Author: Manuela

This term we got to know each other through our learning topic “All about me.” We got to showcase many important aspects of ourselves, such as our physical features, our family, our school, our community, our interests, and our style. We had the opportunity express ourselves in different ways and explore our differences and similarities.

All about me project

We created a portrait of oursleves by first drawing an outline of our body and decorating it with paint, Monet cut outs, and making prints of our hands and feet. During the following weeks we added images relevant to the theme of the week.

We got to show our class lots of photos of our family members during circle time. Each students had a turn to show their peers their family members and talk about their families. We also discussed what a family tree was and each student worked with the teacher to complete their own family tree.

One of the standout moments from our term was our fashion show day. The Chestnuts class had a chance to showcase their unique styles by wearing their favourite outfits and accessories. This not only allowed them to express themselves but also offered the Maple class an opportunity to get to know them better. The Chestnuts shared the reasons behind their preferences and for these items, which also helped their older classmates to also learn more about them.

During the last week of the term we reviewed everything we discussed regarding our topic and we completed some paper puzzles using our photos.

Here is the final result of our personal portrait project!

Exploring colour in different ways

We started our colour unit by defusing painted circles using water and a thin paint brush. It was great to practice our fine motor skills as we enriched our vocabulary and sensory perception.

We also created two colourful art pieces using different materials and techniques. One of our pieces included colour matching, attempting to colouring inside the lines and neatly placing the colour pencils back in their respective places . The other art piece included being messy and mixing paints, sparkles, glue and gems with full agency and self-expression.

Ms. Marie worked on colour mixing during one of her French activities too.

Montessori inspired classroom activities

Many of the classroom daily activities are inspired by the Montessori approach. This helps our young students to build many of their skills in an independent way: The students are shown how to work with the various activities presented on the classroom shelves and then they are encouraged to choose what they want to practice during the morning activity times.

The students are encouraged to playfully take responsibility and care for their classroom environment by tidying after they are finished using the activities, having snack, or working on an art and crafts project. 

Wednesday Art Workshops

The school participated in an arts project on Wednesdays in which we explored three famous painters: Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. We hosted the older kids in our classroom to create our own posters inspired by these artists. We worked in a team with students from Maple, Birch, and Walnut students which gave us an opportunity to interact with our older friends and collaborate with them. During our first workshop we created a mixed collage using images of Monet and Van Gogh’s works as well as paper, paint, glue, and other materials. During our second workshop the teams were assigned a specific era from Picasso’s extensive career  and they got to create a poster based on the pictures and materials provided. 

Wednesday Water experiments

During our Wednesday projects we got to see how jelly beads expand as they absorb water, we played  with water pumps such as  water bottles and syringes, and we made water balloons that we got to take home!

We also experimented with mixing water with different colours and textures using sparkles and food colouring. We used our pinching skills to carefully place gems inside our bottles and also used our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to pour sparkles from a small container into the mouth of our bottles.

We enjoyed playing with our water bottle shakers when we were all finished and we had a nice new sensory toy to take home!

We also got together with the older students to learn all about the exciting experiments they had been working on with Mr. Kralka.

Learning and playing in the forest

We are so lucky to be able to explore our forest everyday and this term we had the perfect weather to participate in some organised activities that targeted our gross motor skills and sensory perceptions. We also worked some of our art projects and we played Math and Language games.

Swimming class

We practiced many of our swimming skills this term and we made great progress. We began this school year with a very shy group but every week we built confidence and by the end of the term we were able to practice many skills such as floating and swimming on our backs, moving forward using floaties, getting in and out of the water, blowing bubbles under water, and rolling down the slide and into the water. 

More outdoor activities gallery

Working together with the Maples gallery

More classroom activities gallery

Congratulations graduates!

Our topic this term was ‘Green fingers’. We spent a lot of time in the forest exploring plants and insects and we discussed their importance for the planet. We also observed how our plants continued to grow and give us fruits and flowers. We also replanted our zucchini into the school garden and watered them as needed. As part of the school’s chicken project we welcomed some fertilised eggs and watched a couple of them hatch. We observed as one of the chickens grew and changed.

