Every year, the entire month of February was dedicated to READING! It is called I Love To Read Month! The kindercare program was challenged to read SEVENTY-FIVE books, and we did it with ease! Reading is easy when you make it fun, right? We decorated a little square to add to the board every time a kindercare staff read to the children, this did not include when the children read on their own or when we had special guests read to us... and we read 76 books (I'd say we probably even read more but forgot to post some, we read all month!) We had several special guest read to us which included a Winnipeg Firefighter, an RCMP, a Radio Host and many, many parents!! We did Cosmic Kids, which is yoga that goes along to a story! We even created our own stories and presented them in many ways such as books, puppet shows, light shows, etc. How did you celebrate I Love to Read Month? Do you love reading as much as we do in Kindercare? We can't wait to continue reading and creating more stories to share with each other!!
- Amberly
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For a few weeks now the Ladybugs have been exploring with lights and shadows by using both the light table and overhead projector. I decided to set up an activity where the children could explore their current interests while adding new ideas into their play.
I set up the light table which we've been using for some time now, with some transparent loose parts and magnets. This time, to extend their learning I added some mirrors on the wall so that the light could reflect off of them, to see how the children would react. I was also interested in seeing if they would use their own reflection in the mirror as a part of their play! When the children noticed that I had set up the light table again, they immediately were drawn to the area and showed excitement as they manipulated the materials provided. The children got creative and used their own imagination to build on their play. One child made a snowman and pretended the snowman was melting away. Another child made a rocket ship to fly into space. A third child made a house for people to live in. They were using the pieces they were playing with in front of the mirror to see if they can see the reflection of them. Each time a child added a new piece onto the light table, they looked up at the mirror to see how it was shown from that angle. After the children were done with the light table some children came over to the mirrors and started acting in front of the mirrors, each time looking up to see what the reflection looked like. I look forward to seeing what other activities we can introduce with the mirrors in the up coming weeks ahead while still focusing on their interest in light and shadows! - Stephanie If you've been following along with our recent blogs, you may have noticed that the Ladybugs have been interested in figuring out the process of how things work! For example, recently we explored how different colours are made! Well, last Thursday the Ladybugs were presented with a unique experience (in today's world) about how an overhead projector works! An overhead projector, do you remember using those in school? We don't see them very often anymore which made this experience extra special as many of the children were seeing one for the first time!! The overhead projector was placed on the table with a bin of loose parts that included both solid colour and transparent loose parts with a whiteboard a couple of feet away. Immediately the children began to add piece by piece on to the projector and each time would look up at the whiteboard to see how it looked. "Wow, look! When I put it on here you can see it on the board!" "It's glowing through the rock!" "Look, I can see the shadow over there!" .The excitement grew and grew and grew!! Everyone wanted to explore this new idea of light and shadow so a second light table was brought out. This one was a little different as it only lit up from the bottom, and didn't project but the children were able to use different materials on this light table and get creative with it. The children talked a lot about what the light looked like as it shined through the loose parts, or how the shadow looked as it displayed on the wall. They worked together to brainstorm new ideas to test out after lunch, and up first was creating different faces! Next, other items came into play such as animals and plants! The children placed the animals on the overhead projector and observed as the shadows appeared on the wall. "look! it's like a movie theatre!" one child added! Through this experience the children were able to expand on the ideas that they already have about lights and shadows while using their imagination to create new ideas and play in a unique way!
We are so excited to expand on this activity and bring lights and shadows to life in the Kinder Room! Stay tuned to hear more! - Amberly The ladybugs have been focusing on the 'how to' aspect of their creations. As the educators observe we are seeing the children talk a lot about the process rather than the outcome itself! For example when building a snowman... how to we make the ball? what if the snow isn't sticky? how can we make them all different sizes? These are all questions that are being considered while making a snowman, and once it is complete the mission is over! On to the next creation!! I wanted to see what would happen if I gave them the 3 primary colours of paint at the art table, would they be able to create their picture with only 3 colours? would they ask for different colours such as green, purple, orange, brown? Or, would they figure out how to construct these colours themselves? What does this look like? During this experience, I noticed a couple of things... I observed that the children came to the table with an idea of exactly what their picture would look like. Each child had a plan in their head of what colours they would need, and in what order. Hold your curser over the images below to see what they were saying! The children took their time while making the colours. We learned that when you add blue and yellow it makes green... but if you add way more blue than yellow, it might just make a lighter blue and won't look green! This activity provided the children with a chance to get creative and really practice their problem solving skills as they worked through making each selected colour!
The pictures turned out beautiful, as if the children had a full pallet of paint. They were all so proud of themselves at the end seeing the finished product knowing that they created many of these colours on their own, and that theirs stood out from the others! - Amberly For awhile now, the Caterpillar group has been exploring play through role play! This could mean that they set up the kitchen are to become an ice cream store, maybe a restaurant or sometimes it is a pizza place! This has grown and grown over the last few months and the educators in the room are working on finding new ways to expand on this play every single day. We decided to set up a soup making activity at one of the tables. The activity involved the book 'Duck Soup,' and various spices, extracts and other scented liquid to mix up and get creative! The children were given mortar and pestles to grind up the spices and a jar to mix the spices with the other liquid. The children mixed up their soup/potion and talked a lot about how each one smelt, or looked during the process. Everyone agreed that the mix of smells made us hungry and wanting some yummy baked treats! Up next, we are going to explore these spices in a new way... What do you think we will be able to make with spice paint? Will it be spilt soup? Will it be dough? So many opportunities! - Amberly We brought out measuring cups, muffin tins, baking pans and let the children explore the mud puddle! We arrived in the forest the second week of December and a huge mud puddle caught our eye! Where did it come from? Why is there a huge puddle? The children started to explore... We brought out measuring cups, muffin tins, baking pans and let the children explore the mud puddle! Right away, the mud puddle turned into the perfect opportunity to bake some yummy baking! The children noticed that the fence beside the puddle had a hole in it and water was pouring out! "Oh look, our sink is on!!"
