A New Year - 4 Hour Class

The children have all settled back into class and let me say, everybody has gotten taller and more mature since Christmas break. Is it the New Year and something magical occurred? On the first day back, Duke wore a very smart red sport coat which had medal like patches on it. He was so very proud to be wearing it and told us about the story behind it. He wasn’t the only child who had a new look; there was Chloe, Georgia, Kianne, Sara and Adonis who had new haircuts to come back to school with. A New Year and new changes were definitely in order. We also have two new faces in our class, one being teacher Rikki and a new student named Mikaeyla. Please join me in giving them a warmest welcome to our class.

So, what has been going on this month? We made pancakes which was a huge success. The children were busy measuring and mixing the ingredients. We discussed all the things that go into making the pancake and had a chance to feel, smell and look at all the ingredients. Christina, Lucas and Sara carefully cracked the eggs into the bowl. I have to say, there were no egg shells in our batter as they were very skillful in avoiding it. Keira, Andrew, Georgia and Jaden all took turns mixing the batter and using their muscles.

 The children all ate together and thoroughly enjoyed their own cooking. All the children liked syrup with their pancakes. Some children had second helpings since they claimed it was delicious.

 

During circle time, teacher Patricia read the funny story, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”. The children thought it was funny since they could relate to the story because of the sticky syrup.

Since the children were very excited about the snow and ice that was occurring outside, we decided to make frozen coloured ice pucks for our sensory table. We added some water to make it even more interesting and to add another dimension to this activity. It was a popular table. Adonis enjoyed pouring the water over the pucks and seeing the water change colours. Dana enjoyed using a spoon to stir, and pour the water over her frozen pucks but then decided to get her hands into it as well.

 

As time went on the frozen pucks started to melt and a learning moment occurred. The children were wondering why the pucks were getting smaller. Then, we went outside to play and when we came back the children noticed there were no frozen pucks. Adonis asked, “What happened to them?” “Did somebody take them?” said, Duke. Oh it was a great moment for a teacher. So, we did an impromptu before circle and discussed what could have happened. We went from sensory to science from one activity. This is a great example of how we try to provoke questions, discussions and interests with your children during their time in class.

Until next time,

Deanna