REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
Dee’s Message Dear Parents and Caregivers,
25TH MARCH 2022 accomplishment but also of challenge.
Although the wet weather this term has hampered some of the opportunities for the children to get outside and be active, it has also been a reminder of just important it is for children to have such time to express themselves – and to have fun playing with their friends. The benefits of physical play are many, from the opportunity to release energy, to learning new skills, to aiding with gross motor development, to body awareness. Many of these skills are gained naturally, as children explore the world around them or play with siblings or friends. However, there is also a critical role for structured activities, such as those which the children enjoy every week during their Sports lessons. These lessons deliberately focus on broadbased skill acquisition, from simple motor skills such as balancing, rolling, moving through space and understanding how that space is impacted by others – to more complex tasks such as throwing, catching, passing, kicking, and so on. As the children gain confidence, so each task becomes more advanced, which gives them a sense of
While part of what takes place in the Sports lessons might be aimed at preparing the children for the more formal sports programme in primary and high school, we also know that for many children sports might not be the avenue which sparks their enthusiasm. There will certainly be those who become enthused by the sports on offer, but we also know that there is just as much joy to be gained from watching children chase each other around a park or as they make up their own games. The range of sports on offer across the globe is constantly expanding – we only need to look at how international events such as the Olympics have adapted to include new sports which only a few decades ago didn’t exist or were played only by a few people. As such, our focus is on helping the children to become confident in their own bodies and to learn transferable skills which will benefit them no matter what activities they take part in, or what interests are sparked in the coming years.
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Whether in being able to pick up a ball and participate in a spontaneous game with friends at the park, or have the strength to climb a tree, or jump up and down, or run, cycle or swim – all of these are foundational skills which we hope our children will build upon during their time in the ELS. And as they do so, we trust that they will grow in confidence and self-belief. Enjoy your weekend! Dee Pitcairn Principal
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The Nest (1R)
Kiri Winders, Helena Zhang, and Min Pattarasiritanarat
This term we have been focussing on settling into our new routines, building strong connections with our children, supporting them in feeling a sense of familiarity, getting know their educators, their new friends and building a sense of their own identity. We have noticed our little ones enjoy looking into the various mirrors that we have placed around the room. Looking in the mirror is fascinating for them, as they begin to realise that the image in the reflection is not another child but them! Children learn so much from mirror play and it is a wonderful opportunity for us to talk, laugh, and deepen our connection. Mirror play also nurture children’s developing self-awareness, which is a key part of their overall social-emotional development.
little stickers on a piece of round paper whilst looking in the mirror and identifying our face. The children really enjoyed this and were especially interested in the stickers. The opportunities for learning and development using mirrors are endless. We will continue to observe our children in play through mirrors and extend the activities following their areas of interest.
As an extension of this, this week we set out some activities involving mirrors. We each took turns to actively engage in looking in a mirror and used this special moment to talk about our eyes, ears, nose and mouth etc. It was so cute to see many of our little ones wanting to kiss themselves in the mirror. If only we adults could take a leaf out of their book of self-love! It really was beautiful to witness. In another activity this week, we used coloured foam and little paint sponges for the children to engage in a full sensory experience. The children loved squishing and sliding the foam over the mirrors whilst looking at their own reflections through the foam. This was an enjoyable, soothing experience for many as they wanted to keep going for an extended time, building on their concentration and focus. We also created a fine motor activity linked to recognising our faces. This was done with REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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The Nest (1R)
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Fledglings (1E)
By Tatiana Botrel, Jane Teh, Marina Moliboga and Nadia Breus
Over the past few weeks, the children in the Fledglings have been learning about colours, as this seems to be a common interest in our group. This week we promoted hands-on activities in our classroom, during which the children participated in experiments with colours. In the Atelier, the children found a sensory tray with brown rice to explore. They were surprised to find pictures of the animals from the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?” at the bottom of the tray. Having the pictures hiding in there, meant that the children were encouraged to explore the rice tray with their hands, touching, squashing, pushing with their fingers the rice from one side to the other. Children were excited to find the pictures, proudly displaying them to the teachers.
identify and name their favourite colours. Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners. Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another. Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies, and natural and processed materials. EYLF, 2009.
