Reddam Early Learning School - St Leonards Newsletter Vol 22 Issue 5

25th February 2022

Principal’s Message

By Mrs Simone Cooke

Dear Parents, Lets build! What shall we create? A house for snails? A cave for a bear? Or perhaps a tower that reaches for the sky. If you have ever sat and watched your child at play with blocks you will notice that there is quite a developmental sequence in their ability to construct. As toddlers they will move from being barely able to stack two blocks on top of each other to being able to construct elaborate well balanced buildings. Blocks are such a wonderful open-ended resource which allows children to develop their problem -solving skills through trial and error. Not only do blocks allow children to expand their imagination as they create whatever castle, pirate ship, bridge or spaceship they wish, blocks are wonderful aids in building spatial awareness and fosters problem solving.

In addition to building concentration and patience, blocks also encourage social interactions. It is not uncommon for us to find a large group of our children spontaneously sitting on the ground together and building an intricate building, making suggestions to each other on what block is needed to balance the moat they are designing or working together to get the tower to the tallest height possible. Building can be challenging and it requires perseverance as they deal with ever falling blocks. It is therefore so lovely to hear the children’s squeals of delight when they accomplish a difficult feat and create a masterpiece and discover that it was worth the effort working together for a common aim.

Whilst duplo blocks, lego and magnetic blocks can offer children endless hours of fun, don’t forget the importance of giving your child simple wooden building blocks as these are wonderful for building fine motor and balancing skills and perfect for these wet rainy days when children are looking for a challenge. Offering blocks that are different shapes and have curves and points adds extra challenges and means children will need to sort through the blocks classifying and sorting them to find the pieces that they need.

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Principal’s Message Continued...

If you watch your child at play you will quickly be able to see what developmental stage of block play they have reached.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF BLOCK PLAY STAGE ONE: EXPLORING BLOCKS At this first stage of exploration children explore blocks by carrying, pushing, holding, dropping, hauling and repacking. Children are learning about the texture, shape, orientation and weight of blocks.

STAGE TWO: BUILDING STACKS AND ROWS

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During this stage of play, children lay the blocks on the floor in rows, either horizontally or vertically with much repetition. Children will usually play alone or near other children, but rarely co operatively. In this stage children are learning about balancing, patterning, one to one correspondence, stability, ordering and sorting.

STAGE THREE: MAKING BRIDGES Making structures begins at this stage as children make a bridge (children form a space between two blocks and then place a block on top to span the space).

During this stage children are learning about balance, symmetry, spatial concepts (top, bottom, up, down) and geometry concepts.

STAGE FOUR: ENCLOSURES Children play with blocks in such a way that they form enclosures. It can be seen with blocks that are put together to close up a space. At this stage children are learning spatial concepts (inside/outside) architectural features ( interior /exterior space, parameters and borders.

STAGE FIVE: COMPLEX BLOCK STRUCTURES Children use their imagination to create elaborate designs. They build structures with symmetry, balance and decorative elements. At this stage children learn about balance, proportion, symmetry and patterning.

Of course the most enjoyable part of building with blocks is being able to crash it all down loudly at the end!

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Principal’s Message

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Stage 4R

Ms Lauren Doughton

I am CREATIVE Constructive play is simply what happens when children use toys or other non-toy materials to build or create something new. This usually includes activities associated with construction such as dissembling, moulding, assembling, sorting or stacking. It offers a hands-on learning avenue for children, making it easier for them to recall any information gathered during the course of learning.

The term, constructive play, was coined by Jean Piaget, an early childhood advocate who was interested in discovering the learning habits of children. Piaget claims that before children get to the constructive play stage, they have to pass through a prior stage known as functional play. In other words, before children begin to construct, they would have extensively explored their play materials to have an idea of how to effectively use them.

With construction play comes many benefits to improve and enhance children’s developmental skills. Some of these are; helps with creative thinking , strengthens fine motor skills, helps children to develop problem solving skills, builds children’s self esteem and confidence and so much more. At Reddam Early Learning School we are influenced under the teaching model of the Reggio Emilia approach. This form of teaching and learning provides the children with a vast range of different materials and it is up to them how they use this to create something. This week to support our ‘I am Creative’ unit the children were provided with some LEGO and asked to create something it could be whatever they wanted.

Some of the responses were; “I made a fighter jet,” said Liam.

“I made a mini car,” said Kai. “I made a house,” said Zemirah.

“I made a runway for a plane,” said Xavier.

