Principal’s Message
By Mrs Kath Boyd
“You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” (Martin Luther King) Change can undoubtedly be scary - for people of all ages. It may be out of your hands (like a power outage), something wonderful (such as Miss Sara’s pregnancy) or jumping from a familiar job into the big unknown. Having resilience, a capacity to quickly recover from difficulties, allows humans to see the positives within change. At Reddam, our Early childhood educators create empowering environments for children to foster their independence and sense of responsibility through play-based learning experiences. We believe that learning basic skills and good habits early on can help small children deal with challenges in life. We build resilience among the children at our school in numerous ways, including: Starting in Stage One: Resilience can be developed at any age, but earlier is better. Individuals never lose their ability to improve their coping skills, and they often learn how to adapt to new challenges. ‘The brain and other biological systems are most adaptable early in life, and the development that occurs in the earliest years lays the foundation for a wide range of resilient behaviours. However, resilience is shaped throughout life by the accumulation of experiences - both good and bad - and the continuing development of adaptive coping skills connected to those experiences.’ (developingchild.harvard.edu) When our youngest children first start school, they quickly form a close bond with their teachers. Once they are settled, teachers slowly encourage the child to move from their arms and sit beside them . . . then walk next to them holding hands. Soon, before we know it, these little adventurers are off and running! Providing supportive relationships: The continued support of stable, committed parents and early childhood educators is so powerful for young children. These relationships are the active ingredient in building resilience - they provide the personalised responsiveness, scaffolding, and protection that can buffer young children from developmental disruption. Good relationships also help children develop key capacities that better enable them to respond to adversity when they face it – such as the ability to plan, monitor, and regulate behaviour, and adapt to changing circumstances. This combination of supportive relationships, adaptive skill-building, and positive experiences constitutes the foundation of resilience. Creating positive experiences: While the individual characteristics of each child at our school are out of the teacher’s control, by creating everyday positive experiences for each child, we positively contribute to their resilience levels. Assisting children to manage positive and negative stress: Learning to cope with manageable threats to our physical and social wellbeing is critical for the development of resilience. Not all stress is harmful and there are numerous opportunities in every child's life to experience manageable stress. With the help of supportive adults this 'positive stress' can be beneficial. Over time, both our bodies and our brains begin to perceive these stressors as increasingly manageable and we become better able to cope with life's obstacles and hardships – both physically and mentally. Pictured above: Kath savouring time with some of the longest standing members of our school community (4R & 4E students Jessie, Cassia, Ellie, Jasper, Angus, James, Ryan L. & Alexander)
Principal’s Message Continued...
By Mrs Kath Boyd
Being aware of the more sensitive children: Some children respond in more extreme ways to both negative and positive experiences. These highly sensitive children may show increased vulnerability in stressful circumstances but also respond positively in environments that provide warmth and support. Promoting exercise and role modelling: Age-appropriate activities that have widespread health benefits can also improve resilience. Each school day, regular physical exercise and stress reduction practices (such as meditation), as well as experiences that actively build executive function and selfregulation skills, improve the abilities of children to cope with, adapt to, and even prevent adversity in their lives. Our teachers strengthen these skills in themselves and also model positive behaviours for children, which further helps improve the resilience of the next generation. At Reddam ELS Lindfield, we also: • Encourage children to make friendships and connections, check that no one is being isolated and promote empathy so they can understand each other's pain. •
Empower them by having them help others, whether it's peers or teachers.
• Encourage children to develop daily routines that can be maintained, yet also build in unstructured time during the day to allow children to be creative. •
Teach the importance of self-care by eating well, exercising, resting and making time for fun.
