What a fun week it has been! We learned so much about Penguins and of course pretended to be all sorts of penguins, big and small. There was some excited pretend play that happened on a slippery hill, where the kids got to be tummy-sliding penguins! Who can resist sliding down a slippery hill?
 
We learned many facts about penguins as, the largest penguin is the Emperor penguin and the smallest is the Blue penguin. We didn’t even know there was a blue coloured penguin! Daddy penguins take care of the egg and the newly hatched baby chick while the mommy is out fishing and eating as much fish as possible so she can come back and regurgitate it for the baby. The looks on the kids’ faces were priceless. The daddy’s have a little pocket that makes a milk-like substance to sustain the baby until the mommy gets back. I am sure the kids will tell you many more things about penguins too!
 
We played a counting and adding game. The kids held a cardboard tube mommy penguin and had to catch the pompom fish before the leopard seal (Bella Dog) caught them. Bella Dog did steal many of the kids' fish!
 
The kids practiced their shape identification and counting how many sides shapes have through our penguin shape match activity. They also matching penguin letters and colour identification/colour word spelling in our penguin scarf and hat match.
 
We took advantage of the warmer weather by making a splatter painted penguin outside. The kids also made painted cup Macaroni penguins.
 
Our letters this week were Y and Z. We practiced building them with tiny cubes and magnet pieces on the fridge.
 
We also celebrated a very happy 4th birthday this week!

Happy New Year!
 
We started off our new year with so much bum, and sometimes tummy, sledding! If you ever had a New Years’ Resolution to be more active, this is definitely the thing to try! The kids have been so happy that the snow has decided to stay around, that we went out bum sledding, and hill climbing, every day this week. 
 
The kids practiced their scissor and tracing skills. Their scissor practice papers then turned into individual puzzles they had to glue together. They worked on drawing their favourite parts of their Christmas 2020 in their journals, practiced backwards counting and made New Years Pom Pom poppers that Bella also really enjoyed, so much so that she would fetch the pom poms for the kids. So funny!
 
We celebrated a very happy 5th birthday this week! Balloons, cupcakes, a movie and good friends make for a great birthday celebration!
 
Some other activities we did this week include:
-Lots of crafting!
-Drawing fireworks with glue before and adding glitter to them
-Working as a team to sequence numbered cups before using them for our science fun (pouring baking soda and vinegar together)
-Making Birthday bracelets with pipe cleaners and pony beads
-Painting handprint new year 2021 art
-Clapping out syllables in names and words

Merry Christmas!
 
It’s hard to believe that it is already the end of another calendar year! It has definitely been a crazy year, but among the negative things have come some truly wonderful acts of kindness and generosity. Our little group has learned a lot about giving where we can: our time, our kind words, our care, our understanding, our help, our positivity. Through-out the month we have been focused on these daily acts of kindness that help make our community a better place to be. 
 
The Kindness Elves (Ted and Fred) joined in on our acts of kindness and offered kindness ideas for us to do or take part in. They were extremely fun for the kids to find each morning and we were always excited to see what notes they had left for us to read. They even answered the kids’ questions! We even wondered if Ted and Fred knew Oliver and Dot (an elf and reindeer from one of our stories) and it turns out that Oliver, Ted and Fred are cousins!
 
Some fun things we did this week:
-The kids got to play with freshly made gingerbread play dough. Mmm, it smelled wonderful! 
-The kids practiced their numbers by identifying, tracing and finger counting gingerbread numbers. They also added the correct number of buttons to a gingerbread man, practiced the motions of reading the number word and counting out the corresponding number of cubes. 
-The kids drew tiny pictures on tags that we tied to candy canes for the people in the neighbourhood. It was pretty exciting to hang them on the neighbours door handles! 
-Read Christmas stories to each other. What a kind thing to do for another. J
-Decorated plastic Christmas ornaments with glitter on the inside and painted pictures on the outside.
-The elves brought the kids some Magic Reindeer Food to sprinkle on their lawn so that Santa can easily spot their houses from the sky. And the reindeer can get a little extra magic to help them through the night. How exciting!
 
Some of the books we read this week were;
-Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story by Edward Hemingway
-A Very Merry Christmas by Maudie Powell-Tuck
-Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
-A Porcupine In A Pine Tree by Helaine Becker and Werner Zimmermann
-Franklin’s Christmas Gift by Paulette Bourgeosis and Brenda Clark

The Kindness Elves, Ted and Fred, have arrived from the North Pole! The kids who remember from last year were so excited to see them! The job of the Kindness Elves is here to spread kindness and joy. Yes, they go back to visit Santa at the North Pole each night, but they do tell Santa if the children have been naughty or nice, instead tell him all the kind actions they have taken for themselves and others. The elves encourage good behaviour without the added stress of not receiving a present from Santa on Christmas. Kids like to be noticed for the good that they do, however small.
 
