Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 18

Principal’s Message

By Christine Irwin

Dear Parents, As you may be aware I am the new Principal at Reddam ELS - Lindfield. I would like to thank the families who have welcomed me so warmly and I look forward to meeting you all over the coming weeks.

Following is an overview of my journey in the Early Childhood Sector so far: •

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I have had over 30 years of experience in varying positions, across a broad range of organisations and management structures. I have managed a number of early childhood services and have a true dedication for providing quality education and care for children.

My experience includes positions held within the vocational education and training sector at TAFE NSW which included the many facets of teaching and guiding future early childhood educators. This is an area I have a real passion for and have mentored and coached early childhood professionals in a variety of roles.

I also had the opportunity to be a part of the Quality Support Program at ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority) where I was involved in supporting early childhood services through the National Quality Framework.

This is my first week at Reddam and all the staff have made me feel like part of the team so quickly. We often talk about the fundamentals of the Early Years Learning Framework of Belonging, Being, Becoming, for children that we may overlook that adults need to feel this way in their environment as well. As observed in positive early childhood education teams, is it important to have a cohesive path to the implementation and pedagogical approach to quality education of the children in our care.

An early childhood education team that has respect for diversity and an inclusive approach for all educators is imperative to the success of the service. Providing an empowering environment where thoughts and ideas are expressed and heard through discussions and reflections makes the difference in educators’ interactions with not only each other but with children and their families.

“Educators who also experience a sense of Belonging, Being, Becoming and wellbeing are more likely to have a greater sense of connectedness to what they feel and do.” (ACECQA - February 2018) It is evident at Reddam ELS - Lindfield that the team works collaboratively in providing support for each other and educating the children through a child-centred environment. I look forward to working with these professional educators in our quest in providing quality early childhood education and care.

Looking forward to chatting with you all soon.

Pictured above: Elena (1R) exploring Zoo provocation activity

Stage 1R

By Heather Gaskell

“Books are a uniquely portable magic” (Stephen King) Our beautiful little ones have loved exploring our literacy provocation with some amazing books.

All of these books have opened up wonderful worlds of imagination for the children to immerse themselves in. This week was no different as Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell gave us the opportunity to investigate the world of animals. From the tiniest of animals to the ginormous, from the furry to the scaly. The children assumed the roles of elephants as they trumpeted around the room while tiny mice scurried around under the furniture.

We have extended the children’s developing language and early literacy skills through imaginative play with animal figurines. The children have imitated the sounds the animals make, sometimes including gestures such as raising their arms to represent the elephant's trunk when it makes its call, the roar of a tiger, and some curled claws pawing the air. We have used many forms of expression to help the children participate in the discovery of the animal world. Using a magnetic story book the children engaged with the story scenes as Miss Doris read the book. The children were encouraged to place the magnetic animals into the scenes where they thought the animals should go, creating their very own illustrations. Throughout this activity the children learnt about special awareness, practising their hand-eye coordination skills when holding and placing the magnetic pieces.

Another learning experience we provided for the children was to participate in small world play.

The children were welcomed with a zoo-themed small sensory world, where they could manipulate kinetic sand and a variety of wild animals. The children created animal homes from the sand and natural items, giving them an opportunity to create their own family clusters and decide which animals would like to be friends. To increase the sensory stimulation we also invited the children to play with grey slime which represented mud and the animals which might like to roll around in it. This gave the children the ability to explore the sensation of the slime, stretching it and observing how it reacts and behaves to being pulled by their little fingers. The children were completely absorbed in the tactile play, using their fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination while they continued to play.

We wish all our families a wonderful weekend!

Heather, Doris, May and Resie

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Stage 1R: Dear Zoo Sensory and Colour Sorting Experiences

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Stage 1R: Animal Foot Stamp

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Stage 1E

By Charity Acera

“Don’t tell me the sky's the limit when there’s footprints on the moon.” (Anonymous) Children always have a fascination with space and all the concepts that go along with it.

