Reddam Early Learning School Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 27 by Reddam House Sydney

Class Photos

Tuesday

Care Program

Wednesday

Class photos

morning and had a special Fathers Day on the Sunday.

We are looking to have some special visitors during our Vacation Care Program so watch this space for more details. We will be taking group photos this year in October. The photos will be taken by our team and added to your child’s portfolio which will be given to you at the end of the year. We ask that stage 3 and 4 children wear their school multiform on the class photo days. dates are as follows 25th October 2022 26th October October

2022 9th September 2022 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL LINDFIELD NEWSLETTER

Vacation

The team has been discussing the interests and concepts that they have been observing in their classrooms and have brainstormed what concepts to investigate through the vacation care program Week 1 VCP 26 h September 30th September Spring Has Sprung Week 2 VCP 3rd October 7th October Our Local Community

2022 Thursday 27th

“Kids Matter” Australian Early Childhood Mental health initaitive

By Chrsitine Irwin

Principal’s Message Continued...

Stages 3 & 4 At this stage friendships start to emerge. This can sometimes be a difficult time for some children as they figure out where they fit and how to use pro social behaviours to attract other children to play. Often what the children are playing with or the interests of the child will influence the friendships that are formed “Three year olds are very interested in playing with other children. At this age they have started to learn about feeling safe and loved, being friendly and coping with hard feelings. They begin to share their toys and understand the reasons for taking turns. They look forward to playing with other children; friendships are usually based more on what they want to play or what toys there are than on seeing the other child as a friend.”

Our educators are constantly working with the children to nurture their social skills and friendships within the room. Our philosophy includes the importance of building relationships and caring for all our friends together to become good global citizens and proactive members of our society. Looking forward to chatting with you soon.

As we work towards the end of the year I have been observing the children’s friendships emerging in their classrooms. It is lovely to see our children caring for each other and following concepts discussed in their group times of supporting all our friends including sharing and playing with everyone. This is a difficult concept to grasp for our children in the early childhood stage. Even adults find it hard to include everyone all the time. Children are at a stage in their development where prosocial behaviours are emerging “Pro social behaviours are sometimes referred to as ‘caring behaviours’ and include showing kindness, care and empathy” Kearns,K, Birth To Big Schooltaking

Christine Irwin, Principal 3

Stage 1 Our 0 2’s are just discovering that there are other children other than themselves and most of their social development is exploring the other children. They don’t see the child as a person they may only see them as another toy to play with. This is why 1 year old’s often sit on top of another child or maybe hit another child to cause a reaction.

Stage 2 At this stage children begin to form friendships with others however developmentally they are quite egocentric meaning all their cognitive thought processes puts themselves first . Even though they recognise there are others, play is on their terms and this influences their ability to share, wait and take turns. In this stage children’s language is emerging so this can also influence their ability to negotiate.

Heather, Doris, Jenny & Jaycel

‘Understanding languages and other cultures builds bridges’ Suzy Kassem

A variety of sensory experiences were provided with the children. The children took their initiative to participate in the sensory play on the provocation. One of the sensory play contained green kinetic sand which symbolised grass base and some tools and materials including pots, small vases, scoops and synthetic flowers were offered to inspire the children to make their own pot plants. During the experience, the children manipulated resources, scooping the green kinetic sand to fill the pots and then decorating them with synthetic flowers and leaves. They were also using their senses to explore and make sense of the world. Also, the children engaged with a chilly and art sensory bin where they can see the flowers frozen in the ice cubes. The painting brushes and water coloured paints were offered to paint on the flower ice cubes. Their creativity and concentration were observed when they spent time creating their chilly art.

Annyeong haseyo (안녕하세요)!

Stage 1R By Heather Gaskall 4

Throughout this week, our little ones embarked on a journey of exploring the cultures of South Korea as our continuing investigation of the world around us. South Korea, a country in East Asia, which occupies the southern portion of the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, Spring season has begun since Thursday, 1st September, the children were offered an opportunity to engage in spring themed learning experiences which were incorporated in our weekly learning as well.

