Easter Egg Hunt!

     The Easter bunny visited Discovery today! We went for a walk through the day care in search for some Easter eggs. We walked through the halls and up the stairs to Horizon's day care. That Easter bunny is really tricky! We didn't find any eggs yet. We then came back to our classroom and separated in our groups. The Dragonflies went in the classroom to search for Easter eggs and the Ladybugs went into the the Large Muscle Room to search.

      Mrs. Friesen

Box Fort

Sometime last week while we were playing in the gym, a few children noticed that there was a bunch of boxes bundled up in a corner. One of the School age teachers, Mr. Reyes, was working on something, using tape. After some questions we found out that  Mr. Reyes was putting together a fort for the school age children. He was nearly finished, unfortunately our time in the gym ran out before it was complete so we were not able to check out the inside.

On Monday afternoon it was wet and sloppy outside so we decided  to go back to the fort and check it out. Here's what we experienced.

We gave the children each a flashlight to use since it was dark inside.

"There's a door over here!"

At another entrance, there was an air pump that blew air inside of the Fort to keep it cool

The children were able to go in and out of the Fort; several times.

Then Mr.Castell dove in to get some pictures from the inside.

If someone asked us to "rate the fort" it would easily get a score of 11/10 . We all decided that it was something we would definitely  like to revisit.

Mr. Castell

New Sand

We recently purchased some new sand for our sand table. The children have really been enjoying the soft white sand.  The children have been using small animals and monster trucks; there have been some great interactions.

"This guys gonna get dead soon"

"But don't eat him.  It's sinking lava, help m,e I'm sinking."

"I'm making a big castle."

"The moose is sinking."

"Pretend this guy got buried in the castle and you never found him."

"My tail is sinking, my body is sinking."

Many children came and went throughout the course of the morning, showing interest in what was happening at the sand table.

~Mrs. Rodrigues

Colour explosion

The other afternoon, Miss Dorge organized a science experiment for the children to take part in.  They were all very intrigued when she walked in with big white buckets, soap, glitter, and food colouring. They couldn't wait to see what was next.

After being split into groups of 5, the children were able to take part and watch a colourful chemical reaction. 

First the children followed instructions by adding vinegar and soap into their cup, then a colour and glitter of their choice.

The final step was to add baking soda into the cups and watch the magic happen. The children were so surprised to see their concoctions erupting out of their cups all glittery and foamy.  "It's like a volcano!" 

Mr. Castell

Campfire

One of the children pulled out from the shelf the basket with the pieces of the cut up tree.  She began to pile the pieces together.  Another child came by and asked what she was doing and she said "making a campfire."  This got a few children saying "they like roasting marshmallows when they're camping".  So I got the idea that we could roast marshmallows with our campfire.  Each child involved got their own stick with a cotton ball glued to the end of it.

"It's melting."

"I like camping"

"Golden, golden marshmallows."

"Mmm... I like marshmallows."

Some children stayed roasting marshmallows for a long time and also pretended to eat them.  They even invited other friends to come by and roast one too.

~Mrs. Rodrigues

Story Stones

      How do you use story stones for play: the children choose a stone and start a story based on the picture that is on the stone that they have chosen. Another stone is chosen and the story continues incorporating this next picture into it.

      The stones can be used for creative play: the children can use the stones in whatever play area they choose. Ours were used in conjunction with our duplo blocks.

     Sorting and grouping activities: the children will pile up all the people stones and then they'll find all the animals, and the vehicle stones.These sorting and organizing activities help in early math skills. The children also line the stones up in a long row. They can be used to make a large circle or square on the floor.

     There's no right or wrong way to play with the stones. They are open-ended and foster creative and critical thinking. We LOVE them!

 Mrs. Friesen

Shape Matching

    We tried an activity today where we used our fine motor skills and learned shape recognition. It also teaches problem solving and colour recognition. We needed to place the different button shapes on their matching shape on the paper. There were lots of brightly coloured shapes!

     I found a yellow triangle, says one child. Another child says, I found a 

     green heart.

    Look here's a purple star. I love purple, says a child. I like red,

    says another child.

     Mrs. Friesen

Treehouse

One of the other rooms let us borrow their treehouse.  Many of the children have been enjoying adding different people and animals to enhance their play.  They do a wonderful job sharing, turn taking and communicating together.

"Sister, it's morning time."

"I can push you."

"Push, push."

"I'm swinging on the park."

"Me too."

"I'm coming guys."

~Mrs. Rodrigues

Marble painting

In Pre-School 2 we have been using a lot of unique ways to paint.   Today Mr Castell introduced yet another way to paint without a brush.   We used only paint, paper, a container with a lid, some marbles, and our large motor skills.  The children were able to create some beautiful shamrocks.

One by one each child took a turn to "shake shake shake senora" and create their own unique shamrock. The children that had a turn already, enjoyed watching the others take their turn.  They even started cheering each other on while their friends were shaking the marbles.

This activity was good for showing the children patience by waiting for their turn, and also helped develop their large motor skills by shaking the container. Now our room is beautifully decorated with clovers for St.Patrick's day.

Mr.Castell

Scrape Painting

     Today we experimented with an art process called scrape painting. We did this by using a piece of cardboard and mixing colours, using just red, yellow, and blue. We created bold and colourful works of art with an amazing range of new colours. We played with shapes and tried quick scrapes, slow scrapes, light and hard, adding depth and texture to our paintings. Ultimately we had a blast at scrape painting.  It was great being able to swap the paint brushes for something new - scrap cardboard!

Mrs. Friesen

Cinnamon apple muffins

Some of the older children enjoyed helping make muffins.  Our first job was to wash our hands with soap and water.  I had already gathered all the ingredients from the kitchen, so their next task was to cut the apples in small pieces.

"Is this good?"

"I like cutting apples."

"Me too."

"I like cutting."

"How do I do this?"

"Is this the right size?"

Once the apples were ready to go, we added all the ingredients to the bowl.  All of the children had a turn to either measure, pour or stir.

Here's what they looked like before putting them in the oven.

This the recipe in case you would like to try it at home.

~Mrs. Rodrigues