amy’s message zoo, zachary -fiji to see the whales and the sharks, kate- the zoo in sydney,...

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1

Amy’s Message By Amy Goodlace, Principal

Dear Families

Our Grace and Courtesy Programme

At Reddam Early Learning Schools we are

constantly striving towards setting new standards

in education with a dedication to excellence

permeating every aspect of our school. We strive

towards fostering a love for learning, confidence

and a firm value system that equips our children

to embrace the opportunities of life.

Our Grace and Courtesy Programme is based on

our value system that is entrenched in all that we

do in the Early Learning School.

When taking prospective families around the

school we always spend some time speaking

about the Reddam philosophy but also our

Grace and Courtesy Programme, as we believe

that it is imperative that our families support what

we as a school community believe in.

Teaching our children the values that we believe

in, can be seen in all that we do. Sometimes this is

seen in a simple activity like lunch time when the

children set the tables with placemats they have

made, decorate the tables with flowers from the

garden, help serve each other and are

encouraged to engage in conversations.

Educators sit with the children at their level

enjoying their lunch to foster a sense of

community and mindfulness in all our

engagements with the children is at the forefront

of all conversations.

In Stage 4 our Nugget System reinforces our

values. Each child has a small container in their

class and receives golden nuggets when a

teacher wants to acknowledge positive

behaviour, for example showing kindness to a

friend.

When ten golden nuggets are received the child

is able to choose a treasure from our treasure jars.

These can be pebbles, shells or any object from

nature that is beautiful as children see everything

as beautiful and wondrous.

When speaking about values, it is imperative that

we communicate these to the children in a

manner that is easily understood. We speak of -

Respect

Kind Hearts

Good Manners

Listening Ears

Gentle Hands

Walking Feet

Quiet Voices

We encourage our families to adopt the same

“language” at home as this will become the basis

of developing the values that we as a school

community believe in.

Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend!

Kind regards

Amy

12 AUGUST 2016


The Nest “Off we go….” By Tatiana Botrel, Ma Yanran and Jane Teh

What comes up, must come down…

In the last few weeks, the children have been

exploring different vehicles going down the

hill (a little wooden board we positioned on a

slope).

The children are very curious in

understanding how gravity works, and this

week we encouraged to play with balls,

throwing them up in the air and then

watching them fall back down. We also used

the bubbles to illustrate how they go all the

way up and softly fall down.

On the art table, the children were invited to

dip little car toys into different coloured

paints and then let them roll down the hill.

The result was that the children

collaboratively created a very impressive

piece of artwork. Most of the children were

persevering to get the cars down the track,

but a few of them were determined to push

their cars up the hill, which would take more

effort.

Outcome 4: Children are confident and

involved learners - Children develop a range

of skills and processes such as problem-

so lv ing, inqui ry , exper imentat ion,

hypothesising, researching and investigating.

EYLF, 2009.

“Sharing is Caring”

The children in The Nest are growing older

each day they are also facing new

challenges within their development. They

are continually working on sharing toys, play

spaces and learning to share the attention

from the adults. We as educators are

encouraging the children to participate in

activities where they might face difficulties to

teach them how to deal with conflict

situations.

For example, on the art table, we have been

setting up for only four children to participate

at the time and therefore they need to wait

for their turn. In a different scenario, the

children have been encouraged to take

turns with the wooden trucks – as we only

have two - and whenever a child is holding

them both, they are asked to share them

with their peers, “one for you and one for

your friend.”

We can already see some of the children

spontaneously taking toys to their friends as

they see them arriving at school, and we can

also see the difference in the way the

children are trying to solve problems, with a

bit less frustrations than usual.

Outcome 2: Children are connected with

and contribute to their world Children

develop a sense of belonging to groups and

communities and an understanding of the

reciprocal rights and responsibilities

necessary or active community participation.

EYLF, 2009.


