West Richmond Preschool

I thought to myself  "I don't have anything special to write about this week". But the truth is, I have been finding everything special in our class. Each and every moment, there is a child doing something interesting. What is interesting? Building with Keva planks Washing paint off hands and arms Changing from boots to shoes Pretending to sell fruits and vegetables Arguing over the cash register Reading a book alone on a couch Tearing masking tape off its roll Drawing raccoons Opening a snack container Eating noodles without spilling them all over the floor Creating a shopping list for making sushi tomorrow Running, jumping, leaping, falling on the turf Playing football ( yes, football complete with proper ball and teams!) Going to the bathroom so independently Taking turns, sometimes with ease, sometimes with great difficulty Listening in group discussion time Sharing their thoughts in group discussion time Negotiating who sits where and with whom

 Rising….the title of our community art project. In embarking on this art project, I made a pledge to myself that I would not lose focus on the process and become too product oriented. The idea that started small became large and although I was excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with an accomplished artist, I really did not want to lose sight of the goal of the project; to create a unique, visually appealing, vibrant piece of art that involved our community and made a statement about our centre. And, happily, this is exactly how this project is shaping up! Jeanette Lee, our resident artist, is truly amazing on all fronts. She is dedicated more then one could have imagined; her attention to detail is exemplary; her commitment to the student's ideas is solid and respectful; her ability to conceptualize the piece using their ideas and drawings is brilliant. Honestly, I could not have asked for a better fit to work with our Preschoolers, Out of School children, Youth

We always love celebrating Chinese New Year! The community is abuzz with the excitement of a new year in the Lunar calendar. Bonnie was tasked with organizing all the activities and she did a wonderful job! She set up lots of different stations for the children to explore. Lantern making Cooking Figures to act out stories Chinese character writing Food in dress-up area Treasures One of my favourite stations was the "Build your own Lion Dance Head". Rather than offer them something already with a predicted artistic outcome, Bonnie put out materials to create a piece they could use in a lion dance. Boxes, tape, toilet paper rolls, cotton, markers, scissors and shiny red paper were placed on a table for the children to use as they needed. Kahlen worked hard! She wanted pointy teeth! The Lion Dance  I overheard the following snippets of conversation at this station: Miele: We needs lots of tape. Kahlen: We need