Reddam ELS St Leonards
16th June 2023
Principal's Message by Ms Emily Candy
Dear parents,
Firstly, I would like to say thank you to those who contributed to our Winter Vacation Care program survey! So far, we have received 149 votes, and it looks like our upcoming vacation care program will be themed ‘Winter Wonderland’. Voting will be open until Friday 23rd of June, so if you haven’t already, please cast your vote and have a say in our program!
“Tools and materials make it possible for children to have experiences in which their thinking takes on different forms” (Dahlberg & Moss, 2010)
Our art atelier is a creative space designed to ignite children’s curiosity, expression, creativity and imagination. It provides opportunities for children to experiment with materials and art mediums which encourage the learning process through the arts. Children from across the school come together in small groups to explore the language of creative expression in our atelier. Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed witnessing the beauty of children wholly engaged in art experiences that have endless possibilities for learning.
Together with our Educational Leader, Miss Sarah, we have been critically reflecting on the use of our art atelier. We have been researching ways in which we can enhance the resources and materials in this space to further promote children to explore the ‘hundred languages’ of communicating, expressing and learning.
At Reddam, we are inspired by the philosophies of Reggio Emilia. We believe that environments act as the third teacher, and should include elements of whimsy and beauty, provocations for learning, invitations to play, and open-ended materials that children can use in ‘a hundred ways’ .
We aim for families to be actively involved in our school and contribute to our educational program and learning environments, therefore we are seeking your contributions and ideas around what new materials and art mediums we should introduce into this space, such as clay, fabric, wire, beads, shells, leaves, charcoal, oil pastels and so on. Once this feedback space is ready, we will inform families so you can share your ideas with us and learn more about our art atelier.
In addition to this, if any parent or family member is particularly interested or skilled in the creative arts, please reach out to me directly as I would love for you to share your knowledge with me.
Stage 4R
Jack and the Beanstalk by Ms Riina Andrews
This week the children enjoyed a familiar story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ Most of the class were very familiar with this story and loved hearing it over and over again. It is a story of a boy who trades his cow for some magic beans. When his mother throws the beans out the window, they grow into a gigantic beanstalk which Jack climbs to the top. At the top he meets a giant with
treasures. Jack steels a treasure, climbs back down the beanstalk, Jack’s mother cuts down the beanstalk so the giant cannot retrieve the treasure. Jack and his mother are then able to live happily ever after with lots of gold!
The children were questioned about what they would like to grow with magic beans and we had some wonderfully thoughtful answers, such as:
Amelia: “monies on the tree”
Aneilia: “plants and beans”
Ethan: “money”
Franco: “a beanstalk”
Oliver: “a plant”
Risa: “maybe egg”
Summer: “flowers and plants”
Kyson: “beans and flowers”
Morgan: “flowers and beans”
Hazel: “plants and nuts”
Monique: “beans more”
Sophie: “maybe some flowers and plants and beans too”
Finn: “I think more beans”
Karthik: “plants”
The children also enjoyed role play experiences. Using masks as props, each child had the opportunity to act out different characters of the story. We had a few different versions of the story as each child put their own spin on it.
We also enjoyed planting some seeds of our own. We planted cress seeds in wet cotton ball pots and kept checking them every day to watch them grow. We were all so excited when some started to sprout!
Next week, we will explore a different fairy tale and participate in another week of magical fun!
Stage 4E
This week Stage 4E began their exploration into all things man-made and non-living. Teachers encouraged the children to develop an understanding that we not only share the planet with the natural world and all things living but we also share the planet with the non-living world. Our world does not function without man-made structures such as houses and buildings. Buildings serve
Man Made by Ms Emily Brazel
several societal needs; occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. We can not live in our world without these man-made resources. The children used a variety of resources such as the cars, roads, blocks and small world play to better gain an understanding of what is man-made and why we need this alongside our natural world to survive.
We began the week by reading the book “Whatcha building” by Anthony Daddo. This book followed the journey of one child’s idea and dedication to construct his own cubby house. We continued our investigation further into construction throughout the week by encouraging the children to think of different ways in which they can construct and create their own buildings. This group-time discussion led into our collaborative construction.
