simone’s message - reddam house an event occurs which may effect their time at school such as the...

1 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1

Simone’s Message Dear Parents,

Our Teachers are most appreciative of all the support and assistance

you offer them on a daily basis. The partnership between parents and teachers is critical in ensuring that

we have a comprehensive understanding of the needs of your child and together we can build on each

other‟s knowledge through sharing insights and information with one another.

Hopefully by now you have accessed your child‟s Tapestry learning journey and have viewed the

observational records that the teachers collect on your child each week. Not only do these allow us to

ensure that your child is meeting all their learning outcomes it is also a lovely way to share snippets of their

day here at Reddam. Please feel free to respond by leaving a comment or message in return should you

wish. We value your contributions and appreciate any information you wish to share with us. We aim to

ensure that each child‟s journal is updated each week so if you are having any difficulty accessing your

account or do not find that a regular weekly update has been made I urge you to speak to your core

teachers so they can rectify this.

The first day information sheet that you first provided us on enrolment forms an important part of our

teachers understanding of your child. In order to fully support your child‟s learning it is valuable for us to

know them in the context of their family, culture and community. Our teachers always appreciate knowing

if an event occurs which may effect their time at school such as the arrival of a new sibling, the visit of a

grandparent, an illness they have experienced or even simple incidents such as a sleepless night or new

tooth, which may effect their day with us. Our teachers are always available via email so please do not

hesitate to send them a message and they will respond as soon as they can.

Our Reddam community is a rich support network and we hope during your time with us that you have the

opportunity to meet with many of our parents and families. This Term we are holding a Parent Cocktail

Party to welcome you all to the new school year. The dates for these events are as follows:

WELCOME COCKTAIL PARTY

STAGES 1 & 2 Thursday 155h March, 2018

STAGES 3 & 4 Tuesday 13th March, 2018

TIME 6.30pm – 8.00pm.

We do hope you can join us!

23RD FEBRUARY 2018

2ND MARCH 2018

By Mrs Simone Cooke, Principal


We belong as a team! Bounce and spin glow lights

This week‟s activity was about furthering the children‟s curiosity and connecting them with

technology and science. The Children experienced an interactive group activity with glow in the

dark spinners and a glow bouncy ball.

The Teachers encouraged all the children to sit within a circle on the floor around the light board.

As part of this experience the children used their sight and listening skills to learn how to how to

listen to the teacher and follow simple directions.

The Teachers dimmed the lights down in the room and then demonstrated how the glow objects

can move and change when spanned on the light board. After the teachers had demonstrated

the glow spinners we then demonstrated what to do with the bouncy ball by spinning the ball on

the light board and throwing the ball across the room. The children really loved this activity and

they all sat and watched the demonstration with interest and couldn‟t wait to be involved. It is

wonderful to see how engaged our Nest children are as learners.

All the children were also encouraged this week to use their gross motor skills and listening skills.

The children had to follow the teacher‟s instructions, which was to pick up the glow ball and

rotate the ball by spinning it and the finishing off by trying to throw the ball across the room. The

children had lots of fun and they were eager to take extra turns.

The Nest children demonstrated how well they can follow the teacher‟s instruction by listening

and watching. Also this activity helped further their understanding of how science and

technology can be beneficial and healthy within daily activities. Fabulous effort everyone!

Stage 1 - The Nests By Mrs Amanda Felton


Stage 1 - The Nest


Our Busy Bees

The Hatchlings once again have been very busy and have immersed themselves into the many

different activities and classes we offer throughout the week. This week we have taken part in

Clean Up Australia Day, it is a day that inspires and empowers communities to clean up, fix up

and conserve our environment. I believe that it‟s never too early to begin to understand how we

can be more conscious of our choices and take responsibility to actively make where we live a

better place. Throughout this week we have been having a group discussion how it wouldn‟t be

very nice playing outside with rubbish and what we can do to prevent this from happening. We

provided The Hatchlings to be able to first visually recognise the signs for disposing of rubbish,

Miss Hannah pointed to two different bins allowing everyone to recognise the colours and

different images, “red” is for general waste and “green” is for recycling. One at a time all of the

children picked up some rubbish and threw it away in the correct bin, they were so proud of

themselves and so were all of their teachers! It‟s so great to always continuing to develop this

understanding that can be valuable knowledge throughout the rest of their lives.

