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Amy’s Message By Amy Goodlace, Principal

Dear Families,

This past week we welcomed Simone Cooke to Reddam Early Learning School, St Leonards as our new Principal. Simone has come to know the children and families and immersed herself in the Reddam way with enthusiasm. In my role as a member of the management team of Reddam Early Learning Schools, I look forward to many hours of collaboration with Simone in always striving to provide excellence in all that we do for our children and families. We are busy planning the opening of our new Lindfield campus and it is wonderful to have a team of like minded Principals that can collaborate together to strive for excellence. I look forward to leading this team.

We also welcomed Sue Mayer this week to our teaching team. Sue is a qualified teacher and nurse and a mother of four with a passion for education and children.

Lisa has moved into an administrative role and has been a very welcome sight at the Reception of our school.

Our specialist teachers will be commencing

within the next week and we look forward to seeing the children enjoy these lessons presented to them –

Physical Education: The Nest, Fledglings, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 Dance and Drama: Stage 3 and Stage 4 Music: The Nest, Fledglings, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4

We will be introducing our specialists to our families in next weeks newsletter.

I would like to thank our parent community for all the support and encouragement that you have shown me in the past weeks. I will be visiting St Leonards weekly to meet with Simone and visit the children and I look forward to catching up with the families during these visits.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend with your children.

Kind regards Amy and Simone

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TER The Nest

Our Little Nest By Gabriela Guimaraes

Our little birds are settling beautifully into the Nest. Our environment is fresh, peaceful and designed to support your child’s learning journey.

Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on the children’s senses and motor skills (manipulating shaving cream and play dough), exploring finger painting, smelling different essences, tasting our very own baking and plenty more. Displayed on our wall is our routine and Mind Map of Possibilities with all the activities that we plan on doing during the first term.

This week we celebrated Chinese New Year, which farewells winter and the year gone by and brings in spring and the fresh year with family and friends. To celebrate the Year of the Monkey we made a collage using a monkey mask and the children loved using the glue stick and their little finger to stick small pieces of colourful paper onto the mask.

We have been encouraging the children to reset their environment before transitioning to another room or activity. We have a song that we all enjoy singing. Which might be helpful at home too.

“Everybody pack away, pack away, pack away, everybody pack away it is time to go….”

Sun Smart Practice

Although we apply sunscreen throughout the day we request that you send your child to school with sunscreen already applied. Please consider the type of clothing your child wears to school and dress your child in clothing that will best protect them from the sun. Please note shoulders and backs must be covered.

Have a wonderful weekend with your precious children!

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TER Nest

Photo Gallery

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TER Nest

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TER Fledglings

By Michelle Santos

I would firstly like to say thank you to all the Families that welcomed me so warmly last week. It has been an amazing week and I love being in the Fledglings group.

Children in the fledglings group are involved learners. They learn from their experiences, their play and their interactions with the world. Using the Early Learning Framework, we will observe the progress of your child’s development and learning, by providing resources that offer challenge, intrigue and surprise and also by supporting their investigations and sharing their enjoyment.

During our first term we will be focusing on self-awareness and sensory experiences, such as hand painting, exploring play dough, sand foam and shave cream. We learn best and retain

the most information when engaging with our senses. Please be mindful that even though we do put art aprons on the children they might get some paint on their clothes.

Time in the Fledglings group is all about the children participating in something that is engaging, fun and that stimulates their senses and imagination. We spend much of our group time with books, singing and dancing. Our favourite song has been “Open, Shut Them”, with the children acting out the words and “Sleeping Bunnies”, which starts with us all lying on the floor before jumping up to become bunnies.

 

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By Michelle Santos

Preparing for Chinese New Year was a lot of fun. The children were given a Chinese dragon and then they finger painted the body of the dragon and finished it with a beautiful collage. It was amazing to see how they enjoyed getting their hands and faces dirty!

