simone’s message - reddam house · simone’s message . by simone cooke, principal. reading to...

1 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1

Simone’s Message By Simone Cooke, Principal

Reading to Children

It is never too early to nurture a love of reading!!! By reading to your baby, toddler or pre-

schooler you are fostering a love of books and reading which they can take with them

throughout their lives. Teaching children from a young age how to hold and care for a book

sends important messages on the value you place on reading and models expectations on

how a book is to be treated. From a young age, children can be taught how to turn pages,

view illustrations and read along to favourite stories. Discourage tearing or damaging books

and provide babies with hard bound or cloth books which can endure hard play. Repetition is

extremely important when it comes to reading to children .Although you may tire from reading

the same old books children love nothing better than making predictions, repeating and re

reading familiar stories.

As Toddlers particularly love everything action based, encourage them to join in the story

by finishing a phrase or rhyme in the book. Try to read with expression and exaggeration and

encourage them to label and describe what they see in the illustrations. Books with lift up tabs

are very popular with this age as they love the cause and effect of predicting what is beneath.

Remember to ask regular questions about the story, which will help to build their vocabulary

and language development. Reading together each night not only builds good concentration

and listening skills at this age but is a lovely, calm way to end the day together.

When reading with your pre-schooler you can assist in building up their pre reading skills by

pointing out the direction of print and the fact that it runs from left to right. Discuss individual

words, letters and sounds and discuss how they are separated by spaces. As you read each

page you can teach simple decoding skills by pointing to each of the words with your finger,

using this one to one correspondence reinforces to the child that each word conveys meaning.

Encourage them to guess what a word might say by looking for clues in the illustrations and

build phonemic awareness by talking to your child about the sound that individual letters

Remember that learning the sound a letter makes is more important that learning its name!

Above all else put the laptop or iPad aside once in a while and pick up a book!!

I am attaching a list of some tried and tested favourites you may like to share with your child.

17TH MARCH 2017


Babies

Peepo - Janet Ahlberg

Time for Bed - Mem Fox

We‟re Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen

Each Peach Pear Plum - Janet Ahlberg

My Brown Bear Barney - Elizabeth Fuller

Where‟s My Teddy? – Jex Alborough

Close Your Eyes – Kate Banks

More, More, More, Said the Baby – Vera B Williams

Gossie - Olivier Dunrea

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes – Mem Fox

Where is the Green Sheep? - Mem Fox

Toddlers

Guess How Much I Love You – Sam McBratney

The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle

Where‟s Spot? – Eric Hill

Koala Lu – Mem Fox

Counting Kisses – Karen Katz

Are You my Mother? Phillip D Eastman

Who said Moo? – Harriet Zefert

Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell

Where is the Green Sheep? - Mem Fox

Preschoolers

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson‟s Dairy – Lyndsay Potts

The Paperbag Princess – Robert N Munsch

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – Judith Viosrst

Possum Magic – Mem Fox

There‟s a Hippo on My Roof Eating Cake – Hazel Edwards

The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein

The Rainbow Fish – Marcus Pfister

The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams

Clive Eats Alligators – Alison Lester

Who Sank the Boat? Pamela Allen

Simone’s Message, continued By Simone Cooke


This week we combined two of our favourite things – cars and drawing. The result was a beautiful

masterpiece and lots of fun. The children had great fun pushing, pulling, racing and moving cars around

the paper as well as picking them up to check out the pens and of course get covered in it. Luckily they

are the Crayola washable ones!! .We will definitely be doing this again.

This simple play could be extended further by encouraging the children to make patterns. I also plan to

try this outside using chunky chalks (once it stops raining!) or even with paint and paintbrushes for some

messy play. Not only was this activity quick and easy to set up it covered the 7 areas of learning and

development set out in the EYLS. The following was observed with the 12month olds and 14 month olds

Physical development: fine motor skills, passing toys from one hand to another

Personal, social and emotional development: playing alongside others, interested in what other

children do.

Literacy: early mark making, beginning to distinguish between marks that have been made.

Maths: counting cars, language of size, noticing patterns.

Understanding the world: knows cars are for pushing.

