West Richmond Preschool

Yesterday was our last day visiting our Grandpals at Courtyard Gardens. The early days were sometimes a challenge as our children were often shy to just jump in and strike up a conversation with these older adults. And, on the other side, some of our Grandpals were unsure how to talk to our children or what to do with them. However, each time we saw them, it was obvious their feelings of uncertainty and trepidation were slowly being left behind. Relationships are difficult and it can take a while to build up trust. And, this is where the commitment piece comes in. We must stay committed to the building of a relationship for it to be successful. It would have been easy to let this program go, to decide that it wasn't worth it. But, as educators and community advocates, we see great value in these types of connections and thus we did not simply 'throw in the towel' on this program. Yesterday's visit truly epitomised the meaning of these relationships and I believe we are ...

It was a lovely sunny morning; in fact it was too nice to be inside and since we are trying to incorporate more activities on our balcony, I thought it would be fun and exciting to have our opening sharing circle outside. I feel blessed to work with two other educators who say "yes" to most of my crazy ideas so we set up outside. The children were excited upon entering the room to hear that circle was outside.  I wondered if the children would be distracted or tempted to run around. Would every bird, plane, weed wacker or car honk interfere with their ability to listen? And then I thought– so what if it does! Isn't that the joy of being outside, of placing ourselves in a new surrounding? Despite my openness to this potential, the children were actually very focused and I would venture to say that they were perhaps more alert than usual. After spending time outdoors, admiring the gardening project from the other preschool classes, some children went inside...

The sun was shining, the air was warm and there was a lightness in everyone's step. The buddies arrival was different this time- there was a familiarity that was underlying this visit. They entered the room with confidence and a knowledge of what was to come. This is always an interesting point in relationships when the unfamiliar becomes familiar- not boring just comfortable. I believe that once relationships enter this phase, there is an ability to be true to oneself and express oneself freely. We let our guards down slightly and feel able to take risks within the relationship. In listening to the conversations between the big and small buddies, it was apparent they had come to this place in their relationship. Anticipating  it to be a sunny day, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to make sun prints. Sun prints produce such dramatic effects. It is amazing to watch the colour transformation occur right before your eyes! The buddies were so helpful- finding letters to write ...

This is a photo of our current documentation board that is home to pictures and stories of our latest inquiry on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I am so elated about the excitement this board has been generating that I had to blog about it! Previously Bonnie had been posting some documentation on a board inside the classroom but it did not seem to get noticed. I believe it was due to its location as one must go out of their way to look at it. I have always felt strongly that documentation must be easily accessible to parents (like this blog) otherwise it is shared only among staff and a few parents. Documentation has many functions but primarily it is about sharing a child's educational experiences with parents and teachers so that we can support their learning. In order to achieve the goal of accessibility, we decided to move the documentation to the outside bulletin board, which is right outside the classroom and gets a lot of foot traffic. Wow, does product plac...

When I was in our storage cupboard, it suddenly dawned on me that we have not used our standard blocks in a long, long while. Well, it seems the children felt that way too as they were so excited when they saw them in the classroom. A flurry of children ran over to the carpet once free play began. They frantically began to pull out the blocks, no matter the size or shape. There was a sense of urgency in their movements almost as if they were frightened that if they didn't take them out fast enough, they would be taken away. The following conversation took place during building: Rhys: We are making a house. Emma: Yes, we are. Rhys: Excuse me, Connor, the road is in the way. Connor: The road is getting bigger. Matias: Make this here. Connor: Look at this big house. I made a big, big, big house. Rhys: No Connor, I am making a road. Sebastian (entering the play area): Is this a volcano or something? Who built that? Connor: We are making a house. Emma: We are makin...