Making Apples and Turkeys

The last couple of weeks has been full of songs, craft and activities about apples and Thanksgiving.We continued talking about our scenes. We celebrated our sense of taste and smell!

It was very busy with pictures, and a visit from our licensing officer!  They both went amazingly well.
We also did some cooking, and spent time outside in the park.

In the water table the children enjoyed "bobbing for apples." There was apples with their names spent on them floating in apple smelling water. Using tongs the children would fish for their own names, or help me find their peer's names. They also used turkey basters to splash in the water, using their fine motor skills to suck in the water, and squirt it out.

We worked together to read a recipe and make apple crisp.
I wrote the recipe on a piece of paper with pictures to help the children read it with us.

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Cooking is amazing for early literacy, rich in curricular concepts.
We use science to see the difference between the solid apples, to the yummy, mushy apple sauce.

 

We use math to create the proper portions to add into the mixing bowl. The children were offered an equal amount of an apple to cut up into smaller pieces.

We used apples cut in 1/2 to make art!

The children were offered slices of 3 different apples - red, green and green/yellow. The children would taste each one, and then tell me which of the three were their favorite.
Once they had decided, they signed their own names in the box for the apple they liked the most.

We also experienced the difference in salty (a pretzel), sour (a lemon), sweet (an apple) and bitter (a piece of dark chocolate). The children mostly liked the bitter chocolate - but Ms Asha liked the lemon!

To increase our enjoyment of smell, we had an open ended paint experience with painting with spices. We mixed glue, water, and various spices such as cinnamon and oregano.

Using corn is always my favorite natural paint brush! The husk was fun to use as a paint brush. We also rolled the cob, and made prints.

To prepare for Thanksgiving, we did the must have - Turkey hand print craft!

Once our turkey was ready, we told the helper parent what we were most thankful for.

As an open ended cutting experience, we enjoyed feeding our own turkey.
Using fall coloured paint pallets, we cut along the lines - or however we wanted, and made tiny pieces.

 

The Edmonton Public Library librarian came back for a visit to read MORE books and teach us NEW songs.

Our first field trip was a total success - and I am so thankful for everyone who could come to Prairie Gardens in Bon Accord, AB.

It is a fun, safe place to go outdoors with lots of experiences for the playschool children and their siblings.

Duck racing

Listening to a pumpkin band

 It was really neat when we did our first "buffet snack." We all met during the field trip to share a snack with the other preschool families. Thank you to everyone who brought something, and labeled it with the recipe to accommodate allergies and dietary requirements.

Celebration Center

Celebrating apples was an exceptional example of the Holy Trinity. I found the idea on youtube, though this book. The children and I sat down in circle center with an apple. I cut it in half to show them all the insides, and told them that the Holy Trinity is much like an apple.  That God is the outside of the apple, always surrounding us and keeping us safe and together. The skin is full of nutrition, as God is full of love. Jesus, God the son, reminds me of the flesh - because Jesus came as the flesh. He came to fill us with stories, and keep us healthy and strong. God the spirit, the Holy Spirit, is like the seeds. Without our faith, we would not be able to grow. We need our spirit.

We also took the story of the Apple, to talk about Adam and Eve. I try to ensure stories from the bible are applicable to the children, as they are still egocentric, and when they can relate to a story or topic, they will keep it in their minds longer. I explained the story of how God makes rules, that keep us safe. When Eve ate the apple from the garden, it really upset God, because he was worried about Eve getting sick. It made him feel scared because Eve did not listen to his words, and made a bad choice. This worried God because he used his words to keep Adam and Eve safe. Sadly, because Eve wasn't using her listening ears, she had to go and think about how it made God feel. Hopefully, in my simplistic story telling ways, it will help the children remember to listen to Gods words, and continue to do things that make him - and themselves, feel safe and happy.

Sincerely, 

Ms Asha 

Fall Walk

Since the beginning of school started we have been getting to know one another. This week we spent time talking about touch and hearing.

The children explored sound through games like stop and go, red light green light and dance freeze.

During touch we painted our hands and matched our skin colours. A lot of the time the colours were a little off, so we began to mix the colours more! It was important to let the children know that we are not the same but we are all unique and special.

We then painted a unity picture! A canvas to hang in the class.

