West Richmond Preschool

Every year, the West Richmond Community Centre hosts West Fest; an end-of-summer free family event held on the last Wednesday in August. This western-themed event includes live entertainment, face painting, bouncy castles, pie eating contents, relays, BBQ concession, and a photo booth! At dusk, the crowd settles in for a screening of a feature-length film – this year we’ll be showing Big Hero 6. It’s a lovely way to spend a late summer evening. The grass may be brown, but we are thinking green for this event! Arrive by bike or on foot to be entered into a draw, and refill your reusable water bottles at Save-On-Foods’ water refilling station! EVENT DETAILS: Date:  Wednesday August 26 Time:  6:30-10:30pm (movie begins at dusk) Location:  West Richmond Community Centre (9180 No. 1 Road) This event is free. BBQ concession available. For more information, call the front desk at 604-238-8400

For the last blog of the year I thought it would be fitting to take a look back at some highlights from this past year! The clips that I am able to show on the blog are limited, but I was able to make a few highlight reels... In the classroom we had a lot of fun this year playing with blocks, building tracks, doing art, reading, dancing, dressing up, cooking, and doing puzzles... just to name a few! Here's a look at our time in the classroom: We also went on some special outings which included the pumpkin patch, Island Pets, the library, visiting our grandpals, "Ready, Set, Learn!", Richmond nature park,  ice skating, several beaches and a few forests... here's a glimpse of some of them: And, of course, playgrounds! We went to a wide range of parks with a wide range of challenges! It was always exciting to see the children growing in confidence and skill sets!  Some of the parks we went to were: Queen's Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Stanley Park, B...

Children naturally seek company. Here in our classroom, we have proudly enjoyed observing how the preschoolers have transitioned from parallel play to social play. This milestone was accomplished through nurturing, educating and, most importantly, respecting and understanding each child for their individual personalities and development levels. At this time of the year, we can visually see the children make this transition with each other. They are no longer playing alongside each other. Instead, we see many groups playing among themselves and hear conversations filled with expressive and descriptive words. The preschoolers also give and take turns with little to no teacher support.     Taya pushes Ava on the swing – a plan the girls worked out after trying to pump their legs on the swings!  Lily and Emma are working out how to sit on the swing. Emma holds the swing, while Lily jumps on. Tiffany pushes Aleah on the swing. Matthew, Ca...

I’ve noticed many of the children race to the art/material table after the morning welcome circle, and I wonder what attracts them to this space. Could it be the inviting materials? Or maybe because, having just experienced self-expression during circle time, the children need to expand and illustrate their thoughts and ideas further? Drawing is known as the “silent language.” When children begin to draw and paint, they begin an intellectual journey. Drawing also symbolizes what children know and feel, and is essential for those who have limited verbal skills. Cognitively, drawing provides children with rich ways of thinking, knowing and expressing their worlds. It affectively visualizes emotions a child may not be ready to verbally express. Drawing is a key component to a child’s development in the early years.         Jack is making some scribbles. This allows Jack to enjoy and express emotions with the many colors he us...

For Mother's Day the 4 hour class invited our mom's to join us for tea, treats, and a trip to the spa! We prepared by making signs for the spa. We decided to call our spa "Awesome Heart Spa" When our moms arrived we greeted them and they got to choose to  get a massage, have their hair or nails done, or to get a tattoo. After the spa alot of us sat down to read books and some spontaneous dancing broke out! We did a short presentation to the song  "A" You're Adorable We can't show the video on the blog because it shows our faces, but You can watch a silly animated version of the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tAprz_76KM Then we served tea and treats to our moms and sang some songs. A big thank you to all our moms for everything they do! We love our moms!! You can check out our board for more pictures

How does your garden grow? The children have been exploring bulbs and seeds. They decided to plant Iris bulbs several weeks ago and are excited about the developing shoots poking through the soil, the leaves and, this week, the signs of a flower emerging. How exciting for all of us! The children have developed a love of seeds and soil. We have explored the soil, roots and seeds of different plants. The dandelions are in full bloom around the playground. Many bouquets adorn  the classroom. The children have also noticed flowers turn to seed and blow away, starting new plants. We started to examine the flower and what’s inside.  All of the children were thoroughly engaged throughout this process. A tulip was also available for them to explore and touch. They noticed how delicate and soft the petals were.    The children wanted a closer look and a magnifying glass was provided for them. All this led to more exploration of ...