Principal’s Message
By Mrs Kath Boyd
Dear Parents, Every day, I respectfully observe the loving, genuine interactions between our teachers and children. During these connections, the teachers are providing support, encouragement and motivation, as well as information, resources and guidance to their young friends. Likewise, when I read through the Daily Journals, individual student and group observations on Tapestry, I gain a deeper understanding of the experiences the children are being offered and an appreciation of the learning that is taking place. Children throughout all four stages are being encouraged to investigate and solve problems with each other and with their teachers, and as a result their thinking and learning is becoming deeper, richer and more complex. The Early Years Learning Framework firmly endorses play-based learning. It also strongly recognises the significant role that teachers play in helping to ensure that children’s play and learning is effective and meaningful for them. One of the most important things that we do is to engage in conversations with children, based on our relationships with them. Sustained, shared thinking involves children and teachers working together in conversations which provide opportunities to discuss and think about problems or challenges in a serious, extended way. In everyday reality, many of the conversations that adults have with children are superficial (a passing comment) or directive (telling them what to do or how to do it). There is a time and a place for both of these ‘passing conversations’. But, if that is the limit of our interactions with children, then we have little opportunity to connect seriously with children’s learning and thinking. We must, teachers and parents, make time for open-ended and exploratory conversations. “When adults take the time to involve themselves in children’s learning in a collaborative way… helping to extend, support and guide children’s thinking rather than simply providing immediate answers to children’s questions, they enable children’s thinking and learning to become deeper, richer and more complex.” (Touhill - 2021) The aim should be to not just be involved in children’s play, but using this shared experience to take advantage of opportunities to extend and enhance children’s thinking. By engaging children in deep conversations about what they are doing; by asking open-ended questions to encourage their thinking; and by supporting them to reflect on and evaluate the success or otherwise of their efforts, we can help children to begin to think in more sophisticated and abstract ways. As children talk through ideas and questions, new ideas and creative solutions have the chance to emerge. In the process, children not only broaden and extend their understanding of the problem at hand but they also begin to learn the value of collaborative approaches to problem solving. Stopping with your child for five minutes and investigating the experiences displayed on the wooden Provocation Table (upon arrival or departure if time permits) allows for these deep conversations to occur. Some good questions for encouraging and extending conversation include: - What do you think might happen next? - What is happening here? - Why do you think that happened? - How can I help you solve this problem? - How do you think they might be feeling?
- How did you do that? - What do you like most about your...? - Can you tell me about what you’re doing? - Can you tell me more about that?’ - ‘I wonder why …?’
Principal’s Message Continued...
By Mrs Kath Boyd
Speech & Occupational Therapy Parent & Staff Workshop: Wednesday 18th May 2022 (6 - 8pm) Next Wednesday evening, Lois (Speech Pathologist) and Celeste (Occupational Therapist) will be running a workshop at our school … and you are all invited to attend. Lois will: * Explain what Speech Pathologists do * Outline the Milestones for Communication * Address 'When should my child see a Speech Pathologist?' (Red flags for communication, speech sounds, social communication, stuttering, voice & feeding difficulties) * Discuss Bilingualism and Language delay * Offer strategies to build language learning Celeste will: * Explain what OTs do * Discuss common Early Childhood difficulties in relation to OT * Discuss the OT Screening Options Following this event, OT screenings will be offered for those children who may benefit from an assessment. This event will commence at 6pm and be an excellent opportunity to learn from these Early Childhood experts as well as ask any related questions you may have. Masks will be compulsory and we will follow our Covid-19 Protocols. ** Please RSVP to Grace (grace.nolan@reddamels.com.au) if you will be joining us.
Wishing you all a safe and relaxing weekend.