The Nest Photo Gallery


Fledglings “I can brush my teeth”

In the Fledglings classroom we started the

week with a short discussion on the

importance of brushing our teeth. Just like

last week when we learned about germs on

our hands, face and bodies, it is similar to

these germs but the ones on our teeth are

called plaque or decay and we wash our

teeth to help keep our teeth healthy. We

talked about a dentist being the same as a

doctor but a dentist just cares for our teeth

and ensures that your teeth are healthy. We

need to visit our dentist regularly. It is great to

see that so many of the Fledglings already

knew about brushing their teeth and were so

enthusiastic to learn more. We listened to

some songs, which later helped us with the

process of brushing our teeth and we had a

poster displayed in the bathroom to also

remind us. We were very lucky that the

grandad‟s of two of our friends, Alice and

Poppy, are dentists. Alice‟s grandad

provided all her friends in school with a

goody bag, which included the things we

need to keep our teeth healthy. Poppy‟s

grandad also provided Poppy‟s friends with a

tube of toothpaste each. The girls were very

proud to hand their goodies out to their

friends on Thursday morning.

Continuing on from brushing our teeth and

talking about why it is so important to keep

our teeth clean and healthy, we used some

old toothbrushes to do some painting. The

children dipped a paintbrush in paint and

made beautiful designs on their page, some

children dabbing the paintbrush while others

stroked their paintbrush across the page.

Allira pretended to use the painted

toothbrush to brush her teeth acting out the

technique that she had earlier used.

We used a large scale model set of teeth,

which you may have seen as you signed your

child in and out of school, this helped us to re

-visit the method of brushing our teeth. The

Fledglings had so much fun doing this and

were very proud to show off their techniques

– practical life is also an important part of

education – this activity was Montessori

inspired as it encourages independence and

care of self.

Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident

and involved learners


Fledglings Photo gallery


Fledglings Photo Gallery


Stage 2 “Where in the World? Off we go!”

During the past week the Tree Frogs have

been discussing their holiday destinations

using the world globe. The question “where

have you been and how did you get there?”

was posed to the children. The discussion

brought up the different modes of transport

used to get from one place to another.

Ottavia - On a plane to Romania, Demitra - I

went fishing on a boat, Mia - On a bus, Henry-

Go on an airplane to Fiji, Rafferty – I went to

England on two planes!, Benji – In the car and

then airplane, Elle - I went travelling in the

car, Ari – I got the bus to Nanna and Pops in

Melbourne, Hugo – Disney on ice on a train! –

I went to France, Amy – Canberra on an

airplane, Lucius – On a bus to Australia, Luke –

(pointed to the compass on the world

globe), Blake – Go on the bus and

train, Isabelle – Humpty farm by car, Mila – I

went to sea world in my car, Alexis-

Disneyland on an airplane, Charlie – train to

the country, Felix – on a big train got the sushi

off the sushi train, Sophia – I fly on the plane to

New Zealand, Vivienne – Adelaide on a

plane, Annalisa – to London by plane.

This was the inspiration for our 3D art project,

which focuses on train, planes, cars and

boats – by using paper towel rolls, paint,

paper and paddle pop sticks. How will you

get to your next holiday destination?

The Kookaburra’s

For our provocation work, we talked about

passports this past week and how we needed

one to go on a holiday if it was not in

Australia. We looked at the Australian

emblem where the children identified the

kangaroo and the emu. We talked about

how we have a photo in the passport and

that we were not allowed to smile for the

photo. Everyone showed their passport “no

smile” and we took a photo so that we can

make our own passports for our next wall

display.

The journey into the world of travel has lead

us to not only talk about the places we might

go to but also what can we do there. This is

aimed at extending the children‟s language

skills. Some of the places and things that the

children are going to see are-

Noah-New york city to see all the animals at

the zoo, Zachary -Fiji to see the whales and

the sharks, Kate- the zoo in Sydney, Hattie-

America to see the Dolphins, Vincent- China

to see the cars, Amelia- Brisbane to go

swimming

Zachary – to the Eiffel Tower, Zali- to see Elsa

from Frozen, Alexander- to the Eiffel Tower.

