Week One: New Adventures in the Early Learning Class


Posted by Savannah Barker on September 11, 2018 at 3:40 PM

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Welcome to the Early Learning blog for the 2018-2019 school year. A, N and I are so excited to be back in the classroom together, and we are equally excited to make our new classmates, A and O, feel welcome and comfortable at Linden. We kicked off our week together by celebrating Linden's 25th birthday with the entire school community. There were songs, poems, games, and even gifts for every student! We also went on a Linden scavenger hunt to explore our building and meet some of the adults who work at Linden. The girls were eager to start exploring the different learning centres in the classroom, and they enjoyed spending time playing and learning together. They also loved sharing their "nature treasures" with the class, and learning about where each person collected her object. I hope that you enjoy reading about our adventures together over the course of this school year!

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The girls pose beside the flowers that we found on the roof. O was wondering if there might be flowers growing somewhere around the school.

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We are holding the birthday candles at Linden's 25th birthday celebration. O, being the youngest learner at Linden, even got to light the big birthday candle in the middle of the gym. 

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During Learning Centres, O pretends to be working in a kitchen while she explores the Drama centre. She's hard at work making fruit soup for everyone to eat. 

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A is very focused as she paints a surprise picture at the easel. She has already decided that she loves spending time at the Art and Light centre.

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 All three girls wanted to work at the Art and Light centre this afternoon, and they have quickly started exploring the variety of different materials that are available. O and N test out the bingo stampers, while A works with paint.

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A new year means new explorations. This afternoon, A is curious to see what will happen if she uses the play dough roller with the paint. Carefully, she rolls the roller in paint, and then she rolls it along the paper to see the interesting design that it makes.

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O and A collaborate on a picture during morning recess. They discover that instead of doing their own pieces of art, they can connect them together to make an even bigger picture.

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O watches as A works on her birthday lantern. A is taking her time painting the water-glue mixture onto the doilies to ensure that she doesn't rip them. The doilies are very delicate. 

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A shares her "nature treasure" with the class. She has brought in a carrot that was growing in her garden. The girls are very curious about how the green parts grew so long, why there was dirt on the carrot, and what the "holes" along the carrot might be from.

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After A shares her "nature treasure", a shell and an insect found at her cottage, the class is curious about what type of insect she found. They decide to pull out our book about bugs and conduct some research. The girls comment about the shape of the bug's body, the length and number of legs, and even its colour. It's much more difficult to research than we initially thought.

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N sketches her "nature treasure" after presenting it to her classmates. She brought in goose feathers that she collected in Hyde Park while on vacation over the summer.

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Big smiles from A and A this morning on the roof. The are excited because they noticed that they were able to see the beehive from the mini house.

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O explores some of the fun toys that we have on the roof for recess time. The mesh in the racket is quite soft against her face, and she was filled with giggles after seeing what she looked like behind the racket. 

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O searches for the right colour in our class art cart. She is learning about how we sort the markers and pencil crayons by colour, as well as how we put the colours in tip-up so we can see what colour each writing tool is. 

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It is picture day at Linden and the Early Learners are inspired to incorporate this day into their learning. N and A work together to create a scene about an animal picture day while at the Building centre this morning.  

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O pretends to be a shopkeeper while she's at the Drama centre, and she asks her classmates if they want to come buy anything. A is eager to purchase some food, and fortunately is able to borrow some money from O's cash register to do so.

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The girls are taste-testing the carrot that A brought in as her "nature treasure". Although it doesn't taste exactly the same as the carrots some of them have at home, it tastes fresh and we know where it came from. Luckily, the holes on the outside of the carrot were not from worms going inside. 

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We are on our weekly Friday ravine walk, and the girls have decided to bring along some very old pumpkin seeds from the classroom to plant. O noticed the seeds earlier in the day and asked if they would grow into a "pumpkin tree" if she planted them. We decided to experiment, and the girls each planted two in the ravine. We will check up on these seeds when we visit and see if they have grown into anything.