This month, the infants at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick explored a rich provocation to investigate gravity, texture, and movement through a set of three ramps. Tai prepared the ramps with different surfaces: one covered in bubble wrap, one made with tubes, and one smooth. A variety of materials were placed on the little table, such as cars, soft balls, and small stuffed animals. Zendaya was captivated as Bea supported her in standing, watching a small car roll down the ramp, and then repeating the motion with excitement pushing the car back and forth, as well as strengthening her hand-eye coordination and balance. Paxton pressed a metal ball along the bubble-wrap ramp, putting pressure on the ramp to pop the bubbles, while Habiba was delighted in placing balls through the tube ramp, watching them disappear and reappear as she explored object permanence. Vihana placed one of her favourite stuffed animals on the top of a ramp and when it didn’t slide, she gently moved it up and down like a slide, showing creativity and problem-solving. Jason practiced rolling a small car and then noticed a rattle in the play kitchen. Then, he picked it up and then returned to the ramp to place it carefully at the top, demonstrating intentionality, and willingness to explore new ideas. Through these simple and meaningful actions, the infants engaged in early scientific thinking while exploring gravity and movement, sensory exploration as they felt the textures and put the objects on it. Fine and gross motor developed as they explored pushing, pressing and balancing.

Over the past month, many of the children have developed a strong interest in card games. It all began with Spot It! and has since grown into full UNO games. UNO can be quite a complex game for children to learn, as it involves multiple rules and the need to match numbers, colours, and special cards. Recently, we have been playing UNO Flip, which adds an extra layer of excitement and challenge. Many of the children quickly caught on to the rules and learned that UNO requires focus, even when it isn’t their turn. At first, we practiced matching colours, then moved on to matching numbers and using action cards. With some of the SK children who were particularly interested, we introduced extra rules such as playing doubles. For many of our JKK friends, this was a challenging yet fun experience that we explored and learned together. UNO Flip adds an additional challenge; the deck can flip at any point in the game, changing all the cards in play. The children have been developing their fine motor skills by holding and organizing their cards in a fan shape, as well as practicing memory recall while keeping track of what’s been played. We also learned that UNO can vary from family to family, as many children eagerly shared how they play the game at home. For several children, this was their very first time playing, and as they became more comfortable, we gradually introduced more rules. Their learning developed naturally through guided play and reflective discussions. Together, we talked about playing fairly, handling both winning and losing appropriately, and respecting others during the game. Through playing UNO, the children not only learned the mechanics of the game but also built patience, communication skills, and strategic thinking.

“It’s been a back-and-forth affair all afternoon. The puck is loose behind the net. It's picked up by Gunner... he circles behind the net, he's got an open lane. He takes a look... sees the puck... and shoots! He cuts to the net, takes the shot... GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! Gunner with an amazing move. The School-age 2 group have been spending this month engaged in playing sports. From hockey tournaments to Gaga ball or as they like to call it “Evil Snow man head ball” Our interest in sports and group games has been a common denominator amongst the children in this group and our team captains are equal opportunity employers. Everyone has a chance to be the captain and everyone gets a chance to play. Shout out to the parents who have supported this interest and allowed their children to bring their hockey sticks and balls and leave them in our sports bin on our shelf. The children are learning games with rules which is such an important part of school age development. They are learning how to effectively communicate with each other and compromise. We spend a lot of time talking about listening to each other before we respond and listening to each other’s points of views and how important it is because you will never know what you will learn. This group interest has allowed us to argue, grow, get to know each other and learn. We are so blessed to have mini coaches like Everette, Christian, Brady and Liam in our group who are willing to teach their peers the rules to some of their favourite games. Sports help to build physical health through exercise, and social and emotional skills like teamwork, resilience, and discipline. We will continue to learn and grow through sports whenever the children are interested in engaging in sports. 

Nature is all around us, we breathe fresh air, have the opportunities to connect our mind, body and spirit while we explore our true wonders. This past month our classroom has explored nature and wildlife. Now here’s our story of how we got there. During our time outside, the children are running around, laughing with their friends, creating dramatic play in the sandbox and swinging on the hammock. Until we hear a friend gasp, they have found a caterpillar! All the children immediately raced over to take a peek, the children made an observation that the caterpillar was very fluffy, but they wanted to take a deeper look! I asked the children. “What should we put the caterpillar in?” Some friends, had the idea of making a home out of sticks and leaves for the caterpillar, others found magnifying glass jars where we can have the opportunity to look deeper at the caterpillar. Everyone got to take turns holding the jar, picking names for our new friend. The preschoolers engaged well by this learning opportunity and they wanted to extend on it, that’s when we brought the opportunity of creating an open-ended art experience where the children can make their own caterpillars! The art experience is around our classroom walls, are endless of colour and unique to their own expression. A couple days go by and the children are still talking about butterflies and we got a great question from peer and they wanted to know how do butterflies come along. Together as a group we read stories like the very hungry caterpillar, learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly, and how to protect their habitat!