Orange shirt day, what is it? Orange shirt day is on September 30th and was created in 2013. It was designed to educate people and promote awareness in Canada about Indian residential school system and the impact it had on Indigenous communities for over a century. We will read the story of Phyllis Webstad, a six year old who was given a shiny orange shirt by her grandmother to wear on her first day of school. When she arrived at school they took her shirt and made her wear itchy grey clothes. She never saw her shirt again. She had to stay at her school until Christmas and didn't get to see her family. She was very sad. I would like the Kinder children to wear an orange shirt or their favorite shirt on Wed. Sept.30th. Why we celebrate Orange shirt day? To honour reconciliation we do a land acknowledgement every time we are in the woods. We remember the people who took care of the forest before us. We visit the indigenous healing garden weekly. Hopefully we will be able to invite Sherri Vansickle (a professor on campus) and her students from a reserve high school. When they visit they teach us how to use the drums and rattles they bring. As well they sing for us and we learn how to dance. (Due to Covid19 this will probably not be possible) We will have camp fires and make Bannock (Indigenous scone). Below are some photos from the past showing our Indigenous experiences. To learn more about what is happening on campus please see this article https://brocku.ca/brock-news/2020/09/community-invited-to-learn-about-residential-schools-on-orange-shirt-day/
Written by S Robitaille
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During the week the children work on our Jolly Phonics sounds and math concepts. The children learn these concepts and so many more through worksheets, art and activities. Recently the children have been making patterns, this helps develop reading and math skills. The children have been building with a variety if materials. This develops spacial relations, fine motor skills and creativity. Written by S Robitaille
We have been visiting the lake lately. We have noticed the water levels changing. We also noticed on a windy day there can be waves. The waves made us nervous because the water was coming on the island and staying there. The island was shrinking. Today we stood on top of the storm drain opening to check the water level when we saw some big changes. The water was polluted, yuck. The water had left a wet line on the side wall. Then all of a sudden the water started to flow into the storm drain, sucking up the pollution. Also the water level was rising. It rose almost a foot. And just as quick as it rose the level dropped and the pollution was sucked back out of the drain. It was the strangest thing. Now we have so many questions. Why did the water level change? Why so quickly? Where did the pollution come from? Where will it go? Are the fish okay? How do we make it stop? The children are very interested in the changes to the water daily. We compare the lake to the pond once a week. They want to see the lake every other day. The day the water was like glass we could see fish or frogs jumping out of the water in several spots causing rings in the water. This day the children decided not to throw stones in the water. They didn't want to hit the fish in the head.
Written by S Robitaille On friday the educators were chatting and Susanne was telling Sarah G some of the interesting things there are in the woods, when R over heard and asked if we could check one out. You see there is a photo collage on the wall in the Kinder room that shows a car in the past and the present. The car is very close to camp so we tidied up and went to go see. There were lots of theories of how the car became broken. The children noticed where the wheels were (hubs are still there). They were noticing various parts and asking where some parts have gone. Where is the steering wheel? I see the lights! R suggested we make a book like the raccoon book we made in class. The others agreed it was a good idea and began telling the educators their ideas. Here is our book. Read the book to your child and ask them to expand on their theory. What do the think of their friends ideas? Share your discussion in the comments below please.
Written by S Robitaille Today we began our adventure in the forest. We started our day with a land acknowledgement to honour those who took care of the forest before us. Susanne introduced the children to the tools we will be using. We learned which ones we can do on our own and which ones need an adult. Everyone enjoyed using the vegetable peelers to whittle. Everyone had a turn cutting a dead branch with a hand saw. We only cut branches that might poke us in the face. Now everything is safe. We also used chisels with a hammer and a hand drill. Our log for sitting is a little shorter after today. The earth has a few new holes. It was a great first day.
Written by S. Robitaille RECE We have been learning a lot already. We discussed how the bee's are stocking up for the winter and we shouldn't pick the flowers. This inspired a habitat game where we learned everything needs food, water, shelter and space. This inspired a migration game. We also practices printing our names. We visited several spaces around the campus and found a few trees that were great for climbing. We went to the lake to throw rocks and we found something very interesting. Written by S. Robitaille
I would like to welcome you all to the Kinder room blog.
Roxane and I will post what we are learning at camp and the daycare. This year is a little different from the past, most of our learning will be outdoors. We will still be doing Jolly Phonics and math. We will do our annual 100th day of Kinders and work towards building reading skills (blending sounds to make words). We will use a variety of areas on campus as our classroom. Our camp will be host to climbing, building, tool use and learning about nature. We will be learning about sustainability, geography, ecology and hopefully become stewards of our forest. STEM activities are often done in the forest (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math). Art is also a favourite in the woods. Roxane and I have recently become National Geographic Certified Educators. We will be using the children's interests and expanding the learning and knowledge using the NatGeo framework. We will post these in depth activities in the stairwell and on the blog. Written by S. Robitaille |
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AuthorSusanne and Roxane are Registered Early Childhood Educators, Forest School Practitioners and National Geographic Certified Educators. Archives
August 2021
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