Expressive arts and design: notices mark making, experiments with colours and marks

Communication and language: learning new words (colours)

Spices Painting

Spice Painting is a fun way to make some creative art – with a sensory twist! To make the spice paint we

poured washable white paint into small bowls, then added turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon.

The more spice we added the deeper was the colour. The children were very keen to be responsible for

mixing all the varieties.

The smell from the spices was fantastic! We all really enjoyed the specific smell of each spice when

he used a particular paint. We just loved the earthy tones of the different paints!The children were

encourage to pour the spices into the paint, mix it, smell it , paint it and then when they were finished we

decided to sprinkle a bit more spice to the final product. It was great to see the different reactions when

they were asked to smell the spices . Come and check which spice your child chose to create their

artwork.

Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings By Gabriela Guimaraes

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/eyfs-statutory-framework/

http://craftulate.com/art-with-kids


Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings Spice Painting


Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings Outdoor Exploration


Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings Dramatic Play


Stage 1: The Nest & Hatchlings


Sensory Safari

Every week the Fledglings group is exposed to activities that aim to support their creativity,

imagination and social skills. While observing how the children love both sensory and pretend/

imaginative play we decided to set up a table with wild animals, kinetic sand, pieces of wood

and sticks.

Kinetic Sand is an easily mouldable yet flowing substance. It is not just sand! It is a substance that

when squeezed becomes a solid mass that can be moulded into different forms that remains in

a shape, but with a simple touch it can flow with amazing motion. It looks like wet sand but is

fact it is completely dry!

While some children loved holding the sand, creating patterns with their fingers and wooden

sticks and creating “ a Savannah habitat ” others were not that keen to explore it. In fact it is a

new sensory activity and it might take some of the children some time to get used to its

consistency.

As we continue to explore our provocation 100 Colours the children were exposed to an activity

consisting of different materials in different colours and got to experiment with glue. They were

able to choose two colours to create beautiful rainbow colours. Once again it was great to

observe their colour preferences, the objects they want to use and how they glued. We

presented the children with a collage tray containing feathers, pom poms, and pieces of colour

paper, cellophane, sticks, pipe cleaners and straws. It seems like a simple art activity but in fact it

involves making pictures and designs by pasting different materials, textures, objects and shapes

onto a background. While choosing the collage materials the children are able to make choices

about what materials they want to use giving them a sense of autonomy. As the children select

and paste with collage materials they engage in ways which foster the imaginative and

creativity

Our Fledglings group would like to say a big Happy Birthday to James and Blake and we wish you

all an amazing weekend.

Stage 1: Fledglings By Michele Santos


Stage 1: Fledglings Sensory Safari


Stage 1: Fledglings Sensory and Creative Play


Stage 1: Fledglings 100 Colours Collage


Stage 2: Chicks, Sparrows & Robins By Kasia Rymarczyk

Dear Parents,

I hope you have had a wonderful week. We certainly did, as all the children were truly

engaged in their learning through constructive play as well as creative and hands- on

experiences, carefully planned and prepared by their teachers. This balance of planned

and spontaneous experiences enables children to improve their skills, use their curiosity,

explore their creative skills and develop life skills for the real world.

Probably the most well-known aspect of the Reggio Emilia and Reddam alike philosophy

is the belief that children use many different ways to show their understanding and

express their thoughts and creativity. A hundred different ways of thinking, of discovering,

of learning. Through drawing and sculpting, through dance and movement, through

painting and pretend play, through modelling and music, and that each one of

these Hundred Languages is valued and nurtured. These languages, or ways of

learning, are all a part of the child. Our philosophy emphasises hands-on discovery and

learning that allows the child to use all their senses and all their languages to learn.

As we follow our Minibeasts project we can clearly observe the children using all their

senses and languages to discover and process new and interesting facts and

information.


Stage 2: Observational Drawings of Insects By Kasia

The Robins group along with several of the Stage 2s visited the drawing provocation table during

morning routine to do an observational drawing activity.

Some children were more confident than others in holding pencils and making distinguishable

marks on the blank paper. They all, however, used pencils to represent their thoughts.

