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REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1
Amy’s Message 24 JUNE 2016
Dear Families,
We had a great response to the invitation
sent to the families to view the Reflection
Journals. The children were very proud to
show their families what they have been
doing over the term. I would like to thank
all our families for participating in this event.
Please note that the Journals are always
available to families to view throughout the
term and you are more than welcome to
spend a few quiet moments sharing this
with your child as it reflects their learning
journey and illustrates their participation in
the classroom.
I would like to thank our amazing team for
all the hours of work in putting these
journals together.
We have been doing weekly tours for new
families and have received wonderful
feedback that I would like to share with our
present families -
“I can’t tell you how much admiration I
have for the schools values and approach
to learning. I love how Reddam embraces
intellectual curiosity and developmental
play, fosters individuality and recognizes
the importance of education from a young
age.”
It is always affirmation to hear from new
families how our school is viewed.
Lastly, thank you for your continued support
over the past term and being so involved in
all that we do with the children.
Wishing all our families that will be going
away over the holiday period safe travels
and the opportunity to make lovely
memories. We look forward to sharing our
Vacation Programme with all the children
that will be at the early Learning School
over the holidays.
Warm regards
Amy
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 2
The Nest Reflecting on Term Two By Tatiana Botrel, Mary Claire Cronin and Ma Yanran
This week was the last one for Term Two.
Time is flying and the children in The Nest
had another memorable time exploring the
end of autumn and arrival of winter.
“What’s inside?” was our provocation this
term and the children led the way to many
more interests that became clear during
the last few weeks. The children loved
discovering the natural world, looking for
insects all over the playground and
exploring the little gardens around the
trees. Others loved exploring some of the
treasures they found inside the surprise
boxes, especially the ones related to
transports – cars, trucks, fire engine, trains
planes etc.
Watching the children thriving in The Nest
brings a great sense of pride. As teachers
we are fortunate to see the children‟s
engagement in the activities offered
throughout the day and we are also very
grateful for being part of their young lives.
On behalf of the Nest team I would like to
thank all families for being so supportive
during the term. It was beautiful to watch
you coming in to school to spend some
time reading the children‟s Reflection
Journals. Please feel welcome to access
this book anytime during the school term as
it tells their learning journey and illustrates
their participation in the classroom.
I would like to finish this last newsletter of
the term with a quote from Loris Malaguzzi,
one of the founders of the Reggio Emilia
educational philosophy, which is also one
of the main foundations of Reddam Early
Learning Schools. This quote truly inspires us
in the Nest as it is the age of discoveries:
“Children need the freedom to appreciate
the infinite resources of their hands, their
eyes and their ears, the resources of forms,
materials, sounds and colours.”
Hope you all have a lovely weekend and
wish you a great school break, whether
away or at Reddam.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 3
The Nest Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 4
The Nest Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 5
The Nest Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 6
Fledglings I spy with my little eye...
During the week we read our story “On The
Farm” I spy with my little eye…
We all found different animals that live on the
farm. Some of the children even recognised
most of the animals before even seeing the
illustration. We have been noticing that pigs
have small curly tails and we have learned
that pigs are pink.
In the Atelier, we started creating our own
pigs. We mixed red and white paint together
to make the colour pink. We then
individually glued some small curly tails to our
pigs.
Dramatic play interest
The „home‟ corner was clearly of interest this
week amongst the children. These
experiences are truly rich in communication
as lots of conversation could be heard about
what food was being eaten and also being
polite and pouring out tea for a friend or
helping a friend cut their fruit in half. Role-
play was clearly evident when the children
used the props to eat, drink and cut with the
wooden knife and butter some bread.
Providing dramatic play experiences for
children enhances language, social inclusion
and stimulates the children‟s learning and is a
powerful form of play.
It is magic to see the children‟s imaginations
open and see how the children observe their
world.
It is unbelievable to think we have reached
the end of Term Two. What a great term it
has been. We are so impressed with how
settled and confident the children feel with
their teachers, peers and in their school
environment. We are really looking forward
to the next three weeks of the Holiday care
program where there is many fun and
exciting activities planned.
Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident
and involved learners.
The children were very excited to hand their
mummies, daddies and loved ones an
invitation to come into their classroom and
share the beautiful work they completed
during Term Two. It was so nice to see the
children‟s and the parent‟s faces fill with
pride and joy. This was a very beautiful
experience for the children to show off all
their special work.
Learning Outcome 1: Children have a strong
sense of identity.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 7
Fledglings Photo gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 8
Fledglings Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 9
Fledglings Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 10
Stage 2 Reflections
The sharing of the reflection journals of the
children with their families was a wonderful
way to end Term 2. It was such a delight to
see the children showing their parents and
grandparents the things they had been
doing in school. A sense of belonging to
the school is a strong part of a child‟s social
and emotional development and the fact
that they take pride in their achievements
tells us that we are doing our jobs as
nurturing teachers and educators. Thank
you to the families for the wonderful
feedback we were given.
