Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 37

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER

Dee’s Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It was a busy and happy week in the ELS, especially as the children were so aware of the excitement which inevitably hovers around the school in the build up to the holidays and to the end of another school year. There was also plenty for them to be energised about, with a myriad of activities on offer, from playing with friends, to reading books, to making beautiful artworks and of course a bit of time to spend reflecting on what has been an enjoyable year in the ELS.

Self reflection is an important aspect of life for all of us, as we consider our actions, thoughts and experiences and then adapt these while moving into the future. Although self reflection might seem to be far too complex a task for young children, the sooner we give them opportunities to do just that, the better. One way in which we can practically do just that with the children in the ELS is through their reflection journals.

These beautiful compilations provide a window into the world they have inhabited

over the past year. They capture some of their creativity and the rich learning experience they have enjoyed alongside their friends and teachers. They also chronicle the changes which the children have undergone, as their interests have developed, and their physical and mental acuity has become more refined.

One article mentions that “Learning the skill of reflection early in life helps set children up to become critical thinkers, who have the ability to learn from their achievements and mistakes.” This is what we hope for as the children gradually learn more about themselves and their abilities.

Paging through the reflection journals is thus not only an enjoyable activity for us as adults, but it allows the children to reflect on their past experiences and on the times during the year when they created their beautiful works of art.

The previously mentioned article also reminds us that “When encouraged to reflect, children build skills such as questioning, memory, investigating, explaining, and consideration. Reflection also helps children learn from their experiences and develop their interpersonal skills.”

We hope that you will enjoy interacting with your child as you page through his or her reflection journal together. I have no doubt that it will provide a wonderful opportunity to interact and to enjoy the moment, as you gain an insight into the very special year which we have shared. We

The Nest (1R)

Sticks are classified as loose parts, when it comes to items with which to play, and are opened ended, in that they can be used in various ways to support children’s development. They can be incorporated into imaginative play, and used as constructions materials, in order to develop an understanding of mathematic concepts, whilst also enhancing children’s fine and gross motor skills.

The weather was glorious this week and the children relished their time outdoors, while they took part in a range of experiences. The sensory tubs were placed underneath the tree and filled with water. In one tray there were five ducks, whereas the other was filled with a selection of leaves and sticks. As Sibella and Lilla approached the area, they immediately retrieved a stick and created small splashes by tapping them in the water. In comparison, Ethan used a whisking technique with a stick in the tray containing the ducks, which resulted in a few toppling over due to the motion of the water.

Olivia scanned the outdoor space and located a stick and undertook the role of a musician by creating music, which she did by striking the metal bars with her chosen stick. Oliva remained at the exact same spot and struck the bars numerous times and laughed with sheer enjoyment, whereas Joshua experimented with a selection of different materials, including natural and manufactured resources and listened to differences in sound due to the vibrations of the stick contacting them. He inspired his friends to investigate with sticks too.

The children were invited to listen to ‘Stick Man’ by Julia Donaldson, particularly because they had been implementing sticks into their play. During the story, they were asked to locate the stick in the illustrations and they discussed the different ways it was being used by people or animals.

Visits to the Deck

We are nearing the end of the term and the children in the Nest will soon be moving onwards to the following stages which are located upstairs in the ELS. Every day, a few children have taken it in turns to venture up to the deck and spend time exploring their new outdoors surroundings, which include a sandpit, climbing equipment, a kitchen and many more exciting new experiences to investigate. When it was Capri, Krishna, Theodore and Joshua’s turn, they walked up the many stairs independently, with the support of Teacher Fiona and Teacher Robbie, to the outdoor space. Joshua was keen for the gate to be opened quickly, so he could begin his time exploring, whereas Krishna preferred to look around for a few moments before selecting where to play. Placing his finger on his chin, he started to tap it as if he was pondering his options and stating, “Mmmm.” After some time considering he decided to have a turn on the slide.

Next, they all climbed the steps leading to the sandpit where they were intrigued by all the items including the sand wheel, trucks and rollers. They spent a vast amount of their time in the sandpit and Capri was initiating interactions with children from other stages by waving and saying, “Hello.” Capri, Joshua and Krishna decided they would like to climb the planks and boxes, as well as pretend cooking in the kitchen. Theodore remained in the sand pit. When he was finished, he looked around and shouted, “Hi Ona” and made his way over to her and his peers. These visits provide them with the opportunity to create a sense of belonging in this space, and to feel comfortable and confident within their new surroundings for next year. When they feel safe, secure, they will be confident individuals who will engage and explore the areas, which then supports their all round development.

