April 2023
Spring sprung this April with seed germination and planting, then daily misting and seedling transplanting. Every child brought home their very own sunflower plant when they were strong enough to travel. The children were also worked with sunflower life cycle cards at Circle. The sunflower seeds were from a sunflower planted last spring here in the classroom. A hands on life cycle exercise that we complete in the classroom every year. This planting exercise is always a great lead into earth awareness and Earth Day. We extend our thanks to everyone for sending in your recycling materials for sorting exercises. Learning the “hows and whys” of recycling is a great exercise for all the children. Bringing in your own bits from home helps make that important connection. We have unused recycling bins that we utilize for Practical Life purposes only. Clean recycling exercises can be brought out throughout the year, not just for Earth Day. Keeping with the theme of never-ending cycles, the children were introduced (or re-introduced) to the Mobius Loop, which is the universal mathematical symbol for recycling. We had Circles, stories, and discussions about what we can all do to help keep the planet healthy. We also have a recycling card game where a picture card is selected and must be placed by the correct recycling bin card. Every child is very excited for their turn to show their game skills, which is followed by some very insightful discussions, questions and observations at Circle. Composting is a daily preschool exercise reinforced at snack time. One child at a time scrapes their plate into the compost and stacks the plate on the table. Not one food scrap goes to the garbage bin. Paper goes into the recycling bin. We generate very little garbage. Earth Day is observed in Canada on April 22nd, but the principles are respected year round at preschool.
Practical Life exercises continue to be classroom favourites, and we change out and add new throughout the school year. We recently added egg shell crushing with a mortar and pestle. The grinding action is great for gross motor skills with an end product that is good for your garden plants (particularly tomatoes). The egg shells have been rinsed with the membrane removed, so they are garden ready. Carrot peeling has been very popular in April, and shoe polishing. Toothpaste is a great alternative to regular polish, and can be used safely for brass and silver polishing. Beading and lacing are still super popular, and we are seeing the benefits in other areas with the children’s levels of concentration, focus and fine motor skills. Wow! A big change since September. Grocery stores have opened up in the classroom as a perfect crossover to numeracy practice. Warmer weather also brings the water table outside in the playground. Everyone gets a little wet, which sometimes requires changing before heading home (but so worth it).
Easter landed at the start of April this year, and of course there were egg hunts at preschool. The search for those chocolate eggs was done with much enthusiasm (no need to guess why) and every egg hunt sent a child home with a couple of small yummy prizes. The Easter egg hunts occur rain or shine, however one day the rain came down in buckets and the hunt happened in the classroom. Same result. Same joy.
We have traveled from Africa to Australia, and with these travels come a change in many shelf materials to reflect this new and fascinating continent. Our Australia small world tray includes Schleich animals from the Land Down Under. Land and water form trays also have Australian animals. Animal activities are very, very popular. The Australia art project was a platypus stuffie made from fuzzy socks. A whole lot of fun to make, and a favourite project to take home. Our classroom sample was named Gladys, the platypus. Follow us on Instagram to see the photos of the ongoing projects. instagram@strathconamontessori
Thank you Paloma for the donation of the beautiful wood cleaning centre. The children adore sweeping and mopping on a daily basis with a set of cleaning tools just the perfect size for them. Thank you.
Please remember to tell all family members and care givers that we will be closed for the Victoria Day holiday on Monday, May 22nd. A reminder will be sent out closer to the holiday, along with the Teddy Bear Children‘s Picnic Day notice and information after the long weekend.
Welcome to the merry month of May.
