Amy’s Message 2 AUGUST 2016 - reddamhouse.com.au · the morning for our Father‟s Day...

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1

Amy’s Message By Amy Goodlace, Principal

Dear Families,

It has been a quiet week preparing for our

Father‟s Day Celebrations next week and the

teachers have been spending time with the

children in conversation reflecting on how

much our daddies mean to us.

The children are very excited for the

upcoming event on Wednesday next week

we hope that all our dads will be able to

join us from 8.00am to 9.30am on the front

Astroturf for fun activities that we have

planned to do with your children.

We wish all our Father‟s a wonderful day on

Sunday and hope it is a special day for all!

Warm regards

Amy

2 AUGUST 2016


The Nest “Shhhh.. A special secret is in The Nest” By Tatiana Botrel, Lois Ma

This week in The Nest, the children have been

very busy working on an important

celebration happening this weekend. The

children were excited to prepare “bits &

pieces” to give to someone special next

Wednesday, during our Father‟s Day

Celebration at Reddam.

As we cannot tell you much about our

activities in the classroom this week, I would

like to share with all families a special

moment of our routine: the mornings and

afternoons greetings. Since the beginning of

Term Three just before teatime, when the

children are sitting on their chairs, we sing

the “Tick-Tock” song together.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

The clock goes Tick Tock

Tick Tock Tick Tock

It‟s time to say hello (or goodbye)

Hello … (name of the child or teacher)

The children demonstrate great excitement

when singing this song, happily waving hello

or goodbye to their friends. After this song we

usually talk a little bit about the things we will

do in our day or, at the end of the day as we

remember the things we have done in The

Nest. Recently, we started to call out the roll

to check who has joined us at school and

who has stayed at home. This activity is also a

way to encourage the children to learn their

peer's name and recognise them amongst

each other. Some of the children enjoy

pointing to their peers, smiling and saying

“there!”. They feel proud to hear their name

being called and they look out to their friends

waiting to be found! Whenever a friend is

away, we make sure to mention them and

send them all our love.

At Reddam we believe that encouraging the

foundations of kindness, care and love will

lead the children to understand, actively

participate and respect the concept of

belonging – to their families, to school and

their community. This is part of our Grace

and Courtesy Programme.

To all the dads out there we wish you a

wonderful weekend. Happy Father‟s Day!

Outcome 2: Children are connected with

and contribute to their world - Children

develop a sense of belonging to groups and

communities and an understanding of the

reciprocal rights and responsibilities

necessary for active community

participation. EYLF, 2009.


The Nest Photo Gallery


Fledglings “I can…” By Hannah McCooey, Olivia Binions and Jane Teh

There is something very therapeutic about

playing with play-dough. Play dough is a very

calming activity and this was clear when we

put on some soft music as we used our

imaginations to create anything we wanted

to.

Children enjoy every aspect of the

exploration of play dough. Using this amazing

material is a never-ending tactile learning

experience. When given play dough, it is

clear the children are instinctively motivated

to explore its soft and responsive sensory

qualities. They squeeze it, poke it, squash it,

pick it up and pat it down. The dough

responds to each of their actions and the

child is learning that their actions have

consequences. Working play dough with

their hands develops the child‟s large and

small muscles and aids eye-hand

coordination. It helps to improve fine motor

skills.

Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident

and involved learners

This week we have been focusing on our

colours and sorting and matching colours

together. We used coloured fruit and the

same coloured cups and the children named

the colour of the fruit and found the cup that

was the same colour as the fruit and placed

it inside the cup! During our physical activity

session the children were problem solving.

Coach Spencer brought along different

coloured hula-hoops, and beanbags, which

matched the hula-hoops. The children chose

a colour of beanbag and had to place the

coloured beanbag in the same coloured

hula-hoop. It is a great activity to develop

f ine motor control, coordination,

concentration and learning about colours.

Sorting and matching colours is simple to set

up and will arouse any child‟s curiosity to play

and have fun.

Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident

and involved learners

The children and the teachers in the

Fledglings have been very excited this week

talking about how much our daddies, and

the male influences in our lives mean to us.

We asked the children “Why do you love

your daddy?” Some of the beautiful things

that the children told us in class:

Poppy: “I like to love my daddy”

Abigail: “Daddy tickles me”

Charlotte: “Daddy funny”

Marco: “Stories”

Lilah: “Because daddy is big”

Valentine: “Because my daddy is nice”.