As the school year came to a conclusion we also used a lot of our time preparing for our Summer Fête by preparing or show and also making our artistic creations to contribute to the Art auction.

This term we spent lots of time outside enjoying the warm weather; some of our outdoor activities included swimming, playing in water, playing games in the forest, visiting different parts of our neighbourhood, and finally enjoying Sports Day.

Replanting zuccini

We started this project by planting zucchini seeds during term 4. We nurtured and cared for our growing plants until they outgrew their pots and needed to be transferred to our community garden. We had wonderful activity in which we worked together to help our plants make that transition; we were mindful of being gentle with the roots, we discussed why we needed to make this change, and we made predictions as to how the plants would change and wether they would give us a zucchinis.

Preparing for the art auction

We worked really well together to put together our beautiful art pieces. We made a big Eco friendly canvas, a sparkly clock and our individual art pieces inspired by our favourite day of the year visiting the zoo.

For our main group piece we decided to use an old canvas that has been previously painted but was no longer being used. We used paper scraps that were leftover from other projects and leaves from the forest. During Terms 1 and 2 we learned about Van Gogh and this was our version of an impressionist style landscape. We worked together on this piece over the course of three sessions inside the classroom and in the forest.

For our clock project we decided to use a mixture of messy paint; we experimented with mixing different colours and finding new shades. Over the paint we used lots of glue and a mixture of beautiful sparkles. We hope whoever took this shiny piece home is reminded of how precious time is and to make each moment sparkle!

One of our favourite topics this year was learning about animals. A major highlight was going to the zoo together and getting to see our favourite animals up close. The best part of the day at the zoo was getting to see the lionesses come right up to us and jumping on the glass roof above us!
For our individual art pieces, each one of the students chose an animal, they painted their canvas and coloured their animal with crayons and pencil crayons.

Summer Fête presentation

We worked together with the Maple class to put together a fun show for our end-of-the-year presentation. Our French teacher, Marie, helped us a lot with her musical expertise and lovely guitar sound. The Chestnuts are still a little shy when singing in front of a lot of people so we decided to have our main song to be “5 little monkeys swinging in tree,” This musical game has been a favourite throughout the year and we knew it would be fun as it’s interactive and funny. The Maple class students helped us to get organized and confident for the big show.

Chicken project

This term we spent some time talking about chicken and engaging in activities inspired by chickens. We welcomed a few fertilised eggs and for twenty five days the eggs stayed in an incubator that we could visit daily. We visited them and discussed what was happening inside them. One of the eggs hatched and a cute little chicken demonstrated how chicks eat, what kind of noises they make, what they look like, how their feathers changed, etc. It was really lovely to have a school pet for a few days before it had to relocate to a place where we can still go visit.

We complemented our theory learning by creating chicken and egg inspired a 3D project. We made a nest using a bowl, paper, and a flour and water paste; once our nest hardened we painted with our colours of choice. We also created big eggs using balloons, lots of paper and glue, and we decorated them with paint and paper mache. Finally we used the big egg as the body of a chicken by making a chicken head and adding it on top.

Special adventures

We had a very special opportunity to walk thought the orchards with a beautiful white horse. We also got to visit his home and we took turn to pet it.

We also took a long walk to a different part of the forest where we found a big natural jungle gym; lots of old hollow trunks and trees served as a great play area where we could engage in dramatic play as well as climbing, balancing, and crawling.

Sports day

We had a lovely day competing with the Maples in our teams. We had a spoon and egg race, a bowling competition, high jump, a jumping race, and a parent-child tie breaker.

THANK YOU!

What a wonderful journey we have had together this year! It has been an incredible privilege and joy being the Chestnut class teacher, and I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude to all of you. You have all welcomed me into your child’s life with open arms, which really means the world. The trust you placed in me as your child’s teacher is a responsibility I have held close to my heart every single day. Your support, understanding, and cooperation have made our classroom a nurturing and loving environment where your children have thrived and blossomed. I am so incredibly proud of what we have all accomplished together this year. Thank you!