As we were investigating Korean culture, our weekly art experience this week invited the children to create their version of Sam Targum fans, which is a popular and festive South Korean craft. The children expressed their creative skill by manipulating a sponge brush as a medium to paint their fan using red, yellow, and blue coloured paints. During our group time, some books were shared with the children. The book “Whoever you are” by Mem Fox vividly presents the differences of children from all over the world. Their skin, their schools, their lands, and their lives may be different from us, but inside, they are like us. The other book “Korean Celebrations” written by Tina Cha introduces a variety of Korean cultures, traditional food, and dresses to extend the children’s knowledge of South Korea. The children also investigated the national flag and real traditional Korean female shoes, and they even had an opportunity to wear the traditional Korean hanbok. In the next few weeks, we will be jumping in different seasons. Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend!

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6 Stage 1R:

Charity, Resie, Rowel,

By Charity Acera 6

and May

“A nation that destroys its soils destroy itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Stage 1E

Wishing a

Nature provides such wonderful opportunities for learning and we wanted these resources to be available and accessible to the young generation. Learning about forests helps deepen a connection about something significant, trees! Activities for children with a forest theme help children understand the different types of forests around the world, and why we should show care and concern for these great green spaces on our planet. We set the provocation table with natural materials like chopped wood, cones, leaves, grasses, and miniature forest animals. The children were so amazed by the different shapes and textures of the leaves. They loved to play with animals found on the table. The children were also invited to make their own collage using leaves on a tuff tray. Their creative minds and imagination were utilized as they made different designs for their leaf collage as well as made a dish out of mixed leaves. These experiences promote self confidence, self regulation, and creativity in children. These activities also help them develop their eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. During group time, the children joined their teachers on the mat to do their morning drills. They listened to the story about 'Jungle Sounds' and listened to the music of ' The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. The children had fun naming jungle animals and telling the shapes and sizes of leaves. Telling stories to children boosts their listening skills, fosters their imagination, and enhances their communication skills. Likewise, listening to music enhances a child’s brainpower and inspires Morecreativity.so,we provided sensory learning experiences to enhance their senses. Small world displays of a forest were evident throughout the classroom as we filled up the space with lush green foliage. We provoked them to practise their love and appreciation for trees by exploring the parts of trees such as the leaves, bark, and branches, through the use of coloured jumbo chalk to scribble or draw on each natural piece. This experience evoked children's creative and imaginative skills, as well as practising their wrist manipulation and hand eye coordination skills. This week’s concept aimed to encourage our enthusiastic learners to explore the trees in our play area and do some bark etching. Brown paper was placed around the trunk of the tree and the children rubbed chalk over it to mark the bark impressions. This was an exciting new medium for the children to experience and there were many giggles as they made their etchings. Our children have been displaying wonderful interactions with their peers and Educators. We observed their prolonged attention and focus during our group time and free play experiences. This displayed their confidence at play and their own learning journey. warm and restful weekend to everyone! Mary,

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11 Stage 1E:

Science based sensory learning experiences helped children connect their sensory play to their science learning. Some of the children's favourite experiences this week were painting cotton pads with food colouring and observing the water absorption, the colour mixing water play and learning and exploring creating secondary colours, rainbow slime with its magical mixtures, elasticity, and viscosity and lastly the baking soda and vinegar hidden fizzing colours sensory trays. The art of the week involved children creating drip paintings and exploring gravity and experimenting with small drips, big drips, and different colour combinations.

Hopefully this week, we supported 2R to engage their thinking skills, nurture their intellectual curiosity and acquire new ways of asking questions to understand the world.

"Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding." (Brian Greene)

Young children are naturally inquisitive, full of questions about the world around them and have the drive to investigate how things work. This week, we took advantage of this innate curiosity and channelled their enthusiasm for scientific discovery. Children learn science through trial and error. They need time to experiment, try things out, and think on their own. We as teachers value children’s questions, explore and find the answers together, provide them time and space to explore, learn from mistakes together, invite and encourage curiosity, support further exploration, encourage children to record their observations and use everyday items we have available to experiment and explore.