We finished our runway and using the paper

aeroplane we landed our aeroplanes in far

away places. A suitcase was also packed to

go on a holiday- I wonder where we are

going? There was a hat, swim suit and a

beach wrap. Could you guess what you

would be doing if it was your suitcase?


Stage 2 Photo Gallery


Stage 3 The Sounds of Music By Nina Bergel, Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner and Jason Corrigan

Over the past two weeks the Stage Three

children have walked into a beautiful set up

on the table in the atelier. There were six

glasses, all of which had different volumes

of water inside and varied in colours. There

were also two mallets next to this. The

teacher then asked the children what they

thought would occur at this table, to which

they responded

Sara: “To play”

Avi: “To make noise”

Darcey: “Not noise, music!”

The children sat at the table (two at a time)

to “play” the glasses however they wanted.

The children were asked to turn on their

listening ears and really listen to the types of

sounds the glasses were making. They

listened for high and low sounds, kept beats

and made up their own rhythms. After they

finished playing, the children got the

opportunity to speak about what they

heard.

Krew: “I liked all the sounds. The low note is

red and the high note is black. The middle

note is yellow and it’s my favourite.”

Scarlett: “I liked that it made sounds. I liked

the sound of blue and black together. I

used the mallet to hit the blue and black in

between.”

Harry Z: “I liked all the colours because I

learned about so much sounds and

instruments. The glasses made a instrument

which is cool.”

The children were then offered pencils and

paper to draw the glasses and what they

had heard.

On Tuesday, the children got a musical visit

from Katherine, Sarah‟s mum who played

the piano. The children have been listening

and singing to the song „Do Re Mi‟ from The

Sound of Music and this was one of the first

songs Katherine played. They also sang

along to „This Old Man‟ and „Twinkle Twinkle

Little Star.‟ She also played, Fur Elise, which

is a classical piece written by Beethoven

The children closed their eyes and swayed

to the sounds of the soft piano. Thank you

so much Katherine for coming in and

sharing your musical talents. The children

enjoyed it immensely. All of the children

enjoy when their parents are involved in

their school life, so if you would like to come

in and share anything associated to music

or perform, please contact your child‟s


Stage 3 The Sounds of Music By Nina Bergel, Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner and Jason Corrigan

On Wednesday and Friday the children had

another special musical performance by

Tim, one of the Stage Four teachers. They

travelled down to the Stage Four classroom

to see what Tim had brought in. A tank

drum, which is one of a kind! Only one

person in America makes them and they

make them from recycled gas cylinders.

The tank drum has some little holes and cuts

in it to make the different notes. One side of

the drum creates high sounds and the other

side of the drum creates low sounds. Tim

played this instrument fast and slow and soft

and loud for the Stage Three and Four

children. When the children came back to

Stage Three they each had a turn playing it,

what beautiful sounds it makes! Thank you

Tim for sharing this unique instrument with

everyone.

Book week is fast approaching and the

theme for 2016 is „Australia! Story Country.‟

The children read Aboriginal dreamtime

stories called Dunbi the Owl and Father Sky

and Mother Earth. They showcased how the

Aboriginal people tell stories and make their

pictures using dots, symbols, lines and swirls.

To link this theme to the provocation of

Sounds of Music, the children investigated

an Aboriginal instrument, called the

didgeridoo. They listened to the music it

made, got to hold it and learnt that only

males can play it. After they made some

comments…

Eve: They have shapes on it, triangles,

squares and ovals.

Alexis: It‟s got patterns on it.

Rachel: it has little holes and big holes.

Jed: The didgeridoo are very strong and

loud and big.

Then they began the process of creating a

class didgeridoo, which will be an ongoing

collaborative project done by all the Stage

Three classes.


Stage 4 What’s on your doorstep? ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols

The children‟s enthusiasm and interest in

minibeasts has become very apparent and

their desire to learn about this topic is

immense. Following the huge excitement with

the wasps nest the children began to learn

about the different bug groups – insects,

arachnids, centipedes & millipedes,

woodlice, worms, and slugs and snails.