Specialist Classes
This term our sports days with Spencer on a
Wednesday and our music sessions with
Justin on a Friday have been a highlight of
the children. Spencer is always greeted with
big smiles and enthusiasm and Justin lots of
jumping and “Yeah” to music. Next term
these classes will change days and the M-W
group will have music and the Thu-Fri group
will have sport.
Fire Evacuation
This week we had a practice fire
evacuation in the ELS on the Thursday.
The Tree Frogs were outside and the
Kookaburra‟s were inside the classroom
when he whistle blew- 3 times to tell us that
we needed to leave the building and
group together.
The Kookaburra group joined the Tree Frogs
outside in the bottom half of the
playground upstairs where we all did roll
call “Here I am “ when our names were
called. After when the children were
allowed to play and go back to the
classrooms, many of the tree frogs could be
heard outside making fire engine noises.
Well done everyone today for a calm and
organised fire drill.
Holidays
Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday Care
period either at school with the invigorating
Olympic program or on your own holiday
adventure.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 11
Stage 2 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 12
Stage 3 Under the Sea By Nina Bergel, Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner and Jason Corrigan
What an absolutely amazing term this has
been for all of our Stage Three children. The
children have all been constantly stimulated,
challenged and fulfilled as they dove deeper
and deeper into the expansive range of
learning opportunities provided by the
provocation, Under the Sea.
The children have explored details of so many
different sea creatures through a variety of
activities, such as beautiful sea art pieces with
Tina and the Kangaroos, literacy cards and
sensory opportunities with Susan and the
Koalas, numeracy games with shells and
science experiments with Nina and the
Wombats, and social sea masks and
sustainability activities with Lizzy and the
Platypus‟.
To round off another successful term, all the
children have been invited to arrive to school
dressed as their favourite sea creature! This is
an inclusive social opportunity for the children
of all classes to feel a sense of belonging to a
wonderful group, but is also most importantly,
something to simply ENJOY together!
The costumes were incredible and the
children seemed so excited to be a sea
creature for a day. They made each other
laugh by snapping each other with shark
teeth or stinging each other with tentacles.
The Stage Three children were lucky to
borrow Janes face paints and created
rainbows for mermaids or scales for Dorys. As
a lovely treat before morning tea the groups
made blue jelly together with a sea snake or
frog hidden inside! The children enjoyed their
blue ocean jelly whilst watching some scenes
from Disney's The Little Mermaid, and sung
along to our favourite tune „Under the Sea‟
by Sebastian the crab.
Thank you to all who participated. Together
we have raised a wonderful sum that will be
put towards the adoption of a sea creature,
an amazing opportunity for the children to
develop environmental awareness and
assume an empathetic sense of responsibility
for the creatures they have learnt so much
about. We‟ll keep you posted on the
progress!
The Stage Three teachers are so looking
forward to seeing where your child‟s beautiful
young minds will journey next!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 13
Stage 3 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 14
Stage 3 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 15
Stage 3 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 16
Stage 4 Reflections... ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols
As we reach the end of term two we look
back and reflect on the journey our
provocations have taken us. This term was full
of imagination and exploration as we
discovered worlds of make believe, our very
own dreams and the world around us both
near and far. Each group in Stage 4 have
had a busy term exploring and expanding on
their provocations.
Krissie’s Group
This term we let our imaginations run wild as
we explored the provocation „A world of
imagination‟. On many occasions we lost
ourselves in the true magic found in fantasy
stories that were beyond our wildest dreams.
We climbed the Faraway Tree in the
Enchanted Wood, took a ride in a magical
wishing chair, drank magic liquid that made
us shrink, found a gold key and unlocked a
secret garden and discovered a never
ending story where dreams and fantasies
really do come true. We also created our very
own superheros with powers that focused on
the positive qualities of superheros and not
just their physical powers, emphasising the
kind, caring and helpful qualities of a
superhero.
Archer: “When I’m lying in my racing car bed
at night I sometimes dream and pretend that
I am a ghost or even a monster.”
Christian: “Fantasy is like a fish walking, like a
dream.”
Thomas: “Superheros save the people, they
save the day like Batman and Superman.
Some baddies try to kill the superheros
because they don’t want them to save the
day.”
Tate: “If I was a superhero I would be Cat Boy.
Cat Boy drives a cat mobile but he can run
really, really fast and catches anyone that’s
doing bad stuff. He has long claws to jump on
trees and smells anything with his nose like
trouble.”
