December’s Newsletter is Here!

Gail’s Gab

As Strawberry Vale preschool families settle in for their winter break, I find myself reflecting on the playful learning that has taken place over the last few weeks. Taking a moment to remember that our children do not “just play”, they play to learn. Through play opportunities with peers, parents and Early Childhood Educators in the classroom, yard, forest and on field trips, they are exploring, experimenting, testing boundaries, investigating, collaborating, building friendships… the list goes on and on. Below are only a few snap shots of playful learning experiences over the last few months.

Table Talk
Communication through actions, language and the sharing of ideas and props are key element in this playful learning scenario.
Moving beyond the parallel and associative play stages where the children play independently in the same proximity with the same toys, these 3 year olds have advanced to the beginning stages of cooperative play as they learn to negotiate turn taking, sharing their toys, space and their ideas within the theme of their play.
“It’s my birthday. I have the cake”
“Then me.”
“Should I eat the carrots or cake?”
“Cake. Then it’s my Birthday.”

Creative Arts: Sometimes approached with precision or some hesitation…and sometimes not!

Following the lead of the child: Playful Learning is endless when a child has the freedom to explore his/her imagination to create their “big ideas”. This will always lead down an interesting road… Trucks, trucks and more trucks… outside in the mud, inside on the carpet, tunneling under the tables, exploring in various sensory materials; sand, shaving cream, paint…leading to a big idea…the creation of paper roads!

Rolling, rolling, rolling out the paper…over, under the tables and from one end of the room to the other. This collaborative road work continued for several weeks.

Working together to unravelling the paper roll, cutting, taping, drawing centre lines. Negotiating the path of travel around other areas of play…and classmates!

RECYCLED paper project.

A Holiday Tradition at preschool…Yummy Cranberry Sauce!

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season….Teacher Gail.