The positivity that comes from these Elves include encouraging many positive behaviours, encouraging kids to carry out daily acts of kindness for themselves and others, modeling thoughtfulness and empathy towards others, community and Christmas spirit, encouraging feelings of gratitude and reflective thinking, and inspiring teamwork.
 
This week the elves left Kindness suggestions for the kids, as well as did a couple of kind things for them (cleaned up their toys they left out and brought them new markers after discovering they were mostly running out). The kids made a Christmas card for the mail carrier, decorated felt ornaments for themselves and someone special, made a list of polite words and tried to use them more often and made Christmas cards for the elderly at the Sage Hill Retirement Residence.
 
Some of the kind things Ted and Fred have seen more of this week include;
-helping others more frequently when they need it
-giving compliments to friends
-turning off the light in the bathroom even though they were not the ones in their last
-an increase in the use of manners
-I even saw some positive problem-solving attempts in the youngest
 
Books we read this week:
The Littlest Elf by Brandi Dougherty
The Littlest Christmas Elf by Nicki Shannon Smith
The Happy Elf by Harry Connick Jr
The Kindness Book by Todd Parr
Memoirs of an Elf by Devin Scillian
 
We watched the Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch and did a baking soda and vinegar Grinch heart balloon experiment. The kids funnelling baking soda into balloons and poured vinegar into the bottles, then I attached the two. And Voila! When the balloon filled with the baking soda that was dropped into the vinegar bottle, the Grinch's heart grew 3 sizes!
 
The kids a reindeer dice roll and number colour activity to practice number identification, played a Christmas memory match game, sorted and patterned tiny wood Christmas pieces, drew Christmas scenes in their journals, made twisted pipe cleaner candy canes, and helped put up the Christmas tree lights.
 
Our letters this week were M and N. The kids built these letters with a variety of toys.
 
The Christmas Crazies, as I like to call them, started to show a bunch this week. ‘Tis the season for all the excitement and tiredness!

Happy Hanukkah!
 
Hanukkah begins this coming week. We decided we would celebrate and learn about Hanukkah a bit early this year. We have been happy to learn about more than one holiday that celebrates the light over darkness. Such positivity in the holidays!
 
We had such a wonderful time playing the Dreidel game multiple times. A few of the children have even remembered what each of the symbols on the Dreidel mean! The wonderful thing about playing this game is that not only do we get to experience a game that children from another culture enjoy but we also got to work our finger muscles, count coins and practice positive game players. The kids made cute tissue paper Dreidels by gluing a collage of tissue paper together on the paper Dreidel.
 
We learned about what the Hanukkah Menorah candles represent, what the middle candle is called, and we will continue to ‘light’ the candles on the Menorah on our white board each day until all eight candles have been lit. The kids made handprint Menorahs and made colour patterns with paper candles. 
 
Ours letters this week were K and A. We practiced drawing diagonal lines, built letter K with wood pieces and searched for As in a pile of magnet letters. We are working really hard on making our diagonal lines straight instead of curvy. 
 
Some other things we did this past week included painting on a shiny surface, continuing to build and play up on NoseHill where our branch ‘tent’ is, and went bum sliding multiple times on the side of the Ravine.

This week we learned about nocturnal animals. Each day of focused mostly on one animal ie: owl, red fox, bat, hedgehog. We learned how certain animals can see better at night, how some use echolocation to navigate the darkness and how they are able to hunt for food. We made paper red foxes, painted hedgehogs with a fork, and craft paper/cardboard tube bats with toothpicks to hold the wings. We also made owls with craft paper, feathers and cupcake liners for eyes. The kids journaling about nocturnal animals as well; with most choosing to draw red foxes and owls.
 
Our letters this week were B and R. In their workbooks, the kids coloured pictures that start with the letter B and using stickers to make the letter R. They also built R using wood pieces.
 
A couple of times this week, we played a game called “I Have, Who Has?”. Each person has a card that either has a number or letter of the alphabet on it and they have to identify if theirs come next in the sequence and then ask whose comes after. They also played a shape search and match game, took part in a pattern clapping circle and played a dice rolling game to identify numbers and count/thread the corresponding number of beads on a pipe cleaner.
 
We had plenty of fun outside this week, building forts with branches, making snowballs and climbing the side of the ravine (that was no easy task). What great practice in perseverance and delayed gratification. We had some wonderful cheerleaders and helpers for those who were having difficulties. Sliding down was so worth how difficult it was to climb up. We were all definitely dirty by the end of the week!