Wishing you all a happy weekend

Stage 2R By Sara Haddadi 12

To help develop 2R's resourcefulness, particularly their skills in goal setting, planning, and problem solving, we planned and did various science experiments. We created the rain cloud using shaving foam, water and food colouring which encouraged children to learn about weather, clouds, rain and storms. With the Lava Lamp Experiment, we observed that the water and oil do not mix and the oil doesn’t change colour and the reaction of the Alka Seltzer which created dancing bubbles of carbon dioxide wowed the children. 2R discovered that milk is mainly made of water and other big ingredients such as fat with the Magic Milk Experiment. We watched in action and amazement how the dish soap bonded with the fat in the milk as the colours danced across the surface of the milk. The Hot and Cold Water Density Experiment introduced 2R to how water molecules act in different temperatures. The burning candle rising water science experiment taught the children the effect of air pressure. Moreover, we observed how the waves are created with another simple experiment.

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14 Stage 2R:

In group time, Miss Xanthe took our friends through some music activities. Each child received their own instrument and was asked to copy after Miss Xanthe. We practised time signatures like 4/4 time and 3/4 time shaking our instruments for 4 beats or 3 beats and then stopping. The children practised shaking up high, down low and to the side to the tune of ‘Tap Your Sticks’ from Play School. The children hit their instruments behind their backs and tried not to make any noise! We then got up and marched about the room, listening to the commands red light/green light. When the light was green we could March and make music with our instruments, but when the light was red we had to freeze! Another day, Miss Xanthe showed us how to dance ballet. We put on Tutus and everyone practised ballet positions with music. There are five basic positions of the feet, numbered one through five. Each of the positions utilises turn out or a 90 degree rotation of the leg from the hip joint. Refer to the pictures below and match your feet to each of them to the best of your ability. The children are very interested in the practice of ballet. Practising ballet can also allow children to train their balance and body coordination, and make their body movements

Weelegant.introduced science based art to the children, drip painting which was an easy and fun action art activity. The children explored gravity in art with drip painting which resulted in unique artworks. They chose the paint colours and dripped them from the spoon onto their paper. We encouraged them to drip their paint along the top of their paper so that they could watch the paint drip down as an effect of gravity. Furthermore, The primary colour experiment created a window of opportunity for children to predict and observe the results of colour mixing. With a jar of red, yellow, and blue, children used a pipette to transport a measured volume of liquid from the jar to different containers. This play activity enhances children’s understanding of cause and effect concepts, observation skills, and fine motor skills.

Have a colourful weekend, Mia, Xanthe, Shandie, Chloe, Jing, Alisha and Yashoda

The concepts of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Arts, and Mathematics) have been integrated into our daily learning experiences when we explore different occupations. This week we shifted our focus to the arts and honored Artists and Entertainers such as dancers, musicians, ballerinas, actors/actresses, and so on. As our friends have acted out a lot of different roles in their daily interactions and play, it encourages us to unfold their hidden talents in music, arts, dancing and acting. We are lucky to have Miss Xanthe as a talented performer, she has led us to enter the wonderful world of arts and entertainment.

“Every child is an artist.” (Pablo Picasso)

Drama was the first aspect to begin with. When children use their imagination in pretend play, and role playing as other characters, they practice what it’s like to be someone else, helping them develop empathy and understanding for others. Especially, while children are playing pretend with others, they are working on skills like cooperation, negotiation, collaboration, and sharing of responsibilities. It also helps a child’s self esteem, giving them the confidence to be anything they want. The unicorns unearthed a new fascination for the children of the magical and mystical world. Our children were drawn to the bright colours and glitter on the tables. Ahoy! Come aboard! The children were invited to play Pirates Treasure Hunt. The Pirate Sensory Bin was filled with coloured sand, pebbles, pearl necklaces, gold coins, small gemstones, and some antiques. Some of them were buried under the sand. Our little pirates were excited to find the treasures hidden in the sand and then place them in the treasure chest!

