simone’s message - reddam house › pdf › 2016 › els_sl › els_stl_t2w7.pdf ·...

1 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1

Simone’s Message By Simone Cooke, Principal

Dear Parents,

The children have been busy explorers

this week and the current Vivid light

festival has inspired much light

exploration across the Stage 2, 3 and 4

classrooms.

Using light as a teaching resource is an

integral part of our daily programme

here at Reddam. In each of our

classrooms you will see a light table.

On each table the teachers set up stage

appropriate activities, which encourage

investigation through patterning, sorting,

mixing colours and arranging.

It is a valuable learning tool as the

addition of light transforms and

stimulates the senses, provoking and

encouraging exploration and inquiry.

Inspired by Vivid, the children have

recently been interested in exploring

shadows and reflections, using shapes,

silhouettes, puppets and even their own

bodies to discover, hypothesise and

create!

Our Stage 4 teacher, Sue, kindly sourced

a wooden train table and train sets for us

over the long weekend, and her hard

work has paid good dividends, with our

little ones having an absolutely fabulous

time with it. As you can imagine It has

also provided much opportunity to test

our co-operative play skills!

Enjoy a wonderful weekend with your

children.

17TH JUNE 2016


This week we finished working on our tree

project.

After going on several walks outside last

week and collecting so many treasures,

we decided to use the leaves that we

painted to make our very own tree.

Come and have a look at our tree

outside the classroom!

What’s in the Bag?

Babies are born learners, with a natural

curiosity to figure out how the world

works. Curiosity is the desire to learn. It is

an eagerness to explore, discover and

figure things out.

The children have been exploring

curiosity through a game called “What‟s

in the bag?”. It is a great guessing game

in which we put a few things in the bag

(natural resources) and we let the

children reach into the bag and choose

an object.

We encourage them to feel it, roll it in

their hands and imagine what it might

be. We heard a lot of “more” while

playing this game.

Inside this funny bag we found a yummy

juicy apple which we smelt, and a spiky

pine cone. We also found a scary

dinosaur and some very big rocks!

Dancing to the Sounds of Africa

Dance embodies one of our most primal

relationships to the universe. It is pre-

verbal, beginning before words can be

formed. It is innate in children before they

possess a command over language and

is evoked when thoughts or emotions are

too powerful for words to contain.

Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings By Gabriela Guimaraes


Children move naturally. They move to

achieve mobility, they move to express a

thought or feeling, and they move

because it is joyful and feels wonderful.

Dance is a natural method for learning

and a basic form of cultural expression.

Children learn movement patterns as

readily as they learn language.

As we are approaching the end of the

term and the end of “What is this

Sound?” provocation, we decided to

introduce the children to the sounds of

Africa. We listened to some animal

sounds and then we decided to dance

to African music.

The children showed great interest in the

movements and in the sounds, they used

scarves as props and we all had turns

pretending to be animals.

Friendly Reminders:

With the change of weather, please

check that the children have

appropriate changes of clothes in

their bags, including socks, beanies

and gumboots, if possible.

A reminder also that all of your

child‟s belongings need to be

properly labelled.

Could you please also ensure that

you sign your children in and out in

the roll and that you write down the

estimated collection time for your

child as this assists us in our staffing

arrangements.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings By Gabriela Guimaraes


Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings Photo Gallery


Dramatic Play

One of the core values stated in the Early

Years Learning Framework is that play

provides opportunities for children to

learn as they discover, create, improvise

and imagine!

Dramatic play is a process in which

children can engage with and explore

their actual world by creating an

imaginary one.

Dramatic play is a type of symbolic play

and is evident when children use objects,

take on character role plays and invent

scenarios to make meaning of who they

are, where they‟ve come from, how to

learn about others, the world they live in

and their place in it.

Dramatic play is instrumental in helping

children develop an awareness of their

identity, culture and community.

Also, dramatic play experiences strength

fine and gross motor, motivation,

perseverance, concentration, reflection,

sensitivity and creativity.

This week we have been busy feeding the

bears, putting the dolls to sleep and

making sounds while holding our animal

puppets.