Our Collaborative Construction
Following on from this story and group discussion the children and teachers set to work. As a group Stage 4 decided that playdough could use a good tool for helping sides stick together. Once the play dough was made the children used a variety of materials such as cut up straws and toothpicks to create their structures. It was really lovely to see the children collaborate together and enjoy each other's company during this activity. They articulated effectively with each other showing beautiful language and communication skills. This activity not only allowed them to work parallel to one another but it also encouraged them to work as a team and build upon their teamwork skills.
Can You Build a City?
This week teachers integrated mathematics into the programme in a fun and inviting way. This was done by inviting each child individually to create their own small world city using the small stacking blocks and the number located in front of them. This hand-on activity encouraged the children to further develop their counting skills and number recognition whilst following our week's provocation. Many math concepts may be difficult for a child to grasp because they cannot apply them to their everyday lives. When teachers apply math concepts across the programme in a fun and exciting way, it allows the children to better understand what could be a difficult topic.
Let's Construct!
Playing with a variety of building objects helps children build self-confidence and encourages their independent learning too. By allowing children freedom in construction play it also makes them think independently and make decisions based on what they are learning. This week the children were given the opportunity to play with the construction products such as the tools, blocks, hats, trucks and cars. They were encouraged to work constructively together, using their language skills to articulate effectively to their friends. As there were only a limited number of tools provided the children were forced to practise their developing turn-taking and sharing skills. They showed great cooperation as they role-played being either a truck driver, construction worker, race-car driver or supervisor.
Honeybees by Ms Sarah Ross
As the Stage 4D children entered the wonderful world of honeybees over the past two weeks they have engaged in numerous discussions relating to the behaviours of bees, their life cycles, how their body parts work and investigated the process of collecting pollen and pollination.
It has been wonderful to observe the children immersing themselves in this provocation during their socio-dramatic play in large groups in our outdoor spaces using the “caves” under the climbing equipment as beehives and buzzing around with their peers to flowers to collect pollen.
Bee Art
Stage Four created their very own bee in a beehive artwork. Using bubble wrap, paint and paper the children painted a design onto the bubble wrap and pressed the painted bubble wrap onto their paper and lifted to reveal a honeycomb design. After their paintings had dried, the children used black markers to draw bees onto their honeycomb painting. Once complete, the Stage Four children all exclaimed how proud they were of their beautiful artworks and improving drawing skills. Afterwards, when all the artworks were complete the children helped Miss Sarah create a huge beehive display with all their hexagon shaped artworks and the end results depicted the inner workings of a beehive!
Honeycomb Counting
To extend upon Stage Four’s interest on beehives the children were introduced to a honeycomb math activity where they were presented with honeycomb formations with a corresponding number at the top to decipher. The children counted out the hexagons in each honeycomb to determine the number at the top. Additionally, the children used honey-coloured gems and wooden bees as counters as an aide to support them in counting higher numbers. Through this lesson the children demonstrated their ability to read and recognise numbers from 1-20 and practiced problem solving as they calculated the number of hexagons in each beehive.
Literacy
With great enthusiasm and focus the children have been investigating, exploring and beginning to use terminology and vocabulary that relates to honeybees, their life cycles, and hives. This has been done with the use of word cards with matching images to support the children in identifying what they are writing, viewing and drawing independently and with teacher support. Many of the children revisited this experience with white boards and markers numerous times throughout the week and demonstrated great pride in their work and abilities as they showed off their work to myself and Miss Natalie who have in turn showered them with praise for their eagerness to extend upon their own learning and interests and successfully creating beautiful drawings and lists of bee related vocabulary.
In future, we aim to continue to support this strong desire and interest of becoming literate and using the creative arts to express their understandings by using different art and mark making medias.
Did you know? The sun is a star and it’s the source of all heat and light!
This week we continued our launch through space and took a close look at our sun, which is the star in the centre of our Solar System. Throughout the week we engaged in various activities that assisted in further developing the children’s knowledge on our wonderful Space.
Madeline K –“The side facing the sun is light and bright”
Day & Night
At our day and night table activity the children were encouraged to use the small torches to imitate the sun shining down on earth. The children were taught during group time that as the Earth moves around the Sun it rotates on its axis, so we have day and night. The side of the Earth facing the Sun is covered in light and heat which gives us daytime. The side of the Earth facing away from the Sun, out towards space, is darker and colder which is night-time.