Stage 2E By Mia Doan 16

Stage 2E:

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Sebastien: “Radish for dinner.” Amelia: “I like to eat sausage and noodles on top.” Angus: “Dumplings.” Harry: “Sausage with Kai’s favourite sauce.” Kai: “Salsa with corn.” Michael: “Pasta.” Bryan: “Pasta with the corn.” Avery: “Soup.” Valerie: “Pasta and broccoli.” Chloe: “Corn and carrots.” Hugo: “Chicken on the bone and broccoli.” Sarah: “Sandwich with cheese.” Myra: “Sprinkled with sandwich.” Lindsay: “Pizza.” Ellie: “Pasta with noodles.” Luka: “Pasta.” Tarik: “Pop corn.” Hana: “Sausage.”

Miss Carinas group used chalk circles with letters in it to incorporate literacy and movement! They loved learning the rules of the game and learning to identify letters. The children also were invited to draw cards to accompany their Fathers Day gift.

In our Morning Meetings the children were asked “What is your favourite dinner?” The responses demonstrate diversity and humour that shows the children’s sense of belonging to the class.

The sensory table included a ‘Pizza Shop’ with loose parts to roll and make pizzas for themselves and others. The children are working on their fine motor skills as they squash and roll the doll as well as demonstrating their real life understanding of pizza's as they share aspects of their home life, their likes and dislikes and connection to their world. Another sensory experience saw the children practise their measurement and pouring skills as they tipped rainbow coloured rice into jars using funnels and measuring cups. Harry concentrated closely as he used his hands to transfer the rice into the funnel.

Stage 3R By Grace Nolan 19

Jayden: “Broccoli and I like cornbread.”

In our small groups we continued with cooking Mr Callum's group made delicious shortbread, with children using their fingers to pinch and crumble the flour and butter and then knead it together. This experience allows children to work on their fine motor hand strength and hand eye coordination. The children also made delicious chocolate truffles as a present for Fathers Day as well!

Miss Grace's group used the Possum Magic puppets to stage their own show! The children enjoyed playing the characters and narrating the story. This was a great way to introduce structured turn taking, dramatic play and storytelling. Next week we will continue to use Possum Magic to guide the experiences.

“Reading and storytelling with babies and children promotes brain development and imagination, develops language and emotions, and strengthens relationships” Raising Children, 2020

As we follow on from Book Week we used an Australian classic Possum Magic by Mem Fox as this week’s provocation alongside following the children’s current interests in pizza making and small world play. In our Morning Meetings the children were asked “What is your favourite dinner?” The responses demonstrate diversity and humour that shows the children’s sense of belonging to the class.

Next week we will continue to use Possum Magic to guide the experiences.

Stage 3R By Grace Nolan 20

Jayden: “Broccoli and I like cornbread.” Sebastien: “Radish for dinner.” Amelia: “I like to eat sausage and noodles on top.” Angus: “Dumplings.” Harry: “Sausage with Kai’s favourite sauce.” Kai: “Salsa with corn.” Michael: “Pasta.” Bryan: “Pasta with the corn.” Avery: “Soup.” Valerie: “Pasta and broccoli.” Chloe: “Corn and carrots.” Hugo: “Chicken on the bone and broccoli.” Sarah: “Sandwich with cheese.” Myra: “Sprinkled with sandwich.” Lindsay: “Pizza.” Ellie: “Pasta with noodles.” Luka: “Pasta.” Tarik: “Pop corn.” Hana: “Sausage.”

group used chalk circles with letters in it to incorporate literacy and movement! They loved learning the rules of the game and learning to identify letters. The children also were invited to draw cards to accompany their Fathers Day gift.

