On Tuesday the children were each given their photo from PJ day and asked to draw a picture of themselves.  We used our special drawing pens for this activity (they are very fine tip so the children can draw in detail).  

We drew the children's attention to the way they held their arms in the photo and asked them to portray this in their sketches.  We also had them look closely at the PJs and draw the details of their outfit.  I am amazed how how detailed some of the drawings are!  In the photos you will see each child's photo beside their drawing. 

Here are the children's finished flower paintings.  They are currently displayed around our classroom... I will be sad to send them home!  They look so beautiful all together and give us a hopeful sense that spring is around the corner (since the weather is really not doing this!) 

Here are the children's fabulous self-portraits for the month of April.  Enjoy :)

Wow!  We collected so much food for the Campus Food Bank!  Thank you so much for your generous donations, for allowing us to use your wagons and carts on our delivery day, and for the parents who were able to stay and help with the food delivery.  As the children pushed their carts/pulled their wagons across campus I felt overwhelmed with pride!  The food bank was very excited when we arrived with our large food delivery.

Here is a link to the Campus Food Bank website: http://campusfoodbank.com 

I hope you enjoy the photos! 

Morning Class Reflections

"What was your favourite part of delivering food today?  How did it make your feel?"

Abd-ElRahman - I liked helping them.
Amelie - I liked pushing the cart.
Finn - I liked pulling the carts.
Jasper - I liked walking to the food bank.
Leia - I liked pushing the carts.  It was so bumpy.
Luka - I liked giving the food.
Megan - I liked pulling the wagon with Amelie.  It made me happy.
Nathan - I liked giving the food for them.
Tobias - I liked pushing the carts. 

Afternoon Class Reflections

"What was your favourite part of delivering food to the food bank?  How did it make your feel?"

Anna - I liked it when I was pushing the cart.
Avery - I liked pushing the cart.
Cooper - I felt good.
Dorine - Pushing the wagon felt good.
Elisha - hen I was helping Dorine pull the wagon it was good.
Jesse - I liked carrying the adventure backpack.
Kinan - I liked laughing with Aroh and Talha.
Lowyn - I felt happy by pushing the stroller.
Samantha - I liked that day.
Seth - I liked pushing the food with bumping peanut butter with Mommy. 

Here are our self-portraits for the month of February.  This is one of my favourite activities to complete with the children!  They have shown great improvements in their fine motor skills.  Also included in these photos is a great picture of Jenn and Jenny drawn by Luka :)

We had a great Valentine's Day!  

Thank you for ensuring your child had valentine cards to deliver to her/his peers.  It is a very exciting day for the children, and I always worry that someone will have forgotten their cards at home.  I was really impressed that the children were able to recognize some of their peers' names as Jenn and I helped them deliver their cards.

We also had some special Valentine's centres for the children this day.  On the SMART Board the children drew 'Valentine's Pictures", at the art centre they created valentine cards and decorated foam hearts, they played a toss game with gummy hearts, completed heart puzzles, and created patterns with two different kinds of heart erasers.  We then had snack (a big thank you to the families who brought in snacks to share) and opened our valentines.

The afternoon class had a pirate dress-up this week.  We completed pirate activities like creating an authentic looking treasure map, making 'Wanted' posters, and playing 'Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate".  Having everyone dressed up like pirates led to a fun afternoon of imaginative play!  

A special thank you to Finn and Kaliko for sharing their extra pirate gear with their classmates.

We also played the pirate games/activities on this website: http://www.cbc.ca/kids/games/pirates/index.html

Last week the children used puffy paint (a mixture of shaving cream and glue) to create snow scenes.  We quickly discovered that in order for the paint to remain puffy, it had to be dabbed onto the paper - rather than spreading it around with our paint brushes.  

Here are the children's self-portraits for the month of January.  We are so impressed with the growth we can already see in their drawings!  

A teacher sits with the children who are completing their drawings, cueing them to add details and hold their pencils correctly, but they do the drawings themselves.  We are very proud of their hard work! 

The afternoon children have taken an interest in drawing treasure maps.  We wanted to create an example to demonstrate how pirates have to draw landmarks on their maps so they know where to walk.  We drew a map and then hid treasure, leading the children around the room to follow the map.  Jenn was our captain, so after she spoke we had to say, "Aye, aye captain!"  Here is a video of the children finding the hidden treasure.

This activity lead to the children creating even more maps during free play time on Wednesday.  During our group time on Thursday the map creator described their map to us (videos below).  Drawing maps is a numeracy activity as it helps the children develop their sense of spatial awareness.