Principal’s Message
By Mrs Kath Boyd
Dear Parents, On Wednesday evening, 27 parents and 10 staff members from our ELS Community attended a workshop led by Lois Cho (Speech Pathologist) and Celeste Ashcroft (Occupational Therapist). My thanks to Miss Grace (3E Core Teacher) for assisting with the organisation of this educational opportunity. Lois is the Director at Kairos Speech Therapy & Learning Bilingual Speech Pathologist. She speaks both English and Korean. Lois has almost 10 years’ experience working in private and public community health. At the end of Term 1 this year, Lois screened a number of our Stage 3 and 4 children on the ELS Campus. Lois explained what Speech Pathologists do, outlined the Milestones for Communication, addressed 'When should my child see a Speech Pathologist?' and discussed red flags for communication, speech sounds, social communication, stuttering, voice & feeding difficulties. Lois asked the question “Does bilingualism cause language delay?”. Her answer was a definitive “No!”.
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A bilingual child’s vocabulary in each individual language may be smaller than average but their total vocabulary should be the same size as a monolingual child.
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First words may slightly come later, but still within the normal age range (between 8-15 months). Proficient first language = should pick up second language. Development of grammar should follow the same patterns/timelines as monolingual children. A bilingual child demonstrating significant delays in language milestones could have a language disorder and should see a speech pathologist.
Lois explained that there are several strategies that nurture bilingualism, including: 1. Person-based One-person-one language: e.g., Mother speaks English, father speaks Chinese. 2. Location-based: Use one language at home, one language outside of the home. 3. One language first: Use one language for the first 3 years and then introduce the second language. 4. Individualised: Do what is functional for the family! Lois’ tips to build language learning
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Narrate EVERYTHING! “Blow the bubbles.” “Pop all the bubbles.” “The water splashed everywhere.” “Pat your body dry with the towel.” “Carefully come out of the bath …It might be slippery!” Model rich language and use descriptive words & concepts.
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Add book reading to your daily routine. Describing the images in picture books without text can be as beneficial as reading a variety of interesting (and/or humourous) stories to your child.
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Create a language rich environment Build a learning space purposefully designed to provide the necessary stimulus to develop children's language skills.
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Set aside 20 - 30 minutes of undisturbed play/activity with your child each day.
Pictured above: Sophie introducing the provocation table to Miles and Livia (1R).
Principal’s Message Continued...
By Mrs Kath Boyd
Celeste (Occupational Therapist) explained that having a brother with special needs guided her into her occupation. She has worked with children for over 30 years and her company Building Blocks was established 20 years ago. Celeste strives for excellence and results, and believes that her job is a joy and a privilege. So what does an Paediatric Occupational Therapist do? They assist children with all those tasks that occupy their time, including self-care, dressing, play, school, work & leisure. OTs focus on developing motor, cognitive, social, sensory, emotional and behavioural skills. Celeste is guided by the following words of Fred Rogers: “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Celeste confirmed that Common Early Childhood Difficulties often addressed in Occupation Therapy include: - Delayed Fine and Gross Motor skills - Sensory Processing (Near & Far Senses) - Learning Behaviours - Attention / Concentration - Emotional development - Social skills - Independence in self-care (toileting) Celeste highly recommends parents access the evidenced-based information on Raising Children - The Australian Parenting Website If you are wanting to learn more about what was discussed at this workshop, please email Grace (grace.nolan@reddamels.com.au) to request a copy of the two presentations and handouts. OT screenings will be taken place at the ELS over the next few weeks. If you have any concerns in regard to your child’s Speech and OT skills, please discuss these with your child’s Core Teacher. Reminder: Care Pack Project Thank you SO much to those families who have already delivered their packs to the office. Just a reminder that our school is once again joining numerous other Sydney-based child care services in a project led by Gunawirra (https://gunawirra.org.au/), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities to develop to their full potential. Gunawirra works in direct response to the needs and resources that Aboriginal Preschools in outback Australia require, with on-going collaboration and consultation. These preschools are urgently in need of Care Packs for girls and boys aged between 2 - 5 years old, packed inside a backpack. This is not compulsory, however IF you would like to contribute to this project, please refer to the letter that has been emailed to you. Should you have queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Care Packs should be delivered to the Admin Area by 4.30pm next Wednesday (25 th May)
Stay warm and dry over the weekend. Pictured below: Educators Connie, Rebecca, Rowel, Lizzie, Lauren & Heather enjoying new outdoor furniture that was generously donated by the marvellous Parent Social Committee ... thank you all.