Teaching lessons about space excites the children’s creativity and imagination skills. This invited them to explore the world around them and make sense of their world. This week the children were exposed to texture play experiences, dramatic plays, sensory experiences and built friendships among their peers as they explored and discovered the vast space we live in.

To illustrate these learning experiences, we explored space through our sense of touch and sight. A sensory display welcomed the children wherein we put moon sand, flashy stars and toy space items for them to play pretend with. Extending their knowledge about space, we provoked the children’s imagination through the use of pom-poms, glitter and tiny stars scattered on the display table. This experience challenged the children’s colour recognition and basic counting skills as we identified the different colours and counted the number of stars we caught.

Building more of their vocabulary and listening skills, Miss Charity read a book alongside the children called Ten Little Aliens. What a great display of focus and attention the children demonstrated as they engaged with the adventures of the ten little aliens. The Five Little Men in the Flying Saucer song scaffolded our numeracy skills as we counted and took away one man at a time. This was a great tool for our children to practise their turn-taking skills as they waited for each alien puppet to land on their fingers from one friend to another.

Using play to investigate, imagine and explore ideas, we led the children to a sensory experience of manipulating an outer space small world display. Our display table continued to develop the children’s fine-motor skills and pro-social skills as they were invited to share the learning area counting the stars and manipulating the fuzzy wires, shiny foil and colourful sticker planets onto our display table. This was a purposeful experience for them to increase their social interactions and as well as enhance their basic numeracy concept of counting.

An art activity was also prepared to extend the alien learning. The children explored and manipulated cotton buds dipped in white acrylic paint. Here, we invited the children to challenge their pincer grip as they dip the cotton buds onto a white paint and then transfer it onto a black paper leaving white dots and strokes creating a resemblance of the milky way.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Charity, May, Fatima, Ling and Resie

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Stage 1E: Space and Beyond

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Stage 1E: Milky Way Artwork

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Stage 2R

By Sara Haddadi

"Without the ice, the earth will fall." (Emma Thompson) This week 2R travelled to the Arctic and Antarctica. From their fascinating wildlife to the stunningly rugged landscapes, each pole is packed to the brim with spectacular experiences.

We investigated what makes both polar regions so different and yet so unique.

Our play-based learning sensory experiences, including the Arctic and Antarctic small worlds using ice, fake snow, white foam beads, rice flakes and salt, helped the children understand more about the polar animals' habitats. 2R enjoyed positioning the animal figurines in different places, creating stories about them while engaging their senses. The children enjoyed the texture of the ice, shaping and touching the fake snow in their hands. Sensory exploration is the children's way of examining, discovering, categorising, and making sense of the world. Playing with different types of textures, tastes, and objects helps children build new ways of talking about the world, allowing them to build on their language skills.

Inspired by these fascinating white worlds, we incorporated cooking into the program and provided an opportunity for the children to make coconut snowballs. This simple recipe encouraged the children's thinking and encouraged them to explore counting, measuring, following directions, and cause and effect. Our art experience of the week also encouraged the children's creativity, using sponges and white paint to create snowy owl paintings with lots of texture.

‘Temperature’ can be a difficult concept for children to grasp, however the teachers helped 2R to understand hot and cold water density. The reaction on the children’s faces when they see scientific concepts work is so satisfying to watch. We used four jars, two blue ones filled with hot water and two yellow ones with cold water. The children observed when the cold water jar was placed on the top of the hot one, and heat molecules rose and the colours mixed right away.

But when the hot one was on top of the cold one, the colours didn't mix. The children explored water density, colour mixing, molecule science, and much more with this experiment.

Science experiments for children are more important than ever as science and technology are becoming a significant part of our modern world. By engaging with simple science experiments with the children, we help inspire a love of science and discovery in them that will follow them throughout their lives. These discoveries start with a firm scientific foundation and STEAM from an early age.

Have a fabulous weekend, lovely families!