We have also been busy in the Atelier

creating some special artwork for our display.

We are really looking forward to spending

some fun and quality time with our daddies

and the very special male influence in our

lives at our celebration on Wednesday

morning. I hope you can make it.


Fledglings Photo gallery


Fledglings Photo Gallery


Stage 2 “Happy Father’s Day”

This week we have continued with

parents reading in the mornings to the

groups. The children have enjoyed this

additional part of the program and we

hope the families who have read have

also found it a valuable experience. If you

haven‟t read yet but would like to, please

come and see us, we are happy to

accommodate.

SHHHH….it‟s a surprise!

We have been preparing our special gifts

for our fathers to help celebrate Father's

Day this Sunday. We have been reading

stories about our dads and talking about

what they are like and what we love

about them. We hope that our dad‟s can

join us on Wednesday 7th September in

the morning for our Father‟s Day

celebration.

Happy Father‟s Day to all!

Smile !

We have been smiling for the camera this

week with our new friend "Ido". These

were the individual photos taken and we

can‟t wait to see the results as the

children put on their best smiling faces.

New Addition

This week, Noah shared exciting news with

the group about the arrival of his baby

brother. When asked the question "How

many Hobbs in the family now", Noah

without hesitation answered "5"- Mum,

Dad, Lachlan, Noah and baby Hobbs! (at

the time of the announcement no name

had been decided) Baby Hobbs has now

been named Lincoln and we look forward

to meeting the new Hobbs addition.

Congratulations to all of you.


Stage 2 Photo Gallery


Stage 3 Happy Father’s Day By Nina Bergel, Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner and Jason Corrigan

This week the Stage Three children have busily

been preparing for Father‟s Day. To begin the

week, the children read „I Love You Daddy‟

and „My Dad‟ by Anthony Browne. The

children then had a discussion about

activities that thy love to do with their

daddies or a male influence in their lives.

Aerin: “I like when he takes me to

Homebush.”

Aidan: “My daddy caught an octopus.”

Krew: “I like going on aeroplane with daddy

on holidays to Darwin.”

Annika: “I like when my daddy throws me up

in the air.”

Darcey: “I like playing Alice in Wonderland

with daddy. He’s the Mad Hatter and I’m

Alice. They have a tea party.”

Freja: “I like going to the playground with my

dad. This is my daddy when he had curly hair

like us.”

Sacha: “Me and daddy make cubby houses

with pillow cushions.”

Agastya: “I like to play with snakes and

ladders.”

Alfie: “I like to go golfing with my dad.”

Scarlett: “I like playing catch the ball with my

dad.”

William: “ I like building with daddy.”

Then they took this idea to the drawing table

where they were supplied with black markers

and drew their favourite daddy activities.

After this the children were given the

opportunity to colour their picture.

The children have made special Father‟s Day

gifts, which they will present to all their

daddies on Wednesday morning, 7th

September at the celebration

On Monday Anouk brought in an exciting

show and tell, an empty water bottle. She

told the class that it makes musical sounds by

blowing on it. Anouk blew and the class got

so excited by the high sound. There were

some empty bottle in the art room and each

of the children got a turn at blowing on

different sized bottles. Each bottle made a

different sound according to its size. The large

bottles made a deep sound and the small

bottles made a high sound.

Stage Three wish all the fathers and

grandfathers out there a very happy fathers

day! Have a great weekend celebrating with

your families.


Stage 4 Once Upon A Time ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols

This term the children have been

engaging in a variety of play and learning

experiences further developing their

interest in our provocation „Once Upon A

Time‟.

We had a very exciting week last week

celebrating book week: „Australia, story

country‟. We read a variety of Australian

books and the children expressed

particular interest in „Wombat Stew‟.

Linking this to our provocation, the

children recreated the story through art

and craft experiences, and dramatic play

experiences. They used a variety of

mediums to create their interpretation of

the animals, and the ingredients in the

stew: paint, watercolours, textas, string,

ribbon, paper plates, cotton wool, kitchen

towel rolls and cardboard boxes. The

children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up

and acting out the story. They

demonstrated great confidence and

wonderful imaginations!

This week the children have engaged in

play and learning experiences based on

the book „Caps for Sale‟. This story was

read on the „Night of Lights‟ and the

children expressed a great interest in it.