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Stage 1R
By Heather Gaskell
“There are many little ways to enlarge your world. Love of books is the best of all.” (Jacqueline Kennedy) This week the children have been captivated by Mem Fox’s classic book Where is the Green Sheep? They have been searching high and low for the Green Sheep who has been into all sorts of spots around the classroom this week. Everyone has enjoyed his antics. During our group time sessions the teachers made actions corresponding to the story, reaching up high and down low, and encouraged the children to follow along. We also tried to find our green sheep toy every time the book asked "But where is the green sheep?" This was a valuable experience as it helped the children make connections between the text and their real world experiences, as well as developing their comfort and confidence as a member of a group. This delightful book has also allowed us to investigate colours and the children have partaken in many amazing sensory experiences influenced by colours. They have shorn the Green Sheep using paddle pop sticks as the tool and green coloured shaving foam as the wool. This was a lot of fun and our little ones enjoyed the sensation of the slimy foam. As another part of the learning experiences involving colours, the children were given sensory bags containing shaving foam with yellow and blue paint and were allowed to manipulate the bags until they turned them green. This allowed the children to investigate the process of producing and seeing the result of mixing colours. This experience utilised fine motor skills, as well as encouraged exploration of arts concepts and colours. The educators labelled the colours as they were mixed together, again encouraging language development. As the book Where is the Green Sheep? expresses the many colours of the rainbow, we provided the children with a rainbow sensory table, looking at the different colours and mixing them together. There was rainbow rice, and some scoops which the children could scoop up, pour and transfer to jars. This experience allowed children to practice their grip strength and fine motor skills as they used spoons and natural materials to move and manipulate the rice. During this experience, with the help of the teachers, the children developed their vocabulary through identifying and labelling the different colours of the rainbow, pointing to each one and naming it appropriately. Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend! Heather, Doris, May and Sophie
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Stage 1R: Where is the Green Sheep?
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Stage 1R: Here is the Green Sheep!
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Stage 1E
By Charity Acera
“Inside every child is a rainbow waiting to shine.” (Anonymous) I think we can all agree that rainbows are amazing! They bring us so much excitement and joy even as adults. As rare and magical as they are, rainbows have always been fascinating to children. The burst of colours always intrigues them and leads them to meaningful learning experiences about the world around them. This week’s provocation topic - What Makes a Rainbow? gave the children opportunities to build their cognitive skills through investigation, experimentation and exploration. We provided the 1E children with resources that supported their investigations and created enjoyment. These experiences included: making a rainbow using cotton balls and coloured matchsticks, investigating torchlight against a CD for a burst of rainbow colours and piping rainbow coloured shaving foam onto ice cube containers challenging their fine motor and eye-hand coordination skills. The children were also encouraged to explore their sense of touch and collaborative learning processes during a creative sensory experience named The Rainbow Run. Using mini trucks and cars, they were invited to use these favoured toys as their tool for painting, thus creating a mixture of colourful patterns on their blank canvas. Additionally, we extended their knowledge of colours by asking the children to look for rainbow images around the room. During this activity, we observed the children taking autonomy of their own learning as they interpreted the rolls as telescopes/megaphones and used the balls for catching and throwing alongside their friends. They displayed their confidence and built more meaningful learning experiences. The rainbow coloured rice also stimulated the children’s sensory skills as they manipulated the resource, running it all through their fingers, scooping and pouring it into containers. Not only did we observe the children becoming confident and involved learners, the topic for this week also gave them the chance to express their opinions with their peers and teachers. Thank you once again for your constant appreciation of our weekly program, next week will be focused on castles, dragons, and the fairy tales that our children adored! Everyone is invited to wear their beautiful fairy tale outfits and bring magical books and toys for a show and tell! Wishing everyone a restful weekend! Charity, Fatima, May and Melissa
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Stage 1E: What Makes a Rainbow?