“I made a bus,” said Betty.

“I made a fairy house,” said Savannah.

Join us next week for ‘I am Safe.’

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Stage 4R

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Ms Lauren Doughton

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Stage 4R: Construction play

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Stage 4R: I am Creative

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Stage 4E

By Ms Sarah Ross

In the clouds This week Stage Four engaged in an investigation into clouds. Our initial discussions focused on what we see up in the clouds and what they are made of. Many of the children shared the types of weather caused by clouds and also noted different types of transport we see in the sky. This led to a lovely invitation to play at our light table where the children spent time playing and exploring theses transport types and observed the different shapes and patterns that clouds make in the sky.

Cloud painting

After making our observations of different types of clouds in the sky the children engaged in a reading and discussion group that explored four different types of clouds; cumulus, cirrus, cumulonimbus, and stratus. Next, the children were invited to record their observations in a painting experience. The children watched a painting demonstration by Miss Sarah which showed the children how to use and manipulate their paint brush to create beautiful fluffy clouds on their paper.

While the children painted they shared some of their knowledge about clouds with each other. Sharing knowledge and ideas through play and learning experiences in integral to young children’s learning. It teaches children to problem solve together, build relationships, and develop their language skills while also learning from others and expanding their knowledge. Some of the comments the children made to each other included; “Clouds are dark,” said Ria. “Rain comes from clouds,” said Augusten.

“Ice comes from clouds,” said Amelia.

“Clouds are made of ice,” said Leo. “They have ice and I like them,” said Lydia.

“Clouds looks soft,” said Azure.

How does lighting form?

Following on from our learning interest of storms last week the children were very excited to continue to share their interest in lightning. In our literacy groups the children learnt that lightning is naturally created electricity and that it occurs as the aggressive storm moves around tiny pieces of ice inside the clouds. The children also noted from their observations that it can sometimes be seen in different colours. To extend upon this knowledge the children in engaged in a creative experiment with water and colours.

The children used food colouring to make tiny drops on their paper displayed on an easel. Next, the children used a spray bottle to spray water on the colours causing them to drip down the paper in a colourful and jagged way depicting lightning. Stage Four loved this creative lesson and exploring close up how lightning travels through the sky.

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Stage 4E

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By Ms Sarah Ross

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Stage 4E: Cloud painting & dramatic play clouds

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Stage 4E: Lightning painting

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Stage 4D

By Ms Emily Chacon

I am CREATIVE “Research indicates that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property—key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century.” – International Child Art Foundation Art helps children to develop a sense of their own individuality, a sense of self-respect, and an appreciation for others' work. It is naturally linked to creativity, an attribute that is increasingly being touted as one of the most important factors for children’s development.

Art is an activity that can employ all the senses––sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. So over the course of the past two weeks, we have done just that. This week however we focussed on the visual arts and the people who painted the famous artworks we know of today, like Claude Monet, Leonardo DaVinci and Vincent van Gough.

Throughout our morning sessions the children were broken into smaller groups and allocated an art piece, teacher, notepad and iPad. Within the small groups the children were guided to research their artworks and the painters who created them. As the children spoke the teacher wrote down on their mind map all the information they found. Once completed the children were encouraged to then present their findings to the rest of the class.

This experience engaged every child cognitively and assisted in further developing their confidence in public speaking. Communication is the backbone of any society, it allows us to form connections, influence decisions and motivate change. Public speaking is one of the most important skills to develop.

Our table activities continued to reflect visual arts and engaged the children in various plays. On our coloured water station, the children were encouraged to mix and pour the coloured water into different sized jars. Not only are the children learning about colour mixing, but they are also working on their hand eye coordination and fine motor skills and they use pipette and small containers to move the water between containers.

On our small table, we set up large ice balls, which the children were then encouraged to use a paint brush and paint them using watercolour paints. It was amazing to see the ice reaction to the coloured water, capturing drops into creases and cracks. The children seemed to enjoy this art media, as it further engaged in fine motor but also was a different and fun way to express themselves.

Our last table was another exciting way to express creatively, we covered our placemats in aluminium foil and provided paint pots with cotton tips, the children were given unlimited freedom to create. It was wonderful to see their different ideas that the children let flow onto their mediums.

Next week we will be moving on to I am SAFE. We will be focussing on kitchen safety, road safety as well as stranger danger and learning to call 000 for emergencies.

Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any further questions or queries.

Email: emily.chacon@reddamels.com.au

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Stage 4D

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By Ms Emily Chacon

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Stage 4D: Frozen balloon art

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Stage 4D: Stary night art observations

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Stage 3/4

By Ms Riina Andrew

Exploring Rainbows As we further explore the children’s curiosity about rainbows, they have become increasingly interested in making and finding their own rainbows. To stir the children’s imaginations about rainbows, we read two stories. The first story, ‘Esther’s Rainbow’ which is a story about a young girl who finds her very own rainbow and ‘How the Crayon’s Saved the Rainbow’ which is a story about a box of crayons who bring colour back into the world by making the biggest and most beautiful rainbow the world had ever seen.

I then showed the children how we can make our own rainbow using a magnifying glass and the sun. They were all very excited and wanted to try for themselves and guessed at how the creation of rainbows was possible when rainbows are usually in the sky!

Just by coincidence, one of the children bought in a crystal jewel for news time which reflected the light to make a rainbow on the floor. The children we very keen to look at and touch the crystal when they saw it for the first time. I showed them how to look through it while pointing it at the light and explained that the object is called a crystal.

I held the crystal up to the light and we all looked through it together to see if there was a rainbow. The children were all very excited when they saw the many rainbows that the crystal made. Each of the children then took turns to hold the crystal up to the light and angle it until they could see the rainbows. Thank you James for sharing this very special item with us!

We also then decided to create our own rainbows and I provided two different activities for the children to participate in. The first one was project work, where the children had the opportunity to work at their own pace and collage coloured paper on a large sheet of paper to make a rainbow, the second experience was a scientific one. The children were encouraged to use coloured markers to colour a small rainbow in a line across the bottom of a sheet of paper towel. The paper towel was then dipped in a shallow tray of water and the paper towel soaked up the water and spread the colours up the paper towel in a rainbow fashion, creating our very own rainbow! A very fun week to end this provocation!

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Stage 3/4

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By Ms Riina Andrew

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Stage 3/4: Rainbow collages & artwork

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Stage 3/4: Searching for rainbows

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Stage 3E

By Ms Bianca Lazar

I can count!

“Mathematics is a language” Josiah Willard Gibbs This week Stage 3 children engaged in a variety of numeracy learning experiences.

Throughout the week, children explored the names of numbers, number sequence and Connected number names, numerals, and quantities, including zero. Furthermore, we have incorporated a range of music and movement activities that integrate numbers and counting, such as the nursery rhyme ‘Ten Green Bottles’. Within these nursery rhymes and tunes number flashcards are utilised to assist children with recalling and naming different numbers.

I can create numbers!

On the learning tables all children were involved in creating numbers using loose part materials such as counters, pebbles etc. Children were capable to identify and name the numbered flashcards displayed on the table and exhibited subitising abilities with little assistance and scaffolding from the educators.

I can identify numbers!

I challenged the Stage 3 children to find the matching pairs of numbers on the spoons hiding in our salt sensory bin. As children went through the process of finding the numbers, each child was questioned “what number can you see?”. Children established great proficiency in calling out each number as they pulled it out from the salt. Children thoroughly enjoyed this learning experience and demonstrated great pride in their efforts. This particular learning activity assisted children to focus, concentrate for an extended period of time, recognise numbers and memory retention.

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Stage 3E

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By Ms Bianca Lazar

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Stage 3E: I can count

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Stage 3E: I can recognise numbers

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Stage 2/3 & 3R

By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes

We are all Alike…We are all different! “ In this classroom, relationships are fostered, families are respected and children are honoured. In this classroom, nature’s gifts are valued and children’s thoughts are captured. In this classroom, learning is alive and aesthetic beauty is appreciated.” Unknown Author As teachers we have the amazing opportunity to invite our children into a new relationship, our classroom family. For some of them, this will be their first play experience with children they haven't known all their lives and learning about each other, how we're alike and different, and how to accept all of it and work together is the beginning of embarking on a new adventure.

Last week we started exploring diversity and one of the obvious differences for the children would be our appearance: different skin tones, hair colours, eye colours, heights, weights and more. The children were aware of how different they look like and we decided to further explore those differences.

Starting by our eyes we discussed how different colours and shapes they are; some of us have blue eyes and some of us have caramel eyes, some of us have big eyes and some of us have small eyes. We took photos of the children’s eyes and during our group discussion we challenged them to find their own eyes. It was fascinating to watch the children looking for their own eye feature. Please take some time to check our “Who am eye” display on the hallway.

