West Richmond Preschool

Last night we had our farewell dinner at Terra Nova Park. Twenty years later and this event remains to be very difficult. Emotionally I mean. And how can it not be? For ten months I have seen these children for 12 hours per week- not much on the grand scale but it does translate to lots of time to develop our relationships. And, although families promise to come back and visit, we all know and understand it will never be the same. Yesterday morning, very early, I went for a walk to try to gather my thoughts on the year past. As I walked along the paths, I had flashes of moments that the class shared. The moments are plentiful; rich in sound, colour, and emotion. These moments will live with me for a long time. They will not all be weighted equally, some will fade, some will remain more prominent. Some will be dormant for a time and then suddenly burst into the forefront. Memories are odd like that. But the creation of these memories is really and truly what I feel so privileged to be...

Today was our last day volunteering at the Richmond Food Bank. I am so grateful we had this opportunity– it has been an extraordinary experience for all of us. I, myself, have been very lucky to work in a community where I have seen dedicated volunteers working countless hours for people and projects they believe in. In my own community centre, the staff devote extra hours for many events, all to help strengthen our community. From these experiences grew a desire within me to try to share this with our children. How can we make them generous with their time and energy for the good of others? How can we teach them to be giving people– people that think of others? Are they too young for these concepts? In my need to answer these questions, I sought to find a volunteer opportunity for them. I thought about many different ideas but the food bank always came out ahead. I was lucky enough to come across an open-minded and risk-taking individual– let's face it, preschoolers gett...

Two weeks ago we were gifted four chrysalises from Alexa's mother, an elementary school teacher. It was very kind of her to donate them to our classroom and we were most appreciative for this unique gift. We read through the instructions and set up their home.  On Friday, I decided to take them home with me just in case they needed care over the long weekend. And, predictably, the butterflies emerged over the weekend. I was ready for their arrival after reading and re-reading the instructions to ensure success. I felt so responsible for the life of these butterflies. I was eager to share this event with the children as I knew they would be totally ecstatic! We had decided to release them at Terra Nova so they could enjoy a peaceful and joyful existence. We met at the farm and the kids were amazed at their beauty!  They are truly lovely and I was so glad to hear the positive comments from the children. They were very impressed and we briefly went over the metamorphosis t...

Today our children had an amazing opportunity to work with Glen Anderson, a local artist specializing in mosaics. You can see his work at http://www.mosaicplanet.net . I met Glen last year at Urban Weavers Studio in Strathcona. I asked him many, many questions about mosaics, all of which he patiently answered with expertise. I was gearing up for an art project in our preschool class so I really wanted to get any pointers I could from him. The plan was to have our students make mosaic tiles to place along our fence at the garden plot at Terra Nova Farm. They worked out very well, thanks to Glen's great advice and it was a beautiful moment when child and parent hung the stones at the farm on our last day of school. It was a moment of great pride for all of us. The garden that they cared for with their own hands- tended to its needs in sunshine and in rain. They will always remain part of that space, that land and their stone will remind them of this connection. Even though they turne...

An insanely windy day brought delight to children and adults alike. Before heading out into the wind, fearful comments were made from various children. "I am scared of the wind." "What if the wind blows me away?" "The wind is too cold." "The wind hurts my ears." "The wind is too too windy!" These comments were a provocation for me as an educator. I felt that if we could just get the children out there they would learn to see, hear, and feel the wind in new ways. They could discover it's power without being harmed. They could find the music in the wind, the soft caresses of the wind. So, coats on, hoods up, and nervous energy exploding, we ventured out to brave the element of wind. We marched along the cemented path, holding onto our jackets and fingers gripping our hoods, trying to keep every hair strand inside, until..... we came across a huge pile of beautiful pink, delicate cherry blossoms. The blossoms were waiting for us, lik...

A few weeks ago, our buddy teacher and I got together to plan some activities around Earth Day. During one of his teaching practicums, Kevin was introduced to the Popcorn Project. It is an interesting exercise that sheds light on the idea of ecology,sustainability and reducing our ecological footprint. The group is divided into four generations; the first generation has only 2 people and then each subsequent generation has more and more people. There is a large mound of popcorn on a communal table. Each person is given a bag and instructed to take as much popcorn as they wish, providing it fits into their bag. The first generation begins helping themselves to popcorn and then the second and so on. Of course, the fourth generation was left with nothing. Some interesting moments occurred during this exercise: The first and second generations mostly filled their bags to the brim. Some people really stuffed their bags while others took barely any. The fourth generat...

These images will tell tales of our day at Terra Nova.... Emily