Cozy Corner.

Our "cozy corner" at the community preschool we

created in 2008. Such a magical spot, where learning

and community meet. There is a lot of push at this

time in the field of early learning to NOT have any

formality in the classroom. NO circle times, NO

storytime, NO direction given to children. We are

not following this new trend, though we do offer

many opportunities through the day for our littles to

be a big part of the curriculum. Instead of circle

time or story time, we invite our littles to the cozy

corner where we talk about the day, we share what

is happening outside our door, we read, we teach,

and through it all, the dignity and uniqueness of all

our children is respected and guided. I'm so very

proud and in awe of our crew for creating such a

warm and inviting space. Incredible dedication!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 11.

Our mat at the preschool at the beginning of last

year's school term. So bright and new. All ratty now!

~ Chy

Rainbow Greeting.

We bought a new mat for the preschool and love the rainbow greeting. I can't wait for the littles to see their new mat on the first day of school. We're gearing up for full classes this year, after a year of small groups. Excited but anxious and everything in between. Hoping for a great year!

Do you have littles who will be back to

school soon? Are you excited or anxious?

~ Chy

New Toys.

We had to put away our wooden toys and look for

plastic for our preschool during Covid. Breaks my

heart to walk in and see all the hard plastic instead

of the natural wood. But to keep our littles healthy

and in school, it's a route we chose to go. This is the

dollhouse we bought. Isn't it sweet? Even has some 

really neat pieces that light up and make fun noises.

This should be an incredibly fun preschool year!

~ Chy

Bake Sale.

Every year, we host a Bake Sale at

our little preschool to raise funds.

Elves on the tree and cookies on the

tables. A great turnout and money in

the bank for new projects we plan

to work on in the New Year. Yum!

~ Chy

More to Share.

More pictures of our Centre. We love the soft colors.

And the open feeling, the places to hide and play.

The books, the toys, the art materials, the discussions.

The laughter, the tears at times and the amazing staff.

Literacy and Play.

We have some great family programs, 

but during the day, we operate a very

unique community preschool. Teaching

early literacy, imaginative play, creative

art, energetic movement and noisy music,

ours has become a very popular preschool.

Unbelievable.

Have you ever had a long winded and at moments, slightly heated email conversation with someone you've never meet? I had this experience this afternoon. A new parent contacted me about her dd's space for the Fall in our preschool program. Because our lead teacher won an amazing provincial award for Excellence in Teaching, we have had an overwhelming number of requests for space. For this mom, even though she was on our list (NOT a registration, just a name on a list), we had so many current families and siblings register, that we couldn't give her a spot in the morning as requested. We could give her a spot in the afternoon but that doesn't work for her schedule. Then I offered her a chance to stay on the list in case a family moves up to the afternoon or has to withdraw their registration due to a move or a change within the family. But that didn't help either. So now I have a very angry family. It is never my intention to upset anyone. But that doesn't help what is now a big issue. I'm hoping by morning another family will agree to move up to the afternoon but that's unlikely. Big world problems, I know, I know!

Can you believe how stressful getting your child into the 
"right" preschool is for parents now? It's not University!!

Look who arrived!!

Hi everyone!

No new house talk today. No long winded updates. No collages of pictures. I promise! Instead, I'll show you who arrived in our mailbox today. All the way across the sea from the U.K., here's Chester the Racoon!



Chester is a favorite in our preschool classroom. The star of the popular book "The Kissing Hand", he's been a great comfort for little ones who are not quite ready to be separated from mom or dad. Chester's mom kisses his hand, so he can feel the love when she's not with him. Hence the sweet red heart on his left hand. We use Chester a lot a the beginning of the school year but from day one, we've had a bit of a rag tag of stuffed racoons that had a red foamy heart shape glued on. I was so excited to find the real Chester one day while searching for something else on the net. It took most of the summer to arrive from across the sea but the wait was worth the time. There is a whole series of Chester stories but this one has always been, hands down, our favorite.



Can't wait for the 1st day on Tuesday!

Have you ever read "The Kissing Hand?"

Summer Project ....

.... to add to my growing list of things to accomplish during the next eight weeks. On top of finishing the final fix ups to get our current house ready for sale, finalizing the ongoing decisions for the new house construction and working on projects coming up in the fall, I've added this baby into the mix!

We bought this solid oak, very heavy and on wheels entertainment unit to turn it into a masterpiece (or something close to it) for our preschool. In the six years that the preschool has been in operation, we've gone through four play kitchens purchased from stores that cater to little ones. However, the construction of these standard play kitchens doesn't match up for preschool classrooms, so we've had to resort to more drastic strategies. For $100, some nice chalk paint, leftover wood from other projects, a bit of sewing and lots of elbow grease, we should get many years out of the new play kitchen. 

So excited to try this out. Hoping our visual ideas work out and the little ones coming to school in the fall are excited to play with their unique kitchen set up! At the very least, it will be colorful!!

Have you ever re-purposed an item?

First Day of Preschool!

B will be coming to gramma's preschool in the fall, so we decided to have him come for a few classes between now and the end of the school year at the end of June. He was very enthused about visiting and despite between younger than the other kids, he fit right in . He played, sang, listened, followed, engaged and laughed thru the whole class. 

B playing with the dollhouse.

Exploring the light table
under the loft. 

Stopping for a quick drink.

Snack time - he earned it for sure!

Big Boy!

Today, we chose a date for our Open House for the preschool in the New Year. This is for families to register for the fall of 2013. Registrations happen early in our community as there are more children than spaces available. Some families are even registering children who haven't been born yet! We have been very quiet in our growth and each year we have more preschoolers join in but it looks like this coming year, we'll be full for the first time. In hearing this, my daughter joked that she was not worried as Beckett has an "in" with gramma and grampa owning the preschool. I joked back that he won't have a spot if he doesn't get registered formally.

 

So Beckett filled out his own form

when we were at the preschool!

 

Now he has a spot.

 

"This registering is hard work".