December 2018

Big news for the month!

Ms. Queenie will be starting her maternity leave after the December 4th General Meeting. We are all sending her love and warm wishes as she embarks on this new journey with her family!

My child pretends to shoot guns – what do I do?

For our parent education session this month, we welcome Sarah McCarthy. Sarah created ECE Connect in 2015 with the idea of connecting early childhood educators together, and offering workshops that she feels are needed in the field.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and Training, a diploma in Early Childhood Education and Montessori (0-12 years) and a certificate for Children with Special Needs. She has worked in play based centres, Reggio inspired centres, Montessori schools, and Forest schools.

She’s been in the educational field for over 16 years; currently teaches in the Native Education College and Vancouver Community College, and is a board member of the ECEBC Vancouver branch.

Our presentation at the general meeting will be about Superhero Play.

All children have a right to play. This includes superhero play, sometimes weapon play and shocking themes like shooting storm troopers!

Objectives for this workshop:

• Understand what children mean when they use superhero play
• Discuss possible ways to manage and guide this type of play
• Review risky play and how it can support superhero play
• Investigate the possibilities that superhero play can bring

Fundraising Goals

Fundraising is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss your final chances to support our preschool. Coming up at the December General Meeting:

• Purdy’s Chocolates – orders must be picked up at the December meeting
• Monthly Raffle – 1 for $2, 3 for $5, 10 for $10 (you don’t want to miss this one!)
• Big Brother’s Donations
• Coming soon (final fundraiser of the year!): The Pie Hole

3-Year Old Classroom Information

November in the 3s classes has been bustling and bursting with fun!!

With our dinosaur exploration coming to a natural conclusion (haha – they’re extinct!) we have moved into other interests including mirrors and reflection, shadow play with flashlights, and with the change in weather and time- light and dark.  All of these areas of interest have been woven throughout the classroom and have been the basis of our planned activities.

We have been concentrating on group collage pieces for art, layering a variety of materials over several classes, incorporating metallics, along with black and white, taking inspiration from our recent visits to the art gallery.

There has been an ongoing curiosity and love of woodland creatures which has prompted us to create a playscape for further discovery as well as incorporate some songs and stories that include some familiar and beloved animals.

What’s ahead? We will be diving into planets, stars and space.  We expect some ‘out of this world’ discoveries.

We as teachers continue to be in awe of the wonderful ideas that continuously sprout before our eyes and are reminded of Jean Piaget’s words, “Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves.”  How lucky we are to be amongst such great inventors.

Dates to Note for December:

• Thursday, December 13 – Art Gallery visit
• Thursday,  December 20 – Winter Potluck Celebration

Warmly,
Ms. Donna & Ms. Lyn 

4-Year Old Classroom Information

Since September, the children have been busy building using our cardboard blocks.  Cardboard was introduced as an extension of our ‘loose parts’ project. The children have enjoyed building 3-dimensional structures such as garages and rocket ships to gluing 2-dimensional collages. As their investigation continues, some seem to have reflected on their experience and transferred the ideas gained back to block building. Currently, the cardboard blocks are often used to cover the windows of our house, and beds have been built with them in the loft!

Gross-motor:
Our obstacle course has been ongoing and remains popular as children challenge their skills in a variety of ways – jumping from the balancing beam to the small carpet tiles that keep them safe from the “hot lava”. Of course, the journey is complete only after crossing the “crocodile bridge” to reach the mysterious tunnel.

Manipulatives:
With beading, the children’s skills are evolving as we continue to challenge them from first using large wooden beads with pipe-cleaners, to now using smaller plastic beads to make jewellery for their families and peers to take home!

Reflective materials are being explored as an extension to children’s investigations, with the flashlights in the loft area.

Socio-dramatic play:
The children have continued exploring the small pumpkins throughout the preschool and using them in imaginative ways, such as making a garden in the block area for them, then harvesting them to cook in the house area. The children also like to use them as props when they tell stories with animals and puppets.

Art:
All children have been invited and challenged to do representational drawings of themselves or others wearing costumes, first by looking at mirrors or each other, then by looking at pictures of themselves or peers dressed up in costumes.

The 4s have also begun working on art projects that are inspired by their visits to the art gallery. These may show up at the Children’s Art Show in the Spring of 2019, so stay tuned!

We look forward to investigating more with the children on what their focus and intention are as they explore materials, and look forward to the new wonderings ahead as we head into winter!

Warmly,
Ms. Queenie & Ms. Donna