Thursday 29 March 2018

Infant Room - March Update

Wow, has this month gone by fast!  The snow is melting and spring is on its way, and with that is puddles, YAY!!  We look forward to splashing in them soon.

This month we said good-bye to Bo and said hello to Nolan.  With Easter on its way, we decorated eggs, colored baby chicks with crayons and had an egg hunt.  The children enjoyed all the activities. 

During spring break, we watched a magic show put on by, Ryan Price.  We saw a stuffed bunny turn into a real bunny!  After the show, we were able to get a closer look at the bunny too.  On Thursday, we had so much fun bouncing and sliding in the bouncy castle!

Tuesday 20 March 2018

The Littles - February Update

We had tons of fun trying to fill up our thermometer for "I love to read" Month.  We would like to say thank you to all the parents, grandparents, our MLA and all the school age "secret readers" for spending time with us and reading some really great books.  We also did a lot of literacy activities and stories this month but our favorites, the ones we did over and over again, were:
- There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Puck
- Pete the Cat (CD story)
- Puff the Magic Dragon
- letter fishing
- painting with letters
- finding "invisible" letters
- making our own road map

We are all excited to see what is in sore for the next month as we roll into spring and plan for our pizza party!!

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Older Floor - Febraury Update

Phew, February flew by and what a month we had!

We were challenged to complete 50 literacy based activities and we surpassed that with full team effort.  We had many family volunteers who came out to read to our group and we are extremely fortunate to have had all of you come... from all of us, THANK YOU!!

We filled up our sensory bin with colored rice and adding in alphabet letters, measuring cups and spoons.  The children have had a lot of fun with this and we've heard many of them saying "I found the letter ___" or, "Look, this is the letter your name starts with" and, "My name has this in it."  What a great and easy way to promote literacy and conversations between children.

We have started our friendship/fill your bucket theme and we have already noticed the children saying kind things to each other.  Here are a few quotes we have overheard so far, "I want to fill ____'s bucket", "you filled my bucket by saying that", "that hurts my feelings but you can still fill my bucket" and, "did I fill your bucket?"  We have set up some buckets on the bulletin board at the back of the room that we are going to be spending the next moth or so working on and adding these quotes to the children involved. We cannot wait to see the positive outcome from this extra little program!

The skating program ended on February 28th, for the Butterflies and on March 1st, for the Caterpillar's and we are sad that it has come to an end.  Those 5 weeks flew by and we are really enjoyed watching the children strengthen their skills.  Some of the children couldn't' quite stand up on the first day but by the end, they were taking steps and getting up unassisted.  We saw lots of children's smiles grow bigger and bigger each week and it was incredible experience for everyone involved!

We are excited to have some special events and visitors planned during Spring Break, March 26 - 30.  Keep an eye out for this information soon!

School Age - February Update

During "I Love to Read Month", we have been challenged to provide the children with 50 literacy experiences and we are proud to say we have!  Even though they had their own reading challenges at school, we were all impressed with at how well the children participated here at the Centre.  Many of the children volunteered to read to the younger children (infant and preschool) and Heather, Sheena and Jas really promoted literacy activities such as fables, acrostic poems, word splashes and, collage picture books.

Our mornings have been filled with all sorts of play, like; kinetic sand, Uno, beyblades, LOL dolls/Polly Pocket and blocks.  Recently, Heather went through the cupboards and found some wonderful small group, quiet table top activities.  We've noticed that children who don't typically play with one another have bonded over these activities.

The children have also been interested in the different pattern activities that have been provided; elastic pattern boards, mini wooden shape blocks and, colored peg boards. While there is always plenty of interest in the art area, Heather added some recycled cardboard and it has really tested the children's imagination and has been fun watching them create all kinds of projects. 

If you haven't noticed yet, Devon worked so hard on turning our dramatic play area into an Airport!  The children have been playing in this area a lot, especially during the days the kindergarten children are here.  Some children have been heard saying, "I'm going to Mexico" or "Let's go to Sweden". 

We are looking forward to March and have some special things planned already for Spring Break so keep your eyes and ears open for more information!

Toddle Bots - February Update

Another wonderful month has passed.  We were challenged this month to do as many literacy activities with it being "I Love to Read Month" so we read so many books, did so many fun activities and the children were engaged throughout the whole month.  We had some pretty amazing guest readers that came to read to us and we would like to thank everyone for participating in this amazing challenge. 

We focused on the alphabet and really took a look at each letter - what it looks like, sounds like, and what words start with that letter.  We plan to continually do our letter games (matching the letters by coloring both of the letters with the same color).  We are keeping their papers so you can see how well they did.

The children have really enjoyed magnetic stories and are requesting them all the time, so we created about 10-15 more stories!  Most of them start to sing along and each child gets to put their piece back in the bag when the story is done.

You may have noticed that we changed our room around a few times.  We moved the lockers back to the entrance of the Toddle Bot space so that you don't have to worry about opening the divider and having children follow you in.  The Toddle Bots seem to enjoy seeing the changes in the room!

We are still looking for some donations and a volunteer to build a small water table for us!  Please contact Sheena, Jana or Brittany if you are interested in helping out.