The Day
Arrival: Children and parents are invited to spend time together playing in the room before the bell rings. This time allows for your child to make a smooth transition from home to school.
Mat Time: Children and teacher come together on the mat to engage in greetings and group activities.
Indoor/Outdoor Program: Activities are carefully planned and presented to the children to meet each child’s interests and development. A balanced approach of child centred and teacher directed activities are provided and include:
Sensory Play – Children learn best when they can touch, see, smell, taste, hear, and manipulate the materials in their world. Sensory play can involve just about any kind of material from sticks and leaves, to water, playdough, beans, rice, pasta, paper, straws, and the list goes on.
Exploratory Play – e.g. Food preparation and cooking, caring for plants and animals, playing with water and ice, recycling and caring for the environment, taking apart old equipment to see how it works like clocks and toasters, nature walks to explore the outdoor environment.
Manipulative Play – e.g. Threading and screwing materials – beads, macaroni, nuts, bolts, small plastic jars with lids, a range of items for sorting, matching and classifying for colour, shape, size, etc.
Dramatic Role Play – Pretending to be someone else like a mummy, daddy or a doctor or chef, permits children to fit the reality of the world into their own interests and knowledge. ‘One of the purest forms of symbolic thought available to young children, dramatic play contributes strongly to the intellectual development of children’ (Piaget, 1962).
Creative Play – e.g. Painting, building, drawing and any other artistic or imaginative activity. It’s often free and sometimes messy, but always fun.
