Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 29

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As we look back on the third term, it is with a tremendous sense of gratitude that we acknowledge the input of many people. The success of any organisation depends on the wholehearted involvement of all who are part of it, no less so a school. Of course, our primary aim is to endure that we provide the best possible environment for the children in which to learn, play and enjoy each other’s Itcompany.hasbeen

the close collaboration of parents, caregivers and other family members, alongside the teachers, which has done just this over the past term. There is no doubt that the children have been the beneficiaries of this cooperation, as they have been surrounded by love, caring and support throughout. This is wonderfully captured in the following short poem, by an unknown poet:

Whose Child Is This?

“Whose child is this?” I asked one day Seeing a little one out at play.

“Mine,” said the parent with a tender smile, “Mine to keep for a little while.

To bathe his hands and comb his hair

To tell him what he is to wear

To prepare him that he may always be good And each day do the things he should.”

“Whose child is this?” I asked again

As the door opened and someone came in. “Mine,” said the teacher with the same tender smile.

“Mine, to keep just for a little while.

To teach him how to be gentle and kind To train and direct his dear little mind To help him live by every rule And get the best he can from school.”

“Whose child is this?” I ask once more Just as the little one entered the door.

“Ours,” said the parent and the teacher as they smiled And each took the hand of the little child.

“Ours to love and train together Ours this blessed task forever.”

These sentiments perfectly epitomise the very special relationship which has made the past term so special. For this I am enormously grateful. Thank you to all our parents and caregivers, who have taken such a keen interest in the activities in the ELS, and who have shown support to the teachers. The children love your involvement and especially enjoy those occasions when you can be part of their school activities.

My thanks too to the teachers, who inspire the children to keep stretching themselves and to explore their many talents and interests. In addition, they ensure that the children feel safe to try new things, without fear of ridicule. It has been really special to see the children growing in confidence, as they have honed their skills and developed ever-deeper relationships with those around them.

My thanks too to all the administration staff, Jason Corrigan (ELS PA) Deborah Cantor (ELS Administration), Jessica Ceresa (Whole School Reception) and Amber Larsson (Primary School PA) Ellie Doh and her cleaning team and Bebot Cosa and his maintenance support team, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the campus has run smoothly and looked great throughout the term. Their efforts cannot be understated, as they really do make all of our lives immeasurably easier.

Finally, a special mention must go to the children, who arrived full of enthusiasm each day. Their love of life and adventurous spirit makes them the heart of the school, and the reason why all of us on the staff enjoy each day so much. They brought much joy to all of us this past term and we trust that they will also have many happy memories of special moments which they shared with their friends in the ELS.

I wish all of our families a restful and happy short break. I have no doubt that meaningful memories will be made with family members and friends, whether at home or here at school, during the Holiday Care programme. The staff and I look forward to welcoming you back for the final term of the year in a couple of weeks’ time.

Dee PrincipalPitcairn

The Nest (1R)

We can hardly believe this is the end of Term 3! This week in the nest we started our week in dress-up and donating a gold coin for Pirate Day. This is a national annual day of dressing up as a pirate, which was established in 2015 to raise funds for research into childhood brain cancer. It was wonderful to see all the children arriving in their costumes and holding a gold coin to donate for this event. Pirates and pirate ships became our theme for the week. Teacher Fiona dressed as a pirate and read a pirate story book to the children, ‘The Troll’ by Julia Donaldson. The children were all fascinated with the story and the amazing illustrations in this book. We also learned the song ‘The day I went to sea”. And we sang this throughout our play time, especially outdoors where we have our very own pirate ship wheel on our play equipment that we could play make believe. Indoors, using a long mat, chairs and circular mats, the children created a boat. They selected where they would like to sit. Once all seated, they began to sing the song, ‘The day I went to sea’, which encouraged them to follow simple instructions and move their bodies in various directions including left, right and forwards and backwards. The song includes repetition, which supports children's learning, as they can be actively involved by singing the words. Furthermore, throughout the book, rhyming is implemented as a teaching resource by using the illustrations and characters to explore various nursery rhymes including, Incy Wincy Spider, Hickory Dickory Dock, Twinkle Twinkle, Sleeping Bunnies and Once I caught a fish alive. As the children were seated, they listened intently and examined the images on the page. As they sang Incy Wincey, Joshua was confident with the actions, and during Twinkle Twinkle he listened and followed the instructions, as did Capri and Theodore. Singing nursery rhymes promotes children’s communication skills, as well as supporting their emotional and social wellbeIning.addition, the children were invited to partake in an art experience which supported their emerging autonomy and their sense of belonging to the class.

