Friendships and bonding over common interests - 4 Hour Class
December 5, 2017, 07:30 AMOne of the most important question on every parents
mind is “Does my child have friends in school?”
Our children form natural relationships over common
interests just like adults do. Our monthly trip to the library allows children
to choose a book of their interest; a book they can explore, enjoy, and then
share that experience with their peers. This not only enhances children’s
learning, but also creates room for children to find common grounds of
interest, opening up a door for further friendships to form.
Nothing warms our hearts more than seeing these
natural friendships and bonds forming among the children in our care. These are
just a few candid moments of bonding.
(Left to right; Stepan, Keane, Loen, and Jerome)
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(Left to right; Mia, Linden, and Elliot)
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(Left
to right; Koen, Jayden, Austin, Fraser, Vienna, and Jerome with teacher Emmett)
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Till
next time,
Mariam
Comments
The Puddle by Hyewon Yum - 3 Year Old & 4 Year Old Classes
December 1, 2017, 08:00 AMWe read the book The Puddle by Hyewon Yum. It was a story about a child
who was feeling bored because it was raining, she thought she was unable to go
outside so mom illustrated a picture of them going outside with the right rain
gear boots, rain coat, etc. This allowed them to have fun with a puddle.
Children benefit from exploring the changing season by using their sensory skills, which also helps in their cognitive development.
After we read the story, I encouraged the children to put on boots,
raincoats as we were going outside and maybe we would see some puddles that we
may want to jump in!
Children benefit from exploring the changing season by using their sensory skills, which also helps in their cognitive development.
The joy the children found in jumping in the puddle is a perfect demonstration of how incredibly beautiful childhood can be and what it's supposed to be.
Thank you to our wonderful parents who helped with changing clothes when we got back to class.
Until next post
Jess
The BIG Puddle - 4 Hour Class
November 29, 2017, 06:00 AM
With all the rain
that we’ve been getting, puddles outside are inevitable. When we came out to
the park last week, the children noticed a very big and somewhat deeper than
usual puddle. Some splashed on it while others ran across it. But most of the
children were more drawn to throwing things inside the puddle.
With this
experience, the children were able to practice their turn taking skills, both
their gross motor and fine motor control and the concept of buoyancy (sink or
float) through their play in a natural environment.
Until next time,
Patricia
Loose Parts - Fine Arts and Science M/W/F AM Class
November 27, 2017, 06:30 AMWe have
been so excited lately because the children have been exploring with loose
parts in our classroom and it has been so interesting to see how each child
uses them. The children have constructed
many unique creations with the parts.
Sometimes the children will take the parts over to the other areas in
the classroom and add to the other activities they are participating in. We have found them in the sensory bins, in
the dramatic areas and a lot of time the children like to imagine they are
cooking a variety of foods with the loose parts. Their imagination is endless when it comes to
pretending and improvising. The children
see the loose parts so differently than we do as adults and that is the total
beauty of this activity. Sometimes, it
gets messy and we do end up finding pieces all over the classroom but we have
to keep in mind that this is the actual process of the materials being moved
all around the room and used in a variety of ways.
We have
seen the children use the loose parts to create pictures, make elaborate
sculptures and many patterns. Faces,
trees, flowers, houses, and animals are some of the popular creations to
date. The children also love to take the
loose parts and just simply line them up or sort them out into an assortment of
baskets.
This
activity gives a child to think outside of the box, to stimulate their minds
and encourages open ended learning. It helps the brain to develop
mathematically, scientifically and creatively by discovery, experimenting and
problem solving. It also builds fine
motor skills and gross motor skills.
One of the great thing about loose parts is
there is no set directions to follow which empowers the child to be the
direction. This leads to curiosity and
imagination all through using simple loose parts in our classroom.
Until next time
Deanna
What are we exploring? Fine Arts & Science M/W/F PM Class
November 22, 2017, 07:30 AMAfter
exploring about pumpkins and more pumpkins, the children have now shown
interest in a variety of animals. We
started our journey with farm animals and now have gone on to jungle animals. They have been exploring the animal’s
physical features, how they are similar and different and their habitat. We have been categorizing in a manner where
the children can visually grasp how to group them and trying to make it into a
fun game. This makes it easier for the
children to associate similarities and differences of each animal. By following the children’s interest it allows
us to expand more on other areas of learning because we have captured their
curiosity.
While we are
learning about a variety of animals, we also take the opportunity to learn
about numbers, colours, words, social skills, creativity, drama, music, fine
motor skills and gross motor skills. We
try to incorporate and tie in other aspects of developing the children while
following their lead. The children may
not know it but they are absorbing, developing, practising and making sense of
the information that their minds are taking in, all why playing and learning at
the same time.
The other
day, the children were absorbed in creating snakes during art when Evan decided
he would like to print his name. He then
started tracing out his name and saying the letters of his name out loud. It then caught the attention of Raunik, and
Aikam, who decided they would like to also practise writing their names out
too. So, Jordan and I took their lead
and started printing names. This is an example of how we took their interest
and ran with it while it lasted.
I believe,
our job, as educators is to provide materials, activities, and set the scene
for the children to be able to engross them, intrigue them and captivate them
into wanting to participate, wonder and have fun.
Until next
time,
Deanna