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Stage 1E: Rainbow Run Process Art
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Stage 2R
By Sara Haddadi
"Our challenge isn’t so much to teach children about the natural world, but to find ways to sustain the instinctive connections they already carry.” (Terry Krautwurst) Last week 2R children's passion about minibeasts awakened wonder and interest in them. This week we delved more deeply into the world of these fascinating creatures and helped children to understand that insects are an incredibly important part of our planet. Our insect related learning experiences including yellow rice and bumblebees sensory experiences, red/black sand and ladybugs, water beads frog ponds, slimy, goopy chia seeds frog spawn, and magic sand cricket, dragonfly, mantis and grasshopper small world play, all helped children to expand their knowledge about different insects. 2R was encouraged to use all their senses to explore whilst learning early mathematical skills, storytelling skills and more importantly social skills in a play-based environment. All the offered learning experiences have been very effective in developing 2R to become socially and emotionally competent learners. Learning to be socially and emotionally competent is an important long term developmental task for children. We play a central role in children's development of self-regulation, in fostering positive self-esteem and in guiding children towards the achievement of socially acceptable behaviour. We acknowledge the fact that every child is different and each individual has the right to their own values and beliefs. 2R teachers support children when they observe that children are interested in each other and begin to interact socially, build their own trusting relationships with children and interact with them in ways that build emotional wellbeing and self-esteem and model socially acceptable behaviour. We believe that in order to develop positive social relationships, children require resilience, self confidence and positive self-esteem and provide them with a range of skills to engage in mutually satisfying social relationships. Our curious 2R learned so much about insects for the past 2 weeks. We as adults often err on the side of caution, discouraging their curiosity about insects by suggesting that insects are dangerous. As a result, they then often grow to lose that interest and valuable knowledge and important contact with nature. A better practice is to channel this curiosity into learning opportunities and help them learn the differences between what’s safe and what’s dangerous and find the answers to their treasurable questions. Have a great weekend everyone! Sara, Vivian, Lizzie, Chloe, May, Vianne and Jaycel
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Stage 2R: Exicited about Minibeasts
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Stage 2R: Insect Swatter Painting and Sensory Experiences
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Stage 2E
By Mia Doan
“No garden truly blooms until butterflies have danced upon it.” (K. D’Angelo) In this busy world, we slowed down, enjoyed the present and explored the tiniest wonders of living creatures around us. Day by day, 2E children unfold nature's beauty through interactions with insects, plants and living things around us. We believe that introducing minibeasts at the start of this term, paired with teaching children about insect environmental roles and being respectful and gentle, gives children a safe place to observe and appreciate the huge roles of these incredibly small creatures. At the provocation table, 2E children were invited to explore habitats of worms, centipedes, grasshoppers, dragonflies and butterflies through a range of sensory activities. The children journeyed into the garden where they used magnifying glasses to inspect fine details on insects such as the spots on the ladybug, the intricate patterns of butterfly wings, legs of centipedes and antennae of some insects. Additionally, the children were invited to use the loose parts to add in their own grass garden. Each child’s representation was different, highlighting their own uniquely different experiences and understanding of the environment around them. Our favourite book of the week was Head and Tail - Insects by John Canty. This interactive book gives simple clues to what the insect might be and allows children to guess the insect and contribute their ideas. We were so excited to finish the big book Mad about Minibeasts by Giles Andreae & David Wojtowycz and recalled all the insects that we learnt during the two-week period. It is evident that informative texts contributed to our 2E children’s oral language development, scientific inquiry and logical thinking skills. Vividly, they started to inform and contribute their knowledge during group discussions, initiate conversations with teachers and friends about what they knew and learnt. While reading