Simone’s Message By Ms Simone Cooke, Principal WHAT IS A … › PDF › 2017 › ELS_SL ›...

1 REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | ST LEONARDS NEWSLETTER 1

Simone’s Message By Ms Simone Cooke, Principal

Dear Parents,

WHAT IS A PROVOCATION?

Here at Reddam you will constantly here us referring to learning provocations. What exactly are these you

may ask? A provocation is a term that originates from the Reggio Emilia approach which forms an

important part of our programme here at Reddam Early Learning. A provocation is designed to provoke

and invite interest, creativity and discussion. It encourages children to think critically, respond creatively

and expand learning, interests and skill development.

Provocations are designed to be open ended and allow for children to be active participants in their

learning, It enables children to have some control over the direction of what they learn about and

therefore encourages them to be more engaged. Each of the projects of enquiry and discovery that the

Teachers have designed have been carefully planned and are based on observations they have made of

your children, so that they are relevant to their specific needs and interests, making it a highly

individualised programme. The Reggio approach makes good use of the physical environment, which acts

as a “third teacher‟. allowing space and time for discovery. and providing ample opportunities for children

to express themselves. Whilst provocations are based on children‟s interests, our Teachers employ

intentional teaching strategies to extend upon these in order to create new and deeper understandings

and challenge the children to consider how we can investigate further. This provides a wonderful balance

between child led and teacher led learning.

Here at Reddam we are strong believers in collaboration. Provocations provide us with wonderful

opportunities to have our children work together on projects, which encourages them to explore, observe,

hypothesize, question and discuss. We want our children to be able to “think outside the square‟ and

recognise that there are lots of questions to ask, but no one single answer. We aim to develop in each

child processing skills that empowers them to make choices, decode problems and unlock talents that

allows them to reach their full potential as a learner. Thank you to our wonderful Teachers for your

commitment to this each and every day!

EARN AND LEARN

Thank you to all our families who have been busy collecting stickers for our “Earn and Learn” programme.

The children are most excited by the prospect of earning new toys for our school. Please remember to

request a sticker every time you purchase items at Woolworths. You can either place these stickers on the

special books and post them in our collection box or just bring the loose stickers to school and the

Teachers will place them on sheets here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

11TH AUGUST 2017


A Commotion in our Ocean There was a curious commotion, at the bottom of the ocean; we went to have a look what we could find. There was every sort of creature, that lives beneath the sea; swimming through the pages of the book of the week. This week we read the book “ Commotion in the ocean” where we found fun rhymes about the creatures who live in and around the ocean. The children were delighted by the snappy poems and coloruful illustrations about whales, walruses, penguins, polar bears, stingrays and sharks. Inspired by this book we decided to create our own ocean using the puffy paint technique. It was super easy to make and the texture is so neat! We just mixed equal amounts of shaving cream, white glue and a few drops of food colouring. Since we wanted to re create the ocean we made different shades of glue, green, yellow and purple. After it dried the children kept wanting to poke it with their fingers to feel the texture. None of us could resist the cool foaminess!!! We have planned several ocean-themed activities to share over the next couple of weeks, and first up is this simple but fantastic sensory play idea that kept the children busy for a whole morning long. We whipped up a giant batch of soapy sea foam for sensory and pretend play. When the children saw a large tub of ocean foam, they were super excited and couldn‟t wait to dive right in. We hid some ocean creatures along with some large shells from our nature collection at the bottom of the tub, so they were surprised and delighted with each new discovery. They alternated between swirling, scooping, and generally immersing themselves in the beautiful puffy foam and using their ocean animals to act out very intense dramas. Making our sea foam was so easy as we used ingredients we already had on hand. We played around with the proportions until we got the best result , but it is by no means an exact science…less water will give a more dense foam, while more water will give a puffier foam. Too much water and the foam won‟t last too long, and will have a lot of water at the bottom of the bin. Either way the children had loads of fun ! Looking forward to next week‟s sensory activity, have a lovely weekend with your precious children !

