What a wonderful day to garden!

This afternoon for learning group, we went outside and planted flowers in the backyard. We learned today that not everyone is a fan of dirt! Some groups planted in pairs, so they had to help one another out and take turns. Others worked on coping with touching the dirt and helping dig a hole. Watering the flowers was a favorite of most of the kids.  After we planted our flower garden we went and played in the backyard! It was a great Thursday :)

Doctors and X-rays

This month we are learning about safety and community helpers. This week we have been talking about doctors. Yesterday for craft we made x-rays of our hands. First we traced the outlines of our hands, then we coloured them in with a white crayon. Next we glued on Q-tips for the bones.

We also read a story about a little girl who was sick and had to go to the doctors. We talked about what a doctor does, what a doctor wears and some of the tools a doctor uses.  For some of the groups, we also looked about some pretend x-rays. For other groups we played with a pretend doctor's kit and listened to each other's heart beats and looked inside one another's ears.

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

Today in learning group we read  The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle and talked about colours and animals. Check out this online version of the story:

For craft, we made our own mixed-up chameleons!

 

 

 

Children's Festival

Today we went to the Calgary International Children's Festival! The show we saw was called BAM. This year we got front row seats. Here is a little preview of what it was about:

 

The show was a bit longer than was expected and at times the drumming was quite loud but all of the kiddos coped well and seemed to enjoy it! After the show we had a picnic lunch at Olympic Plaza and then we explored the rest of the festival. They had live music, face painting, story time and other games and activities. Some of the line-ups were quite long so most of the kids splashed around in the wading pool!

 

 



Oh, Mr. Sun

One of the songs we have been singing a lot lately during group time is Oh, Mr. Sun! We had forgotten about this classic song until Amy sang it the other day. We also loved her sun props so we made some of our own. We like incorporating props into songs as it allows all of our kiddos to participate.

 

Here are the lyrics if you would like to sing at home:

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun
Please shine down on me

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr, Golden Sun
Hiding behind the tree

Oh these little children are asking you
To please come out so they can play with you

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr.  Golden Sun
Please shine down on
Please shine down on
Please shine down on me!

ANIMALS GALORE!

May is animal month...we got a bit of a head start yesterday as some of our PD day was spent changing over the classrooms. We are excited to see how the kiddos respond to the new toys and activities this morning!

 Here is a sneak peek of some of the new additions to the classroom:

A farm inspired tactile table

 Wagon Safari Ride

 

 Pin the tail on the donkey

 

A wide selection of animal books

 

 STA Animal Hospital

 Alice the Camel

Animal Crafts

 

 

Here are the upcoming events that we are looking forward to this month:

- Mother's Day Lunch on May 7th

- Tony and Gibbs are coming to visit on May 12th

- Music with Amy on May 15th

- Children's Festival on May 21st

 

 

Taking Gym Outside!

We took advantage of the beautiful spring weather this week and took our gym groups outside!  We created a modified hopscotch and had the kids work on their jumping skills. A few even tried jumping from square to square on one leg. We also practiced throwing bean bags into the hula hoops. And then we played some groups games!

Mini obstacle course

 

Duck Duck Goose!