For Valentine’s Day we focused on friendship with the children through various activities:

• Circle Time
• Book: A Big Guy Took My Ball
• Delivering Valentine's Cards to Each Other
• Heart Art
• Party with Valentine’s Day Treats

In circle time Joanne and I did a short role play for the kids and we explored ways for friends to talk to each other. Afterwards the children shared what they thought it meant to be a good friend.

We asked: What do we do with friends?

• We make cookies and cupcakes for Valentine’s Day! (Noa)
• We say ‘I love you’. (Elisia)
• You can eat with your friends (Kyle)
• We love other people when they are our friends (William)
• We play together! (Nicholas)
• Friends don’t make somebody get hurt (Jaylen)
• We bring them marbles to build stuff together (Caleb)

We hold hands on our way to...

....build a house for our play date!

 

We make cookies and...



... we bring each other marbles to play together!

We are sad when someone’s not a friend…

…and we’re happy when we get to play with friends!

Following the tradition of giving each other cards on this day, children prepared cards ahead of time, put them in the mailbox and later handed them out to their friends. The excitement during this activity was obvious and the children were very proud during their deliveries.



No Valentine’s Day is complete without some heart art, and the children worked as a team to decorate giant hearts that are displayed in our hallways now. Make sure to check them out!

The Provocation:

Wearing our winter boots, mittens and warm jackets, the cold winter was upon us. There was frost on the grass, playground and deck at school. One of the children brought in an icicle she had found outside. The children were very impressed and inquisitive. They were amazed at how it might have formed and what could we possibly do with ice. We took small Dixie cups, as well as assorted clear containers, and filled them with water. We then added some color and placed them outdoors. The following morning we checked them. To the children’s delight, they were frozen.

The Purpose:

The purpose was to explore the properties of water. We experimented with color, warmth of the classroom, dish soap, weight and measurement.

The Observation:

“Will this sink or float?”

“I think this looks like a face.”

Playing with the ice in the water table.

"It’s an octopus, I see the tentacles!”

The ice begins to melt in the child’s hands.

The ice painting begins.

Whisking bubbles….so much fun!

Conclusion and Reflection:

Conversation and collaboration – it is a wonderful thing to see children learning in this way. Everyone experienced a new way of looking at the cold weather as well as how we can explore and be creative with water. All of the children participated in these activities with questions and hands on experimentation. We will do this again…weather permitting! 


~Joanne      

Taylor begins by gathering felt board pieces to tell me a story.

Here I see an airplane, but as Taylor begins to tell me a story, she flips the airplane over and sees a person.

Taylor explains her “friend” is riding a skateboard and the  bird needs an umbrella because it raining outside today.

“The bird is cold, she has been in the rain so she needs a blanket.”

I saw this felt piece as a chair, the hundred languages of children saw that same felt piece as a person

Taylor said “This is my friend with her baseball and  has a blanket because it’s raining."

Emma and Chelsea share little words, however they both have  the same idea - setting a table for lunch.

Emma and Chelsea have set the perfect table for two, with sandwiches on the plates, demonstrating the hundred languages of children.

Cade is showing me he has long fingers.

Tiffany, Ryleigh, Ava and Taya bring their play with goop under the table. There is something about hiding under a table that makes the play more exciting!  The children are able to add another element to the play, and at the same time the girls are making decisions as a group.

During circle time, we came upon a discussion of the foods that we eat. We discovered that many of us eat eggs. So, the next class, we brought in some eggs to further our discussion and investigation. We talked about the many uses of eggs in the foods that we eat. We discussed about egg sandwiches, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, fried eggs and so on. We also talked about foods for which we may not see the true form of an egg -- breads, cakes, pasta, cookies and soup.

We had a scrambled egg taste test in class. The children observed the difference between a brown egg and a white egg. We also examined the egg shells and the membrane inside the egg shell.

 

Looking at the difference between a raw egg and a cooked egg.

Investigating a cracked egg shell. "It's smooth inside."

From cracking eggs to scrambling eggs. Ready to be cooked and eaten!

Too hot to eat at the moment. "Steam coming out" shouted the children excitedly. "It's too hot," "Don't touch." We waited for the eggs to cool down.

"How do we know if the egg is ready to be eaten? "Touch it. Then we can eat it," "Blow and make them cold."

Tried it and liked it! "I want more."

Stay tuned for our next Try It and You Might Like It! session as we open children up to yummy, tasty food possibilities!

~Karen

Colour is everywhere. Even if not expressing it, when children look out a window they notice all the colours they possibly can. Recognizing their colours helps them learn to categorize the world around them.
 
Our Preschoolers experimented in class and learnt about colours using different mediums. They poured, stirred, squirted, glued, manipulated and splashed!

Red

• Cade :“I think of strawberries. Mmmm, I love strawberries.” 
• Kris: “Red is a red fire.” 
• Chelsea: “Red makes purple. I mean red and blue make purple.”

Blue

• Ava: “The blue is the colour of Ryleigh's eyes.”
• Lily: “Blue makes me think of blue whales, the moon also, and the sky.”
• Mia: “Blue is the rain I think. Is it blue? I think so.”

Green

• Chelsea: “Frogs are green and snakes in the grass are green.”
• Lily: “I think of the trees and leaves and a green caterpillar.”

Yellow

• Emma: “A yellow sun is for the beach.”

Purple

• Chelsea: “Eggplant is purple. That's all I think. Oh, wait... my shirt is purple.”

Orange

• Lily: “Carrots are orange.”
• Emma: “An orange is what you eat.”
• Kai: “Fishy Crackers”
• Matthew: “Yeah, Fishy Crackers”