October 30, 2018, 10:40 AM
Exploring Fall ~MWF 4 hour class
With the season changing, this gave us the opportunity to explore fall in our classroom. When we asked the children what fall is, most of them said leaves are falling. Chelsea said, “We get to pick pumpkins”. For our fall exploration we put leaves and pumpkins at the center of it.
Joven and Ramsey enjoyed playing with the pumpkins and dinosaurs. Joven said “Dinosaurs are very hungry. They’ll eat all of the pumpkins”. Both boys used their imagination as they got engaged in their play.
At the sensory table, we had flax seed, small yellow caps and plastic leaves with some bowls, spoons and tongs. Gavin enjoyed hearing the sound of the flax seed inside the tray when he mixed it. Nicole made pumpkin chocolate soup as she transferred the flax seed and yellow caps into the bowl.
To enhance the children’s fine motor skills, we had a table where they got to string leaves on a pipe cleaner. The children punched a hole on the leaf to be able to get it in the pipe cleaner. Some children were particular as to what pattern they were making. Linden only wanted big leaves on her pipe cleaner. While Aj, made a necklace with
brown and red leaves alternating.
At the park, the children enjoyed throwing leaves up in the air. Midas, Chelsea and Nicole were curious about the big muddy puddle. At first, they started walking across it. Then they jumped on it. But what got them really curious was what will happen if they put leaves in the puddle. Each of them started to put one each. Chelsea said “One leaf floats”. Nicole gathered more leaves and put in the puddle as well. Chelsea saw it and said, “Some float, some sink”. Midas found a rock and dropped it in the puddle as well. Nicole said “For sure that will sink”.
With our first visit to our Grand Pals. The children got to paint fall trees using q-tips. Both the children and the Grand Pals tried to help each other create their masterpieces.
I am looking forward to other activities that we will be doing to explore fall a little bit more. We will be concluding this exploration with a Pumpkin Patch Field Trip next week. I wonder where that experience will take the children’s interest to.
Until next time,
Teacher Patricia
Comments
October 25, 2018, 11:18 AM
Power of Play ~ Fine Art and Sciences M/W/F Class
“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” - Mr. Rogers
Hello families, the children are working hard at school! Translation, they have been playing hard which in reality is their way of learning and interacting in their world. They are learning through play. There are so many key factors that play is important to a child’s development, it is the foundation of their early learning stages. Play develops many skills in young children such as problem solving, working with others, language, creativity and socials skills to name some.
Here is Cecily developing many skills like recognizing different animals and sorting like ones together. This is helping her learn math and science. She has also built little homes for her farm which is using her problem-solving skills, creativity, imagination and her fine motor skills.
Ronin, Daya, Laura and Ayden are using their social skills and language skills by sharing and taking turns while playing at the Lego table. The children are also developing their imagination, creativity and problem-solving skills as they build their masterpieces. This group playing is an opportunity for the children to observe and listen to each other which will help them with their emotional development.
These three friends, Cecily, Jayce and Chloe are creating funny faced jack o lanterns. They are interacting and communicating with one another which leads to building their vocabulary and language skills. They are all learning to negotiate and take turns since they are working together on one pumpkin. These skills that they are learning, they will use their entire lives.
Here is Ronin H playing with wooden cars and trains. He is problem solving by putting the appropriate pieces together to build his vehicles. He is recognizing the different sizes and shapes by putting them in order. This play is helping him to build his fine motor skills and his concentration.
As you can see, play is an integral part of how a child learns and develops. It provides their learning journey.
Until next time, Deanna
Until next time, Deanna
October 18, 2018, 01:45 PM
Westham Island Farm Pumpkin Patch Field Trip ~ Fine Art and Sciences
M/W/F Class
Hello families, we have been
transitioning into our class and it has been a very exciting month. Already we have begun our “All about me”
books, celebrated Thanksgiving and baked cranberry muffins. Not to mention all the other activities the
children have participated in such as making their lanterns for our upcoming
lantern festival on October 19th, celebrating friend’s birthdays,
and exploring the many signs of the fall season. To further extend our learning and curiosity
of autumn, we find it fitting to tie in a visit to the pumpkin patch.
Our first field trip of the school
year was a success. Woohoo! We had
beautiful sunny weather and our families to join us on this memorable day at
the pumpkin farm.
