Reddam ELS Lindfield Newsletter 13 October 2023

Reddam ELS Lindfield Newsletter Term 4 Week 1 Friday 13th October 2023

Principals Message by Lara Wilson

Dear Families and caregivers,

We have commenced Term 4 full of ideas, plans and possibilities based on the children’s interests and the provocation permeating through many stages is Storytelling. Storytelling is an approach we employ here at Reddam ELS Lindfield to engage children to unlock wonder and curiosity and to spark a love of learning. Children become immersed in stories; the characters, environment and narrative providing a window into a new world to explore and challenge our existing ideals. Children can disseminate creative thoughts, expand both expressive and receptive language skills through exposure to new words and illustrations and through hearing or reading a story, make meaning of the words through context.

Stories convey more than information, they promote children to discover meaning. Stories can be powerful as they often mimic experiences in our world and cause us to reflect upon how we think, plan and act. Similarly, when we invite children to share stories, we gain insight into their thoughts and values. In Stage 3R, the children recently embarked on a journey of Storytelling, sharing moments captured and documented at home and then embedded in our daily group times. Children relished at the opportunity to share their experiences with their friends and teachers, promoting confidence and a sense of belonging within the community, strengthening the bridge between home and school. The children’s interest in sharing then sparked the magical provocation of Literacy and Storytelling in Term 4, where the children will now explore classic stories and fairy tales from our era.

Children just love to hear stories about their parents, in an attempt to uncover some well kept secrets perhaps! At home, you can join the learning journey by setting some time aside for storytelling; special moments from childhood, memories from past holidays or a time that was special for you or your child.

This is a great opportunity to then encourage your child to share their own stories with you.

I’m very excited to see what Term 4 holds and the boundless learning opportunities ahead.

School photographs will be held the week of the 23rd October 2023. Chenise has emailed all our families with further information.

Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all next week.

Lara Wilson, Principal

Stage 1R “Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded ” - (Loris Malaguzzi)

Dear Families,

This week commenced the first week of Term 4 and based on the children's interests, our provocation this term is Storytelling. The Teachers have observed the children not only accessing storybooks in our library area but also selecting their favourite books for their Teachers to read. The children listened attentively to the stories being read as Ms Nika acted out some of the text and observed the children making meaning of the words. We observed the illustrations and encouraged the children to share their understanding of the pictures.

With the warmer weather at the start of the week, the children were engaged in a variety of experiences involving water play in the outdoor learning space. Following on from last Terms provocation where we explored animals extensively, Ms Jing provided the children with an assortment of animals and in their blue water, we explored the animals name, the sound they make and their habitat. The children then selected some boats and sea animals and suctioned them into their ocean pool.

We are working on self help skills and encouraging independence, praising every little success along the way! This week, the children took part in finding their own hats. We read each name out and the hats were successfully claimed by their owner! Sebastian, Grace, Nalani, Louis and Kobe all requested to help apply their sunscreen which they did with guidance from their Teachers. We are incorporating many experiences into our daily routine to support the children with establishing a sense of belonging to our room and more broadly, our school community. We have observed the children's confidence increase each day through embedding these experiences into our routine.

To further each child's sense of belonging and build the bridge between home and school, we would love to create some little photo books for the children which will live in our library. If you could please send in some photographs of your family and friends, anyone your child would love to be able to see in their own individual photo book throughout the day, we will laminate these and create little family and friends books for each child to then access throughout the day. This will also promote communication and language development and we look forward to hearing your children share some of their own stories about the loved ones.

Wishing all our families a wonderful weekend.

Jing, Nika and Cigdem

Stage 1E “Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning and how to learn"- (Loris Malaguzzi)(Author)

Dear Families, Our Term 4 Provocation will be based on storytelling and incorporate aspects of literacy and numeracy that will be reflected in the learning environment.

This week we explored the song, "Five Little Men in the Flying Saucer" which introduced us to the early mathematical concepts of counting from one through to five. The children excitedly counted together as we read the book collaboratively and engaged in reflective discussions to identify other items in our environment that we could count together.

Our favourite book this week was "Driving my Tractor" by Jan Dobbins. This storybook was accompanied by music and the children attentively listened to the music and observed the illustrations. To incorporate this into our creative arts experience today, we offered the children the opportunity to use cars and trucks to create their paintings. The children busily set about dipping the wheels of the cars in various colours and rolling them over their canvases, producing colourful artwork. This provided an opportunity to engage the children in social discussions with one another about their favourite vehicle and colour and we closely observed the tire marks created by the assortment of vehicles. While engaged in car

painting, Zach stated, "truck" while Theo said, "car." Momo added a playful "beep beep" and Isobelle beamed with delight, exclaiming "red and blue" as the truck left a mark of those colours on her paper.

