dee’s message - reddam housedo in the els is not intended only to pour creativity into young lives...

REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER 1

Dee’s Message

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Reading through this week‟s various

reports provides an interesting insight into

the world of young children. No sooner

had they arrived back at school for the

new term than they were

wholeheartedly immersed in the

creativity and exploration of life in the ELS

– and that is not to say that they are any

less creative in their lives at home!

The Fledglings report reflects on the

recent Reggio Emilia conference

attended by the teachers and of the

need to “listen with our eyes” as we try to

“make sense of their world”. This idea of

the world of the child as distinctive from

that of the significant adults in their lives is

an important concept, if we are truly to

understand and contribute meaningfully

to the life of each child.

The stories encountered by the Stage 2

children, as they delve into the creative

world of fiction through their various

characters and plots; or seeing the

magic of nature as the Stage 3 children

have done; or, perhaps even more

magically, as the Stage 4 children found

out, discovering the mystical arrival of

fairies in their classrooms – all of these

feed the natural curiosity and creativity

of young children. As so succinctly

expressed in the Stage 4 report, “A

child‟s imagination is limitless and is

influenced by the wonderful world we

live in. Whilst observing and listening to

the children it was apparent that the

world seen through a child‟s eyes is

different to ours.”

One article, published in the Scientific

American magazine, entitled „Imaginary

worlds are early sign of highly creative

kids‟, explores this in more detail.

Scientists from Michigan State University

have discovered that creative people

are usually not creative in one discipline

only, such as in the cases of Mozart‟s

music or Picasso‟s art, but are rather

what are referred to as Polymaths – a

person of wide knowledge or learning.

They also point to the fact that nearly all

Nobel Prize winners for Science are also

highly proficient in another creative

28 JULY 2017


activity in which they actively engage.

Research also indicates that children

who delve into rich imaginary worlds are

more likely to grow up to be highly

successful adults. Of course, what we

do in the ELS is not intended only to pour

creativity into young lives with the

intention of creating successful adults.

Rather, we hope to provide an

environment which is creative and

exploratory, so that each day children

are able to immerse themselves in the

activities on offer. In so-doing, it is hoped

that they are able to return home each

day feeling fulfilled, happy, and excited,

having learned something new.

Far from being unable to discriminate

between fantasy and reality, children

are highly competent in moving

seamlessly between the two worlds.

They are able to catch the spirit of new

worlds, of fantastical creatures, and of

becoming the hero in their created

world. Of course, some tasty food, an

interesting trip somewhere or an

engaging conversation is then more

than sufficient to bring them back to the

„real‟ world. It is our great passion to

provide a safe and nurturing

environment in which their real and

imagined worlds can be explored and

enjoyed.

Have a magical weekend with your

creative little person!

Dee Pitcairn

Principal

Dee’s Message


The Nest “My little world - things I like…” By Tatiana Botrel, Briar O’Mara and Shirley Brockwell

We started working around our

provocation for Term Three this week –

“Things I like...”. Having observed the

children over the past couple of weeks,

it was clear to the teachers that they

have a very special interest in animals.

While playing in the playground, the

children enjoyed looking for birds up in

the trees or chasing them all around the

space. The teachers encouraged the

children to call out for the birds,

imitating their sounds, and the children

have demonstrated great excitement

when joining them in this joyful activity.

Every time the teachers made a

particular loud sound, the children

gathered together around her to look

for the birds. They were encouraged to

lay down on the floor so they could look

straight up to the sky, and then we all

waited for the birds to fly past. Once

one was spotted, the children pointed

at the bird and then smiled at each

other to communicate what they saw.

In the Mini Art Atelier, the children

explored farm animals. They had great

fun dipping a selection of farm animals

in the different colours of paints – cow,

donkey, chicken, roster, goose, horse,

and sheep - and then marking their

paper. Zoe held the cow toy, starred at

it for a while and then looked back at

the teacher saying “Moooooo”.

Antonia enjoyed exploring all the

animals on her paper and after all were

completed she felt like she had to give

them a little wipe, as they were all

covered in paints. Luella was very

happy galloping the horses on her

paper, and also very proud to show her

teacher the marks she had made.

In The Nest outdoor area, the children

were surprised with a new sensory box,

filled with shaving cream and ocean

animals. While playing with whales,

dolphins, seals and turtles, the children

enjoyed singing to different nursery

rhymes about these kind of animals.