Pictured above: Joel, Lawrence, Elise and Miss Lizzie (2R) having a tea party Pictured below: Joanna and Florence (4E) playing Rock, Paper, Scissors
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Stage 1R
By Heather Gaskell
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” (Emilie Buchwald) Hello and welcome our dear families to Term 2, and what a fun time we are all going to have this term. Our Provocation focus is literacy this term... with an individual weekly focus on a different book and nursery rhyme. We are going to explore delightful books such as The Rainbow Fish, The Hungry Caterpillar, The Gruffalo and many more wonderful stories. I am certain that the children will be intrigued to find out what is going to happen on the next page. There is no better feeling in this season than curling up with a great book and blanket, and exploring through the pages, even at this age it is an experience to enjoy. For the first week we have focused on the book Possum Magic by Mem Fox, this is a sweet story about Grandma Poss doing some bush magic on her grandbabies. After making them invisible, she needs to find a way to make them visible again. This takes the little family all over Australia doing some very Australian things. To expand on Possum Magic we enjoyed a very Australian week with Australian animals going on a walk about on our paintings leaving their marks in earthy tones - red, yellow, and brown to represent the Australian outback. We also participated in some small world play which presented the different biomes of Australia and where the animals normally live. We had blue fabric (water) in which there were platypus and crocodiles, Koalas sitting on gum leaves, lizards and snakes living in the desert (sand). This helped the children to extend their knowledge of their country around them. It also encouraged them to involve their senses in the play when they touched the different textures of the materials. Some of our children took the initiative to rescue Australian animals, as some of the animals were trapped in the jelly and couldn’t move at all! The children took them out by digging around in the jelly. This experience was full of sensory fun, they were observing the animals, touching the jelly and tasting them. They also were learning to identify some of the animals such as dingo, wombat, snake, koala and emu. Also during this week we celebrated Mother’s Day, our gorgeous little ones took great effort to create their Mother’s Day gifts and the efforts showed in the results. We hope all our mums were suitably spoiled last Sunday. Heather, Doris, Resie and Sophie
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Stage 1R: Discovering Australian Biome
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Stage 1R: Gardening Activity and Australian Animal Track
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Stage 1E
By Charity Acera
“Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it.” (Walt Disney) Welcome back to Term 2, 1E families! It was such a successful first term of this exciting school year with your adorable children and the Stage 1E team are very grateful for your continuous support and cooperation with regards to providing positive early learning experiences to our young learners. Continuing this service of quality learning, we are now looking forward to building on one of the most important concepts of the Early Years Learning Framework which is the ‘Sense of Being’. It will be a term focused on exploring the magnificent world of Imagination wherein we aim to support children’s individuality, celebrate their differences and provide them with experiences that will spark curiosity and allow them to freely express themselves at the same time celebrating their achievements. To start with, we led our children to learn more about the oceans and the thrilling roles of pirates. Engaging them in sensory experiences, we had them manipulate varying textures from shaving foam play to pom-pom and water cellophane play including some pirate elements sparking their imagination and increasing their fine motor skills. Also, we prepared displays for them to stimulate their investigative skills with the ‘sink or float’ provocation. We brought in pom poms, leaves, sticks, stones, toy sea animals and pirate toy jewels for them to explore which items would sink or float in the water. Furthermore, the group were also challenged to balance on a wooden plank like pirates, making sure not to fall into the shark infested waters. This was such a hit with the children as they all tried their best to walk through the plank and find a safe place away from the vicious sharks. Tapping into our children’s creative side, we engaged in two process art experiences. We allowed them to freely use brushes as tools in making an abstract ocean painting using aluminium foil as their canvass. We noticed how engaged the children were in squishing the floating pom poms and just happily participating in all the activities provided for them. They were amazing at sharing the play space as well as demonstrating interdependence and autonomy within their learning journey. Ahh, what fun we have had this week, the children have embraced the idea of a pirates treasure chest and have been sneaking special treasures out of the chest all week. The most favoured item so far has been the gold necklaces, the children enjoyed wearing them so much, it made the teachers follow their style. Next week’s focus will be on learning about ‘What Makes a Rainbow?’ This provocation question will spark children’s curiosity in exploring the world around them. Thank you for spending your time reading our newsletter! Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead! Charity, May, Fatima and Melissa