We also did "Fall" as our theme. I loved mixing in our five senses to explore Autumn.

Edmonton Public Library came to sing with us, read us books and do active games about Fall.. It's fun to have someone who isn't the teacher share literacy and music. It creates a special atmosphere for the children to keep it exciting and new. We anticipate the next time we spend time with the librarians.

On Thursday and Friday we had an amazing opportunity to spend class outside.

We started class participating in a scavenger hunt. It's marvelous to be challenged to take time to look and appreciate the small stuff. Children tend to already know this, so it was fun to give them an objective. 

A parent helped me cut egg cartons in half to create 6 cubbies. Each cubby was painted in a fall colour; red, green, purple, yellow, green and brown. Then we went out into the park to find items all around us to match those fall colours. 

Seeing the items the children had collected was so exciting. Some children found a lot of the same items, leaves or sticks, but some found neat and unique items. They looked deep into the colour of their treasures to see new colours I hadn't seen before. 

There are so many curricular concepts being explored in this simple experience - including but not limited too are:

Math - one to one correspondence (having one item for each colour), classification & organizing and abstraction of properties (in how things are grouped - all of these items are coloured, all of the items in this cubby are yellow)

Science - Environment awareness, geography, using their body and senses to explore the environment, the Earths materials

Social - Working together to find materials that match the colours, understanding their role in the environment, using directions to navigate the park, playing with peers to enjoy their experience

Language - Adults offering directions for the children to follow "first lets ...", " Can you see..." etc

We then brought our findings back, and began filling our fall colours book. The books had a sheet of paper matching the 6 fall colours we had searched for in the park.

Using our fine motor to squeeze out the glue

   

The children were very proud of their fall books! The children loved getting creative, and creating a book they pretty much wrote! They would bring their books to me, and I would create a script as if reading the book to them. "I spy ..." or "__child's name__ found ..." They would assist my story telling by telling me the colour or describing the object on the page.

After we worked hard at school, we found the most amazing "natural park". I loved watching them explore balancing beams, sand.

We didn't know we were going to find such a wonderful park so we didn't bring any sand toys. Thankfully we did find acorns! We used them to count, and place one on top of the other. We grouped them and enjoyed various math concepts.

We also found things that really challenged our imagination. A child was sure a camel made this foot print!

This year at our playschool we are really enjoying our snack time. Each day families are challenged to follow a chart that has a healthy snack on it. We use our snack time to talk about the healthy treat, identify its food group, talk about some of the benefits of the food and where they got it from. 

Parents who share the chart information with the children have been coming to class gloating about what they brought, telling me if parents picked it or made it, or if they had the chance to pick it. Some times the children don't want to eat the snack, but I tell them it will be okay and that they can try it again next time.

Friday we had seeds!

Pumpkin, sunflower and poppy

seeds in our fruit

Sweet and Salty

Sincerely,

Ms Asha

The first two weeks

The first two weeks have past, and we are on our third week together as a group.
This year our playschool went to 3 different classes (3 day am, 3 day pm and 2 day am) and 2 different programs, including a Christian program and a Health & Wellness program.

It has been a blessing, and I couldn't be happier working with the program so much more this year than I had the chance to last year. I look forward to the remainder of the year.

We started our staggered entry days by prepping our Helping Hands (the green hand prints), and our place mats. I write the children's names on the hands and laminate them. Then I put them on our classroom tree and rotate them when a child's parent is our parent helper. Our Helping Hand leads circle, the clean up song, and has show and share! The boys and girls love show and share.

We also read The Kissing Hand, and made our own kissing hand (the blue). If you've never read The Kissing Hand - I highly recommend you invest and read it again to them for Kindergarten. We read it every year, and do a hand print craft. At the end of class before the kids see their parents again, I share a heart sticker for the children to put into the middle.

In the first week our theme was "getting to know me". I was so excited to meet the new children and learn about them. To get to know the children better, I offer the parents a question sheet, asking about siblings, family traditions, fears, favorites, and more.
We sat down together during craft to draw a self portrait. I placed some mirrors including a small and full length mirror around the art table. If the children didn't know what to draw, I invited them to go look in the mirror for ideas. It really worked, and lead the children into examining their body parts, such as how many fingers they had.

Many children would carry their pictures to the long mirror after, and compare their creations to their images.

