Grouptime events

"I see ants and bugs crawling in the wood" We are lucky to have the forest in our backyard to explore and learn from. As part of our Formative assessment the children went on a nature walk and observed the lush forest surroundings. "leaves smells like Yuck!" "I found small animals on the leaves!" "I son't think leaves taste good." "We found lots of worms under the log!" Using their senses the children carefully observed the physical features of plants. Some even tried to taste the leaves. They lifted broken wood bark and discovered many bugs, worms and ants living underneath.  Looking closely at tree barks, they noticed tiny bugs that bury in between the cracks.  There were spiders hanging in the bushes and they began to wonder why they were there.  They were very intrigued by how and why animals live and stay in the dirt and why some bugs stay on plants. short discussion about our coll...

In the olden days children helped a lot at home with the chores in the kitchen, gathering food and keeping the house clean. During grouptime the children talked about how children in the olden days can do "unsafe" things like use knives, big tools and be outside on their own. In this grouptime the children practiced INDEPENDENCE and being a safe RISK-TAKER. Together we made home-made pancakes.  The children put in the ingredients together, cooked and shared the pancakes at lunchtime. They felt so proud of themselves and some couldn't wait to practice independence at home.

What is a Venn Diagram? What's different between children back then and now After watching about children living in early Canada we had a short discussion and worked on a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast children in the olden days vs children now. One thing they noticed very quickly was the amount of work children do to help out at home.  It seemed that children back then did not have much playtime.  After further investigation of old photos we also noticed that children did play but mostly outside and the games involved not toys but mostly with nature and with one another. They wondered how it's possible to work and tell stories when it's dark in the home and no electricity.When we tried doing it together they thought it was fun and different.  They decided to tell scary stories.  After a while they all felt that it's hard to get around when there's not enough light to help you find your way. Together, we made our own breakfast from scratc...

After reading a story about a child in the olden days, the children got curious about how and why they do things differently.  They noticed that children in the 1800s helped a lot at home and the work they do seem difficult and not safe.  The children can go outside on their own to gather wood, carry very heavy things and use big, sharp tools in the kitchen.  They wondered about what children do for fun like playtime when they are not helping at home.  Since there were no computers and electricity, what could they possible do for fun?? Olivia is exploring an old radio the book which sparked many questions "I'm going to call my mum" Here are some of the children's thoughts and questions: 1. "Children grow their own food because there were no grocery stores.     We also grow some food in the garden." -- Michael 2. Why did people work too much before? 3.  "What did the children do inside and outside? How did they play?"-...

We have now started a new unit on Decorations. "This decoration makes the school beautiful" - Billy When asked what they think is a decoration the children talked about things which are beautiful, colorful,  has pretty shapes and are used for special occasions.  They noticed the pumpkins carved into Jack-o-lanterns, Christmas lights people put out on their windows, the Christmas trees, and also the colourful street signs.    Billy: People clean their houses and put nice decorations so when their neighbors come it looks beautiful Michael: decorations are anything that is colourful.  Olivia: flowers are decorations Patrick: pictures on the wall are beautiful. 

Everyday we are surrounded with music, voices and sounds.  In this grouptime the children learned about recognizing the pitch (high/low), loudness and quality of sound by listening to various instruments and excerpts of classical music.  At first we played the high and low game where children called out things that are high up in the sky and things that are low down to to ground. We used hand gestures(pointed up for high and down for low) to show high and low.  Then we played each instrument and sorted them to what feels like a high or low pitch.  The children commented about how low pitch instruments sounded "scary" and made them want to stomp their feet and bang the table. On the other hand, they said high pitched instruments make them want to wiggle and shake their arms. We dramatized the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears using instruments to show represent each characters in the story.  The children chose the drums for the Big bear voice, the Jingle Bel...

Twirling leaves, waving arms Kicking, balancing from log to log Reaching, grabbing branches high and low Swooping down to see what's below Pushing and dragging with such determination While gently touching worms, bugs, flowers and all sorts of creation Explore, discover, create Investigate how things deteriorate Oh how great it is to be free with this magical forest tree.