Animal tracks, snowflakes, outdoor learning, snowmen, and hibernation are interests that children revisit year after year each winter. In an effort to support learning in literacy and music and movement, our team introduces shared poems and songs that we sing with the children each day for one week. We also send a copy home for… Read More Winter Poems on Google Slides
Flowers, gardens, tadpoles, insects, and caterpillars are interests that children revisit year after year each spring. In an effort to support learning in literacy and music and movement, our team introduces shared poems and songs that we sing with the children each day for one week. We also send a copy home for families to… Read More Spring Poems on Google Slides
Apples, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and Hallowe’en are interests that children revisit year after year each fall. In an effort to support learning in literacy and music and movement, our team introduces shared poems and songs that we sing with the children each day for one week. We also send a copy home for families to reinforce… Read More Fall Poems Shared on Google Drive
This blog post is about our early years team’s inquiry into early reading. We’ve been on a reflective journey and rethinking our practice over the last 4 years. Do children achieve greater success in reading in kindergarten if they are instructed uppercase or lowercase letter names or sounds first? From what I’ve heard many primary/junior teachers, like… Read More Do You Teach Upper Case Letter Names First? We Don’t. Here’s Why.
At the beginning of every year my teaching partner and I incorporate lots of name recognition, construction, and writing provocations to engage children. Here are some of our favourites so far this year. This invitation to play begs for children to think about constructing names, patterning, and measurement. Some children have added dice and used their… Read More 6 Playful Name Provocations
It’s not just another classroom with neutral colours, stones, and baskets. We live in Muskoka and our environment as the third teacher reflects our culture of living and how we encourage children to care for our forests. We spend lots of time exploring forests using a forest-school type approach: playing with bugs, building dens, and inquiring about… Read More A Reggio-Inspired Classroom Design – Kinderland Tour Part 2
We love having one table designated for loose parts play. It’s an opportunity for our learners to create, collaborate, and design. The children were really enjoying reading Eric Carle books and using them as inspiration to create with loose parts. The gems were sorted by colour so the children would be intentional about their selection. The process… Read More Loose Parts Art Inspired by Illustrators
On this day we were looking for another fun way to enthuse our early learners to write. We provided feathers from the dollar store and some paint. The children that already had a strong interest in writing flocked to the writing table for this provocation. However, we were excited to see how this provocation drew… Read More Kinder Writing with Feathers
The Space Man is a friendly guy that reminds young writer’s to add spaces. This little guy helps out the littles who are trying to hold their paper, use a finger space, and print at the same time. It lessens the load on what their little hands have to do at one time. We used… Read More Space Man: Visual Reminder for Spaces
Sandplay is a fascinating therapeutic approach that can really connect well with some children and adults. With wet or dry sand trays and figures it is a platform for sand players to tell their stories and facilitate a natural manner for healing. Knowing that our population of learners has an increased amount of mental health and anxiety… Read More Open-Ended Sandplay in the Classroom
inspired by play 