Enjoying the fresh air!

The weather has been so nice that we have been eating our lunch outside on the deck! 

The kids have been enjoying it so much that they ask everyday at lunch pick up, 

" Are we eating on the deck?" 

When they hear the answer.....yes. They all start screaming with excitement. 

We are a big family and love spending time together! 

Mrs. Thwaites

Earth Day clean up!

To celebrate Earth Day we decided on doing a neighborhood clean up. We started talking about our plans a couple of days ago so that we had an idea of what was going to happen and what we needed to get the job done. 

We decided that we needed rubber gloves and plastic bags to collect the garbage with. One of the children suggested he bring in his claw that could be used for picking up garbage. 

All set to start our clean up!

Once we got outside all the children got right to work finding all kinds of garbage items.

While we were cleaning up we talked about what was safe to pick up, and what wasn't. We also discussed things that could be left on the ground because they were either part of nature or items that could decompose back into the earth.

The children were so excited to do their part for the environment, that at times they were knocking each other over to get the next piece of trash on the ground. 

At one point the children noticed some perfectly round rocks on the ground and got in to an interesting conversation about what they could be.

To further their conversation and interest we collected up as many rocks as we could carry and brought them back to centre to explore. 

We cleaned up both sides of Hampton St. which took us 1 hour to finish, not one of us minded, it was a great walk and very rewarding job. We received many thank you's from people walking and driving by, that our smiles got bigger and bigger each time. 

One of the neighbors came out to thank us with popcorn! We were so grateful for the gift that we all yelled, 'thank you'  to her for making our clean up even more rewarding!

So proud of a job well done! 

To finish our job right we carried all of our bags to the back dumpster, to ensure it get deposed of properly 👍

After lunch we all ate some of the yummy popcorn! 

Happy Earth Day!!

~Mrs.Thwaites

Planting!

It was time to start planting a few other items for our summer garden. 

We got out our seeds, dirt, paper pots and watering bottle and got right to work.

We all waited patiently for our turns. While we waited we talked about what we were planting and if we liked eating them. It was very interesting listening to each of the children talking about why they liked each of the items.

Not all of the children wanted to help with the planting but not to worry there will be many more days filled with gardening in the weeks to come. 

Planting is such hard work that we needed a water break!

We planted yellow onion, green onion, chives, basil, rosemary and parsley.

~ Mrs. Thwaites

Our Kindergartens Are Growing Up!

Now that Spring Break is over the Stevenson Kindergarteners are being dropped off in the morning and at lunch time at the back of the school to prepare them for next year. Here in School Age 1 we are slowly making preparations for the eventual move to School Age 2. The children have done a lot of growing and learning this year. We continue to guide them in their growing independence.

One of the most exciting of these preparations is the walk to school. We have started having them walk back to school after lunch and will gradually add other opportunities to walk to school or back to daycare as the weeks go by.

When we first started Kindergarten we walked holding a partners' hand, in a line, with a teacher at the front and a teacher at the back of the line. Then, after Christmas we progressed to walking in a "Kindergarten line up". This means we were walking in a straight line, not holding a partners' hand, with a teacher in the front and and the back of the line!

This week we have started teaching the children how to walk to school with a friend. There is a teacher at the crosswalk and a teacher at Stevenson School (at the corner of Silver and Berry) watching and guiding the children as they walk to school. All the teachers have walkie talkies.

It starts off as it always does, with the children ready for school lined up at the wall outside of our classroom. Next, the teacher in the hallway with the walkie-talkie picks two or three children to walk across together and says their names into the walkie-talkie.

 

One of the teachers holding the walkie is waiting for the children BEFORE the street to remind them of the patrol signals or where they need to stop if they need it (spoiler alert: none of them have needed reminders). They have shown a great deal of knowledge about safety when crossing the street!

Once the children are safely crossing the road, the teacher at the patrols walkies ANOTHER teacher to let them know they are on their way. This third teacher is standing on the sidewalk at the corner of the school where she can see both, the children as they cross the road, and the children as they enter the school yard.

Once the children have safely entered the school yard, the last teacher walkies the other two teachers the names of the children who are finished their journey. Once all of the children have made it across the road the teacher at the crosswalk follows the final group into the schoolyard where both teachers will count to make double sure everyone made it.

The children are so proud of their new responsibilities and are taking this very seriously. They think they are "walking to school on their own"... but the teachers are always close by. 

~ Ms. Cottrell & Mrs. Pollreis

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

We started off our morning chopping celery, carrots, broccoli, onions and potatoes.  We put all the vegetables in a slow cooker with some chicken broth, garlic and seasoning.This involved turn taking, fine motor skills for chopping, showing caution while using a knife, pouring and some good conversations. 

Our soup is ready to start heating up in the slow cooker. Later we will add milk, cream and flour to make our soup creamy!

While we were waiting for our soup to cook we made bread in our bread maker. Our classroom started smelling delicious.

The soup is finally ready. We are hungry after smelling the soup and bread cooking all day!

Some of us ate every bite and decided it was "the best soup ever"!

Some of us were unsure if we would like the soup at first. We took a "no thank-you bite" (That's when you take a bite of something new, decide whether or not you like it and then continue eating or politely say "no thank-you"). Most of us decided to keep eating! 

The children asked us to post the soup recipe on our blog so they could have it at home:

                                             

~ Mrs. Pollreis

 

Discovery at the Museum

Pirate ship!

'No pirates on here anymore.'

'They used timers like at day care!'

'This is a pretty weird steering wheel.'

Yaaaaarrrrrr!

Wildlife!

Some of us were feeling sad or scared of the displays with dead animals. There was a lot of discussion around, as a famous lion once said, 'the circle of life.'

And underwater life!

And ancient life! And the 'olden days'!

'It's America's Funniest Home Videos!' (Charlie Chaplin) 

Then we headed to the Planetarium to take a trip into outer space with Elmo, Big Bird, and their friend visiting from China, Hu Hu Zhu!

After all that walking and learning, our little bodies and brains were so tired that some of us fell asleep on the city bus ride back to the Centre, but some of us were just too excited about the awesome adventures we had just had! 

Until our next adventure, 'Arrrrr matey!'

Ms. Cottrell