They were provided with a selection of different coloured paints to choose from and were able to design their own pictures. Whilst creating the painting, they were able to express themselves through their mark making and the selection of colours they had chosen.

The Nest (1R)

We welcomed our new friend Florence to the room; she was keen to explore and spent time undertaking the role of a musician. As children settle, our aim is to create a trusting connection, for them to feel a sense of belonging and finally feel safe and secure in their new surroundings. Psychologist and theorist, John Bowlby, promoted the idea that children who have a strong trusting connection with adults will explore further, which will then support their overall development. To create these, we provide children with responsive communication, consistency, routine and predictability, as children thrive on these and this supports their feeling safe and Parachutesecure.playwas

a theme for this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we bought out the big colourful parachute, and laid it out for all the children to stand around and hold an edge. All our friends had to work together as a team to lift it up and down, high and low, shaking and making waves. Then we added a ball. There so so many laughs and giggles as we watched the ball fall off! Each child was given a turn to throw the ball onto the parachute. When we got tired of all the jumping and giggling, we lay to sleep under the parachute and sang the "Sleepy bunny” song. It was so adorable! The children loved this game so much that we will continue to bring out the parachute for indoor exercise, learning and enjoyment!

Fledglings (1E)

By Tatiana Botrel, Jane Teh, Marina Moliboga and Nadia Breus

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week, extending on the children’s interest in numbers and counting, we used the famous Eric Carle book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to support this learning. The Fledglings are very familiar with the story and often request the teacher to read to them. In the story, children find out how caterpillars turn into butterflies, as well as learning the days of the week, naming the fruits and foods and counting. The book helps children to develop many different skills.

The Fledglings children were very excited to see “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” sitting on our light table this week. Teacher Nadia set up a caterpillar box with its mouth open getting ready for the children to feed him. The Fledglings learned about days of the week, counting, numbers, colours, fruits, junk food names, as well as a bit about nutrition and healthy eating. The caterpillar had a stomach ache when he ate too many junk

Thefoods.

children enjoyed engaging in experiences inspired by the book. They fed the caterpillar, counting how much fruit it was eating. This was a special moment to get the children starting conversations about their favourite fruit as well helping each other to count. At the atelier, children were busy doing a sorting activity. This activity requires children to identify the same fruits and put them together in the caterpillar’s stomach. The children also counted the fruits which were in the caterpillar’s stomach.

At morning tea time, the teachers reminded the children of all the fruit the caterpillar ate to grow stronger and bigger. Each child had an opportunity to talk about their favourite fruit, as well as tasting the ones on their

Teachingplates.

children to count with ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ is a great way of improving their numeracy and cognitive

abilities. The story features numbers, sorting and sequencing, so children can grasp these concepts while still having plenty of

Jeanfun!

Piaget stressed the importance of holistic learning, believing that a child constructs understanding through many channels; for example, reading, listening, exploring, and experiencing the environment. Is with this thought that the teachers in the Fledglings consider our classroom’s planning, promoting relevant experiences that encourage the development of each child’s needs.

Learning Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators. Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts. EYLF, 2009.

Fledglings

By Tatiana Botrel, Jane Teh, Marina Moliboga and Nadia Breus

By Daniella Gosty, Sarah Noone, Romy Kaiser , Roberta Sokame and Viviane Zieatter

Constructive play at the sand pit

This term, the Stage 2R provocation was about constructive play.

Construction play is a form of hands-on inquiry where children, by nature, discover and explore things for themselves. They gather information, experiment, and question while engaging in constructive play. Continuing with our provocation for this term, which is based on the children’s interests to construct their own play and creative structures, we have set-up the sand pit with a range of resources to extend on children’s interests and provide them with exciting opportunities for learning and Whyinvestigating.wemoved our provocation to the sand

Playingpit:

in a sand pit is a great way for children to build several different skills, both physical and social. Sand play is very tactile, and helps children to learn about textures, develop physical skills fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, communication skills, social and co-operative skills, as well as cognitive skills.

The Stage 2 children had a wonderful time exploring various learning opportunities at the sand pit this month. They constructed different scenarios for their pretend play. They dug, built castles, buried toys, drove trucks, traced roads. On many occasions we observed the children exploring with early mathematical skills while measuring and sifting sand, adding water to sand.

Children were asked about their initiative experiences at the sand pit, and here is few of their explanations.