Stage 1 - The Nest & Hatchlings By Miss Gabriela Guimaraes


Stage 1 - The Nest & Hatchlings Commotion in the Ocean


Nature’s Paint Brushes

As we keep on with our Garden investigation this week the children were introduced to a new

way of painting, using nature‟s brushes made of different types of leaves and sticks. Providing an

interesting and ever-changing environment for children to explore is an ideal way to develop

their curiosity, provide opportunities for them to ask questions, and to talk about things they have

discovered. Building up a collection of natural resources can begin with a selection of resources

found in our immediate environment.

To make our Nature‟s brushes we went for an expedition around our garden, looking for different

leaves to make our very exciting painting brushes! Each paintbrush had a different type of plant

leaf attached to a wooden stick, which created different patterns and textures on the paper. In

the atelier the children explored the patterns the nature‟s paintbrushes transferred onto the

paper, mixing paint together and creating beautiful prints with no restrictions. While executing

this new way of painting the children discovered that one of the brushes was harder while

another one was softer. This activity allowed the children to freely explore their creativity and

imagination.

In addition we have set up a painting activity in the room consisting of watercolours, paper, thin

brushes and plants and flowers as inspiration. As we have noticed from the last two Terms the

children love to use watercolours to create beautiful patterns. It‟s watery consistency and vibrant

colours allow the children to freely paint onto the paper, noticing in a more immediate way what

happens when two or more colours become mixed.

Art is important for children especially during their early development. It engages their senses in

open-ended play and supports the development of cognitive, social-emotional and multisensory

skills. As children progress into elementary school and beyond, art continues to provide

opportunities for brain development, mastery, self-esteem and creativity.

“Natural resources encourage children to observe closely and use all their senses.”

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend.

Stage 1: Fledglings By Miss Michele Santos


Stage 1: Fledglings Nature’s Paint Brushes


Stage 2 - Chicks By Ms Eva Lo

Music Festival on the Farm

This week was Barnyard Dress Up Week on Old McDonald‟s Farm! We are so happy to see all our

children and parents so highly engaged in this fun week. We were so excited to see our children

coming to school with different costumes everyday. From the range of children‟s dress ups, we

can see how very creative our parents are! We would like to thank all of the Chicks parents so

much for your active participation with the most creative dressed up ideas. Your efforts have

made our programming amazing. We can see our children are bonding and feeling a real sense

of belonging to our Reddam community.

We believe that a stimulating learning environment pushes children toward a higher level of

thinking. When children are totally immersed and engaged in dramatic play, they first depend

on recalling their experience and what they have learn and seen. From a dress up play, children

are able to represent themselves as someone else. They put on different clothing and use

different props to act out a role through their imagination and creativity. Dramatic play also

enhances our children social skills. They will learn about themselves and from others in socio-

dramatic play. They are also moving towards the cooperative stage of play as they interact and

communicate about what they are doing. By being involved in the dress up play, children made

connections with one another and shared their interests with their peers. It is through this type of

role play that children learn to both communicate and negotiate with each other at the same

time.

We also made our own shakers for our music festival. The children loved it so much as they were

able to choose whatever shape of beads they liked to put in their bottle and then picked a few

different coloured ribbons to decorate their shakers. It was a very simple and fun activity, which

saw everyone holding a shaker and dancing wildly to music n the playground all week! We are

very tired from all our partying this week, I hope everyone has a good rest on the weekend.


Stage 2 - Chicks Music Festival on the Farm


Stage 2 - Sparrows By Ms Emily Chacon

Animal Encyclopedia

The children have been exploring the wonders of the jungle and the different animals that inhabit

its rich greenery. This week we searched deeper into the animals habitats, categorised them into

herbivores and carnivores and devised ways we could place them into groups, such as

mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish. The children have done a wonderful job of trying

to remember all the very long words.

For art we have been creating our animal shapes and skins. We squeezed, pressed, tore, shook,

and glued our animals together. The children made butterflies, lions, zebras and giraffes. All of

their beautiful art work can be seen on our „Welcome to the Jungle‟ display.