One of the children‟s favourite at the

moment is:

Slippery fish, slippery fish

Swimming in the water

Slippery fish, slippery fish

Golp, golp, golp

Oh no... the slippery fish got eaten by....

An octopus, octopus


An octopus, octopus

Golp, golp, golp

Oh no... the octopus got eaten by....

Great white shark, great white shark


Great white shark, great white shark

Golp, golp, golp

Oh no... the great white shark got

eaten by...

Humongous whale, humongous whale


Humongous whale, humongous whale

Golp, golp, golp

Our piazza will be decorated with the

amazing work we will do during this

term. Through photos and artworks you

will be able to see all the amazing

experiences that the children have

enjoyed during this new learning

journey. Your feedback is very

important to us, so please feel welcome

to participate with us, by bringing in

suggestions or making any other

contributions towards our provocation.


The Nest “My little world - things I like…” By Tatiana Botrel, Briar O’Mara and Shirley Brockwell

Outcome 4: Children are confident and

involved learners. Children develop

dispositions for learning such as

curiosity, cooperation, confidence,

creativity, commitment, enthusiasm,

persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

Children transfer and adapt what they

have learned from one context to

another. EYLF, 2009.


The Nest Photo Gallery


Fledglings “It’s a journey…” By Hannah McCooey, Olivia Binions and Jane Teh

Having a positive sense of identity and

experiencing respectful, responsive

relationships, strengthens children’s

interests and skills in being and

becoming active contributors to their

world. (EYLF, 2009).

Welcome back to Term Three - can you

believe it? There was much excitement

surrounding the changes to our

classroom, which has created a cool

and refreshed feel to the place. It was

interesting to see the children enjoy and

engage in their new set up.

We welcomed Jane back from her trip

overseas. This was a perfect start to Term

Three and an insight into this term‟s

provocation, as the children have been

recently showing an increasing curiosity

and interest in travel and transport. As

Jane spoke about her adventure and

the different places she visited and how

she travelled, the teachers showed the

children a globe. During a short group

discussion, the teacher asked the

Fledglings: “What is this?” Antonis quickly

replied “world”.

As Jane pointed to the places she had

visited, Harry noticed, “It goes around.”

We continued our small group discussion

about the globe, including its shape and

the colours that we could mostly see. We

also talked about different places that

we come from.

Asher - “Round and round”

Toby - “Blue”

Lara - “Green”. Lara also said that the

world was “spinning”.

The use of technology in the classroom

has allowed the teachers and children to

research the world in more detail. We

were able to show the children where we

are in the world, using Google Earth to

help us zoom in on our location. This has

allowed the children to use expression

and encourage discussion. We then

searched photos of places that are

familiar to us and when looking at a

photo of Sydney harbour Lola said, “I live

there.”

During a recent REAIE 2017 (Reggio

Emilia Australia Information Exchange)

conference one of the main discussions

that stood out for the teachers in the

Fledglings is that as we watch the

children interact and make sense of their

world we need to remind ourselves that

sometimes we need to listen with our

eyes; listen to the 100 languages of the

children with all of our senses; and to

note the clues that they are giving us

during their daily routines. We need to

remember to go beyond the information

given. (Bruner, 2006).

It is also important to us to continue to

form respectful supportive relationships

with our families.

According to the (NQS, 2012),

“Partnerships involve establishing a sense

of community, where both children and

families know that they belong and

make a valuable contribution”.

We are only in our second week of Term

Three and are already receiving

wonderful feedback from the families.

The photos that you have all provided,

showing your child‟s adventures and

modes of transports, are ideal for this

term. The teachers are thinking very

carefully about how to present these in

the most effective and meaningful way

to support the children‟s eagerness to

learn.


Fledglings “It’s a journey…” By Hannah McCooey, Olivia Binions and Jane Teh

The teachers and the children are

looking forward to sharing this

provocation with you because as

always…. It‟s a journey!!!

Learning Outcome 3: Children have a

strong sense of wellbeing

Learning Outcome 4: Children are

confident and involved learners


It is hard to believe that we are now in

Term Three, half way through our year in

the Stage 2 class. The children have

continued to amaze us as they find

wonder in the world around them in all

forms. As we started to think about what

the children have shown interest in and

how they interact with the environment

and each other, we have come up with

different provocations for each group.