“All My Kisses” by Kerry Brown was our book of the week. The children loved the story about a little pig who receives too many kisses. It is about giving and receiving love.

And of course we cannot wait for Valentine’s Day Celebrations. We got our hands dirty using red and pink paint, decorating hearts and preparing our gifts.

It has been a fun week! The children have been highly engaged in the activities and we look forward to having even more fun with them next week

 

 

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By Kasia Rymarczk

We had a very busy week full of fun and play! This Sunday in many of our homes people will be celebrating Valentine’s Day, sometimes called Friendship Day. People will exchange cards and focus on spreading the love and kindness. Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love and friendship, and it’s also the perfect opportunity to help children develop their social and emotional skills. Teaching children the importance of sharing their feelings and being kind to others at a young age will have a positive impact on their social and emotional wellbeing as they grow up. For us it is great opportunity to make beautiful heart projects, cards, explore the idea behind kindness and being a good friend. The children happily participated during group time talking about what it means to be great friend. We made some creative Valentine’s cards and heart-shaped sun catchers. We also used salt dough to make marbled ornaments. Children were very engrossed in all the projects. We have been focusing on caring for each other and encouraging positive interactions. We decided to come up with a class agreement that would promote

positive communication.

The children said:

Being good friend is when you give cuddles (Daniel)

When you want toy you say: please can I have it? (Sarah)

Say good morning (Rohan)

Not push (Ella)

Play with friends and read them books (Idris)

We also added:

We will use quiet voices

We will share

We will use gentle hands

After the agreement was ready, each child “signed” the document and we displayed it in the room, so we can refer back to it. The idea behind teaching children to be a good friend is that everyone in the school will feel safe, happy and liked. Children have been very kind to one another, helping put on shoes, playing together and having interesting conversation with each other.

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We also celebrated Chinese New Year: 2016 is the Year of Monkey. Some people say 2016 is a Red Monkey or Fire Monkey year. This is because the Stem-Branch Calendar is connected to the Five Element theory. Lili painted a beautiful Cherry Tree with the children and made some festive displays in the Piazza. Children were encouraged to make dragons and lanterns taste fortune cookies. We would like to thank Sarah’s mum and dad for red envelopes with cute gifts for the children.

Toilet Training Tips

Many of children in our room are being toilet trained, and each child learns differently. Some seem to almost train themselves when they are ready, while others need some help from parents and educators The most important thing is to begin this process only when your child is ready, and that you are relaxed and patient. Signs of readiness to toilet train are more important than the child’s age. It is a big step in your child’s development that can’t be rushed. Some of the readiness skills you might notice are your child’s ability to:

•Copying your behaviour and followingsimple instructions

•Saying words for wee and poo, andshowing an interest in others using the toilet

•Pulling their pants up and down

•Staying dry for two hours or more in theday. This shows your child has developedto the point where they can ‘hold on’ alittle rather than their bladder just emptyingitself when full like babies and youngertoddlers.

•Telling you they have just done a wee ora poo in their nappy, or when their bladderor bowel is full.

Other signs include:

•Having bowel motions at a similar timeeach day that have a firm consistency

•Not wanting to wear nappies, or showinginterest in ‘big boy’ or ‘big girl’ undies

•Trying to pull off wet or dirty nappies orasking to be changed.

If you would like to read more:

Source: http://www.parenting.sa.gov.au/pegs/peg10.pdf

I am looking forward to next week of exciting learning and adventures.

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Gallery

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Reflecting on the journey at Reddam with the Kangaroos so far has been a remarkable one. The children are starting to grow each day in confidence as capable, individual and curious learners. This is evident in the mornings on arrival as they greet their teacher and farewell Mum and Dad ready to engage in the many stimulating and engaging learning experiences. The advantages of having a small group has meant children are getting to know each other to build the beautiful and positive relationships which are beginning to blossom.

