Taking Care of our Yard

It's  important to instill a sense of responsibility and pride in children. We spent some time cleaning our school yard today. 

Investigating Seeds

We've been discussing the life cycle of a pumpkin during circle time. At the science centre this week children had the opportunity to explore the inside of various squashes and pumpkins.

They used tweezers and spoons to take out the inside and scooped it into bowls. We also used magnifying glasses to see this goop up close!

Using tweezers is great fine motor practice for strengthening little fingers - perfect for later writing and drawing success!

Some of our children are planning on planting these seeds.  Do you think they will grow?

Through The Eyes Of A Child

Cleaning up our gardens

Now that the colder weather is here it has been time to clean up the gardens in front of our school. The children were very eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work raking, gathering, and bagging the yard waste.

Taking care of our play space helps to build responsibility and care for our outdoor space.  It also helps children understand the changing of the seasons and how plants change when the weather gets colder.

Raking and gathering plants outside also works children's small and large muscles and is great exercise.

Thank you Mrs. St. Onge and friends!

Following Shawn in France on his blog

We had the opportunity to Skype with our friend Shawn again this week and we learned he has his own blog in France. We decided to check it out to see what exciting things he's been doing with his family while overseas.

While on Shawn's blog we saw pictures of some real castles that he had visited recently. This sparked a great interest in what real castles look like, and the children decided to investigate by building their own using the big blocks.

They referred back to the pictures of the castles from Shawn's blog for reference while building their own.

This inspired rich discussion as the children compared their castle to the one on the blog, and used rich vocabulary to describe the process of building and the parts of their castle.

Delicious Fruit Smoothies

Sometimes cooking doesn't involve a heat source like a stove. Mrs. Bennett led some children in a very fun and engaging cooking activity that used a blender and fresh ingredients!

 The recipe was written using PECS (picture exchange communication system). PECS are an easy way to communicate and the pictures help children 'read' what is needed in the recipe.

Working together the children measured, poured, and blended the ingredients into a delicious smoothie!

Not only was this activity fun, the children learned that healthy treats can also be super delicious!

Moments In Time