“Stop, I Don’t Like it!”

The children in the Fledglings classroom

are starting to develop the ability to

recognise unfairness and bias and the

capacity to act with compassion and

kindness. The children are empowered to

make choices and problem solve to meet

their needs in particular contexts and

think critically about fair and unfair

behaviour.

We encourage the children to put their

hand up in front of them and say, “Stop, I

don‟t like it.” If they don't like something

their friend is doing to them.

Stage 1: Fledglings & Chicks By Michele Santos


Small Group Work

In the Early Years Learning Framework, we

talk about children being connected and

contributing to their world.

This is evident in the way that children

play and interact with peers, adults and

equipment.

The Fledglings are always focused on

developing the children‟s skills in groups

and their own sense of belonging to the

group. We start our day with a big group

hello, we then break off into smaller

groups, where the children explore our

room, the art room and the outdoor area.

In small groups, as teachers, we can

focus more on the individual child and

guide them in their learning experiences.

We often repeat the same experiences

many times over so that each time the

children are furthering their skills.

Book of the Week

“The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by

Louis Shea is always a favourite!

The children love to hear the story of the

bear that woke up in a sunny day and

went over the mountain to see what he

could see! It is a colourful, intriguing and

creative book.

“The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain to see

what he could see.

And what do you think he saw?”

Stage 1: Fledglings & Chicks By Michele Santos


Stage 1: Fledglings & Chicks Photo Gallery


Dear Parents

Firstly, we would like to talk once again

about the children‟s creativity and how

important is it to give them opportunities

for self-expression in their everyday

routines.

As you may know, our school philosophy

is very much focused on children‟s self-

expression either through art, dance,

drama or storytelling. Every day we see

children representing their thoughts and

knowledge in a way that encourages

them to develop in confidence.

This is particularly significant and visible

this week, as we extended upon our

shadow theater project. This project

originated from children carefully

observing their environment where the

children noticed that the plants had

made an interesting shadow on the wall

just beside the dining area.

Shadows and the light play inspired the

children to experiment and test their

ideas by using natural sun light and

objects. The children immediately came

up with some interesting conclusions,

before afternoon tea they looked at this

same wall that we saw earlier in the day

and were very surprised to see that the

shadow of the plants has disappeared.

Bella asked: “Where is it?”

Ella looked at the ground and said: “My

shadow is here.”

Thomas: “When I move, my shadow

moves too.”

Theo tried to step on his shadow.

Natasha started to jump and watched

the shadow jumping with her.

As a part of an intentional teaching

strategy, we set up our provocation

board as a shadow theatre scene. The

children viewed it for a while and then

asked few interesting questions.

Harry said: “What that is for?”

William: “Where is the moon gone?”

Milena: “Is that a stage?”

Stage 2: Sparrows & Robins By Kasia Rymarczyk


Later we turned off all the lights in the

room and used torches to make our own

shadow theatre.

We explored some of shadow puppets

that we have in the school. The children

were fascinated with the circus

characters, perhaps because of their

quirky shapes, and interesting details.

We began with some relaxed,

spontaneous play with the puppets

followed by the children presenting short

stories using chosen characters. Some

children liked to move the puppets closer

and further from the light and watched

the effects of shadows becoming either

bigger or smaller, whereas other children

made sounds to represent their

characters.

George liked to make a “wraaah” sound

for the lion, while Camilla was singing

quietly while holding her ballerina

puppet.

The children discussed what the ideal

environment was for creating shadows,

which involved a lot of discussion and

problem solving.

Finally we came up with an idea to

create a theatre in the cubby house in

our classroom and decided to use the

teachers‟ iPhone as a torch as it has the

brightest light.

We always discuss our projects as a

group taking onboard children‟s ideas.

We sometimes draw projects on the

board or just talk and use hand and

body language to brainstorm ideas.

Children are fantastic at this.

This is an opportunity for children to build

on project work together as they share,

discuss, debate, plan and predict,

engaging in and enjoying the processes

of learning how to learn. This supports

them in building on their communication

and social skills and ability to take

responsibility, be independent and

resilient in life.