Observational drawing is not about creating a flawless resemblance of a subject; just like all other

“languages”– painting, sculpting, dance, drama, music – it is another way for children to make

their thinking visible. Observational drawings can be something as simple as a provoking image in

a book. In our class, however, we used the topic of insects using 3D models as well as the

photographs representing them as a stimulus. We provided the children with ample drawing

materials that included watercolours pencils, fine tipped markers and sharpened quality coloured

pencils. We encouraged the children to draw what they saw and showed them that we value

their ideas.

Children of this age may not be able to draw an exact replica, however their expressive art

always impresses me. I was fortunate enough to observe children drawing insects in flight, insects

with many, many eyes and lots of legs. Drawings representing worms sliding in circular

movements and complicated colonies of ants marching up the hill. It was interesting

combination of what they could see and what they could imagine. It is a constant reminder that

children need opportunities to express themselves through many mediums and always have

someone willing to listen and value their ideas.


Stage 2: Observational Drawings of Insects


Stage 2: Cocoon Sculpturing By Kasia Rymarczyk

The Sparrows are continuing to explore the life cycle of the butterfly, carefully studying Eric Carle

style artworks in his famous “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” book. When we pre-tested the children,

most were uncertain what a “cocoon” was, so the teachers decided to use the technique of

paper mache sculpturing to explain better this complex nature wonder.

Using recycled paper, glue and balloons the children got completely lost in the process of

making their cacoons. Dipping, tearing and sticking the straps of paper was a truly enjoyable and

relaxing experience, not only for the children may I add! The children started by studying

the shapes of the cocoons and then engaged as a group in the process of making it. The

hardest part of the whole process was for the children to wait, wait and wait…until the sculpture

was dry. The main learning focus of this activity was for the children to collaborate, observe and

work as a team. They communicated, exchanged ideas and explored the concept of one

of the most incredible life cycle amongst the insects family.


Stage 2: Cocoon Sculpturing


Stage 2: Symmetrical Insect Painting By Kasia Rymarczyk

As part of our fun provocation "The World of Mini Beasts", we have done so many activities

related to different bugs and insects. To develop our little Chicks‟ creativity further, we decided to

do a symmetrical insect painting as an extension activity. This artwork was fabulous fun as well as

being a great opportunity to build and reinforce the children‟s fine motor skills and their basic

understanding of the concept of symmetry .

The children selected their special shiny paint bottle and squeezed it onto their folded paper.

When they had their paint just where they wanted it, they were shown how to fold the paper

again by themselves. They then used their little fingers to gently rub on top of the paper to let the

paint distribute evenly.

When they were ready they peeled back the paper to reveal their gorgeous insects inside! It

was a perfect time to point out the concept of symmetry. We looked at the beautiful insects we

had created and talked about the pattern they made and how this has been transferred to the

other side and both sides match, just like a mirror. How clever we are!!!


Stage 2: Symmetrical Insect Painting


Dinosaur Provocation

Everyone has been interested in dinosaurs this week so to follow on from the children‟s

interests, a dinosaur corner has been set up inside. The group have explored the

different types of dinosaurs and we have practised the pronunciation of some of the

dinosaur names which can be a bit tricky. We tried our hand at cave paintings on

black paper with white paint which looked very effective on our dinosaur board. A

suggestion was made by one of the children to „dig for dinosaur‟ bones in the sandpit

outside, which we will follow up on next week! More dinosaur fun to come for our

aspiring Archaeologists as the children explore and engage in social and learning

experiences surrounding our Prehistoric Provocation.

Welcome to Our New Friends!

We would like to give a very warm welcome to our two new students, Helen and

Lucia. They have both joined our group with great enthusiasm and we are very happy

that you have joined the Kookaburras group. We wish you many happy learning

experiences here at Reddam and look forward to growing and learning with you both!

Stage 3 - Kookaburras By Riina Andrew


Stage 3: Kookaburras Dinosaur Exploration


Stage 3: Kookaburras Social and Creative Play


Stage 3: Kookaburras Hand-Eye Coordination


This week the Flamingos continued their Indigenous artwork by looking at and discussing

different Indigenous symbols.

