovely to watch the kids enjoy themselves with the music. This week we went to the zoo, acting out our various animals while working on our coordination in step-clapping to keep in time with the beat. We were monkeys, elephants, giraffes, seals and rhinos. This is a great activity to encourage major motor movement as the children embody each animal. To end the lesson, we played 'The Floor is Lava'. This is a great exercise which helps to build on our sense of timing while requiring us to be focused and listening in the moment. Many children rush and don't listen to the metronome, so we slow it down and help ground them in the moment.
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Early Learning School Music In Stage 2 and The Fledglings we opened the lesson with a new body awareness song, 'Wake Up Body'. This is a great song for its simple lyrics, catchy melody and flexibility. We can sing about any part of the body and ask it to wake up, which encourages the children to identify various parts of their body – hands, feet, head, ears and hips. Staying with our body theme, we sang through 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', getting faster and faster. Once our body was warm, we moved onto our simple scale progression of single notes and counting on 'Ma'. Each week we get more comfortable and confident in joining in which is great to see. After our voices were warm, we sang our 'Good Morning Song' and 'Open Shut Them'.
We did 'Open Shut Them' twice through, revising our reverse or silly actions the second time. Picking up our maracas we had a sing through our 'ABCs' with our layering exercise. First shaking and singing, then adding stomps, and finally adding a freeze – challenging our coordination, timing and reaction. Still with our maracas, we also went to the zoo, as we embodied our various animals. In Stage 2, we began working through our actions and lyrics for 'Do Re Mi' up to 'Fa'. To end the lesson, we used our castanets to click and sing along to 'Twinkle Twinkle' to help bring the energy back down.
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Early Learning School Music
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Reddam Early Learning would like to wish a very happy birthday to Oscar Truong , Innaya Bhojwani, Lincoln Pongrass, Nora Huang and Alexander Paxton who celebrate their special day this week We hope you have a fabulous day!
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