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Stage 1E: Exploring Oceans and Pirates
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Stage 1E: Foil Painting
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Stage 2R
By Sara Haddadi
"If I could turn myself into any bug or insect; I would like to be a butterfly and fill colours, beauty and happiness in others lives." (Miti Sengupta) We began Term Two with the provocation What's Out There? and this week, focused on the curious and fascinating world of creepy crawlies and winged wonders that we collectively refer to as minibeasts - a favourite of almost all young children. The possibilities for learning in all areas are endless for our little learners; we considered the mathematical opportunities in investigating the patterns and colours of minibeasts, as well as the counting of legs, spots and stripes. Children were offered a variety of meaningful and play-based learning experiences to discover and gain more knowledge about different kinds of insects. Exploring these sensory experiences helped children develop their expressive language & communication skills as they had to take on the language of the role they were playing. They began to understand the world around them as they explored an imaginary situation. They also played independently, developing confidence & self-esteem. Our artwork of the week invited children to use a potato masher to create spiders. We had no predetermined outcome for this art project, just the opportunity to allow the children to create, imagine, and explore. The learning experiences offered to 2R are all play-based and open-ended which encourage children's creativity and curiosity. Learning through play occurs in an interactive and social context. Children do not learn in isolation. They learn by observing others, imitating others and interacting with others. Learning is an interactive process that occurs by active participation, problem solving, investing, exploring and planning. These processes of learning are often more valuable than the end-product. Children enhanced their appreciation and care for natural environments through our bug hunt. There was no better way for our explorers to learn about insects than by finding them themselves. Hopefully the teachers helped the children value and appreciate nature and all the living creatures, even the tiniest ones! Teaching children to love insects is the first step towards ensuring that we look after these ever-so-important tiny gardeners for generations to come. Hope this weekend brings you joy and happiness with random fun and adventure! Sara, Vivian, Lizzie, May, Resie and Jaycel
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Stage 2R: Exploring the World of Minibeasts
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Stage 2R: Minibeast Hunting and Creative Experiences
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Stage 2E
By Mia Doan
“Step over ants, put worms back in the grass, rescue baby caterpillars, release spiders back into your garden, open windows for bees to fly home, they are all little souls that deserve a life too.” (Unknown) Welcome to the amazing Term 2! We are so excited to begin our new provocation, The Living World Around Us. Our world is made up of the human-made and natural environment, and these contexts provide countless jumping-off points for our children to explore and develop scientific inquiry skills. Our little friends likely build positive attachments and respectful relationships with the world through natural affiliation and planting activity with significant adults who share interests in nature with them. This week our learning experiences focused on living things, plants, and minibeasts in our home and school garden. Sensory play involving nature and sustainable resources was highly promoted in daily play experience to create diverse affordances for children to play, learn through experimentation and connect to nature. Exploring the anthills, spider habitats, ladybug in the garden and investigating the beehives through sensory experiences opened a window of opportunities for 2E children to get to know how the homes of insects look like. This also taught them to be respectful and gentle with tiny creatures and their homes. The book of the week was Mad about Minibeasts by Giles Andreas and David Wojtowycz. This awesome book introduced the wonderful world of insects with simple, short informative sentences on each bug, and interesting facts delivered in a fun way. Our favourite books of the week were Millie Loves Ants by an Australian author Jackie French. These books beautifully presented non fiction for young readers, combining a gentle narrative with lots of facts. After the stories, some 2E children started to pretend to be echidna and ants, and chase each other around the backyard. 2E children engaged in a numeracy experience in which we counted a number of the dots on the ladybug cards and then added black pebbles to match the numbers of dots on ladybugs' pictures. Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. On another day, we observed spiderweb and built a honeycomb using hexagon tiles and wooden bees. During this activity, we counted the sides of the hexagon and compared it to other shapes. On the art table, we created a symmetrical colourful butterfly with squeeze bottles. We listened attentively to Miss Tracey's instructions. Following steps and instructions helped children to build logical thinking, cognitive development and understand instructional language. In the end of the art process, a beautiful symmetrical butterfly which now had similar wings. Our little artists were amazed how the colour blended and requested to create more pieces of art. Have a lovely weekend, Mia, Xanthe, Tracey and Shandie
