Latest Dispatches

City Place

  • Infants crawling on and exploring lava tiles

    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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  • A collage of children systematically fillling in a Pythagoras square with coloured tiles

    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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  • A collage of apples, a child holding a piece of apple, children placing their picture under a picture of their favourite apple, and the completed board

    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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Coatsworth

  • A collage of children playing bells and ukeleles with Adriana during our family holiday celebration

    Holiday Celebration

    To celebrate the holiday season, East and West Casa families gathered to sing Christmas carols and a Hanukkah song, accompanied by our music teacher Adriana on the piano. Some of the children also performed “Jingle Bells” on the Bells or Ukulele instruments. (Click for full photos!)

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  • A child placing a decoration on a holiday tree that is our 'Giving Tree'

    Our Giving Tree

    Tis the season to give back to our community. As donations are brought in, they are placed under our “Giving Tree” to support Interval House and The Daily Food Bank. This support presents a teaching opportunity to help children understand compassion and empathy, something our world needs more than ever. (Click for the more information and the full photo.)

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  • A collage of a child tapping on a drum and a xylophone

    Playing the Xylophone While Singing

    While we wait for Adriana to come to our Under 3 classroom for Music class, we sing “Adriana, Adriana, where are you?” If she catches us at just the right moment, she sings her reply, “Here I am, Here I am, how do you do?” One of our friends decided to play and sing while excitedly waiting for Adriana. Please click to watch the video and for more information and photos!

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Infinity Place

  • A collage of children performing a song and our holiday tree with donated goods

    Holiday Family Party

    A great time was had at our Holiday Celebration! We sang “Jingle Bells”, “Vive Le Vent”, “The Reindeer Hokey Pokey” & “All I Want for Christmas” while donning festive hats or jingling bells. We enjoyed some refreshments and some time together. Thank you for your generous donations to the charity we supported this season, The Red Door Shelter. (Click for more information and full photos of the celebration!)

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  • A collage of children wearing a chef outfit and working with a velcro birthday cake cutting set, and wearing glasses and wearing and holding a stethoscope

    Dramatic Play

    Dramatic play allows our Under 3 community to express their creativity, develop language skills, and enhance social interactions. Dramatic play nurtures the whole child, laying a strong foundation for lifelong learning and interpersonal development. (Click for more information and full photos!)

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  • A collage of children observing a 5 Little Monkeys hand puppet and one child getting close to a monkey finger puppet

    Group Time

    In the Under 2 Room, the children are encouraged to take part in group time to help develop their social and interactive skills with one another, as well as further their language skills. Finger puppets like these 5 Little Monkeys are some of their favourite props. (Please click for the full photos and more information.)

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Simcoe Place

  • A collage of children placing a candle on a replica menorah, looking at a Kwanzaa book, and placing an ornament on a tree

    Festive Celebrations

    Children love to take part in festive celebrations. When placing ornaments on the tree, candles on the Menorah, and learning about Kwanzaa, children absorb their environment and foster an appreciation of various holidays. They are also working on their eye-hand coordination, fine motor development, and concentration. (Click for full photos!)

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  • A collage of a child exploring a drum, maraca, tambourine, and shaker

    Musical Instruments

    Young children learn through the senses as they interact with their environment. In the Under 2 classroom, we offer different types of materials that engage a child’s sense of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell, among others. Exploring musical sounds enhances creativity, expression, autonomy, and an awareness of cause and effect. (Click for more information!)

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  • A collage with a plastic eyeball tweezer transferring activity, a ghost and marble tong transferring activity, and a child brushing a pumpkin

    Seasonal Classroom Changes

    This Autumn, we added new materials to some of our staple activities such as transferring with tongs/chopsticks, gluing on the x, and care of the environment. Children will often care for the environment by watering plants and washing plant leaves. This month, the children have an opportunity to wash and care for a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween. (Please click for full photos and more information.)

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