Post on 21-Apr-2018
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Amy’s Message By Amy Goodlace, Head of Early Learning
Dear Families,
At the beginning of the third term we had a
wonderful staff development day. We brought in
a training company to work with the team and
we successfully identified each other’s strengths,
weaknesses and what makes our team successful.
It was a very enriching day for all the staff that
attended.
To follow up on that successful day, we decided
to meet as a whole team once a month to
continue working on our strategies to ensure
excellence in our Early Learning School.
Our first whole staff meeting was on Wednesday
evening. There were collaborations and
discussions over a meal from 6:00 till 7:30PM that
evening.
I want to thank the wonderful team of educators
that we have at Reddam Early Learning School for
their dedication to the school and our children.
I am immensely proud to be leading such a team
of dedicated staff that were willing to stay after
hours to collaborate.
In our meeting this month we spoke about the
values that we as a school encourage in our
children:
Kind Hearts
Good Manners
Gentle Hands
Quiet voices
Respect
Walking feet
These values will be introduced to the children in
their daily experiences at school and we will start
a reward programme which I will introduce to the
families within the next few weeks.
I would also like to thank the families that have so
kindly spent time at school to read stories to the
children or participate in the provocations that
the children are exploring.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Kind regards,
Amy
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The Nest What A Wonderful World Takes Off! By Tatiana Botrel, Tori Gordon, and Gabriella Guimaraes
During our explorations around the world this
week The Nest children went on a trip around
Australia and Argentina.
In Australia the children made their own
boomerangs using cardboard paper and our
famous dot makers. We have also played
along with some animals native to Australia
such as the kangaroo, the platypus, the
wombat, the crocodile and the kookaburra. To
make this journey even more special we made
some lamington cake for afternoon tea. Our
little ones had lots of fun covering the sponge
cake with our chocolate sauce and then rolling
it on desiccated coconut.
In Argentina, we learned some cool soccer
tricks from Lia (Luke C.’s mummy). Messi, her
favourite soccer player from Argentina
inspired her to come and visit us in The Nest. In
Argentina we also had some time to dance the
Tango and share a rose with our friends. On
behalf of all of The Nest group I would like to
say a big thank you to Lia for giving us some of
her time. I am sure Luke was very happy to
have his mummy in our classroom… and so
were we!
Our journey around the world is only starting
and next week our aeroplane might be landing
somewhere around China, Russia and Ukraine.
Watch this space to follow our adventures
around the world.
Music of the week
“Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry Merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!”
Book of the week
“If you are happy and you know it” by
P. Crumble.
This book uses a traditional nursery rhyme to
introduce the children to some of the most
common animals native to Australia. A really
fun way to learn what some characteristics of
these animals for example “If you are an
echidna and you know it, spike you hair” or “If
you are a wombat and you know it, dig a
hole”.
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Stage 1 Everyday Patterns By Polina Rodov, Karla Cabezs and Michele Santos
We started this week by investigating patterns
that can be noticed all around us. Our morning
circle was a fantastic starting point where we
observed a pattern in the way the children were
sitting girl, boy, girl, boy, etc. We pointed out that
the order in how the children were positioned
created a pattern in itself. The children found this
interesting and at the same time quite amusing.
We went around in the circle repetitively saying
‘Girl, boy, girl, boy’, until we finally came to a
pause as there were two boys sitting next to
each other. I explained that this is where the
pattern stops as we have more boys in our group
and would need more girls to continue the
pattern. We then counted how many boys and
girls we had.
Our next observation was about patterns on our
clothing. We concluded that there were many
different patterns amongst us, calling out any
type of pattern that we could see on the clothes
that the children were wearing. Stripes, spots and
stars were the most evident patterns we could
see. We then took a further step by grouping all
the stripes together and counting how many
there were. A pattern that particularly caught
our eye was on a beautiful jacket. I brought over
some images of animals that we have been
looking at and held them near the jacket. I asked
the children which of the animals does the
pattern on the jacket resemble? Immediately the
response was leopard. We will be creating our
own leopard print patterns next week.
Creativity with patterns
We experimented with a different painting
technique to see if we could achieve any sort of
pattern effect. We dipped small wooden reels,
each of which had a pattern on them such as a
wave, dot or zigzag and then rolled the reel on
to some paper. We were pleased to discover
that the pattern actually worked and we could
see the repetitive shapes on our page. Some of
the children then decided to create finger
patterns as they realised that their fingers already
had paint on them from holding the reels. It was
a very enjoyable creative experience.
Threading a pattern
Our main focus was threading shapes on to shoe
strings and creating a shape and colour patterns.
Together with practicing our fine-motor
capabilities and precision with the intricate
threading, the children were able to choose the
shapes they wanted to use to create a basic
pattern using two shapes. We explained to the
children that in order to create a pattern there
needs to be repetition in the order of the shapes
we are threading and the colours we are using.
