Barrel of Monkey's Nature Style

The staff just recently finished off a new toy for our classroom. Barrel of monkey's nature style!

"Look you hang them on the hooks like this."

"This is so cool they can hang all the way down to the floor."

" How are we gonna reach the top hooks? Maybe we can stand on a block to reach them."

"Let's see how many long chains we can make."

Children can work independently or with peers. Some discussing how to hang the tree cookies. Others making loops with the chains from branch to branch.

Eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills help to place the hooks in just the right places.

The children take time to line up the hooks to form a chain.

"We need the tree cookies with the hooks on the top and the bottom for this chain."

"Here I found some little baby ones for the tree."

"This is so cool. It's like a home made Christmas tree. A piece of art!"

"Can we hang them wherever we want?"

"Let's make some long and short chains."

 As the day goes on children come and go adding tree cookies and removing others to form new chains. Allowing the children to change the play.

Written by Mrs Balharry 

Draft - The Car Track Challenge

We don't often bring out the matchbox cars in Flex, but when we do, the children very quickly draft their favorites and begin racing across the rug at top speed. I asked the children if they had ever built a race track, and pretty soon they decided that sounded like a fun idea. We used our giant wood blocks of all sizes to build a track that the cars would descend down.

The children wanted a ramp over a gap; we realized that to keep the car moving, it would have to continue downward. They noticed that to keep the track stable, we had to place more heavy blocks against the track.

A competition to see whose cars could make it all the way down (on its wheels of course) and through the gate at the end began. It was very tricky, and some of the kids dropped 2 or 3 cars at the same time to increase their odds.

They learned that it was important for the car to be let go of from just the right spot, and of course, that one could find "even faster cars" to use.

Though the children may not understand concepts of gravity and velocity the way adults do, an activity like this gives children a chance to experiment with speed, angles, and trial and error play in a way that makes sense to them, through toys that are usually just pushed around (or dramatically smashed).


// Mr. McIntyre-Brandt

Happy Halloween October 31st, 2016

Well today was a day for fun activities. We dressed up, took part in a Halloween dance with glow sticks with our friends across the hall, showed our creativity while making some Halloween crafts and to finish off we enjoyed a special snack with all our friends!

 

 

Written by Mrs. Balharry

Lets Draw

This morning I brought out some extra large paper for the children to draw on. I moved the tables, chairs and water table in order get this paper to fit on the ground. As I moved the furniture all the children were very curious.

"What are you doing.?"     "That some BIG paper." 

Through further observation  I noticed that the children got right down to work. Some children sat while other got right onto their bellies and drew. It was so neat to see how the children got really close to that paper to draw. The concentration and focus was precise.

"I'm drawing a map.This is a X for the treasure. And there is a bumpy slide.

This little girl is very expressive with her description of her drawing.

 Drawing can let children express their imagination. It can also show each child's individual personality and development. Drawing on such a large scale can give the children freedom to do more and build on creativity.

DRAWING allows children..........

Improve on fine motor skills

Observe the world around them

Plan and execute

Expand spatial awareness

Develop self confidence

Strengthen problem solving and critical thinking

Written By Miss Santillan🙋🏻

What's been going on

Where has the time gone? We're already halfway through October! Here's a little look at what we've been up to.

We harvested our sweet potatoes and we're going to make mashed sweet potatoes.

We've been showing our creativity with natural materials.

Welcoming new friends while taking part in sensory play.

Making up new games with friends.

"Peak a boo. "

Dancing with some good friends.

Finding creative items made with our food!

Written by Mrs. Balharry.

Getting ready for Halloween 🎃👻

Recently, Miss Santallin brought out the Halloween costumes! The children had lots of fun role-playing in the different costumes...

"I'm getting married!"

"I want to be a ninja."

Then, the two children decided to go on a picnic together, as a ninja turtle and a cow...

"Yay, we're bumblebees!"

We are all getting very excited for Halloween! Can't wait to see everyone's costumes on Halloween!! 🎃👻

Written by Miss. Cryderman

Fall

Fall is a time to watch the seasons change. It is now cooler and all the leaves are falling off the trees. Our children are curious as to why the trees are bare. They notice all the leaves on the ground. It covers the whole front playground. Leaving no path to be seen.

" I push it."

Problem solving is what this child displays by gathering the leaves together in the wagon.

"I got lots of leaves."

Large muscle and physical activity is what this child displays.

The children helped to collect and rake the leaves. These girls were so engrossed in gathering leaves. Using their hands to pick the leaves and raking them into a big pile.

The children cherish the moment by relaxing on their mound of leaves.

"Look a BIG leaf."

This child discovers the various shapes and sizes of leaves

Leaves are fun to play with because

We can burry ourselves.

We can throw it in the air.

We can hear the leaves crunch under our footsteps.

We can jump into a big pile. 

We can see the many different autum colors.

Have fun with leaves🍂🍁🍃

Written by: miss Santillan 🙋🏻