Latest Dispatches

City Place

  • A collage of the process of the art created by the children in March

    March Art

    During March, Casa East engaged in various types of artwork. In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, we painted cardstock with blue and yellow tempera paints, and squeezed wet glue and gold glitter onto it. For Easter, we used water and a paint brush to wet an egg shape on cardstock, placed coloured tissue paper onto it, and peeled the tissue off once it was dry. (Click to see our work and more information!)

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  • A collage of children learning the Second Step process during group time

    Second Step: Social-Emotional Learning

    Social – emotional skills are essential to healthy child development. By instilling empathy, self-regulation, and effective communication skills early on, we lay a sturdy foundation for success in school and in life. Casa West is exploring Second Step, a compass guiding the children towards understanding emotions, developing problem-solving abilities, and establishing positive relationships. (Click to find out how and for the full photos.)

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  • A collage of a child holding and then squeezing water out of a sponge

    Water Absorption

    Squeezing and releasing a sponge while transferring water from bowl to bowl strengthens the small muscles in the dominant hand and wrist while refining eye-hand coordination. The child also notices the scientific concept of absorption. Moving from left to right indirectly prepares the child for reading and writing. (Please click for more information.)

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Coatsworth

  • A collage of a child counting the beads of coloured bead bars and checking their work by lining up the golden and coloured bead bars of 10

    Snake Game: Level 2

    The second, third and fourth levels of the snake Game have a child converting a coloured bead bar snake into a golden 10 bar snake. In the second level, the snake is evenly divisible by ten and the child counts the beads and makes a golden snake equaling the number of coloured beads in the coloured Snake. (Click to find out how they check their work and for the full photos.)

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  • A collage of children scooping red rice from bowl to bowl, children parading in a dragon costume, and a child exploring velcro sushi

    Lunar New Year!

    This is the year of the dragon! The Casa children paraded around the school and our classroom with a drum and musical instruments. We also engaged in activities inspired by the new year. We recognized the Lunar new year celebration, did art and sensory activities, and listened to traditional music. (Please click for full photos.)

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  • Children climbing and sliding down an indoor climber

    Climbing

    In the Under 2 environment, we foster the need for climbing and exploration by encouraging the infants to practice climbing in a safe manner. Here we see the children using the stairs and indoor slide in the classroom to further develop their balance, coordination, and gross motor skills. (Please click for more information and the full photos.)

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Infinity Place

  • A collage of children playing with dinosaurs in ice, holding an ice egg, and squirting water onto a dinosaur ice egg

    Melting Ice

    Ice play provides a thrilling sensory experience. With the varying textures of ice, along with the cold temperature, this activity helps stimulate children’s growing senses and fosters their sensory exploration and cognitive development. Ice play also offers an opportunity for social interaction and communication as the children engage in collaborative ice exploration together. (Please click for the full photos and more information.)

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  • A collage of a child exploring a whole pineapple, a slice, and tasting it

    Taste Testing for Lunar New Year!

    To celebrate the Lunar New Year, we explored a lucky fruit – pineapple! The children were invited to touch and explore the pineapple. Then we removed the skin, cut it into pieces, and tasted the sweet fruit. These types of sensorial activities give us a chance to come together and build social skills such as parallel play and taking turns, as well as enrich language, fine motor development, and tactile discrimination. (Please click for full photos and information.)

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  • Children working on skip counting with bead chains and arrows

    Skip Counting

    These beautiful bead chains are hung from a wooden frame that holds squares and the cubes of one to ten with the corresponding chains and the containers with the respective coloured arrows. The chains are used for skip counting (for example counting by fives) and for learning the squares and cubes of the numbers one to ten. This activity is very useful because the child learns how to skip count as well as how to count in bases other than ten, which indirectly prepares them for multiplication. (Please click for full photos and more information.)

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Simcoe Place

  • A collage of children wearing headwear, as well as watching the application of a henna tattoo during group time

    Ramadan

    To commemorate Ramadan, the children explored headwear like a kufi and hijab, decorated lanterns, did printmaking with star and moon shapes, and glued colourful tissue paper onto mac-tac. We read stories about Ramadan and the children observed the application of a henna tattoo that can be worn during Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan. (Please click for more information.)

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  • A collage of children playing bells alongside Adriana and playing ukeleles

    Family Day Event!

    In celebration of Family Day, the families of Simcoe Place were invited to an exciting music class with Adriana! The children were able to proudly showcase their musical talents with songs and instruments, demonstrating their lovely singing voices, as well as playing the ukulele and Montessori bells. In celebrating family, we were able to express the love, devotion and happiness that we share each day at our school and in our Casa program! (Please click for more information).

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  • children working on the small number rods, the snake game, the Birds Eye View, and Division

    Math Materials

    Children in Casa are introduced to quantities, numerals and counting up to the thousands. The materials help children to understand math concepts and recognize numerical sequences, patterns, and their relationships. Working with Math materials in a Montessori program helps children to make learning impressions in their mind by moving from the concrete to the abstract. (Please click for full photos.)

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