Sandra’s group
Our provocation this term was „What‟s on
your doorstep?‟. The children expressed a
particular interest in insects and bugs which
led to researching and gathering interesting
information. We have also enjoyed engaging
in creative experiences to discover what‟s on
our doorstep, gardens, parks, insects, spiders
and nature. We have had lots of fun exploring
our natural environments.
Sienna: “If I was an insect I would be a
butterfly because I like flying.”
Andrew: “If I was an insect I would be a bee
because they sting.”
Isla: “If I was an insect I would be a
grasshopper because they jump and it would
be fun jumping.”
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 17
Stage 4 Reflections... ByAnita Martin, Cheryl Freeman, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Tim Nichols
Anita and Cheryl’s group
The children have learnt about the 5
different zones in the ocean. As part of
the provocation “What lies beneath the
surface” they have created some
beautiful artworks that have engaged
their creative thinking and further
developed their fine motor skills. The
Rainbow fish by Marcus Pfister was
explored and further used as a tool to
guide the children in constructing their
own Rainbow Fish. The children also drew
two dimensional creatures from the
midnight zone and then transformed
them into three dimensional clay
sculptures.
Audrey: “The twilight zone has a big squid
and whale that fight.”
Amelia: “A blob fish doesn’t have a
skeleton.”
Robert: “Colossal squids can make
themselves camouflaged so no one else
can see them on the coral or anything.”
Janes Group
Our main project this term as part of our
provocation „Imagination‟ was to create
a dream catcher from recycled materials.
The dream catcher catches all our good
dreams and keeps the bad ones away.
Most of the children in Stage 4 helped to
make the dream catcher by individually
threading beads onto a piece of string.
Feathers are also added to the dream
catcher as it is believed good dreams go
through the hole in the centre of the
dream catcher and then glide down the
feathers to the person sleeping below.
Sofia: “The dream catcher makes the
dreams.”
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 18
Stage 4 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 19
Stage 4 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 20
Stage 4 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 21
Stage 4 Photo Gallery
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 22
Music By: Justin Goh
Stage 1 & 2:
We began the lesson by listening to the
sound of the recorded rain. Then we “pitted
and patted” on the floor and created the
sound of rain as we sang “Pitter Patter”.
Some classes rubbed their palms together to
imitate the sound of the rain. They were so
clever! Other than the sound of the rain, we
also explored the musical instruments that
could imitate the sounds of THUNDER! Yes, we
used a hand drum and every child had the
chance to “Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” to
create the sound of thunder.
In addition to the hand drum, Justin also
brought a Thunder Drum to class. This special
drum has a metal coil attached to the skin
membrane and the vibrations create very
realistic thunder sound effects. The brave
children stepped forward to give the thunder
drum a shake while those who were not so
fond of thunder just either listened or sang
along... “I can hear the thunder”. Today‟s
class introduced them to the sounds of the
membranophones (the Ethno-musicological
term for “drums”). The timbre (sound
produced) is distinctly different from the
shakers and the bells the children have
played with thus far. Furthermore, the
method of making the music also differs; you
hit the drum instead of shaking it.
After the storm was over, the “incy-winsy
spider climbed up the water spout”. This time
the concept of “up” and “down” was
reinforced with a slide whistle and children
had the chance to push or pull the slide
depending on whether the spider was
climbing up or being washed down.
At the end of this exciting musical day, they
found a spot to rest or lie down and Justin
played a Chinese Folk tune “Jasmine Flower”
on the Chinese flute.
Once again, our children were enthusiastic
to learn and explore the new sounds they
experienced in Music and we keep them
guessing what‟s next... more after the
holidays!
Lastly, we ended with a circle dance which
reinforces the concept of musical phrasing.
Singing a Jewish song, “Toembai”, children
walk in one direction in a circle, and change
direction after each musical phrase.
Some of these activities could be good
musical fun for the whole family as well and I
hope you have lots of musical times during
the coming holidays!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 23
Music By: Justin Goh
Stage 3:
Our young musicians extended on the
musical concept called timbre (pronounced
as “tam-ber” French origin) by playing a
musical game. One child was selected to sit
in the middle of a circle and asked to closed
his/her eyes. Teacher will then select a
student randomly while the song
“Somebody‟s knocking at my door” is sung.
Without opening the eyes the person in the
middle will sing, “Who is knocking?” And the
selected children will sing, “I am knocking”.
The child in the middle will then guess who
replied. They would learn that just as they
used the ears to distinguish the shakers, bells
and sticks, human voices also make a special
sound which is different from another.
Musicians use this skill to listen to a musical
recording and write the music score with an
accurate orchestration or musical
arrangement.