Many children went to visit Sydney‟s Vivid

- The Lights, Music and Ideas festival.

Children talked about their experiences

with excitement. To show everyone in the

class what we were conversing about,

we watched a video of an animation

screened onto the Opera House. Some

parents got involved and showed us the

photos of the lights that they saw in the

city. It was truly interesting to learn about

children‟s perception on that night time

experience. Lachlan knew that the

Opera House roof is known as the “Sails”

and that it was dark and he saw a lot of

people.

Thomas said that Vivid is a special event.

Ella recalled her experience of being

inside of the Opera House together with

Rohan. They watched a show.

Later as a group we were wondering

how the lights of Vivid are made?

Idris told us that it is a laser! Hmm…We

need to find out more. We are very

fortunate to have a lot of fabulous light

boxes in our school so we played with

coloured blocks and transparent objects,

observing them and experimenting in a

different ways.

This week of discoveries, drama, and

experimentation once again helped us

to realise that the children are keen and

curious observers and that they can see

extraordinary in the ordinary which is truly

amazing and magical!

BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING

The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia

OUTCOME 4: CHILDREN ARE CONFIDENT AND

INVOLVED LEARNERS

„Children use processes such as exploration,

collaboration and problem solving across all

aspects of curriculum. Developing dispositions

such as curiosity, persistence and creativity

enables children to participate in and gain from

learning. Effective learners are also able to

transfer and adapt what they have learned from

one context to another and to locate and use

resources for learning.‟



Stage 2: Sparrow & Robins Photo Gallery


Stage 2: Sparrows & Robins Photo Gallery


This week Thomas decided he would like

to learn about garbage trucks and how

they work.

The other Stage 3 children decided that

they were also interested in garbage

trucks and how the rubbish gets picked

up and sorted. First we started our

exploration with the question:

What does the garbage truck do?

Annie: "Picks up garbage."

Thomas: "Gets food and garbage."

Taiga: "I don't know."

Daniel: "I don't know."

Sarah: "Picks up all the rubbish."

Jeremy: "The garbage truck cried."

Lottie: "Picks up all the dirty food."

Jonny: "Rubbish."

There were some interesting

conversations regarding the garbage

truck and what it looks like. We searched

for a garbage truck picture and found

one that looked very busy.

Completion of an observational drawing

was the next project on our schedule.

We had lots of fun discussing and

explaining our garbage trucks and what

colours and what actions they perform.

The Kookaburras were very interested in

the long arm of the garbage truck and

how it picked up the rubbish and emptied

it into the back of the truck.

"Where does the garbage truck take the

rubbish?" asked Oliver.

"Let's find out!" replied Riina. "I know the

perfect book for us to read".

We all then sat down to enjoy the story of

"Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear" by

Matt Dray. It is a story about a toy bear

who is left out in the rain one day, gets

thrown in the garbage bin and ends up in

the tip! The children were so interested in

all the rubbish at the tip and were hungry

for more information regarding what type

of rubbish goes to the tip.

Stage 3: Kookaburras By Riina Andrew


The children have also been interested in

collage experiences this week. To extend

this interest, we decided to use collage

items to make our own garbage trucks.

The children were provided with different

coloured shapes of paper and used these

shapes to make a garbage truck. We

then added a variety of different

coloured cellophane to represent rubbish

in our truck.

This excitement then evolved into

recycling items and which bins each

piece of rubbish should be placed in. We

then went on to discover that we have

three different types of bins at Reddam

ELS. The blue bin is for paper, the yellow

bin is for bottles and plastic and the red

bin is for general rubbish. We then took a

look around our environment and found

some small pieces of paper that had

accidentally fallen on the floor.

"Which bin should these papers go in?"

asked the teacher.

"I know!" replied Oliver, excitedly. "The

blue bin, it goes in the blue bin."

"Yes, that's right," stated Zach.

"Yellow bin for the bottles, Riina," said

Emily excitedly as she pointed to the

yellow bin.

"I know the green bin is for plants," said

Sarah.

"How do you know that?" asked the

teacher.

