Fine motor fun

An essential skill children learn in kindergarten is fine motor control. 

We do lots of fine motor fun in room 132. Lacing, cutting, hole punching, using tongs, playdough, Lego, peeling stickers, tearing tape are only some examples. 

Gently grasping a living worm is even an opportunity to learn control. 

Building strong finger and hand muscles are essential to so many tasks we do everyday:

Holding a pencil

Writing

Typing

Tying shoes and doing buttons

Using a smartphone

Using a knife to make dinner

Opening and closing containers

Brushing teeth, braiding hair, shaving, makeup

Many professions are based on fine motor skill, such as:

Dentists

Surgeons and nurses

Musicians

Artists and craftspeople

Hair stylists

Tradespeople, like electricians and carpenters

And many more....

Can you imagine going through your day without strong, quick and accurate fingers?

So as you praise your child's macaroni necklace, playdough sculpture, collage or leaf garland, remember that a future surgeon may be in the making!

A is for Applesauce

Thank you to the families who were able to donate an apple for our applesauce project. 

Children love being involved in their food. Even kids who don't like apples were keen to try out the apple peeler or to chop some apples for the pot.

Many of them especially loved the "strings"- the peel. 

The children learned and practiced lots of skills, such as counting, cooperation, sequencing, sensory exploration, oral language, and fine motor strengthening. 

Learning the delicious way!

Playing with a purpose

It's always amazing how children can find their own learning.

Yesterday, a group of our SK boys found some tonka trucks in the JK yard. Immediately, they set a purpose for their play and began a project to "clean up" the area around the tree by moving the mulch to the "dump".

 The boys were focused on their goal. They worked co-operatively towards a common purpose. 

 

The boys took on the roles of construction workers and were heard to say things like:

"Dump it in the garbage boys!"

"Backing on up here!"

"Clean this place up!"

(And my favourite, by Hunter) "Dig dig dig and a riggy dig dig!"

The boys used chalk to define their work space, calling it the "construction zone". 

While it looks like "just boys being boys", it is in reality a complex and cooperative project. They practiced oral language, turn taking, sensory exploration, cooperative problem solving, body awareness, role playing, and inquiry. Their play was purposeful and rich- the type of play that leads to the greatest learning. 

Silver Linings

This week we've been learning about the life of Terry Fox. 

The children heard about how he got sick, and that while he was in the hospital he decided to help other people who were sick too. They watched a video where they heard him speak in his own words and they watched him run. We talked about how he was feeling on his long run. The children also learned- gently- that Terry Fox died and wasn't able to finish his Marathon of Hope. 

Themes of sadness and death are something we so often want to protect our children from. After all, they will experience such things all too soon. Yet kindergartens are often curious about it, and they ask questions to help them form an understanding of their own lives and those of others. We feel it is important to honour their wonderings and to respect their questions and thinking about death. While it's not a fun subject to teach, the story of Terry Fox's life is a good opportunity to carefully begin that conversation. 

Terry's story is also an opportunity to share how goodness can be gained from sadness- the silver lining in every cloud. Because of Terry's sacrifices, many lives have been saved. 

The children were eager to make a poster sharing Terry's mission, and they had a lot of fun marching around the school yard to celebrate Terry's accomplishments. We hope that events like this will inspire our new generation to also think big and to generously give to those less fortunate. 

The last rays of summer

With the harvest moon full in the sky and the seasons set to change, we noticed some very high energy today!

The last rays of summer sun were calling us so we headed outside to burn off some energy and to introduce our JKs to the sand box and trikes. Here are some shots of our fun. 

"We love each other and help"

In the art studio, a group of students started a project to decorate our door. Maya taught them how to cut hearts from paper and they are busily giving them to each other to put up. 

Maya also wrote a lovely message for every one to see as they enter:

"We love each other and help."

As far as class promises go, it's a good one!

We also came up with a few other things to remember as we learn:

We've already seen this loving group of children following the rules they created. 

As we begin our journey into learning, we are spending these first few weeks to establish a strong, loving, safe, and self regulated community. A solid foundation now is essential for our learning later. 

Holding little lives

Last week, Hamish brought in a Wooly Bear caterpillar that he and his brother found at home. He was very proud and protective of his little charge. He and the other children understood that they were holding little lives in their hands, showing empathy and care.

The teachers took out our glass tank so the children could observe the little guy more clearly, but several children noted that he needed more than just a stick to crawl on.

Hunter and Adam went to our building baskets and added some more logs to the caterpillar "playground". They also included some jewels and shells from the sand box to fancy it up a bit.

At recess, the children in the Bug Inquiry group took out some bug catchers and added a few grasshoppers and crickets to our enclosure.

Already the writing abilities of our children are becoming apparent. Several children made pictures of their observations and with some help added words to clarify their meaning.




We have a family of house flies in our classroom and our Bug group is trying to catch them for us. Their first plan was for this trap:

"The flies will think the yellow tape is a lemon to eat and when they land on it we will be quick and trap it with the pencil cup!"

After giving this some experimentation time (with limited success) the boys tried to just chase the flies with bug catchers in hand. Since science is all about trying ideas and learning from failures, we can assume we have a strong group of scientists in our class!

We reflected on the results and realized we needed more research. Hunter brought a juice bottle in and we wondered how to turn it into a trap. We asked google and came up with this:



The children baited it with meat scraps from their lunches and found a hiding place to see if the flies would visit.

It's wonderful seeing a group of children already wondering and exploring their world with such enthusiasm. As the year progresses, they will develop into inquisitive scientists.