Lachlan K –“ We go to school in the morning at day time”
Mia Mc –“We brush our teeth before bed at night tine”
Tiffany –“We eat my breakfast in the morning”
Madeleine C –“I play with my friend at school”
Orbit the Sun
In the middle of a small round tray is a round piece of dough, which represented the sun and a loose marble which represented the earth. The children were encouraged to use their developed hand-eye coordination skills and fine motor to manipulate the tray in a circular motion. This movement caused the marble to rotate around the dough, mimicking the rotational orbit that the earth does around
the sun. This activity acted as a visual aid for the children to understand the definition of their new vocabulary of ‘orbit’ and ‘rotation'.
Oliver –“The earth orbits around the sun”
Sunscreen Art Experiment
Throughout all season’s children are encouraged to put on sunscreen to protect their skin from the sun. This simple art project demonstrated to the children just how important sun protection is for people of all ages. Firstly, the children were instructed to put sunscreen on their exposed skin and hats, get a black piece of paper, sunscreen, and a paintbrush. The children were encouraged to get into pairs and go outside and begin creating their creamy art. Once finished the children got rocks to assist in holding their papers down and waited for the sun to work its magic. In the afternoon we came back to our sunscreen art and the cream had faded away and so did the paper in the areas where no cream was applied. This is because the ultraviolet waves from the sun break down the dye in the paper causing it to fade. Sunscreen creates a barrier so those ultraviolet waves can’t reach the paper, which mimics the role sunscreen plays on our skin. This STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) experiment encouraged the children in hypothesising and engaging in researching and creating results. The children were very excited to use sunscreen as their art material and were eager to hypothesise their results and view their findings.
Air Transport by Ms Carolina Machado and Ms Sophie Schwarz
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the fun flight of Stage 3E!
As we embark on the Transport exploration, we are focusing on air transportation, specifically airplanes, this week. During our discussion on air transport, the children shared with the class whether they have or haven't been on a plane before, as well as the countries they have visited. Ryan informed us that he recently visited China, Amelie and Amelia shared their trips to Singapore, Alexander mentioned his visit to England, and Chloe expressed her experience in Japan. They are expanding their vocabulary by discussing "who pilots the plane," which was one of the questions raised during the group discussion. Another great question was, "What do airplanes carry?" and some of the group members agreed that airplanes carry toys!
The learning tables were arranged like an international airport, where the children could present their passports and boarding tickets to board the airplane. Some children worked at the ticket counter to check passports and boarding tickets, while others assumed the role of passengers. The ticket-gate match was another engaging learning activity, allowing the children to identify the gate where they needed to "check in" for their flight. The airplane number match was another favourite activity, featuring four large paper airplanes. Stage 3E frequently engages in numeracy and literacy activities.
During the group session, the children created passports by drawing their faces and writing their full names to ensure proper identification during check-in. They used various resources such as markers, pencils, and coloured pencils, and Miss Carolina assisted them with writing their names.
In the afternoon, the children had a blast participating in the "cloud jumping" activity. They were given a number to jump into the cloud, where they identified the names and numbers called out by Miss Carolina.
Stage 3E also had the opportunity to "fly" over Paris, France, where the children sat in two big rows while Miss Carolina showed them the breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower. It was truly an amazing flight!
The children spontaneously made airplanes out of Lego or connecting pieces during their indoor and outdoor playtime. Whenever they spotted an airplane flying over the school, they became very excited and eagerly shared the sight with each other and the teachers, exclaiming, "Look, a very big airplane in the air!" All the children actively engaged in the activities and learning tables throughout the week.
Next week, we will explore hot air balloons in Hunter Valley, make a stop in Alice Springs, and visit Uluru while incorporating an indigenous perspective into our program. We will also venture overseas to different sites around the world.
Have a great weekend!
Under the Sea by Ms Gabriela Guimarães
Welcome to our "Under the Sea" week, where we dove into the exciting world beneath the waves. This week, our preschoolers have been exploring the wonders of the ocean, learning about fascinating sea creatures, and discovering the importance of marine conservation.
