January 2020

Casa Welcomes the New Year

Can you believe it’s already 2020! Casa began the year by saying goodbye to 2019, and hello to 2020! We’ve been learning the months of the year, days of the week and concept of time passing. We talked about animals that hibernate and migrate, and did experiments with snow and ice! We even did a snow painting on tin foil!

We have also been learning about where we live and our place in the universe! The children learned that we live on planet Earth, in the continent of North America, in the country called Canada, in the province of Ontario, in the city of Markham!

The children came back to school in January to shelves full of new exciting activities with a winter theme! As well as new Emergency Vehicle puzzles. They loved learning about all of them and their roles. The children learned their own address in case they ever were in a emergency! Casa parents, here is some homework for you! Teach your child your cell phone number, home address and full name, so that if your child is ever lost, they can speak up to emergency personnel. A discussion of the emergency number 911 was also had as well as when to call.

We observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with an incredible experiment of comparing the yolks of an egg with a brown shell and an egg with a white shell, to see that while they may look different from the outside, from the inside they are the same. We talked about justice or “what is fair” and the children learned a little bit of Martin Luther King Jr's history. We also talked about peace, that “peace is love for everyone”. The children learned a song for Martin Luther King Jr. day called, "Once There Was A Man Named King", sung to the tune of Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

We celebrated Chinese New Year with great joy! The children painted Chinese fans, and did a mixed media art where they painted lanterns on a city scape made from Chinese Newspaper! We got together and made dumplings as a class to celebrate the coming of Chinese New Year! Many children dressed up in traditional clothing and had the opportunity to take part in the dragon dance. Even the teachers got involved by performing a special dance for the children.

A friendly reminder to parents to check your child’s cubby for wet socks/clothes, and to refresh your child's clothes bag for their extra clothes. Please be reminded that we have a school policy where we request that children do not wear clothing with disney/superhero/princess etc. graphics. Also a friendly reminder to ensure your child's clothing is labeled including your child's sweaters as the children often take them off indoors!

We’re looking forward to the month of February, the month of love!

In French, this month, the children were introduced to new vocabulary used to describe the winter season, winter clothing and winter activities. A review of body parts was also part of our French circles. The children are being taught our National Anthem in French.

In Mandarin, this month, there was a special festival----Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Rat. Casa children learned the name of rat in Mandarin is called “lao shu”.

In circle, Ms. Jia introduced some Chinese New Year traditions such as: Putting up the couplets, children receiving red envelopes, lion dance, setting out the fire crackers, eating special food like dumplings (jiao zi) or sticky rice balls (tang yuan). Children learned that the character 福 means good luck or fortune. When putting 福 upside down means fortune has arrived. Casa children enjoy singing “Gong xi gong xi” (Congratulations).

The children continued to enjoy Tae Kwon Do with Master John and Yoga with Ms. Anahita.

Finally, we want to thank all the parents who came for Parent-Teacher interviews. Toddler/Pre-Casa interviews will take place in March.

Junior Casa Learning New Things

In January we have been learning about cold weather and animals. We have been making a variety of art work in Junior Casa throughout January. This has included using a number of mediums such as cotton balls, shaving cream, glitter, glue, paint, pastels and many other things that allow creativity and fun learning! Junior Casa has enjoyed making snowflakes, melted snowman, penguins and polar bears.

We have started 2020 with a lot of new engaging activities. The children have been enjoying the new winter Practical Life Activities on the shelf. They have enjoyed matching nomenclature cards with kitchen utensils, pets, fruits and vegetables to name a few. The tool matching was a hit!

Sensory in January has included cotton balls, pine cones and many other items related to the winter months. As the weather permits, the Junior Casa students will continue to go outside to play and build with real snow.

The children celebrated Chinese New Year by painting a symmetrical dragon using colourful paint and googly eyes. To further foster their art skills, our dragon has been made for display by the children using colourful pastels as the medium. Chinese new year was spent learning the dragon dance through music and movement with the children truly enjoyed during our circles.

Our circles have kept our Junior casa busy through music and movement the children have been learning and following two step directions to enhance their listening skills. Themed songs and lyrics have been learned by singing in unison.

In French circle this month the Junior Casa children are being taught our National Anthem. They have been introduced to vocabulary for winter clothing and have been reviewing body parts. They enjoyed learning, singing and dancing to “Jean Petit Qui Dance”.

In Mandarin this month, there is a special festival----Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Rat. Junior Casa children learned the 12 zodiac signs represented by animals. They also played a velcro target game based on that.

Junior Casa children learned a Chinese New Year song called “Xin Nian Hao” (“Happy New Year”), they enjoyed singing and dancing. Ms. Jia introduced some traditions for Chinese New Year such as: Putting up the couplets, children receiving red envelopes, lion dance, setting out the fire crackers, eating special food like dumplings (jiao zi) or sticky rice balls (tang yuan).

The children are enjoying Yoga with Ms. Anahita.

Pre-Casa Penguins and Chinese New Year

In the pre-casa room this month, we have been learning about penguins through music and movement during circle time and we also made a 'Penguins on Ice' art activity for the wall! The children also played with ice and snow in a sensory bin which had.....can you guess? That's right, penguins!

The children celebrated Chinese New Year by painting colourful, scary dragons with their fingers and adding googly eyes! They also dressed up in the traditional clothing and had their picture taken! They looked so cute and wonderful!

If that was not enough, they also did a group art activity for the wall and made Chinese lanterns! A Chinese sensory bin was enjoyed by the children while giving them an opportunity to experiment with Chinese items.

The children have been enjoying the different Montessori activities, such as sensory (balls and different household objects), matching activities (different animals and sea creatures with cards), spooning and tong activities. During our work cycle some of the children enjoyed working with the broad stair and pink tower. All the children were excited to come back to our classroom to find new activities and puzzles. A particularly favourite one was the household items and the sensory ball activities. Many vocabulary building activities were also added to our shelves.

The children have been busy, busy, busy!