Swimming gallery

Water play gallery

Fun in the forest

Fun in the classroom

Father’s Day Presents

Mother’s day Presents

What a fun term it has been! We started it off concentrating on learning about animals but we also took some detours into our planting projects and transitioning into more outdoor learning activities.

Learning about the animal kingdom

We have noticed that the students have an interest for animals and so we created some learning activities that would address those interests. We took a trip through some of the world’s habitats and we learnt about the animals that live in them.

Our trip to Thoiry Zoo Safari

To complement some of our school learning about animals we decided to provide the children with the opportunity to see some of their favourite animals up close so, we visited the Thoiry Zoo Safari. We got to see many of the animals we have been talking about in class but we also got to see some new animals we had never heard about before. We started off walking around the park and we finished off the day driving through the safari. The highlights were: getting really close to the lionesses and finally getting to see our favourite classroom animal, the rhino.

Our planting project

We discussed about the way a plant grows and how fruits and vegetables are able to grow if we take good care of their seedlings and plants. We established what plants usually need to grow and thrive and we frequently checked on our plants to make sure they were healthy.

We used different methods to help germinate the seeds: One of our methods was to place the seeds directly in a pot of dirt, another method was to germinate the seeds in a wet cotton ball or towel and then plant the seeds in dirt after it had grown little roots. We have been observing both processes and next term we will determine what were the results of each methods used.

We learnt some more about composting as we visited the worms who are helping make some of the fertilizer at school. We also got to add our composting materials from home into our bog composting big.

We also learnt about how potatoes will grow in a bucket at school and we got to plant our own potatoes, which will will harvest later on in the year.

More outdoor learning in the Forest

As the weather improves we have been moving more of our learning to the forest. We have been observing nature changes as the spring gifts start to appear. We have been closely looking at all the trees budding and the ferns appearing from the ground. We have also noticed the sounds of the animals getting louder and the temperature rising.

We took advantage of a lovely sunny day to have a lesson that included reading the book “The Color Monster: A Story about Emotions” and discussing the different feelings we may experience. We complemented the discussion with Yoga and meditation, which explored the topics mentioned in the book and we talked about different breathing strategies that can help us when we are experiencing big emotions that may be at times overwhelming.

Easter

We had a lovely Easter celebration too! We made our own Easter baskets and then we got to use them to collect all of our chocolate eggs. The Easter bunny paid us a visit and we had so much fun seeing him and following him around; he took us to the garden so we could find all of the eggs he hid for us.

What is to come?

During Term 5, we will continue our learning about animals, the world’s habitats and we will also explore the life cycles of animals and plants. We will participate in the school egg project, which will give us an opportunity to see how germinated eggs will hatch and chicks will come out and grow. We will also be learning how to care for the eggs and chicks and about the importance of being kind to all living creatures.

We will also resume our swimming classes, which is very exciting!

We had a lot of fun this Term with our topic ‘Stories people tell’. We read many classic stories but we mainly focused on “The Hare and the Tortoise”, “Goldilocks and the three bears,” and “The gigantic turnip.” For Chinese New Year’s we explored Chinese stories that explain the festivities and the Chinese Zodiac and during Valentine’s day we read “Pete the Cat: Valentine’s day is cool.”

During this term we emphasized topics regarding environmentally friendly practices such as using our food and paper waste to make compost and we also discussed the process of planting and growing food, which we will continue through the remainder of the school year.

Making a compost bucket with the Maple, Birch and Walnut classes

We got together to introduce an important topic that will be a part of a big school project regarding composting and planting food. We made a compost bin using different materials that are leftover from our daily activities and snacks (e.g., paper, orange peels). We also made distinction between nitrogen and carbon and discussed how they go well together to make compost. We talked about what compost does for the earth and about being grateful for everything the planet gives us.

Nitrogen: We explored the different smells and textures of used materials like green tea leaves, coffee grains, orange peels, egg shells and , strawberry leftovers.

Carbon: We cut up our paper scraps and egg cartons into small pieces and mixed it with sawdust to help the nitrogen materials to decompose and to also help with the strong odours that come with rotting food scraps.

The Gigantic Turnip

During circle time we discussed more in depth about how the foods we have for snack will rot over time and we looked at some of our leftovers.