Continuing on learning more about getting to know you, this week we have been focusing on

our sense of taste. Taste is a very important sense due to its role in helping us determine the

flavours of foods and other substances. Young children are genetically programmed to have a

preference for certain tastes and a dislike for others. From the very beginning babies are

attracted to sweet flavour, they also like salty tastes, but are averse to sour and bitter. We gave

this genetically programmed preference a try this week and had our serves a little taste test

experience! It has been such a fun new thing to try and The Hatchlings have been very open

(and trusting) to trying these new flavours. In front of them they had small bowls with sugar

(sweet), cocoa (bitter), salt (salty) and lemon (sour), one after another they dipped their finger

into the small bowl then tasted it on their tongue. The most fun was the very sour lemon, some of

the children scrunched up their faces while others ate it like it was an orange with no reaction at

all!

They say it can take up to 15 tries of a food before a child becomes familiar with it and actually

likes it, so try giving your children some more lemon at home this weekend and enjoy the

experience of learning together!!

Stage 1 - Hatchlings By Miss Hannah Wallace


Stage 1 - Hatchlings By Miss Hannah Wallace


Playing With Loose Parts

“In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are

directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it.”

Simon Nicholson

Are you familiar with the theory of loose parts?

The concept of playing with loose parts has been around since the day children started playing with sticks

and stones.

Simon Nicholson, the creator of the loose parts theory, criticized how children were often presented with

„finished‟ materials and environments that left nothing to the imagination. He thought children were

robbed of all the fun and crucial learning experiences that come from being involved in the creating

process.

At Reddam we believe that all children are creative beings and this creativity should be nurtured and

empowered. To achieve this outcome we give the children the opportunity to play with a wide variety of

loose parts.

This week we have given the children different materials that we can find in our everyday life, such as:

popsicles, corks, old cd‟s, empty tape rolls and we placed them on a mirror giving another dimension to

the play.

The children used these parts in many different ways some of them wanted to build with the materials and

others opted for creating patterns and making faces, they spend a lot of time handling these objects and

just creating.

To extend the interest on the loose parts materials we decided to plan an art activity. The children went on

a hunt for natural resources in our playground and Alex K. found a rock, and Cody found another rock

and William M. another rock so we realized the outside pot plants had so many rocks and we could use

them for the art activity this week.

We offered the children a few containers with different paint colours so they could dip the rocks in one at

the time. Then we ask them to throw (gently) the rocks into a tray where we had some paper laying in it.

The approach to this activity vary from child to child some wanted to throw the rocks, while others used

the rocks as brushes and another lot decided that finger painting was their thing.

After all the rocks were thrown into the trays we asked the children do give the tray a big shake so the

colours would cover the whole paper. The messier the more there is excitement and satisfaction.

Come and find your child‟s creation in our art Gallery!

Stage 1 - Fledglings By Miss Gabriela Guimaraes


Stage 1 - Fledglings


Climbing Mountains

Climbing mountains, climbing mountains, what do you see? What do you see? Continuing our last weeks

rock enquiry, the children this week explored the mountains, their colours, landscape and different

geological formations then experimented using soil to create some beautiful paintings.

Often while exploring our outdoor space we find our children playing with the plant soil, mixing it with their

fingers, checking its colours and textures. During this inquisitive process they find sticks, leaves, small toys

and even worms! Playing with nature and using senses to explore is a vital part of a child‟s development, as

it connects them to a natural world full of surprises and discoveries.

To support our children‟s inquisitive and brilliant minds we created a space in our room demonstrating

three different ecosystems: the desert with a mountain, a river and a green pasture. We displayed some

wild animals such as vultures, snakes, crocodiles, elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, rhinoceros and

hippopotamuses. The children were thrilled to see that space and they spent a great amount of time

moving the animals around, imitating its sounds and even pretending to give them food and water from

the river.

In our sensory corner we created an inviting space with brown play dough, a green tablecloth, wooden

sticks and yellow and red cellophane paper. The children used their imagination to create mountains and

rocks using the given resources.

