amy’s message - reddam house · reddam early learning school | woollahra newsletter . 1 . amy’s...

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1

Amy’s Message 24 JUNE 2016

Dear Families,

We had a great response to the invitation

sent to the families to view the Reflection

Journals. The children were very proud to

show their families what they have been

doing over the term. I would like to thank

all our families for participating in this event.

Please note that the Journals are always

available to families to view throughout the

term and you are more than welcome to

spend a few quiet moments sharing this

with your child as it reflects their learning

journey and illustrates their participation in

the classroom.

I would like to thank our amazing team for

all the hours of work in putting these

journals together.

We have been doing weekly tours for new

families and have received wonderful

feedback that I would like to share with our

present families -

“I can’t tell you how much admiration I

have for the schools values and approach

to learning. I love how Reddam embraces

intellectual curiosity and developmental

play, fosters individuality and recognizes

the importance of education from a young

age.”

It is always affirmation to hear from new

families how our school is viewed.

Lastly, thank you for your continued support

over the past term and being so involved in

all that we do with the children.

Wishing all our families that will be going

away over the holiday period safe travels

and the opportunity to make lovely

memories. We look forward to sharing our

Vacation Programme with all the children

that will be at the early Learning School

over the holidays.

Warm regards

Amy


The Nest Reflecting on Term Two By Tatiana Botrel, Mary Claire Cronin and Ma Yanran

This week was the last one for Term Two.

Time is flying and the children in The Nest

had another memorable time exploring the

end of autumn and arrival of winter.

“What’s inside?” was our provocation this

term and the children led the way to many

more interests that became clear during

the last few weeks. The children loved

discovering the natural world, looking for

insects all over the playground and

exploring the little gardens around the

trees. Others loved exploring some of the

treasures they found inside the surprise

boxes, especially the ones related to

transports – cars, trucks, fire engine, trains

planes etc.

Watching the children thriving in The Nest

brings a great sense of pride. As teachers

we are fortunate to see the children‟s

engagement in the activities offered

throughout the day and we are also very

grateful for being part of their young lives.

On behalf of the Nest team I would like to

thank all families for being so supportive

during the term. It was beautiful to watch

you coming in to school to spend some

time reading the children‟s Reflection

Journals. Please feel welcome to access

this book anytime during the school term as

it tells their learning journey and illustrates

their participation in the classroom.

I would like to finish this last newsletter of

the term with a quote from Loris Malaguzzi,

one of the founders of the Reggio Emilia

educational philosophy, which is also one

of the main foundations of Reddam Early

Learning Schools. This quote truly inspires us

in the Nest as it is the age of discoveries:

“Children need the freedom to appreciate

the infinite resources of their hands, their

eyes and their ears, the resources of forms,

materials, sounds and colours.”

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and

wish you a great school break, whether

away or at Reddam.


The Nest Photo Gallery


Fledglings I spy with my little eye...

During the week we read our story “On The

Farm” I spy with my little eye…

We all found different animals that live on the

farm. Some of the children even recognised

most of the animals before even seeing the

illustration. We have been noticing that pigs

have small curly tails and we have learned

that pigs are pink.

In the Atelier, we started creating our own

pigs. We mixed red and white paint together

to make the colour pink. We then

individually glued some small curly tails to our

pigs.

Dramatic play interest

The „home‟ corner was clearly of interest this

week amongst the children. These

experiences are truly rich in communication

as lots of conversation could be heard about

what food was being eaten and also being

polite and pouring out tea for a friend or

helping a friend cut their fruit in half. Role-

play was clearly evident when the children

used the props to eat, drink and cut with the

wooden knife and butter some bread.

Providing dramatic play experiences for

children enhances language, social inclusion

and stimulates the children‟s learning and is a

powerful form of play.

It is magic to see the children‟s imaginations

open and see how the children observe their

world.

It is unbelievable to think we have reached

the end of Term Two. What a great term it

has been. We are so impressed with how

settled and confident the children feel with

their teachers, peers and in their school

environment. We are really looking forward

to the next three weeks of the Holiday care

program where there is many fun and

exciting activities planned.

Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident

and involved learners.

The children were very excited to hand their

mummies, daddies and loved ones an

invitation to come into their classroom and

share the beautiful work they completed

during Term Two. It was so nice to see the

children‟s and the parent‟s faces fill with

pride and joy. This was a very beautiful

experience for the children to show off all

their special work.

Learning Outcome 1: Children have a strong

sense of identity.


Fledglings Photo gallery


Fledglings Photo Gallery


Stage 2 Reflections

The sharing of the reflection journals of the

children with their families was a wonderful

way to end Term 2. It was such a delight to

see the children showing their parents and

grandparents the things they had been

doing in school. A sense of belonging to

the school is a strong part of a child‟s social

and emotional development and the fact

that they take pride in their achievements

tells us that we are doing our jobs as

nurturing teachers and educators. Thank

you to the families for the wonderful

feedback we were given.

Specialist Classes

This term our sports days with Spencer on a

Wednesday and our music sessions with

Justin on a Friday have been a highlight of

the children. Spencer is always greeted with

big smiles and enthusiasm and Justin lots of

jumping and “Yeah” to music. Next term

these classes will change days and the M-W

group will have music and the Thu-Fri group

will have sport.

Fire Evacuation

This week we had a practice fire

evacuation in the ELS on the Thursday.

The Tree Frogs were outside and the

Kookaburra‟s were inside the classroom

when he whistle blew- 3 times to tell us that

we needed to leave the building and

group together.

The Kookaburra group joined the Tree Frogs

outside in the bottom half of the

playground upstairs where we all did roll

call “Here I am “ when our names were

called. After when the children were

allowed to play and go back to the

classrooms, many of the tree frogs could be

heard outside making fire engine noises.

Well done everyone today for a calm and

organised fire drill.

Holidays

Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday Care

period either at school with the invigorating

Olympic program or on your own holiday

adventure.


Stage 2 Photo Gallery


Stage 3 Under the Sea By Nina Bergel, Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner and Jason Corrigan

What an absolutely amazing term this has

been for all of our Stage Three children. The

children have all been constantly stimulated,

challenged and fulfilled as they dove deeper

and deeper into the expansive range of

learning opportunities provided by the

provocation, Under the Sea.

The children have explored details of so many

different sea creatures through a variety of

activities, such as beautiful sea art pieces with

Tina and the Kangaroos, literacy cards and

sensory opportunities with Susan and the

Koalas, numeracy games with shells and

science experiments with Nina and the

Wombats, and social sea masks and

sustainability activities with Lizzy and the

Platypus‟.

To round off another successful term, all the

children have been invited to arrive to school

dressed as their favourite sea creature! This is

an inclusive social opportunity for the children

of all classes to feel a sense of belonging to a

wonderful group, but is also most importantly,

something to simply ENJOY together!

The costumes were incredible and the

children seemed so excited to be a sea

creature for a day. They made each other

laugh by snapping each other with shark

teeth or stinging each other with tentacles.

The Stage Three children were lucky to

borrow Janes face paints and created

rainbows for mermaids or scales for Dorys. As

a lovely treat before morning tea the groups

made blue jelly together with a sea snake or

frog hidden inside! The children enjoyed their

blue ocean jelly whilst watching some scenes

from Disney's The Little Mermaid, and sung

along to our favourite tune „Under the Sea‟

by Sebastian the crab.

Thank you to all who participated. Together

we have raised a wonderful sum that will be

put towards the adoption of a sea creature,

an amazing opportunity for the children to

develop environmental awareness and

assume an empathetic sense of responsibility

for the creatures they have learnt so much

about. We‟ll keep you posted on the

progress!

The Stage Three teachers are so looking

forward to seeing where your child‟s beautiful

young minds will journey next!


