dee’s message - reddam housereddamhouse.com.au/pdf/2018/els_w/els_wvol18issue22.pdf ·...

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1

Dee’s Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The interaction between adults and

young children is a fascinating one, and

most adults must wonder at times exactly

what is going on in the minds of our little

people. When we watch them

engrossed in some activity, or playing

contentedly on their own, completely

oblivious to the rest of the world, what a

remarkable insight it would be to have a

glimpse into what is going on in their

minds.

Then again, there are those split seconds

before a young child responds to a

question, or asks one of his or her own,

when you can almost hear the whir of

brain activity taking place – after which,

often, a response comes which leaves

one thinking, where did that come from?

Such is the infinitely wonderful process of

growing up, physically, mentally, socially

and emotionally.

Researchers at the University of Toronto

have been examining the interaction

which occurs between individuals,

specifically between young children and

the significant adults in their lives, such as

parents and teachers. They have coined

the term “bridging minds” to explain the

constant back-and-forth interactions

which occur during any form of

communication, whether verbal or

physical.

They also use a useful analogy - that of

tennis - to explain what occurs. Their

phrase is “serve and return” and they

suggest that by becoming more aware

of what a child is thinking, and by using

that as a starting point, adults can assist

young children with their language and

cognitive skills. Just as in tennis, the

process involves a continuous process of

engagement with the child – of seeing

what interests the child at that moment

and then using this as the springboard for

a discussion, or questions, or actions.

Neuroscientists have found that such

interactions can have enormous

neurological benefits, which lay the

foundation for learning in later years.

3 AUGUST 2018


One way they suggest to engage with a

child is to ask oneself, “What is this child

looking at and thinking about? How can I

engage them, following their lead?”

From that starting point, other questions

could develop, such as, “What is this

child capable of doing? How can I help

him/her learn and succeed based on his/

her interests?”

Of course, this dovetails perfectly with

the approach we use in the ELS, that of

the Reggio Emilia philosophy of

education, which encourages children

to explore without trying to meet an

adult’s preconceived expectations.

Through the provocations which

teachers use to initiate discussions and

opportunities for learning, as well as those

spontaneous teachable moments which

pop up, children are encouraged to

learn experientially.

What a privilege it is for our teachers to

spend their days “bridging minds” with

the little people in their classes. May you

and your family have just as much

enjoyment doing likewise this weekend.

Dee Pitcairn

Principal

Dee’s Message


The Nest The beginning of a new term, a new journey... Tatiana Botrel & Rachael Soegiono

The children had a great time during

Holiday Care, engaging in cultural

activities during NAIDOC week, and

then participating in experiments with

colours. During this time we have

observed how much the children are

interested in learning about transport.

During their daily routine, the 12 happy

children enjoyed exploring the transport

table, “driving” cars and trucks on the

road, and copying their noises. They

also like “flying” the aeroplane and

helicopter, making a loud noise.

In the Atelier, the children created an

artwork while “driving” different vehicles

on the paper, marking their way with

paint. The children enjoyed listening to

the sounds of transport while working on

their picture, carefully identifying sounds

and also copying them.

Supporting this interest, we read the

book “Down by the station” by Jess

Stockham and the children were

focused on trying to find the vehicles on

the pages of the book. They also had a

great time dancing to the “wheels on

the bus” song, copying all the actions

described in the lyrics.

Outcome 4: Children are confident and

involved learners. Children develop

dispositions for learning such as

curiosity, cooperation, confidence,

creativity, commitment, enthusiasm,

persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

EYLF, 2009.


Nest Photo Gallery


There isn’t a better way to start Term 3

than to see the happy and smiling faces

of the children and to watch them

enthusiastically and energetically getting

back into their routine of our busy days, as

well as into play and learning experiences

with their teachers and peers.

There was much excitement surrounding

some of the changes that we have made

to the classroom to create a more open

and refreshed feeling. We decided to

restructure the room a little differently to

see how the children will enjoy engaging

in the new set-up and experiences that

we can offer. It was great to see the

children exploring anything new that we

had added to the environment, revisiting

their favourite activities, and even using

them a little differently.

The teachers have been observing the

children’s interests as we choose our next

provocation. We are now ready to

extend and develop some of the interests

and curiosities that we have observed,

and to engage in lots of different learning

opportunities. Term 3 will no doubt be

filled with more fun, as well as exciting

and meaningful activities and events.

Fledglings A warm welcome By Hannah McCooey, Shirley Brockwell and Jane Teh


Fledglings Photo Gallery


“Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital

as nourishment” - Maryann F Khol

(children’s art educator)

One of the most enriching activities

readily available to children in early

learning is a simple art easel. Easel

painting allows the children to make

large-scale art pieces where they have

space, time and freedom to create. This

process draws valuable skills from the

children that aren’t just based on a visual

aesthetic, but that challenge and

enhance a huge range of

developmental areas that are also vital

to early learning.

