Our New Centres!

The new centres are very busy today!

Our sensory table is filled with  "snow dough". It packs!  It is 2 cups flour to 1/4 cup of baby oil if you want to try this at home!

Here Haedon is using lummi sticks to make music as she is listening and singing to Christmas music!

Some  friends are playing " The North Pole" here!

Kadence brought in some paper plates because she wanted to make wreaths at school!

Our construction centre is still going on!

Mrs. Hawkins daughter measured the snow on Saturday to see how much snow fell.  The total was 29 cm.  She took pictures and we showed the students.  They were really interested in it so we filled the water table with snow and added some rulers to measure the snow!  

Our Christmas Party!

Thank you to the Mr. McLean and some students at General Amherst High School for a fabulous time had by all!  We decorated cookies, made ornaments, wrote letters to Santa, played pin the nose on the reindeer, gathered reindeer food, listened to a story read by Mrs. Claus and sat on Santa's lap.

Play dough!

Look spheres says Chayse.  I just roll it around on the table to make them.  He asks for a big box so he can roll them around to play a game!  I'm going to make them race.  I have to lift the box to make one side up and one side down......like a see saw.  

Writing centre!

Braelin created a picture using some shapes that were at the writing centre!  It's a Christmas tree in someone's house and there are presents under the tree she says!

Marble painting!

Here Rhainnon is using spheres to roll around to paint her tree.   She explains that it can roll because it is a sphere and it is all round.  There are no flat ends or corners so it can roll she says.  

Our Light Table!

A few of the students are decorating the Christmas tree at the light table today!  

There are some 3-D shapes on it!  Spheres and cubes! 

The Napping House!

The listening centre is a busy spot today.  We have been reading the story The Napping House this week and here they are listening to the story on a cd and retelling it by using stacking blocks!

Shapes are Everywhere!

Many friends brought shapes for home today and we created shape books.  We are discovering that shapes are everywhere!  Look around to see if you an find any more shapes in your house!  

Beginning Sounds

In our class we are working on identifying beginning sounds. Hearing and identifying the beginning sound of words is an important first step in learning to read.  At home help your son/daughter practice skills by identifying the sound they here at the start of a word.  

We also use Jolly Phonics to help the children learn to identify sounds that go with letters. With Jolly Phonics, the children learn to match the sound of the letter with an action.  Here is a link:

Jolly Phonics Song

The Jolly Phonics Letters

Here the group is playing a matching game.  Matching the pictures that have the same sound at the beginning of each word.

Here Jazman has matched the word pie with the word pumpkin.

When saying the word we often over emphasize the beginning sound.  Here Kaitlyn is saying "t-t-tiger, t-t-turtle".

Electricity!

Our Electricity Game!

Jack was chosen to be the electricity.  He had to walk around the circle and when the electricity walked past you your hands joined with the person beside you to close the circuit.  If Jack walked around and everyone helped to close the circuit the flashlight went on at the end!  We were able to close the circuit and the flashlight did come on!

Our vocabulary words at the science table! 

 As the teachers and other adults in the room circulate to each centre we have posted vocabulary words for the adults to use and model at that centre.  The idea is to allow the children to hear these words a lot so they start to use them in their observations and when sharing their thoughts.  Here are 

the words posted at the science centre!  

Below some are testing out the batteries to see if they can make the lights twinkle!

Bears!!

Last week during our circle time, we practised friendship skills and how to be a good friend.  One of the books we read was "The Very Cranky Bear", from this story about friendship, the children became interested in bears.  This week we spent more time discussing and learning about bears.  The children were especially interested in how bears prepare for the winter. They learned that bears eat a lot in the late summer and autumn so that they will have enough energy stored for hibernation. 

Below is a link to a YouTube reading of "The Very Cranky Bear":

The Very Cranky Bear

In the Sand table the children played with the bears and created dens for the bears to winter in.

A bear is coming out of his den, he looks hungry!

Some books we read about bears.

Some of the new words the children learned and used in their play.

One of the songs we sung about bears.

An action song (sung to the tune of Sleeping Bunnies) the children enjoyed! 

Patterns, patterns, everywhere!!

We have started to discover patterns in our classroom and around the school.  The children have learned that patterns repeat. Some children have started to make their own patterns using blocks, shapes, bingo dabbers and stickers. We have also made action patterns, for example clap your hands, stomp your feet, clap your hands, stomp your feet..... Finding patterns, extending patterns and creating patterns are important skills!  Help your child find patterns around the house and have them show you what they know about patterns!  

This is a poem about patterning.

This is an AB pattern that Daniel made.

At this activity children can create a shape pattern or a colour pattern.

Ava created an AAB pattern using stickers.

Ashley discovered the pattern on her barrette matched the pattern on her shirt.

Goop!

On Tuesday we introduced goop to our sensory bin. Goop is made of corn starch and water.  The fun thing about goop is that it that it constantly changing. It appears as a solid but then quickly changes to a liquid when poured.  The mixture reacts to pressure being applied, that is why the viscosity changes.  The children described it as "slimey", "gooey","looks like milk" and it is "smooth", "watery" and "cool".  

Stethoscopes!

There was such an interest in using the stethoscopes at our doctor centre we created our very own stethoscopes and we now are learning about the heart!  

Here our two friends are taking turns listening to each others heart. You an really hear it.  To make a stethoscope at home all you need is a paper towel roll and a funnel!

One of our friends is pumping the blood, creating a pulse!  Can you count to 72?

Another friend is running on the spot until the trimmer runs out to see if her heart rate increases!

We know that at rest our heart rate beats about 72 beats her minute!  Can you count to 72?

One friend found the number 72!

This is a list of our vocabulary words the adults are using when interacting with the children at this centre.  The goal is to have the children using these words in their play at this centre and in the classroom!