They have been engaging in

conversation about the magical „Night of

L i gh t s ‟

a l l

w e e k !

Extending on this interest, the children

have been exploring this book through

different play experiences.

They have been demonstrating and

further developing their language and

c o m m u n i c a t i o n s k i l l s t h r o u g h

collaboratively composing a story

summary.

The children have been engaging in

open-ended, sensory play experiences

with play dough and natural resources

that they collected in the playground.

They have used play dough and sticks to

create the tree from the book. They have

been further developing their fine motor

skills by placing small wooden beads,

representing the caps, on thin sticks. The

children have also been busy sorting,

counting and categorizing the caps by

following patterns. Many mathematical

concepts have been explored and

discussed during these play and learning

experiences.

Francesca: “What colour do I need

next?”

Huxley counted sixteen caps and

commented, “Eight and eight makes

sixteen”.

Kim: “How many do I need?”


Music By Justin Goh

Hello everyone!

Stage 1 & 2:

The sounds of the train and aeroplane

continue to thrill the children. Egg shakers

imitate the sounds of the train and the

children went around the mountain with the

bells. They went on a car ride and took a nap

while they “Sing their way home”.

The train and car brought them to the airport.

This time, Justin brought a kazoo and imitated

the sound of the airplanes. The crescendo

and decrescendo sounds of the plane

brought much smiles and laughter in class.

But more importantly, through the play,

children learn to associate the crescendo

sounds with the on-coming vehicle. This is an

important life-skill each time they cross a

road in the future they will know that the

crescendo of the car engine warns them a

car is approaching. They then pretended to

be aeroplanes and soared in the sky. Justin

lifted the little ones in the air as we

sang ,”Way up high in the sky”. The children

experienced a total physical response as

they hear the word high, listen to the high

pitch in the song and get lifted up into the

sky!

Stage 3:

Our stage 3 children are developing an

appropriate response to music. When they

hear the slow music, they stalked around like

a cat. When the music was fast, they

scampered around like mice. These actions

expanded the vocabulary of the children.

Rather than simply crawled or ran, we

labelled the movements as “Stalked” and

“scampered”. Such activities are particularly

useful for ESL children as they followed the

actions of their classmates and sang the

words of the song. Another activity we did

with a similar purpose was the animals

“marching” down the street. The kangaroos

“hopped”, the snakes “slithered” etc.

Justin also brought a special chicken whistle

which he bought from Perth. The chicken led

the children in the animal parade!

The brain stretcher this week was the

challenge to omit singing certain letters in the

song “BINGO”. Try it with your children at

home. Just omit ONE letter at a time, or

randomly choose to omit TWO letters. Even

adults get tripped up sometimes! This activity

trains inner-hearing or audiation.

We also learned that our body can be a

drum set. Stomping the feet could create the

bass drum effect and the clap could sound

like the “high-hat”. The drum machine

accompanied the BINGO. This was a good

introduction to body percussion.


Music By Justin Goh

Stage 4:

Children at Stage 4 are mastering our

“Hickory Dickory Dock” percussion piece. We

embellished it with the triangle, resonator

bars, a 2-tone woodblock and a slide whistle

to add colour and enhance the meaning in

the musical piece. Wait till you hear them. It‟s

impressive!

We then went on to distinguish 2 musical

notes with our listening skills. When they hear

the higher note, they raised their hands.

When they heard the lower note, they put

their hands on the floor. Then by mirroring the

teacher they learned to play the melody of a

simple song on a xylophone. It was amazing

that almost every child could play the tune

quite accurately. We just need a little more

practice. Don‟t be surprised if your child goes

home singing “Star Light, Star Bright” this

week. If you have a piano at home, you

might want to point out the notes C and A

and they might surprise you by playing the

song for you!


Dance and Drama By Laura Hudson

Stage 3

Objectives:

This week the children will use their

imaginations to go through the magical

wardrobe, discovering a fantasy world behind

it. They will each take on the role of being a

fantasy character and develop a whole class

improvisation.

Skills learnt this week:

Improvisation and creativity

Taking on the role of a fantasy character

through a group improvisation

Working Together

Portraying facial expressions and body

gestures

Spatial awareness

Activities include:

Using their imagination to go through a

Magical Wardrobe (like Narnia)

Discussed what a wardrobe is and what you

usually find inside as well as what the

wardrobe looks like

Used music to mime going through the

wardrobe.