Over these past two weeks we have had

the pleasure of looking closely at this

experience with the Stage Two children.

We set up the area with small brushes in

order strengthen our fine motor skills and

practice using smaller grips with our

fingers, but the children quickly

enhanced this into a gross motor

experience where they used the big

muscles in their arms and shoulders to

make large shapes, long stripes or lots of

spots all over the page. Even the act of

putting paintbrushes in and out of the

matching coloured pots is beneficial, as

it practices our mathematical skills of

sequencing and matching, as well as

hand-eye coordination, along with turn

taking.

As an art easel is two sided the children

quickly turned their art making into a

social experience where they invited

their friends in to discuss their ideas or

goals, to praise each other’s work and to

share their pride and joy.

“This is a monster and he’s going to eat

you up, he’s grumpy!” - Ella

“Can I see your monster?” -

Charlotte

“Yes! He’s very messy” - Ella

“Aah he’s coming to get me!” shouted

Charlotte as she ran back to her

painting.

“Look! I like it, do you like it?” - said Tiffany

to her teacher.

“That’s my painting there! It’s red! I’m

finished, come look!” - Rainer said to

Ryan.

We are seeing less experimentation and

more purposeful intent behind the

children’s art making. The children

happily discussed their ideas, feelings or

memories that went into their paintings to

create representational images of their

thoughts.

“I’m painting my family, my sisters and

mummy and daddy and we’re in a

photo and I’m in the photo” – Freddie.

“I’m painting a tree and my family are

around the tree. The red is my house” –

Toby.

The time spent between the child and

teacher in this creative space was

extremely valuable and has undoubtedly

contributed to the development of

stronger and more trusting relationships.

We were honoured to hear the children

share their identities, personalities and

sense of humour. The children entirely

immersed themselves in their individual

creative process and came out with a

huge amount of pride for their work. We

invite everyone to come and see the

amazing art that has been created and

to reflect on them with the children.

Stage 2 Art Daniella Gosty, Karla Cabezas, Shauna Corry, Min Pattharasiritanarat, Sarah Noone , Elizabeth Turner & Priscilla Corazza


Stage 2 Photo Gallery


Stage 3 Exploring, investigating and learning... By Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Jason Corrigan, Polina Rodov, Deanne Jacobs and Yuliya Ginis

The Stage 3 rooms have been filled with

excitement over the last two weeks as

the children greet each other and

welcome back those who were away

during Holiday Care. The children have

keenly been exploring the new

environments set for them by their

educators. Contemporary theories and

research informed by the Reggio Emilia

approach recognise and value the

environment as the “third” teacher.

Considering the environment in ways that

are intentional and purposeful assists in

mastering encounters, and encourages

communication, which creates

environments filled with natural light,

order and wonder.

In Polina’s and Deanne’s room the

children were thrilled to find a new

construction workshop. Here the children

are free to build, explore and create.

In the art room the children found a

magical fairy tale castle, filled with

unicorns, fairies, princes and princesses,

which await them as they allow their

imaginations to wander into this mystical

land. At the back of the art room is a

kitchen with a table of play dough,

cookie cutters, pots and pans and bread

rollers, and baking trays, which allow the

children to engage in imaginative play

as they create new culinary experiences

together.

In Yuliya’s room the children took their

turns in greeting their friends, as they

came to engage in shopping

experiences. They took turns in being

both the shop keeper and the customer

as they took part in this role play

experience.

Finally, in Susan’s room the children were

invited to investigate on a map where

the different animals of the world live. The

children explored which animals come

from the different continents and even

countries. They also challenged their fine

motor skills by using chopsticks to pick out

small bees from a bowl, colour mixing

using droppers. The children also spent

time identifying the different sounds of

the alphabet, using the large moveable

alphabet. They worked together trying to

identify words that began with each of

the sounds.

We look forward to seeing the children

grow and develop throughout the term

as they continue to explore, investigate

and learn.


Stage 4 Imagination By Anita Martin, Sandra Carberry, Nina Bergel, Cassandra Holmes and Kristina Rocchi

Welcome back to Term 3. It has been a

busy week as the children are settling

back into a routine and catching up on

holiday news. From listening to the

children’s conversations it is evident that

the children who attended our Holiday

Care Programme enjoyed the various

activities and incursions that were

offered. And the children who were

spending time at home, on holidays, and

with family and friends were very excited

to share stories from their adventures.

This week the children expressed a great

interest in imaginative and small world

play. Their vibrant imaginations took

them to places like Jurassic World, Fairy

World, Lego Land, and Fairy tale Castles.

During a group discussion some children

shared their thoughts on ‘Imagination’:

Georgia – “It means what you could do.”

Joanna – “You think things are alive.”