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Stage 2E: Unfolding Minibeasts in Our Garden
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Stage 2E: Butterfly Symmertrical Art
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Stage 3R
By Grace Nolan
Welcome back to another term! For our provocation we will be looking at Science Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M) Critical Thinking - focusing on problem solving, hypothesising and engaging in higher order thinking. The children will be given the opportunity to foster their curiosity and wonder through scientific inquiry and schemas, using ‘why, what, how, when & why again’ to create meaningful questions, hypotheses, estimations and guesses as to how and why things occur. Though traditionally introduced in the older years, S.T.E.A.M is beneficial at any age. Children engage in many of these schemes during the course of their day whether with their family, their teachers or on their own. Children’s inquisitive nature creates learning opportunities everywhere. For this term, we hope to challenge the children by engaging in the process of how we revise, revisit and rethink what we are doing. Our first week we focused on the ‘S - Science’ with chemical processes as our key topics. The children were invited to engage in a range of experiences that allow them to wonder how and why changes, reactions and experiments may occur. This included cooking cinnamon scrolls to demonstrate the purpose of yeast. The children watched as the yeast bloomed, grew and created bubbles - but how? The children learnt about yeast and how it creates bubbles of gas that help dough to rise. Another experience saw the children attempting to make ‘Ice cream in a bag’ - using salt to make the ice even colder, the children shook the bag of milk and sprinkles to create an ice cream texture. Unfortunately once we all had a turn shaking the bag, our mixture was still quite liquidly. The children tasted it and described it as “Like a milkshake” and “Yummy!”. Though this experiment didn’t work out, we were able to discuss the possibilities of why. Angus thought that it was due to the fact that there wasn’t a cone, while Harry commented that it needed to be in the freezer! On our tables, the children introduced themselves to ‘goop’ a mixture of water and cornflour. This mixture is both a liquid and when pressure is applied, turns into a solid. The children enjoyed picking up the solid before watching it melt between their fingers. Slime was also offered with the children commenting how it was very similar to the ‘goop’. To strengthen the children’s fine motor skills, the addition of scissors meant that the children could cut the slime and practise how to hold and use scissors. A fizzing experiment with bicarb soda, vinegar and powdered dye meant that the children were able to create many small eruptions that revealed different colours and mixed colours to create new ones! Next week we look at Biological sciences and processes. As the weather cools down and becomes wetter, please pack a raincoat and gumboots! Grace, Carina, Margaret, Shandie, Chloe and Ashleigh
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Stage 3R: Science Experiments
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Stage 3R: Colour Dripping and Mixing Experiences
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Stage 3E
By Georgia Galvin
“Dinosaurs may be extinct from the planet, but they are alive and well within our imaginations…” (Steve Miller) Welcome to Term 2, Stage 3E families! This term, the children will be Connecting to our World by exploring a variety of topics which are relevant to their interests, learning and identities. By encouraging children to learn about the world around them, we empower them with the tools to become active citizens. Each week, the amazing teachers of Stage 3E will choose topics which directly relate to the children’s interests in order to extend upon their learning. Throughout Week 1, the children focused on Dinosaurs - I’m sure you will agree this is one of the children’s favourite areas! In order to foster the children’s interest in Dinosaurs, we explored this topic through a variety of mediums including creativity/art, literacy, S.T.E.M., sensory experiences and many discussions. Throughout our discussions, we learnt about the important role Palaeontologists have in the world of Dinosaurs. The children then had an opportunity to become Palaeontologists themselves as they dug through dried clay blocks (which had an assortment of ‘dinosaur bones’ inside! When all the bones had been collected, they took their roles to the next level by assembling the bones to create the full skeleton of a T-Rex. We extended upon this by discussing how Palaeontologists create skeletons by collecting and assembling bones. Because of this, we are able to get an idea of what dinosaurs looked like millions of years ago. We also discussed what the environment may have looked like when Dinosaurs were alive and considered many possibilities. After looking through a variety of picture and factual books, the children noticed that there were many volcanoes in lots of the pictures. To extend upon this, the Teachers organised a science experiment - a volcanic eruption! We began the experiment by using vinegar mixed with washing detergent and bi-carb soda mixed with water. However, this concoction didn't create an eruption! Then, we chose to use straight bi-carb and vinegar. The children were asked "What will happen if we mix these ingredients?" We counted to 10, mixed them, and there was a huge eruption! Science experiments are one of the best ways children can learn about the world and includes mathematics, information about the natural world, trial and error, hypothesising and communication. Next week we will continue looking at ancient animals by focusing on Reptiles. We are looking forward to building up connections with the children as they begin to link their different understandings of the natural world. Have a wonderful weekend! Georgia, Nat, Connie, Kai, Rowel and Intisar