Teacher in Role as a Witch from fantasy world.

The children gave the witch character a

name, they then thought of their own fantasy

names too.

The children went on an adventure with the

witch. They travelled on their broomsticks to

the first destination “Rise rise, really high, just

as high as a butterfly”. The aim is to get

something from each place they visit so they

can go back home (as they can‟t go back

through the wardrobe). A pearl from the sea;

Breath of a dragon; hair of a unicorn, sugar

drop from the fairy and a golden egg from

the giant.

Using their bodies the children mimed objects

and shapes to put in the cauldron to create

the spell


Dance and Drama By Laura Hudson

Stage 4

Objectives:

The children will participate in a teacher led

improvisation of Jack and the Beanstalk. The

children will use their imagination and

creative skills to think of possible endings for

the story, focusing on a number of key drama

techniques.

Skills learnt this week:

Improvisation and creativity

Memory recall

Portraying facial expressions and body

gestures

Thought tracking

Stage direction

Mime

Status

Copying and responding to the teacher

Activities include:

TIR as Jack‟s mum, playing „I spy‟ something

being with „B‟. Different types of beans where

placed around the room as well as a

beanstalk that hung from the ceiling.

The children smelt and tasted the beans; they

were then asked what other kinds of beans

they knew

Played the bean game – a movement

association game (e.g. Jelly bean, wobble

like jelly, broad beans stand tall with their

arms in the air and walk around the room)

Key pictures of the story including the

characters and objects were used to tell the

story. The pictures were then shuffled and the

children had to place them in the correct

order

Soundscape of Jack climbing the beanstalk

Call and response

The children acted out the story using mime,

stopping frequently along the way whereby

they were asked how certain characters were

feeling at that particular point in the story.

Discussed and acted out possible ending to

the story (looked at which characters had the

most/least status

Picture postcard


Physical Education By Spencer Clifton

The Stage 1's had a enjoyable week of

sport where where we explored a problem

solving exercise, a mini obstacle course and

Simon says.

We started off the lesson with a problem

solving exercise that made use of different

colour bean bags and hoola hoops. The

bean bags were placed on one side with

the colour hoola hoops placed on the

other, the children would collect one

coloured bean bag and place it into the

matching colour hoop.

Our next activity involved a mini obstacle

course that incorporated climbing,

stepping and crawling. The course was

made up of a crawling tunnel, a climbing

stand and crocodile hurdles. Each stage of

the course challenges the children in body

positioning, core strength and observation.

We finished the lesson off with a game of

Simon says, each week of playing the

game we have progressed in our exercises,

a few examples are reaching for the sky,

jumping, core strength rolling.

The Stage 2's enjoyed a fantastic week of

sport where we continued to explore our

parachute games, Animal strengthening

movements and a great game of colour

hoops.

We started the lesson off with our animal

movements that consisted of kangaroo

jump, lion crawl, crab walk, elephant stomp

and flying bird. Our next activity involved

the use of the parachute, where we

explored a variety of movements using our

arms, legs and core muscles. We Started off

with making waves, progressively getting

bigger and bigger until we brought the

parachute up above our heads and back

to the ground. Followed by a merry-go-

round and making popcorn, finishing off

with the mushroom. All the exercises

encourage teamwork with a focus on

strength and co-ordination.

We finished off the lesson with a great

game called colour hoops, different colour

hoola hoops were placed around the

exercise area. Different colours were called

out and the children looked for the

matching hoops.

The Stage 3's and stage 4's had a great

week of sport, where we continued with

striking. We started the lesson off with some

warm up sprints, followed by our animals

exercises incorporated some animal

movements, namely the crab walk, horse

gallop, flying bird and elephant stomp,

kangaroo jumps, frog hops and lion crawl.

Our next activity continued on from last

weeks striking theme, we made use of two

types of bats this week. The baseball bat

and flat bat, each requiring concentration,

co-ordination and correct swing to strike

the ball. Body position, holding of the bat

and swing were aspects that we focused.

Amy’s Message 2 AUGUST 2016 - reddamhouse.com.au · the morning for our Father‟s Day...

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Transcript of Amy’s Message 2 AUGUST 2016 - reddamhouse.com.au · the morning for our Father‟s Day...