I was excited to make the Sand center a little more natural this year. I still would like to add some exciting thematic props, but our staple will be petrified wood, rocks, and sea shells.

It was a major hit with our playschool friends from the get go! I also offered a magnified glass, wooden bowls and  wooden spoons to explore and experience the options in the sand table.

Celebration Center

Our playschool is lucky to be in a very diverse K-9 elementary. A big part of the school that I value is that the school is 1/2 a non denominational Christian program, and 1/2 non Christian community program. Our playschool is ran the same way. 2/3 of our program is nondenominational Christian (5 day mornings) and 1/3 is a regular playschool program.

Here I will share some special notes!
I had a lot of fun in our first week talking about God. We spent time talking about "The Beginning."
I found a wonderful template for a play experience here.

I made our circles bigger, using a plate as a template. I also adapted some of the characters and changed some colours of the materials I used. I added an Eve to my Adam, and some "zzz.." while God rested.

To introduce the celebration center, I told the story with the children during devotion. Since then I have left the materials out for the children to enjoy. They have shown a lot of commitment and enjoyment so far.

Blessings xxo

Ms Asha

Getting ready for school

On our  website, we use terms such as “Learn through Play” and “Kindergarten Readiness”. We say “Health and Wellness Literacy” with our Healthy Apple Program, but what do they all mean? What is important to understand is in Alberta there are no legislation's on how to run a playschool. We are approved by Alberta Licensing , which offers a safer, satisfactory program. Locally there are programs ran as a “playschool” that aren’t licensed, and even out of houses. Other than that, all the opinions written up in this blog are my opinions.

Let’s explore the first thing many people don’t understand:

Playschool vs Preschool

Playschool, Preschool, Nursery school and Pre-K programs are all the same thing, with exception to what the schools are trying to tell families they see as the main focus of their classes. Each school use their names to reflect what they really want to execute as a priority in their program philosophy. They all work on ABC’s, 123’s and have play time during class.

• Nursery school – generally for children 2 and older
• Preschool & Pre-K programs – try to convey the message “getting ready for kindergarten” is important. This often includes phonic programs, and writing programs like Handwriting without tears® and Itchy’s Alphabet.
• Playschool – a program that uses play as its main focus in education, often integrating curricular concepts into the play time

 

Playschool, as used in our title, is evidently our number one priority and philosophy. We as a playschool still find the value in early literacy and Handwriting without Tears®, but we use it to add sprinkles to our ice cream. The main focus is what children are learning during their play experiences

What is Learn through play? And why is it our philosophy?

In Stuart Browns, with Christopher Vaughan’s book “Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul”, they define play as a “state of mind.” Play is a profound biological process that provides enjoyment, a suspension of self consciousness and sense of time. It is self motivating and makes you want to do it again.  It is a primal activity, which for us, lies at the core of creativity and innovation. We as educators must provide an environment filled with rich and meaningful play opportunities’. 

This is achieved by taking the children's lead based on their current interests. The interests of the children are then integrated into a developmentally appropriate curriculum. After observation of general interest, programming is planned to offer purposeful play experiences to the children at Capilano Playschool. This is achieved during the day when the children engage in different play experiences, such as dramatic play, early literacy, gross motor and fine motor activities, and sensory play. During these experiences, curricular concepts such as math, science, language, and social studies are naturally integrated.

I believe play is the most important activity a human being can experience. Play does not know age, nor gender or race. It is a simple, universal language we all speak from the moment we begin to smile; to the day we grow old. While volunteering with children, I watched a deaf child and a hearing child play the same game together. They shared the same basic rules and direction while laughing at one another without being able to speak a single word to one another. Play is a universal language that children are born with the right to do. As Mr Rogers said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”

What is “health and wellness literacy?”

Being “literate” in something is being “knowledgeable or educated in a particular field or fields” according to the free dictionary online. Websters dictionary refers to it as “having knowledge or competence.” When we decided to change our program from a regular program, to a health and wellness program, we wanted to rear children who were knowledgeable and experienced in being a healthy person. We wanted to share with children and their families our passion for caring for our families, friends and community. Physical literacy includes education about the importance of developing a healthy body and mind as the result of deliberate effort.  Capliano Playschool wants to work with the Canadian physical activity guidelines for the early years to help reach 180 minutes/day of physical activity per day. We will work towards supplying physical activity at playschool, including but not limited to – outside play, circle time activities, gym time, free play time and field trips. This active play will be varying between moderate activities and energetic, progressing toward at least 60 minutes of energetic play by the time the child is done playschool and is 5 years of age.