We complemented the composting lessons with this lovely story that is all about planting and farming vegetables.

We used different images and materials to learn about how we can plant seeds and roots to get food. We also use this as an opportunity to practice our math skills buy adding seeds then taking them away when we harvested them.

The Hare and the Tortoise

We had a lot of fun exploring this classic fable and understanding its message: “Slow and steady wins the race”. We also used the characters to learn more about biology and understanding the similarities and differences between a hare vs. rabbit and turtle vs. tortoise.

We also made hare and tortoise puppets, which gave us many opportunities to be creative when acting out the race and storyline.

We even took the hare vs. tortoise race out into the orchard and shared some fun times with our friends from the Maple class.

Chinese New Year

To celebrate Chinese New Year we cooked some traditional Chinese dishes with the Maple, Birch and, Walnut classes and we got to eat together with our older siblings and friends.

In the classroom we learned about the Chinese New year story, which taught us all about the Chinese zodiac animals and creatures. We also learned that 2023 is the year of the rabbit and we made our very own bunny ears using the traditional red and golden colours.

We played matching games, made lanterns, got our lucky money and our favourite, got to make our own dragon masks.

Goldilocks and the three bears

We learned all about this fun story by using puppets, pictures, games and also by acting out the storyline with the Maple class.

We made some porridge together and we experimented with different spices and flavours. We used our sense of smell, taste, sight, and touch to really delve into our cooking experience. We made five badges of porridge: Turmeric, paprika, caramel, vanilla and cinnamon. It was interesting to have different preferences, some students liked the savoury porridge and others liked the sweet porridge. All and all we had a lot of fun making it and we learned even more!

We used the story of “Goldilocks and the three bears” to practice the sound ‘G.’ We also used our fine motor skills and sensory skills to place little paper balls and paper mache pieces on Goldilocks.

Valentine’s day

We made Valentine’s day cards for our friends, we had an epic “heart harvest” in the orchard and we learned so much about friendship. We had puppets shows in which the students were presented with different scenarios that can occur between friends when playing or interacting in the classroom. The puppets taught us to use our words and gave us tools to resolve conflict that may occur between friends and classmates.

We also made Vantine’s day cookies for our families and to enjoy amongst ourselves.

We are so excited for what is to come in term 4. We have noticed that the students are very interested in animals so our topic will be the animal kingdom!

Let’s celebrate!

This term we learned so much about how people celebrate and we focused on preparing for our Christmas show.

We collaborated with Maples, Birch and Walnut to make this beautiful stage backdrop. We used lots of paint and glitter to make it really vibrant!

We used our creativity to paint a mural of stardust with our older friends and siblings.

We created beautiful decorations and together we made a Christmas tree out of a branch from the tree outside our classroom window.

The goose ornaments

We had a a chance to learn about the song “12 days of Christmas” and we sang it a few times during circle time. This inspired us to make Christmas tree ornaments with the 6 geese-a-laying because we have 6 students in our class. We explored this photo of a white goose and her eggs and all of the students shared what they could see when they looked at this image. This gave us the opportunity to learn about geese and the differences and similarities between geese and ducks.

We used some beautiful golden paint to decorate our Christmas tree angels. What a lovely forest art activity to practice our fine motor skills.

The glittery pine cones

It was challenging to get the paint and glitter on the unusual surface of the pinecones but we put lots of effort into making these decoration glittery and colourful.

We finger painted Christmas tree ornaments with neon finger paint; it is always fun getting messy and they turned out very bright and festive!

We learned some beautiful Christmas songs for our show and we practiced them with Marie and the Maple class almost everyday. Our hard work paid off because we put on a lovely show and we had lots of fun at the Christmas Show!

We made lovely sugar cookies and we decorated them with caramel and festive sprinkles. It was hard not to eat them all!

Snow day!

We got to enjoy the first little bit of snow and we participated in lots of fun activities with the older kids.

We even got to make some cute Christmas crafts with our siblings!

MAPLE CLASS

Term 5 – 2022

Thank you for welcoming me into the class! It has been really great getting to know the students and seeing their growth in many areas of their development. 