the book, some children commented: Thomas: "Grasshopper hops like kangaroo" Aaron: "They (mantis) can camouflage" Lucas: "Snail is Woniu", when Miss Xanthe asked how to say it in Mandarin. Josh: "It (worm) don't have legs." This week's focus provided rich learning opportunities and open-ended resources that children use in their everyday language and vocabulary to describe insects and mathematical concepts. Ants have two antennae, worms are slimy, butterflies and dragonflies have four symmetrical wings, spiders have eight legs and so on. These facts fascinated our 2E children as they kept counting, observing and expressing their understanding visually as they decorated their butterfly wings systematically using colourful gems. Thank you for a wonderful week of learning! Let’s see where the magic train ride takes us to next week. Have a wonderful weekend, Mia, Tracey, Xanthe, Shandie and Yannie
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Stage 2E: The Wonderful World of Minibeasts (P1)
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Stage 2E: The Wonderful World of Minibeasts (P2)
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Stage 3R
By Grace Nolan
This week we continue to explore the Science theme by looking at biological & natural sciences. This encapsulates insects, natural occurrences and exploring the natural environment. On our tabletops we included small world minibeasts with rosemary trees and small wooden blocks with a sand floor. The children enjoyed using beetles and flies in their small world, mimicking noises and movements of those in real life. Similarly, on the sensory table we used chia seeds with stones and frogs to create a slimy and sticky frog pond. The children were hesitant at first touching it, but once they tried it found that it was a different and intriguing texture. Though we are focussing on ‘S.T.E.A.M’ we are continuing to provide literacy based experiences. Alphabet puzzles that challenge children to identify and recognise letters as well as letter-sounds with explicit teaching are laid out. On the table top, the children were invited to use loose parts to place on hessian cloth with written lowercase letters, while another experience asked children to match uppercase and lowercase letters using pegs and letter cards. Reflecting on our art process and experience within the classroom, this week we decided to look at the mediums we could use. The children foraged for different leaves, herbs, flowers and sticks to make their own natural paint brushes. Then, placing paint out, the children were encouraged to freely create their own artwork using the natural brushes they had made previously. By creating their own brushes the artwork becomes more meaningful as they are a part of the whole process. To continue our cooking experimentation from last week, we also made ‘Cake in a cup’ with one cup including baking powder and one without. This experience incorporated measurement, counting, volume and encouraged the children to use their senses. Once the cake was cooked, the children were able to observe the difference between the two cups by sight and taste. The children agreed that they tasted the same, but that one was smaller than the other. Another small group experience saw the children walking around the school with a colour wheel. Appreciating and taking notice of the colourful natural world around them, the children matched the colour wheel to things found in nature and on their walk, such as the purple Salvia flower or the red gum leaves. The children enjoyed being in nature and taking it in. Children were also invited to explore buoyancy as they use tubs of water and experiment with different materials and objects to see whether or not it would ‘sink’ or ‘float’. The children were asked to go around the room and find objects to test whether or not their hypothesis was correct i.e. would the pencil sink or float? The children loved the tangible experience and began to engage in scientific experimenting and thinking. Next week we look at Technology. Grace, Carina, Margaret, Shandie, Chloe and Ashleigh
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Stage 3R: Expressing Our Wonders of Natural Science
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Stage 3R: Colour Scavenger Hunt and Creative Experiences
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Stage 3E
By Georgia Galvin