Everyone joined in saying "broom broom" while pushing their cars back and forth, sharing smiles when they discovered different colours and patterns on their papers. Oscar and Preston enjoyed dipping their cars in different paints and watching the colours mix together.

This engaging artistic exploration not only nurtured the children's creative expression but also enhanced their fine motor skills as they manipulated the toy cars to create patterns and designs on paper. Through naming and differentiating between cars and trucks, they practiced verbal expression and classification skills and Momo's "beep beep" added an element of imaginative play!

We look forward to sharing more about our Storytelling provocation next week.

Have a lovely weekend.

Regards Natalie & May & Resie

Stage 2R “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.

But for children play is serious learning. play is really the work of childhood." - (Fred Rogers)

Dear Families, This week we started our journey around the world by learning more about our beautiful country Australia and our culture. Cultural diversity enriches children's learning by exposing them to various values, beliefs and differences. We can start educating children to accept, respect and embrace these differences from an early age.

The book of the week was titled, ‘I'm Australian Too’ by Mem Fox. This book explores the many different origins of children who call Australia home. This story celebrates the vibrant multiculturalism that has shaped Australia and touches on Indigenous Australians as well as the experiences of immigrants and refugees. This book champions the idea that the ‘Australian’ identity is incredibly diverse and welcoming.

Another book the children adored was titled, ‘Patterns of Australia’ by Bronwyn Bancroft, representing a

series of Australian landscapes and habitats through 'patterns'. This book allowed the children to see the Australian environment in a new way, as they discovered that there is so much more to see around us if we only look!

We developed our knowledge of Australian native animals, spiders and sea creatures during the small world play experiences. Habitats were created for all these fascinating living creatures using natural materials. Children engaged their creativity by designing new habitats for them. The ability to be creative is vital to the success of children and the well-being of our world. All these imaginative experiences supported the 2R children with storytelling, expanding their vocabulary, learning about different habitats and discovering the animals that live in Australia.

The children engaged in expressive arts through creating wattle flower art by dot painting. Small pom poms were utilised to place dots for the flowers and it furthered our understanding of Australian flora and fauna.

Food is often used as a means of retaining cultural identity. This week, the children were encouraged to engage in some cooking activities to create a stronger connection with Australian culture. 2R made ANZAC Biscuits, a traditional Australian biscuit. Our week was embedded with experiences that show our respect for diversity by celebrating the differences and taking the step to strengthen the children’s selfidentity.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Miss Vivian, Miss Connie and Miss Fatima.

Stage 2E "When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary." (Fred Rogers)

Dear 3R Families, Welcome to the final term of 2023! Continuing on this year's learning journey, the 2E children have demonstrated such growth in building their confidence and identity through play and relationships. With a strong sense of belonging, children openly express their feelings and ideas in their interactions with others. Our provocation for Term 4 is 'Inside Out,' inspired by a famous Disney movie about emotions and feelings. This will enable children to explore and understand their emotions, learn how to express their feelings, and comprehend those of others. We aim to foster healthy and positive mindsets, guiding the children to embrace all their emotions. This will positively help 2E friends develop skills such as selfawareness, handling strong feelings, empathy, problem-solving, and social competence. Furthermore, early literacy and numeracy experiences will continue to be integrated into 2E’s daily activities.

Expressing our emotions brings about many benefits. It helps us connect with ourselves and others, leading to happier and healthier relationships. Additionally, our rays of sunshine continue to show their

social and emotional development as they read others’ feelings and express sympathy for their friends or the characters in stories. Merging behavior modeling into literacy experiences prompts positive behavior and strengthens oral communication skills. Children's storybooks, group discussions, and symbolic language are powerful tools to guide social skillfulness.

Together, we read a wonderful story called The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. One day, Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad, and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl and 2E friends showed him what each feeling means through colour: Red = Angry, Yellow = Happy, Blue = Sad, Pink = Loved, Green = Calm, Black = Scared, Rainbow = Confused.

At the provocation table, the six color monsters visited us. The soft and stretchy blue and pink monsters were buried under cotton sand, offering our friends great textures for sensory exploration. They stretched and filled the jar with cotton sand, using tongs to pick up beads that promote fine motor skills.

