West Richmond Preschool

The children recently participated in making vegetable soup at Preschool. Each child contributed by bringing one vegetable to class, and by assisting in cutting up vegetables. We were pleased to see the wide variety of vegetables that the children brought to share.   The children learnt some new names of vegetables while playing the game “What Is Missing?” “Arugu... what?” said Charlie while trying to pronounce Arugula. Rutabaga also proved to be a challenging one. We spoke to the children about vegetables in general, their nutritional value, how they can be eaten, raw, cooked... and discussed which vegetables grow above the ground and which grow under. The felt board story Stone Soup was told while the soup was cooking in the class, and the wonderful smell of stewing vegetables could be smelt in the air.   After the story, the children sat down to try the soup they had made. Some were happy to simply have a taste, while others asked for seconds and ...

In our class, we try to go on a few outings during the month. Since September we have been on a few. To name some like the Nature Park, the Pumpkin P atch, the Recycling Depot, the Library, and to visit our Grand pals. Most recently, we have been to the Airport and to Larry Berg Flight Park. Going on field trips gives the children learning opportunities away from our regular class environment. It provides them with new experiences and challenges in a different setting than school. It helps them learn in an interactive manner and also provides hands on learning opportunities. For some it’s taking risks out of their comfort zone and for some it’s a way to experience new adventures with their peers. Other benefits of field trips are that they provide varied ways of learning which help children succeed if they are visual learners, auditory learners or kinetic learners. It is amazing to see what children see through their eyes and to listen to their comments and conversations among...

    This month, our preschool classroom has been filled with multi-sensory experiences for the children to explore! As educators, we have attempted to provide plenty of opportunities for each student to see, hear, touch, smell and taste using different activities. When we focused on “hearing”, we encouraged the boys and girls to try different musical instruments and see what sounds they make. At our art centre, the children “listened” to classical musical compositions as they created masks by “touching” and using different types of materials.   They were able to “see” their finished creations in a mirror when they were complete.   Last Tuesday we observed the students engaging dramatically in the play kitchen where they pretended to prepare different food items and “bake donuts” to share in a planned “pretend” party!   At circle time, each child was able to “taste” different types of flavours (lime, orange and apple sauce) on small...

Children are drawn towards things that change suddenly like color mixing. It seems to bring out the curiosity in them and further see what would happen if I try another color and so on. In the classroom we set up many areas for the children to mix and explore color mixing. Some children were able to grasp the concept of what will happen if I add a little of this color while others just needed to mix the whole colors together to see what happens. We had an interactive story called Mix it Up by Herve ‘Tullet     Cara makes the color purple and blue by mixing primary colours         Lucas prefers to use a   paint brush to mix colors       Elliot is mixing colors with his hands.               Keisha is looking at the colors she has made     Painting on sand paper with colors       ...