“Reptiles can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and very sophisticated…” (David Attenborough) Reptiles are the ancient animals of our Earth and have existed since the time of the Dinosaurs. This week, Stage 3E has moved on from their focus on Dinosaurs in Week 1, to explore their distant cousins, Reptiles. The children have shown a tremendous interest in animals, and we have chosen to extend upon their learning of Dinosaurs by linking these prehistoric beasts to the reptiles we see today. Our creative experience this week invited the children to engage with Process Art - which saw them add to their artwork throughout the week. We began our Process Art by creating a background for our reptile. The children firstly chose a particular reptile and then looked at pictures of the habitats of their chosen reptile. We then used a variety of materials to create the image of the reptile’s home. On Tuesday, the children added natural materials to their art, representing the different plants seen in the habitats of reptiles. On Wednesday, we added insects, which the children completed by stamping our insect figurines in paint and then on their paper. On Thursday and Friday, the children finally added their Reptiles and were given the options of using a snake, a crocodile or a turtle. They did this by stamping their chosen figurine into paint and then onto their paper. During each step, the children considered the questions “Where do Reptiles live?”, “What do Reptiles look like?” and “What do Reptiles eat?” in order to extend upon their learning. Our tables were filled with sensory, literacy and creative experiences this week, which the children engaged with at their own pace. Our sensory experiences followed two different habitats for reptiles, including crocodile homes and the home of chameleons. The children utilised their growing skills in dramatic play and increased their knowledge on the habitats of reptiles as they engaged with our small-worlds. As the children engaged, many shared that they felt frogs looked like reptiles. This leads us to our topic for next week… In order to extend upon their children’s growing understanding of the interconnectedness of our world, throughout Week 3, we will be exploring Amphibians. We will investigate this animal type through discussion, sensory and dramatic play, literacy and creative experiences. Have a great weekend! Georgia, Nat, Connie, Kai, Intisar and Rowel
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Stage 3E: Discovering Reptile Habitats
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Stage 3E: Reptile Art Experiences
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Stage 4R
By Veronika Roth
“Exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.” (Nelson Mandela) This term's provocation is titled My strongest self and we continue the learning by focusing on the muscular system and on proximal stability. What Does Proximal Stability Mean? Proximal means closer to your core and stability refers to maintaining proper joint position and control during movement. When the core is stable, movements in joints further from the core are better. How does this relate to the muscular system? The muscular system’s main purpose is to produce movement. Developmentally, children’s muscles and joints are still developing and to strengthen these muscles they were engaging in core muscle exercises this week, which have included yoga, wheelbarrow walking, climbing vertically on ropes, obstacle courses challenging locomotor functions and coordination exercises. Our first story was titled The muscular system by Jennifer Bessel and it explained the muscular and skeletal systems working together. • Step 1: A person decides to bend the elbow. The brain sends signals to muscles. • Step 2: The bicep muscle contracts and the triceps muscle rests. • Step 3: To straighten the arm, the triceps contracts and the biceps rests. A hands-on experiment visually explained to the children how the muscles and muscle cells work together in order to make the movement occur. Each child took a turn to contract and release the smaller muscles in a ‘puppet’ hand and watched with awe how each finger reacted differently, according to the signals being received from the brain. Each provocation in our classroom offers the children experiences to discover the ways our body looks and works from the inside out. We had jelly balls which the children scooped into an oppressed squishy object resembling the balls looking like the cells in our body. On another table, we had red and white spaghetti representing our skeletal muscle fibre. The children enjoyed the texture of the long spaghetti and used tongs to pick up and fill bowls with it. The weekly artwork included a body parts collage. The children carefully cut around photographs of themselves. After doing this, they attached labels identifying various parts of their body. Then finally these images were decorated by each child. It was wonderful to see how well the children are developing their fine motor skills as they skilfully manoeuvred the scissors around the perimeter of the image. Next week, we will be looking into the skeletal system! Veronika, Rebecca and Rowel
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Stage 4R: Muscular System Sensory Experiences
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Stage 4R: Creative and Physical Experiences
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Stage 4E
By Lauren Hall