Following on from some discussions from parent teacher interviews we have touched on the

alphabet. We sang ABC, then Emily showed them the different letters. To relate it to our topic of

„The Jungle‟ we discussed an animal for each letter e.g. A – Armadillo, B – Baboon. We will be

continuing with our literacy games again next week.

We have also been encouraging the children with their self help skills and developing their ability

to complete a task with little or no assistance from staff. These types of encouragement allow for

each child to grow confidence and independence.

“Experiences of relationships and participation in communities contribute to children‟s belonging,

being and becoming.”

Early Years Learning Framework: Outcome 2 – Children are connected with and contribute to their world.


Stage 2 - Sparrows Animal Encyclopedia


Stage 3 - Robins By Mrs Holly Lindsay

Around the World

This week the Robins continued to travel on the imaginary aeroplane around the world and we have

landed in China. This amazing country is rich in history and culture and has so much to teach us. We are

very fortunate to have a number of children and parents that have close connections with China. They

were very instrumental in making this learning journey more meaningful for the children. We would also like

to thank Ben (Christos‟ and Sofia‟s dad) for an amazing amount of resources and gifts for the children.

Cherry Blossom

We started our week with Cherry Blossom Tree production, where we used pink crape paper to roll small

buds like balls. We attached them to the branches to make a model for our interest table. Later in the

atelier the children recreated this attractive looking tree using paints and cotton buds which functioned as

brushes. Viewing cherry blossoms in China is quite the sight. After the cold snowy winter, the blossoming of

new life springs. Cherry blossoms represent new love, new endeavours, and a chance to appreciate the

beauty around you. Children were astonished by all the photographs of cherry blossoms that we had

displayed around the school.

Panda Day

On Wednesday we had Panda Day. Our class has a strong interest in finding out about animals, so we

chose to learn about the panda as they are native to Sichuan, China. This was an excellent occasion to

dress up as well as introduce the concept of endangered animals. We read „Panda Bear Panda Bear What

Do You See?‟ By Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle. This book addresses the issue of endangered species. A big

thank you to Wayne‟s mum and Leah for supplying all panda-related books. We talked about the

importance of conservation and protection of these animals. Children made 3D models of Pandas (we

used playdough) and practiced their writing skills to write Panda signs.

Great Wall of China

China has many significant architectural structures and we decided to learn and reproduce the Great Wall

of China, which, as the children learnt, is the longest structure ever built by humans. There was a lot of

communication and co-operation happening during this constructional work. The children worked

together in teams: people responsible for gluing, supplying blocks as well as managing the whole project.

You can view the end product in the foyer beside our documentation board.

Chinese Food Tasting

Learning about a culture through food is a meaningful and sensual experience. Using Chinese cuisine to

teach children about China is a great way to introduce them to the culture, where great importance is

placed on the appearance and texture of a dish as well as taste. Recipes like spring rolls or wonton soup can

seem quite exotic to a three-year-old. But our children have been really adventurous with trying new dishes.

Thank you so much to all the parents for providing incredible delicacies!


Stage 3 - Robins Building the Great Wall of China


Stage 3 - Robins Making our Cherry Blossom Trees


Stage 3 - Robins Our Pandas


Stage 3 - Robins Our Chinese Cuisine


Provocation: Investigation

Mathematics: Number practice

The practice of number writing helps strengthen the skills of holding the pencil in the correct grip

while also allowing the children to become involved in labelling the numbers as they are writing

each one. Cognitively, the Kookaburras were challenged as they traced, copied and wrote

numbers free hand in their best print. For some, it was an experience that was approached with

great interest and excitement and some approached with hesitancy but in the end, the

completion of the experience was celebrated together.

Isabel smiled while writing the numbers and Lucia and Samuel labelled the numbers as they were

writing them. Good work Kookaburras!

Science: Magnets

Exploring with magnets was part of our investigation provocation this week as well. A tray was

provided with a variety of different types of everyday items found at school. We were then

encouraged to use the large horse shoe magnets to pick up the various items and categorise

these into the „magnetic‟ and „not magnetic‟ containers. Bella and Aaron were fascinated by

the items that they could pick up and tried different items that they found , working together

collaboratively to place the items into the correct containers.