• Help children set and move towards reasonable goals, and praise them when each step or accomplishment is achieved. • Nurture a positive self-view and optimistic outlook by helping kids understand how past hardships build strength and why it's important to see humour in life and laugh at one's self. Also, teach them to trust themselves to solve problems and make appropriate decisions. • Help them look for opportunities of self-discovery, tough times are often when children learn the most about themselves. • Help children see that change is part of life and new goals can replace goals that have become unattainable. Event Reminder: The 2022 Reddam ELS Lindfield Grandparents & Special Friends Celebration will be held on Wednesday 29th June from 9am – 10.30am. Both sets of grandparents are invited (Mum’s parents & Dad’s parents), however if they live overseas or interstate then an Aunty, Uncle or Special Friend may like to come instead. Please ask your child’s Grandparents or Special Friends to save the date. An invitation will be emailed to each family shortly and we ask that you forward this to your child’s grandparents/special friend. Stay safe and warm over this chilly weekend. Pictured below: Feeding the Sharks - Colour Sorting activity in Stage 2E
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Stage 1R
By Heather Gaskell
“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” (Buckminster R. Fuller) The children have really enjoyed this week's focus text, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Exploring this book has allowed us to provide some amazing experiences for the children to participate in. Just like our art work for the week, The children used cardboard rolls and dipped them into red and green paint representing the colours of the hungry caterpillar paint then stamped them on the page to make a caterpillar shape. This activity allows us to talk to the children about the colours involved and helps them to strengthen their grip which leads towards their pencil grip ability for the future. There have been many fabulous sensory activities throughout the week for the children to join in on. We have had hungry caterpillars who held their mouths open wide waiting to be fed. The children then delighted in popping the authentic looking food into the mouths of the caterpillars. During this activity the children practised their fine motor skills and well as learned to recognise different foods. While feeding, we were also retelling the story and counting each item one by one. Another of the sensory activities we provided the children with for our hungry caterpillar sensory play, included magic sand, authentic veggies and fruit, and their favourite hungry caterpillar looking for food. They all immediately loved to feed the caterpillar, popping each item with glee into the caterpillar's mouth. This activity encourages the children to use their fine motor skills to pick up the items and put them into the mouth and spatial awareness to know which items fit in and which will not. Then there was the feel of the magic sand running through their fingers and seeing how it holds shapes. They also learned to count out numbers of the objects in the tray. This week we have introduced our Rainbow Learning Groups, this is a learning group for our older children in the class which takes place while our younger babies are having their rest time. This has enabled us to present further learning opportunities for our children to engage in like the life cycle of a caterpillar. We showed the models of caterpillar eggs with tiny caterpillars on a leaf, a big and fat caterpillar, a cocoon and a beautiful butterfly. We also learned a song There’s a tiny caterpillar which tells the life cycle of a caterpillar as well. Learning the life cycle was to help build their understanding of the world around them and develop their appreciation of the natural environment. We also incorporated some colour matching for the Rainbow Group. They were offered tongs for catching the pom poms and transferring them into the matching bowls. Through the activity we talked to the children reinforcing the colour recognition and sorting skills they were displaying. Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend.
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Stage 1R: The Very Hungry Catepillar
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Stage 1R: Paper Roll Painting & Indoor and Ourdoor Play
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Stage 1E
By May Sumahit
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” (Albert Einstein) According to an article from CERC, fairy tales and modern fantasy stories project fantastic other worlds; but they also pay close attention to real moral ‘laws’ of character and virtue. By portraying wonderful and frightening worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh, fairy tales remind us of moral truths whose ultimate claims to normativity and permanence we would not think of questioning. Hence, we would like to support such moral truths with our young children. This will not only give them amazing imagination exploration but also encourage them to live in the real world. True to the great Einstein’s quote, if we wanted the children to have a life full of understanding and knowledge about the world around them we read more fairy tales with them. This week’s learning experiences provoked the children to build their own castles out of cardboard boxes, concoct a secret potion with the wizard and explore the world of fairy tales with our fairy tale books and sensory learning displays. Inspired by the fairy tale The Princess and The Pea, the children were challenged to sort the textured green peas from a yellow corn and put them in a bowl.. We introduced words such as ‘green, yellow, big and small ', increasing the children’s vocabulary. Learning words such as this also exposes the children to early mathematical concepts. Tapping into our children’s creative side, we engaged in various experiences. Firstly, we allowed the children to create their sprinkling fairy dust artwork which encouraged them to practice their fine motor manipulation and hand-eye coordination skills as they painted the paper and sprinkled glitters on them. Additionally, we invited them to decorate their own castle using natural and recycled materials. They also experienced brewing, mixing, and scooping the flowers in the improvised cauldron. Such activities supported the children’s physical motor coordination skills and at the same time instilled in them the joy of pretend play using simple toys through the use of natural and recycled materials and create social groups, challenge each other’s ideas and build new understandings. Significantly, these not only promote sustainability practices but also encourage the children to be creative at their make-believe learning which is important for their well-being and development as young children. Looking forward to learning more about the children’s interests as we all together explore Space and Beyond. Thank you for spending your time reading our newsletter! Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead! May, Fatima and Melisa