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Stage 3E: The Wonderful World of Dinosaur (P1)
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Stage 3E: The Wonderful World of Dinosaur (P2)
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Stage 4R
By Veronika Roth
“The human body is the most complex system ever created. The more we learn about it, the more appreciation we have about what a rich system it is.” Bill Gates This term's provocation is titled 'My strongest self' and we began the learning by focusing on our bodies. The children were invited to explore a broad range of activities within the theme of the human body. This involved an exploration corner with a large human skeleton in front of a poster displaying the human body front (anterior) and back (posterior). A 3D puzzle of the human torso invited the children to place organs into their correct places, a matching game of organs on paper, playdough included body part pieces and a skeletal puzzle. By reading the book 'Humanatomy: how the body works' by Nicola Edwards we were introduced to the body systems: muscular system, skeletal system, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system and the urinary system. This week we will engage in exploring the skeletal and muscular systems. The children were asked the question: What do we know about our bodies? Nathan: "We have a head with ears, nose and eyes." Dominique: "Bones in your body." Charlie: "We have fingers on our hands." Lily: "You need to be kind to your body. Play gentle." Giselle: "When someone says something not nice to us it makes us feel sad." Jackson: "The skeleton is with bones and the legs walk with the toes." Alexander: "You need to be straight, calm and nice." This week we have been learning about the muscular system, which manages all movement from walking to talking, and from jumping to blinking. It also controls posture and body position. The core is a group of muscles that stabilises and controls the pelvis and spine. To strengthen the children’s core muscles, this week we engaged in yoga and upper body exercises, such as wheelbarrow walking and climbing vertically on our rope wall, and obstacle courses. Next week, we will continue to learn about the muscle groups and their functions, as well as master physical skills introduced this week. Veronika, Rebecca and Rowel
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Stage 4R: Exploring Our Body Functionality
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Stage 4R: Fine Motor Skills Activities
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Stage 4E
By Lauren Hall
“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.” (Thomas Berry) We are so excited to begin our provocation for Term 2, Being - Exploring Planet Earth. Our class will explore the land, oceans, weather and animal habitats, as well as investigate sustainable practices to care for our Earth. This week our learning experiences were inspired by the blue and green hues of our planet. The children manipulated blue and green loose parts in sand trays to represent the Earth, used pipettes and coloured water to dye circular cotton pads to create miniature planets, and the children constructed trees out of wooden branches and leaves to explore the seasons. We also categorised land and ocean animals, discussing the environments they live in around the world. The children discovered that some ocean animals live in colder waters at each pole, while others live in deeper waters and near the shorelines. Some land animals live in dry deserts, while others live high amongst rainforest canopies. Natural gemstones and seashells were also provided for the children to study with magnifying glasses and to explore various textures in their hands. Our first story of the week was called Alone by Scott Stuart, and we learnt how Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the only planet that is inhabitable. Next, we read Thank You Earth by April Pulley Sayre, which was filled with beautiful photographs of our land, sky, oceans, seasons and animals. We discussed how important it is to keep our oceans and lands clean, and to be sustainable so they remain this way for future generations. The children also enjoyed reading Dear Earth by Isabel Otter, and were inspired by the little girl’s letter and promises she made to care for our planet. Angus: "Don’t throw rubbish in the water." Matilda: "Don’t cut down trees and help save paper." Alfie: "Don’t waste water." Ruby: "We can’t put plastic straws in the ocean because they hurt the turtles and get stuck in their noses." Ryan L.: "We have to put our rubbish in the bin so the animals don't eat it.” Kyle: "But the ibis (bin chicken) likes to eat rubbish.” After exploring what was on the surface of the planet, our class wondered what was below it. To create a visual representation of each of the Earth’s layers, we used a glass box, coloured sand and soil. Yellow sand was used on the bottom for the core, then orange sand for the outer core. Red sand represented the mantle and we topped it off with soil for the crust. On the surface we placed trees, animals, mountains, the ocean and a house to represent all of the things that exist on our Earth. It's been so inspiring to observe the children developing their knowledge and understanding of our planet through our learning experiences together. Next week we will explore different types of weather, the four seasons, and natural disasters that affect our environments. Thank you for a wonderful start to the term! Lauren, Priya, Rebecca, Margaret and Doris