This week we also joined Teacher Nadia in the ELS kitchen to make brand-new playdough from scratch. At group time, Nadia displayed to the children all the ingredients needed to make the dough. The children then transitioned to the ELS kitchen to participate in this experience. Each child had a turn to either add the ingredients or to mix them all together. The teachers were very proud to see how patient they were waiting for their turns, observing carefully each step taken to make a soft and colourful playdough. Last, the children created sensory bags. Using gel and food colouring, the Ziplock bags were filled with colours and glitter and then placed in the light box for the children to explore the different shades of colours. It was a very colourful week in our Fledglings classroom as the children continued to try to REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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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
Harmony Week This term has been a cultural feast of celebration with Australia Day, Valentine’s Day, the Jewish festival of Purim and the Irish festival of St Patrick’s Day. This past week we celebrated the cultural diversity that makes us all different but the same, with Harmony Day. The message is that ‘everybody belongs’ and the week aims to promote respect for cultural and religious diversity throughout Australia. Learning to say Hello We introduced the ‘Good Morning’ song from Jam on Toast. The song greets with “Hello” in different languages from different cultures all over the world. Language can be a barrier to communication, so understanding that there are many ways to say the same thing in different languages and also learning a different way to say hello, can help break down the language barrier and assist in developing acceptance. Over the recent weeks we have discovered through our family stories that many of the children and their families are from many places around the world such as Ireland, France, China, Russia, Romania, Scotland, Hungary, United States, South Africa, England, Japan, Lebanon and India. In the atelier, the children added their handprints with colours from the rainbow to a shared piece of artwork. As we went through the process of choosing what paint colours (colour recognition) and then assisting the children to paint their hands (a sensory experience), the children delighted in discovering their handprints on the paper.
Part of focusing on the process involves encouraging effort; exploration and effort are often more important than the product. We added the children’s names and when showing the final product in group time there was an excitement about seeing their own hands with those of their friends in the class all together. Our favourite game of ‘Jump, Jump Josie’ is used for many activities and for Harmony Week the children were encouraged to choose a friend to start their jumping with. It often surprises us how the children will take their time to choose the person to join them and how they don’t always choose the same person, which shows their developing sense of fairness at giving everyone a turn. We also looked at the book titled ‘ABC Let's Celebrate You & Me (ABC for Me)’. It is a celebration of all the things that make us unique and special, from A to Z! by: Sugar Snap Studio. We had a fun discussion on hair colour. EYLF 2.1 Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation. EYLF 2.2 Children respond to diversity with respect. EYLF 1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.
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Stage 2
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Stage 3
By Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Hannah Corrigan and Sarah Garderner – Ventura
STAGE 3 Why is outdoor play important? With the arrival of Autumn and the rain finally easing up, the children are relishing the opportunity to get out into the sunshine for their outdoor play and down to the big playground again. Having unstructured play outdoors encourages children to run, climb, use their imagination, and build friendships and it also ensures that they are getting enough Vitamin D for healthy development. A strong body of research shows that providing children with regular bursts of physical activity, not only improves their concentration skills but allows the brain to recharge. Children consolidate knowledge through play experiences which allows them to experiment, explore and discover. Being physically active is a crucial part of healthy growth and development. Running, climbing, making mud pies, crawling through tunnels helps build muscle strength, co-ordination and balance. Providing children with periods of unstructured play also has very important social benefits. Children learn to interact with others, resolve conflicts, negotiate, initiate and build friendships without direct adult direction.
between night and day. Exposing young children to the outdoors at an early age embeds an interest in exploring, questioning and discovering. Before going outside, we talk about the importance wearing sunscreen and wearing our sun hats and always keeping it on. Positive role modelling by wearing hats ourselves, has been critical in helping the children see and understand the importance of sun safety. Applying sunscreen is also part of our daily routine and has been very successful. We look forward to enjoying more of these warm sunny days before winter creeps in, and perhaps more rain.
Spending time in the outdoors allows the children to explore their environment, test their physical limits and engage in sensory play with water, sand, mud and natural elements. Offering opportunities for children to touch grass, dirt and leaves also has potential health benefits as it helps to stimulate their immune systems. Spending time in the fresh air also assists our children to develop better sleep patterns as they start to identify the difference
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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
Celebrating ‘Harmony Day’ As part of our Provocation in 4D ‘Exploring celebrations and building a sense of belonging’ we have been focusing on developing a strong sense of belonging for each child through celebrating the diversity we share. Our most recent celebrations have been ‘Purim’, ‘St. Patrick’s Day’, and this week, ‘Harmony Day’. Harmony Week is observed for a week in March and includes 21st March, which is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Harmony Day is intended to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promote a tolerant and culturally diverse society. The continuing message of Harmony Day is 'Everybody Belongs'.