Luke – “I wish I could be something.”

Maxwell – “Something special.”

From spending each day with the

children, it is evident that they use their

imaginations in everything they do -

through conversations, play, art and

craft, music and dance. Following the

children’s interest in dinosaurs we

created a small world dinosaur play

space where the children spent time

engaging in social, imaginative and

sensory play. The children enjoyed

playing a game of ‘Dinosaur Musical

Statues’ – posing as a dinosaur when the

music stopped. They also transferred and

further extended this interest during our

excursion to Cooper Park when they

engaged in pretend play, being in

‘Dinosaur World’.

We read a book called ‘Luke’s Way of

Looking’ by Nadia Wheatly and Matt

Ottley. This is a story about children in a

class that see things the same way –

except for Luke who looks at things

differently. And this is because he uses his

imagination. As some of the children

transitioned to choose an activity in the

classroom they commented on how they

were using their imaginations. Demitra

commented, “I’m using my imagination

to make a book.”

Another story the children enjoyed was

‘The Man Who Loved Boxes’. The story is

about a man who uses his imagination to

create things out of boxes. Reflecting on

this, the children used their imaginations

to think of something they could create

using boxes.

Mila - “A plane and a castle.”

Ashley – “A castle.”

Demitra – “Something that could make

me fly. Fairy wings.”

Luke – “A toy castle.”

Felix – “A tower.”

Regina – “A castle.”

Joanna – “A castle with princesses.”

The children have come up with the idea

of collecting boxes over the next few

weeks so that they can use their

imaginations to get creative.

“It must not be forgotten that the basic

law of children’s creativity is that its value

lies not in its results, not in the product of

creation, but in the process itself. It is not

important what children create, but that

they create, that they exercise and

implement their creative imagination.” -

Vygotsky


Dance and Drama By Laura Hudson

Stage 1 & 2

Hunting we will go

In Term 3 the drama programme will

prepare the children for performance.

Each lesson will focus on a number of key

elements including: imagination; rhymes

and poems; active listening, speaking

and moving; mimic and mirror; real and

imaginary characters.

This week, students identified significant

information from text (setting, sense

memory) and demonstrated active

listening skills by creating appropriate

movement and sounds for a story.

The children identified story sequence

and also used the vocabulary of theatre,

such as actor, character, cooperation

setting, the five senses, and audience, to

describe theatrical experiences.

They performed imitative movements,

rhythmical activities, and theatre games

(freeze, statues, and mirrors).

They dramatised information from other

content areas. They also used movement

and voice, for example, to reinforce

vocabulary, such as fast, slow, in, on,

through, over, under.

Using the Bear Hunt story, the children

helped to create some sounds for the

story. First they practised making some

sound effects of their own.

The teacher modelled for students the

ways to make some basic sounds. (e.g.

pat legs for light and heavy rain, stomp

feet to show running or walking).

The teacher asked, “What does a car

sound like? What does a siren sound like?

What does a gentle breeze sound like? A

strong wind?” “How can you make the

pitch of your voice go up? Can you

make your voice very low? Can you

growl? What do you sound like when you

are scared?”

The teacher read “Going on a Bear

Hunt” and asked the children to mimic

the actions and create facial expression

appropriate for the volume, pitch and

style of the words.

The children made sounds with their

hands, feet, and voices. (e.g. rub their

hands together, stomp their feet, clap,

pat, whisper, and vocal gibberish was

encouraged to match the action).

They also arranged pictures of the story

elements (pictures) into sequential order.

The teacher assisted them with selecting

the correct phrase to match the picture.

These were pasted under the pictures.

Stage 3 & 4

Falling for Rapunzel

The childfren began by discussing who

might live in a tower. A piece of music

was introduced – ‘The Adventure’ by

John Williams. This led the children

through a number of obstacles (long

grass, over a bridge, swinging from a tree

over the crocodiles, hiding behind a tree

as a dragon was following them), ending

up in the tower with Rapunzel (one of the

children dressed up), who was very sad.

Rapunzel (Teacher in Role) told the story

of why she was upset and that she

needed to find her prince and how she

missed her long hair.

The next activity involved the children

using their senses. They took turns to be

the prince. They were blindfolded and

had to listen and follow where Rapunzel’s

voice was coming from.


Dance and Drama By Laura Hudson

The children then discussed how different

the world would be if they couldn’t see.

Extension activity: they used their sense of

smell to establish what food the Prince

was eating.

The girls were given the role of Rapunzel,

the boys the Prince. They acted out the

beginning of the fairy tale using a

number of key sentences and tapping

sticks to portray that they were on a

horse. The prince (the boys) hoped to fall

for Rapunzel (the girls), but since she

can't quite hear what he asks for,

everything but her hair gets tossed out of

her window. The boys asked Rapunzel to

throw down her hair but instead she

threw down her underwear. They were a

bit puzzled about this, so they said “Curly

locks” but instead Rapunzel threw down

her dirty socks.

