Personalized Father's Day Gifts

Here are some "behind the scene" photos of how the children made their Father's Day paintings.

 

A child grabbed the paint brush and started painting on the canvas. Another child painted his hand and made a handprint on his canvas.

 

 

One of the children tried to mix blue and red together and noticed that it made purple. She said "Woah!" excitedly as she kept on mixing the two colours. Another child stayed focused on controlling the brush as he dipped it in his paint and spread it slowly on his canvas.

Avoiding having paint on her finger, one child painted very carefully. Another child started dipping the brush along with his fingers on his paint and started painting.

One child decided to mix the colours using his hands and decided to do finger painting instead.

One of the children decided to hold the cup and paint slowly. Another child looked at the paint sternly for a couple of minutes. Looking confused, I gave him some time to examine the paint. Afterwards, he decided to try it.

One child started using different kinds of brushes. He also used his fingers to paint with on his canvas. Switching from fingers to brushes, he mixed the colours and started applying it on the painting he was making.

The children showed different ways of creating art through painting. Some of them were really into it; the others, not so much. Each of them showed varying levels of interest as they were reminded that the paintings will be a special gift for their dads.

In the end, all of the children's artwork turned out to be beautiful, unique Father's Day gifts that can never be duplicated or imitated.

-Mrs. Javier-

Fun That Lasts

On June 14, 2016 Ms. Wong brought out some spray bottles. The children were so excited when they saw the colourful water in the bottles. One child saw it and burst out laughing, "Hahaha...the!" and pointed at it.

The children began by choosing the colour they liked. Then, they figured out how to squeeze the trigger for the water to come out. One child gave it a few tries and he got it. His face lit up with excitement and pride.

They played with the bottles for an hour. Some played alone and some played with a friend.

The children were using their cognitive skills to figure out how to make the water come out. They used their fine-motor skills to squeeze the trigger, and they used their gross motor skills as they ran around to find things to spray at.

Ms. Wong

     

When Uh-Oh Means More

June 15, 2016

"Uh-oh!" said a child with a look of worry on his face. He then looked with immediacy towards the ramp.

Miss Arigo asked him, "What happened?"

"Uh-oh!" he repeated and crouched down to show where his ball rolled under.

More children came over. They all looked under the ramp. One child pointed towards the tennis ball and exclaimed, "Ball!"

"Oh no! The ball is stuck! How can we get it back?" Miss Arigo asked the children.

They all looked at Miss Arigo. She then asked, "What can we use?"

The child in the photo above decided to extend his arm under the ramp to retrieve the ball. No luck. So he chose to slowly inch a bit closer. After a few seconds, he was able to do it.

And the ball play continued.

Through this problem solving moment, the children were able to communicate their problem, think of a solution together, and go back to play with little help from the teachers.

According to Chapman (2016), asking children open-ended questions promotes creative and independent thinking.

by Miss Arigo

We're Going on a Bug Hunt

June 6, 2016

The children have been noticing the abundance of tent worm caterpillars in our front playground.

One child went around one of our play structures and found a caterpillar. She slowly picked it up and placed it on her sleeve. She smiled and watched the insect wriggle on her arm.

Other children were searching other possible places they might find caterpillars.

One child tried looking under these logs. He did not find any. He walked towards the tree house and proudly showed me the one he discovered.

Another child found a different little creature. He pointed towards the bug crawling on the tree house.

We kept looking and looking.

Other children simply enjoyed exploring and moving outside.

After all our hard work, we sat down for some water. Several children were very excited about this and exclaimed, "Water! Water break!"

by Miss Arigo

Learning Through Each Other

June 3, 2016

 

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Children learn vicariously through each other. They observe and replicate each other's behaviour. Whether it is repeating, "Uh-oh" upon hearing it from their friends or turning their car upright and driving like so, "they may imitate the behaviour they observe." (McLeod, 2016)

 

During outdoor play one morning, two children were pushing their cars around our front playground. Then, it began to rain. The child in the photo above turned his car upright and said, "Oh! Carwash!"

 

 

Another child saw him and decided to do the same. He turned his car upright and observed his friend turn the wheels on his car.

 

 

With very little exchange of words between each other, they pushed their cars in this manner for about 20 minutes. One would lead and the other would follow. They smiled at each other as they drove their cars in the rain.

 

According to Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, a "child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people they perceive as similar to himself" (McLeod, 2016). In this scenario, one child decided to follow and do the same thing that he saw his friend doing. It is the start of a budding friendship.

 

by Miss Arigo

 

 

Nature Play

On May 24, 2016, we went outside to play in our front playground. I (Mrs. Javier) brought out different kinds of toys such as cars, balls, pails, shovels, and books for the children to play with. The children played with some of the toys for a little while, then I noticed that most of them are not really interested. Instead, they were very occupied doing different things on their own and playing with what nature has for them.

In this photo, all three children are enjoying their car rides.

After a few minutes, the children started noticing the tent caterpillars crawling on the ground.
One child asked "Ms. Javier, what is that?" "Those are tent worms," I answered.
"Tent worms?" she asked again. I said "Yes!" Then she said "Oh, okay. Hi tent worms!"
Then they continued watching until the worm crawled into the grass and disappeared.

A child started picking the dandelions, she came to me with a smile saying "Flowers!"

Another child picked a flower and started smelling it!

One of the children got so excited when a bunny came to our nature area and started hopping around.

This child found a stick on the ground and started inserting it between the spaces of our bench.

And after a beautiful sunny day, how relaxing it is to sit with a friend and have a cool, refreshing drink.

Playing and spending the day outside helps the children to be more creative. They are able to explore and learn new things everyday. They get to be involved and witness how their surroundings are changing. They make use of almost everything they see outside, have fun and share it with others. The time they are spending outside is never enough because they always find new things to do, new creatures to explore, and new ideas to share.

"Time in nature is not leisure time, it's an essential investment in our children's health."

-Richard Louv-

 

LEAVE NO CHILD INSIDE

 

-Mrs. Javier-

Playing in Puddles

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful."

- e. e. cummings

It has been raining the past few days and the children have been exploring puddles in our front playground. In the photo above, three children found our water table filled with fallen leaves, sticks, and water.

Some children also found puddles on the ground. With tremendous excitement, one child said, "Oh puddle!! It's cold! Cold!"

Miss Arigo added paintbrushes in the water table to extend the children's sensory play.

One child decided to brush the fence. Another child decided to lift up two brushes. Then, he watched as the water trickled down back into the table.

After a couple of minutes, a few children left the water table and began driving cars. They went around the playground and stopped back at the puddles. Then, this happened: car wash!

We turned the cars upside down and began giving them a good wash!

by Miss Arigo