Sara, Vivian, Lizzie, Connie, Jaycel, Chloe, Shandie and Jenny

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Stage 2R: Investigating Polar Habitats

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Stage 2R: Snowy Owl Artwork

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Stage 2E

By Mia Doan

“Formal education is a walk through the zoo, informal learning is the walk through savannah” (Stephen W. Hart) During Week 6, we explored the savannah biome. All savannahs are characterised by lots of grasslands, small trees, warm weather, and distinct wet and dry seasons. The key concepts developed within the living world focus are: living things have similar characteristics; are interdependent and interact with each other and their environment; living things and their features are related to the environments in which they live. Significantly, sustainable practices intentionally and unintentionally engage through natural play-based learning, that constructs a strong foundation of positive experiences with nature and self-awareness of human impacts on the Earth system.

During the shared-reading experience, we continued to engage in two main literary genres: narrative and informational texts. While narrative texts shape our imagination, creativity and emotional intelligence skills, informational texts extend our sense of wonder, curiosity, high-order thinking skills, and develop our children's knowledge of the world. Reading and listening to different literary genres affords their comprehension skills and builds critical content knowledge and vocabulary. We read a beautiful book titled, One Day On Our Blue Planet: In the Savannah

by Ella Bailey. Accompanied with the little cub, we explored a range of nocturnal and diurnal animals. This book beautifully presented non-fiction for young children, combining a gentle narrative with lots of facts.

On the provocation table, the children engaged with the African Savannah small world. In the miniature African wildlife, our friends enjoyed feeding the giraffes, bathing the crocodiles, camouflaging the cheetahs, sprinkling sand on the elephants, and pouring mud on the hippos to prevent them from sunburn. Through their play, our little scientist identified the unique physical characteristics of each animal by playing a physical matching game and answering openended questions from the teachers. Through these provocation experiences, the children reflected on their previous knowledge of living things and the environments in which they live.

At our art table, we painted a giant zebra where we rolled marbles to paint the stripes. We put the marbles in the black tray to make them move. Our children practised their motor skills when they held the box and shook it. They observed the patterns made by the movement of the marbles, identified the stripes, and extended their interests in zebras.

Hakuna Matata!

Mia, Xanthe, Tracey, Shandie, Chloe and Vianne

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Stage 2E: Savannah Adventures

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Stage 2E: Zebra Marble Artwork

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Stage 3R

By Grace Nolan

“The freedom to manipulate different materials in an organic and unstructured way allows for exploration and experimentation…Art allows youth to practice a wide range of skills that are useful not only for life, but also for learning.” (Rymanowicz) The A in ‘S.T.E.A.M’ represents Art, and to explore concepts both logically, freely and artistically to reinforce new and old ideas. Using art as an avenue to explore numeracy and literacy concepts saw the children engaged and contributing to all experiences and discussions this week. One of our small groups used watercolours to discover ‘Magic Letters’, revealing hidden letters. The children showed enthusiasm for finding and identifying the letters, sharing their findings with their peers.

Another learning group was able to explore gravity and motion through ‘Splat Art’. Using different materials such as pom poms, pencils, paper, blocks to drop from different heights to see the changes in paint patterns and the ‘splat’ it makes. The children were able to decide which materials make the best ‘splat’ and discuss why. This experience worked on peer-scaffolding as well as engaging in critical thinking, hypothesising and trial and error. These are all things young scientists use when exploring new theories.

Our creative experience for this week focused on the artworks of Georgia O'Keeffe’s watercolour paintings. The children were given watercolours and different mediums to add to their masterpieces. The children were invited to use pipettes to drop oil on top of their artworks to see how the oil and water reacted with each other. Another experiment saw the children sprinkling salt on their artwork to observe absorption and patterns that were made as a result.

Continuing on from our engineering and construction weeks, the children were also invited to come together to build a robotic crab. Taking out all the materials and tools needed to build the crab, the children were offered the opportunity to touch, see and smell the different materials (plastic, steel, spikey cogs, small screws and wires). The children then helped to assemble the robot. At first, the group was unable to complete the robot as the wrong screwdriver was included. Although this was disappointing for the children, it was a great learning experience as we modelled resilience and the importance of persisting when faced with a challenge.

During our Morning Meetings, the class listened to different pieces of music. The children were encouraged to close their eyes and listen to the songs, then asked if they enjoyed the music and how it made them feel. Music can bring up different emotions and thoughts, and giving the children varied musical experiences encourages them to communicate their ideas verbally and start answering more ‘What & Why’ questions.

Next week we will continue to explore Art. Grace, Carina, Shandie and Margaret

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Stage 3R: Artistic Expression

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Stage 3R: S.T.E.A.M. Learning Experiences

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Stage 3E

By Indi Dalsanto

“Warm-bloodedness is one of the key factors that have enabled mammals to conquer the Earth, and to develop the most complex bodies in the animal kingdom.”

(David Attenbourough) This week, the children extended their learning of the animal world by focusing on mammals and marsupials. Last week, we investigated the topic of ‘birds of the world’ and explored some of our favourite birds including the kookaburra, cockatoo and emu. The children expressed a growing interest in other types of animals which appeared in various group time stories including the kangaroo platypus, wombat, dingo and Tasmanian devil. During group time story discussions, the children questioned why kangaroos keep their young in a pouch and where wombats live? To foster the children’s curiosity, this week's learning experiences aimed to promote a deeper understanding about what these animals are and what makes them unique. Mammals are vertebrate animals which possess sweat glands to regulate heat in the body as these creatures are warm-blooded. Marsupials are also a type of mammal because they are warm-blooded, however are distinguished by the way these animals carry their young in a pouch. Although similar in nature, all mammals have unique characteristics and appearances. For example, our friend the wombat is the largest marsupial mammal that digs burrows to sleep in. The koala is also one of the only marsupials that can sleep for most of the day in tree branches. Australia is home to more than 250 species of marsupials and over 379 species of mammals.

Our morning meetings focused on gradually building and extending the children’s understanding of the weekly provocation. We introduced the stories The Midnight Possum by Sally Morgan and Jess Racklyeft, The Silver Stream by Robert Roennfeldt, and A Feast for Wombat by Sally Morgan and Tania Erzinger. Our table experiences invited the children to explore various types of mammals and marsupials through sensory, literacy-focused, numeracy and creative experiences. Our sensory experience invited the children to explore and manipulate Kinetic sand, animal figurines and natural materials. This experience was a fun way for children to engage in role-play experiences and learn through hands-on tactile play. Our literacy experiences allowed the children to collaboratively solve a challenging Australian animal-themed puzzle. Solving puzzles is great for children to develop problem solving skills, social skills and contributes positively to children’s memory development. Our numeracy experiences allowed the children to enhance their numerical symbol recognition and one-to-one correspondence, creating animal shelters using blocks and number line cards. The creative experience invited the class to create animal sculptures using clay and paints. Moulding and shaping clay is beneficial for children when developing their fine-motor skills, dexterity and hand strength. The experience also encouraged the children to think about different characteristics of animals and how they can be included within the creative process.

Next week, we will be investigating the Impact of Climate Change and how it’s impacting our planet.

Have a great weekend!

Indi, Nat, Kai and Connie

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Stage 3E: Sensory and Numeracy Experiences

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Stage 3E: Creative Art Experience

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Stage 4R

By Veronika Roth “Every drop of human blood contains a history book written in the language of our genes.” (Spencer Wells - geneticist)

During Week 6, we have been learning about the circulatory system. The topic was introduced with a group discussion prompting the children to think critically and share their existing knowledge. We looked at an image of the circulatory system in the book Humanatomy: The Circulatory System by Nicola Edwards and the children brainstormed which body system is represented. Angelina commented, "Its blood system." The book introduced the circulatory system and covered each of the components of blood: red blood cells carry oxygen from our lungs to our cells and carbon dioxide waste back to the lungs to be exhaled. White blood cells are made in the bone marrow. Platelets are the smallest of the blood cells. They have a sticky surface that helps blood clot and form a scab when you get a cut.