In our creative corner we had two successful activities. One consisted of mountain pictures and earthy

colour crayons and the other using paint mixed with mud. Taking meaningful resources as art inspiration is

important for children as it works as a tool for them to create, visually expressing their very own

interpretation. The other one was a painting experience called mud painting. They enjoyed painting with

mud, which is an open-ended resource, giving the children the opportunity to manipulate a thicker and

earthier paint.

In our exploration corner the children were invited to explore gemstones, there colours, shapes and sizes,

using mirrors and magnifying glasses. They loved this set up and were amazed by the beautiful little rocks,

as many of them said.

Finally, to complete our week with a golden key the children were invited to create a 3D mountain, using

paper towel, glue and earthy paint colours. The result is beautiful and it is displayed in our room.

I wish you all a great weekend with your beautiful children. They make our days happier and I am grateful

to be part of this big family called Reddam ELS.

Stage 2: Chicks By Miss Michele Santos


Stage 2: Chicks


Stage 2 - Sparrows & Finches By Ms Eva Lo, Ms Natalie Stone

Sensory Experience Week

Sensory play takes an important role in children‟s early brain development. Children learn best through

their senses which stimulates their use of touch, smell, hearing, sigh and fine motor skills. We believe that

children learning to differentiate sharp from round. Smooth from rough, cold and warms a basic step in

empowering the brain‟s ability to discover, classify more sophisticated information later on. In our

curriculum planning, children have the opportunities to get messy with various types of sensory play.

From our last week science experience creating the coral reef was so exciting we decided

to further extend learning more about what is the ocean. During group time

we discussed more about the coral reef together and asked the children what they

thought the ocean might smell like. This was a tricky question and The children

explored the answer throughout the week and learnt that the ocean can be made

up of salt water. This sparked a lot of interest and we have been focusing on

coral sensory week exploring this time developing our sensory skills learning

about what we can smell, taste and touch from the ocean. The children created

some very special artwork using the salt and watercolour to create their very own salt-water coral reef art.

This was such a fantastic opportunity for the children to discover a new way to actively think and

experience a project in a totally different way, learning to think critically may be one of the most important

skills that children will need for the future.

This allows them to begin to understand how to use all of their sensors when

approaching a new situation and problem solve how best to achieve their own

personal outcomes.

In addition, The Sparrows and Finches have been very brave using only their sensory skills of touch to

determine what they think they can feel in the mystery bag. Inside there was rough, dry sand, hard shells,

bumpy sea animals, smooth fish, shark and different sea animals. It was such fun watching their reactions

and how they described what they thought they could feel, guessing what it may be and decide where

do they go on the sand or water.


Stage 2 - Sparrows


Stage 2 - Finches


When I grow up ……

Using a story titled „When I grow up ….” by Tim Minchin, was the inspiration for conversations that were

had this week. The children were taken on an adventure surrounding the working life of adults and the

careers that are available. Some Kookaburras questioned the work that their own parents participated in

during the working week. Our group of Kookaburras told us that their mums and dads had fun at work.

We then considered the careers that we would like to take on when we are grown up and hypothesised

the skills that we would need to acquire to achieve our career goals. We had a great variety of careers to

explore and consider for ourselves and each other. An art experience was then proposed to extend and

cement the Kookaburras knowledge surrounding career choices. This art work was a process as the

children first drew their intended career and later went back to add water colours to complete the

activity.

James: “I will be a policeman”

Mason: “I will be a daddy”

Teddy: “I want to cook pancakes” (we then decided on a chef)

Shelley: “I am a princess”

Joel: “Policeman”

Wayne: “A robot like Optimus Prime”

Ryan: “Lion”

Jessica: “A teacher”

Sebastian: “Superman”

Taylor: “Mummy”

Leah: “Princess”

Caleb: “Cat boy”

Charlotte: “Apple Jack”

Carolyn: “Shopper in a pizza shop”

Role play situations were then explored with dress up items in the home corner. The children took on their

role seriously and participated in situations that they predicted would happen in real life. By facilitating

and fostering these ideas and suggestions surrounding career paths the Kookaburras have bright futures

ahead of them.