Mathematics and Science: Floating and Sinking

“What do you think floats in water?”, was the question we asked of the group when they saw a

tray of water and a variety of items found around the school. Following are the answers we

received:

Rhys: “Boat”

Finn: “Rock”

Aadhya: “Water”

Aaron: “Book”

Theo: “Boat”

Bella: “Speedy boat”

Angela: “Sailing boat”

Camilla: “Rainbow”

Sam: “Boat”

We then tested out our theories of the floating and sinking properties of the toy boat, rock and

paper. The general consensus was that boats float the best. A discussion was held exploring the

reasons why a boat may float. Boats were then made from pieces of foil.

As we expected, the foil boat floated. We then tried a flat piece of foil and a ball of foil. We

were surprised when the ball of foil sank but the flat piece of foil didn‟t. We then conducted

some additional research to find an explanation for this question.

Stage 3 - Kookaburras By Ms Riina Andrew


Stage 3 - Kookaburras Investigation


Provocation - Numeracy and Literacy

Letter of the week - S

This week we looked at a new letter of the week – S! We came up with lots of words for this letter: snake,

shadow, steam, Sarah, Sam, sun, silly, ship, sail and sailboat. We also looked some pictures that I

prepared: sunflower, shark, sand, strawberries, seal and sheep. We then used a large S to turn into a

snake before tracing our uppercase and lowercase letters.

Number of the week - 9

This week our new number of the week was 9. We began by filling out our numeracy board: we wrote the

numeral, drew 9 dots, wrote the number word and then found the number 9 on our number chart. As a

class we then traced our number 9 whilst using our correct pencil grip.

Introduction to punctuation:

The flamingos did an introductory lesson to punctuation by looking at capital letters, full stops, question

marks and exclamation marks. We read „Hooray! There‟s a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Having a Birthday

Party!‟ This book was very appropriate as it often used capital letters and exclamation marks to show the

excitement of a birthday party and used the party theme to introduce different character names and

questions about the birthday party.

Measurement:

Length

To extend the children‟s prior knowledge of measurement from term 1, we used strips of coloured paper

and discussed which ones could be considered long or short. Depending on what the children thought,

they stuck the strip of paper on the corresponding side of a chart. The children all seem to have a strong

understanding of this type of measurement.

Weight - Who Sank the Boat?

We read the book, „Who Sank the Boat?‟ as a class. Once we finished the story, I explained that we were

going to act out this story with our own boats and would be using marbles to sink them. Each child was

given a piece of foil for their boat and once the boat was constructed, each child predicted the amount

of marbles it would take to sink their boat. Once the children had all guessed, they began putting the

marbles in their boats to see if their predictions were correct or not. It was a lot of fun and great way for

the children to begin grasping the concept of weight.

Stage 3 - Flamingos By Ms Amanda McDonald


Stage 3 - Flamingos Numeracy, Literacy & Measurement


Stage 4 - Cockatoos By Ms Bernadette Casey

Exploring Outer Space Through Art

Investigating famous artworks that connect to what we are learning have served as provoca-

tions for the children to create their own artworks inspired by the techniques used by popular art-

ists. Claude Monet‟s „Sunrise‟ saw the children discussing what the world looks like as the sun rises

and sets. We reviewed what we had learned previously about the sun and its solar flares and dis-

cussed how the sun feels for us on earth. Using famous artworks as a provocation has allowed

the children to be inspired to create their own artworks.

Using straw blowing and paint dripping techniques the children recreated their own versions of a

sunrise. They experimented with these techniques and colour mixing. Next we looked at Van

Gough‟s „Starry Night‟ and discovered how the night sky changed colours. We investigated his

use of swirls to show a moving and changing sky. The children went on to create their own night

skies and interpretations of this artwork and the results were amazing.

Our focus on artistic techniques continued as we investigated the use of salt and water colours.

The children were encouraged to explore the new tools to create images of the universe. We

had been discussing how the universe is always growing and getting bigger, that it is so big that

human can not possibly explore all of it. The children first used the pipets to place water colours

on their paper and then sprinkled salt. They watched as the salt absorbed and spread the col-

our, making the colour grow.


