And all through the House all the creatures were stirring, including a SNAKE!
Along with the Animals visiting, we had Funkey Kids, and Kindermusik in the House too!
Ms. S also introduced our Mother Goose Program to the Toddler classrooms, where she brings five little ones at a time into a quiet space to sing and learn those old classic nursery rhymes. From Jack and Jill to Hickory Dickory Dock to Little Jack Horner Ms. S is bring back the all-time favourites! And she is not alone, Mother Goose herself makes an appearance singing and saying the rhymes as the children stare on.
Along with play, Art too is an important role in a child’s development. Children have a desire to create, and art is a means of self-expression, it is a way for a child to show their feelings and express their emotions. And the best way we, as educators, can provide this need for children is to provide more than enough open-ended materials for the children to create on their own.
Open-ended art allows for the child to make independent choices on what materials to use, and let’s them decide on the final product. What looks like messy art, is actually the child learning initiative, problem-solving, taking risks by showing off their originality, and expressing their self through representation.
Children learn in many different ways, and their senses play a big part on how they learn and explore. Sensory play has many benefits, such as supporting language development, cognitive growth, motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction. It can help in developing and enhancing memory function, it can provide a calming experience for anxious children, and can help them learn important sensory attributes like, hot cold, sticky, and dry.
The best thing about play is the children are learning without even realizing they are! When putting together a puzzle they may find it fun to connect the pieces, but they are also matching, sorting, mastering their fine motor skills, and in this case working on their letter recognition. Same thing with looking through a picture book, they may not be reading word for word, but they are using their imagination to create their own story following along with the pictures, recognizing words as they scan over them, and counting items on the pages too.
These photos capture children at play, they capture the programming the educators provide, the materials and environment created for each child, but what these photos do not capture is the behind the scenes. The long days, the patience, the hard-work, the time, the love and care the educators put into their day every day. I would like to take a moment to say thank you to the Chartwell Staff for everything they do, every day.
We appreciate you!
I’d like to take another second to THANK the Families who got together to provide a very delicious lunch for the whole staff to show their appreciation to our educators on ECE Appreciation Day. It was such a kind gesture to show your appreciation, and now in return we want to THANK YOU to show ours. Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Now….let’s enjoy the weekend.
‘Till next week folks.
The Chartwell House.
