Clothes Pegs - January 18, 2016

The children have been interested in the clothes pegs that were out in the art area.  Mrs. Braz was talking to a few children in the waker room about how those were used to hang laundry up on a clothes line.  First they worked together to make a clothes line in the room. Then they used the clothes pegs to hang up some of the baby clothes.

Apples - January 20, 2016

The children have been talking about apples while eating snack.  They were sharing how some liked the sour apples better then the ones we eat at snack. This morning we taste tested six different types of apples.  Before we cut them up we talked about the different colours of apples we had.

"That one looks like a pepper."

"Looks like a pear" -child points to a Golden Delicious

      Look Miss Curtis made a star when she cut the apple in half!

We talked about how some apples were sweet and some were sours.

A child says when talking about the apples being sweet or sour "not either of those. It's just right!"

A child says "Sour Spartin."

A child sitting beside them then says "I can say Spartin now!"

The children noticed some of the apple seeds as we cut up the apples. After we were done tasting the apples we helped plant the seeds.

We all got a turn putting some dirt in the jar.

 

Then they each pushed a seed into the dirt and covered it with some more soil.

One of the children shows everyone his orange seeds we planted last year.  We put the newly planted apple seeds next to his orange plant.

Jumping - January 15, 2016

This morning in the gym the younger children were having lots of fun jumping off the big blue mat onto the black mats.  It took a lot of work to climb up to the end of the blue mat.  Then the children had to wait until the other children were out of the way before jumping.  We really had to use our patience as we waited for everyone to move off the mats so we could take a turn to jump. 

Working Together - Jan.12,2016

We love to build and imagine! Today we worked together on building a slide out of blocks that transformed into a magical sleigh! There was a lot of thought about where to put certain blocks to make it great!

Lemons - January 13, 2016

The children have been making "tea, coffee and water" for everyone to drink.  All of the children have been very into this as of lately.

After snack we cleaned the tables and got some tools and dishes ready to make lemonade.

This morning I brought in lemons and mint.  I put it in a wooden bowl and had it as our centre piece for morning snack.  

We passed the mint around for everyone to smell.  "A" said the mint smelled like bubble gum. Then we cut up the lemon and past it around to smell too.

Everyone got a turn to use the pestle and mortar and the juicer. 

Once everyone had a turn with each item then we put everything into our pitcher.  Then we sampled the juice and lemons. 

Cars, Car Ramps.....Balance Beams - January 8, 2016

Friday afternoon, a couple of children were racing cars on the floor.  Then E went and got a long block off the block shelf.  He put it on the floor and raced his car on it.  He started to lift the block off the ground to get his car to move.  Then he went and listened to a story in the library.  He took his block and cars with him.

As E was listening to the story the block was leaning on the couch.  When the story was done he saw that and raced his car down the newly formed car ramp.  He let another child try it out with his car too. It was getting a little loud in the library so I put one chair on the carpet just outside the library.  E saw this and took his block and leaned it on the chair.  The other child got his own chair out and block so he could join in the play with E. 

Now both children had car ramps going off their chairs.  They started to have races down the ramp.  One would say "Ready,Set,Go" and they would let their car go racing down the ramps.  After about ten minutes of racing their cars, they both started to move the blocks around on the chairs.  They had one block laying across both chairs. E stood up on the chair and started to feel out the block.  It moved around at first. He got off and readjusted it. Then back up he went. This time he got all the way across.  Now L had to try it out.  He did the same thing.  He tested the block before he walk across it.  Once he felt it was secure enough he walk across it.  After a few tries with the one block they wanted to make it longer. After a few minutes about five children were helping to build. More chairs and blocked were brought over. Everyone worked together to make a huge balance beam.  Once it was built everyone took turns crossing over the balance beam.

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Stacking cups - January 11, 2016

The children have been enjoying the red cups that Ms. Curtis picked up at Superstore.  It's amazing to see how creative they are. How far they can stretch their imaginations and use team work to create these well balanced intricate towers. Mrs.Leier taught us how to play a game using the cups. You take three cups and a toy. Placing the toy under one of the cups to hide it. Switch the cups places quickly. When their all mixed up the friends playing try to guess which cup the toy is under!

"Wahoo! Look how high it is!" -A

Timber!!

It's nice to have friends who will help!

Glass Blocks January 6, 2016

This morning W was setting up the glass blocks at the table. He made a comment “the light is making them glow!” We expanded on his thinking by turning off the lights and bringing out the flashlights. I took a few photos and showed W. As more children arrived they all took a chance to explore with  the flashlights. Some took them to other areas of the classroom. The exploration of shadows and the personal freedom and control of the light makes the flashlights a very popular tool of exploration in our classroom.