Additionally, the red and yellow monster wool strings also attracted our friends' attention. They tried to fill the jar by using tongs to pick up each string. Excitingly, the black and green monsters came in fine colored sand. The children enjoyed their time scooping and transferring the sand from cups to cups.

Miss Xanthe invited some friends to try balancing exercises outside. We used soft foam blocks to create an obstacle course to balance on. In the end, the children were challenged to do a big jump. The rainbow blocks were wobbly “Woah, tricky!” said Eli. “I can do it with Elly,” said Charlie. “I want to try!” said Miles. Everyone had a turn balancing across, holding Miss Xanthe’s hand for stabilization. Next, Miss Xanthe invited the friends to rearrange the blocks into their obstacle course. We ended up with a step in the middle, adding an extra challenge. Everyone worked together to create their version. “Let’s put that one here,” said Alex. “We can make a tower,” said Kirra. When their course was finished, we took turns to complete it.

In Miss Shandie's small group, the children engaged in the rainbow experiment. The children have demonstrated a keen interest in science-based experiences where they can work together in a hands-on manner. On this day, we experimented with color to explore colour absorption by creating a walking rainbow experiment. The children helped Miss Shandie add water to five glasses. Using a liquid dropper, we dropped blue food colour into one glass, squeezing very gently until the food coloring dispersed evenly, as instructed by Miss Shandie. Then we placed paper towels into each glass, joining them together. As the children did this, we talked about what might happen to the paper towels. Miss Shandie asked open-ended questions such as "What do you think will happen to the water?", "What is happening now?", and "Why do you think the colours are changing?" to spark children’s curiosity to guess what might happen. These questions encouraged the children to think carefully and I offered the children enough time to explore the jars with their eyes. We waited patiently, and while waiting, we counted from 1 to 20 a couple of times while clapping our hands. Soon, we were able to see that the water had crawled all the way up the paper towel and was beginning to walk back down into the empty cup next to it. Our little learners were amazed as coloured water seemed to travel along the paper towels and into the empty jars like magic! "It's the rainbow monster," said Landon. "I can see the happy monster," excitedly said Nicholas.

What a wonderful week of learning! Let's see where the colour monster will take us next week!

Have a colourful weekend, 2E Team

Stage 3R "Children who learn these tools at a young age are better equipped to take on difficult emotions and successfully navigate life challenges” (Stone,22)

Dear Families, Last term we saw a strong interest in the children sharing stories from home. Based on this interest we will be looking closely into understanding our emotions through reading books and providing opportunities for the children to role play different characters in fairy tales. Through this creative play, we will be exploring deeper into understanding our emotions and using fairy tales to express our feelings.

This week we have been unpacking the ‘Colour Monster’ book, looking deeply into each emotion. We stopped to reflect on how each emotion can affect us differently and I asked the children what makes them feel happy, sad, angry, scared, calmed ,loved and confused? Here are the children’s responses: Aida - 'Mummy makes me happy'

Kai - 'Ghost makes me feel scared' Ethan - Baron, his brother makes him feel happy Amelia - Max, her brother makes her feel happy In keeping with our theme of fairy tales, the children enjoyed participating in creating our fairy garden.

We used two pots, where all the children had an opportunity in putting a scoop of soil into the pots. We discussed the importance of having good soil as it provides food for our plant to grow. This activity provided a spontaneous opportunity to incorporate mathematical concepts into our experience. I asked the children, “how many scoops of soil would we need to fill the pot with soil”? Aida said “2 cups”, and Felix said “lots”. By asking these questions, the children were learnt about estimation. The children were encouraged to count out loud when scooping the soil into the pot. To the children’s amazement it took roughly 6 cups to fill the pot with soil. The children were surprised at how small the seeds were. We carefully sprinkled the seeds into the pot and covered them over with another layer of soil. Victoria helped fill the water can and we watered our seeds. To finish this experience off, we add fairies to our pot.

Our fairy tale book this week is, “The Three Little Pigs”. We observed in great detail how the three pigs felt when the big bad wolf came along to blow the pigs house down. We linked the different emotions to the ‘Colour Monster’ book and by breaking down the emotion of what the three pigs felt, the children were able to grasp the emotion with greater understanding. Kai said, “the three little pigs felt sad when the wolf came”, Rory said “they were scared”, and Sierra said “angry”. These are strong emotions for the three little pigs to feel! The children were given opportunities to act out the different parts of the three pigs fairy tale.

The children also practiced their cutting skills this week, working on holding the scissors correctly. The children were shown how to use their other hand to hold and move the paper to cut along a straight line and for those who wanted a challenge, a variety of lines were introduced.