We started our ‘Harmony Day’ discussion by sitting together in a circle and gathering the children’s knowledge and thoughts about what Harmony means. Oscar: “Love.” Hector: “Something to do with hands.” Ashlee: “Using and playing with hands.” Vincenza: “About crystals.” Noa: “Finger paints.” Clara: “Something about a bridge.” Nina: “Helping someone who is sad.” We created a collaborative art and craft project and used it as a visual representation of what Harmony Day stands for. Each child created their own, unique piece of artwork by tracing around their hand and decorating it with colour. They cut it out and we displayed them together, representing that everyone belongs.
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Stage 4
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Early Learning School Drama This week in Drama we continued our topic ‘The Time Machine’. This week’s prompt question for Stage 4 was “If you found a new island, what would you call it?” There were lots of great suggestions like “Animal Island”, “Dinosaur Island” and “Lolly Island”. We didn’t go under the parachute this week and I told the children that we were going to use the parachute at the end of our lesson for a little surprise! To start our adventure this week, the children began by stepping into the time machine. “I wonder where we will go today?” I said to the children. After a rocky ride we landed on a long boat. I showed the children a picture of a long boat from Viking times. In Stage 3 and 4 we became one long line, holding the shoulders of the person in front of us, and we sailed through the seas looking for an island. In Stage 2, we sailed in our individual boats. Well, done Hallie, James, Sophia. And Marlo on your creative miming! We eventually found an island and mimed hopping off our boats and exploring. We played a game with music to explore the island, similar to a game the Vikings used to play. When the music played the children ran on the spot and when the music stopped, they had to bop down.
pictures, we saw that the Vikings collected wheat and liked to make bread. Stage 3 did very well at miming making bread and cooking it over the fire. We searched in our backpacks and found that we had packed marshmallows (how lucky)! We cooked some over the fire and mimed a yummy face when we ate them.
It was time for the parachute surprise! We unrolled the parachute and lifted it up to make our tent. The children hid underneath and pretended to sleep. We heard a sound from outside and it came to sit on top of the parachute. The noise was an owl! The owl told us that, while flying over the world, she saw something in Egypt! It was a triangle shape. Could they remember from last week what it was? In the Nest and Stage 1 this week we began by singing ‘Old MacDonald’. We sang about pigs, cows, and sheep. Well, done Stage 1, on pointing to your nose each time we oinked! We then had a look at a picture of a tractor and became tractors around the room and garden. We used several songs to dance to. Well, done Vanilla and Alfie, for using your arms to show the wheels of the tractor. We finished by shaking the parachute. Well done everyone!
After exploring the island, I showed the children some pictures of the Vikings who lived there. We saw pictures of farmers, warriors, and royals. We decided we needed to make a campfire and somewhere to stay for the night on the island. The children collected imaginary sticks and brought them back to the circle. We used our fingers to create a fire. In the
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Early Learning School Drama
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Early Learning School Sport It was lovely to see the smiling faces of Stage Three and Four students at our sports classes this week. They are always very keen to move their bodies and show me their sports muscles.
themselves and walk around a cone in a ‘keepy uppy’ relay. Some students were very impressive and learnt quite quickly that if you kept your taps small you were able to keep the balloon nice and controlled.
Our warm-up this week was a new game called ‘Bullrush’. Marked on the floor were two lines about 8 metres apart and the children had to try to run past me without getting tagged. If they were tagged, they had to perform a movement until they got to the other line. Some of the movements that they had to perform were hopping, crab walking, walking backwards, and jumping like a frog. During this activity, the students had to work on changing their pace to enable them to dodge being tagged. Some students were excellent at keeping safe and some enjoyed the thrill of the chase so much that they kept running around in the space trying to get tagged.
We finished up the session by introducing a new piece of equipment – the fireballs. Fireballs (or red rockets as some of the children called them) are a soft ball at one end and a long material tail at the other. The children were given one to throw and catch around the space. This was an individual and experimental activity which gave the children an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the fireball and figure out the best way to throw and catch it. The children really enjoyed this part of the session, and it was excellent to see so many of them have some success with catching the fireball.
