West Richmond Preschool

Although we are a nondenominational Preschool, we are appreciative of the many cultures and traditions in our diverse community. We explain to the children that there are numerous holidays and traditions. Some we know and some we may not know. When there is a holiday that is being celebrated by a family at our preschool, or a number of families, we see it as an opportunity for all to share that experience. It allows us to learn and grow, and encourages inclusion. It's wonderful when parents come into class and share a little of their culture with the Preschool. It benefits all the children in a very positive way. Recently we brought a little of the Chinese New Year into our Preschool. During Circle Time we shared the many ways Chinese New Year is celebrated: parades, fireworks, festive colours, traditional foods and more. A Chinese folk tale called “Little Mouse's Big Trick” was told using the 12 animals from the Chinese calendar.     Sophia and Taylor

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 ma

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: The children first explored the ice containers in the water table. Some of the comments were as follows: “This is really, really cold!” “ Look, look there is a face!” “It is melting, the ice is melting!” “Can I paint with this?” “

During our engaging time of free play, I had the pleasure of noticing the many languages of children. As their thinking evolves, children are encouraged to depict their understandings using many different representations, whether it is through blocks, felt board stories or a drawing. I would like to share with you some of my findings these past few weeks.    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