City Place

Spring Equinox in the Anishinaabe Culture

Follow along on the children’s journey to learn about the Spring Equinox and the lifecycle of the bean plant as a key symbol of life, nourishment, and potential in the Anishinaabe culture. We learned about the interconnectedness of all life, and that spring represents balance, harmony, and a time for renewal. (Click for the full photos as well.)

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

The children participated in a valentine exchange and it started with picking a friend’s name out of a basket, decorating a felt valentine with gems, pompoms, metallic paper, ribbon and buttons, personalizing it, and then delivering their valentines at a special circle. Happy Valentine’s Day! (Click for more information and full photos.)

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Artistic Expression

Art is a great way for children to express themselves. It also helps to develop fine motor skills, use of tools, problem solving skills and self-confidence. The Montessori environment provides open-ended art activities to help the children to explore and use their creativity. On the art shelf, watercolour painting, gluing collage materials, playdough, chalk with a chalkboard and various art mediums are accessible and available to the children throughout the day. (Click to read Dr Montessori’s quote and for full photos.)

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Lava Tiles

Lava tiles combine cause and effect with visual stimulation to offer the children a sensorial experience based in science. When the children touch, walk or crawl across the tile, the liquid moves and creates various designs.

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Pythagoras Square

The Pythagoras Square introduces children to the foundational concept of geometry and the Pythagorean theorem in an intuitive and interactive way. This beautiful material is designed to help children explore the relationships between numbers, geometric shapes, and the Pythagorean Theorem — a^2+b^2=c^2. (Click for how this happens and the full photos!)

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Apple Tasting

We tasted three types of apples: Golden Delicious, Royal Gala, and Granny Smith. The children enjoyed sharing how the apples tasted using descriptive words such as sweet, sour, crunchy, and juicy. The children also compared the colours of each apple. Finally, each child placed their picture on a chart under their favourite apple. Royal Gala was the classroom favourite! (Please click for the full photos and how we extended our learning.)

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Puzzles

The children begin with a large-knobbed puzzle and make their way through to multi-piece jigsaw puzzles. Puzzles foster a child’s cognitive and fine motor development and are a great way to encourage hand control and small muscle development. They promote concentration, coordination, problem solving and a sense of order, and support spatial awareness. (Click for full photos and more information.)

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Cutting

Cutting with a knife is a skill that is necessary in everyday life. The child is shown how to hold the fruit steady and safely with one hand as they use their other hand to cut up the fruit. Gaining experience cutting velcro fruit and vegetables aids the child in using a real knife. (Please click for the full photos and more information.)

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Making Playdough

Our Casa East students embarked on a creative and hands-on adventure by making
their own playdough. This delightful activity was a huge hit, providing a perfect blend of
learning and fun. Playdough is a fantastic tool for young children to develop fine motor skills, engage their senses, and unleash their creativity. Our homemade playdough activity also introduced the children to basic measuring and mixing, making it a wonderful educational experience. (Click for full photos and more information.)

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Butterfly Life Cycle Process

The children learned about the metamorphosis of a butterfly from an egg, larva, chrysalis, and finally a butterfly as each stage progressed through days and weeks. We created an art display depicting the life cycle of a butterfly integrating botany and various materials around our classroom. Please click for more information and to watch the video collage of our process!

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