Stage 4 - Cockatoos Exploring Outer Space Through Art


Stage 4 - Rosellas By Mr Ryan Mason

What We’d See in Outer Space


Stage 4 - Rosellas What We’d See in Outer Space


Ballet


Music By Mr Justin Sze

Hello everyone!

Stage 1 & 2:

The children continued to explore things which are up in the sky. They looked up in the sky and

listened to the sound of a parrot (focused listening). Then they flew around the room with colour-

ful scarves imagining that parrots are flying in the sky. Justin then took out the Kookaburra whistle

and told them about this amazing bird. Of course, we sang Kookaburra after that.

“The raindrops are falling from the sky, from the sky...” Children explored with the bells (metal

sounds) pretending to be the raindrops falling on their knees, shoulders, tummy and various oth-

er parts of the body.

After the rain, we saw a rainbow! We learned the colours of the rainbow with a song. The

younger ones just listened and watched as we sang and pointed at the rainbow coloured

blocks. The older children demonstrated their understanding by singing along and holding up

the colours of the rainbow as we sang the song. The song was repeated as a lullaby as rainbow

fell asleep and the children pretended to be the rainbow and curled up on the ground as well.

Stage 3:

Stage 3 remembered Mr robin. The little bird on our window. Then they heard another bird... the

kookaburra! Justin brought a “bird whistle” from Malaysia and a “kookaburra whistle” from Perth

and they had to “listen”. Some animals live high up and some deep down. We looked at the

whale and listen to the sounds of a whale. They then explored the sound produced on the

“whispering tube” when swung round and round. They each had a go at imitating the sounds of

the whale by swinging the whispering tube.

We then sang a funny song about a funny man. His name is Aitken Drum. His hair was made of

spaghetti and face was made of pizza... they creatively explored what other food may be parts

of Mr Aitken Drum. While singing, they accompanied the song with drums and tambourines.

Stage 4:

The amazing children at Stage 4 are really making music now! The beautiful music we hear is not

played on an MP3 player, nor is it Justin playing an instrument... it‟s the children on the Orff Xylo-

phones!

Playing the bordun (notes C & G), bells, and singing along, our little ensemble put together quite

a good arrangement of “Bell Horses”. There are very few things in the world that are more de-

lightful than listening to these little voices singing and making Music together!

Justin then drew pictures of stars on the board. Some stars were high and some were low. By

“reading” the high and low “stars”, children were able to identify that the pictures represented

the notes of the song, “Star Light, Star Bright”. Through this activity, children are introduced to the

concept of “note-reading”. They learned that the symbols represent sound. The “high star” rep-

resents a higher sound/note and the “low star” represents a lower sound/note.


Music


Mandarin By Miss Sherry Zhu

Last week, began the concept of colours and how to say “pink” and “green” in Mandarin. I

introduced Lego pieces to help colour association and it also assists in developing children‟s

fine motor skills. This week we will continue to learn the names of colours in Mandarin whilst utiliz-

ing the Lego pieces, as well as introducing other colourful materials.

We have been learning the song “If you feel happy, clap your hands”, in Mandarin. After two

weeks‟ practice, most of the children can follow the rhythm to clap their hands and stomp their

feet. For most Stage 4 children, they could remembered the words for “Happy” and

“Excellent!” in Chinese. Based on that, next week, we will continue to learn how to say “happy”

in Chinese.

This week were are focusing on the sentence “...clap your hands” in Chinese. This will further

improve their vocabulary whilst practicing the actions to the song.

This week I also started on a book called “It is Time to Get Up”. The story is quite simple and all

children understood the concept of the book just by reviewing the pictures.. As a result, they

were each asked to help create additions to story. It was fantastic to listen to their own stories

based on their own experience. Next week, I will continue to encourage them to create their

own ‟Getting Up‟ stories.

Great job this week, everyone!


Mandarin


Italian


Sport By Mr Spencer Clifton

We had a fantastic week of sports where we continued with our spatial awareness and

bouncing themes.

