Drawing Outdoors

It was such a beautiful, crisp autumn morning today! We decided to bring the children outside for a drawing experience! Using a very large piece of butcher paper, we encouraged the children to work together and share materials while drawing pictures of their choice. Some children wrote words and others created patterns - a concept we have been exploring in our large and small group activities.

What great team work!

Encouraging Reading in Young Children

Reading doesn't just happen. It is a skill that must be nurtured from a child's earliest years. Once children know how to read, they still need gentle coaxing and support to fulfill their potential as readers.

Here are a dozen tips for nurturing your growing reader:

1.  Read with your children at least once every day.

2.  Make sure they have plenty to read. Take them to the library regularly, and keep books and other reading materials in their reach.  Many books are available for free reading through online websites or the local library.

3.  Notice what interests your child, and help find books about those things.

4.  Respect your child's choices. There's nothing wrong with reading the same type of book over and over if it's what keeps a young reader turning the pages.

5.  Praise your children's efforts and newly acquired skills.

6.  Help your child build a personal library. Children's books, new or used, make great gifts.  Designate a bookcase, shelf or box where your children can keep their books.

7.  Check up on your children's progress. Listen to them as they explore the pictures and text in a book. Listen to them read aloud, read what they write, and don't hesitate to inquire about their progress in our classroom.

8.  Go places and do things with your children to build their background knowledge and vocabulary, and to give them a basis for understanding what they read.

9.  Tell stories. It's a fun way to teach values, pass on family history and build your children's listening and thinking skills.

10.  Be a reading role model. Let your children see you read, and share some interesting things with them that you have read about in books, newspapers, or magazines.

11.  Continue reading aloud to older children even after they have learned to read by themselves.

12.  Encourage writing along with reading. Ask children to sign their artwork, add words to your shopping list, take messages, and make their own books and cards as gifts.

Dried Sunflower Head

Families,

We are looking for a large, dried sunflower head so the children can use their fine motor skills to remove the seeds. Can anyone help us out? Thank you!

Straw Painting

We used straws to paint with the primary colours today. Children were invited to try and mix the colours in order to make new ones using nothing but the straw - no hands allowed! It was so much fun!

Pudding Finger Printing

What better way to spend a rainy Friday than by fingerprinting in pudding! Using pudding is a wonderful way to engage children in a writing experience because it looks, smells and tastes wonderful, appealing to many senses! We offered children chocolate and vanilla pudding, and many chose to use both on their papers and explored what happened when the colours/flavours mixed. It was great fun as children practiced printing their names and drawing in the pudding!

Magnet Painting

Our children have expressed an interest in exploring magnets this week. Mrs. Bombardier put out an engaging activity that combined science and art! The children used the power of magnets to paint. First they dropped a metallic object in a cup of paint, then the object was placed on a piece of painting paper. Finally, a magnet was used to drag the object (with paint) around, creating a beautiful piece of art!  Check it out!

Coloured Water Painting

We spent some time outside today painting on the ground with coloured water! (We added a few drops of food colouring to a cup of water to add some pizzazz to it!)

The children spent time painting the ground - drawing pictures, writing their names, and creating various lines (squiggly, zigzag, straight).

As the water dried, a beautiful colour was left on the asphalt.

Some children painted on top of sidewalk chalk designs that had been left from before. They observed the chalk dissolving in the water.

Stringing Beads

Stringing beads is an excellent activity to promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and build patience!  We had a large assortment of wonderfully beautiful beads available for the children to use today.

Bubbles!

We spent some time outside today enjoying the cool autumn weather and blowing bubbles! We try and spend a large block of time each day outdoors so that we can engage in inquiry and exploration in our very large, nature-rich school yard.