Stage 3 - Kookaburras By Ms Riina Andrew


Stage 3 - Kookaburras


Stage 3 - Lorikeets By Ms Emily Chacon

Peter and the Wolf

Music ignites all areas of child development and skills. This week we have been exploring the beautifully

orchestrated story of Peter and the Wolf. The Russian symphonic fairy tale was written by Sergei Prokofiev

in 1936, a narrator tells a story while an orchestra illustrates it. Each character of this tale is represented

by a corresponding instrument in the orchestra: the bird by a flute, the duck by an oboe, the cat by a

clarinet, the grandfather by a bassoon, the wolf by three French horns, Peter by the string quartet (violin),

and the shooting of the hunters by the kettle drums.

Throughout the week the children were encouraged to listen to the introduction, and really focus on the

instruments and what they sound like. The children were then tested with flash cards. Emily laid out a line

of characters and a line of instruments. They were then encouraged to work together to match the

cards.

As the children were discussing which cards to match, they were using their communication skills and

ability to work with others. This experience encouraged children to further develop their sense of identity,

as children learn about themselves they create their own identity within their school community.

As a class we then began to explore tempo and the way different songs are played to a fast or slow

beat. Emily explained Lento – slow tempo and Veloce – Quick tempo, then using wooden tapping sticks

the children created their own tempo.

Emily then encouraged the children to display their knowledge by listening to a song played through a

speaker. First a classic instrumental song was played, the children began to tap their sticks slowly and

softly. Next the Wiggles – Hot Potato was played, the children began to bang loudly and quickly along

with the song.

To finish off the group time Emily queried the children on what emotions they felt throughout each tem-

po.

Slow (Lento)

Isabelle – “I feel tired”

Michael – “it makes me better”

Steven – “calm”

Sienna – “I feel beautiful”

Fast (Veloce)

Maro – “Silly”

Daniel – “I fell happy”

Next week we will be exploring sound through art. The children will be encouraged the allow the music to

create their art through impressionism.


Stage 3 - Lorikeets


Stage 3 - Galahs By Ms Lisa Harris

‘Room on the Broom’ Literacy Experience

Exposing young children to literature is vital for their overall development. This sets the foundations for

each child‟s developmental construction of; speech and sound, correct sentence structure and

grammar. It also allows children to develop the tools for imagination expression. The teaching aim for this

week was to provide children with opportunities that allowed active involvement in literacy. Children

were given linked curriculum sessions based on the children‟s book called “Room on the Broom”.

“Room on the Broom” written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler was read by the

teacher promoting children‟s interest and involvement. This led the children into the next learning activity

that encouraged children to express their imagination through the usage of props. Each child was provid-

ed with pictures of the characters from the book “Room on the Broom”. They were invited to use

these props to create their story or retell the story. During their expressions, our teachers were able to see

each child‟s confidence when reflecting many elements of the book. While observing this group of chil-

dren, many were able to verbally expressed their imaginations.

Some answers were:

Zoe – “The bird is going over the mountain then a dragon came”

Mabel – “The witch on the broom”

Amber – “Frog and bird went flying into the mud”

Jack – “Witch is flying and found the hat. The witch took the hat

back. The witch was so happy it found the bird”

Chloe – “The witch, the cat”

Arabella – “The dragon come to eat them, look at the hat it has come

off, flying around”

Matteo – “The witch is not happy, the dragon is finding the witch”

Ed – “It‟s a tree, the dragon fly, a witch is flying around the

dragon, watch out”

These children are expressing confident while verbally illustrating their minds. Our art project for this week

connected to this children‟s book. The children helped create two broomsticks by using long pasta that

was cooked at one end. Our class used the pasta as a painting tool to create masterpieces. These chil-

dren were able to see the link between this art lesson and the literacy component.


Stage 3 - Galahs


Research shows that colours have a personal effect on us. Different colours bring out different

emotions to which may influence our behaviour or actions.

In the Penguin‟s room this week a new provocation was started, The Colour Theory. The children

were introduced by talking about the rainbow, singing about the rainbow and creating our

own rainbows.

Using „How the crayons saved the rainbow‟ as our text, the children began discussing how we

see so much colour in our everyday life and how that in itself is linked to joy. We then began

discussing on how life would be without any colour. If it would alter our mood and if so how. The

children all agreed how the rainbow makes them happy especially when they see it in the sky

after a rainy day. From this discussion the children created their own rainbows using crayons.