The Stage 1 children started with a few short Sprints to get warmed up followed by a

strengthening movements. Our next activity made use of a mini obstacle course which incor-

porated crocodile hurdles, balance beam and crawling tunnel. We finished off with balloon

catch and throw.

The Stage 2s enjoyed a fantastic week of sport, we started our lesson with some short sprints

followed by our core strengthening exercises. Our next activity involved a modified version

of sharks and islands and stuck in the mud. We finished off with a catch and throwing game

called eggs in a basket.

The Stage 3s and 4s had a fun filled lesson where we started with a warm up activity followed

by our strengthening movements targeting our core muscles and stamina.

Our next activity involved a game called colour hoops which focuses on spatial awareness,

agility and team work, followed by the classic tip game.

We finished off with our gross motor skills from last week where we continued with the two

hand bounce, one hand bounce and progressed into a continuous bounce and pass with

their partners.


Sport


Drama By Miss Laura Hudson

Stage 1 & 2: Outer Space and Astronaut Training

A Rocket was introduced to the children. Over the coming weeks they will fly to a number of different

places, meet new people, learn new words and see the unexpected. The children worked together tom

make a rocket shape with their body. At the beginning of each lesson the children are given a mission to

achieve, this may involve working together or working on their own. The mission today was to try and find

the new planet in the solar system did it have anything unusual on it? (Stage 2)

The children began by training as astronauts to go into space. Learning the basics including walking

as an astronaut, controlling the rocket, the countdown and where it would land. The younger chil-

dren used music, pictures and ribbons to deepen their understand

The Children were given their own launch pad. They then put on their space suits, helped get the

rocket ship ready to launch as well as remember which colour and number was their launch pad

Once the children had blast off into space they visited a number of planets, each of the planets had

an action associated with it, that the children made up. E.g. Mercury is hot so they decided to jump

as fast as they could from one foot to the other, Earth has lots of water so they decide to do a swim-

ming action. The Flight Director informed the children that news had just come in that there is a new

planet in space. We visited this planet and renamed it. Some suggestions including the Wiggle plan-

et, Colour planet, Frog and Princess Planet. Again the children had to think of an action to go with

this planet.

Finished by flying back to earth in the rocket ship, did they accomplish their mission?

Working in pairs they had to mould one another into aliens (Stage 2)

These activities were tailored to fit each age group accordingly

Stages 3 & 4: Little Red Riding Hood

The children began by reading the story, followed by discussing who the characters are in the story, the

main ideas and the sequence of the story. The children explored various versions of the story, introducing

a strong female character, Mrs. Hood, her daughter, Little Red, and a wealthy countess, who rented them

their cottage. This gave them the opportunity to explore moral dilemmas and issues to do with status as

well as relationships – sophisticated concepts for young children. The teacher put on an apron and hat

and became Mrs. Hood, inviting all the children to adopt a collective role and imagine they were Little

Red. She asked carefully phrased questions to encourage thoughtful responses: What do you think I should

do? Should I allow Little Red to go in the forest alone to visit her grandmother? This stimulated a lot of dis-

cussion among the children.‟

Next, the children planned their journey through the forest and imagined the sounds they might hear.

Again, the teacher prompted with questions: If trees could talk, what might they say? The children thought

they would echo what Little Red was thinking, whispering „Don‟t stray off the path, don‟t stray off the

path!” (Similar to a sound scape)

One child then put on the red cloak, while the rest became the spiky bushes that Little Red had to

push past. The teacher built up the tension: Can you hear footsteps? Two red eyes appear out of the

darkness! What do you think happens next? The children were encouraged to tell their own endings

(Stage 4)

They loved the excitement of the drama, and it had a positive impact on their understanding of the

story

Following on from last week‟s lesson the children wanted to do a News report. Reporting what had

to Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood

Picture postcard of the story


Drama

Simone’s Message By Ms Simone Cooke, Principal WHAT IS A … › PDF › 2017 › ELS_SL ›...

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Transcript of Simone’s Message By Ms Simone Cooke, Principal WHAT IS A … › PDF › 2017 › ELS_SL ›...