White board? What white board?

In the 3s class, we teachers incorporate white boards daily. Whether it's to keep parents and caregivers informed about where we'll start our day, practice our letters, show you the results of the question of the day, or just tell you a terrible joke, our boards are a great classroom tool. They change every day so look for them in the main hallway above our cubbies!

Miss Karen

It's music time!

Every 2 weeks the 3s class schedule includes a music and movement component. In it we try to incorporate dancing and music appreciation. We listen to different styles of music, try out new and interesting instruments, follow instruction in the form of songs and explore how our bodies move with scarves and just plain old running around. At the end we try some deep breathing and relaxation techniques with added bonus of calm music and bubbles! We love the change in routine and the fun that dancing brings!

Miss Karen

This is playing at work!

In our class we teachers get a lot of variations of the question "does my child have any friends?". The answer is always a version of "yes, and no." Remember when you were little and your best friend in the whole world was the kid you met 5 minutes ago at the park? You may have bonded over the fact that you were wearing the same shoes.

Most friendships at this age are as deep as a puddle and, guess what? This is perfectly normal! They may love someone one day and treat them like week old leftovers the next. Again, totally on par for this age.

There are three main kinds of play with many stages within. Solitary (playing alone), Parallel (playing side by side but not together), and Co-operative (playing as a group and working together). At 3, this last stage is danced around and flirted with but rarely achieved. But don't worry, it'll happen! The same child will go back and forth between stages, even in one day.

Just remember that they are a little over 1000 days old. Let them have a chance to learn and grow!

Miss Karen

Halloween Fun!

We had such a good time at our Halloween parties that we actually didn't get too many good photos. At least ones without those lovely faces showing. The children were so proud of their wonderful costumes that I had to sneak up on them to get any good shots. If I'm honest, this isn't really a problem, is it? 

Hope you all had a wonderful (and sweet) Halloween and now that it's over, I guess it's time to start thinking about Christmas... Hahaha! Get ready for the craziness!

Miss Karen

Garbage Day!

Is there anything more exciting than garbage day at preschool? No way! Our sanitation engineer is so friendly and wonderful and he stops to say hi as he does his daily duty. When we hear the truck rumble up, someone yells "GARBAGE TRUCK!!" and most of the group runs to the fence to get a good look. We watch as the bags get squashed by the machinery and squeal in delight at the noise.

It is a lot of fun and seeing community members at work does a lot to show the children how everyone is a valuable member of our society.

Picture Wall and our fish's name is unveiled!

Here's some info about our Picture Wall. If you haven't seen it yet, it's in the Orange Room on the wall to the left hand side of the room. We are informally putting all photos there in an effort to make our classroom feel a little more homey.  It can be a family shot, just siblings or pets or even just a favourite stuffie. Just something that they love from home. 

Don't worry if you haven't submitted a photo yet, you can submit them any time to Miss Heidi via email or to a classroom teacher. And don't forget to come and check it out. You're more than welcome in our room anytime.

We look forward to getting it all filled up!

This is the reaction we're looking for with our wall. Children are free to take photos down to look at them closely

This is our new classroom fish. The previous inhabitant of the tank was feeling rather poorly and finally went to the big aquarium in the sky (sea?). After a class vote where most of the children chose either foods or their own names, we've finally settled on "T-Bone". So if you hear your child talking about playing with T-Bone at school, don't be alarmed... they don't mean meat!

Just a quick note to help the class move smoothly: If you arrive in the morning wearing rain boots for outside play, can you please remove indoor shoes from their backpacks and place them at the bottom of their cubbies? It would be great for their self help to be able to just grab their shoes quickly after outside rather than to unzip bags and dig around for them. Thanks for understanding!

Miss Karen