Fledglings (1E)

By Tatiana Botrel and Jane Teh, Scissors skills

In these last few weeks in Term Four, the Fledglings have enjoyed learning about and becoming familiar with a new tool scissors. They have been very exciting to arrive in the morning and join the Atelier table, snipping the edges of pieces of paper.

The teachers spent time with everyone showing them the correct position to place their fingers and taught them a song to help them when cutting:

“Open, shut them, give a little cut cut, cut, cut, cut!”

The main benefit in introducing and teaching the children how to use the scissors is related to building hand strength. Opening and closing scissors helps children build up the small muscles in their hands. These muscles are important for everyday activities such as drawing, using cutlery, brushing your teeth, and getting dressed.

Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing. EYLF, 2009. Morning Circle, ABC’s

In the Morning circle, we started to bring new ways to call out the children’s name to have a turn to go wash their hands before morning tea. The teachers noticed that the children enjoyed being called by their surnames or having their names spelled, paying attention to the letters we said aloud to try and recognise their ones.

Lately, we started singing the “ABC” song, calling the letters of each child, which caused a lot of excitement in the group when they heard their letter. Throughout the routine we observed the children expressing their understanding about their names in the

Atelier table, especially when they are creating colourful pictures and they turn their papers the other way to “write” their names independently, chanting the letters they know, not necessary their letters.

This is just the beginning of their literacy journey, as they become familiar with sounds and shapes of letters in their day to day routine.

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners. Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another. EYLF, 2009.

Fledglings (1E)

By Tatiana Botrel and Jane Teh,

Stage 2

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

Celebrations are used at Reddam to bring people together, to create a feeling of belonging and to develop a sense of community amongst families, educators, and children. The incorporation of celebrations into children’s services programs are an enriching experience for children, educators, and families.

This year the children shared their learning with their families from their embedded daily routine such as their ‘Welcome to Country’, alongside songs, dances, and actions from their specialist classes of Music with Nick and Dance and Drama with Laura. It is an occasion for shared celebration that the children were very excited for. As we invited parents and carers, the children began to realise that it is, after all, about the children themselves and their families. As we began to make the photo booth for an opportunity for the children to get pictures with their families at school, the children loved the idea of sharing the different props with their families and taking pictures to mark the occasion of celebration after a wonderful year, reflecting on the year gone by and celebrating their successes.

The children choose their favourite memories for our PowerPoint images, backed by music from some of our favourite dancing songs this year, which were playing as parents patiently waited for the Stage Two children to join them before their performance. We began with Acknowledgment to Country by the children and then they sang and completed some dances for their families to see what they have been doing all year.

Our ceremony finished with an afternoon tea, fruit platters and cold drinks, as the children spoke excitedly with those around them about their achievements and showed their families their artworks throughout the deck and classrooms. Thank you to all!

1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported.

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.

By

Daniella Gosty, Sarah Noone, Romy Kaiser and Viviane Zieatter

Stage 3

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

The children in Stage 3 have been enjoying construction play with a variety of materials including blocks of different shapes and sizes, Lego and Mobilo. Construction play is open ended and allows children to use their imagination and explore different ideas. They learn about cause and effect, seeing how tall they can build a tower before it falls. They explore mathematical concepts such as shape, size, length and weight, as well as having opportunities to practise counting. The construction area is a social space where children learn to cooperate with each other, sharing ideas and negotiating with each other to get to a result that works well for everyone.

We introduced some books to the children to support their interest in construction including ‘Iggy Peck, Architect’ and ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’ by Andrea Beaty. The children engaged effectively with these books and particularly enjoyed the story of Iggy Peck. They were inspired to build some of the structures they saw Iggy building and talking about in the book.

“We’re building a bridge to get everyone across the water.” Zachary “Sydney harbour bridge.” Nicholas “I’m building the tower of Pisa but it’s not falling over.” Zara “Look, it’s the wobbly tower of Pisa.” Georgia

We also started to explore drawing plans for buildings. The art area was set up with blueprint paper and the children went back regularly to design their own buildings. They tried to follow the lines on the blueprint paper and drew shapes including squares, rectangles and triangles. They drew buildings that they know or have seen in real life, as well as thinking of ideas and drawing buildings with elements they imagined.

“I’m going to draw the school.” Sarah “I’m drawing my home and here is the dragon trap.” Xander Londish “I’m drawing a castle, with a queen and a flag.” Eliza “I put wheels on the castle, it can move.” Chloe

As we continue to engage in construction play over the coming weeks, we will encourage the children to draw a plan and then try to build a representation of what they have planned.