Happy Diwali to those who celebrated last weekend!
 
The kids and I have been learning about Diwali and have really enjoyed the colours, lights and fun together. We learned about the fancy clothing (of which they got to see a real Sari and bangles), the tasty food, the fireworks, the music, Diyas and Rangoli. The kids and I made and decorated Fimo Diyas (clay pots that hold either oil or candles), painted sparkly fireworks using paper tubes and made paper flower decorations. The highlight of our week was using coloured sand to create our own Rangoli (patterns created on the floor using coloured powder, sand, rice, etc). The kids had practice holding and pouring bottled sand into funnels, pouring the sand with control and practiced patience and manners while asking and waiting for the colours they needed. 
 
Our storybooks this week include:
Dipal’s Diwali by Twinkl
Diwali Lights by Rina Singh
Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar
Peppa’s Diwali by Nevill Astley
Let’s Celebrate Diwali by Anjali Joshi
 
Our letters this week were D and P. They practiced forming the letter P on the fridge with line and curve pieces. For the letter D they had to search through a basket of objects to find those that started with D. 
 
The kids also practiced their shape, number and colour identification through our owl game. They had to find the two pieces, of the same colour, that make up an owl and run it back to me to tell me what colour the owl is, and what number and shape is on its tummy.

Lest We Forget
 
We remember. We remember to say thank-you to those, past and present, who helped to keep Canada safe and free. 
 
Some things they remembered, by the end of the week, about Remembrance Day;
-Peace. We learned about Peacekeepers and their roles in times of peace and conflict.
-Soldiers and Veterans. They can be men or women, past or present. They help to keep our country safe, help other countries and the civilians who live there.
-Poppy. Poppies show that we remember and say thank-you. We learned some places where poppies grow and that they can even provide medicine.
-Thank-you and We Remember. It is important to take time to say thank-you to all the brave people who keep us safe and free, so they know they are not forgotten.
-The Unknown Soldier and The Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa. We watched the Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa),
-Bag Pipes and the Bugle. They are musical instruments that are used notably during Remembrance Day ceremonies. 
 
We made foam poppies with glitter middles, used scissors to create the edges of the paper poppies, practiced using pincher fingers to rip construction paper for torn paper poppies, went on a hunt for little poppies and made a poppy wreath together.
 
The stories we read were;
Ava’s Poppy by Marcus Pfister
I Can See Peace by Amber Connor and Vernon Dew
The Peace Book by Todd Parr
Hero Mom by Melinda Hardin
 
The play foam clocks came out this week. With these foam clocks, the kids practiced fine motor skills, counting, number recognition, number sequencing, and even how to tell what hour it is. 
 
Our letters this week were S and J. The kids made the letter S with little paper squares and used their workbooks to search the letter J. 
 
By choice, the kids spent much of their outside time in the brush in the field. They are quite the little explorers. They also had a bunch of fun playing with Bella dog and the “stick” (more like branch) she found. 

We did and artist study on Piet Mondrian this week. Our look at him was focused on his later work where he used primarily primary colours, black and white and horizontal and vertical lines.
 
We learned what they primary colours are (Red, Yellow, Blue) and how they are used to make different colours. The kids have practiced mixing colours quite often and most are starting to remember which primary colours make which secondary colours. The kids made colour pyramids; primary colours on the bottom and secondary colours on top. They also searched through the house for objects that were mostly made of primary colours. 
 
We have been working on what horizontal and vertical lines are through our letter learning, as letters using those lines were the letters we started with. The kids practiced making straight lines using a ruler, making them free hand, placing squares and rectangles in the corresponding positions, and using their bodies.
 
The kids made artwork inspired by a variety of Piet Mondrian’s work. They used oil pastels, pencil crayons, crayons, popsicle sticks, rulers, black electrical tape, paper squares and paper rectangles.
 
They made popsicle stick art inspired by Piet Mondrian's variety of Boogie Woogie works. They used oil pastels to colour in squares and rectangles inspired by many of Piet Mondrian’s later artwork. They used horizontal and vertical shape placement and line drawing inspired by Piet Mondrian's Composition in Colour series. This was a great opportunity to practice proper pencil grasp as well.
 
The kids are doing so well with pattern making lately, they seem very interested, so we continue to work on more complex patterns (ABAB, AABB. ABC). They can continue and make their own AB patterns in colour, size, shape, even in the weather and food types. They can make an AB pattern out of practically anything. It’s almost turned into a game of sorts while we eat. 
 
The kids did some fine motor work by stretching elastics over square blocks.
 
Our letters this week were Q and G.