South Centre Outing

Happy December! It feels like the weeks are flying by.

Last week we went on an outing to South Centre Mall. The children had an opportunity to practice trying on shoes or clothing, they got to visit the Disney store, ride the escalator and elevator and play in the play area. Some children saw Santa and decorated  gingerbread cookies.  Going on group outings to the mall is a great way for our kiddos to practice many skills (e.g. waiting, denied request, staying with the group, etc.) and coping with a variety of stressors.

 

 

Letter I

We had some fun learning about the letter I. Iggy the Iguana (puppet) helped us sing the "I song". We receptively and expressively identified the letter and then went to the craft table to make an igloo craft.

 

The children covered foam cups with glue and then covered them with cotton balls. I added a polar bear to the inside. When they finished the craft they all received a little baby polar bear to explore some imaginary play.

 

 

 

 

At the end, everyone returned to the carpet to play with some Unifix cubes and build "I" letters.

All About Me

 

This month we are talking about what makes us unique. Check out some of the fun centers and activities we have in the classrooms!

 

 Come visit the hair salon

 



 

 

 Learn about body parts

 



 

Complete the obstacle course

 

 

Make a self-portrait

 

 

 

Play House

 



 

 

Remembrance Day

The children participated in making some poppies to celebrate Remembrance Day! They each had the opportunity to get a little messy by placing their hands in red paint and stamping  white paper circles (some slightly messier then others).

 

Then, we explored some of our wonderful musical instruments (drums, rain sticks, bells, and maracas) and off we went in a marching band upstairs throughout the consultant offices.

Happy Halloween!

The Haunted House is all set up and decorated, we can't wait for all of you to come check it out this afternoon at the Halloween Party! There will be lots of food, games, crafts and of course we will be dancing to the Monster Mash! The party starts at 1:00.

 

Monster Mash Music Video:

 

 

A sneak peek of the Haunted House:

 
 



 

 



Pumpkins!

In honor of Halloween, we decorated pumpkins! First the kiddos helped scoop out the inside of the pumpkins. Some of the kiddos really enjoyed this while others much preferred the teachers to it for them. Then they chose how they would like to decorate them.

Some groups painted their pumpkins different colours

 Other groups put pegs in their pumpkins

While other groups worked together in pairs to make mummy pumpkins













Check out our awesome pumpkins:

Fall Walk

Last week we went on our annual Fall Walk to Fish Creek Park. We started at Votier's Flats, the weather was great which made the walks that much more enjoyable. The kids picked up leaves as we walked along the paths. After we walked for a while we stopped at some picnic benches and the kids created some leaf animals out of the leaves that they had collected. Then we played some games. Some groups went down to the water and threw some rocks, while others stayed and played in the leaves!

Spiders

This week we have been learning about spiders!






Along with the classic Itsy Bitsy Spider, we have also been singing Spider on the Floor. This song is fun to sing and also is a great way to work on body parts. 


For craft, we made marble painted spider webs as well as spider handprint puppets.

The Letter E

We love dancing to StoryBots during letter time! These videos are a fun way to expose the kids to different things that start with the letter of the week. It's an added bonus that it gets everyone up and moving.

Along with dancing to some E words we read The Ear Book by Al Perkin.



We also did a search and find for the letter E. The kids worked in groups and circled as many E's as they could find. This activity is one way to work on letter recognition.



D is for...Dinosaurs and Drums

We had lots of fun during Letter Time for the letter D. The kids got to make D's out of dinosaurs, go on a dinosaur dig and make music with drums. So many fun things start with the letter D!

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

With fall comes lots of leaves! A couple weeks ago we went on a leaf hunt around STA and then did some leave rubbings. We also looked at different coloured leaves and explored with playdoh and leaves.  This week we will continue with our investigation into leaves and fall and go to Fish Creek Park for our annual Fall Walk.

 

 

Where did September go?!

I can't believe it's already October. STA, as I imagine your households too, have been very busy this month.  We have lots of new faces in the classrooms, both staff and kids! Along with laughs and smiles we have also had our fair share of tears and tantrums. Everyone is working together to help the kiddos adjust to new routines and new expectations.

Because of our fantastic weather, minus the snow day, we have been able to take some of our learning groups outside. The STA backyard has been a great place to foster group games and social interactions as well as work on playground skills. The first outing of the year was swimming!  It was great to see how the kids coped - as for some this was their first time in a swimming pool. As well, we had our first music class with Amy where we learned some new songs.

We have had a great start to the year and are excited for what's to come!