My departure

It is with great sadness to write of my departure at Reddam Early Learning School. While it has been a very short journey here, I have met some inspiring and dedicated Educators, caring and supportive families, and the amazing children that have really touched my heart. I would like to sincerely thank you for your support and allowing me to be a

part of your child’s learning journey. I will treasure some very special memories of my time here, and would like to wish you all well in the future.

Learning independence through self help skills

Within the daily programme, children are given many opportunities to practise and develop new skills, such as using tongs to serve fruit at meal times, pouring water, making their own beds, etc. As stated in Outcome 1 of the Early Years Learning Framework, 2009, when children are given these opportunities they develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency with the view that children are confident and capable learners. Throughout the year children will continue to engage in further experiences that will continually build on new skills and master these skills growing their sense of identity.

By Amy Lam

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Lunar New Year - Year of the Monkey!

Firstly, Happy Lunar New Year to you all. I hope the year ahead brings you good health, prosperity, and happiness. One of the key principles within the EYLF is respect for diversity, and it is stated that “respecting diversity means within the curriculum valuing and reflecting the practices, values and beliefs of families”. As we have families from Asian backgrounds that celebrate this special occasion, in the Kangaroos class we have explored what Lunar New Year is, how it is celebrated by engaging the group in many valuable learning experiences. Jeremy, Sanjay, Taiga and Aditi helped to paint sheets of paper red for the children to make lanterns out of to decorate the piazza space. Sanjay was very eager to participate in this process and children helped to cut out paper with scissors. Children had the opportunity to practise

using the stapler to attach the handle of the lanterns – this required gross motor and fine motor skills such as strength in their hands and body to push downwards. Oliver demonstrated his skill to operate the stapler with ease and confidence. To hang our lanterns in the piazza we painted a big tree branch Amy had found outside of the School. As “red” is a significant colour in Chinese culture we decided to paint it red. Zac demonstrated focus and persistence to ensure each section of the branches were covered with paint.

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The Lion Dance

We also watched a video of a traditional lion dance performance which led to the group create our own lion dance with our Chinese lion costume and percussion instruments. This idea came from Aditi who felt inspired to do this. We also learnt that Jeremy had watched a Lion dance performance as part of the New Year celebrations. Children responded verbally to what they saw on the video developing as effective communicators (LO5, EYLF, 2009). Oliver said “I saw a lion dancing” Austen agreed “dancing around”. Oliver remembered the performers in the video wearing red costumes “they like red” said Oliver. Some of the Kangaroos children played percussion instruments whilst others

cooperated dancing in the Lion costume to the beat. It is evident through drama, music and movement children are expressing ideas and making meaning to re-create the lion dance of a video previously watched (LO5, EYLF, 2009). Peer group learning, sharing and turn taking were also skills children practised as a group. Well done Kangaroos! We also made our own Chinese lion through a creative art and craft experience using a range of media to express our ideas.

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Planting interest– continued

Children had observed some changes in the flower planting experience, as the seeds are growing into seedlings with the “stem” and “leaves” beginning to form. As a group we discussed ways we could measure their growth. Some children predicted how much the plant would grow demonstrating this with their hands, while Lottie expressed that we could use a “measure thing, my Mum has one and it’s pink”. I pondered whether Lottie was drawing on her prior knowledge and experience of using a ruler? We will continue to monitor the plants growth and explore ways we can record it. We revisited how important sunlight and water are for “growth” in plants, and recently conducted an experiment to capture sunlight using a “sun catcher” to explore other purposes of sun, such as

providing light. We discussed how sunlight could be captured in a glass jar and used as a “lamp” said Aditi. Aditi recalled a previous experiment to convert sunlight into energy and explained this process to her peers. She identified the “solar panel” on the lid of the glass jar and Sanjay shared his knowledge telling the group it makes “electricity”. It was amazing to learn of the children’s knowledge as they shared it with others. Through these experiences children are connecting with and contributing to their world as they explore relationships with other living and non-living things and observe, notice and respond to change (LO2, EYLF, 2009).

Stage 3 & 4

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