Ms. Manuela

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We had a really lovely time learning a bunch, having lots of fun, and building great relationships Here is an in-depth exploration of some of the important aspects we addressed during the last term of the school year:

Independence 

During this term we concentrated on encouraging the children to be more independent and to have agency over their learning and school life. It is immensely important for the children  to build a strong foundation for the future as whatever they learn now will carry through to the rest of their learning careers. Self-sufficient students are not only better prepared for academics but also will have the ability to build their own self esteem and relationships. For these reasons, there was a special emphasis in providing plenty of opportunities for the students to practice skills that will aid their everyday lives; dressing themselves, caring for their own belonging, practicing good hygiene, following rules and routines, and being aware of social expectation where amongst the many competencies the students got to implement everyday this term. Some of the main ways in which we encouraged autonomy were through a mindful classroom set-up, providing clear rules and routines, promoting leadership and friendship, allocating time for free play and exploration, and most importantly by making everyday fun!

Classroom environment

We created a Montessori inspired classroom where we included learning activities that addressed Math, Language, Sensory, Practical Life, Geography and Fine motor skills. It was a priority to provide a calm classroom environment that was fit for concentration and harmony. Maintaining a neat classroom was also an area of focus and we used music and positive reinforcement to give the student opportunities to take responsibility for keeping the classroom clean and tidy. Every activity had a rightful place, which helped the students know where to return the materials after they were finished with them without needing adult assistance. We also provided floor mats as well as extra table space to ensure that each student had plenty of room to to set up their work and not be distracted by clutter or too much sensory stimulation.

During activity time we encouraged the students to work independently and use indoor voices to avoid sound pollution and allow concentration; the goal being that their nervous systems and brains could be more settled and able to learn better. We played classical music such as Mozart and Vivaldi as well as other types pf concentration music. 

We also made an effort to clear the walls and shelves from as much visual stimuli as possible in order to not distract the students their work and learning. Instead we clearly displayed some of their best work at the front of classroom (and at eye-level) so that they could clearly see what they had accomplished and be able to feel proud. 

Leadership

It is very important that every student had plenty of opportunities to practice being good leaders. We often asked them to show their peers how to do a “good job” rather than telling them; so often the children would role model for one another and got positive reinforcement for it. We gave them a chance to take be the classroom “leaders” when transitioning in and out of the classroom when going to the forest or another part of the school. This became a sought-out position and those who were chosen on that day took pride on their role and made big efforts to carry our their “leader” duties successfully. Towards the end of the term the students started to join together to share the responsibilities of being the “leaders” and it was a very pleasant surprise to witness them taking the initiative to work together so well. 

We also gave the students the opportunities to be classroom “helpers” by doing more than the standard upkeep of our shared space. For example, if an area had been left particularly messy the classroom helper would take the initiative to tidy it up and receive a special sticker for it. 

Friendships

Many students this age are usually learning to navigate more complex relationships with their peers as they are developmentally more social than when they are toddlers. For this reason we worked on this aspect of their education almost daily. We provided many verbal tools that the students could use in order to express their wants and needs. For example we encouraged them to use phrases like “I don’t like it when you…”, “can I please have a turn with…”, “I feel happy when you…”, I feel sad when you…” etc. We also helped the children understand the importance of respecting other’s personal space; for this purpose, they were presented with Ms. Daisy (our puppet lamb) who taught us about how to ask for permission if you want to give someone a hug or being more aware when our behaviour is affecting those around us (e.g., when we are too loud, others may be dislike it or when we give unwanted physical touch to someone, it could make them uncomfortable). Ms. Daisy and friends was a very effective method as we started to see change right away and at the end of term when we reviewed her lessons, it was evident that the retention was there because the students were enthusiastically discussing what we had learned from her. 

French

Here is a special message from Christine and Joanna, our lovely french teachers:

Forest

We scheduled time to visit the forest twice a day and we had a lot of time to explore, sing, dance, learn, and play. Here are some of our highlights from out time in the forest:

Swimming

The students had a great time learning new swimming skills on Fridays!