Isabelle “I’m mixing to make pizza.” Luis and Theodore “We are adding chocolate and sugar to make a volcano.” Hudson and James “We are burring our fire Halletruck.”“I’m driving a fire truck.” Claire “A big mountain.” Brooklyn “Sand, pat pat.” Milo Learning“Sandcastle.”outcomes1.2

Children develop their emerging autonomy, interdependence, resilience and sense of Learningagency.

outcomes 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 Learningparticipation.outcomes

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional Learningwellbeing.

outcomes 3.2 Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing.

Learning outcomes 4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

Learning outcomes 4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating Learning outcomes

5.1 Children interact verbally and nonverbally with others for a range of purposes.

By Daniella Gosty, Sarah Noone, Romy Kaiser and Viviane Zieatter

By Susan Casey, Hannah Corrigan, Emily Hunt and Echo Jia

This Monday at Reddam Early Learning School, we participated in Pirate Day, an annual national day of dressing up like a pirate to raise awareness and much-needed funds for childhood brain cancer. We set up a donation corner for our children to donate their golden coin on arrival. We talked about the fact that the money we raised is for helping children who are sick to get better care and treatment to help them get better healthier.

Our provocation for Term 3 is Building Positive Friendships. One big area we would like to focus on is gratitude. Learning to be grateful can improve our children’s relationships with their peers, gaining their ability to empathise, and overall happiness. Gratitude allows us to celebrate the present, it counters negative emotions, builds more resilience and cultivates a higher sense of selfworth. Gratitude can be tricky for our young preschoolers, as they are naturally self-focused in their early stages of development. As they grow with gratitude, they become more understanding of the needs and feelings of the others. Getting involved in fundraising events is not only going to support the wider community, it also helps our children to understand how our actions could positively influence and support the others.

We can also teach our children gratitude through very small things in our lives. In the class, we encouraged our children to say “please” and “thank you” throughout the day with their peers and their teachers. We also guide our children to appreciate all the little joyful moments in our everyday life, and performance acts of kindness. We set up the Smiling Tree in the room – to start with, we asked our children to tell us something that made them happy/smile during the day, the weekend, or a specific activity. Then we tried to catch our children’s smiling moments – such as sharing with each other, helping with each other, or taking care of the others. We wrote these moments on a printed leaf and asked them to put the leaves on the smiling tree in the room. At the end of the year, they will collect their own leaves, and we will ask our children to create their own smiling tree with full of joyful leaves.

This week, we also focused on talking about kindness. Kindness flows naturally from a child with a healthy self-esteem. Kindness is like sunshine because it makes everybody feel warm and cared about. Kindness is sharing our caring and good feelings with others. Here is how our children see kindness:

Myka – Kind is let people have a turn on the swing. Rose – It means my brother tickles me, he share his toys with me, and let me go on the slide first. Rafael – Sharing things and cuddling people. Julieanna – My friend play nicely with me.

By Susan Casey, Hannah Corrigan, Emily Hunt and Echo Jia

By Jane Pledger, Sandra Carberry, Nina Bergel,Yuliya Ginis and Christina Mandalidis

The Ice Cream Project

The Stage 4M children have been busy learning all about food this term, with the provocation ‘The Wonderful World of Food.’ From this, a lot of ice cream talk began happening throughout the day, as well as lots of talk about eating ice cream on the weekends and the children even created their own ice cream shop in the front playground. Austin and Elizabeth created ice cream cones using the catch and ball on a string.

Following on with this interest, an ice cream shop/parlour was set up on top of the blue shelves. It contains ice creams, cones, cups, scoops, fruit, an ice cream van, cash register with money, a phone, and toppings such as bananas, sprinkles, strawberries, and chocolate chips. This area was set up based on the children’s interests and it has captured their imaginations. They’ve been using their collaboration skills to cooperatively play and explore social scenarios. They’ve also been very interested in money and the exchange of money for ice cream. There has been lots of talk about favourite ice cream flavours and the children are being so kind in asking their peers, parents, and teachers which flavours they want to eat.

Lily was at the table busily drawing. She came up to Christina with her drawing and asked, “Which ice cream do you want on the menu?” She had created her own ice cream menu. Christina wrote the word menu for Lily, and she wrote it on the top. This was added to the ice cream shop.