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Stage 1E: Adventures to Magical Fairy Lands
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Stage 1E: Twinkle Fairy Sprinkle Painting
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Stage 2R
By Sara Haddadi
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an entire ocean in a drop.” (Rumi) The ocean has a way of enthralling us, captivating our imagination and enticing us with unsolved mysteries. All water is connected; rivers, lakes, and the sea are all the same water that circulates around the Earth and connects us all. Children really enjoy learning about the ocean and sea life, so this week we decided to create this opportunity for children to encourage new discoveries and learning. 2R learned more about each ocean zone and the animals that live in them, and also observed an amazing experiment learning about ocean currents. The teachers discussed with 2R that oceanographers are scientists who study the ocean. Submarines are used by oceanographers to reach the ocean's deepest depths. They look at how warm or cold the water is in different places of the world, as well as the currents – or how the water moves. Marine biologists examine the creatures that live in the sea. Many marine biologists assist damaged creatures in returning to their natural habitats in the ocean. In settings like an Aquarium, they assist animals in recovering or improving from injuries. 2R pretended to be sea creatures exploring underwater in our small ocean world area, developing storytelling skills through pretend play. They also seemed to enjoy the ocean slime and adding different sea creatures in it which was a treat for their senses. Moreover, they investigated the science behind melting the icy oceans and its creatures using salt and water. While they were playing, the teachers engaged them with meaningful conversations about the temperature and changes that were happening to the ice and water. Another play-based learning experience involved 2R understanding beach erosion and growing an appreciation for nature. They mixed sand and water together and sand moved from its location to another which we call beach erosion.
The artwork of the week engaged children's creativity by creating ocean inspired art using watercolour and oil pastel. This processed art amazed 2R on how the oil pastel drawings resisted the water colour paint! We must inspire our children to love the ocean and understand our natural world. In developing an understanding of the ocean ecosystem and its different parts, children will also learn the importance of taking care of our oceans and marine life, and living in a way that reflects that. Wishing you a wonderful weekend filled with only the most fun and exciting times. Sara, Vivian, Lizzie, Chloe, Connie, Vianne and Jaycel
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Stage 2R: Investigating the Ocean Habitats
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Stage 2R: Ocean Waves Painting
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Stage 2E
By Mia Doan
“The greatest danger to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” (Robert Swan) Throughout this week, we dived deeply under the ocean to visit various marine creatures. Getting children interested in marine life and ocean animals will guide them to be environmentally conscious adults. Through a range of sensory activities from jelly, slime to playdough, pasta and water, our children learnt why certain animals look and feel the way they do, how their bodies function and therefore why we need to look after them. We used our amazing imaginations to swim around the Great Barrier Reef, follow colourful fish and enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature. The children explored the deepest parts of the ocean spotting where the octopuses and shellfish were hiding in stringy pasta. They used scissors to cut the stringy pasta to get to the animals. The children also had their turn to represent their own ocean view using a variety of loose parts and blue glitter foam mats. Furthermore, we also aimed to raise the children's awareness of water pollution. We read a great story book titled Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts. Stanley is a plastic bag that got into the sea. Every sea animal has a taste for Stanley, as they thought that he is an ordinary jellyfish. Our young learners could not take their eyes off the book as they wanted to know which poor creature would swallow Stanley. 2E oceanologists enthusiastically took their turn to protect the beauty of the ocean by collecting all the garbage in the ocean and sourcing them out using three bin systems. We wouldn’t want the fish or turtle to get stuck in or eat the plastic bags/microplastic. Moreover, some of the most famous incidents of water pollution have been oil spills. These can be massively damaging to marine wildlife and also humans if the oil gets into the food chain. Miss Mia showed our friends a beautiful ocean full of sea creatures. However, when the ship passed by, all the oil spilled. Everyone gave a hand to clean the oil by using cotton balls. But, it was not easy. This hand-on oil spill science experiment is not only great for helping children visualise the effects of an oil spill, but also demonstrates how water and oil don’t mix and why oil floats on water. Have a cosy weekend, Mia, Tracey, Xanthe, Shandie, Chloe and Yannie
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Stage 2E: Exploring the Marine Life
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Stage 2E: The Commotion in the Ocean
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Stage 3R
By Grace Nolan