The ladybug group ended off November taking advantage of the beautiful weather and did some camping in the Forest! This involved gathering sticks to make a fire pit, cooking potatoes (leaves) for supper and even roasting marshmallows! This went on for WEEKS, every time we would go to the forest the children would gather the materials again and pick up right where they left off. One child explained that when you go into the woods that you need a backpack that has water and snacks in it incase you get stranded! He explained that this is stuff for survival and just in case you're feeling dehydrated. The bags hung from the trees so that they were out of reach from bears! The camping trips were very well planned out, and safety was area of discussion every single time. One day a child even had the group practice what to do if the fire got out of control while camping, by doing a fire drill just like we practice at school and Dawn and Dusk! The educators got together and thought about what more WE could add to this play, it seemed as though the children had it all figured out... so we decided to see how this would expand inside during free play! The campsite was set up inside! We had a tent, a fire pit and of course some lovely trees to represent the forest. This didn't seem to be enough, the children needed more!! They started to brainstorm themselves about what else you do when you go camping... so the next step was to set up the area so that they could catch their own food!! The children made a lake full of fish, rocks, stones and used sticks as fishing rods! They spent the morning fishing, and cooking it for dinner! Of course with the winter weather, we had to head back outside to see what camping looks like in the winter! We went animal tracking, and we even went ice fishing!!
Stay tuned to see where we go from here. We plan to dig even deeper into this camping adventure! The Kindercare program took advantage of the beautiful weather that we've had to start of December by going tobogganing!! The children tested out different sides of the hill to see if the different incline would make them go faster or slower down the hill! Sometimes they would even end up rolling right out of the toboggan at the bottom of the hill which made for a good laugh! We spent the entire morning at the hill, and loved EVERY second of it! We already have requests to go back and test out the hill at Kimberley Hill! Check it out below!!
The children in the Caterpillar Group have been exploring their environment through role playing!! The whole group was involved whether it be pretending to be the mom, dad, sister, baby, cat, cook, server, doctor, etc. Late last week we brought out the light table and added some x-rays to observe and of course, this turned into a whole doctor office experience! The doctors office was a very busy place, with was an x-ray station, some patients needed casts for their broken arms, and even babies needed to be cared for by the doctor. .The educators realized that everyone wanted to join but unfortunately the doctors office was too small, and there was signs reminding us to practice social distancing so we needed to improvise. The educators made a plan.... instead of just one area being the doctors office, what if the whole kinder care room became the hospital with different rooms? On Wednesday morning, we welcomed the 'doctors' into their new facility! There was a proper waiting room with a sign in sheet, a research lab, an x-ray station and even a blood lab!! "What seems to be the problem here, how are you feeling today? Happy? Sad? Nervous? I need to check it off on this form." "What bone do you need fixing? Here come with me and we will get a cast.... please hold your arm up straight like this." "This is their blood, and this is yours... I'm doing a blood test." "OPERATION!!! QUICK, we need to get you to the operation room you're bleeding!! Hurry, lay down!!" The Doctor Office was busy all morning! Patients came in and out for eye tests, check ups, blood work and x-rays! The doctors made sure that everyone was safe and healthy! It seemed that a lot of babies were being born by the end of the morning!! Maybe the children will need to open a school for the kids to go to? A restaurant for the family to eat at? Stay tuned to see what we do next!!
The Ladybugs made their way out to the Forest, and when we arrived it was clear that someone was here before us. The children observed the footprints on the ground... "Look! A bunny was here, it went out this way, and around the fence into this yard!!" The children walked around, looking for more clues on who could have been in the Forest earlier, "LOOK!!!!! LOOK AT THESE FOOT PRINTS!!! They're huge, they must be BIG FOOT'S!" "Yeah, lets follow them to see if we can find them, they're going this way!" All of a sudden out of the corner of a child's eye, they noticed some colour in the snow... it was coloured ice!!! "Let's make a trail, to see if we can trap big foot in the forest!" "BIG FOOT WHERE ARE YOU!!!" The children climbed up on trees to get a better view, "COME HERE BIG FOOT WE HAVE FOOD FOR YOU!! With no luck, the children went back to the foot prints to observe, "Look, my foot can fit right inside Big Foot's print! Look at the size compared to mine!" "You know what? I think he's sleeping" "Yeah, let's finish this trail for when he wakes up... I think he likes fish so make sure we put fish in there so he can find us when he wakes up!" Although we didn't find Big Foot, we were still happy with the time we spent exploring. We were able to work together as a team and try out our ideas in order to find out more about the mysterious foot prints in the Forest! The ladybug group was able to use their imagination, investigate, share ideas, problem solve and learn together! Stay tuned to see if Big Foot makes another appearance in the Forest! |
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