There were so many questions and the

classroom was a hive of activity and

conversation about the insects and the

arachnids. So we then did a comparison of

both to answer many of the questions the

children had. They discovered that insects

have six legs and three body parts (head,

thorax and abdomen) and arachnids have

eight legs and two body parts (head and

cephalothorax).

The children put on their thinking caps and

came up with a list of insects with wings and

insects that crawled. They then made a list of

arachnids.

Winged insects – Butterfly, Ladybug, Wasp,

Bee, Fly, Dragonfly, Beetle, Firefly

Six legged crawling insects – Beetle, Praying

Mantis, Grasshopper, Ladybug, Bee, Wasp,

Fly, Firefly

Eight legged Arachnids – Redback Spider,

Wolf Spider, Funnel Web, Garden Spider,

Huntsman Spider, Cave Spider, Daddy Long

Legs, and Peacock Spider.

This was followed by a documentary to learn

more about the arachnid that the children

were most interested in – The Wolf Spider.

In keeping with this interest the children have

been busy researching facts at home about

their favourite minibeasts and bringing this

information to school to share with their

friends.

At the bush the children have been searching

for bugs and have found many interesting

things. One particular interest has been in the

cocooned creatures that are stuck to large

climbing rock. These cocooned creatures

have surrounded themselves with a

beautifully woven round web to protect

them. We think they may belong to the lichen

moth as we have found many hairy

caterpillars nearby. We will investigate

further…


Music By Justin Goh

Hello everyone!

All the children continued to explore

about the things they see in the sky and

the whale which is deep in the ocean.

They listened to a bird whistle from

Malaysia and a clever boy (Luke) asked,

“Is that the sound the bird makes in your

country?” Yes! Birds from different

countries make very different sounds! We

then listened to the “laughing” sounds of

the Kookaburra from Australia (using the

Kookaburra whistle) and even had a

special visit from an Owl. The Owl song

was sung in a Minor Key and children

joined in to “who? Who? Who?” (Hoot,

hoot, hoot) These interesting sounds of

different birds were the shared

experiences at all 4 levels. The following

activities were differentiated according

to their levels:

Stage 1 & 2:

Our little children played with the bells

and pretended to be raindrops. They

then used to scarves to create their

rainbow in the sky. We explored swishing

the scarves over their heads, throwing

them in the air, swishing from side to side,

waving it up and down etc.

The children then did an amazing thing.

They made a choice of whether they

wanted the bells, shakers, or sticks.

Toddlers are not given much opportunity

to make choices. This was one of the

times they chose! Using their choice

instrument, they danced around to “This

little light of mine”.

The little ones settled down to another

relaxing oriental piece of music entitled,

“Moon Dance”.


Music By Justin Goh

Stage 3:

Stage 3 children spotted a rainbow and

held up the respective colours as they

sang the song about the rainbow. They

then looked again at the whale which

lives deep in the ocean. Every child took

turns to use the Whispering Tube to

create the sound of the whale. This time,

most of the children wanted to have a try

all by themselves without Justin‟s

assistance. Some were really loud whales

indeed!

Our children made a “Ring Around a

Rocket Ship”. They stretched up high and

all “fell down”. Then all stayed on the

ground to sing Twinkle, Twinkle. It was a

peaceful ending to an exciting

exploration of things in the sky and down

in the ocean.

Stage 4:

Children at Stage 4 played a game

where they made a circle and held up

their hands to create “windows”

between each person. One child is

chosen to be the bird and he/she flies

through the windows and chooses a

friend to jump around in the centre of the

circle. The friend who was chosen

becomes the next “bird”.

Stage 4 children also recalled the I,I,I,Z

rhythm and tried playing this rhythm on

the egg shakers. They sang Kookaburra

while the played the ostinato pattern of

I,I,I,Z . It was impressive how they could

do 2 things at the same time; to sing and

to play the ostinato.

They then did something even more

amazing! We creatively made up a song

with contributions and ideas of which

kinds of food Mr Aitken Drum was made

of. They sang this to an ostinato of “In the

moon”.