Stage 4 Reflections... ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols

As we reach the end of term two we look

back and reflect on the journey our

provocations have taken us. This term was full

of imagination and exploration as we

discovered worlds of make believe, our very

own dreams and the world around us both

near and far. Each group in Stage 4 have

had a busy term exploring and expanding on

their provocations.

Krissie’s Group

This term we let our imaginations run wild as

we explored the provocation „A world of

imagination‟. On many occasions we lost

ourselves in the true magic found in fantasy

stories that were beyond our wildest dreams.

We climbed the Faraway Tree in the

Enchanted Wood, took a ride in a magical

wishing chair, drank magic liquid that made

us shrink, found a gold key and unlocked a

secret garden and discovered a never

ending story where dreams and fantasies

really do come true. We also created our very

own superheros with powers that focused on

the positive qualities of superheros and not

just their physical powers, emphasising the

kind, caring and helpful qualities of a

superhero.

Archer: “When I’m lying in my racing car bed

at night I sometimes dream and pretend that

I am a ghost or even a monster.”

Christian: “Fantasy is like a fish walking, like a

dream.”

Thomas: “Superheros save the people, they

save the day like Batman and Superman.

Some baddies try to kill the superheros

because they don’t want them to save the

day.”

Tate: “If I was a superhero I would be Cat Boy.

Cat Boy drives a cat mobile but he can run

really, really fast and catches anyone that’s

doing bad stuff. He has long claws to jump on

trees and smells anything with his nose like

trouble.”

Sandra’s group

Our provocation this term was „What‟s on

your doorstep?‟. The children expressed a

particular interest in insects and bugs which

led to researching and gathering interesting

information. We have also enjoyed engaging

in creative experiences to discover what‟s on

our doorstep, gardens, parks, insects, spiders

and nature. We have had lots of fun exploring

our natural environments.

Sienna: “If I was an insect I would be a

butterfly because I like flying.”

Andrew: “If I was an insect I would be a bee

because they sting.”

Isla: “If I was an insect I would be a

grasshopper because they jump and it would

be fun jumping.”


Stage 4 Reflections... ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols

Anita and Cheryl’s group

The children have learnt about the 5

different zones in the ocean. As part of

the provocation “What lies beneath the

surface” they have created some

beautiful artworks that have engaged

their creative thinking and further

developed their fine motor skills. The

Rainbow fish by Marcus Pfister was

explored and further used as a tool to

guide the children in constructing their

own Rainbow Fish. The children also drew

two dimensional creatures from the

midnight zone and then transformed

them into three dimensional clay

sculptures.

Audrey: “The twilight zone has a big squid

and whale that fight.”

Amelia: “A blob fish doesn’t have a

skeleton.”

Robert: “Colossal squids can make

themselves camouflaged so no one else

can see them on the coral or anything.”

Janes Group

Our main project this term as part of our

provocation „Imagination‟ was to create

a dream catcher from recycled materials.

The dream catcher catches all our good

dreams and keeps the bad ones away.

Most of the children in Stage 4 helped to

make the dream catcher by individually

threading beads onto a piece of string.

Feathers are also added to the dream

catcher as it is believed good dreams go

through the hole in the centre of the

dream catcher and then glide down the

feathers to the person sleeping below.

Sofia: “The dream catcher makes the

dreams.”


Music By: Justin Goh

Stage 1 & 2:

We began the lesson by listening to the

sound of the recorded rain. Then we “pitted

and patted” on the floor and created the

sound of rain as we sang “Pitter Patter”.

Some classes rubbed their palms together to

imitate the sound of the rain. They were so

clever! Other than the sound of the rain, we

also explored the musical instruments that

could imitate the sounds of THUNDER! Yes, we

used a hand drum and every child had the

chance to “Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” to

create the sound of thunder.

In addition to the hand drum, Justin also

brought a Thunder Drum to class. This special

drum has a metal coil attached to the skin

membrane and the vibrations create very

realistic thunder sound effects. The brave

children stepped forward to give the thunder

drum a shake while those who were not so

fond of thunder just either listened or sang

along... “I can hear the thunder”. Today‟s

class introduced them to the sounds of the

membranophones (the Ethno-musicological

term for “drums”). The timbre (sound

produced) is distinctly different from the

shakers and the bells the children have

played with thus far. Furthermore, the

method of making the music also differs; you

hit the drum instead of shaking it.