Then we played another musical movement
game. With my hand drum, children will learn
to respond to the rhythmic pattern to know
whether to walk, run, or gallop. Also,
importantly, they listen out for the rhythmic
pattern that tells them to stop! This ability to
stop and freeze is called inhibitory control. It‟s
a fun an effective way to teach a child
discipline and to follow instructions in a
group.
The next activity required them to listen out
for a descending falling melodic pattern and
children gently fall to the ground
correspondingly. Once the lively music came
on, they got up and danced around with the
scarves again.
Lastly, we ended with a circle dance which
reinforces the concept of musical phrasing.
Singing a Jewish song, “Toembai”, children
walk in one direction in a circle, and change
direction after each musical phrase.
Some of these activities could be good
musical fun for the whole family as well and I
hope you have lots of musical times during
the coming holidays!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 24
Music By: Justin Goh
Stage 4:
This week we started with a game reinforcing
the concept of the singing voice and the
speaking voice. Children pretend there was
a river across the room and sang, “Famer,
farmer, may we cross your river?” If the famer
sings, “Yes you may, they have to run across
the river and the farmer will try to catch them
as they cross. If the farmer uses the speaking
voice, the children will have to walk in slow
motion across the river.
We then repeated the story about dancing
clocks. Here, children had to respond to fast
and slow beats in Music. They pretended to
be “little clocks” and “big clocks” and
moved according to the changes in the
music (light and lively music for the little
clocks contrasted with the slow and majestic
sounding music for the big clocks). They
enjoyed the role-playing and pretending to
be different types of musical clocks... children
love repetition. You noticed that too?
Finally, did “Tideo” again. Children had to
tap the sticks for the first three phrases and
jingle the bell for the last phrase. Not only
were children made sensitive to the different
musical phrases, they were also given a
chance for social and emotional
development as they took turns to play either
the sticks or the bells. Those holding the sticks
played and sang the first 3 phrases and had
to stop playing the sticks at the last phrase,
while those with the bells only shook their bells
at the last phrase. Then they exchanged
instruments and repeated the song.
Hopefully, your child will keep singing
throughout the holidays. Have a musical
holiday everyone!
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 25
Dancearama By Laura Hudson
Stage 3
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
Mime
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.
Picture postcard
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 26
Dancearama By Laura Hudson
Stage 4
Objectives:
To children will use their imaginations to
go through the magical wardrobe,
discovering a fantasy world behind it.
Each child will take on the role of being a
fantasy character and develop a whole
group improvisation. Students will also use
the drama technique of hot seating
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
Hot Seating
Activities include:
Using their imagination to go through a
Magical Wardrobe (like Narnia)
Discussed what a wardrobe is and usually
has inside and what the wardrobe looks
like.
Teacher in Role - Witch from fantasy
world. The children gave the witch
character a name then the children
thought of their own fantasy names.
The children will go on an adventure with
the witch. They travel on their broom to
the first destination to get home “Rise,
rise, really high, just as high as a butterfly”.
The aim is to get something from each
place/character they visit so they can go
back home. 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
Hot seating each character
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 27
Physical Education By Spencer Clifton
The Stage 1's enjoyed another fantastic
week of sport where we continued the
theme of locomotive movement, spatial
awareness and problem solving.
Our lesson this week involved a
manipulated obstacle course that made
use of crocodile hurdles, zig zag running
and hoola hoops. The children made their
way around the obstacle course by
running toward and jumping/stepping
over the crocodile hurdles , doing forward
motion hops over the hoola hoops and
making their way through the zig zag
markers with the children adjusting their
speed and change of direction while
making their way through the obstacle
course. These exercises focus on core
aspects of movement, co-ordination,
strength and agility.
The Stage 2's had a great week of sport
starting off with a warm up that continued
on from last weeks animal movements that
focus on building the children's core
strength, balance, and co-ordination.
We continued on from last weeks lower
limb ball skills by refining our over arm and
under arm throwing. We used the three
step process of ready, aim and fire. The
ready aspect helps the children
understand the correct body position, aim
is making use of the non throwing hand
and pointing at the target area, and fire is
to indicate the throwing motion.
The Stage 3 and stage 4's had another
great week of sport. We started the lesson
off with some warm up sprints, followed by
our core strengthening exercises that
included our new and old animal
movements namely the duckwalk, donkey
kicks, Lin crawl and the worm. These
movements target key areas for the
development of the children's core
strength, stability and co-ordination.
We continued our exploration of our
basketball skills with a recap of the two
hand bounce and the new one hand
bounce. The one hand bounce involved
similar steps to the two hand bounce with
a slight change to the preparation before
bouncing the ball, we made use of the
three step process of step roll the wrist and
bounce. This involved the children placing
their hand under the ball with a rolling
action moving the hand on top of the ball
and proceeding to bounce while stepping
forward.