The kinders have been rediscovering the wonders of gardening even as the earth rests for the winter. While exploring outside together, BW, HV and CL found some white little “things” near the end of the skating rink, under some brush. “I found Something!” called BW. When April ventured closer to see what they had discovered, she wondered aloud what they …
Giving and Taking in our Many Relationships With The World Around Us : A Lesson in Reciprocity’
The kinders were really excited about the fire and storytelling that was planned as part of our Walk for Wenjack. We noticed though, that we had gotten a little low on kindling for starting the fire and wondered about getting some from the forest (just enough) to help us with this problem. The children shared their ideas about what they …
Where Seven Ripe Strawberries Can Lead Us!
The Kinders have experienced their first harvest of the season! We were delighted to discover just a few ripe strawberries in our very hot and very humid patch but, as you’ll see, this isn’t really about the strawberries but, rather, where the discovery of exactly seven ripe strawberries combined with emergent learning can lead our program to go and grow …
Reciprocity and Connection as a Natural Guide for Learning
The children have been delighting in their reciprocal relationship with winter birds. The children sing in the forest; the birds sing back to us, the children offer nourishment to the birds in the form of sunflower seeds; they, in turn, nourish the curiosity of the children and their desire to be closer to the birds by gracing us with their …
What have the children taught me about democracy?
I was inspired to share a recent experience that I had while observing children engaged in playful learning experiences in our kindergarten program. I am always amazed at the lessons we can learn about ourselves when we are co-learning with children. I am always amazed at the lessons about life and the world we hope to create when we listen …
Learning Alongside the Preschool Children and Educators. What am I thinking about now?
I have been privileged enough to spend the week of November 30-December 4, 2020 in the preschool program. I spent the days working, learning, and noticing alongside Angie, Lisa, and Sam. I noticed how the educators have a passion for connecting children with their space. We had conversations about creating engaging, magical moments for all of the children while they …
Navigating a Pandemic: How to Reopen A Child Care after a 6-month closure?
As a licensed child care centre, we were impacted greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic. We officially shut down operations on March 17, 2020, and we remained closed until September 8, 2020. After being closed and disconnected from our team for almost 6 months we wondered…what conditions need to be created for our team to safely come back together and reopen …
March Highlights: This Month we Combine Staying Safe at Home, While Retaining Our Passion for Nature
March has been a crazy month, and we were sad earlier in the month to have been given direction to temporarily close until further notice. This was an important measure for the health of the children and our staff members, but it won’t be forever. For now, we are going to listen to the government’s advice on social distancing, while …
February Fun: Learning About Snowflakes, Back Out in Our Snowshoes, Pushing Our Balance to the Limit in the Forest and Much More
The first two months of 2020 has been incredible for us here at Discovery Child Care. This month we learned whether we can eat snow, researched the circle of life, got our snowshoes back on and pushed our balance to the limits on ropes in the forest. Here’s what we got up to in February.
January Highlights: Measuring Animal Tracks in the Forest, Strapping on Our Skates and Much More!
The first month of the year is over and it has been an absolute blast for us here at Discovery Child Care.