(http://www.participaction.com, 2013). Wellness literacy is understanding the value in the wellness of your own mental, and physical state, as well as the wellness of others. Of our community members, animals, and the Earth as a whole.

What exactly is Kindergarten Readiness?

At Capilano playschool we build foundations of early learning to begin scaffolding and building stronger structures that children can become fluent at for Kindergarten and the years ahead of them. These are what I see as important pre school tools, and can offer as a Kindergarten Readiness Check List.

 

Socialization

 Families and communities are FULL of individuals that we spend hours with each day. These people help your children learn to become social beings. The more people you offer to your child in the first 5 years of their lives, the easier it will be for them to approach a new child in kindergarten on the first day. They will be able to introduce themselves to new kindergarteners and to not be afraid of the big grade threes at the park and in the fields outside at recess.

 

Turn taking

It seems simplistic enough – you go, I go. Only 12 months ago playschoolers were small toddlers who developmentally struggled with “sharing”. The “mine” phase was fun, but without experiences to practice your turn, my turn, you still struggle with it in kindergarten.  During class my playschoolers take turns in circle, in the gym, and outside at the park. We begin to understand sometimes there is only one piece of material in which we need to take turns with instead, like with crayons, felts, and certain toys. It isn’t always fair, but being able to identify “fairness” and exercise patience is very important in kindergarten.

 

 

Public Speaking

 In our class, the children are given situations that help them become confident in front of an audience. Once children hit kindergarten these experiences are much more frequent. Public speaking isn’t necessarily standing in front of a crowd and reading from a script. It’s feeling confident to raise your hand and answer a question or tell your teacher about your weekend when she asks you a question in circle. In our playschool it is singing for our parents during holiday celebrations, and our favourite is show and share! During show and share children get to feel excited about sharing information about something special to them. Then the other children ask them questions, educating them about “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why” and “how”. When we go on field trips this learnt behaviour comes naturally when presenters ask for questions. The children quickly find questions to ask the presenter.

 

Lining up

This seems like a simple goal, to be able to line up. In kindergarten it is so important for fire drills, to and from class and when entering field trip bus. As we grow up we understand it like second nature, at the bank, grocery store and gas station. The ability to line up helps us learn to control our impulses. It teaches us to be conscious of those around us, and cope with turn taking. It offers children a chance to leadership, and make a new friend when they are directed to hold a new little hand. Lining up helps with so many concepts that adults forget exist. To be told by an adult, and cope with not getting to stand where you want to, or be with whom you want to be is very hard. Spending time in play school practicing this make it’s much easier to be directed when you have much less time to in kindergarten.

 

“Academic” Qualities

 Once I asked a kindergarten teacher “if I can help them excel in one thing, what would you like?” Her response shocked me honestly “I want them to write their names in upper and lower case…” According to most development specialists, that’s not a realistic goal for a 3 year old unless parents, and other adults in their environment, offer a lot of exposure through books, and lead by example.. This year I asked the kindergarten teacher the same question. This time I received a wonderful answer, which can help me create confident, independent children, in a developmentally appropriate way. She wanted children who could go to the washroom without support, attempt to do their own jackets up, problem solve without screaming and crying. She wanted children who had exposure to sitting in a circle for ½ hour a week, so they are ready for 5 days a week.

 

Every thing we do has curricular concepts to them. When you paint there is science in the texture and the colours the paints make when mixed. When you bake cookies there is math in the measurements. When children build with blocks they are exploring geometry and architecture. When they dress up in the house center they explore social studies – who plays what role?

 

When a child has a book read to them in circle, when they see a sign for the “house center” and when they are exploring the labels on boxes, they are being exposed to literacy. All of this scaffolding creates a confident, educated playschooler who will be capable of reading and writing when they are developmentally ready for it. At Capilano I ensure I expose children to cutting lines, running in the gym, playing in the park, holding a pencil, exploring letters and trying to write their names. All of that is kindergarten readiness.

Sincerely,

Ms Asha