Our little explorers have been immersed in an ocean-themed environment, filled with vibrant colors, sea-themed artwork, and interactive displays. They have been engaged in various activities, such as:
Ocean Sensory Play: The children have been enjoying sensory play with sand, water, and toy sea animals, encouraging imaginative play and fine motor skills development.
Sea Creature Crafts: The children have been busy creating their own sea creatures using different art materials. They have made colorful fish, sparkly seahorses, and even crafted paper plate jellyfish.
Storytime Adventures: We have been enthralled by captivating tales of underwater adventures and delightful characters like "The Rainbow Fish" and "Commotion in the Ocean." Storytime has sparked their curiosity about the ocean and its inhabitants.
Parent Engagement
We encourage parents to extend the learning experience at home. Here are a few suggestions:
Read Ocean Books: Visit your local library and choose books about the ocean. Engage your child in conversations about what they have learned at school.
Beach Excursion: Plan a family trip to the beach and explore the shoreline together. Discuss the different creatures and shells you discover.
Recycling Project: Teach your child about the importance of protecting our oceans by engaging in a recycling project at home. Create a bin for recyclables and discuss how it helps reduce pollution.
We hope you and your little ones are enjoying our "Under the Sea" provocations as much as we are. Together, let's inspire a love for the ocean and foster a sense of environmental responsibility in our future generation.
What’s Next
During our group discussions the children have been sharing with us about their favourite under the sea creatures. Sienna said “ I love mermaids and they live in the ocean.”, Liv said “ Fairies can swim too.”, Ava Mandalia shared her interest in Fairies and Jericho Cai pretended that the whale was a mermaid. Based on the children’s interests we will be exploring the fantastic world of fairies and mermaids next week.
Thank you for your continued support!
The Great Barrier Reef by Ms Madeleine Grant
This week we explored the Great Barrier Reef! During group times we used visual prompts, sang favourite songs like Slippery Fish and read Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae to stimulate discussion, to give us an insight into what the children already knew and what they wanted to share with the class!
Who Lives in the Coral Reefs?
"Starfish" - Zoe "Fishies" - Sophia H
"Octopus" - Kyle "Crocodiles" - Bianca
"Big sharks" - Maddie "Dolphins" - Aurora
"Crabs" - Kano "Penguins" - Aurora
"Elsa doesn't live in the water" - Olive
Coral Reef Art
The children were given an art activity that doubled as a investigative learning experience. We talked about how the vibrant, colourful coral reefs prefer shallow waters where they can get lots of sunlight. To demonstrate deep and shallow water, we got a piece of watercolour paper and used the wet-onwet watercolour technique by spraying the page with water and getting the children to splash blue dyes to create their ocean. To spread the colour, they were asked to pick up the tray and carefully tilt it side to side. The dyes washed over the page, like waves on the shore! Once they put the tray down we showed them how the page had began to warp, with darker areas where the ink was deeper and lighter where it was more shallow. They noted where the shallow waters were, and we decided that was the perfect place for them to 'build' a coral reef!
They were ten given a range of coloured paints and asked which colours they wanted for their reef, and how many drops of paint we should use. We counted them out, and gave them a wide paint brush and showed them how to dab the paint instead of making brushstrokes, so the paint resembled the irregular shapes of coral. The final results were beautiful, vibrant splashes of rainbow coral among clear blue seas.
Coral Reef Chemistry
The children were fascinated by our coral reef chemistry experiment! They were given trays of bicarb soda which had been dyed all the colours of the rainbow, and a small dropper bottle of white vinegar. They were shown how to use the droppers; squeezing the tip to push out all the air, letting go to allow the funnel to suck up the vinegar, then picking it up and squeezing the tip to release it over the tray. They were amazed at the bubbling fizzy reaction as the bicarb soda mixed with the vinegar, and at how the colours exploded and began to resemble coral. The aim of this activity was to encourage the children to follow three-part instructions, mirroring our examples and remembering each step in order to produce the outcome, as well as providing them with tactile examples of cause and effect.
Stage 2R
Dressing for the Weather by Ms Ailene
Stage 2R has been experiencing the cold weather recently and the children have initiated a group discussion with their friends and teachers about the weather and their favourite clothing they like to wear to keep nice and warm. In keeping with our Reddam school rules, the children were quick to
Caballes
point out our “No hat no play” outside policy and when asked what we need to wear when playing outside the children loudly proclaimed: “Hats on head” .