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23 Stage 3R:

the Japanese Culture We hope you have a lovely weekend! Natalie & Laura & Kai & Margaret

“When the winds of change blows, some people build walls and others build windmills.” Chinese Proverb

Next week we are

Stage 3E By Natalie Horstman 24

Welcome to our Week 6. This week we have continued on with exploring and investigating deeper into the Chinese culture, through famous landmarks and buildings. The children worked together and collaborated in groups which built upon their social skills and worked together as team work. This week the children were provided with the opportunity to continue their exploration and investigation of discovering what exists in China and finding different ways creatively we can relate to and make sense of the world around us. The children used various mediums to find out and brainstorm about the Great Wall of China. They were required to work in small groups and practice using their interpersonal skills to interact with each other in positive ways. Afterwards, the children were encouraged to listen to each other’s emerging ideas about what they had tried to build and what they were focusing on. The children continued to engage in creative experiences where they were able to explore different animals that live in China, such as the Panda; which has distinct black and white markings that is also used as camouflage. In our group times we discussed where Pandas live, what they eat, and how they move around. To follow on with this the children were invited to create their own interpretation of panda’s with various coloured paper and other materials they could find. exploring

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Our first story of the week, The Bad Tempered Ladybug by Eric Carle taught us that these beautiful beetles help keep our plants alive by eating the tiny aphids that eat away at the leaves. We also explored the concept of analog time as we followed the ladybug’s adventure hour by hour. There was an increasing interest in frogs and we read Growing Frogs by Vivan French. We learnt that frogs start out as tadpoles, hatching from their frogspawn in ponds before growing legs and hopping about. We couldn’t resist learning about butterflies, and just like bees, they also help to pollinate flowers in our gardens. Sadly, we learnt that the butterfly has a very short life span, leaving the children to appreciate these colourful creatures even more.

Next week we will continue to explore the land and the humid temperatures of tropical rainforests on and around the equator.

Stage 4R By

The subject of “bees” was by far our most interesting investigation. The Beeman by Laurie Krebs, showed us how a grandfather and his grandson kept beehives on their property. Once the hive or “shallow” was opened, a "smoker" was used to blow hot air into the hive to relax the bees and keep them asleep, whilst Grandpa checked the honeycomb frames and removed them. The frames were then spun in the "extractor" until every last drop of honey came out, before it was poured into jars. We also learnt that each bee has a different role in and outside of the hive, including the queen, drones, worker and house bees. Without the bees our fruit and vegetables cannot grow and many plant species would become extinct. David Attenborough says that “In the last five years, the bee population has declined by a third. If bees were to disappear from the face of the Earth, humans would have just four years to live.” An important reminder that we must all help protect our bee population by planting flowers, avoiding pesticides, and providing water for them to stay hydrated.

Our table experiences included frog discovery trays with water beads representing tadpole eggs, green playdough to create garden environments, hexagonal glass tiles to create beehives, garden puzzles and mandalas to create out of insect shapes. Each day we investigated different minibeasts and their life cycles to study how each creature goes through its unique transformation. Throughout the week, the children created their own bee and honeycomb collages, using hexagonal shapes and illustrated their own honey bees to stick on top of their hives. The Monarch Butterfly also inspired the children to explore symmetry as they printed butterfly wings and filled in the pattern with watercolours.

After exploring our oceans for the last three weeks, our provocation led the children to explore what lives on the land. We decided to start with minibeasts as they are the smallest creatures that inhabit the land, and we will eventually work our way up to larger animals on each continent. The children were curious to learn about bees, butterflies, ladybugs, frogs, snails and spiders, and how they cohabitat in our gardens.

“The importance of bumblebees in supporting biodiversity goes far beyond their role as pollinators of wild flowers” Dr. Dave Goulson’s A Sting in the Tale

Rebecca and Jenny Rebecca Kim

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Stage 4E By

It was another busy week in our classroom, where our provocation focused on ‘Construction’ and we asked ourselves, “What can we build?” During our morning sessions, the children explored our building area, where high vis vests, hard hats and tools were provided for them to assume the roles of construction workers. At the learning tables, the children explored a range of stacking and balancing resources, challenging themselves and using the process of trial and error to carefully position each item so their towers didn’t fall down. The children enjoyed using hammers to tap, tap, tap nails and shapes into cork boards, and magnetic blocks were used to create robots and trains. Discovery trays featured small diggers, sand, rocks and sticks to manipulate and role play with, and small wooden cubes and blocks invited the children to engineer a structure of their choice. On the floor, the children were busy creating machines out of the nuts and bolts set, using the bamboo pieces to create tall structures, and using the colourful loose parts to make designs too. The benefits of block and construction play for children include the development of concentration, spatial awareness, fine motor development with smaller parts, shape recognition, mathematical thinking, problem solving skills and social skills.