From this provocation so far, we have discovered the importance of colour in the world and the

children have been discussing how certain colours links to certain emotions. Throughout the

next few weeks, children will be exploring colour through literacy and art. Each week we will be

reading a book linked to colour, with us starting with primary colours, then moving on to

secondary colours and then looking how the colours link to our emotions and why. This

provocation will assist the Penguins in recognising their emotions and why they feel certain

feelings. This will inevitably assist in their emotional and social development.

Carrie Cousins said “Colour impacts intuition”, intuition is something as humans we develop

young however as we grow older is when we begin to listen to it. Our aim is to get the Penguins

listening to their intuition and that is starting from our exploration of colour and emotion.

Stage 3 - Penguins By Ms Shazzy Amjadi


Stage 3 - Penguins


Expressing our emotions.

This week we started our new provocation. The provocation is “How to behave when I feel…” This

provocation has come about as there are a few children who are still learning to control their emotions

and learning how to deal with these. Because of this I feel it is highly appropriate that we explore this area

with the children. I feel it will encourage good social behaviours and give the children skills that they can

use in later life. During the week we have been exploring and discussing a range of emotions and feelings.

We started off the topic by reading the story “In My Heart” this story talks about a little girl who has a

different feeling in her heart for different experiences she was experiencing, for example “Sometimes my

heart is feels like a big yellow star, shiny bright. This is when my heart is happy.

After we have read the story the children were asked “How does your heart feel today” These are our

responses:

Anya: I feel happy, I‟m going on my holiday

Mireia: Happy

Sophie: I am shy

Isabelle: I am brave

Oliver: Happy

Jack: I am scared today

Seren: I am sad sometimes.

Saskia: Calm

Jade: I‟m feeling sad when my eye hurts

After the children explained how they felt we passed around the mirror to each child and we wanted the

children to make a face in the mirror of how they felt. This allowed the children to visually see themselves

and what the emotion looks like in real life.The art activity that we supplied for the children this week was

making faces with pasta. The children had a mirror, plain pasta, PVA glue and paper and they were asked

to design their face using the pasta depending on how they felt at that current time. The best thing about

this activity was that not one child‟s face was the same, all the children are unique in their own ways.

Another activity we set up for the children was shaving cream prints. The children were able to use food

colouring to represent how they have been feeling and put it into the shaving cream, we then mixed it

around and then printed their work. Not all children use all the colours and that was fine.

“Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find”

Stage 3 - Toucans By Ms Lauren Doughton


Stage 3 - Toucans


Stage 4 - Cockatoos and Flamingos By Ms Bernadette and Amanda

DIORAMAS- Cockatoos and Flamingos

What better way to collaboratively demonstrate our understanding and learning connected to insects,

than to create a diorama?! Our dioramas allowed the children to create and plan three dimensionally.

Our dioramas evolved and were tweaked throughout the week to tell a story about four different insects –

butterfly, grasshopper, ants and beetle. Working collaboratively means that there is no limit to the level of

creativity that the children have inside of them. They are able to share ideas and negotiate, adding and

removing items to the boxes. It has also helped the children to view art in a three dimensional manner as

they cut out their art and hung them from the roof or found a way to stand them up from the ground.

Before they began to create their dioramas, the children were encouraged to sketch diagrams and

make a plan for their insect boxes. This was important as it allowed them to portray their unique perspec-

tives and discuss their designs with their friends. At group times, we revised what we had previously

learned about each insect and then the children were challenged to think about what might be added

to each habitat diorama. Children chose what they were most drawn to and interested in before begin-

ning to plan for that particular insect diorama. We used our information books and the internet to helps us

find out about what our four insects would normally have in their habitat before adding anything. We

wanted to get our facts right and ensure that they were correctly displaying the insect‟s habitats.

By leaving the learning space set up over the week children were able to revise their ideas and add to it

as they pleased. Often throughout the week the children could be seen accessing the materials, collect-

ing materials from around the school and appropriating them to add to the dioramas. It was interesting,

listening to the conversations as children tried to think of ways to make a three dimensional tunnel for

ants, or how to draw different parts of the life cycle for the butterfly. At other times, children would find

resources or draw something that they wanted to add and had to explain it to each other before it was

added to the collaborative project.

The results were fantastic, although we always try to focus on the process of creating art (the process of

learning and the process of children expressing themselves), we certainly cannot overlook the product

that the children created. They were so proud of their efforts and have been pulling over teachers, and

parents alike, to show them what they added to the project throughout the week.


