West Richmond Preschool

Autumn has arrived! We have been busy playing, exploring and learning in the classroom, while watching the children’s creativity and learning blossom!   Exploring with play dough using wiggly eyes and decorative leaves.   Painting with cars.   Discovering colors and shapes.   Drawing and creating with leaves.    Being creative with a birdcage & Lego. As the seasons turn from summer to fall, the children have been observing the changes in the weather and the trees. They were wondering about the different colors; so we went to the park to pick fallen leaves and brought them back to the classroom for closer observation.     Making a tree collage.   Observing and drawing a maple leaf.   Tracing part of a leaf puzzle. We will be learning and discovering much more as time goes by. Stay tune for more of our classroom adventures! (Karen, Michelle, Sandy, and...

We began one of our circle discussions with a question for the children, “What would you like to learn, wonder or hear about?” Here is what they said:    “Skateboarding, Soccer, Perches” (Connor) “Bikes” (Taylor) “Going outside to see if I left my toy” (Jun)  “The Sun” (Jack) “Rollerskating and Swimming” (Daniella)"Skating” (Noel) “Ball” (Sofie) “Scooter and Tricycle” (Masaki) “Shoes” (Ashlan) “When you put something under a pillow you can find it” (Tia) “Soccer” (Kyle) From my list I noticed quite a few of the children were interested in wheels, so at our next circle discussion we looked closely at a scooter and a pair of roller skates – as well as the wheels on a long board. The conversation brought up more questions and answers, which the children confidently discussed amongst themselves. One of the questions was “What makes this a scooter?” The conversation followed with “The scooter has a handle and a brake” and “I know how to ride a long board.” ...

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we made cranberry sauce to take home to our families. The children observed the cranberries, smelled the cinnamon sticks, squeezed juice out of oranges and cut apples into pieces. Then we put them all into a pot.        We then added sugar and water to our cooking pot and waited patiently for the ingredients to boil. The children noticed steam rising from the pot and concluded that the pot must be very hot. They checked in with the teacher every few minutes to see if it was still hot. When the cranberry sauce cooled down, the children were amazed how the ingredients had changed into yummy cranberry sauce.   Before and after photos of our cranberry sauce. The children counted the cups to be filled with cranberry sauce and decorated doilies for a finishing touch. We hope they were enjoyed at home and that you had a happy Thanksgiving! (Karen, Michelle, Sandy, and Matt)

HOW TO MAKE A GAME USING MOSAIC TILES STEP 1: Assess your assets In this example we had plastic triangular mosaic tiles (a) and ceramic square mosaic tiles (b)  a) b) In this case we discovered several ways to play with them seperately (see pictures) pile them up line them up stack them or build houses The ceramic tiles had a base that became a natural board for a game to be created on. STEP 2: Create the game In this case we combined our materials for board set up adding triangles adding squares STEP 3: Determine the rules of the game In our case the object of the game is to get the triangles out. This is achieved by moving the squares that are safe to touch and not moving the squares that aren't. What determines whether or not a square is safe? The colour. Colour Code BLUE - electrocutes you BLACK - sucks you in GREEN - turns you into a troll WHITE - skeletons T...

DAY 1: On the first day of class the children saw me up on the tree, nibbling a nut. They were all pointing and looking at me, which made me feel a bit like a movie star. I think they were excited to see a furry creature near their playing area. Julia pointed to the acorn on the ground and identified what it was. She said that those were my favorite, and she was right! The children gathered around Julia and looked for acorns. As they were searching, I quickly tried to run down the tree and escape the limelight - but they saw me! Chloe F. said that I was going home and that is why I got down from the tree. The children started to talk about where I live and what my house looked like. DAY 2: The children gathered some materials from outside so that they could make me a home. I saw them gather some sticks, leaves and grass. The children filled a tray full of materials for my new home. Chantel said that the grass could be my soft bed, while Claire said that the leaves could b...