Our Daily Chart that we discuss everyday with the children during group time has inspired children to start observing the weather outside when we are playing out in the front playground. The children are also now in the habit of looking out the window before declaring a proclamation on what kind of weather we will have for the day. The Stage 2R children have added new words to their own vocabulary bank as they are now using adjectives related to a specific weather to describe each one. For instance, the children know to use the adjective "cloudy" or "rainy" when it looks like it is about to rain and say "sunny" or "hot" when the weather is filled with sunshine outside.
Ms Ailene and Ms Chisa discussed with the children that during the winter time when it is cold outside we need to wear our jumpers, jackets and coats to stay nice and warm so we do not get sick. The children were also eager to share that at home they have frozen, superhero and paw patrol umbrellas and gumboots to use when it is raining to keep themselves dry from the rain. Collectively, the Stage 2R children learned that we need to dress according to the weather and season to keep our bodies safe, healthy and strong.
Next week, the Stage 2R children will be exploring 'Hand Hygiene' in our fun-filled provocation!
Stage 2R Parents and Families Notice Board
Please submit your social media consent forms if you haven't yet. Please take note due to the unpredictable weather these past few days, please have both warm weather and cold weather clothing for your children in their bags to help accommodate any kind of change in weather. Also, a friendly reminder to please label all of your child’s belongings to avoid them getting lost or misplaced. Thank you.
Stage 1E we continued our S.T.E.M provocation this week and focused on classification and colours. The children had a fantastic time exploring and learning about colours and sorting a variety of different coloured items into matching bowls.
Our first sensory activity was based on colours and colour sorting. Classification and sorting are important skills to develop for maths science and language arts. Sorting colours is one of the first sorting activities a child master.
Sorting objects, matching shapes, colours and then pictures help children build visual perception and thinking skills. Children can generally sort into colours before they can identify or say the name of the colours. Learning to categorise and classify also helps memory skills. The children really enjoyed this activity and did extremely well at sorting their colours.
Our second sensory activity was coloured rice. This activity helped build fine-motor skills and we developed language as we named our colours and spoke about the texture of the rice.
As part of our provocation the children created a colourful smash art piece. We took 4 - 6 different colours and the children used cotton balls dipped in paint and placed them onto their paper. They then used a fly swatter to smash the cotton ball which created their creative art piece.. They all thoroughly enjoyed this creative process and developed their love for art and gross-motor skills combined.
During our provocation group times, the children sang a variety of songs about different colours. We used our laminated colour cards and the colour sorting objects and the children each had the opportunity to match the colours, they all enjoyed participating in group activities and have become very good at waiting for their turn.
Sense of Touch by Ms Noemi Navarra
Touch has a memory” – John Keats
This week Stage 1R continued the journey through the Sense of Touch by discovering different textures.
In the first tray of our sensory table were placed dried spaghetti and rice, two very common food items that we can find in our day-to-day life. Usually, children would touch and feel the consistency of those 2 very common foods cooked, as all little ones enjoy exploring their food with their hands; they all enjoyed discovering the texture of raw spaghetti and rice, a bit rough, hard, pointy, and roundish.
In the second tray were placed sand and cotton balls; the reactions from the 2 consistency were unique; the children really enjoyed touching the sand. It took some extra time to get used to the consistency of the cotton balls, but afterwards the children started to squish it and bury it under the sand.
This activity has many benefits, such as improving language, communication, fine motor skills and enhancing creativity.
Next week we will move into discovering a new sense, and I encourage all families to continue to organise some playtime at home, indoor and outdoor, using few natural materials, such as leaves, sticks, pompons, stones, as well as water, ice and so on. By doing so it will be possible for the children to be confident in new situations.
Looking forward to seeing you all next week!
Drama
Drama by Ms Laura Hudson
This week in Drama we continued with our Pirate theme, recapping what we did last week.
All the activities will nurture and enhance each child’s ability to communicate their ideas and feelings. Through movement-based storytelling and guided imagination play, children will build
spatial awareness and physical control. Their creative and critical thinking skills will blossom as they play and explore with their friends!