For example yellow circle, orange square, yellow
circle, orange square and so on. We
demonstrated a specific example so that the
children could get a visual understanding.
Patterning is a difficult concept to grasp at this
age, however the children are doing remarkably
well and showing their thinking process.
Dramatic Play Interest
The little wooden dolls house with a selection of
furniture sparked an interest amongst many of
the children to engage in dramatic play and
interact socially. Lots of conversations could be
heard about what was happening in the house.
Avery – “She is having a shower”, while holding
the little doll in one hand and the piece of
furniture in the other. ‘This is a kitchen”, Gabriel
explained to Charlie, showing him the kitchen
cabinet. Elle and Maxwell both enjoyed sitting
their little people on the chairs and couches. It
was really nice listening to the children’s
interactions and language progression.
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Stage 2 Blasting Into Space By Daniela Gosty, Susan Casey, Vanessa Copper, Lois Maand, Monica Ranjitkar
If you have heard your child counting
5,4,3,2,1- blast off then it is because we
have been blasting off all day at school.
We blast off to the bathroom to wash our
hands, we blast off to eat, we blast off to
play. Blasting off is so much fun as you just
never know where you may be going and
what may be waiting for you when you get
there.
The children in Group 2 have been
exploring space through the large floor
puzzles. They have been learning to work
co-operatively together taking turns to
connect the pieces and using the picture
as a guide. We have some very good
puzzlers in our group and our friends are all
developing skills to their own level.
The children have also been talking about
the day sky. “What makes the sky so
bright?” We talked about how the sun
warms our bodies and our world. We have
noticed the different type of clouds, the
fluffy white clouds and the dark storm
clouds. We have observed the different
objects we see in the sky. We never know
where they may lead us to next week.
The children in Group 1 have continued
their focus on the stars and they have been
looking at the amazing colours from the
milky way and beyond in the galaxy. This
has been our focus for the upcoming wall
display. The children can often be heard
spontaneously singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little
Star” and “Star light, Star bright”.
The art room is slowly transforming into
another world as the children have been
working on the Night Sky pin display. We
started with a white sheet of paper that we
roller painted black and then attached it to
the window. The children are then given a
thin piece of wire (supervised of course!)
and they push it through to reveal the light.
The effect represents the twinkle of the stars.
It has also created a lot of discussion as the
children look through the holes and can see
the big school playground.
All the children have loved learning new
songs at group time, and one of the most
requested has been “5 green men”
“5 green men in a flying saucer,
Flew around the earth one day.
They looked left and right
But they didn’t like the sight.
So one man flew away…
Woooooshhhhh.”
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Stage 3 Fractured Fairytales By Anita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Christina Mandalidis and Hannah McCooey
This week the children delved into the world of
fractured fairy tales through their current
avenue of interest – The Three Little Pigs. A
fractured fairy tale is designed to be
humorous where the author changes the
story, altering characters and settings. They
use familiar stories and give them a twist,
which in turn can enrich children’s
understanding of story settings, points of view,
and plots.
The children have previously read various
editions of the Three Little Pigs where the story
changes slightly for example, the pigs get
eaten by the wolf, the wolf joins the pigs for
tea, or the wolf burns his tail on a pot of
boiling water. However during the past
couple of weeks the children have been
introduced to a variety of fractured fairy tales
such as ‘The Three Horrid Pigs,’ ‘The Three Little
Wolves and the Big Bad Pig,’ and ‘The True
Story of the Three Little Pigs.’ The children
have loved reading each of these and have
been requesting them to be read every time
they come into the classroom.
Some masks have also been added to the
classroom, which in turn has enabled the
children to act out the story. They have
enjoyed taking this activity outdoors to the
brick house (the castle) as the little pigs have
lots of space to run away from the wolf.
The children have been enjoying engaging in
creative experiences at the atelier table
where they have had the opportunity to draw
and decorate the three little pig’s houses.
They were also very excited to get into the
kitchen to make some delicious ‘Piggy’
cupcakes.
Finally, we would like to say thank you to all of
the children who have remembered to bring
in their favourite books to share with the class.
We would also like to thank the wonderful
parents who have taken some time out of
their busy day to come to read to the
children. This has been a great opportunity
for the children as they have been able to
demonstrate to our special guests their great
listening and concentration skills during these
times.
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Stage 4 The Wonder Of the Bush By Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger, Deanne Jacobs, Debbie Zerbst and Kirsty Gilford
The wonder of nature is all around us, we just need
to stop, breath and immerse ourselves within it for
a couple of hours a week to really appreciate its
value.
In Stage 4 we are fortunate to visit the Bush once
a week for our Bush connection program. Even
though we visit the same area of Cooper nature
reserve each week, every experience is different
and profound. The children return from the bush
with many questions and interests. Below are a
collection of photographs of our last two visits to
the bush and comments from children.
