January 21, 2019, 03:23 PM
Dear families, Happy New Year! ~T/Th Fine Arts & Science
December was a busy, fun heart-warming month.
During this time, the children had worked passionately and joyfully on their families’ lovely cards and gifts to take home before the holidays.
And why not, inside the class too…
Jocelyn: “ hey, the pain feels cold like a rainy day”
Latest Explorations
This week our children’s explorations were about birds and cats, as we call it, but no any cats, lions and tigers. Both interests have begun spontaneously with the children’s conversation and play!
We have been exploring about nests and different kind of birds. About their natural habitat, what they ear and the sounds they make. To extend this exploration, we offer the children Plasticine, some tools and other materials to create their own birds and their nests. It was delightful to observe the children’s creativity and competence as they got familiar with the Plasticine and designed their birds in the way and the colors they wanted it to be.
Luckily, today was a sunny and beautiful day to go for a walk and look for some nest. It was not too hard to spot them in the bare trees. We also saw and heard some birds, and found a big broken branch hanging from a tree.
Everett: maybe someone used an ax and cut it down!
As for the lions and tigers, all started with… a scratch on the floor!
Linden: We are looking for scratches from the tiger, we are finding more clues.
Era: look the tiger broke the carpet, naughty tiger.
Linden: he is in the naughty list!
Soon, there was a big group of children looking for “clues” and scratches on the floor. (made by furniture, no tiger had been in this room!)
We are excited to see where these explorations are going to take us!
Until next time,
Silvia
During this time, the children had worked passionately and joyfully on their families’ lovely cards and gifts to take home before the holidays.
We explored about family celebrations, traditions and discussed about sharing and giving to others… and of course, Santa Claus and his gifts were not absented during the children’s conversations and play. These conversations at circle time and during fee play, support children’s learning and exploration about our different cultural backgrounds and, how we are all different but we share something in common, such as the care and love we have for our families, the value of our traditions, and our sense of community, even though our believes and the way we celebrate the holidays might be different.
Welcome back!
December was also fun; we had a pajamas and pizza party! We loved seen almost every one wearing their cozy and cute pajamas and the children prepared their own English muffin pizzas …. They were so delicious; it was “so hard to have only one!”
Welcome back!
After a well-deserved and enjoyable break with our families, we are back with fresh and full of energy mind and body!
Winter have been in our play and conversations for the last few weeks, and the children had been closely looking for sings of a very await snowfall that haven’t arrive yet. However, we enjoy finding and exploring the cold and frost in our surroundings.
And why not, inside the class too…
Jocelyn: “ hey, the pain feels cold like a rainy day”
Latest Explorations
This week our children’s explorations were about birds and cats, as we call it, but no any cats, lions and tigers. Both interests have begun spontaneously with the children’s conversation and play!
We have been exploring about nests and different kind of birds. About their natural habitat, what they ear and the sounds they make. To extend this exploration, we offer the children Plasticine, some tools and other materials to create their own birds and their nests. It was delightful to observe the children’s creativity and competence as they got familiar with the Plasticine and designed their birds in the way and the colors they wanted it to be.
Luckily, today was a sunny and beautiful day to go for a walk and look for some nest. It was not too hard to spot them in the bare trees. We also saw and heard some birds, and found a big broken branch hanging from a tree.
Everett: maybe someone used an ax and cut it down!
As for the lions and tigers, all started with… a scratch on the floor!
Linden: We are looking for scratches from the tiger, we are finding more clues.
Era: look the tiger broke the carpet, naughty tiger.
Linden: he is in the naughty list!
Soon, there was a big group of children looking for “clues” and scratches on the floor. (made by furniture, no tiger had been in this room!)
We are excited to see where these explorations are going to take us!
Until next time,
Silvia
Comments
January 17, 2019, 03:43 PM
Over
the holidays I happened to be reading inspirational quotes regarding education,
and came to the obvious realization that a good quote never gets old. I'd like
to share just a few of the many that spoke to me personally:
“I
cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” Socrates
“Teach
the children so it will not be necessary to teach the adults.” Abraham Lincoln
“Tell
me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin
Franklin
“Children
must be taught how to think, not what to think.” Margaret Mead
“The
secret in education lies in respecting the student.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I
am not a teacher, but an awakener.” Robert Frost
“Don't
just teach your kids to read, teach them to question what they read. Teach them
to question everything!” George Carlin
“What
we learn with pleasure we never forget.” Alfred Mercier
“Logic
will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert
Einstein
“You
can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by
creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.”
