Fun With Sensory Play ELP

Getting Messy for Fun’s Sake

This year, we have been experimenting with messy materials such as sand, shave cream, goop, pumpkin guts, water, playdough, etc).  Sometimes we add a smell (like pumpkin spice, baby oil or other stuff) to enhance the students’ experience and sometimes we add other fun stuff like sparkles or food colouring.

Sensory play is important so that the children can experience learning with all of their senses (touch, sight, smell) and they also develop their manipulation and fine motor skills in the process.  Ms. Switzer, Ms. Mallory and I set up several investigation stations. Most times, we make the experiments with the children, incorporating fun Science investigations:

Pumpkin spiced play dough.

In October, we investigated pumpkin guts.

Shaving Cream Investigations.

Pumpkin spiced moon sand (cornstarch, water and sand).

Playing with "Goop".

Ms. Mallory did baking soda, vinegar and food colouring experiments.

Ms. Mallory made sparkle moon sand.

Doing the dishes in warm, soapy water.

Halloween Fun ELP

A Month of Halloween Fun and Learning

Every year, as soon as October hits, the children begin getting excited for Halloween. This year, Ms. Switzer and I began to think about how we can shape the learning environment together with the children. We thought that we would incorporate curriculum through fun, play-based opportunities which reached most the children's senses.

Here are some things that we had fun with this month:

Pumpkin Investigations

Halloween Writing and Literacy:

Our classroom inherited an old pumpkin box that the children decorated to make a spooky reading nook.

Enriching Oral Language through songs and finger plays.

Samara's depiction of "Five Little Pumpkins"

Sensory play using shaving cream.

Sensory play using pumpkin spiced play dough and pumpkin spiced moon sand.

Ms. Mallory and Tianna (our Notre Dame Co-op student) made a Haunted Drama centre.

Mathematics and Fine Motor Skills

Making pattern necklaces with straws.

Halloween Activity Day

On Friday, we paired with Ms. Devitt's FDK class to have Halloween games and activities. We combined the children into groups and had lots of fun things to do in each classroom.  It was a great day!! 

We also celebrated our Virtue of the Month assembly on Gratitude together in the Gym.  The FDK students sang the "Thank-You" song for the school.

Ms. Switzer and I are thankful to have the important job of teaching and caring for your precious children everyday!

Using our "Lookers" to Find Nature with Mallory ELP

Discovering Nature at the Local Park

For the fall/winter term, we have been fortunate to welcome an ECE student from Ryerson University, Mallory McClaskin.  Mallory spends Thursdays and Fridays in our classroom.  As part of her practicum experience with us, Mallory has been listening to the children when they are playing/exploring to see what they are interested in learning about.  She noticed that when they were playing at the park, the children would bring natural artifacts over and ask questions about them.  She decided that it was a good idea to ask the students what they know about the nature in our local park and to follow up with a nature walk in the local park space.

She began with a circle discussion on nature:

Question for Inquiry: "What Kind of Nature is in our Local Park?"

She got a list of things to look for: trees, grass, butterflies, bees, worms, leaves, acorns, birds, clouds, sun, dirt, and sticks.

She introduced the "looking glasses" (3D glasses from the movie theatre with the lenses popped out) which are meant to help us look closely for nature. All of us put them on (including the teachers) and armed with paper bags, we set out to find nature. 

The students began collecting their artifacts.  They were very focused and intentional in their search.

When we got the nature, the students emptied their bags and we looked at what we found: leaves (from different kinds of trees, in different colours), sticks, acorns, pine cones). Mallory decided that it would be a waste to just throw the nature away, so she decided to make nature hand print trees.

During our mixed outdoor play in the yard, Mallory painted the children's hands/arms to make the tree outlines. We set them to dry.

The next day, the students used the hand prints to make nature tree art. They glued the nature that they found anywhere on the page to make beautiful nature art.

When they were completed, we displayed them outside of our classroom!