*An ostinato is a musical pattern which is

repeated throughout a song without

changing.


Dancearama By Laura Hudson

Stage 3

Children will explore emotions through

mime to show the audience what they are

feeling. The children will also use their

imaginations to portray the seasons through

drama by teacher led activities including

TIR (teacher in Role)

Skills learnt this week:

Portraying emotions

Used facial expressions and their body to

create different shapes to convey different

seasons

Listen and observe the teacher

Memory recall

Mime

Using their imagination

Activities include:

Discussed the seasons

Picture postcard

The parachute was used to grow like a tree

(the children holding on and lifting it up

together) then when it came down the

children imagined the leaves were falling.

The children then took it in turns to stamp on

the leaves

Picture postcard (Winter/Summer)

The ribbons acted as kites, using the music

(let‟s go and fly a kite from Mary Poppins)

the children created shapes and worked

with the teacher to do some improvisation

Using their imagination to pretend the

wand is another object (e.g. guitar, paddle

etc. etc.)

Stage 4 Objectives:

Students will do the class from last week as

the teacher was sick

Students will create a piece of drama using

3 props and a soundscape as their stimulus.

Each child will have a role in the story. They

will discuss the status of their character as

well as use mime and improvisation

Skills learnt this week:

Creating a soundscape

Mime

Spatial awareness

Listen and responding to direction

Understand the term status

Improvisation

Activities include:

Creating a soundscape of the woods

Using their body to show 3 poses

Working together to create a 3-part story

based on 3 props

Miming the story out they made up

Act the story out using words

Discuss the difference between the 2

performances

Discuss what improvisation is

Discuss what Status is and list the status of

each character in the story


Physical Education By Spencer Clifton

The Stage 1's enjoyed a great of week of

sport where we progressed onto our new set

of fundamental skills, with the previous

exercises being used as building blocks.

Our lesson this week continued in a similar

fashion to last week and involved a fun game

called Simon Says, basketball rolling and the

bucket catch with balloons. In Simon Says the

children mirrored movement and poses that

are aimed at strengthening co-ordination

and core muscles. Our next activity was the

start of our exploration into ball skills. The

children exercise involved the children sitting

in a circle rolling the basketball to each, the

children made use of body position change

in order to stop the ball as well as roll the ball

into their friends and out last activity for the

lesson made use of balloons in which the

children were encouraged to throw into the

air and try catch, with the aim of the exercise

to encourage and promote the "bucket

catch".

The Stage 2's enjoyed a week of sport where

we continued to explore the upper limb ball

skills. We started the lesson off with our animal

movements that consisted of kangaroo jump,

lion crawl, crab walk, elephant stomp and

flying bird.

Our next exercise featured last weeks fun

game Simon says, followed by an exploration

into balance and finishing off with catching.

In Simon Says the children mirrored

movement and poses that were aimed at

strengthening co-ordination and core

muscles. Our next game made use of bean

bags in which the children used to

demonstrate and improve their balancing

ability, the children performed different poses

whilst trying to keep the bean bag in place

e.g.: we would place the bean bag on our

head and rotate around in a circular motion

trying to keep the bean bag steady without it

falling off. The last activity for the lesson made

use of balloons in which the children were

encouraged to throw into the air and try

catch, with the aim of the exercise to

encourage and promote the "bucket catch".

The Stage 3's and Stage 4's enjoyed a great

week of sport. We started the lesson off with

some warm up sprints, followed by our

animals exercises incorporating some animal

movements, namely the crab walk, horse

gallop, flying bird and elephant stomp,

kangaroo jumps, frog hops and lion crawl.

We continued with our upper limb skills with a

another obstacle course. The course

incorporated a few familiar targets and some

new more advanced challenges. The course

consisted of either low laying or high standing

targets in which that children had aim and try

hit. The variability of the target heights

encouraged the children to make use of the

different throwing techniques.

amy’s message zoo, zachary -fiji to see the whales and the sharks, kate- the zoo in sydney,...

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