In the younger years we played Simon Says Pirate Style. We played a number of rounds of Simon Says giving pirate ship orders and silly suggestions: Swab the deck! Dig for Treasure! Count the stars! Swim like a mermaid! Pull up the anchor! Fly like a parrot! Row the boat! Make a pirate face!
In Stage 3 and 4 I changed this slightly instead of saying ‘Simon says,’ the captain that’s me said ‘at ease’ before giving the next command. Everyone found their own space in the room, and I told them that they are now on board a ship, and that they are the crew I was the captain. I asked them to imagine what the ship looks like and decide on where the bow is (the front) and the stern is (the back), the port (left) and the starboard (the right side) is. Next, I told the children that I will be issuing a series of commands that they are to obey. HOWEVER, they must always wait for me to say ‘at ease’ before following the next command. If they follow a command without ‘at ease’ in-between, or if they get left out of a command, they will be sent to the Pickle Pot where they must do a little pickle dance before joining the game again. I also taught the children to sing ‘Pickle Pot, Pickle Pot’ (to the tune of Lollipop, Lollipop) while the person dances.
Here are some of the commands we used. You can always play this at home too!
Captain on Deck
Stand at attention, salute, and say “Aye, Aye Captain!”
Stern
Go to the front of the ship and look out.
Bow
Run to the back of the ship and pull in the anchor
Starboard
Go to the left side and walk the plank.
Port
Go to the left side of the ship and load the cannons.
Climb the Rigging
Pretend to climb up to the crow’s nest.
Swab the Deck
Pretend to mop the deck or get on your hands and knees and scrub.
The next activity I did was called Brain Dance. Brain Dance is a fun way to warm up your body and brain. As you move through a series of body patterns, the children will not only engage their bodies and imaginations, but they will also be building new neuropathways. Each of the elements is based on primitive reflexes and helps to boost learning, behaviours, and emotional states. Here is the Brain Dance we used based on feelings. You can do this with music but this week the children where guided with my voice.
1. Breath: Breathe in the ocean air. Breathe deeply through your nose and out through your mouth. Really imagine the smell of the sea.
2. Tactile: Protect your skin out on a sunny pirate deck. Glide sunscreen all over your body, head to toe. Really massage it in.
3. Core-Distal: Imagine you are a sail. Use your arms to expand as the wind fills you up. Then contract as the wind shifts. Keep growing and shrinking in this way.
4. Head-Tail: Grab hold of that big wooden steering wheel and sway left and right with a full range of motion.
5. Upper-Lower: For the upper body, dab the stars in the night sky. For the lower body, do a pirate jig.
6. Whole Body: Walk the plank! Then swim around!
The children really wanted to go on a pirate adventure so in the younger years (downstairs) I guided the children incorporating all senses and a number of props like an obstacle course and in Stage 3 and 4 the children helped me to tell the stories. I said a child’s name and they suggested what we did.
Here are some names of the week:
Alexis (Stage 2) – Enjoyed playing Simon says.
Emmanuel (Stage 2/3) – was fantastic walking around as a pirate with a stick leg!
Gracie (Stage 1) – so excited by the parachute.
Well, done everyone with our 2-week Pirate lesson. I wonder where we might go next week.
Yoga
Yoga by Ms Allanis Vidal
Throughout this week we practiced various asanas (yoga poses) with the goal of cultivating patience, focus, and respect among classmates, as well as improving cognitive skills such as balance and motor coordination. We engaged in imitating animal positions and sounds, and imagined different environments with their colors and smells.
Stages 1 and 2: In a playful scenario of being in a boat, we focused on enhancing our balance, imagination, and concentration by transforming into different sea creatures. Through breathing exercises, we also worked on our focus and found relief from anxiety. Additionally, we sang delightful songs to help us recognize body parts, such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes," which allowed us to practice for example the Paschimottanasana, a seated forward bend yoga pose.
Stages 3 and 4: We explored our emotions, both happy and sad, and encouraged one another to lend support. Along with the asanas (yoga poses), we incorporated nature elements, such as creating a rainbow using sun and rain, animal poses, and various breathing exercises to enhance anxiety management and focus.
Through these practices, our aim is to improve attention, self-awareness, teamwork, and overall cognitive skills, while providing enjoyable yoga classes that promote mental and physical activity. I am looking forward to celebrating the achievements of the upcoming week.
Namaste.