The provocations on our tables invited the children to explore the circulatory system: • A sensory tray filled with water beads, red water, small pipes and syringes • Two separate trays representing clean and dirty blood • Circulatory system keywords at the literacy table • Tree artwork displaying veins and arteries This week’s group discussions saw the children engage in a number of experiments to investigate how the heart works as it pumps the blood around the body. First, we measured how much blood is in our system by using a small 500 ml water bottle and a trough. The children took turns and poured 10 bottles of water measuring the 5 litres of the blood of an adult human body. At each turn when the water bottle was filled, another friend shaded the equal amount on our board until we reached the 5 litres. To gain further understanding of how blood flows in our circulatory system, the children engaged in a physical activity by being tied to each other with red cotton wool, representing the blood cells flowing in the body. They were 'circulating' around hula hoops and cones following each other reaching to all parts of the body. Another hands-on activity investigated how blood flows in the human body. Nathan volunteered to be our helper. Using a long pipe, we attached the piece to Nathan's body. The children each took a turn using a syringe to pump blood into the artery. We watched with anticipation as the blood flowed through the clear pipe. The pipes' ends were connected to represent the circular, ongoing flow.

We then engaged as a group and got to work making our blood model. This looked a little strange but the children remembered the parts of the blood. The heart has two features that keep blood flowing in the right direction. These are chambers and valves. Chambers fill with blood, then squeeze to pump the blood out. The children experimented by pumping the heart using different speeds (based on their state of resting) and observing how the blood with the oxygen goes from the lungs into the heart, which pumps the oxygen-filled blood into the body. Next, we focused on learning about blood groups and blood donation. Using magnet tiles, Miss Yollanda showed the children the difference between each blood type (different antigens) and why it is so important to know this when receiving and donating blood. We explored 16 different blood types and what happens to our blood when incompatible blood types are mixed together (represented by different coloured water).

Jump Rope for Heart Foundation: Established in 1983, Jump Rope for Heart is a skipping and fundraising program run in Australian primary schools throughout the year. It encourages children to have a positive attitude towards exercise, healthy eating and heart health while raising vital funds to fight heart disease. The children were introduced to and practised how to jump over a rope. Miss Yollanda and Miss Veronika were holding the rope for the children to take turns. We will continue with this skill as it was so much fun and we've noticed the children's emerging interest. During another session we did many exercises such as jumping jacks, squats, tai chi, and yoga poses, and we measured how our heartbeat changes speed after each activity. We then discussed why our heart beats faster when we do high-intensity activities due to it working harder to provide oxygen around our body.

Veronika, Rebecca, Yollanda and Rowel

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Stage 4R: Investigating the Circulatory System

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Stage 4R: Cooperative Learning and Creative Experiences

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Stage 4E

By Lauren Hall

“Each and every one of us can make changes in the way we live our lives and become part of the solution to climate change.” (Al Gore) Brrrr! Our winter weather accompanied our Arctic and Antarctic provocation perfectly this week as we investigated which animals inhabit the North and South Poles. As an extension on our ocean inquiry, the children explored the icy waters at each end of our planet, discovering that there are a plethora of interesting creatures that brave the freezing seas.

First, we located where the North and South Poles are on Earth using our globe, studying the large sheet of white ice that makes up Antarctica. At the top, we saw that the northern parts of Europe, Russia and Canada make up the Arctic. The children listed some of the animals they knew lived in each pole including polar bears, seals, narwhals, penguins, walruses and whales. Axel Schleffer’s book Flip, Flap, Frozen was a wonderful introduction to the many animals that live in the North and South Poles. We saw some of the animals the children had already listed and some unfamiliar ones too. We learnt about wolverines who are large, stocky animals, similar to small bears, puffins with bright orange beaks, and sea lions with their sharp teeth.

Throughout the week we focused on each pole separately, starting with Antarctica. We read The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins and Penguin by Anthony Dekker, learning many facts about these flightless birds. Next, we explored the Arctic and read The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich, learning that polar bears pad across the ice hunting for seals, fish and small animals, and that the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) glow in the night sky, creating a rainbow of colours. During our inquiry we sadly learnt that due to climate change and global warming, the ice at both poles is starting to melt, causing our sea levels to rise each year. Polar bears are affected as they live and hunt on the Arctic ice, and without it, their habitat is disappearing, forcing them to migrate south to hunt.

This week our learning experiences included discovery trays filled with ice cubes, blue water and animal figurines to role-play with. Blue playdough was used to mould and manipulate into icy habitats, and bicarbonate soda snow created a chilly backdrop for the polar bears. In our small world area, the children created stories about polar bears, penguins and orcas, based on the facts and information they had learnt from our stories and group learning. The children were also invited to construct penguin collages out of paper and mixed materials at our art table. They enjoyed using coloured chalk pastels to create the illusion of the Northern Lights against a silhouette landscape, which looked very effective too.

After several weeks of ocean investigations, we will start to explore the land on our planet next week, starting with our smallest creatures – minibeasts.

Enjoy your weekend!

Lauren, Priya and Intisar

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Stage 4E: Exploring the North and South Pole

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Stage 4E: Polar Inspired Artworks

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Playball

By Coach Lauren Guttman

We started our lesson today with the Helicopter Game where we all ran around the court with outstretched arms (spinners). When I blew my whistle, the children stopped, balanced on one foot and ‘hovered’ just like a helicopter. We then tried to hover on the other foot! To continue warming up, we played the forwards/backwards game. When I blew my whistle, the children moved either forwards or backwards depending on my cue.

Now that our bodies were nice and warm, we played a range of games with a round bean bag ball or a ‘hacky sack’. The children placed the hacky sack between their feet and tried to jump as high as they could. Then, the children put the hacky sack between their knees and tried to walk like a penguin. Next, we put the hacky sack on our heads and carefully tried to walk while balancing the bean bag. This was very tricky! We needed to keep our heads very still while we moved our legs! To finish our play with the hacky sack, the children ran after me and tried to stick their bean bag balls to me.

Next, we practised our catching skills in a circle. I stood in the middle of the circle and threw the ball to each of the children, without making any reference as to whom I was going to throw to.

The children needed to focus and be ready at all times!

In our final activity, we learnt how to roll the ball along the ground in a variety of ways. The children had to remember to place the ball on top of their shoes and push it forwards along the ground. I 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 in an attempt 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.

Thanks for an awesome lesson everyone!

Can’t wait for next week.

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Drama

By Xanthe Wills

This week we continued on with our Treasure Map Adventure. It was a big hit in Stages 2, 3 and 4 last week!

We ended last week on a cliffhanger - the Koala came and told us that there was a cry for help coming from the nearby lake. All the children were keen to know who made the cry. When prompted, the children recalled the koala, the cry, and where we needed to go. To get to the lake we had to march over the mountains, we sang a marching song, The Ants Go Marching 1 by 1.

When we got to the lake, we saw a Mermaid who had been washed up with a broken tail. She explained that she was swimming and something big bit her. She didn’t know what it was but saw it was green. We helped the mermaid and some of the children guessed what could have bitten her. Alfie in Stage 4 thought maybe a goblin, Jasper in Stage 2 thought a dinosaur, and Aaron thought a crab! Well done to James and Ruby, Stage 4, who correctly guessed a troll!

The mermaid told us that the troll was living under the bridge. When we got to the bridge, we saw the big troll guarding the bridge! Everyone knew that the troll loved to eat goats, and we were wondering what the troll would do with us.

In stage 3 and 4, we discussed the characters in the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. I told the children that I would pretend to be the Troll. The troll wanted the children to do a challenge each. Some of the challenges were: jump 3 times, spin around and touch the floor, name something green, name something starting with the letter G. Stage 3 and 4 made a long line and faced the troll one at a time, each getting a challenge, and Stage 2 faced the troll in one big group.

Once everyone completed their challenge and made it to the other side of the bridge, we found some beans on the floor. Maybe they were the troll’s food. I asked the children to pretend to smell and taste the beans with me. Yuck! They didn’t smell or taste nice. We decided that the beans were useless and tossed them over our shoulders. I wonder if the beans will grow into anything… I’m sure we will find out next week!