“Tomorrow's inventors and scientists are today's curious young children… as long as those children are given ample chances to explore and are guided by adults equipped to support them” (G. McClure) This week our provocation was Engineering, an important branch where science and technology comes together with design, building, and use of engines, machines and structures. We aimed to invite the children to embrace their ‘logical-mathematical’ hats (Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences, 1996). This meant that as a class, our experiences sought to challenge the children’s problem-solving skills, engage them in critical thinking, designing and creating. Our table experiences throughout the week incorporated alphabet knowledge and building as we provided large building blocks with different letters marked on them. The children were asked to build a tower by matching and ordering the letters. Another literacy challenge saw children using Lego to create the shape of different letters with help from letter cards to provide a stimulus for the children to mimic the shape. Changing our block tower experiences slightly, we added cardinal numbers and corresponding number dots for the children to match and build upon. Our Artist in focus was Vincent Van Gogh, using his ‘Starry Night’ painting as inspiration for the children to explore colour, movement & different mediums of expression. The children were able to use foil covered cardboard, paper bags and cue tips to create their own starry night. Throughout the week we read the Andrea Beatty Engineer & Architect books to inspire the children as ‘the use of engineering-centred books to improve the impact of instructional strategies that emphasise the engineering design cycle’ (Pantoya, Aguirre-Munoz & Hunt). This meant that when we transitioned from reading the books to actually facing an engineering challenge, the children were prompted to ask and answer questions regarding design and worked together to problem-solve. Posing the question of “How can we build a bridge to get the cars from one side of the river to another?” meant that the children had a clear goal and understanding, with visual provocations of different bridge designs as a discussion point and for reference when constructing. Each day the children were given a problem to solve that could be solved with designing and creating different structures, such as making a house for animals using recycled materials. The children were also encouraged to draw their designs first, to engage in the first process of engineering. Constructing with different materials and creating 3D structures allowed the children to engage in cognitive thinking and problem solving as they used toothpicks and marshmallows to build squares, cubes, triangles and pyramids. Offering a variety of materials ensures that children are given the opportunity to create in their own unique way. Next week we continue to think like an Engineer with a prime focus on Construction. Grace, Carina, Margaret, Shandie, Chloe and Ashleigh
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Stage 3R: Engaging in Engineering Projects
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Stage 3R: Mashmallow Building Challenge
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Stage 3E
By Indi Dalsanto
“In the last five years the bee population has dropped by a third. If bees were to disappear from the face of the Earth, humans would have just four years left to live.” (David Attenborough) This term, Stage 3E will be focusing on the world around them with our term provocation of Connecting to Our World. This week, the children extended upon their learning of the animal world by focusing on animals which are small like frogs but different in many ways - Minibeasts. Minibeasts tend to have other structures which support and protect them. Snails have shells, while many insects and spiders have an ‘exoskeleton’, which is a hard casing on their outside. There are over one million species of minibeasts on the planet; However, scientists estimate that there could be as many as 10 million or more! Our table experiences throughout this week invited the children to explore minibeasts through sensory, STEM, creative and literacy focused experiences. Firstly for our sensory experiences the children explored a minibeast themed small world filled with green dyed rice, dried eucalyptus leaves from the garden, minibeast figurines and wooden stumps. This experience aimed to provoke children's curiosity about the topic and encouraged them to engage in dramatic and social play. Other sensory activities included making snails using playdough, and manipulating green slime with insects hidden underneath. These experiences are effective for developing children's fine-motor movement skills. The S.T.E.M. table experience had a strong mathematical focus. The children were encouraged to develop their understanding of numerical symbols and values by counting and placing spots on a ladybug. The teachers encouraged children to engage in this experience daily, and further prompted and guided children's understanding through questioning and modelling. For our creative experiences this week the children used paints and paintbrushes to create their own butterflies. The children were encouraged to choose their favourite colours for this experience, and mixed different primary colours together to make unique colours. The children also created their own symmetrical butterfly art by blobbing paint in the centre of a piece of paper, folding the paper, and pressing the fold to create a beautiful artwork. For our literacy focused experience this week the children practised identifying names of different minibeasts, sounding out the first letter and writing the first letter on a white board. This was a great opportunity for children to develop skills in recognising letters and practice writing them. This experience is also a great way for children to develop phonological awareness as they are making out sounds before identifying the appropriate letter and writing them. During our Meetings throughout the week, we engaged in many discussions which focused on minibeasts. Firstly, the children were invited to explore the life cycle of a butterfly, lady bug, snail and bee. The children first observed a poster which visually displayed the lifecycle of each minibeast. The children then passed around figurines which represented each stage of the cycle. Through questioning, the educators challenged the children to develop their language skills by identifying the names of each cycle stage. The educators also challenged children’s memory by having them identify and arrange the figurines in the correct order of its life cycle. Throughout these meetings the children also engaged in discussions about the different characteristics of minibeasts, habitats as well as shared some very interesting facts. Next week, we will be looking at Birds Around the World! Including the Kookaburra, Cockatiel, Emu, Cockatoo and the Magpie. Have a great weekend! Indi, Nat, Connie and Kai