The large rock face which we climb was named
“spider rock “ last week by Claudia due to the
large collection of webs that had appeared.
This sparked an interest in animal homes, we
explored the bush to see if we could see other
animal homes.
“Spider webs are so cool.” Coby said as he lifted
up the body of a dead spider he found.
“I think it is the skin of a spider, it drops its skin off
like a snake.” Luke
“We will have to find out if that’s true.” Robert.
One morning we even discovered steam coming
off the picnic table as the sun shone on the wood.
Where was the water going? Why was steam
coming from the wood? A collection of girls were
fascinated by this and hypothesised with their
friends what might happen.
“Lets smell the wood to see if it’s burning” said
Margaret.
“Maybe its oil on the top not water.” Said Alyssa.
Then Margaret glasses steamed up during the
smelling of the picnic table,
“Oh no more steam!!! Where is this stuff coming
from.’ Margret said laughing
Raphael noticed that creature had lots of legs
and asked what is was?
On returning from the bush we looked inside our
bug encyclopaedia to find out it was a centipede
with one hundred legs….. we laughed together
and said we wouldn’t want to go on a shoe
shopping trip with the centipede..hehe
We discovered animal droppings, but had no
idea what animal would do these kind of poos?
More research needed on this one in the science
room.
Josie commented that there were buds growing,
new flowers starting to grow. And we really think
there is a smell of spring in the air.
Outcome 4 of the Early Learning Years framework
talk about children being connected to the world
around them. On our arrival to the bush each
week we sit together and breath the fresh air and
touch the ground with our hands whilst closing our
eyes. We feel our roots grow through our feet and
c o n n e c t w i t h t h e s o i l , w e a r e
connected………………….thank you nature.
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Mighty Mites Gross Motor Skills
By Simon Joseph
The Stage 1’s:
Warmed up their bodies as they stretched
and moved to the Mighty Mites song and
dance
Developed their crawling skills as they
crawled through the caterpillar tunnel and
went right the way through to the end
Were encouraged to catch the chime ball
by using their eyes to watch the ball, their
ears to listen to the bell inside the ball, and
their hands to grasp the ball
The Stage 2’s:
Improved their cardiovascular fitness and
strength through a routine to some upbeat
Mighty Mites music!
Lengthened their muscles and improved
their muscle tone and flexibility through our
Mighty Mites yoga cards of the day- see
Downward Dog Pose illustrated below
Spoke about some of the healthy snacks
Mighty Mite could eat that will provide him
with lots of energy to be active
The Stage 3’s:
Developed their bouncing skills along with
their basket scoring skills for basketball!
Learnt how they use their Deltoid muscles
to throw the ball into the basket!
Developed their partner work for
basketball- throwing to a partner and
bouncing to a partner
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Dancearama Camping & Storytelling
By Laura Hudson
Stage 2
Discussed what items we might take
on a camping trip, looking at what
Laura (the explorer) had packed in her
backpack
Worked as a team to do a whole class
improvisation, setting up camp and
going on an adventure (walking
through the forest, crossing a bridge,
fishing etc. etc.)
The ribbons acted as a great tool for a
fishing rod. Whilst fishing they had to
use facial expressions and gestures to
show what they had caught (big fish,
heavy fish or an old boot)
As the sun went down we gathered
sticks for the camp fire, toasting our
mash mellows whilst singing a couple
of songs including some rhyming
words
Finished the drama improvisation by
the children going to sleep in their
tents, telling an interactive story using
the puppets
Stage 3
The children helped tell an interactive
story using characters from Nursery
Rhymes they knew
Discussed what character means
The story linked a number of Fairy tales
together allowing the children to
explore emotions as well as use their
senses working as a team to help Bella
and the other characters in the story.
Played follow the leader as their
characters
Retold Little Miss Muffet, the children
finished the rhyme by saying where
they think Miss Muffet ran to and why
the spider scared her tried curds and
way
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Physical Education Fundamental Movements
By Spencer Clifton
Our warm up this week involved
switching between fast paced running
and agility style movements including
skipping, side gallop and the newly learnt
backwards shuffle.
This week we utilized our running and
rapid direction changes in a game of 'Tip'
where hoops were used as safe zones.
We mixed it up this week, incorporating
the good old fashion bull rush game into
our sports session. Many parents I speak
to have fond memories of this schoolyard
favourite, however playing for the first
time does test spatial awareness and
allows the children to begin to develop
speed control.
The students enjoyed above arm
resistance training using a large
parachute. We made waves and learnt
about controlled lifting, which facilitated
coordinated teamwork. Communication
skills allowed the children to participate in
the best part of the giant parachute
game - the 'trapping ourselves
underneath the parachute part' which all
classes achieved successfully on their first
attempt.