In this newsletter, we will focus on the

Kookaburra and Cockatoo groups, who

have teamed up in their interest of

literacy and all things dramatic to look at

storytelling and “Bringing Stories to Life”-

the name of our provocation for Term

Three. The idea of bringing stories to life

has come from the children as they have

continued to show great interest in story

time and the different ways of being

involved from listening to, telling and

creating their own stories.

The children were asked the

question “What is a Story?”

Some of the responses from the

Cocktatoo group included:

Summer - “I like lots of stories”; Ophelia -

“The Caterpillar one, he is very

hungry”; Dominic - “Don‟t let the Pigeon

stay up late, my mummy reads it to me”;

Aika - “Beauty and the Beast, my

mummy reads that story to me”; Edward

- “The Storm Whale”; Caleb - “Cars”; and

Maila - “Aki reads a story.”

The Kookaburra children were also asked

the question- “What stories do you like?”

and the response to this became about

the characters in the stories. Poppy likes

stories about caterpillars; Anna, Martin

and Ori like elephants; Rafaella and

Ashley like stories with cows; Marco likes

monkeys; Valley, Abigail and Ariella like

princesses; Emily and Lilah like lion stories;

while Archie likes Atlas books and

Margarita likes the Gruffalo.

We discussed what kind of stories we

enjoyed and the many different

characters that each of us preferred,

such as fairies, animals, transport etc. The

children were introduced to some of their

teachers‟ favourite stories. The

Cockatoos have been looking at 'The

Three Little Pigs', which has led to them to

starting to make some their own props to

help re-tell the story.

The Kookaburra group have been acting

out the song story of “5 Little Elephants

Balancing” using a piece of string and

elephant puppets. We have also been

reading “The Princess and the Pea” as

there is always an interest in princesses.

We have started to retell this story using

props and ourselves in the roles of the

characters. In their self-selected play,

they have been re-creating moments of

stories with Bears and the search for

them. Could this be “We‟re going on a

Bear Hunt”?

We love having the children bring their

stories and share with their peers. Max

brought in a Dr. Seuss book

called „Green Eggs and Ham’ and

Ophelia read us „The Very Hungry

Caterpillar’. We are very excited to hear

our other friends‟ favourite stories. There

are so many ways to bring a story to life.

This will be an exciting term ahead.

Next week the Tree Frogs will share their

Provocation with you.

Stage 2 “Stories...” By Danniella Gotsy, Karla Cabezas, Tori Gordon, Shauna Corry, Vanessa Copper, Monika Ranjitkar and Min Pattharasiritanarat.


Stage 2 Photo Gallery


Stage 3 “The natural world…” By Christina Mandalidis, Susan Casey, Elizabeth Turner, Jason Corrigan, Polina Rodov and Deanne Jacobs

The natural world is a playground and

place of discovery for children and adults

alike. It is a place for adventure,

exploration and imagination as well as

for fostering a deepening care and

connectedness with our environment.

Leading on from Vacation Care and in to

the first week of term, the Stage Three

team spent time closely observing and

documenting the children's play

interactions, attentively listening to and

recording their conversations, as well as

engaging in group discussions with open

ended questions. This vital information

assisted in determining what captures the

children's interests and aided in

establishing the provocation that we will

be focusing on - „The natural world‟. With

so many possibilities and directions that

this broad topic can take, we will

continue to follow the children‟s lead

and allow them to guide the different

areas they find fascinating and want to

explore in depth, by planning meaningful

and engaging learning experiences.

The children were initially asked to

describe the first things they thought of

when talking about the natural world,

what associations they have, and what

they remember seeing around them

when exploring outdoors. These were

their responses:

Savannah - „Nature, sticks, leaves and

flowers‟

Maxwell - „Trees, dirt, and insects with

wings that fly like dragonflies‟

Tully – „Grasshoppers, bugs, sticks and

stick insects and creepy crawlies‟

Ian – „butterflies, cockroaches, leaves,

branches and tall trees‟

Angus – „Spiders, leaves, twigs, sticks and

bugs‟

Addison – „Leaves, flowers, birds and

beautiful things like butterflies‟

Layla - „Flowers, plants, butterflies and

birds in the sky and on branches‟

Luke – „Ants and spiders, flowers and

trees‟

Max – „Trees and birds‟

With this in mind, we began our term‟s

provocation by going on a nature hunt in

our very own playground to see if we

could find some of the things the children

had mentioned, and if we would be able

to discover any other new and interesting

things. Prior to collecting any of the items

from nature, we had a lengthy chat

about the importance of showing

respect and care for everything around

us, by only picking up what we see on

the ground and treating any creatures

we come across carefully. The children

eagerly set out on our exploration with a

basket in hand and some magnifying

glasses. We pretended that we would be

investigators, explorers and researchers

throughout all of our investigations of the

natural world, enabling us to make

connections with different aspects of the

environment that surrounds us. While

outdoors, many children pointed out the

trees, plants and birds in the sky and on

the branches. Everyone seemed curious

and anticipated in excitement what they

would find, such as leaves, sticks and

insects. Within several minutes, the basket

was filling up fast with natural treasures

that we then took in to our indoor spaces

to analyse and investigate further.

Several weeks ago, the Stage Three

educators attended a Reggio Emilia

inspired conference, with one of the

sessions focusing on nature in play and

the significance of allowing children to

build authentic connections with nature

and the world around them.



We were able to draw on many of the

ideas and inspirations from the

information presented to us and examine

what the „role of the educator‟ is. We

believe it is imperative to introduce

children to new and exciting possibilities

of discovery. We need to pose questions

to cultivate a sense of wonder and

curiosity, allowing the children to see

themselves as capable and skilful

thinkers, able to investigate, collect data,

analyse and share learning. It is important

to give children opportunities to engage

in prolonged periods of time for research,

to experience growth, compare

changes, and examine findings, thus

allowing them to get to know the natural

world intimately.

Fostering collaboration and nurturing

children‟s accomplishments, for example

when children help and look out for each

other, or take turns and share ideas,

assists in joint learning. We certainly know

that children have competence and

willingness to partake collaboratively and

through this the most meaningful and

engaging experiences develop.

One of the children provided an

interesting quote: 'Nature is about

anything; you can be on it anywhere'.

With this in mind, our aim throughout the

term is to present interesting and open

questions, such as, „When you look

closely at nature, what do you think you

will see today?‟ This will allow children to

move forward in ways they find

interesting, allowing for further extension,

reflection and evaluation.

After our discussions and making

connections with the environment, the

children were given an opportunity to

represent some of their ideas about the

natural world through drawings. They

were able to look at various images of

insects, research through discovery books

and explore the creatures around the

classroom environment to gain inspiration

for their individual drawings. The children

were given a simple black marker,

allowing them to add as much or as little

detail as they pleased. It was fascinating

to see the focus and concentration the

children showed as they created their

work. Throughout the artistic experience

the children provided explanations about

what it was that they were drawing.

Our construction area was also buzzing,

where the children were able to use an

array of natural materials to build and

construct with such aspects as adding

branches and leaves to building blocks,

hiding bugs and creepy crawlies under or

behind furniture, and gathering the

stones, sticks, bark and dry flowers to

create safe and comfortable living

places for the insects. Researching from

many factual books, encyclopaedias

and picture cards was also of great

interest to many of the children.

During the week we also decided to do

some experimentation with natural

materials. With the first experiment, the

children noticed that there were

numerous kinds of leaves of varying

shapes, colours and sizes. Some of the

children even pointed out that the

texture of the leaves differed - some felt

smooth while others felt rough and

bumpy.

The fascination and deep interest in

leaves lead us to an experience of leaf

and bark rubbing, creating imprints with

nature. As an introduction, and because

the process of leaf rubbing was new to

most of the children, a demonstration

was shown of putting a leaf underneath



the paper and then gently rubbing the

side of the crayon on top of the paper to

see what would be revealed.

The children readily began selecting the

leaves they wanted to use and choosing

crayon colours that corresponded with

colours from nature. Soon enough, you

could hear excitement and delight as

the children pointed out seeing the

leaves transform on to the paper. Most of

the children chose to use different leaves

and do multiple rubbings, explaining that

they were thoroughly enjoying the

activity that combined both creative

elements and trialling out a new

technique.

Our changing colour flower experiment

was a highlight and thoroughly captured

many of the children‟s curiosity and

attention. We placed white flowers in four

separate vases filled with different

coloured food colouring. The children

made predictions about what they

thought would happen to the flowers

over time and the colour changes that

would take place. The experiment was a

simple yet effective visual, helping the

children understand how a plant absorbs

water up its stem and nourishes its petals

and leaves. With much excitement and

surprise to some, the children began to

notice the colour transformations within a

few hours. Over the course of the week,

the children kept going back and

checking to see if they could notice any

more changes, make observations and

create comparisons. Several children

mentioned that the blue flowers were a

lot brighter and more vibrant than the

others and maybe the other coloured

flowers needed more time to achieve a

richer colour.

