Grouptime events

Food colouring and water sprinkle painting Julia's oil pastel experience After reading a story about friends who have had a disagreement the children wondered why friends sometimes fight and argue.  We did an experiment using oil, water, and food colouring to show how friends sometimes get along like water and food colouring but also like water and oil when they don't get along.  The children were very keen on the experiment and how the colour is slowly diffusing in the water. It's just like when friends loving and enjoying each other's company; the relationship is smooth and harmonious.  They were also very intrigued by how the oil and water don't mix. The oil just sits on top of the water even if you keep shaking the container.   Oil and water are also like friends who are fighting and arguing they don't want to be around each other and enjoy each other's company. This experiment did not really answer the children's quest...

Some children in the Fire group joined us to help explore ideas on Matthew's question: "how do you start to play and make friends?" We came up with 3 ways on how to make new friends. 1. Invite someone to be part of your game.     "Do you want to join me in my game?"     "Would you like to play?" 2. Introduce yourself.     "Hi,my name is........what's your name?"     " I'm ........ what's your name?" 3. Ask/Greet     "Hello, how are you? "     "Hi,what are you doing?"     " Can I join you?" The children worked in partners and practiced greeting and introducing themselves with one another. The idea is to help them learn the language so they can feel confident about entering play on their own time. Nico and Elaine spoke in Mandarin and this sparked the idea of learning how to say "hello" in various languages. We found out that just the teachers alone speak about 5 d...

making the pie crust Delicious pie! The Vote: will you share or not share the bread? The story of the Little Red Hen is a simple yet it raises thought provoking questions about the expectations in friendship. Should friends always help and share with one another?  After reading and dramatizing the story, I asked the children how it makes them feel when someone helps them and how it feels when they help someone.  They all agreed that helping makes everyone feel happy and good about themselves. What if friends don't help? What will happen? Nico: I will get mad Matthew: well...it's going to be too hard Using the story as our example the children observed that the Hen felt sad and tired because she was doing all the work.  Also, because of that, Nico felt that the hen should not share any of the bread because  "She made it herself!"  while the rest of the children felt it's ok to share because it's a kind thing to do. Together we made...

Allye and Matthew drawing their ideas on their books What is a friend for?? Elaine showing a helpful behaviour The children discussed the teacher question: What is the function of a friend? First they had to understand the meaning of the word "FUNCTION" so I gathered some everyday items on my tray like string, spoon, scissors, markers, paper, pillow, paint brush and glue stick and asked what each item is used for. Then I used the "Function" over and over again during our conversation and the children quickly got the idea.  We then made a list of WHAT A FRIEND IS FOR? WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF A FRIEND? A friend is to share with -Nico A friend is to play with - Matthew A friend is to spend time with - Allye We read a story That's What Friends Are For by Heide & Cliefe which is about friends helping each other. Helping is another important function of a friend.  The children told stories of friendly and helpful behaviour they experi...

The children are learning about Texture and Pattern. We began by gathering variety of things to help us describe different texture in our immediate environment and made a list of new vocabulary words like gritty, sandy, bumpy, coarse, glassy and fuzzy. To show what they learned the children created a texture collage where they will continue to add on patterns using different art and recycled materials next week. Julia sorting through textured fabric Eddy: I crumpled the foil and it's bumpy Allye's creative take on textured art

"I like my friend to be playful and helpful" --Matthew "I am so big!" -- Allye What do you look for in a friend? What sort of qualities do we find important in a friend?  Explaining the meaning of quality was somewhat challenging because I had to think of concrete examples to help the children have a better understanding of what it is and what that might look like. We made a list of the various qualities most people like in a friend such as kindness, cheerfulness, playfulness, generosity, helpfulness.  We also cited non-examples so that they clearly understand friendly qualities and not-so-friendly qualities. Body Tracing as an assessment tool: The children traced their bodies to represent themselves as a friend to someone. Every week we will write a few words which tells us about that we've done in grouptime. We will also write some questions and things we wonder about in this unit on friendship. That way we can keep track of our thinking a...

Group Poster: Who is your friend and why? together with the Fire group The "Friendship Unit" is a wonderful way to start the school year as relationships between new and familiar faces unfold and deepen through the months to come.  During our formative assessment the children were asked to carefully think about one special friend they have in their life and draw (or decorate) that person on a cut-out ginger bread paper. Then one by one I asked them who this person is and why they are a friend to them. Most of the children quickly responded with names but when asked "why" many replied "I don't know..." so I re-phrased my question into:  What do they do that is special? What do you do with them that is special? Damon: Kesler is my friend because he plays with me William: Matthew is my friend because he plays tag with me Ryleigh: Allye is my friend because I help push her on the tire swing Sofia: Lauren is my friend because she is kind to me...