Stage 4 - Cockatoos


Stage 4 - Flamingos


Mandarin By Miss Sherry Zhu

As you know, Chinese New Year is a long festival. People in China celebrate it for 15 days. Now

it is coming close to the end of celebrating Chinese New Year. However, the fifteenth day of

CNY is quite important and meaningful (this Friday). The last day of CNY is the Lantern Festival or

the Spring Lantern Festival. It marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebra-

tions. In the early days, young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love.

For children, they can go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on

the lanterns. Also they can have delicious Tangyuan. It is so sweet and yummy.

Therefore, this week, I have focused on teaching the children about the legend of the Lantern

Festival and we are celebrating it here at school. For stage 3 students, they coloured in beauti-

ful lanterns. For stage 4 students, they made a paper lantern by themselves.

In terms of language development , most of the Stage 4 students have grasped how to say

“good morning” and “I am happy/unhappy” in Chinese. Therefore, following on from last week,

we started to learn how to say “Today I am happy/unhappy” in Chinese. This week, we will re-

view these sentences. As for stage 3 students, they can count 1 to 10 in Chinese with the ges-

tures. Based on this we are now learning some words about animals. In the future, they can

learn how to say that I have two dogs or three cats in Chinese. For the students who come from

Chinese backgrounds, we are offering more language extension and this week, we will learn

how to say “Happy Lantern Festival” and review the structure of “yes or not”. For example: Are

you or are you not a baby.


Mandarin By Miss Sherry Zhu


Italian By Valentina

How many people are in the room?

Let‟s count together: uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque....

That‟s how we started our Italian lesson this week.

The children really loved counting, mostly in a different language, because they can understand

the other sounds of the words and for them it is something fun.

Through this activity children are able to learn in a spontaneous way how to count in Italian -

something they can already do in English

Our lessons are always based on learning colours. This week I introduced a new colour, white,

bianco.

I also prepared some puzzles with the letters, so they could try to put the letters together and form

the whole worlds. This allows children to link their understanding of letters and literacy with their

new understanding of Italian.

Every week children are very excited and pleased to do my Italian lesson and I‟m very proud of

them, because they showed me that they are really learning some Italian things.

If you want to practice with them:

1.uno 2. due 3.tre 4.quattro 5.cinque 6.sei

7.sette 8.otto 9.nove 10.dieci

Grazie

Ciao ciao


Drama and Dance By Miss Laura Hudson

The Nest/ Fledglings

The children will participate in teacher led dance and drama activities involving props and music continuing the theme of Dinosaurs

Skills learnt this week:

Following direction by watching and copying the teacher

Listening and responding to the teacher and their friends

Using their imaginations to go on an interactive adventure

Call and response

Facial expressions

Activities include: This week‟s class began with the teacher in role as a paleontologist,

explaining her role and showing the children the book she had wrote

This was followed by a number of dinosaur sounds. Could they guess which dinosaurs they belonged too?

Went on a Dino Hunt, using a time machine to get there. The time machine had lots of buttons, they had to find one, push it and make

a sound whilst doing this. They did this several times experimenting with different sounds before being spun around

The children followed Dinosaurs Footprints, where would it take them? They also used them to practice their balancing skills

Went on journey through the tropical forest, over a bridge, the quick sand, river, before seeing the T-Rex which was straight ahead, they

then retracted their steps as quick as they could pushing the button in the time machine so they could get back to their own time

Used Facial expressions to show what a Dinosaur looks like. They then split into 2 groups. One group was the dinosaurs and the other

group themselves, they then reacted to the dinosaurs (call and response)

Stage 2/3 Objectives:

Adventure has been our main theme over the last couple of weeks. Therefore the children will use the skills they have learnt to do a

whole class improvisation using their imagination to develop the drama


The children worked together to create an interactive piece of drama.

Rhyming words

Facial expressions

Used their imagination to pretend the ribbons where fishing rods

Listened to one another and followed the teachers‟ direction

Activities include: Discussed what items we might take on a camping trip, looking at what the Teacher (in role as Laura the explorer)

had packed in her backpack

Listened and described the sounds they heard in the woods.