We dedicated our learning stations this week to our face features exploration. We started with our face rock puzzle portrait activity. It gave the children the time to study their own facial features and to work out how it all fits together.

On another learning station the children were invited to draw their friends on a mirror.

Learning about ourselves is a fundamental part of childhood development.

We also discussed how every person is unique and special through a hair cutting activity. The children used their fine motor skills to give some pretty interesting haircuts.

The children were also invited to participate in a body awareness art activity. We asked them to lie down on a large paper. The teachers came around and traced their bodies, identifying the different body parts as we traced. This activity gave the children the opportunity to recognize their body parts, be creative and expand their vocabulary.

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Stage 2/3 & 3R

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By Ms Gabriela Guimaraes

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Stage 2/3: Exploring & creating portraits

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Stage 2/3: Who am I & cutting hair

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Stage 2R

By Ms Madeleine Grant

Letter of the alphabet The children loved last week’s ice cream activity, so we wanted to extend on this interest by creating more food-based experiences for them to demonstrate their learned behaviours of preparing, serving, and sharing imaginative meals with each other!

J is for Juice Our art project saw the children exploring where juice comes from. Children love juice, but as it is high in sugars it is much better to get children eating fresh fruit instead. We used this project to help the children make the connection between fruit and juice, as well as being a fun sensory experience. We cut oranges into different sized slices, and dipped these into green, yellow, and orange paints. The children were asked to experiment with the fruit, squeezing it to release the juice and using the fruit to spread the paint over the page. We asked them to use their senses and try to describe the way the fruit smelled, the sounds it made as they pressed it to the paper, and the way the paint, pulp, and orange peel felt in their hands.

K is for Kitchen Over the term the children have loved the mini kitchen in our home corner, so we wanted to extend this set up and incorporate it into our provocation. The children were asked to work together to cook a meal using our toy foods, and then sit together to enjoy their feast! They negotiated roles and moved around the play space to give everyone a turn. We encouraged them to use their words to identify the different foods they were using, and talk us through their cooking. Through this we saw many actions that they had picked up from observing life at home; turning the knobs on the stove, chopping up vegetables, stirring the saucepans, and saying ‘cheers’ with their cups!

L is for Letters For the letter L the children were asked to practice their fine motor and pre-literacy skills!

They were given markers and sheets of paper and asked to ‘write’ a letter and then place it gently in our post box. The task was designed to give us an insight into their different developmental stages regarding pencil grip and writing. We encouraged them to alter their pen grip and move away from clenching the pen in a closed fist to holding it with their fingers. At this point all the children are firmly in the scribbling stage, where they start to intentionally draw lines and squiggles with care and purpose, even if the result is not a representational drawing. Over the year we will bring back ‘writing’ exercises to track their development, and observe as they each begin to enter the next stages of drawing and writing.

Next week our letters will turn our focus to numeracy-based activities are we explore M is for Marbles, N is for Numbers, and O is for Octopus!

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Stage 2R

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By Ms Madeleine Grant

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Stage 2R: J is for juice

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Stage 2R: K is for kitchen

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Stage 1E

By Ms Justine Heydra & Alessia Angilletta

Bug Rescue “Just living isn’t enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.” – Hans Christian Anderson This week in stage 1E we started our second animal habitat focus “Mini Beasts.” Children love to get eye level with new and exciting creatures and explore their world. Our classroom was transformed into a “Mini Beast” wonderland and the children had a magical time learning about various insects.

During group time our focus song was “Butterfly, Ladybug, Bumble Bee” The children enjoyed learning this song and loved meeting our bug friends as we sang the song using the three different insects. We also focused on opposites like up and down, while singing our song.

Our first sensory activity this week was a great colourful and interesting “Bug Rescue” table activity. We used clear tubs and filled them up with beans, lentils and various creepy crawlies. Miss Alessia placed masking tape over the top and the aim of the activity was for the children to find a hole in the masking tape and rescue the insects. This activity was great for coordination, concentration, and problem solving. We also extended on our vocabulary by naming the different insects.

Secondly, we explored and discovered what spider imprints look like on playdough. Using playdough in this sensory activity further developed the children’s fine-motor skills, hand-eye coordination and by pressing the spiders into the playdough and lifting them up the children enjoyed learning about imprints. We encouraged numeracy by counting how many spiders we had and we discovered that spiders have eight legs.

