The Making of a Puppet Play

With some direction to a purposeful use of their creative skills, some friends were invited to develop a puppet play. With a goal in mind, the girls began their story.

They presented a haunted Halloween story, complete with set design and costumes!

 

The puppets were brought to the art studio and costumes were designed for each of the characters.

The costumes were decorated with the parts that the character had in the story the children were creating.

The story developed as the children worked on the costumes. Chatter was lively as the story took shape.



 The story took many directions. Each of the children added to the story in a different way as they created the costumes their characters were wearing.



 More children came to the art studio and brought puppets to create costumes for.

 

Collaboration continued throughout the morning. 

Now, many stories were developing.



When it was time for the puppet show, the children told the stories of their own characters part.

The 'Haunted Halloween Puppet Show' was confusing to listen too!



We had a wonderful discussion about puppet shows and stories.

Stories have a setting, characters and a beginning, middle and end.

The 'Haunted Halloween Puppet Show' had a setting. It was a house.

There were characters.

What was the story?

The teachers helped the children to tell their story with words like,

"How does your story begin?"

"Then what happened?"

"What did they do next?"

"How does your story end?"

 

And the children all sang...

"And that's the end of the story! And that's the end of the story!"

Big Sister Eva Shares Her Talent

Sometimes we don't have to go very for our families to connect with each other. This day, Alex's big sister Eva came all the way from Grade 1 to visit us and do a fantastic art activity with the children.

It was amazing to see how the children responded to someone that they had just enough in common with... but was grown up enough to be in Grade 1! Eva explained her puppet making activity and guided the eager friends along.

The children followed the very decorative instructions. Eva helped explain each step and talk about the materials that would be needed.

Each child made their own personal touches.

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Eva played at this very table. Thank you for visiting us Eva and showing the children all the fun learning they have to look forward to in Grade 1! 

Making a web outdoors

The children's interest in spiders continues! The stumps outside were the perfect spot for encouraging the creation of a large web playscape for the plastic spiders. The children had to work cooperatively as they wound the yarn around the stumps, replicating a spider web. This is a great way to encourage some dramatic play in our outdoor space!

Drama At The Stage

Did you know that a major part of success in reading is being able to understand and retell parts of a story? A great way to do this is to encourage children to act out stories that they know.

This week on the Suzuki Stage our children performed "The Big Pumpkin". Along with Mrs. St. Onge they gathered props and costumes, practiced the script and performed for a very eager audience!

Performing in front of peers helps children to gain confidence.

We are still seeing children wearing the costumes from the performance around the classroom and there is still much talk about what a fun activity this was!

The great outdoors

It's important to provide children with plenty of time to engage in uninterrupted play outside. Each morning our children start their day greeting one another in our outside play space, which has been created to replicate many of the play centres inside including dramatic arts, music, blocks, literacy, and fine motor play. These guided materials encourage children to interact with other children and adults in rich, meaningful contexts while providing time outdoors enjoying and appreciating nature!

Music and movement

Our goal is to help children see themselves as musicians. Music and movement activities help children develop cooperation and sharing skills. Gross motor skills developed through all forms of creative and expressive movement. In our classroom, both indoors and out, spontaneous music and movement happen everywhere. When children communicate through rhythm, or memorize a favorite song they build a solid base for future reading and writing. At home, you can help to encourage your child's creativity by joining in when your child is singing and dancing. Your child has learned lots of new songs this past school year so ask them to share a few. Enjoy the last few days of summer by taking walks and listening to the sounds of nature. Also providing props like scarves or ribbons will help your child become increasingly aware of how their own bodies move through space. Make music a part of your everyday life.