Friendly Reminders:

Please remember to send water

bottles and sunhats daily

Have a spare change of clothes in

the school bag Bring only one soft/cuddly toy for

sleep if required

Have a wonderful adventurous weekend

with your children in the natural world.


Stage 4 “The wonderful world we live in…” By Anita Martin, Nina Bergel, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Cassandra Holmes

A child‟s imagination is limitless and is

influenced by the wonderful world we

live in. Whilst observing and listening to

the children it was apparent that the

world seen through a child‟s eyes is

different to ours. “Can we see the

fairies? How do we know when they are

here?“ asked Sarah. In a child‟s world,

fairies are amongst us, they visit us when

we are not looking or when we are

asleep and they hold great magical

power.

On Tuesday morning, the children arrived

one by one, ready for their first day of the

school term. As each child arrived, they

began to notice that there were many

new and exciting things in the room to

explore and discover.

“Is that a fairy door?” asked Sophie,

pointing to a little pink door. “It looks like

one,” I replied. “Why don‟t you get a little

bit closer and have a look?” I added.

“How did it get there, did the fairies build

it?” Sophie asked in excitement. “Well… I

think they built it in the night when we

were all in bed sleeping. Fairies only

come out when it is quiet and nobody is

around,” I replied.

Sophie then eagerly walked up to the

door and explored both it and its

surroundings. “It‟s so beautiful,” she said.

“How do we find the fairies?” she then

asked. “Why do you want to find them?”

I questioned. “Well, how do I know they

were really here in the night?” said

Sophie. “Because, they have magic fairy

dust that sprinkles off their wings when

they are flying around and we can see

it,” I replied. “We need to find the fairies

and say thank you for the door,” she said.

“Maybe we could leave them

something?” I added. “Yeah, like a

letter” said Sophie in delight.

This then led to the children writing letters

on tiny pieces of paper for the fairies,

hoping that they would come in the

night and take the letters. “I really hope

they come tonight,” said Amelia “But we

need to make sure it is super quiet or they

will be too scared” she added.

The next day, as the children turned up

for school, they noticed that the fairies

had left them a letter on the clipboard

near the fairy house. The letter said,

Dear Krissie‟s Class,

We have seen your letters and we think

they are very beautiful but we couldn‟t

collect them last night because we have

been very busy. Love. The fairies

(sprinkled with special fairy dust).

The children were excited that the fairies

had come and a little disappointed that

their letters were still in the mailbox.

“Don‟t worry,” I said, “the fairies will come

again but you need to remember they

have a lot of children to visit.”

“I‟m going to write them a letter right

now,” said Sarah. “How do you spell

„phone?” she asked. I wrote the word

down for her on a piece of paper and

then turned to her to ask, “Are you going

to ask the fairies to call you?” “I am going

to ask them for a phone. I would really

like a phone,” she replied. “Mmm… I‟m

not sure the fairies give presents, Sarah. I

think their job is to listen to children

having fun and to write letters back to

you filled with happy words and love. I

have heard they can be a little cheeky

sometimes and they might even try and

play tricks on you but they are so quick

that you will never see them.”


Stage 4 “The wonderful world we live in…” By Anita Martin, Nina Bergel, Kristina Rocchi, Jane Pledger,Sandra Carberry and Cassandra Holmes

Since then the children have continued

to write letters to the fairies, checking

each morning to see if they have been

collected.

On Tuesday morning, Matilda and Sophie

both discovered the letters had been

collected and just couldn‟t believe their

eyes.

“Where have the letters gone? I think the

fairies took them, they came overnight,”

said a very excited Sophie. “I know they

have,” added Matilda. “Are you sure?” I

question. “Yes, because if they are good

it means they took them overnight,” said

Matilda. “What do you mean if they are

good?” I asked Matilda. “If the kids are

good, like sleeping, the fairies will come

overnight. The fairies don‟t want to see

children or humans because if they wake

up they will scare them. That‟s why the

fairies don‟t want to see the humans. If

they took the letters it means soon they

will send another letter to us,” explained

Matilda. “Matilda, you‟re a genius,”

smiled Sophie.