Then it was off to another barn where
Marcelle talked about the fall harvest.
It was surprising to find out that Daya enjoys many vegetables and
Cecily could name most of them. The
purple carrot stumped all of us because we thought the inside of the carrot
would also be purple, but Marcelle proved us wrong by breaking it in half and
revealing to the surprised children that it was actually orange inside.
Now, it was time to visit the farm
animals. All the children were very
excited to discover what animals lived on this farm. Chickens were first and one could even do a
jumping trick with an apple then on to the dwarf goats. Marcelle fed them hay and made them jump on
to large rocks. We then saw Masey and her son, they are the cows at the farm
and then last but not least, we met a donkey. I am pretty confident to say the
children enjoyed the animal part of the tour the best. I have a good feeling that we will be
extending on farm animals in the coming weeks in our classroom. We then got ready to get what we came
for...our pumpkins!
The children were all very excited to
pick out their own pumpkins and I saw many of them choosing carefully to call
their own. Jayce picked out a yellow
pumpkin, colour was his determining factor and Cecily was taking her time to
choose the most perfect one to take home. Others, like Asher, Thomas and Ronin
seemed to have no problem finding their pumpkin of choice.
Field trips are fun and exciting for
children, they provide great opportunities for additional learning and
outside experiences just by changing their environment. It creates connections which then help build
social, emotional and cognitive structures for them. It is done by making memories which foster
expansions of their learning by recounting what they saw, heard or experienced. Which then leads to an opportunity to have a
dialogue with our children. You will be
amazed at the details of what they remember, that many of us adults won't
retain. Field trips provide new
experiences which leads to critical thinking for a child.
I
hope everyone enjoyed themselves and got some great photo opportunities.
Until
next time, Deanna
Comments (1)
October 2, 2018, 02:05 PM
SLOWLY SETTLING…
We are just completing the first two weeks of our preschool program and completing the “gradual entry” that some children participated in. As educators, it has been amazing to see how effectively the children are embracing the routines and components of our classroom. It is also incredible to see you they are already forging friendships as they enter into the educational play experiences provided here!
We have already seen many creative collaborations as the students have entered into opportunities to paint, build, imagine, dig, read, sing, draw and discover new things both indoors and outside. Hopefully you can already see that our emphasis is to provide as many meaningful multi-sensory play opportunities as possible each day that we are together.
Since the Fall weather has been quite wonderful, we have enjoyed collecting some nature items (leaves, sticks, dandelions, etc.) that we can bring inside and continue to explore and use or play with in some way.
Please remember that we appreciate you sending weather appropriate outdoor apparel for your child each day. Also, please send your child a healthy snack and water each time they attend…exploring and playing can make them hungry!
If you have any questions concerning our preschool program, please feel free to approach us and we will try our best to answer you. We are looking forward to an amazing year of learning and exploring together!!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Lori
Preschool Educator
Fine Arts & Science; Tuesday/Thursday
Settling Into Preschool
September 20, 2018, 01:44 PM
Settling into Preschool
During the first few days of preschool it has been wonderful to see the children settling into the classroom and enjoying the various activities. It’s very interesting to watch and support the different emotions each one of the children and families are feeling. Some children are happy to say good-bye whist others are wondering why mom left, no matter what the children and families are feeling we are here to support you and confident this is a milestone in children’s lives that will allow them to understand their emotions and act upon what they are feeling and grow from it. We feel its important for children to allow themselves to feel sad, mad, angry and if they are feeling that at anytime and know we support them to understand its going to get better and that sad, mad, angry feeling do pass.
Here are some pictures of our first weeks in class:
During the first few days of preschool it has been wonderful to see the children settling into the classroom and enjoying the various activities. It’s very interesting to watch and support the different emotions each one of the children and families are feeling. Some children are happy to say good-bye whist others are wondering why mom left, no matter what the children and families are feeling we are here to support you and confident this is a milestone in children’s lives that will allow them to understand their emotions and act upon what they are feeling and grow from it. We feel its important for children to allow themselves to feel sad, mad, angry and if they are feeling that at anytime and know we support them to understand its going to get better and that sad, mad, angry feeling do pass.
Here are some pictures of our first weeks in class:
Until next post,
Jess