Creative thinking!

Since our sensory areas and soft furnishings are down for the count for the next little while, we needed something fun and interesting at the playdough table. Enter two of rolls of butcher paper and a couple of blocks of markers and voila! a simple but engaging art idea that focuses on teamwork, gross motor strength and creativity. We'll have playdough and gak out again soon but in the meantime, look out for really cool things at the "big, round table"!

Miss Karen

Our reading area

Daily at preschool we encourage the children to "take a story walk". What we mean is for the kids to take a book and independently look at the illustrations without an adult actually reading the text. This improves the child's ability to use their imagination, think creatively and self regulate.

We ask the children to take a story walk after circle time while waiting to wash hands for snack. Books are available in both rooms for quiet "reading" time throughout the day. There is always an opportunity to read in our class and who doesn't relish the chance to curl up with a good book? We sure do!

Miss Karen

Welcome back!

Happy New Year! Our first week of 2020 is past us and we made it through relatively unscathed. I'm sure it's the same for your family as it is for our BCCNS family that we are slowly getting back to the routines in our lives. Here's a peek into our classroom as we get back into our everyday.

We all hope that your 2020 is healthy and happy and full of memorable moments.

Miss Karen

Gingerbread Day hijinx

We had a very successful Gingerbread Day at our school! We read the story about the naughty gingerbread boy and how he ran away from the family who made him and some animals along the way. But he couldn't outsmart that wily fox!

Later we baked our very own Gingerbread man, decorated with marshmallows and gummies. And what do you know? The very same thing happened to us! We followed the Gingerbread Man's clues until we found him trying to get a taxi in Miss Heidi's office! But like the fox, he couldn't outsmart us. And he was delicious!

For the parents who've been asking, here's the recipe:

Gingerbread Man

3 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c margarine

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c molasses

1 egg

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients

2. Add wet ingredients

3. Mix thoroughly until dough is formed

4. Make one large cookie on the tray and decorate as you wish

5. Place in oven preheated to 350F

6. Bake 15 minutes or until golden

Let us know if you try this at home! 

The one where the children learn the value of a dollar...

Okay, not really, but they sure have fun playing with the cash registers and play money in the Dressup Area. For those of you who peeked into our classroom last week, you may have noticed that it was set up like a McDonald's. The children enjoyed pretending to make Happy Meals but they really seemed to enjoy playing with the cash. When the room was changed, we left out the registers and money and magically turned the area into a clothing store. This way we could keep the fun of the money yet still change the setup to prolong the enjoyment of the space.

We call this scaffolding and you'll see it a lot in our 3's class. If the children show an interest in something, we try to keep it fun and relevant until the children's interests change. Sometimes you'll see strange combinations like babies and matchbox cars but if it interests the children, it interests us!

Miss Karen

Just when you thought Halloween was over...

...we pull you back in! I just wanted to show you all the photos we took at our Halloween parties last week. Thank you all so much for indulging our kooky side and letting you child's freak flag fly just before your big festivities at home. We had a great time partying at school and pretending to be someone other than ourselves even for a few hours. As always we had a lot of fun!

Thanks for your patience. Stay tuned for more photos and fun from the 3s class!

Miss Karen