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Stage 3E: Sensory and Numeracy Experiences
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Stage 3E: Minibeast Creative Art
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Stage 4R
By Veronika Roth “I am convinced digestion is the great secret of life.” (Sydney Smith)
This week, the children have been learning about the Digestive System. The body's digestive system is responsible to turn what we eat into energy and nutrients and then gets rid of what's left. To identify the organs of the digestive system, we read the book Look at your digestion by Franklin Watts. Digestion begins in our mouth as the salivary glands are making saliva so food is easier to swallow. A muscular tube called Oesophagus connects our throat to our stomach. It squeezes food through the tube with mucus. Then, the food enters the stomach and it releases special juices to break down the food further and to kill germs. The small intestine's job is to pass the nutrients into the blood. Everything from the small intestine that doesn't make it to the liver ends up in the large intestine, a tube that is shorter and wider than the small intestine and its job is to soak up water, salts and minerals from the remaining foods. We have put our learning to a test as we experimented just what really happens in our digestive organs. Using everyday items such as funnel, tube, plastic bag and a cardboard box as a foundation, we have made up a human body. This was so much fun! The children’s thoughts on why we consume food: - Martin: "Because the food is healthy." - Alexander: "Because we need to celebrate our food." - Gemma: "Because we need to do a wee-wee." - Angelina: "So we can grow bigger and bigger." - Jackson: "Because we can run and we get muscles." - Laura: "So we get more energy." - Lily: "Your bones can grow bigger and run fast." - Marcus K: "Mummy gives me lettuce to grow." - Nathan: "If we didn't have a stomach we couldn't eat and we would need to poo." The food pyramid is a great way to explain to children the food groups that we consume developed by Nutrition Australia (2022). The pyramid is divided into four main groups from bottom to top, reflecting the recommended amount of each group: vegetables, fruit and legumes, grains, dairy and meat products, and at the healthy fats. The pyramid does not display sweet foods and recommends avoiding these, as well as it highly recommends the daily intake of water. Our table provocations this week furthered the learning focus on the digestive system. Filling stockings with scrunched-up paper, the children resembled the small and large intestines. Cutting up fruit and vegetable skins furthered their fine motor skills while incorporating the theme of healthy eating. A food classification and grouping game of sorting fruit and vegetables according to their colour and a literacy activity of writing key food-themed words inspired healthy food choices that support the digestive system. A sensory activity on our table provocations invited the children to experiment with the idea of how food is carried down the intestinal tube. The children were offered beakers with coloured water. Using a syringe, they extracted the coloured water and released it into a clear tube representing the intestine. It was exciting watching the coloured water travel down the tube as well as a cause and effect activity of what happens to dry food in our stomach in the form of observing dry pasta become wet and soft. One of the highlights of our weekly learning was the group experiment on how food is digested by the digestive system. The children each took part in the step-by-step experiment. Using four slices of bread we reenacted the way food enters our body and is being digested. In the first tray, the mouth was represented and the children ripped a slice of bread into small pieces, as the teeth would chop and grind the food. Then, through the oesophagus, the food enters the stomach where it is being processed by stomach acid. Here, the children mixed and smooshed the bread with water. Then, the small intestine's job is to digest and separate the nutrients and waste. This was represented by the reaction between vinegar and bicarb soda. The children were amazed to notice the fizzy reaction. The large intestine then separates the liquid and soil and gets rid of the waste. Using a filled stocking, the children squeezed the liquid out leaving the dry waste in the large intestine. Have a lovely weekend, Veronika, Rebecca and Rowel
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Stage 4R: Investigating the Digestive System
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Stage 4R: Digestive System Collage & Literacy Experiences
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Stage 4E
By Lauren Hall
“The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.” (Philippe Diolé) Our provocation Exploring Our Earth continued as our class dived down through the layers of the ocean this week. Two thirds of our planet is covered in water so there was a lot to explore. We learnt about many of the sea animals that inhabit each ocean zone and discovered the following: •
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Sunlight Zone: This is the first zone that begins at the surface, where the water receives the most sun. Approximately 90% of all sea creatures live in this zone and on the coral reefs. Creatures include starfish, crabs, tropical fish, stingrays, sea urchins, sharks, dolphins and sea turtles. Twilight Zone: 200m deeper there is less sun and the water becomes a little colder. Creatures include jellyfish, swordfish, pufferfish and whales. Midnight Zone: 1,000m deeper the water reaches freezing temperatures because hardly any sun can reach down this far from the surface. Creatures must be able to survive the cold and dark conditions of the water. They include hatchet fish, lantern fish and the tripod fish. The Abyss: 4,000m deeper in the ocean it is pitch black and extremely cold. Creatures include the dumbo octopus, vampire squid and many prehistoric-looking creatures. The Trench: This is the ocean floor approximately 11,000m deep. All the creatures down here mostly glow in the dark, including the viper fish and angler fish. They look as if they have LED lights running through their bodies, and we were surprised to learn that there are underwater volcanoes that let out hot steam from the centre of the Earth.
