I have had the pleasure of teaching preschool for many years, however each year I am thrilled and excited to meet new faces and see how much old faces have grown. I especially look forward to the individual personalities working together in the same space learning about one another and making connections, some life long friendships. 

For our first painting activity this school year, I provided the children with paints and some painting tools made out of foam.




But the reason of my excitement shifted from seeing their artworks to the story and process behind each child’s painting as I observed them create their masterpieces.




Mateo only wanted to use green because that is his favorite color and it looks like the grass.













Dayna was focused on making a purple and green pattern.






















 Iris started painting with yellow then added blue in the middle. She noticed that when the blue and yellow paint mixed, it made a different color- green. Iris then added blue on the other parts where the yellow paint was. She mixed and mixed until different shades of green were present.

















This activity reminded me on how I should focus more on the process of how these artworks are created rather than the final artwork themselves. It is through this process that the children get to express themselves creatively.

Until next time,

Patricia

A few weeks ago, Teacher Patricia suggested we take the children to the hill area across from the far parking lot. I was all in, as the hills were lined with cherry blossom trees in full bloom and below was a sea of pink from the fallen petals. I could feel that an adventure was going to happen with the children. So instead of going to the playground, we headed over in the other direction.

The children were all full of questions, such as where are we going, are we going on the bus, what about the playground, are we going to the field? We told them we are going on an adventure, it was a mystery. You could feel the curiosity building and more questions were asked. We gave them a hint and told them it was a pink place. Oh boy, that got them going… So off we headed down the walkway with no toys, no bubbles and no wagon, just ourselves.

Do you know what happened? We had many adventures, all with our imaginations, our bodies and the cherry blossom trees. The children loved the way the ground looked with hues of pink below them and above them. The wind would gently blow the petals down which the children thought was like snow. Some children chased the petals while others thought of a way to make the trees rain more petals.

The children ran up and down and around the hill endlessly. They climbed trees with a little help from the teachers and once sitting up there, they enjoyed the view. We saw squirrels running around and a few insects as well.



We had a parade that the children orchestrated and performed. There was also some super hero role playing and some dinosaurs running around too. The children also picked flowers from the ground and used them as props for their imaginative playing.



The time we spent exploring on the hill was proven to be a success. The children were so engaged in interacting with their peers, moving their bodies, using their imagination and building their growth in so many areas of their development, simply by being present in nature.

Until next time,

Deanna  

This year for Mother’s Day, the 4 Hour Class decided to do a Spa Day for their mommies.
The children voted and named the spa, Lollipop Spa. In their spa, they will have hand scrub, tattoos and a café.

2. Make a card.

 

3. Make signs for the spa and the different stations

 

 

4. Make the hand scrub. The ingredients used for it were salt, sugar, olive oil and peppermint essential oil.

 

 

 

5. Make the chocolate covered strawberry.

6. Buy the tattoos

 

Spa day…

Things to do:

 

1. Put up the signs.

 

 

2. Bake the scones

 

 

3. Set-up the spa and café

 

 

 

When the Lollipop Spa opened, the mommies and grandmas came in and got pampered by the children. The children gave them hand scrubs and applied tattoos. They were also served the yummy scones and chocolate covered strawberries with some tea.

 

 

We hope the mommies and grandmas had as much fun as the children in preparing for the spa day.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Until next time,

Patricia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our four year old class recently learnt about the Art of Comics during an engaging and informative visit to the Richmond Art Gallery. The Field Trip was led by Melanie, the gallery's School Program Coordinator.





Melanie showed the children a drawing of a box, with a character looking fearful as he stood over the box. She then asked the children what they thought was in the box... “a ghost”, “a present”, “a scary present”, “a scary doll I think”, “a cat”, “a dog”, “a train”, “a jack-in-the-box”..... You guessed it Oliver, it was indeed a jack-in-the-box!
















 The children were then given crayons, to add colour to their drawings:







Melanie ended the Field Trip, by taking the children into the gallery to show them selected panels from the graphic novel, George Sprott, by Canadian Cartoonist, Seth.


 
The children had fun looking at the extra large panel from a comic strip. Each were eager to share what they had found in the detailed drawing: