Community Helpers

A key component in how we run our Playschool is the importance of our community. We are so fortunate to have such great communities helping us! Not only Capilano, but Fulton and Hardisty Elementy/Jr High .

For the month of April, we will be meeting with, and talking too, many members of our community. We will learn about the jobs they do and how they make our community run.

This week the children learned about the job of a baker, and a cook. We spoke about the jobs these adults do, how they help us and where we find them.

In our circle we spent time talking about the four food groups

• Wheat & Grains
• Meat & Proteins (and their substitutes)
• Dairy (and their substitutes)
• Fruit & Vegetables

 The children enjoyed a game of seeking out food hidden through the room, and bringing them back to the circle to classify which food goes into which food group they belong too.
 

 

 

Integrated Curriculum:

• Math - Organizing, Order, Classification, the visual of the division of the paper into four groups
• Literacy - connecting the pictures on the paper to the works with the pictures, and matching the toy food

I love having the children organize our discussions this way, as it offers them time to get up and go move around looking for an item. It gives them a sense of excitement and thrill to go find the item on their own, and pride when they have achieved the goal and brought it back to the circle.

Hands on learning - taking control of the organization and skill

We also took our knowledge of the four food groups and applied to a real life event - COOKING!
The students, a couple volunteers and myself, went upstairs to the home economics lab and made our very own pizzas.   

 

It was very interesting to see the diversity and similar ways the children made their pizza's.

Some did not like cheese, some ONLY had cheese. 

Some liked sauce and some did not.

One has a special dietary restriction, so the child's amazing educational assistant set up a sensory experince to create an enclusive enviorment, where the child could also build a pizza, and eat olives on a pizza.

 

 

They were so much fun to build! And much more fun to bake, but the favorite of all was ...

 

EATING!

The room over all changed to offer more connections and experince's with community helpers, and their jobs.

Sand Play - Construction vehicles, with blocks for building houses

Fine Motor & Math - Puzzles

I'm sad this ticket is side ways. Apparently, I could not manipulate it. I love the exposure of early literacy on the ticket.

On day one when we opened this game, we could not find the directions. The children decided we could use the fire men to make a matching game. Turns out, we were VERY close to the actual style of the game when I came across the rules in a bag later on. The children adapted well to the addition of rules and story telling when we explained how we play the game based on the directions. 

 

Team work!

Real life strategies - Flipping cookies with a spatula.

Connecting the number of "candies" on the cookies to the number underneath

Working the wrist and co-ordination skills to flip the cookies over with the spatula

When talking about the food groups, we also discussed treats. They agreed that treats are good, in moderation. They told me if we ate cookies and chocolate all the time our tummy's would hurt.

Large community helper vehicles

We turned our Dramatic Play area into a Hospital.

I turned the house into Capilano Playschool Hospital, as hospitals are places where many community helpers collect to educate and support.

Can't wait to see what is in store for this week!

Sincerely,

Ms Asha