Our story books of the week included The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, which reminded us about the importance of sharing and being kind. Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson was also a firm favourite as we read how a crab, a sea anemone and a bristle worm cohabitated in a rock pool. The children used a variety of water colours to paint their fish before sticking on glittery scales and creating a coral reef background with mixed materials. Around our classroom the children engaged with many ocean-themed learning experiences. At our manipulation table they moulded and shaped blue play dough and kinetic sand to create coral reef environments with faux seaweed, stones and shells. The children also enjoyed using magnetic fishing rods to "catch" some sea creatures, identifying each one as they retrieved them. At our numeracy station the children used wooden fish to help them count from 1-20, and our small-world area was full of imagination as the children worked together to create a coral reef for the sea animals. Next week our ocean adventures will continue as we learn how to implement sustainable practices to protect our sea animals and keep their environments clean. Lauren, Priya, Kai and Rowel
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Stage 4E: Exploring the Ocean
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Stage 4E: The Rainbow Fish
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Playball
By Coach Lauren Guttman
We started our lesson today playing the Playball version of Dodge Ball. We all ran around the court and I tried to catch the children with a beanbag. If we get caught, we know that we don’t get cross or upset – it’s only a game! We concentrated on tennis this week – the children love tennis and were so excited to see that I had brought tennis bats with me to Playball today. We ran around the court balancing a beanbag on our bat – always remembering to keep the bat nice and flat so that the beanbag doesn’t fall off. The children then flipped their beanbag high up to the sky with their bat. The children all have pretty amazing body strength and muscle tone because you would not believe how high some of those beanbags flew up to the sky. Then, I gave everyone a ball and we “boofed” (our very own Playball word) the ball away with the bat. We also did little “boofs” with our bat, and when I blew my whistle, the children “trapped” (stopped) the ball with their bat, always remembering to do it nice and gently. I went faster and faster and faster so the children really had to listen carefully. Finally, the children had an opportunity to hit their ball off a ball holder and I even encouraged the children to try and bounce the ball with their bat – always remembering to wait for the ball to “pop up”. To finish, the children crossed the ‘Playball river’ on ‘lilypads’ (beanbags) and everyone cheered so nicely for their fellow teammates. Such a fun lesson champs!
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Mandarin
By Chloe Lin
This week I challenged the students to sing our hello song ‘Hello/Ni Hao’ in a fun and creative way. We sang like different animals! A duck, a pig, a horse, and a dog. After we’d warmed up our voices, we continued to sing our favourite songs: Two Tigers, Three Bears, and Elephant, Elephant, Where is your Trunk? To warm up our bodies this week the children had fun following along my actions to the Tai Chi Melon song. In Stage 2 this week, I taught the children a new song about an elephant and a mouse. Stage 3 and 4 continued on with this song and I am so impressed at how well the children are able to repeat the words and actions with me! Next, I introduced the children to a new, challenging game. I showed the children some flash cards with various pictures on them. I then instructed the children to find the corresponding item in the room. Each child had the chance to proudly show the class the item they had found and repeat the name in Mandarin. As a class we repeated the question “What is this?” in Mandarin and then learnt the vocabulary for each object. Well done everyone for completing my challenge! To finish off our lesson we repeated some common phrases in Mandarin and said “thank you” and “goodbye” to our friends. The children were all rewarded with a special stamp for an excellent effort in Mandarin today.