Our Art this week was engaging and fun. The children each had an opportunity to create a beautiful art piece by using paints and a fly swatter. We sang the song “shoo fly don’t bother me” while having fun with this creative process. This activity also extended on our imprints as the fly swatter left its print in paint on the paper. The children all really enjoyed this creative activity and were all very excited about their beautiful pictures they created.

Wishing you all a great weekend, and if you are out and about in nature with your little one, a great activity to do with your child is bug hunting. There's no better way for children to learn about the world around them than by getting out into it. Bug hunting will encourage your little one to explore the world around them in an open-ended way, which will lead to adventures and imaginative play. Please feel free to send us any pictures of your child on their bug hunting journey, which we will print off and share with the class during group time.

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Stage 1E

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By Ms Justine Heydra & Alessia Angilletta

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Stage 1E: Spider in-prints & bug rescue

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Stage 1E: Fly swatter art & mini beast exploration

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Stage 1R

By Ms Amanda Felton

Incy Wincy Spider This week we are building confidence through our gross motor skills. The children love engaging in Physical Education classes and their My Gym as it is a wonderful way to build balancing, rolling and tumbling whilst building their confidence and self esteem. C oordination is so important not just for physical development but also for fine motor skills and the children's cognitive development whilst also fostering a life long love of exercise and sport.

This week we enjoyed the nursery rhyme about “Itsy Wincy Spider, who climbed up the water spout.” We just love to sing this song as it is a very animated nursery rhyme that is full of hand actions and expression. The Children learn to to show expression through hand movement and facial expression. With lots of smiles and giggles we had lots of fun.

We followed up our song and story with a lovely painting activity. The children enjoyed making spider web marks on their pages and getting their hands dirty in the process. We are also all very good at washing our hands thoroughly. Well done everyone it is so great to see that everyone is up to the challenge of using their gross motor skills and engaging in so many different activities.

Housekeeping- Could all parents please label their children’s items so that we can send everything home to you at the end of the day and they do not end up in the wrong bag. Thank you kindly

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Stage 1R

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By Ms Amanda Felton

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Stage 1R: Spider artwork

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Stage 1R: Free play

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Piano

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By Mr Alan Tang

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Piano

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By Mr Alan Tang

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Drama

By Katrina Maskell

It was lovely to be back teaching drama this week. My name is Miss Kat. I explained my name to the children that it was Kat like a meowing cat. We started the lesson with our hello song, to welcome everyone and warm up our voices and bodies.

Next, we learned what drama and acting are. We discussed what types of acting people do. We spoke about people in movies and on television.

In Stage 1 we learned about drama and bears. I brought along a box, that had a handle and wound it up as they watched. The next time I went around the circle and they all got to touch the bear. They discovered how soft the bears ears are.

Some of the children liked to pat the bears and others gave the bear a hi 5 some were a little shy and just looked at the bear. The third time round they had to pretend to be the bear. They put their hands on their head and pushed themselves down (so they were bent down) Then when I counted 123 and clapped they popped out of the box.

We then explored bears paws and roars. We used our bodies to explore big, medium, and baby bears. Making our bodies big and loud stomping for big bear and softer and smaller for baby bear. We also sang rock a bye a bear and finished with our puppet friend Terry the Turtle.

In Stages 2, 3 and 4 I asked the children, do they want to be actors today? Actors have to practice and play games to practice being good actors. Actors have to be good at pretending. We started by playing a game called the floor is! Pretending the floor is lava and it's too hot to walk on, or it's slippery and cold like ice. Alegria in Stage 2 ran so fast when the floor was hot so she didn't burn her feet. We also turned the floor into a giant trampoline and sprung into the air. Emmit in stage 2/3 showed us how high he could jump on the springy floor.

Next, we played a drama game called pass the ball. I started with the ball and bounced it, then threw it up in the air and counted to 3 and they had to catch the ball as it landed. We explored what it was like to throw and catch a big ball, small ball, and heavy balls. Brendan's ball in Stage 2/3 was so heavy and big it was hard to catch he fell over. Stage 2/3 also took turns throwing the ball to each other and changing the weight and size.

We explored a game called the magical hat. The children all lined up and then one by one they wore the hat and pretended to be someone or something else. Amelia walked on her tippy-toes like a ballerina, Felix jumped as a frog and Madeline crawled like a cat.

It was a day filled with action and drama and we had lots of fun and can't wait till next week

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Drama

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By Laura Hudson

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My Gym

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My Gym

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