Clay P. Beford
“Tell
me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin
Franklin
As I'm typing this, I'm thinking of all the children in our
Preschool. I like to think that educating children means setting them up to
succeed, yet it also means... helping them understand that lack of success is
not failure. It's opportunity.
Jess and I appreciate your entrusting your children to our
care, and we truly look forward to enjoying their company in the months ahead.
Barbi
Photos of children thoroughly enjoying a recent comb and
paint art activity:
Comments (1)
November 29, 2018, 10:40 AM
3 Yr Old Class & 4 Yr Old Class
The children recently did balloon painting in class. We used
large balloons with just a little air inside thus allowing the children to
squish and bounce the balloons with no threat of their popping. This activity
seemed to encourage children, who otherwise preferred to not get paint on their
hands, to participate and begin to appreciate the fun in getting messy.
Another activity recently
implemented in class, involved oil, a food-coloring and water mix, and
droppers. The children seemed to enjoy this fine-motor activity. Learning to
use the droppers and suck up the food coloring mix, was a learning curve, but
most caught on with minimal guidance. The children seemed intrigued watching
the drops of colour float around in the oil, and had fun mixing all the colors
together, making loads of smaller drops.
On this day, light colored paper
was placed on the table and paper-tape was used to secure the paper and to make
lines on the paper. The 3's Class worked as a group to freely cover the paper
with water paint. At the end of class, after the paint had mostly dried, the
tape was removed with the children, revealing a very cool effect.
We, the teachers, are having a very
enjoyable time watching the Preschoolers learn fine and gross motor skills,
self-help and social skills, be creative and gain confidence, and... make new friends.
Until next time,
Barbi
Comments (1)
November 24, 2018, 05:26 PM
Library Field Trip -M/W/F Fine Arts and Science
This month our class ventured out of our cozy classroom in order to visit the Brighouse Richmond Public Library. Our field trip began with a fun tour led by one of the knowledgeable librarians. As part of our tour we were able to take a behind-the-scenes look at where all of the books are checked in. We were even able to have take turns checking in some books using their large robot-looking machine! Next, we participated in one of the libraries weekly story times. Our students really seemed to enjoy this. There are so many wonderful resources at the library that go beyond checking books out such as the 3D printer tand resources for people in the community.
Deanna and I
were inspired by this field trip and so we decided to begin our first round of
the share bag with our favorite books from home. When it’s their turn students are to bring in
their favorite book from home for us to read in class. Students are also encouraged to share why
it’s their favorite story and who gave them their special book. We have already begun this round of the share
bag and it has been so fun to share these stories!
November 21, 2018, 01:54 PM
CREATIVITY…IN COLOUR!!! -T/Th Fine Arts & Science
In our classroom we have recently been concentrating on the many different colours in the world around us.
The last few weeks we have tried to provide a good variety of “colourful” activities to stimulate the children’s different senses, causing them to see, hear, touch and manually manipulate many different parts in their free play time.
It has been interesting to encourage conversations about colours as the children play and converse at circle time….discussing their favourite colour, the colours of foods that we eat, the colour of our shoes and clothes and the colours of the leaves changing around us. These chats allow us to know each other better and become more comfortable connecting with each other verbally.
We have offered the opportunity to manipulate dough, dig in sensory bins, build with various types of blocks, paint, draw, cut as well as read, sing, dance, climb, swing, slide and design their own games using loose parts.
We have offered the opportunity to manipulate dough, dig in sensory bins, build with various types of blocks, paint, draw, cut as well as read, sing, dance, climb, swing, slide and design their own games using loose parts.
Giving children the chance to develop their gross and fine motor skills using a variety of play places and projects gives them great confidence and causes them to grow and learn in many ways.
It is our goal as educators to give your children a continually changing and challenging environment in which they can develop their creativity more and more!!!