One day, the children made a keen observation, that there was no writing to say what flavour ice cream there was in the shop. Following on from this, the children were invited to the table with Christina to write. They chose what flavour ice cream they wanted, Christina then wrote it on the whiteboard for them to copy and sound out the letters. Once they had written their flavours, they also drew the ice cream. These are now displayed on the lattice behind the ice cream

Inspiredshop.bythe

children asking to write their favourite ice cream flavours, we decided to turn this into a graph. Each of the children was given a small ice cream to colour in, in association with their favourite flavour. We went around the circle and each of the children said their flavours. We wrote them on the bottom of an A3 piece of paper. The children then stuck their ice cream on top of the flavour. Both MondayWednesday and Thursday-Friday groups completed this on the same graph. Now that everyone had put on their ice cream flavour, we could see what the most popular flavour was, and it was strawberry! We counted how many ice creams there were and then they invited the children to write to number on top of each column of ice cream. Graphing has many great benefits. Graphs make counting and comparing meaningful, and provides opportunities to bring numbers, letters, letter sounds and other literacy skills to the children’s attention.

In keeping with the ice cream interest, the children took some time to make their next provocation artwork. On a large A3 page was typed ‘My favourite ice cream flavour is’ and then on the line underneath it the children wrote their favourite flavour. They were then given an array of markers and collage materials such as large and small popsicle sticks, crepe paper, cellophane, and matchsticks to create their favourite flavours. They used scissors and glue to get the pieces they needed. Children can develop many skills by making and using collage materials, such as fine motor skills, creativity, speech and language skills, scissor skills and sensory exploration. The children spoke about what they had created.

Lily: It has a rainbow cone, and it has a raspberry flavour.

Elizabeth: The big ice cream is called a mountain ice cream and the little one I like because it’s just a normal one. This tiny one here is the best one because it has a cup. My favourite is blueAnnabelle:berry.

This is the chocolate crown, and these are the circles that make the rainbow flower ice cream. I also made chocolate chips.

Hunter: It’s chocolate flavoured ice cream and I made the cone rainbow.

Austin: I draw a rainbow ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. Just a little bit of sprinkles.

Daliya: I made vanilla ice cream. I put the cone on with the sticks.

Noah: It’s a chocolate ice cream. There’s ancestors and they’re finding a new home and there’s also pirates in it.

Max: Well, it’s me eating my big ice cream of chocolate and vanilla. And this thing is the ice cream maker so I can eat it all the time.

Noa: I drawed it first and then I put coloured paper on it. My favourite is rainbow, and I used all the rainbow colours.

Nina: It’s rainbow ice cream. I did rainbow colours because it’s delicious.

Anna: I did lots of different ice cream flavours and this one even has two scoops. Two are in buckets and one rainbow coloured and one is green.

Maximilian: I put blueberry on the top and then I put blueberry in the middle and then I put choc-chips in the middle on the blue. And then I put berries on the side and at last I draw the ice cream cone.

Oscar: I got three paddle-pop sticks for holding it and then I did one across. Then I have two scoops of strawberry ice cream.

To celebrate all this learning and the end of Term 3, the children got to eat ice cream. They scooped out the vanilla ice cream, and rolled it in sprinkles and chocolate, just like in our play ice cream parlour. So delicious!

In Stage 3 and 4 the theme this week was The Toyshop and Mrs Smelly Cheese (using the idea of Toy Story). This is one of their favourites and I thought as it’s the last week maybe we could bring all the skills we have learnt this term into a whole class improvisation.

The children began by moving around the space in different ways e.g. Like they were a train, a robot, an aeroplane etc and on the command ‘Freeze’ they had to stop as quickly as they could. For the first couple of rounds we used mime and then introduced sound, building up to a soundscape. Next, I told the children that I would be someone else and use a head scarf to show I was someone else. I asked the children to think of their favourite toy and to show their toy through their stance as well as to portray any sound it may have. They were going to be this toy on the toy shelf.

Next, I told the children that the key we had found last week opened the door to a shop. Let’s go and see whose shop it is, I suggested. I transformed into a lady called Mrs Smelly Cheese. Mrs Smelly Cheese owns a toyshop that is famous for all its magnificent toys (I asked the children to turn into a toy and show me what it looks like on the toy shelf). Every time Mrs Smelly Cheese leaves the shop (hides in a corner or turns her back on the children so she can’t see them), all the toys make as much noise as they can and move like their toy! But when Mrs Smelly Cheese returns all the toys must freeze and trick her. Because, while she had her back turned, Mrs Smelly Cheese’s toys had been up to mischief! This activity was similar to ‘Red light, Green light’. The children practised a couple of times, so they got into the routine of moving and being noisy and freezing. I then used a scarf to transform myself into Mrs Smelly Cheese.