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Music
By Andy Freeborn
Exploration! This week I continued to introduce new instruments to the classes, while testing their familiarity with previous week’s instruments. Stage 1 & 2 had so much fun as I laid out a wide array of musical instruments for them to discover. I briefly demonstrated how each instrument made a unique sound and then let their interest take over to find the instruments that they were most fascinated by. This encouraged their own musical curiosity, whereas in previous weeks, they would only play the instruments I had decided to spend the lesson working on. Some of these instruments included pots, pans, maracas, shakers, xylophones and drums. I was very impressed by the correct application of the mallets or sticks for their associated instruments. Eg. The xylophone mallets were only used on the xylophone, and the drum sticks were only used on the pots/drums. Across most classes I found that interest and attention was evenly divided between either a rhythmic or a melodic instrument. This was a key reason as to why I decided to do this exercise: I was able to get to know which children were more fascinated by these different layers of music. Stage 3 were particularly excited about learning more about new instruments this week. These classes have begun to understand the structure of our class and are excited to guess what I might have brought for us to play that week and have an opportunity to play. I am so happy to see this excitement surrounding music begin to blossom within these classes. This week, we played the melodica (with two hands, and our fingers splayed), the tambourine, and a new introduction: The Triangle. With Stage 4 this week, I encouraged each of the kids to come up in front of the class and play all of the selected musical instruments I had chosen for them. They played the tambourine, demonstrating that they could shake it and beat it to create sound, while counting and playing the instrument to “4”. Then I introduced everyone to a Triangle, which caused a lot of joyful screams in reaction to this bright new sound. Much to everyone’s amusement, no one believed that you could make music, or a sound, out of a laminated piece of paper. Multiple children shouted “Andy, it sounds like thunder!” Once I showed them that they could make sound out of it, each children was eager to experiment trying to replicate the thunderous sound a piece of paper could make. This, once more, encouraged the exciting possibility that you can make music out of anything.
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Drama
By Xanthe Wills
This week in drama we explored our final week of the time machine and travelled back to when Vikings lived on the planet. Stage 1 and I sang some popular nursery rhymes like ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ Stage 1 are becoming more and more confident with singing along and joining in. They loved having a visit from my turtle puppet. In Stages 2, 3, and 4, we recreated our time machines from last week, and travelled to the land where the Vikings lived. I showed everyone a book that showed lots of pictures of how Vikings lived. We could see tents, stovetops, shields and swords, boats, and islands. We looked closely at the Viking ship and tried to make a ship with our bodies. For Stage 2, we played ‘follow the leader’ and sailed our boats through the classroom. Stage 3 and 4 were very creative and twisted their bodies into all sorts of shapes to replicate the boat from the book. We played a fun island game with music. When the music played, the children sailed around the space, but when the music stopped, they had to ‘land’ on an island (hoop). Then, our boat arrived on the shore of a new island. In the book we saw that the Vikings used flags, so we planted our own flag and named the island. Some suggestions included ‘Apple Island’, ‘Viking Island’, ‘Palm Tree Island’, and ‘Green Island’. We talked about Vikings liking to play games. We decided that we should run our very own Viking race. When the music was playing we had to run on the spot, and when the music stopped, we bopped down. Stage 2 used very impressive listening ears and followed instructions very well during this game. After playing, we used the rest of the music to collect imaginary sticks to make a fire. Around the fire we were hungry! We decided to make some bread and cook it on the fire. We used our 5 senses while making the bread: touch, smell, sight, taste, and hearing. Stage 4 was challenged to tell a short campfire story while we were waiting for our food. The children were encouraged to stand up, stand still, project their voices so that everyone could hear, and use descriptive language. At the end of our lesson, we used our time machines to come back to preschool. I told the children that I had found something at my grandma’s house and gave them 3 clues: it’s old, it’s made of paper, and we followed it. I wonder if anyone can guess through the week what it is?
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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!
30/05 - Max (1R)
30/05 - Clara (2E)
02/06 - Charles (1E)
03/05 - Alison(3E)
04/06 - Olivia (3E)
05/06 - Vicky (1E)
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