The children found it quite funny. They

discussed the rhyming words and looked

at the beginning of the story ‘Falling For

Rapunzel’ by Leah Wilcox that they had

acted out.

Fun tug of war

Picture Postcard of how they thought the

story could end.


Music By Angelique Goldsworthy

Another term of musical fun and learning

has begun. A recurring theme for Term 3

is ‘Animals in Music and Movement’.

The Stage 3 and 4 groups used animal

flashcards to explore rhythms. At first, only

the pictures were displayed, progressing

onto the paired rhythmic notation. The

more advanced rhythms, such as the

armadillo and elephant, using quavers

and semiquavers (titi and tikati), were

included for the Stage 4 groups.

The groups chose four of their favourite

animals from the flash cards and we

experimented with different

combinations of rhythms, to compose

their own unique rhythms. We performed

these together by patting the musical

mats like drums. Once the group could

perform fluently, the teacher played a

percussion backing track and our young

musicians performed with their own

instrumental accompaniment. The

backing beat helps to keep the whole

group playing together, but requires

practice. We continued to work on the

performance this week. We learnt a song

called ‘There Was a Crocodile’, with

actions and sounds to add match the

animals, such as a grunting orang-utan,

chomping beaver and crazy elephant.

The Stage 2 groups also performed similar

animal rhythms, using the simpler

combinations of the first four flash cards.

The Nest and Fledgling groups joined in

with the Animal theme, singing ‘Incy

Wincey Spider’ and ‘Old MacDonald’.

We learnt a new action song, called

‘Down in the Jungle’, about a lion,

monkey, crocodile and elephant

washing their clothes. With their rhythm

instruments the children tapped/shook

out rhythms for chicken and monkey

chanting the name on the flashcard

displayed. It was a fun way to celebrate

the start to a new term!


Physical Education By Mighty Mites

Welcome back to all our Reddam Mites

after a wonderful school holiday break! We

look forward to a wonderful term ahead

working with Stage 1 and 2 in Mini Mites

and Mighty Mites!

This week in Mini Mites, we discovered a

carrot in our Mighty Mites Magic Bag. This

led us onto a discussion about the origin of

carrots, how they grow under the ground,

that they’re a vegetable, and that they

help to keep our eyes healthy and strong.

The Nest children loved performing the

Nursery rhymes of “Twinkle Twinkle” and

“Incy Wincy Spider” as we encouraged

them to sing along and perform the hand

actions as they worked on their fine motor-

skills and coordination. During our

cardiovascular routine with the maracas

we encouraged the children to find the

beat of the music with the maracas as they

performed various actions to develop their

coordination and cardiovascular fitness. At

the end of the class the Nest group loved

dancing underneath the parachute as

they watched the colours rise and fall

above their heads, followed by a cool

down on top of the parachute and some

magic bubbles as a fun treat for a session

well done!

Our Stage 2 Mites warmed up their bodies

as they went on an exciting adventure to

the snow! We saw penguins, built a

snowman and rode a sled - all the time

warming up our muscles in a fun and

imaginative way. During our exercise

routine to music we challenged both their

cardiovascular fitness as well as their

musicality as they exercised with the

Mighty Mites maracas. We showed them

how to find the beat of the music with the

maracas and how to coordinate their

exercises to this beat too. During our

developmental game of the day we set up

a balancing obstacle course for the

children. They had so much fun balancing

over the sleeping snake, spikey balls and

hula hoops. Our main focus during the

game was to develop their balance while

moving over a range of different exercise

beams and equipment. The Mighty Mite

graphic of the day showed Mighty Mite

drinking water and this led us onto a

discussion about the importance of water

for our bodies, how we need to drink more

water when it is a hot day or after exercise,

and how water is Mighty Mite’s first drink of

choice!

We look forward to seeing all our Reddam

Mites again next week!


Physical Education By John Quilter

This week’s Stage 3 and 4 sport focused on

body movement fundamentals while

playing games that included interesting

animals. We also introduced manipulating

a soccer ball with our foot and

incorporated some moments of self

regulation and cooperation within our

activities. The children were all giggles as

we played "Knights and Deer" a tipping

game where the children respond to a call

from the teacher and must process the

information and then react. We will

continue with soccer skills over the next few

weeks and will include how to kick with

good technique as well as stopping the

ball accurately.


Reddam Early Learning

would like to wish a very happy birthday to

Lyla Ahern, Valentina Tesoriero, Helena Abbott,

Archer Geredov & Louis Hughes

who celebrate their special day this week and on the weekend

We hope you had a fabulous day!

dee’s message - reddam housereddamhouse.com.au/pdf/2018/els_w/els_wvol18issue22.pdf ·...

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