"I saw it in the garbage story book," Sarah

replied.

As the Kookaburras became more aware

of garbage bins and the way we recycle

items, they have been more mindful of

which bins they are using each day and

are helping their peers with their recycling

knowledge as well.

We plan on investigating more about

recycling next week with games and

activities surrounding this interest!

Stage 3: Kookaburras By Riina Andrew


Stages 3: Kookaburras Photo Gallery


Our investigations have taken a very

different turn this past week. The children's

curiosity continued this week in finding out

what happened to our eggs in 'Our egg

experiment'.

The processes or process skills involved

with science include such activities as

predicting, observing, classifying,

hypothesising, experimenting and

communicating. We certainly tested

these as we hypothesised what was going

to happen.

We predicted what was going to happen

to the egg in the vinegar, which started

to bubble as soon as it was placed in the

liquid. After a couple of days we noticed

that the egg that was placed in vinegar

had lost its shell and grown in size.

"It's bigger than the one in water," noticed

Annie.

"It's lost its shell,” added Lottie.

This became quite a messy (and smelly )

experiment, we needed gloves and felt

like true scientists as we put our gloves

on, as we all wanted to feel the egg that

had lost its shell.

There has also been a lot of discussion in

our class about the excitement of Vivid

and all the amazing lights of Sydney.

Recalling their adventures of the light

festival the children remarked.....

Annie: "I saw the movie where we had

dinner, it was a dragon and there was

another dragon that had no wings, the

dragon that did have wings flies and the

dragon that didn't have wings went into

the water."

Sanjay: "I saw the Vivid light show, there

was lots of lights and did you see the

holograms, they had pictures in it."

Lottie: "I saw dinosaurs at the zoo, and I

fed them. I saw monkey lights in the

trees!"

James: "When I get to the zoo they don't

paint anything and saw some lights and I

saw the bridge with colourful lights on it."

Stage 4: Cockatoos By Sue Mayer


Dhrish: I saw some water lights, some

purple, orange, pink. I went to the zoo

and saw some animals.”

Austen: "I see a dragon and it‟s on the

water and it has wings."

Aditi: "I got a star wand, I went on the

ferry and the water was swishing around.

I got dumped when I was on the ferry"

Using photos from Vivid as provocation

for art work, the children painted their

own creations of the light show, exploring

the vibrant colours that they saw through

art.

Recalling and talking about experiences

is an important step in understanding pre

-literacy. It allows the children to tell their

own narratives and then express their

thoughts through multiple languages, in

their play, art work and verbal

communication.

Art is a wonderful means of expression

and over the past week the children

have enjoyed using the materials on our

collage trolley as an inspiration for

expression.

These different sensory materials have

created many different stories that are

unique to each child. There is a great

deal of problem solving and

concentration that happens when

children learn to take what is in their

head and put it onto paper.

When making collage, children have to

ask themselves basic questions like will

this glue be strong enough, if I cut here

will it fit, which materials will I use, how

much will I apply? In solving these

problems they learn about the creative

thinking process (EYLF LO 4).

They are located just outside our

classroom in the hall if you would like to

have a look.

Stages 4: Cockatoos By Sue Mayer


Stages 4: Cockatoos Photo Gallery


The Nest/ Fledglings

The children will participate in dance and

drama activities involving props and

music with the theme of Under the Sea.

Skills learnt this week:

Using the props to create objects

and animals from under the sea

Following direction

Listening and responding to the

teacher

Copy and repeat

Memory recall

Activities include:

Going under the sea to meet a

mermaid and other sea animals

Listen to sea animals

Creating a rhythm with the tapping

sticks (using different volumes)

Teacher led improvisation

Stages 2, 3 and 4

The children participated in an

improvisation of Jack and the Beanstalk,

using their imagination and creative skills.

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:

Playing „I Spy‟, something being with

„B‟.

Playing the bean game – a

movement association game

The children acted out the story

using mime.

Picture postcard

Dance & Drama By Laura Hudson

simone’s message - reddam house › pdf › 2016 › els_sl › els_stl_t2w7.pdf ·...

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