Valentine's Party

Yesterday we had a fun filled day at STA, we celebrated Valentine's Day early with the kids!

The kids had an opportunity to decorate cupcakes or gluten free chocolate brownies!

 

They also had an opportunity to make some Valentine's crafts - a heart fish or a heart penguin.

 

As an extra treat, we put on a short Valentine's video in the rainbow room!

 

 

 

 

All Aboard...it's Transportation Month!

In the Rainbow Room you can find the big car ramp and a variety of vehicles. As well as the box cars the children can wear and either walk around in or ride on a scooter in the hallways.

 

 

In the Sun Room, the hot wheels ramp is set up on the wall, we have an ocean set up in the corner with a boat and paddles. Children have the opportunity to pretend to go fishing or dress up as pirates. We also have a bunch of blocks and boxes for the children to build ramps or make tunnels or build a city. 

 

The Tree Room has the art easel set up with red and white paint for Valentine's day. The sensory bin contains moon sand and construction vehicles. As well our West Jet Airplane has made a return!

 





 

In the Gym, Tina our OT Assistant set up a fabulous Valentine's inspired obstacle course. 

Music with Amy

Last Friday, we had our monthly Music Class with Amy!

Some of the songs we sang included:

Leo the Lion
Elephants have Wrinkles
The Kangaroos are Sleeping
Old MacDonald had a Farm
Slipper fish

The children also had an opportunity to play musical instruments and dance to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"!

P is for...

P is for pigs, pancakes, pizza, pom poms, pencils, pudding and so much more!

 

 

Yesterday in Letter Time we read the story "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" by: Laura Numeroff. We also practiced making the /p/ sound and talked about different things that make that sound.

 

After our circle, we tried making P's out of pom poms and pipecleaners.

The lingo we use when writing the uppercase P is:

"Big line down jump to the top little curve to the middle"

 

We ended Letter Time by eating popcorn!

Ned the Newt Presenting the Letter N

Yesterday in Letter Time the focus was on the Letter N!

The children explored the container full of things starting with the /n/ sound

 



The children had the opportunity to choose to make a necklace or a nest, or  a nose, or the letter N out of playdough

 



They also read the Nicest Newt and one group made a Letter N craft

January!

Hello STA family and friends, sorry for not posting in awhile. We have been busy getting back into the swing of things as well as organizing integration placements for next year.

Here is a recap of what we have been up to these past few weeks:

Lovely Letter L

We read Little Red Rabbit and focused on the words starting with the /l/ sound, we searched for letter L's in the "snow" and made Letter L's out of Lego.

 

The colour this month is....

One of our sensory bins is filled with cotton balls, snowflake stickers and snowman. The kids have really liked exploring the cotton balls as well as playing with the snowman in the "snow"!

 



White has tied in nicely to our continued theme of winter! One of the books we have read this month is the Mitten. Since the story is quite long, we simplified it and used visuals to make it more interactive for the kids.

 

 

 

Obstacle Course in the Big Gym

 

1. Hopscotch

2. Walk up ramp

3. Walk on snake

4. Walk on "S" curve

5. Crawl down wedge

6. Crawl through tunnel

 

The gym is a great place for the kids to burn off some energy as well as work on a variety of gross motor skills. The gym is also a great place to facilitate social interactions between the kids - playing chase, taking turns on the swing, or playing follow the leader!

 

Melting Snowman

 

This craft was a huge hit! It was easily adapted for all skill levels and allowed the kids to explore with a variety of craft materials.

 



Letter M

 

M is for monkeys, magnets, milkshakes, MacDonald's, monsters... during letter time the kids had an opportunity to make the letter M out of playdough, read a story about a monkey, sing five little  monkeys jumping on the bed and go on a magnet hunt! A big emphasize during letter time has been on the sounds the letters make.

 

The M says mmm

The M says mmm

All the letters make a sound

The M say mmm

 

 



Yogarilla

 

Yogarilla is a fun and engaging way to teach children various yoga poses. We generally start off our yoga gym lessons with some stretching to warm up our bodies and then cycle through various poses and end with something fun (scooters, dancing with ribbons or the parachute). Driving has become a favorite pose among most of the kiddos!

 

 



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.