The ribbons acted as a great tool for a fishing rod. Whilst fishing they had to use facial expressions and gestures to show what they had

caught

As the sun went down we gathered sticks for the camp fire, toasting our mash mellows whilst singing a couple

Stage 3

Students will participate in a group led improvisation as characters from Fairytales and Nursery Rhymes. Students will work together

through a teacher led piece of drama exploring fictitious characters demonstrating their ability to use mime and other drama tech-

niques they have learnt this term

Students will use their imagination to transform one object into many other objects


Improvisation and creativity

Taking on the role of a character in a story

Working Together

Perform and present a piece of drama for their peers

Mime

Spatial awareness

Activities include: Oath of the day

Using their imagination to pretend the wand is another object (e.g. guitar, paddle etc. etc.)

Discuss what kinds of seats are there?

The Life of the seat – children who are the audience, try and guess what seat the performer is in.

Moving Body Shapes

Teacher led improvisation

Moving Body shapes

Whole group performance (the children performing all of the characters and actions)

Discuss possible ending and act them out


Music By Miss Gabby

This week, the children sang good morning, and tapped the beat to a new classical piece. More

and more, in every class the children have started to stamp their feet and show each other dif-

ferent places to keep the beat, such as on their knees, through clapping or tapping our shoul-

ders. Keeping the beat is an important element in music, and keeping the beat on their body

allows children to feel the way music is fast or slow, and get a sense of time.

The children cut up their imaginary vegetables, and the older children suggested different things

they could put in the soup for the rhyme 'chop chop choppity chop'. This requires the children to

use their imaginations and role play cooking. They made sure to make their dessert with 'pat-a-

cake' which many of the children could join in with saying. The repetition of initial rhymes and

songs allows the children to get to know the words, and be able to join in with their teacher,

while the new rhymes create interest and build on what they have already learnt.

This week, the teacher brought in picture books, to sing familiar and unfamiliar songs to the chil-

dren. Usually, books are read to children, so singing to them, with images in front of them opens

up the imagination, and gives them a focus, while joining in with songs they know. They sang

Twinkle twinkle little star and All the Pretty Little Horses (a beautiful lullaby that allows for relaxa-

tion towards the end of a lesson). They also sang Incy Wincy Spider from a book which extends

on the song, so listening to this allows the children to differentiate between singing voice and

speaking voice. We counted how many legs Incy had, helping to incorporate other skills into

their music lessons.

In the older children's' classes, there were so many requests for the song 'No more pie!' Which is a

piece that uses call and response. The children love being the 'echo' which is an important ele-

ment of listening and responding in music.

In each class the children revisited our 'pitter-patter' rain song as it was raining outside, and the

children told the teacher what they brought to school to help keep them keep dry. Asking ques-

tions and getting the children to share with the class helped them to build confidence. They also

used shakers and bells in this song, which the infants especially love.

Last but not least, and before the goodbye song, the children did the 'teddy bear Cha-cha'

which the children absolutely love, giggling at the teddy dancing, and joining in with actions

such as clapping in time, spinning around and dancing, which allows the children to freely ex-

press themselves and get creative.

Each week, the children will add some new rhymes and songs, often revisiting familiar songs, with

new elements such as pictures or props/instruments

Gabrielle Bloom

Dancearama Music Teacher


Music By Miss Gabby


Yoga By Ms Kelly Nance

Crawling back into the earth this week, the children revisited insect yoga. The children be-

came more familiar with the names of each, recalling many from the previous week.

During this yoga lesson, there was an opportunity to naturally include mathematical thinking

and exploration as well as scientific inquiring within the class as we observed the features of

insects. Children hypothesised about the number of legs insects had and we counted them as

we revealed a new insect pose. In some groups, we discussed the difference between spiders

and insects as a number of children wondered if spiders were within the insect family.

During quiet focus time, the children were each given a squishy bee balloon, a sensory experi-

ence that is both enjoyable under the fingertips and strengthens fine motor muscles. After-

wards, the children were shown how to play catch from their heads with the squishy bee bal-

loons by placing them on the top of their head in the middle, holding their hands in front of

their body in a catching position and then tilting their head forward to send the bee balloon

falling to the floor and perhaps into their hands. This game is a safe way to explore frustration

and perseverance as I model not being able to catch the bee balloon and as group

we discuss that it takes practice and patience to gain a new skill and that we have to keep

trying.

Love and Peace,

Kelly

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