The children are excited to see what the

fairies will write back next when we are

sleeping.


Music By Justin Goh

Stage 1 & 2

We are starting Term 3 on a high note!

We are looking out for things in the sky.

We learned that the sun is a circle and it

is way up high in the sky. We also

explored different ways to make a circle

with our bodies. The children even

paired up to make big circles and,

finally, made a BIG sun with all the

children holding hands. Through this

song, children also learned how to use

their voice, i.e. big deep voice for the

BIG SUN, and baby voice for the small

sun.

We also had focused listening for

sounds of chirping birds. Children

listened specifically to the sound of the

birds and this is part of our lesson which

trains children to focus and pay

attention to a specific sounds. This

differs from the general ability to

hear and requires children to listen.

Children also responded to sounds

which were high and low. They danced

high when the music was high-pitched

and danced low when the music was

low-pitched. Then they pretended to be

falling leaves and fell gently to the

ground to a song in the descending

harmonic minor key. To enhance the

experience, scarves were used to help

them visualize the falling leaves. There

were lots of smiles and laughter

throughout the class.

Stage 3

Our Stage 3 children also explored

things they could see in the sky. They

saw the sun and explored different ways

they could make circles with their body

and how they could partner a friend to

create circles.

Their focused listening activity was the

chirping of a bird called a “Robin”. Then

we learned a song about Mr Robin and

this song had a special section where

children had to echo after the teacher.

This is a very important musical structure

which is used in both Classical and Jazz

music.

They also pretended to be a kite and

learned that the wind keeps the kite in

the air. Then there is a lovely song about

the wind and once again they used the

scarves to enhance the whole

experience.

Stage 4

Our children are very privileged to have

the opportunity to play music on the

new Orff xylophones (which have been

a feature in the Kindergarten and

Primary Music programme @ Reddam).

Now this same opportunity is available

for our Stage 4 ELS children!

“The Orff Schulwerk, or simply the Orff

Approach, is a developmental

approach used in music education. It

combines music, movement, drama,

and speech into lessons that are similar

to a child's world of play. It was

developed by the German composer

Carl Orff (1895–1982) and colleague

Gunild Keetman during the

1920s”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Orff_Schulwerk)

These xylophones include a unique

pedagogic feature which allows the

players to remove the “wrong notes” in

each song. This way, the players never

play any wrong notes! In our song,

children are playing a bi-tonal

song (song with only 2 different pitches),

“Star Light, Star Bright”. This is

accompanied by a bordun (a tonic-

dominant bass accompaniment

pattern).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orff_Schulwerk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orff_Schulwerk


Music By Justin Goh

Don‟t worry about the musical jargon,

at the end of the day our children only

experienced the fun process of making

music.

“First the experience, then the analysis.”

Emile Jacques Dalcroze


Dance and Drama By Laura Hudson

Objectives:

The children participated in a teacher

led improvisation of Jack and the

Beanstalk. The children used 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 included:

TIR as Jack‟s mum, playing „I spy‟

something being with „B‟. Different types

of beans were 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 (Stage 4)

Call and response

The children acted out the story using

mime, stopping frequently along the way

during which they were asked how

certain characters were feeling at that

particular point in the story (Stage 4)

some of the groups were asked to do the

story in under 2 minutes.

We also discussed possible endings and

acted them out (Stage 4)


Physical Education By Spencer Clifton

This week was the start of our Physical

Education programme for Term Three.

The children couldn't wait to begin and

showed their excitement as we started

off with an introduction to our term‟s

activities, exploration of the exercise

areas, and a few introductory games.

Stage 2 started the lesson off with some

short sprints, followed by our animal

movements which target muscle

strengthening and stimulate the children's

imagination. Our next activity involved an

obstacle course that focused on

developing the children's stability,

strength, awareness and gross motor skills.

We finished off the lesson with a great

game of colour hoops.

Stage 3 and Stage 4 had a fun-filled

lesson, which we started with a running

activity that warmed up our muscles

followed by our animal movements,

targeting our core muscles and

stamina. Our next activities involved a

game called „Sharks & Islands‟, which

focuses on spatial awareness, agility and

team work. Our next exercise was the

beginning of our striking theme where we

focused on striking technique, which

involves body position, hand position and

swinging motion.

dee’s message - reddam housedo in the els is not intended only to pour creativity into young lives...

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