30 “It’s not the beauty of a building you should look at; it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time”

Lauren, Priya, Faranaaz, Marlon and Yali Lauren Hall

Our story books of the week included Let’s Build a House by Mike Lucas, where we learnt how a house was constructed from start to finish. The process started with a concrete slab on a piece of land, then the wooden frame, brickwork, roof, plumbing, painting and the clearing of the worksite took place before the family moved in. We then identified some of the tools that were used including a hammer, screwdriver, saw, wrench, spanner, nuts and bolts, screws, measuring tape and mallet. The books, Demolition, Construction and Roadworks by Sally Sutton, also illustrated the processes of tearing a building down to make room for a new playground, building a community library, and how roads are laid down. The children were amazed at all the steps involved and how hard the construction crew works. Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty, also taught us that drawings called blueprints are made before the construction of a building even begins. At our art table the children were invited to create a collage of their choice. A variety of materials were provided for the children to experiment with including crepe paper, cellophane, string, coloured paper shapes and water colours. The children used their imaginations and creativity to make a colourful masterpiece, exploring how the materials could be used and glued onto their paper. The collage process allowed the children to practise their scissor manipulation skills and fine motor development to aid their pre writing skills. Next week our S.T.E.A.M. provocation continues with a week of exciting science experiments!

David Allan Coe

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By Coach Lauren Hi Buddies, We warmed up today with the “shark and the stingray” game where the “sharks and the stingrays” cross over the ocean without “boofing” each other we focus on our footwork skills and spatial awareness. You are just not going to believe what Lauren brought with her to Playball today…….HOCKEY STICKS! Can you actually believe she thinks we are big enough to learn how to play hockey!! Lauren gave us each a hockey stick explaining the rules of using hockey sticks. We ALWAYS find our own space away from our friends so as not to “boof” anyone. We hit a ball around the court with our hockey sticks no “high sticks” (anything above the knee) this is not golf or baseball. Lauren placed us in partners and we practiced hitting the ball to our friend with our hockey stick. Our friend traps the ball with his/her hockey stick and hits it back, always remembering that we 36

Playball

This week, we reviewed last week's Mandarin learning about body organs, including: trachea, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys, large intestine and small intestine. In Mandarin, we often call our children "Heart and Liver Baby（心肝宝貝xīn gān bǎo bèi “ Children are the most precious to their parents as their hearts and livers. Children are the irreplaceable existence of their parents in the world, so we will nickname the children's heart and liver baby. Ms Faranaaz shared with me that her grandmother always call her “ My little heart and liver” in her mother language from South Africa. Children are our most beautiful treasure of the world no matter where we belong.

One of the three major Chinese festivals, "Mid Autumn Festival" is coming soon. I shared moon cakes with children, we can see mooncake gift boxes in beautiful paper boxes and iron boxes at Coles, Woolworths and Asian supermarkets. We can share it with our family, or we can give the gift mooncake to relatives, friends and elders to express our gratitude and blessings. Children are very curious about the tastes of mooncake, when you go to the supermarket, maybe you can bring home a delicious mooncake to try and telling me which flavor is your favorite.

Mandarin

By Chloe Lin

At the beginning of the class, we sang Chinese nursery rhymes as usual. The children like to practice Tai Chi very much, because they can feel the relaxation of the body and the movement of energy in the body. In stage 4, the children performed very well in Tai Chi, and some The children also shared that their grandparents also practice Tai Chi at home; some children can already sing new songs together. The new song "Body Song" combines body parts and movements to familiarize children with the coordination of verbs and bodies. The lively melody and interesting dance movements make children learn Chinese happily.