In JK we created a Science experiment which involved layering sand, glitter, beads and sparkles. The children were offered the opportunity to explore the creation with their hands and various tools. They made many discoveries – one being that it would not mix… no matter however many times they stirred, the sparkles always remained on top! When a the sieve was introduced, the children discovered they could separate the sand and glitter from the sparkles and the beads.

As you can see, in the movie, the further addition of chopsticks, tongs and spoons and lots of pots made this a really fun, messy and tactile mixing and separating Science activity!

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We had a wonderful time baking bread like ‘The Little Red Hen’.

The children thoroughly enjoyed this ‘Talk for Writing’ story this term.  The class learned how to write a recipe and measure ingredients. They adored tasting the different breads. We made wholemeal buns, a wholemeal loaf and a white loaf. After sampling the bread we made toast.

Look at the photos together with your child and talk about the steps they went through when they made the bread.  Would you like to make some bread together?  Can you find a recipe? I wonder how it will smell as it’s cooking and how it tastes – yum, yum!

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Take a look at our happy faces during varied outdoor play. With the weather a little cooler right now, we have embraced the outdoors both by keeping our classroom windows open and spending more time outside. Outdoor play is not only beneficial, but also crucial for the brain’s healthy development.

Researchers say that the frontal cortex, which is responsible for controlling emotions and problem solving, is activated during playtime. The experience of playing forces the brain to make those neurotransmitter connections that are critical to a child’s development.

Outdoor play is especially critical in core muscle development, small motor skill refinement, and increasing coordination. Children need to navigate obstacles, maintain appropriate space around other children, and use their strength to throw, catch, manipulate objects or tackle a jungle gym. [Read more…]

Painting, messy play and drawing can help children express emotion, explore colour, use their senses, investigate process and outcomes and create aesthetically pleasing works.

As you can see from the children’s faces the paintbrush almost becomes an instrument of inner peace.

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Construction and building toys are fun and exciting to use and inspire children’s imagination. They also have significant cognitive and academic benefits for children of all ages. They provide a creative platform for children to learn shapes and colours, while they also help to develop visual spatial awareness. While playing and building, children learn to cooperate with others and problem solve. This type of toy improves fine motor manipulation and strength as well.

Take a look at the fun we have had so far in JK with various construction toys and activities.

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This term J.K. have been exploring the 5 senses.

Have a look at our pictures and guess which sense the children are using as they explore…

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The JK class blasted off into space this term and learnt lots of space and planetary facts. They even had some intergalactic guests of honor visit them to share knowledge about space stations and space travel.  A big thank you to Aileen Shaw, who was a director at the Canadian Space agency, and Claire Green, who worked for a Canada tech firm that used satellites for search and rescue in Northern Canada. Have a look at the  photographs below to see what the children discovered and created!

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Take a close look and see if you can find  little dinosaurs hiding in the trees and bushes…
All the children had great fun on Dress Down Friday as hybrid dinosaurs. We have been talking about creative/realistic colouring and realistic colouring/drawing. Today the children had a great time bringing this to life!

See you again soon.

Miss Claire Marie and Ms Shara

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Our topic on ‘Growing and Changing’ this term has been a fantastic to explore in JK!  The children have sprouted some seeds and planted cuttings. We have learnt the parts of a flower and how to label a picture. Looking at books together, we have discovered many interesting facts about plants and nature.

Though our topic is ending, we plan to keep our little garden for the rest of the year and attend to the plants needs of water and sunshine. Please see the photos for a little snap shot of our hard work! Also, please feel welcome to in and see our little plants anytime.

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In JK we are exploring and investigating all aspects of plants and growing. Every day we are leaning new facts about the nature surrounding us.

We have learned that we need plants and trees to help us breath.

Investigating fruit and vegetables has been great fun.  We discovered that some have seeds inside and some on the outside.

Come in and visit our germination/sprouting area in our classroom.

Please have a look at the pictures of the class on a nature walk. We found many different interesting plants, flowers, seeds and trees, all in our very own playground!  We enjoyed using our senses to explore everything that we discovered.

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In JK, we have started the term with a topic based around the story book ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch’ by Ronda Armitage.

The children have adored learning the story through circle time readings, story maps, role play and art.

Have a look through our pictures. The children loved pretending to be seagulls and pecking a sandwich to see if it was mustard or honey!

