West Richmond Preschool

3 Yr Old Class & 4 Yr Old Class The children recently did balloon painting in class. We used large balloons with just a little air inside thus allowing the children to squish and bounce the balloons with no threat of their popping. This activity seemed to encourage children, who otherwise preferred to not get paint on their hands, to participate and begin to appreciate the fun in getting messy.         Another activity recently implemented in class, involved oil, a food-coloring and water mix, and droppers. The children seemed to enjoy this fine-motor activity. Learning to use the droppers and suck up the food coloring mix, was a learning curve, but most caught on with minimal guidance. The children seemed intrigued watching the drops of colour float around in the oil, and had fun mixing all the colors together, making loads of smaller drops. On this day, light colored paper was placed on the table and paper-tape was used to secure the paper and to make

Library Field Trip -M/W/F Fine Arts and Science  This month our class ventured out of our cozy classroom in order to visit the Brighouse Richmond Public Library. Our field trip began with a fun tour led by one of the knowledgeable librarians. As part of our tour we were able to take a behind-the-scenes look at where all of the books are checked in. We were even able to have take turns checking in some books using their large robot-looking machine! Next, we participated in one of the libraries weekly story times. Our students really seemed to enjoy this. There are so many wonderful resources at the library that go beyond checking books out such as the 3D printer tand resources for people in the community. Deanna and I were inspired by this field trip and so we decided to begin our first round of the share bag with our favorite books from home.  When it’s their turn students are to bring in their favorite book from home for us to read in class.  Students are al

CREATIVITY…IN COLOUR!!!  -T/Th Fine Arts & Science In our classroom we have recently been concentrating on the many different colours in the world around us. As Early Childhood Educators, when we consider the different experiences we offer the children to explore, we always hope to see them individually interact and also collaborate creatively. The last few weeks we have tried to provide a good variety of “colourful” activities to stimulate the children’s different senses, causing them to see, hear, touch and manually manipulate many different parts in their free play time. It has been interesting to encourage conversations about colours as the children play and converse at circle time….discussing their favourite colour, the colours of foods that we eat, the colou r of our shoes and clothes and the colours of the leaves changing around us. These chats allow us to know each other better and become more comfortable connecting with each other verbally. We have

  A Visit With Our Grand Pals - 4 hour class Another wonderful morning with our friends at “Grand Pals” senior centre (Courtyard Gardens Retirement Residence).  After our arrival, we all gathered in a cozy space at Grand Pals. The fireplace was running and soft music was already playing in the background! This truly set the atmosphere for a rainy morning together. Our friends at Grand pals had planned an activity to make “fruit loop” bracelets! Each preschooler gleamed with excitement when the sweet smell of fruit loops were poured into their plates. Although very tempting to eat, the little children showed great control and worked hard on putting together their bracelets.      There were some great interactions between the preschool children and the seniors: working together to string the fruit loops, problem solving as to how many could fit on a pipe cleaner, focus and eye hand coordination, and just simple joy and smiles exchanged amongst each other! The activ

From Leaf Picking to Seed Picking! Now that the children have settled in, we are noticing some children are exposed to sensory play for the first time and are avoiding the “messy stuff” in fear of getting their hands dirty. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, motor skills, problem solving skills and social interaction. To support our sensory play, we went outside to play in the leaves and then collect some colorful leaves. Hudson, Salma, Jessie and Jocelyn enjoyed jumping into piles of leaves they had gathered. We then collected leaves in a basket to take back to the classroom. Salma and Allison began putting glue onto leaves in class whilst Jocelyn and Jessie decided to do leaf rubbing using pencils. At circle time Barbi carved a pumpkin. Elias, Hudson, Jocelyn, Jessie, A.J, Allison, Elsa and Salma pick the seeds out of the pumpkin and they were collected into a bowl. Some of the words the children described when picking out the s

Fall and Harvest Exploration ~ Fine Arts & Science; Tuesday/Thursday Hello Families, October have been a busy month of sharing experiences and stories, cooking together, getting to know each other and feeling more and more comfortable in the classroom.   As part of our exploration about fall and harvesting, we learned about apples, by playing, tasting, reading and even cooking. We found out that most children preferred red apples We made apple sauce together to share with our families for Thanksgiving, apparently, for most of the children cutting with a knife was a brand-new experience, however they all did a remarkable work. In preparation for the Lantern Festival, the children painted and decorated lanterns.   The handles were made using wire and beads. Jessie, Jocelyn and Era made sure they filled the wire “all the way” while Scotia and Linden were seeking for the “special” ones. On the other hand, Siya searched and collected only pink beads because that is her fa

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 le