If
you go out in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. If you go out in
the woods today, you’d better go in disguise! This week was the week the
Capilano Playschool celebrated teddy bear picnics!
The
week began with the transition of our room from Pumpkins to Bears.
We
crawled around in our new Bear Cave wearing bear masks and snuggling with Teddy
Bears, enjoyed books about bears, played with animal bears in the block center
and made bear crafts.
The
children got to engage in our fun November sensory bin, which lets the children use their fine motor skills enhancing their 3 finger (pencil) grasp, while using their imagination and
playing with small bears exploring a very “rocky mountain” environment.
Included
in our forest are trees, various rocks of different textures, a bear cave and a
smooth river! The children really enjoyed engaging in this small play
experience!
We
spent time in circle strengthening our memory skills, after I told the children many
interesting facts about 6 bears. After not coming to school again for a couple
days, I asked the children what they could remember about each bear. We will
continue to talk about these 6 bears and try and remember different facts
throughout the month. The bears are:
·
Polar
Bear
·
Grizzly
Bear
·
Kodiak
Bear
·
Panda
Bear
·
Black
Bear
·
Malaysian
Sun Bear
Ask
your child if they remember anything they remember about these bears.
On
Wednesday & Thursday the children had a Teddy Bear picnic!
The
children were invited to bring in their own favorite stuffy from home to share
class, show around our classroom and enjoy circle with us. After meeting each
child’s stuffed animal we went around the circle and talked about the colour of
each stuffy. We documented them on a tally chart to talk about what colour more
children had brought in on their suffy, and which colour had less.
We
played a fun new game in which we sang “Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey? Buzz,
Buzz, Buzz”.
During the game we would select a child to hide their eyes while
another classmate was secretly offered a “honey pot”. The child then would
guess which classmate had the honey pot hidden behind their back.
It is a great game
to teach children patience, turn taking and team work. Watching the children
keep the name of the child who they know has the honey pot is hilarious, they
are always So excited and eager to see if the person “it” can figure out who is hiding the honey pot.
The
children also got to help me tell the story of “Brown Bear Brown Bear what to
do you see?” with small Popsicle sticks. While telling the story we all learn
the sign language colour for each animal in the story.
I can’t
wait to continue talking about bears next week!
I also want to note that we recieved a wonderful donation of a small drawing easel this week, as well as a few other fun things like our bear baskets. It was a hit and made me very excited to see the children using it.
One child even told me she wrote a story on it. I asked her to tell me the story which went:
"A horse named Kayla.
She runed away and a girl couldn't find her in the forest. And she [Kayla] was soft."
I always love when children show me sighs in conversation and through their play that they are ready to learn how to write. Children all develop very differently at various times and levels. I feel when children show me at a younger age that they are ready to learn to write it is often a more enjoyable, successful experience for them.
Pressuring children to sit and write will often end up leaving the memory of that time sour. I feel as an educator it is my job with these first 4 months to get to know my children and find play experiences that they enjoy where I can bring writing to them. In our bear cave and around our room I try to create a literacy enriched environment. I have words all over the class including in the bear cave such as "hibernate, teddy bear and brown bear" and much more.Bringing words to children excites them to be long time writers and readers.
Sincerely,
Ms
Asha