By

Susan Casey, Hannah Corrigan, Emily Hunt and Echo Jia

Stage 4

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

Reflecting back on the year, it is amazing to see how much our Stage Four children have grown in not only age and height but in maturity and confidence. It is a bittersweet farewell at the end of Term Four; strong bonds have been formed between not only the teachers and children but also loving friendships between the children themselves. Our children were so excited during the lead up to their graduation celebration which took place on Monday. They proudly accepted their certificate from Mrs. Pitcairn before joining together on stage to perform their songs. They put on a wonderful show, and we are all so proud of them. Our children are also excited to present their reflection journals to their parents on their last day of Stage Four. The journals are a visual window into your child’s year, including provocation learning, work samples, dialogue and photographs of your child’s highlights. The children have observed the teachers respectfully building the journals throughout the year and are so proud to see it all come together at the end of the year. The reflection journals will forever be a memory of the rich, engaging year your child has experienced. While creating their reflection journal cover, using a variety of coloured paints, children were encouraged to ‘reflect on their year’ and what they enjoyed most about their learning journey in Stage Four. Their comments captured the wonderful essence of learning and being a part of the Reddam Early Learning School community.

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all of the Stage Four teachers to say a special thank you to each and every one of our Stage Four families. It has been a pleasure to teach your beautiful children throughout the year. And to all the Stage Four children congratulations and well done on your graduation.

This week in Drama we revisited everything we have done over the term. In Stages 1 and 2 we flew on our magic carpets for the last time and went over the farm, dinosaurs and the Arctic. It was time to go back to the Cave of Wonders and return the carpet. We had to get past a few obstacles to return the carpet, including hot stones, lasers and a cliff that we had to swing over. Once we returned the carpet we celebrated with some music and dancing using a variety of props including the pom poms and ribbons.

In Stages 3 and 4 we started by creating a picture postcard of all the characters we have seen and met in the fairy tales we have covered this term. We had Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, the Wolf, Troll, Little Pigs and Rapunzel, to name a few. Every group used different levels to make it more interesting. Some of the groups in Stage 4 wanted to do some thought tracking as they wanted to tell each other how their character was feeling.

Next, we warmed up our bodies to some music using the pom poms, which they all loved. We used the pom poms as hair, a bunny tail, octopus’ arms, snakes and washing the windows, to name a few movements.

This then led nicely into famous Miss Smelly Cheese and her Toyshop drama activity.

I would like to thank all the Stage 4 children for making every Friday fun and adventurous. They are all a pleasure to teach. I wish them all the best of luck with their next chapter of life!

This week we saw the Stage 4s graduate and perform what they had been learning throughout this year I was SO proud of them.

This week in Stages 3 and 4 we opened the lesson with ‘The Clapping Game’, helping us focus for the lesson. In Stage 4, we replaced the claps with the Solfa Scale, having to say it in the correct order, otherwise you were out. Once we were ready for the lesson, we picked up our maracas and warmed up our voices with some simple scales on ‘LA’ and ‘DA’.

We marched and sang through our “ACBs” trying to work on our spatial awareness as we moved around the to the beat. We sang and danced to “The Sunflower Song” as we added and sometimes removed farmers with even some of our teachers joining in so we could water them.

Continuing with our spatial awareness, we used "Ants Go Marching" to formed tunnels for our 'ant' to move between while everyone marched on the spot to the beat.

To end the lesson, we used various percussive instruments and ukuleles to build a marching band as we took turns at following the march leader around the room or garden, changing direction and tempo.

In Stage 2 and The Fledglings, we began the lesson with some major movement and left to rights with “Hokey Pokey” and "Open Shut Them" The Fledglings got their fingers moving with our newest warm up, “5 Fingers Family”.

We pretended our maracas were our steering wheels as we drove around the room for "Wheels on the Bus"; and we sang and danced our way through “The Sunflower Song” and "The Good Morning Song", adding in farmers each time with simple maths.

Using our wood sticks, we sat in a circle to work on some call and response. I would play a simple rhythm, and everyone would repeat it back. Each rhythm was built on either 'DOG', 'CAT' and 'SPIDER' with Stage 2 adding in

pauses.

To end the lesson, Stage 2 tried their best to form a marching band, while The Fledglings enjoyed some free play on the instruments.

The Nest opened the lesson with "5 Finger Family" and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes". Picking up our instruments, we got through our sing a longs for the morning as we shook and moved to "Mary Had A Little Lamb", Olivia's "Wheels on the Bus", "Bingo" and "ABCs".

To end the lesson, we had some free play across our marching band instruments, encouraging a range of major and fine motor movement between plucking, strumming, hitting and shaking.

Reddam Early Learning

would like to wish a very happy birthday to Nina Chipkin, Oscar Gray, Lily-Mei Koh, Gisele Mok, Xander Londish-Huber, Oliver Neumann, Sabine Smith who celebrate their special day this week We hope you have a fabulous day!