Each time I left and came back I acted surprised at the toys being in different positions. I pretended that I had left a door open, and the wind had blown the toys across the shop, and I also pretended that they were running out of batteries. Lastly, on her return I told them, “I have terrific news. The lady I have been talking about has decided to buy all of the toys (but the ones I am playing with are my favourites and I’d never sell them). I am going to the bakery to get a chocolate cake to celebrate.” On my return I described the cake to the children and then suddenly Mrs Smelly Cheese remembered she’d forgotten the candles, plates, forks, and napkins. She left the cake in the middle of the room. “I wonder if my toys will eat my chocolate cake?” she said. Yes, I’m sure you can guess what happened next.

On the next arrival, Mrs Smelly Cheese noticed that the cake had disappeared, and the toys had chocolate all over their faces, on their noses, lips, behind their ears in their hair on their stomachs etc. She then wiped up the mess and threw the napkins away. This would be the last time she would leave the room and she would tell the children to be as loud as they can!

When Mrs Smelly Cheese came back, she told the children that she thought they’d been making lots of noise while she’d been gone, and she was going to test them by asking them if they thought that Mrs Smelly Cheese was completely bananas. If so, it would mean that she will have to close her shop!’ The children all shouted out, “Yes, Mrs Smelly Cheese” and then she pretended to cry but said, “Oh well, it’s not so bad, at least I get to play with my favourite Welltoys!”done, everyone, on another wonderful term of drama!

SPORT

This week in Physical Education, Stage 3 and 4 focused on their ball skills, including bouncing and catchWeing.

always begin our lessons with a warm up game and we also decided to practice our yoga moves. The students showed off their incredible yoga ability with plenty of downward dogs, tree poses and crescent moons. Stage 4’s yoga moves are incredible and are certainly better than mine!

We then moved on to learning and practising a range of ball skills which can all be practised at home with any size ball or even a pair of socks. Firstly, we focused on catching a large ball, which students threw above their heads. This was done extremely well and as we progressed, we started practising higher throws and attempting to hit the roof! We then moved on to bouncing, where students stood in a star position and attempted to bounce the ball and catch it as many times as possible.

After focusing on bouncing and catching, the students practiced their jumping skills. Students had to clear a ‘lava rope’, which increasingly got higher and higher. We practiced running and jumping to ensure that we got as much height as possible, with incredible heights being cleared. We also practiced our commando rolls under the rope, with a little bit of limbo as well. We were incredibly flexible after our yoga warm-up.

What another great term with Stage 3 and 4! I cannot wait for next term to practice our kicking, catching and general movement skills.

MUSIC

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that couldn’t feel more true, as this term has disappeared.

In Stages 3 and 4 this week we opened with ‘Around The Circle’ to help us focus into the lesson, while working on our coordination and encouraging good sportsmanship. With our maracas in hand, we warmed up our voices with "Apples and Bananas" and our "Good Morning UsingSong".our

Signing, we revised 'Twinkle Twinkle' before heading to the garden in ‘The Sunflower Song’. This week we used addition and subtraction equations with our farmers as they watered their seedlings. I am so proud at many of our kids who at the start of this term were too shy to be the farmer, and now have the confidence to be a farmer on their own. We sang through ‘I Am Australian’, adding some simple hand actions to go along with the lyrics in the chorus.

Before we played 'The Floor Is Lava', we revised our musical notes and their bear value. We first stepped across the lava counting out 'CROTCHETS'; and Stage 4 then stepped back across trying to move to the count of 'MINIMS'. If we had time, we ended the lesson with Musical Statues to the class favourite ‘Gummi Bear

InSong’.Stage

2 and The Fledglings we opened the lesson by waking up our bodies. Stage 2 warmed up their voices with scales on 'MA' and 'LA', before adding our ascending and descending scales. The Fledglings did some more warm-up movements with ‘Open Shut Them’ before warming up our voices. We sang through our morning sing-a-longs "Good Morning Song"; pretended to drive our buses in "Wheels on the Bus"; went out to the garden; musical statues with our "ABCs"; and sang through "Do Re Mi" with our actions.

Our Fledglings used our castanets to click and sing along with "Twinkle Twinkle", before ending the lesson with some free play on 'Instruments from Around the World". Stage 2 also had our free play on “Instruments from Around the World", before ending the lesson with signing "Twinkle Twinkle".

In The Nest, we sang as the children made their way to the mat and settled. We got our hands and arms moving with our actions in "Wheels on the Bus" and "Open Shut Them" before shaking along with our maracas to our other sing-alongs - "Mary Had A Little Lamb", "Bingo", "Sunflower Song".

We used our castanets to click along with "Twinkle Twinkle" and get our fine motor movements active before pulling out our instruments and allowing them free play and time to explore the different instruments.

Reddam Early Learning would like to wish a very happy birthday to Jandegian Rochelle Hua who celebrate their special day this week We hope you have a fabulous day!