“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” (Sir Ranulph Fiennes) It was a rainy week but the weather didn’t stop us from having fun. As Winter starts to creep up on us, the children are appreciating the moments when they feel the sunshine on their faces when they play outside. Our class has also noticed the leaves changing colour and the bare tree branches around our campus. These observations have led to a rich provocation focused on different types of weather, the four seasons and natural disasters. This week our learning experiences included discovery trays filled with coloured sand and loose parts for the children to scoop and manipulate. Each tray reflected the seasons to stimulate conversations about what types of weather and changes occur. Yellow sand and beach items represented Summer, orange leaves and wooden materials reflected Autumn, snowflakes and ice crystals created a Winter wonderland, and green grass, blooming flowers and insects meant Spring had sprung. We also discussed how each season typically lasts for three months in Australia and in a continuous cycle. However, some countries have longer seasons depending on where they are located. If countries are closer to the polar caps, then they endure longer winters, while countries that sit closer to the equator typically have humid weather all year round. The children also showed an increasing interest in clouds, manipulating cotton balls in their fingers to create different shapes in the sky. This interest then prompted our class to investigate the water cycle and we read The Little Raindrop by Joanna Gray, which illustrated the journey of a single raindrop. During our morning group times, the class recorded the daily weather and temperature. Miss Lauren showed the children our May calendar and some weather symbols - sunny, overcast, raining and thunderstorms. She explained that the weather can be unpredictable or stay the same all week, but it’s always handy to record the weather to see if there’s a pattern. The children looked outside the window each morning and we also used a weather app to measure the temperature in degrees Celsius, placing the arrow up or down the thermometer. Our stories during the week were written by Australian author, Jackie French. Each book recalled a natural disaster that occurred in Australia, from droughts, cyclones, floods and bushfires. The children commented on the illustrations and the destruction that was caused. Families lost their homes due to flooding; they burnt down or were torn apart by 240km/hour winds. Farmers struggled to keep their crops and animals alive without any rain for months, even years, causing the land to dry up. The children said they felt lucky that they have never experienced chaotic weather like this before and showed compassion for the families in each story. Thank you for a beautiful week together. Next week our class will explore Our Prehistoric Planet and learn about the organisms, fish, reptiles, dinosaurs, and mammals that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. Lauren, Priya, Connie and Doris
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Stage 4E: Exploring the Four Seasons
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Stage 4E: Exploring Different Types of Weather
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Playball
By Coach Lauren Guttman
This week in Playball we warmed up our bodies with “funny runs”. I placed cones on one side of the court and the children stood on the opposite side. The children did “funny runs” to the cones: they ran around the cone with hands on their knees, hopped on one foot, gallopped, skipped and the list goes on. Then, I placed the cones in a straight line and we zig-zagged through the cones. This is a wonderful activity for crossing the midline. The cones were then placed in the shape of a circle. We marched and danced around the circle. When I blew my whistle, we balanced one foot on a cone, remembering to keep our arms stretched out so as to help us balance. The children know that if they fall, “we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and give it another go”. Now it was time for some basketball! We practised bouncing Mr. Ball – we know that we have to wait for Mr. Ball to “pop up”! Stage 3 and 4 practised doing chest passes: I lined the children up and they each had the opportunity to chest pass to me. Next, I explained how we could do an overhead pass. We made “bunny ears” and then held the ball between our ears. We pushed the ball up to the sky, starting on our heads. To challenge the children, I held up a hoop (nice and high) and the children tried to PUSH the ball with all our strength into the hoop. To practise some fast footwork, I rolled foam balls across the court and the children had to try and catch them before they reached the opposite end of the court. I was so impressed with everyone’s fast feet. To finish, the children ran around the court and I tried to catch them with my crazy basketball net. What a fun lesson, I can’t wait to see you all next week!
