As the sun shines and the leaves turn colour, we find ourselves already in week 3! The past few weeks have been a time of settling in. For some, the experience is familiar but still requires becoming reacquainted with routines and people. For others, the experience is so new that each moment is heightened as our emotional and physical selves are challenged. We know the first few weeks requires a little extra work from all of us- the children, the parents and the educators. Together we figure out our systems, our rhythms and our needs. And, I think after this week, we are getting in the groove! Enjoy these snapshots of our time together the past couple of weeks.

Garden Work Party

Thanks to our committed parents for helping weed the garden beds and get them ready for fall planting! Soon, some beds will be freshly planted with garlic, fava beans, and some cover crops while other beds will be snuggled in for the winter with hay and leaves.

Taylor exclaims “This is me”. It is important to offer different forms of expression to children.

Yi Fei and Lillian brave their tough goodbyes to their parents and enjoy each other’s company for strength.

Olive and Johnny help pull the wagon- a task that needs to be done each and every day as we explore Terra Nova.

Barry listens to Titus as he shares a story. Taking time to listen to each other is vital for healthy relationships.

The children are invited to observe the apples and paint what they see. Careful observation is a skill that takes time and practice.

Owls practice climbing!

Face painting with Clay!

Jenevieve had fun exploring with clay on her face, something so novel to most children. It is interesting to watch children try something new.

Kate uses a field guide to help children discriminate between plants- noticing the leaf structure as well as the berry shape and colour.

Numeracy can be learned in many ways. Here we see children counting as they shell a variety of beans. Later in the week this activity was expanded to include a dice.

Cottage Play

We enjoyed our first “sit spot” session this week. Sit Spots is an activity frequently done in all our programs. Children sit on individual mats and are encouraged to stay still and quiet so they can observe and feel the world around them. This contemplative practice takes time to develop. Sometimes we de-brief after, sometimes we draw our observations on paper and sometimes we just do nothing at all but know the experience occurred!

In gratitude,

Emily