The Box

We find it interesting how simple everyday objects can foster the imagination of every child. We happened to have an empty box in our classroom today. Little did we know it would become the centre of excitement! The children pretended it was a TV, then it was a machine, a secret treasure box, a special music box, and then a cave. What was amazing was watching ALL of the classroom children participate and work together using their imagination. We were so proud that they shared, took turns and talked to each other explaining their ideas. Many of the other children stood around watching at first and asked what was happening. This is an important part of language development in children, to share their own ideas AND listen to the ideas of others. Clearly, we need to bring more boxes into the classroom!

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

What's growing?!

This week we introduced a new item to the children. We didn't tell them what it was. We asked them to tell us what they thought it might be. Some thought it was an onion, cucumber, flower, seed, tree and plant. We planted our 'mystery plant' (we admitted that much) in two containers with a peat-soil mixture on Tuesday.

Today, we used our sketching skills to draw how we saw the plant. We talked to the children about the proper technique when painting with water colours and proper water colour paper. They have to grip the paint brush like a pencil, close to the metal end and slowly press gently on the paper. It's beautiful to see each child's interpretation of the growing plant. The true beauty of art is that nothing is ever wrong!

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

Loose Parts

We have a new centre in our classroom called Loose Parts. These are small items that we have collected or found over the years. As you can see below it's a mixture of small little treasures. The children use their imagination to use the materials in many different ways. Does your child have a treasure box where they keep important little items? There is something about small loose 'beautiful' parts that naturally invite children to explore and use their imagination.

Monday Nature Walk

The weather has been so mild, we were finally able to go for a nature walk into the local park. Many of the children talked about all the broken branches that had fallen during the Ice Storm. We found one stick that had a leaf bud on it. The children decided that we needed to bring the branch back inside and plant it. We wonder if the branch will grow again?

We also observed all the melting snow/ice. We followed the water as it drained from puddled and pools. We found the sewer grate and talked about where the children thought the water went.

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

Good Morning!

I was at school very early this Monday morning, early enough to see the sunrise! It was so beautiful I went outside to take photographs to share on the blog.

Here are some question for the boys and girls...

What colour is the sky? 
How does the sky change colour?
What do you think or wonder about the sky?

Ms. Hammond

Snapshots of Learning

Here are some photographs that we have taken in the past week. When we take photographs in our classroom, we see learning in every aspect of children's play.

Snowflake Art

All of the snow has helped inspire the children to use materials in our classroom to artistically represent winter. We created paper snowflakes, snowmen using white plastercine, snowflake imprints and finally snowflake winter sculptures. We gave two sculptures to Ms. Sirett (our office administrator) for her desk, she was very pleased and said they were beautiful! The rest of the winter sculptures will be displayed in the glass cases across from the main office. 

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder