West Richmond Preschool

Last week in our classroom, we had a gourd and pumpkin store for children to explore. Close to it was a dinosaur set-up. At first, the children were taking turns buying the pumpkins and being the cashier. But towards the end of free play time, the dinosaurs started buying pumpkins from the store.   Mateo brought the dinosaur to the store and bought a pumpkin from Aiden. Mateo said “My dinosaur wants to buy some pumpkins”. Aiden replied with “How many?”. Mateo then said “Just one”.   Mateo & Loen brought more dinosaurs to buy more pumpkins and gourds.     Mateo said that the dinosaurs are buying pumpkins to decorate their Halloween Party. The dinosaurs bought all the pumpkins and gourds. Mateo and Loen lined up all the dinosaurs and the pumpkins and gourds. Once they were done, the party started.   When Mateo and Loen were done with their Halloween party, Lalita and Era brought the dinosaurs, pumpkins and gourds to the store. This t...

I was looking forward to our Pro D Day because Gina had booked an art class at 4 Cats Studio at Garden City Centre in Richmond. It was different from other workshops, giving me a sense of how children feel when they are doing or making their own art work. Jumping Judy was our instructor and took us to the back of the studio where we sat at a large table across from each other. I felt this was important because you can engage with one another and share ideas about the art that we were going to do just like we do at preschool with the children.     Jumping Judy began by giving us all a square wooden box. This got me thinking what could we be making with this? She then explained about a product called Liquid Vitrous, which we would mix into the paint colors we would be choosing for our box. This liquid gives the paint a runny, glossy look when it dries. Jumping Judy showed us some samples of the effects it has when mixed in paint and how it changes the pattern. ...

We decided to go for a Discovery Walk around the community centre, we talked about the safety of staying close by, however, being able to discover freely in the spaces we stopped to explore. Each child was given his/her brown paper bag to collect things of interest that they would like to share or talk about later on.   Our first stop was a small grass area along side the school, The children were happy to search so carefully for things of interest on this small area of grass,   (no one ran back into the playground which was close by to us.) some of the children came over shouting what they had found a stick, leaf, garbage, which opened up a conversation about where garbage belongs. We then moved along to a small hill area just behind the school. The children enjoyed picking acorns, guessing where they came from, questioning what maybe inside the acorn, how to open the acorn? When questions of curiosity are asked we, as teachers, observe other children colla...

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we decided to bake “Cranberry Tarts” with the children so they could create a treat to share with their family!   Before we began this experience, I sat down with all the children and explained that we would be working in groups of five to make these yummy gifts.    I also asked the children to start to think of things that they were thankful for so we could discuss it later. Each group of children washed their hands and helped to stir the mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg and corn syrup.   Then each child individually filled two tart shells with “5” cranberries.   These baking details supported their understanding of measuring, mixing and also counting.   Once each tart was filled, they were placed into the oven and we waited for them to finish baking. When we all gathered in a circle once again, I asked the children “What are you thankful for?”   Some children offered these thoughts…”I am than...