We used the iPad and went on the internet to find some Indigenous symbols. We came

across a page that had been put together with lots of different symbols that the

children found to be very fascinating. Each child picked a symbol that they liked and

copied it onto a piece of paper. Once they had practiced drawing their symbol, the

children then used cotton tips and paint to draw the same symbol onto a smooth white

rock. The children had a lovely time looking at each other's symbols and asking what

each one meant.

As the week went on the children began showing an interest in dinosaurs. The dramatic

play corner has ben set up with a prehistoric theme and the children are absolutely

loving it. We have discussed what the word 'Prehistoric' means and the children have

displayed their prior knowledge and understanding of this word through our class

discussions and a visual representation. We will begin focusing on the prehistoric world

over the next few weeks and see where this child led interest takes us.

Learning Outcome 4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with

people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials.

Stage 3 - Flamingos By Amanda McDonald


Stage 3: Flamingos Discovering Symbols, Prints & Dinosaurs


Stage 4 - Rosellas By Sue Mayer

Literacy and numeracy are more than just recognising letters and numbers it encompasses a much

deeper understanding. The Reggio Emilia Approach to learning that we follow here at Reddam encour-

ages children to learn at this much deeper level.

Research indicates that to understand the foundation of language you have to understand the sounds

of the alphabet, this is called phonological awareness. During our day we practice writing our names

and are starting to encourage writing of letters, words and numbers in our project work, encouraging

correct pencil grip each time a child puts pen to paper and the sounds of letters in words.

Over the past week as part of our Provocation the children in the Rosellas group have been investigat-

ing the eye and what our eyes actually do. To increase awareness of letters and letter recognition we

labelled an eye and looked at different ways that the eye can be drawn. We practiced writing our

names on the whiteboard and counted our letters to see who had the longest name. Children learn to

recognise the letters in their own name first and at this stage of development are beginning to cogni-

tively write the shapes needed for each letter. This takes practice and each child will develop at their

own rate.

Ways that you can help at home is to encourage your child to hold a pencil using the correct grip. One

way is to scrunch up a tissue and hold it with your pinky and ring finger using your middle finger to rest

the pencil on, holding the pencil between your thumb and second finger. When you are in the car you

might play games such as "I Spy", "What rhymes with...." or as you read story book talk about the book

beyond the words to encourage a greater understanding of words and their meanings.


Stage 4: Rosellas Early Literacy


Stage 4: Cockatoos By Bernadette Casey

Stage Four continue their investigation into the process and product of Art. Our paper mache

masks set over the weekend and the children have been able to creatively express themselves

as they design, paint and decorate.

The children showed a connection to prior learning as they implemented some of the things

they had learned about facial expression along with the purpose of masks as they engaged in

their art experience. We have seen everything from lady beetles and fairies, to ghosts, bats,

aliens, dinosaurs and even a possum be created. The really amazing part about this art explo-

ration was how independently the children worked, requiring very little teacher interaction to

complete their masks or to remain focused through the process. I am so proud of how unique

each child‟s mask is, they are a true reflection of their interests and hard work. With interest re-

maining in this area, we look forward to seeing what else we can create and learn about

masks.

This week in Group time we have placed a focus on literacy, particularly hand writing. The chil-

dren love to learn how to correctly write their letters in foundation handwriting, however, some

struggle to hold the pencil correctly and form the correct shapes. To assist the children with

this, we went back to basics. We looked at working towards using the correct pencil grip and

began to practice making hopping patterns that are used to make up the letters “mnr hpb”.

We wrote our names and then underlined the „hopping letters‟ we used guides to help us for

the „hops‟ correctly and then tried it on our own, we used our hands in the air like magic

wands to draw the letters and then used our whole bodies to make the bends that occur in

different letters. This multi sensory approach ensures that all children utilize their own personal

learning styles and these are accounted for in the Stage Four classroom. If your child is show-

ing interest in this area you can follow this up at home by encouraging the recognition of let-

ters (outside of singing the alphabet) and looking for the „hop‟ shape present in some letters.


