September 28

We spent some of the morning on Ground Zero.
Here's what we were up to:

Jumping up and down on the bouncer.

Hanging out on the climber.

Visiting with Mrs.Cruz

Spotting a silly squirrel way up in the tree

Making plans with friends to look for treasures, and set traps to catch any thieves or teachers.

The treasures all lined up.

 

It was a beautiful morning to spend outside. Now let's go eat some lunch!

 

By: Mrs.Thiele

Friends

It absolutely warms my heart when I see children engaging in acts of kindness just because they see there is a need.

Today from a distance I saw one child find sunglasses that belonged to another child. The child picked up the glasses and then sought out the child the glasses belonged to and returned them saying:

"Weren't you wearing these before? Here you go."

Thanks for being a friend.

By: Mrs.Thiele

There's a storm a brewing

We had a fire drill this morning!

For some children it was their first time hearing the buzzer and having to leave the yard in a rushed manner. This can be a little scary for children when they're not sure what is going on, everyone is moving, and teachers are calling out directions. After we were told it was safe to come back I observed some intesting play happening in the little house.

"Quick, quick!"
"There's a storm coming!"

The children looked genuinely concerned as they rushed each other into the little house, even I was told I must come in the house to stay safe. 

"Close the door!"
"There's the storm, see the clouds?"

Then one child left the house saying:
"It's okay, I'll get the storm to stop"
Soon the child returned saying
"It's safe now, the storm is gone."

The children continued to repeat this play, rushing into the house then having one or two brave children go out to stop the storm.

Play for children is a very real event. Often we see children acting out complex ideas through play to better their understanding of these concepts. It is very possible that some of these children were playing out the fear that they felt during the fire drill, working through that fear and eventually feeling comfortable enough to be brave and say "it's okay it's safe now."

By: Mrs.Thiele

Cars, models, and magnets.

What do cars, models, and magnet letters have in common?

They're the three main things the XP children explored today!

Here they built roads, and garages for their cars. This took a lot of cooperation and careful movements to ensure the clocks would not fall.

These models had the walk down with just enough sass to go with it! Mr.Tooshkenig even took a turn when some children were feeling shy.

Magnets are wonderful and this metal door has lots of space for them. We practiced our letter and color recognition through this play.

Time to go outside!

 

By: Mrs.Thiele 

Foam block building

Today in the Play Garden we took out some coloured foam blocks to explore.

He built a garage for his cars.

She built up...

And then down.

He mixed up the colours.

She found an "H"

She collected some in her hat.

Playing together is fun.

By: Mrs.Thiele

Signs of Fall

There is nothing quite like a good friend.

Miss Lyss wrestling with a couple of young ladies.

Smiles for miles!!

Watch me jump!

Sometimes we just love being around our teachers.

Look at me. I'm a big girl now.

Here. These are yours for your salad.

1, 2, 3, ....Hooray!!!

Perfect time for raking freshly fallen leaves.

Just a little bit more and you will be perfect!

Mr. Tooshkenig 

GroundZero

When we went to Adventure Playground today someone was cutting the grass so we relocated to Ground Zero in the Play Garden.
Here's what we did:

Ran and played chased

Climbed way up high

Visited with old friends, the children in Infant/toddler program.

Used our imaginations to turn sticks into power shooters.

Tried to make grass noises with Ms. Lyss

Hung around

And took very silly pictures with Ms.Penner

By Mrs. Thiele 

One bunny, and one squirrel

The other day I noticed a child pulling all the prickles off of a pine tree, as we at Discovery discourage children from pulling things off the growing plants (unless it's our garden snack) I approached him to see what he was up to.
"It's for the bunnies to eat" he told.
"You're trying to feed the bunnies?" I clarified
"Yes I will bring one bunny to my mommies, and one squirrel to my daddy's." He told me proudly.

After he set up his spot for the bunny to eat, he looked at it and smiled seeming to be happy with his work. Then he declared
"My bunny is hungry for carrots!" And I knew just where to get some.

After some time other children noticed what we were doing and came to join.
"I can keep care of the pine cones in this tire."
"The tire is a good spot, bunnies like to hide."

When it was time for lunch we brought in our carrots so we could eat them after.

We didn't end up catching any bunnies or squirrels this time but there is always next time.

By Mrs.Thiele

Harvest Day

The Today we decided to harvest ALL our potatoes! Mrs. Thiele showed us what to do and then we joined in the fun.

We found all different shapes and sizes.

Some of us noticed the carrots where looking a little crowded, so we decided to thin them out.

We noticed the rainbow carrots got longer then the regular ones. While finding carrots we noticed a zucchini that was ready for the picking, so we are very excited for our garden snack!

Miss Lyss