In Stage 1 this week the children were up on their feet with me after singing our hello song and playing with the parachute. The children turned into lots of different sea creatures- crabs, sharks, turtles, and dolphins. To finish, the children had a visit from my cheeky turtle who loves to play peek-a-boo.

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Mandarin

By Chloe Lin

Today, in Mandarin, we began by singing our favourite songs. I helped the children to count to 10 in Mandarin with me. We then sang about 1 elephant, 2 tigers and 3 bears. I’m so impressed with Stage 4 who are able to sing along with me and remember the actions to these songs!

I told the children that I had brought a new friend but that they are very shy. I told the children that they had to sit nicely and quietly to welcome our friend. “What do you think it is?” I asked, in Mandarin, only showing a tiny bit of the animal. “A crocodile?” Asked Jasper in Stage 2. The children and I had to count to 10 in Mandarin to entice the new friend out. It was a T-Rex dinosaur! I asked the children to practice their greetings to the T-Rex, saying “Ni Hao”, because the dinosaur didn’t understand English! We had to speak in Mandarin to the dinosaur.

The T-Rex was hungry! I taught the children how to say “my tummy is hungry”. I explained that dinosaurs liked to eat meat. On a tray, I presented the children with a variety of meat and vegetables, and we went through the names of each food in Mandarin. The children repeated the words after me. Then, one at a time, the children had a turn at “feeding” the dinosaur a food item from the tray. The dinosaur responded in Mandarin about whether or not he liked the food.

The dinosaur was so happy when the children gave him meat! The children had to think about which food they would choose for the dinosaur after learning that dinosaurs like to eat meat more than vegetables.

To finish the lesson, the children all gave the dinosaur a cuddle. We said “goodbye (Zàijiàn)” and “I love you (Wo-ai-ni)” to the dinosaurs. Next week I have another dinosaur friend that will visit us. I wonder which dinosaur it will be!

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Music

By Andy Freeborn

This week, music is brought to you by stomping, clapping, funny sounds and laughter. Everyone has become familiar with seeing me now, and I’m so warmly welcomed to each class with bouncing energy and calls of “Andy!”. I’m most certainly enjoying my time at Reddam, Lindfield.

Stage 1 continued to explore a range of instruments this week. They are given the agency to explore themselves after a demonstration on how each is used. This week we had a play of the xylophone, scales, triangle, shakers, rattles, drums and tambourines.

At the beginning of each class, with Stages 2, 3 and 4, I run an Alphabet exercise. I progress through the alphabet utilising different accentuations on consonants and resonant placements on vowels and the children follow along, copying my sounds and movements. Doing these exercises encourages the children to explore all the different parts and placements of their individual voices. This week, I went as far as I could go in altering my tone, pitch and placement, and each class repeated with grand enthusiasm.

Next, I brought out the melodica- a favourite amongst the children. I continued to encourage each student to play the melodica with both hands, allowing the children to discover the sound of multiple notes rather than singular. Alfie, Stage 4, asked what the melodica sounded like if I used all of my fingers. This excited the class, and together we built a 10 note structured chord! In Stage 3, a few students began to match the pitch and notes that were played on the melodica!

This shows me that they are ready to further explore the melodic side of music. Stage 3E spontaneously started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I quickly accompanied them on the melodica, and we then sang ‘The Alphabet Song’ together.

With Stages 3 and 4 this week, in our weekly counting and clapping session, I introduced stomping on beat 1, clapping on beat 2, and repeating this pattern on beats 3 and 4, followed by saying “STOP!”. This developed into a march, as we followed the leader around the room stomping and clapping.

In Stage 4, everyone had an opportunity to come up and play the Triangle, a wooden block, a scale (a wooden instrument with ribbed scales that you scratch), and a small drum. Jessica in Stage 4 was so excited, fascinated and awestruck when playing the xylophone, that they kept rejoining the line to have multiple goes playing it.

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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!

16/06 - Cassie (3E)

16/06 - Ryan (4E)

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