As we reflect on our week we are extremely proud of the children and their willingness to learn new skills that they find challenging. Next week we will be reading, “What Makes You Feel Happy” by Trace Moroney. From here we will invite the children to engage in group discussion around themes such as, what the bunny does to feel happy? What do you do to feel happy? Do you have a special item or person who makes you happy? By encouraging open ended collaborative discussion among the group, we hope to further foster the children's social development, calling on their confidence and communicative skills as they share their ideas within the classroom.

We wish you all a lovely weekend.

Jenny and Tania

Stage 3E "Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul"- (Friedrich Froebel).

Dear Families, During Week 1, the children were introduced to their new topic for this term, “Using Our Bodies” where they were able to look at half-transparent black film. They asked lots of questions such as, “What is that?

Is that from your body?” The children proceeded to engage in different discussions about the structure of the foot in an X-ray and counted the toes. The children reflected upon different body parts by creating a skeleton with loose parts and drawing.

Throughout the week, the children continued to build upon their interests and extend their vocabulary by learning about different types of muscle groups, bones, and more! The children were provided with the opportunity to move their bodies in many different ways and follow the actions on various flashcards. This allowed the children to jump, crawl, and skip. Some of the children enjoyed a game of

"operation" where they had to hold the tweezers to remove certain body parts carefully, and then put them back together. Also, the children shared an enjoyment for literature where they were exposed to picture books showcasing images of body parts and organs.

Furthermore, the children were able to engage in a science experiment where they were required to wear their X-ray goggles and scan what lies beneath their skin, which allowed them to add other body parts to their growing list. The children could go outside and find their shadows to draw around, which enabled them to make further connections to their bodies and the differing ways we move through space.

We hope you have a lovely weekend, Warm regards, Laura, Winnie, Kai & Ona

Stage 4R "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela.

Dear 4R Families, Welcome to Term 4 of 2023, and what an incredible start it has been! Our first week has been filled with exploration and excitement as we dive headfirst into our new provocation, "The Changing World." This choice was inspired by our children's curiosity, their fascination with the past, and the captivating conversations they've shared with our educators. This term is already shaping up to be an extraordinary journey of exploration and learning.

To kick off the week, we embarked on a thrilling exploration of our Term 4 provocation, "The Changing World." Miss Sarah, gathered the entire class for an inspiring discussion that encouraged curiosity and wonder. The children shared their thoughts and insights into the changes they've observed in the world around them. Their voices, filled with both curiosity and wisdom, were truly captivating. The discussion sparked their evolving language development as they articulated their thoughts and engaged in a dynamic dialogue. This not only allowed them to express their ideas but also highlighted the power of language in refining and expanding their understanding. Our young learners had plenty to say! They noted changes in clothing production, the transformation of building materials, the evolution of apartments, advancements in machines and technology, and the differences in laptops, phones, and televisions. These insightful observations have set the stage for an exciting journey through our changing world.

In line with our provocation, we delved into an engaging art project inspired by the book "Window" by Jennie Baker. The book beautifully illustrates the gradual year-by-year changes seen through a window, emphasising how small changes accumulate over time. During our art-focused learning group session, the children contemplated what our world looks like today. Their observations inspired our first artwork, reflecting their views of a bustling city with houses and cars. To bring this to life, the children enthusiastically began painting vibrant backgrounds filled with different coloured shapes. Once the backgrounds have dried, they'll add intricate details, such as city buildings, to represent our changing world. This project beautifully combined literacy, creativity, and exploration into one enriching learning experience.

Our exploration continued with a particular interest in visual arts and technology during free play. In this session, we focused on the evolution of photography. The children were fascinated by old cameras that could only produce black and white prints, sparking their curiosity about what a black and white photo would look like. After an engaging small group discussion, we ventured for a short walk around the centre, exploring the use of iPads as our modern cameras. The children took turns photographing various items, objects, and subjects. Once every child had captured a photo they were pleased with, we printed both colour and black and white copies. The children then compared these images, marvelling at the similarities and differences. This experience not only exposed them to the world of photography but also allowed them to appreciate the technological advancements that have shaped our changing world.

As we journey through "The Changing World," we will continue to explore the evolving aspects of our world, delve into artistic endeavours. We are excited to watch their understanding of the world deepen and their communication skills flourish as we progress through this captivating term. We look forward to sharing more incredible learning adventures with you in the weeks ahead.