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Mandarin
By Chloe Lin
I’m so excited to be back to teach Mandarin this term! We started the lesson by singing my hello song ‘Hello/ Ni Hao’. I introduced the children to some animals (dog, duck, pig and cat) and asked if we could sing like them. We giggled as we imitated each animal while singing the hello song. Next, each class sang their favourite songs in Mandarin about elephants and tigers. In the song I asked the children to find lots of different body parts: nose, eyes, tummy and mouth, each time asking the children to repeat after me in Mandarin. Stage 3 and 4 sang through ‘3 Bears’ after practising their counting and Stage 2 started to learn this song for the first time. Next, I invited the children, one at a time, to pick either a blue or red set of tongs. I revised the Mandarin words for the colours and asked the children to say the colour as they chose their set of tongs. The children exercised their fine motor skills as they squeezed the tongs to pick up their favourite finger puppet from the tray. Then, the children used their knowledge of common phrases and sayings in Mandarin to greet their friend’s finger puppets and give them cuddles and kisses. In Stage 2R, I brought out some yellow chicken eggs which each had a surprise hidden inside. The children each took turns picking out and opening up the chicken egg to see what was inside. The children repeated the names after me in Mandarin. Then I introduced the children to a new activity which involved shoes, socks and colours. We began by revising the names of colours and the words for shoes and socks. Then, I showed the children a colour and then a picture of either shoes or socks. The children were challenged to identify who had that combination in the class. For example, in Stage 2, Lucas and Aaron had the combination of black shoes and, in Stage 3, Josh, Felix, Gaby and Leon all had blue shoes! With each combination we repeated the words in Mandarin. Thanks everyone for an excellent lesson, I can’t wait to see you next week!
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Music
By Andy Freeborn
This week in music we invited the melodica back to class, introduced a new instrument, and, while being very well behaved locomotives, practised our rhythm and singing. Stage 1, still slightly apprehensive towards a new face, found comfort in the melodica and the distraction of sound stimulus through tactile touch. With help from the room leaders, we sang nursery rhymes, ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’, ‘Baa Baa’ and ‘Galumph Went the Little Green Frog’. We sang these while holding a mixture of egg shakers, maracas and tambourines, encouraging the kids to make music while singing. We also played with the parachute, waving it up and down while counting to four. I was very impressed by Lily who, with grand excitement, boldly announced “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!” while throwing the parachute up and down in general time with their actions. With Stages 2, 3 & 4 this week I lead us through an alphabet exercise. We explored half of the letters of the alphabet and how we can make different sounds (dull, sharp, soft, hard, plosive, loud, quiet, wide and short sounds) all with the same letter or word. Gabby and Allegra (Stage 3), seemed to have a lot of fun with this, and really leant into the over exaggeration of sound. Each children was handed a percussive instrument, and we practised counting to four while shaking or beating the instrument. I then introduced the classes to a new instrument; the harmonica. We likened the sound similar to a train and, while holding their percussion instruments, everyone formed a line behind me and we off marching in time while shaking our instruments in the motion of a wheel on a train. Before I reintroduced the melodica, I asked each class “Does anyone remember what’s in here?” Most of the children remembered the melodica, and in response I received a lot of loud “PIANO!”’s. I gave everyone the opportunity to have a play on the melodica, and it was rewarding to see the excitement on their faces while producing the sounds. It was interesting seeing the approach toward the melodica for the second time: the children were more familiar with the instrument and excited to create sound again, often playing the instrument differently to how they did the previous week. There were quite a few kids in Stage 2 and 4 who showed promising piano skills with how they approached the melodica. Hector, Stage 2, is completely immersed by the sonic experience, and I’m very excited to see how he continues to find fascination in each instrument. Stage 4 remembered the melodica very well: some children remembered the name of the instrument immediately! Being impressed with Stage 4’s musical ability, I introduced them to 3/4 timing (waltz music). The children did very well as we interchanged between clapping and counting to 3 and then 4. This can be particularly tricky as the emphasis of “1” is always changing. Next, I showed Stage 4 how the ‘A B C song’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ are the exact same musically/melodically. We attempted for half of the class to sing one song, while half sang the other. This proved chaotic in the most beautiful way! Even though it didn’t quite work, the children tried with great enthusiasm. If the children stumbled over a word while listening to the other side of the room sing a different song, they would confidently pick it up the best way they could. Jasper, Matilda and Alfie were particularly attentive in class, each expressing interest in learning more about music, learning to play the piano, and each asking me general music questions and questions about what instruments I play. Next week with each class I will introduce familiarity with music, and see how each class responds to musical memory with what we have done this week.
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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!
17/05 - Allegra (3E)
18/05 - Kensington (3E)
21/05 - Lillian (1E) 30