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J.K have been enjoying the recent cooler weather outdoors.  In particular, it was great fun to use the parachute on the field! Please take a look at the pictures and video to see everyone laughing and quite literally bouncing with joy. With it being a windy day, all the children needed to work together and use amazing strength and gross motor skills to swoosh the parachute up and down. It was especially fun to take turns with going underneath the parachute!

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Please take a look at this wonderful video of J.K children playing on the slide. The children spontaneously created this game and managed the play by themselves. They played on and on, and everyone who wanted a turn of being the leader got their turn. The skills displayed by the children included: negotiation, patience, taking turns, verbalizing needs, climbing, spacial awareness, consideration, communication, leadership, co-operation and observation. We hope you enjoy the video as much as we did watching them play. Well done J.K.

In the Junior Kindergarten class, we observe that the children are eager to begin writing. Developing fine motor control including hand strength and a strong pincer grip, are all essential foundation skills that will help lead to success when it comes to holding a pencil and forming letters and numbers.

Fine motor movements involve the coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Along with helping with writing, strong fine motor skills are essential to complete tasks such as cutting, using a fork or spoon, threading beads, moving puzzle pieces, zipping, buttoning and tying shoe laces.

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We kicked off our J.K. Science topic this term with colour mixing! The children were mesmerized and enjoyed predicting what colour the paper towel might turn. We mixed red with blue, yellow with blue and yellow with red.

While waiting for the towels to absorb the coloured water, the children were keen to record what they saw by drawing the experiment. The next day, everyone was excited to see how the colours had mixed and reflected on their predictions from the day before.  Well done JK!

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Plasticine is a wonderful model making material is firmer and incredibly dense compared to play-doh. The children had great fun exploring it and chatting and naming what they were making. As well as being fun manipulating Plasticine strengthens the children’s fingers, hands, wrists and forearms. Have a look at our photos for a snap shot of our activity.

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In J.K. we have been reading Pete the Cat! The children have enjoyed re-telling the stories ‘I Love My White Shoes’ and ‘Four Groovy Buttons’. They have been threading buttons, counting buttons and matching buttons! The children were very thoughtful in adding a few extra foods for Pete to ‘step’ in and considered carefully what colour Pete’s shoes would become. They have also discovered that quite a few of them own real cats and they talked how they care for them.  Of course, pretending to be a cat was great fun, too!

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PVA glue is an amazing medium. It’s charged with the qualities of viscosity, flow, speed, cause and effect.

Please take a look at this fascinating video and observe the children as they wonder, explore and investigate this incredible substance called glue!  It’s wonderful to see how focused and relaxed they are and how they are seemingly unaware of  noise around them.

So now you know that when your child presents you with a plain piece of paper, with a shiny blob in the middle that, although it may not look much to you, for the child, the art and creative and sensory experience was in the process rather than the end product. [Read more…]

Please take a look at this snapshot of some of the activities in JK over the past 7 days.

Spring has sprung and decorating eggs brought out an abundance of creativity! The topic of ‘how will we survive when the Earth dies?’ came up as the children were busy decorating… you will be pleased to know that plans are being made for a possible move to another planet or to live underground like monsters! Other topics included ‘what farm animal are you?’,  ‘what colour are you?  and ‘what ocean animal are you?

The children have spotted the older children junk modelling and decided they needed to create too – everyone brought in a box and it’s been amazing! The children have built a house, a tower, a ship and a cooker to cook eggs. There has been lots of laughter, and learning to let go of one idea to create a new one.  There’s been great team work too!

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This week in J.K. we concluded our 5 Senses topic by doing some cooking and baking. This was a wonderful hands-on activity that used every sense. The children delighted in measuring, mixing, smelling and tasting all of the raw and cooked vegetables in the noodle soup and had a brilliant time kneading their bread rolls.

This activity tied in well with our core focus in Early Years this term, which is STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Look out on the school blog for more STEM related photos from our upcoming Open House next week!

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The JK class have been very enthusiastic about exploring shapes, numbers, sequencing and counting out quantities. Please have a look at our pictures where you can see the children independently carrying out various maths activities.

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Thank you for taking the time to check out JK! The past few weeks we have spent a portion of our morning choosing a new friend to work or play. This assists the children in getting to know their peers more closely and helps with learning from each other as everyone has different strengths and ideas.  Please take a look at the slideshow and enjoy seeing how well the children have bonded. We love to sing the following song – ‘The more we get together’. Have a great day and see you again soon on the JK blog.

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