Warm wishes, Miss Sarah and Mr Callum

Stage 4E “If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – (Roald Dahl)

Dear Families, Welcome to Term 4 and our provocation “Let’s Get Creative!” This term the children’s artistic abilities will be promoted and challenge them to create intricate masterpieces. In our atelier, we have a variety of mediums and materials for the children to use including paints, crayons, glue, and different textures of paper. The Reggio Emilia Philosophy that inspires our educational program at Reddam, strongly encourages children to be creative and explore their ideas through artistic processes. Famous Spanish and cubist artist, Pablo Picasso even said, “Every child is an artist.” In our atelier, the children started creating colourful paintings. Water colours, paints and crayons were provided for the children to experiment with. They had freedom of choice to create whatever they wished, and their artworks reflected most of the skills and processes they have become familiar with throughout the year. Every child interpreted this task differently, demonstrating how they each have a unique artistic style,

imagination, and ideas. As their artworks dry, they will be encouraged to revisit their picture and add more layers and textures to create a multi-medium masterpiece they can be proud of.

This term the children will also be supported to identify and express their emotions in preparation for kindergarten. We read The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas, which showed the creature all mixed as like a rainbow. He was confused and wasn’t sure which emotions he was feeling. His friend kindly helped him sort his emotions into separate jars which were each represented by a colour. As we read about each emotion, the children were encouraged to study the illustrations and determine how they represented the different feelings. We saw yellow sunshine, blue raindrops, red lava, a black forest, green nature, and pink love hearts. To extend the story and the children’s understanding of each emotion, we sorted coloured pom poms into jars just like the monster did. As each child put a pom pom in the jars, they were scaffolded to think of a word or synonym that means happy, sad, angry, scared, calm and loved. We used these words in a sentence to put them into context and discussed if the words meant a little or a lot of each emotion.

Happy = positive, bright, cheerful, delighted, excited Sad = gloomy, upset, devastated Angry = bothered, live, furious, frustrated Scared = frightened, petrified, nervous Calm = relaxed, rested, peaceful Love = caring, friendly, affectionate Our story book started an important conversation about how the children are feeling about going to kindergarten, and how grown-ups and friends can help us when we express our feelings more clearly. As the children identified each emotion and colour, they offered some anecdotes about when they had felt like this before. For example, when they felt sad when they fell over, or happy when it was their birthday.

As the children learnt synonyms for each emotion, they broadened their vocabulary and learnt how to use them in context and with the correct expression. Helping children recognise their and name their emotions is critical in developing emotional competence. They begin to understand labels for their own emotions and other peoples’ when their parents and educators talk to them about the feelings we express in a variety of situations. Understanding feelings allows children to empathise with others and gives them the language to communicate how they are feeling rather than becoming too overwhelmed.

The teachers initiated a class discussion about getting ready for big school. Some of the children shared how they have already visited their big school during orientation visits or have older siblings who already attend their big school. We referred to our Colour Monster emotional posters on the wall and identified feelings of nervousness and excitement about this big change. We talked about how these emotions were normal as big school is an unfamiliar environment and there will be a lot of new things to learn. We then looked at the children’s school emblems on our wall. We learnt how each school has a different emblem/symbol to correspond with the school colours and school uniform. One-by-one, the children came up to find their photo and place it on the school emblem of the school they are enrolled in for 2024. We discussed how some of us are going to the same school and some are going to different schools. Our schools are determined by our location/local catchment, and or the schools’ ethos our

parents have chosen for us. The children were surprised to see 17 different schools that everyone was enrolled in.

Another interest that’s been evident in our classroom is the children’s love of watches. Some children have been wearing watches to school, showing them to their friends, and some even ask what the time is throughout the day. To foster this interest, we all sat in a circle to look at our giant clock.

Understanding the concept of time is not easy for the children, but it's an important skill to develop as they get older. We looked at the clock’s moving hands and how they make their journey around the clock. We started with simple words like "o’clock" and "half past," using examples where the big hand pointed at 12 and the little hand pointed at 3, showing it's 3 o'clock. Then the children enjoyed making their own clock with paper plates. The children drew two arrows on a piece of coloured paper and cut them out. Then the children wrote the numbers on around the circumference of their clock whilst singing “Hickory Dickory Dock”. We later thought of our daily routine and the activities that correspond with each time of the day, and played a fun game of "What's the Time Mr. Wolf" in the playground.

What a great start to the term. We hope the children are excited to come on this final learning journey with us!

Lauren and Rebecca

Tuesday - Drama with Miss Chelsea

Wednesday - Music with Mr. Alan

Thursday - Playball with Coach Lauren

Thank you

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