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Stage 4E: Our Blue and Green Planet
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Stage 4E: Nature Minerals, Trees and Animals
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Playball
By Coach Lauren Guttman
Hi champs! We started our lesson this week with the “Helicopter Game” where we all ran around the court with outstretched arms like spinners. When I blew my whistle, we all stopped and balanced on one foot and “hovered” just like a helicopter. We then tried to hover on the other foot! Next, I handed out some hacky sacks (round bean bag balls). We placed our hacky sack between our feet and tried to jump as high as we could. Then we tried to put the hacky sack between our knees and walk like a penguin. We were squealing with laughter! Next, we put the hacky sack on our heads and carefully tried to walk while balancing the crazy bean bag on our heads. Tricky....we needed to keep our head very still while we moved our legs! Then we held our hacky sacks and the children ran after me trying to stick their bean bag balls to me. We practised our catching skills in a circle. I stood in the middle of the circle and threw the ball to each child without making any reference as to whom I was going to throw to. The children certainly needed to focus and be ready at all times! I taught the children how to roll the ball along the ground – always remembering to place the ball on top of their shoes and push forwards along the ground. I then placed a row of catching cups in front of the children and we pretended that we were bowling: we rolled our ball towards the catching cup, trying to knock it down. We practised our rolling skills with a partner and tried to roll the ball through our partner’s open legs. We used “cage hands” to stop the ball from going through our legs. Such a fun game. The children were rewarded with a stamp for excellent performance in Playball today! The best lesson, thanks guys!
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Drama
By Xanthe Wills
This week in drama we started our first week on our new theme: Time Machines! To begin, I asked each class to help me build a time machine to visit lots of places in the past. This week our time travel machine visited the time where dinosaurs ruled the planet. We started this week by working as a team to use our bodies to become our own time machine. We held hands and became a circle, walking around one way and then the other, getting faster and faster. The children then followed my various hand movements, spun around in a big circle, and fell to the ground. We managed to time travel to when dinosaurs lived! Stage 1 had a lot of fun, as always, shaking the parachute and playing peek-a-boo. Stage 1 had a go at becoming a small egg and hatching out into a small dinosaur. To finish, they had a visit from Mr Platypus who loved all their kisses and cuddles. Stage 2 and 3 were asked to find all of the dinosaur footprints that were hidden around the room. We brought them into the centre and discussed which feet could belong to which dinosaur. We tried to match the feet into pairs. We also discussed where we could find real dinosaur bones and fossils these days. Some children told me that they had been to a museum before! We then became various dinosaurs. Starting like a small egg, the children hatched out and took their first steps as a dinosaur. We all interpreted how a baby dinosaur would move in different ways- some baby dinosaurs were very wobbly, some crying, and some very confident! We became T-rex’s with big stomping feet, pterodactyls with big wings, and brontosaurus’ with long necks. Isabella in Stage 2 had very stomp-y T -rex feet. We scared each other with our loud roars! I asked Stage 4 to make a balancing dinosaur. We started in 4-point kneeling and lifted one hand and one leg and tried to balance and roar at the same time! Stage 4 is working on projecting and protecting our voices. We have been talking about when it is appropriate to use our loud voices, and when we should use our soft voices. If our throats are hurting- we know that sound isn’t good for our voices! We are trying to recognise the difference between being loud and shouting. This skill is very hard- good job on working so well at it Stage 4. We then played a word association game that involved following the leader. I made actions to go with vocal commands, and had the children try to follow along. For example, I would say “dinosaur in a tree” and the associated action was to put our hands on our heads. I challenged the children by saying the verbal cue but then doing the wrong action. This caused lots of giggles! Stage 4 were asked to make up their own dinosaurs and freeze as if they were in a museum. In a red light/ green light style game, the children walked like their dinosaurs when my back was turned, but froze like statues when I was looking at them. Some of our creations were sleepy dinosaurs, ballet dinosaurs, fast dinosaurs, silly dinosaurs, and high-heel dinosaurs. We are working on freezing super still when asked. Next week we will travel with our time machine to a different era. I wonder where we will go!