After the storm was over, the “incy-winsy

spider climbed up the water spout”. This time

the concept of “up” and “down” was

reinforced with a slide whistle and children

had the chance to push or pull the slide

depending on whether the spider was

climbing up or being washed down.

At the end of this exciting musical day, they

found a spot to rest or lie down and Justin

played a Chinese Folk tune “Jasmine Flower”

on the Chinese flute.

Once again, our children were enthusiastic

to learn and explore the new sounds they

experienced in Music and we keep them

guessing what‟s next... more after the

holidays!

Lastly, we ended with a circle dance which

reinforces the concept of musical phrasing.

Singing a Jewish song, “Toembai”, children

walk in one direction in a circle, and change

direction after each musical phrase.

Some of these activities could be good

musical fun for the whole family as well and I

hope you have lots of musical times during

the coming holidays!



Stage 3:

Our young musicians extended on the

musical concept called timbre (pronounced

as “tam-ber” French origin) by playing a

musical game. One child was selected to sit

in the middle of a circle and asked to closed

his/her eyes. Teacher will then select a

student randomly while the song

“Somebody‟s knocking at my door” is sung.

Without opening the eyes the person in the

middle will sing, “Who is knocking?” And the

selected children will sing, “I am knocking”.

The child in the middle will then guess who

replied. They would learn that just as they

used the ears to distinguish the shakers, bells

and sticks, human voices also make a special

sound which is different from another.

Musicians use this skill to listen to a musical

recording and write the music score with an

accurate orchestration or musical

arrangement.

Then we played another musical movement

game. With my hand drum, children will learn

to respond to the rhythmic pattern to know

whether to walk, run, or gallop. Also,

importantly, they listen out for the rhythmic

pattern that tells them to stop! This ability to

stop and freeze is called inhibitory control. It‟s

a fun an effective way to teach a child

discipline and to follow instructions in a

group.

The next activity required them to listen out

for a descending falling melodic pattern and

children gently fall to the ground

correspondingly. Once the lively music came

on, they got up and danced around with the

scarves again.

Lastly, we ended with a circle dance which

reinforces the concept of musical phrasing.

Singing a Jewish song, “Toembai”, children

walk in one direction in a circle, and change

direction after each musical phrase.

Some of these activities could be good

musical fun for the whole family as well and I

hope you have lots of musical times during

the coming holidays!



Stage 4:

This week we started with a game reinforcing

the concept of the singing voice and the

speaking voice. Children pretend there was

a river across the room and sang, “Famer,

farmer, may we cross your river?” If the famer

sings, “Yes you may, they have to run across

the river and the farmer will try to catch them

as they cross. If the farmer uses the speaking

voice, the children will have to walk in slow

motion across the river.

We then repeated the story about dancing

clocks. Here, children had to respond to fast

and slow beats in Music. They pretended to

be “little clocks” and “big clocks” and

moved according to the changes in the

music (light and lively music for the little

clocks contrasted with the slow and majestic

sounding music for the big clocks). They

enjoyed the role-playing and pretending to

be different types of musical clocks... children

love repetition. You noticed that too?

Finally, did “Tideo” again. Children had to

tap the sticks for the first three phrases and

jingle the bell for the last phrase. Not only

were children made sensitive to the different

musical phrases, they were also given a

chance for social and emotional

development as they took turns to play either

the sticks or the bells. Those holding the sticks

played and sang the first 3 phrases and had

to stop playing the sticks at the last phrase,

while those with the bells only shook their bells

at the last phrase. Then they exchanged

instruments and repeated the song.

Hopefully, your child will keep singing

throughout the holidays. Have a musical

holiday everyone!