Stage 4: Cockatoos


Music By Justin Sze

Stage 1 & 2:

This week, we have a new theme for the children. Once again, children are discovering they have fin-

gers on their hands! This sounds so obvious to us but these little ones are really discovering how to control

those little fingers and we can see how they try so hard to keep their thumbs up while keeping all the

other fingers closed. Their thumbs were the “Jacks” in the box that went “pop”! We are working on the

precision to “pop” at the exact moment in the song. For Stage 1 children, learning which finger is the

thumb was the new learning experience. This week, we added a slide whistle to reinforce the concept

of jumping “up” and “down”. The other tricky thing for Stage 2 children was to stand on one foot. The

song about the frog had 2 distinct sections and the first section had actions that required them to blink

their eyes while the second got them to hop on one foot. This activity brought much laughter to the class

but children were learning to identify patterns through the song.

Stage 3:

Every child imagined they were at the beach. We listened to the sound of the waves and explored a

very special musical instrument called a “wave drum”. Through the song “wiggling my toes”, we help

children develop body part awareness through song. We also wiggled our ears in the water etc. We also

played with a new instrument called the “sand blocks”. In order to play this instrument, children had to

move in alternating movement instead of a parallel movement. This is a developing skill at this stage of

their development. This instrument also contrasted with the bells and drums which are shaken or struck to

produce the musical sound. We ended the lesson with a strange dance to walk like a crab. Ask your chil-

dren to show you how it works at home!

Stage 4:

We did a new activity today which required the children to pretend to be magical dancing clocks. Chil-

dren had to pretend to sleep while the clock maker switched off the lights for the night. Then the little

clocks and big clocks took turns to get up for a dance. Finally they returned to their original positions

when the clock maker returned. He had no clue as to how much fun the clocks had throughout the

whole night! Such pretend play helped children follow directions in a fun environment. They were really

learning through play! We also learned to sing a song, “Tideo”. In this song, there were 2 sections. The first

required children to tap on sticks as they sang and the second required them to jingle their bells as they

sang. Once again, the distinct timbre of the instruments marked the differing sections clearly. Apart from

teaching musical structure, children were also developing an understanding of the concept of sequenc-

es and patterns. This helps develop mathematical thinking.


Music


Mandarin Class By Sherry Zhu

Last week, when we reviewed the story of “I Went Walking”, I used the toys of related

animals mentioned in the story. The children were interested in seeing and touching

them. This lesson I have prepared some cards of each animal.

We revisited “Hop, Hop, Jump”, a story encouraging body action. The students moved

their body parts based on the contents. Some students even could speak the action in

Chinese properly. We will continue to practise the body actions again next lesson.

Picture puzzles are a good way to encourage students to concentrate on a specific

thing for a long time. We are using the puzzles to encourage the distinction of a variety

of objects which we practice saying in Mandarin.

We also watched “Grandpa's Little Train” to further our listening and comprehension

skills.

Most students are now familiar with the story and the song, so they can focus on listen-

ing to the pronunciation of Mandarin words within the show.


Yoga By Kelly Nance

Repetition is fundamental children's learning and development as neural connections in the

brain are strengthened through repetition, a one time experience is not enough for a neural

connection to form and stabilize. In addition to being vital for cognitive development, repeti-

tion provides the practice that children (and adults!) require to master new skills, increasing

confidence and perseverance, ultimately encouraging positive self-esteem and belief in one's

abilities. Aristotle commented on the role of repetition in learning by noting that 'frequent repe-

tition produces a natural tendency.' It is through repetition that possibility becomes ability. For

this reason, the Reddam children will be introduced to a yoga experience and have the op-

portunity to revisit the activities and yoga poses the following week.

Placing their imaginative goggles back over their heads, the children were excited and eager

to revisit the underwater poses from last week. Many smiles and laughs were had as the chil-

dren stretched and held poses to be pinchy lobsters, puffy fish, barking seals or rocking whales

swimming in the water. Quiet time for this experience comprised of holding up shells to our ears

and listening to the sounds of 'ocean.' Children quietly described hearing the sounds of "waves"

or "whales." Next week: Mini beasts in the garden!

Love and Peace,

Kelly


Yoga

simone’s message - reddam house · simone’s message . by simone cooke, principal. reading to...

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