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Music
By Andy Freeborn
My first official day teaching music was spent exploring the different makeups of music, (rhythm, melody, tactile musicalising and basic polyrhythm), and getting a clearer understanding of each class. Each class learnt a small excerpt of ‘Galumph went the Little Green Frog’, which I will add a line or two to each week. I brought a melodica this week, which proved to create (mostly) positive reactions across each class. The melodica is similar to a piano, it uses a keyboard but requires air to create sound. As I blew air into the instrument, each of the little ones had an opportunity to create music on the melodica, providing a different tactile experience associating music to a melodic instrument. It was rewarding to see the smiles of the kids as they created melodic and harmonic music. 3E were particularly excited about the melodica and were very responsive to listening when I played the melodica. For future weeks I am looking forward to creating more aural based activities for 3E as these seemed to spark a great interest. Stage 1 was apprehensive seeing a new person in the room, but the melodica proved to spark interest when hearing new sounds. I played nursery rhymes Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & Galumph went the Little Green Frog. Again, aural learning proved to be very exciting. Stage 1 can look forward to new instruments every couple of weeks which will open their young minds to the many different ways you can express music. One Stage 1 child in particular was very entertained by the melodica and had an absolute blast: playing multiple notes and chords in an impressive, rhythmic way. Stage 2 and 3 had so much fun getting to know the melodica and were very responsive to rhythm exercises. We got used to clapping 4 times while counting aloud, moving between slow patterns and fast patterns. The parachute came in handy here: a vast majority of the class were responsive to shaking the parachute slowly for 4 counts, then fast for 4 counts. 4R responded well to repetitive exercises as we learnt Galumph, went the Little Green Frog and practised our marching in time to the theme played by the melodica. 4E showed so much enthusiasm and excitement around music. What a rhythmic class! I was incredibly impressed by their attention and focus on clapping exercises. One 4E student expressed interest in being a DJ when they grow up! With each class I would pretend that the melodica didn’t work and ask each class how I might create sound with it. Most classes replied with either “you have to turn it on!” Or “you plug it in!” Matilda, Stage 4, immediately burst out saying “YOU BLOW AIR INTO IT!” This prompted many questions and allowed the class to understand the inner workings of the melodica. To finish the session, I asked each class if they knew any musical instruments. This gave me a chance to gauge an understanding of how each child thinks about music, and who might have a more musical background. The answers were mostly frequent; Piano, Guitar and Drums, with a Violin here, a Maraca there, or a Trumpet thrown in as we likened its sound to the trumpet of an Elephant. In Stage 2 I was very impressed to hear “violin” said by one of the girls! In the coming weeks I hope to guide everyone to a confident approach to playing instruments and channelling the abundance of energy found at Reddam ELS Lindfield.
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Happy Birthday! A very happy birthday to our children who are celebrating their special day this week. We wish you all the best!
08/05 - Xavier (1R)
08/05 - Marc Zhang (1E)
10/05 - Annabella (3E)
15/05 - Sierra (1E) 30