Another skill focus for the week was when we brought out a favourite piece of equipment – the balloon, to work on our catching and throwing. The focus in this activity was control. Students were placed in pairs and had to pass the balloon back and forth without it touching the lava (the floor). Catching a balloon is quite different to catching a ball as it takes a bit longer to arrive in your arms and can also more easily be bumped off its line as it is so light. Some students took a little bit of time to figure out how to throw the balloon forward and not just up. We continued to work on stepping forward with our non-dominant legs to help to get the balloon to travel further to our partner. It would not be a balloon session without a game of ‘keepy uppy’, where instead of catching and throwing, the children had to tap the balloon to REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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Early Learning School Music American poet William Stafford said – “Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn’t music.” In Stages 4 and 3 this week we opened the lesson backwards... with our ‘ZYXs’. We first go through the letters in order, and then they’re broken down into smaller groups with the melody – the simple tune helps in learning and remembering new things. After we had got our minds working and focused, we moved onto the body with a group song and dance of ‘Hokey Pokey’. This is a great little warm-up to get the body moving; to learn our left-to-rights and have a little fun. Taking part in group activities is great for social interaction and selfconfidence, as song and dance is a great way for children to express themselves. Once we were all warmed up, we moved onto our scales. We revisited ‘LA’, reinforcing that tongues stay inside our mouth – and descending, legato ‘SO’ which means ‘smooth and connected’, while we also revised our Solfa Scale over G major, A major and B major. Stage 4 continued to learn our song of the term ‘Colours of the Wind’ – and Stage 3 continued theirs, ‘Here Comes The Sun’. Bobby in Stage 3 said that ‘Around the Sun’ was his favourite song by The Beatles and that mum has it on her phone; it’s always so heart-warming to see when the kids take what they do it in class and involve it in their life. After revising our term songs, we sang and danced our way through ‘Do Ri Me’ with our actions at an increasing tempo.
to a variety of simple beats. We used both hands to ensure we get both sides of the brain working – singing along with ‘The Bears Rap’, we replaced the finger click with a castanet click. In Stage 4, we then removed our castanets to continue to try working on our finger clicking. In Stage 2 and The Fledglings we opened the lesson by getting everyone moving with ‘If You’re Happy’. Not only does it help with motor movement, but we can also use it to help create awareness or learning about the various parts of our bodies. We warmed up our voices again on our single-note scales on LA, before moving on to our ‘Good Morning Song’ and sing-alongs. This week we did ‘ABC’s’ with our shakers, layered with stomps, shakes and freezing; ‘BINGO’ as we crawled around on the floor and we ‘woofed’ each time we removed a letter from spelling ‘BINGO; and we ended with a firm favourite ‘Wheels on the Bus’. After this, Stage 2 revisited our actions in ‘Do Re Mi’, this time adding in ‘SO’ and ‘LA’ before heading off to the zoo. Using our bells again, we put them around our wrists and hopped around the room like frogs – getting those major movements happening and building that strength in our legs to shoot us off the ground! Using the Piano Play Mat, we again practised our listening skills and showing patience as we tried to form a line and await our turn. Some of our free spirits in The Fledglings struggle with this and can’t help but jump on the mat.
To work on our fine motor movement, we picked up our castanets and clicked along REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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Early Learning School Music Down in The Nest we opened our lesson by waking up various parts of our body, and also ‘If You’re Happy’ – helping reinforce that awareness. We sang through our various sing-a-longs to get those bodies moving, shaking and bobbing along. I love having ‘free play’ with the instruments with the babies because it allows me to get on their level and engage with them with something they want to use – whether it be a shaker, bell castanet or even the keyboard, which some have the confidence and interest to play! To help close the lesson, we pulled out the Play Mat and encouraged the little ones to walk and stand on it – giving some assistance wherever needed.
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Reddam Early Learning would like to wish a very happy birthday to Francesca Chan, Montgomery Bligh , Zoe Dubossarsky, Thomas Rogers, Alfred Mooney, Mila Tagand, Frankie Moffat-Murphy, Allegra Zubani, Sergio Argyrou and Sophie McCabe who celebrate their special day this week We hope you have a fabulous day!
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