Dancearama By Laura Hudson

Stage 3

Objectives:

The children will participate in a teacher

led improvisation of Jack and the

Beanstalk. The children will use their

imagination and creative skills to think of

possible endings for the story, focusing on

a number of key drama techniques

Skills learnt this week:

Improvisation and creativity

Memory recall

Portraying facial expressions and body

gestures

Thought tracking

Mime

Copying and responding to the teacher

Activities include:

TIR as Jack‟s mum, playing „I spy‟

something being with „B‟. Different types

of beans where placed around the room

as well as a beanstalk that hung from the

ceiling.

The children smelt and tasted the beans;

they were then asked what other kinds of

beans they knew.

Played the bean game – a movement

association game (e.g. Jelly bean,

wobble like jelly, broad beans stand tall

with their arms in the air and walk around

the room)

Key pictures of the story including the

characters and objects were used to tell

the story. The pictures were then shuffled

and the children had to place them in the

correct order

Soundscape of Jack climbing the

beanstalk

Call and response

The children acted out the story using

mime, stopping frequently along the way

whereby they were asked how certain

characters were feeling at that particular

point in the story.

Picture postcard


Dancearama By Laura Hudson

Stage 4

Objectives:

To children will use their imaginations to

go through the magical wardrobe,

discovering a fantasy world behind it.

Each child will take on the role of being a

fantasy character and develop a whole

group improvisation. Students will also use

the drama technique of hot seating

Skills learnt this week:

Improvisation and creativity

Taking on the role of a fantasy character

through a group improvisation

Working Together

Portraying facial expressions and body

gestures

Hot Seating

Activities include:

Using their imagination to go through a

Magical Wardrobe (like Narnia)

Discussed what a wardrobe is and usually

has inside and what the wardrobe looks

like.

Teacher in Role - Witch from fantasy

world. The children gave the witch

character a name then the children

thought of their own fantasy names.

The children will go on an adventure with

the witch. They travel on their broom to

the first destination to get home “Rise,

rise, really high, just as high as a butterfly”.

The aim is to get something from each

place/character they visit so they can go

back home. A pearl from the sea; Breath

of a dragon; hair of a unicorn, sugar drop

from the fairy and a golden egg from the

giant

Hot seating each character


Physical Education By Spencer Clifton

The Stage 1's enjoyed another fantastic

week of sport where we continued the

theme of locomotive movement, spatial

awareness and problem solving.

Our lesson this week involved a

manipulated obstacle course that made

use of crocodile hurdles, zig zag running

and hoola hoops. The children made their

way around the obstacle course by

running toward and jumping/stepping

over the crocodile hurdles , doing forward

motion hops over the hoola hoops and

making their way through the zig zag

markers with the children adjusting their

speed and change of direction while

making their way through the obstacle

course. These exercises focus on core

aspects of movement, co-ordination,

strength and agility.

The Stage 2's had a great week of sport

starting off with a warm up that continued

on from last weeks animal movements that

focus on building the children's core

strength, balance, and co-ordination.

We continued on from last weeks lower

limb ball skills by refining our over arm and

under arm throwing. We used the three

step process of ready, aim and fire. The

ready aspect helps the children

understand the correct body position, aim

is making use of the non throwing hand

and pointing at the target area, and fire is

to indicate the throwing motion.

The Stage 3 and stage 4's had another

great week of sport. We started the lesson

off with some warm up sprints, followed by

our core strengthening exercises that

included our new and old animal

movements namely the duckwalk, donkey

kicks, Lin crawl and the worm. These

movements target key areas for the

development of the children's core

strength, stability and co-ordination.

We continued our exploration of our

basketball skills with a recap of the two

hand bounce and the new one hand

bounce. The one hand bounce involved

similar steps to the two hand bounce with

a slight change to the preparation before

bouncing the ball, we made use of the

three step process of step roll the wrist and

bounce. This involved the children placing

their hand under the ball with a rolling

action moving the hand on top of the ball

and proceeding to bounce while stepping

forward.

amy’s message - reddam house · reddam early learning school | woollahra newsletter . 1 . amy’s...

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